Walking with Dinosaurs

Darin took the boys to see Walking with Dinosaurs this past weekend. It was a hit. The boys learned a lot about dinosaurs and Garrett would like one of the big ones for his birthday....no worries that if you could even buy them they'd be a hundred thousand dollars, plus the storage shed you'd have to buy to store it in!
Here's a couple video clips of the fun.

Manhattan

The kids and Misty went to Manhattan over MLK weekend. We all had a great time seeing our friends. The boys jumped right back in with their friends like they never left. Next time I'm taking a Uhaul and bringing everyone back with us!!

Here's some proof of the fun.....

Chess tournament

Gavin played in his first chess tournament on Saturday. He played 5 rounds of chess and had a great time. He learned a lot and met some nice kids. He won a door prize - two square tupperware containers that he thought were great for putting treasures/markers/random things in. He's hoping to play in more tournaments.

Sock Hop

There was a sock hop at school on Friday night. Garrett came running out of school yelling across the front lawn....."Mommy, can we go to the sock hop???" He was all dressed up and ready to go when Darin got home from work (dummy mom and dad didn't get a picture). He looked super handsome in his rolled up jeans, a sure sign of a special event seeing how Garrett thinks jeans should be "saved for nice events like weddings." He had his hair all slicked back and some special dance moves. Gavin wanted to stay home and play board games. So, Garrett went and boogied the night away with Darin -- who did not share Garrett's enthusiasm, especially after when he returned with a headache from the volume and number of crazy kids.

My Wonders

Garrett's class has been studying poetry lately and Garrett has a new found hobby....he loves to write poems and illustrate them. Here's his latest (and I think his best). I help him physically write them and if he wants to rhyme, I help him spit out a bunch of rhyming words and he picks one, but other than that it's all Garrett!!

My Wonders

I have lots of wonders.
I wonder what is the truth.
Sometimes I wonder about thunder.
I wonder why the sky is blue.
Sometimes I wonder why you get the flu.
I wonder if the dinosaurs were green.
I wonder how you make a laser beam.
I wonder what God looks like.
I wonder about everything.

A violent guy

Garrett went to play at his friend, Ashleigh's, house the other day. When her mom was taking them to school they were talking about their dads in the car. Garrett was saying that his dad got to ride in a tank, but he didn't shoot the gun because that would be kind of dangerous. Then Ashleigh told Garrett that her dad had lots of guns and liked to shoot them. Garrett said, "Why does he do that?" Ashleigh and her mom told him that he likes to hunt alot. Garrett replied, "Hmmmm (as only Garrett can) sounds like he's a pretty violent guy!"

Skiing

Darin took Gavin and Garrett on their first skiing trip this weekend. The night before they left, Darin and I were talking about what we thought it would be like for the kids. Judging from past outings and events, we thought Garrett would be working on flips after an hour on the slopes and that Gavin would be wanting to go home. Well.........we were shockingly wrong!! Gavin was a natural. Darin showed him the ropes and he just took to it. After the first couple of hours, Gavin was riding the lift and skiing down over and over, while Darin worked with Garrett. Garrett had a rough go of it at first, but once he got some lunch in his belly, he did great, but by the end of the day he was exhausted (as you will see in the photos). Garrett fell asleep on the way home (4:00 pm), was still asleep by 8pm and didn't wake up until almost 8 am! Gavin has asked a couple of times if we can buy him some skis and they both want to know when they can go again.








Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Kierstin and I played all day. We played dolls, kitchen, did laundry (real), and had a great girls day. She skipped nap - a regular event for her these days- and was exhausted. The boys didn't get home until about 6:30 pm, so as we were all eating dinner, Kierstin passed out in the living room. This photo is kind of like where's waldo, there are so many toys and laundry that it's hard to find Kierstin!


Where's Kierstin?? Here's the answer!

Gavin's story part 2

Gavin talked about his story and award on the school news with his principal. Here's the footage.

Sledding

We took advantage of our latest snow storm and went sledding. Here's some footage of the fun!







This is Kierstin's latest photo taking pose....everytime you tell her to say cheese she does that!





Garrett making a snow angel.




Gavin and Kierstin sledding.

Chocolate stains

Kierstin was drinking some hot chocolate when some fell out of her mouth and tumbled down her shirt. Garrett looked over at her and then said to me, "Uhhh, mommy there's a problem." I said, "What's wrong?" He replied, "Kierstin spilled hot chocolate on herself." I said, "Oh, it's okay honey let her finish and we'll clean it up in a minute." He looks at me and says, "Uhh, mommy? Chocolate stains."

Waiting for a game

In order to try out some games for our Wii, we joined Gamefly (think Netflix for games). The boys put their top choices in and started checking the mail for the much anticipated arrival of the games. Garrett's top choice was a game called Ninjabread Man. Not surprisingly this game was readily available.....it has horrible ratings and judging by the title (the reason Garrett chose it) well, you can imagine. After trekking out in the snow a couple of days in a row to check the mail, Garrett came back successful and excited, Ninjabread Man had arrived!!! He ran in and turned on the Wii, loaded the game and got ready to meet Ninjabread Man. The first screen loaded and he selected play at which point the game paused. Gavin tried, I tried, Darin tried....everytime it paused. We replaced batteries in the remote, switched remotes, turned off/on the Wii, nothing was successful. After all the anticipation and the let down, Garrett sighed, "So much for that excitement," and headed off to play something else. Of course, his timing and the way he said it was perfect and we all got a good laugh.

Gingerbread houses and the $300 McDonald's

While in Utah, the kids made gingerbread houses. They were all proud of their finished products and informed us that next time we need to use real gingerbread and not graham crackers!






One of the highlights of the trip for Kierstin was playing McDonald's...she was cooking up a storm and offering great deals. The boys (and all of us) were laughing because everything cost three hundred dollars. "Kierstin, I'd like a cheeseburger. How much is it?" "Three hundred dollars." "Fries?" "Three hundred dollars." Gavin got all the way to asking her how much a speck of dust was. The answer.... you guessed it....Three hundred dollars!

Family

We had a fantastic time visiting family in Utah....here's the proof!!


Reading....a favorite nighttime activity with Grandma or alone!



Feeding horses with Grandpa Brad



Hanging out with cousin Sarah Great Grandma Beth and Aunt Betsy


Hanging out with Great Grandma Beth


Great Grandma Eileen and Great Grandpa Bill....the kids call them Grandma and Grandpa Farmer


Happy New Year's......Kierstin didn't even make it to this celebration (which took place at 7 pm!)

Kierstin video time

Kierstin loves to sing...pretty sure she sounds like me, that's unfortunate for her, but luckily she's little enough it's still cute. So, here are a couple of video clips of her singing and one of her feeding horses.



Kierstin singing a beautiful, original version of "The Nutcracker went up the Water Spout"





Kierstin singing You are my Sunshine!





Kierstin feeding horses with Grandpa Brad and Uncle Greg.

Utah Christmas

Garrett opening a present! Gavin is pleased with a new Webkin!


Uncle Greg and Kierstin Kierstin in her new dress ups with Grandma Dot

We went to Utah after Christmas, where the kids '2nd Christmas' was waiting at Grandma Dot and Grandpa Brad's house. They had a great time opening presents, playing with cousins, showing gma and gpa the Wii, and playing with Uncle Greg.


Kierstin playing with her kitchen at home....she sends her love to Nancy for the Hello Kitty chef gear!

Garrettisms

Here are a couple of Garrettisms from the past week...

We drove to Utah and left Yaya and Grandpa Rod in Colorado Springs for a night. Their flight wasn't until the next day and we had to travel based on weather predictions. Garrett gave Grandpa Rod all kinds of instructions/rules. A while after he'd rattled off his list of rules he came back down and told Rod, "Oh yeah, don't sleep with my teddy bears, because you scare them... and don't wear my necklaces." Gpa Rod said, "Can I use your money to buy something?" To which Garrett quickly replied, "You have your own money."

Then on the drive to Utah, Garrett tells Gavin, "When you sit for a long time it feels like the circles on my bum-bum are getting bigger, you know spreading out." On the way home he complained that his bum circles weren't spreading anymore, now it felt like they were being stabbed with a knife.

We went to visit my grandma in Utah. We were looking at some old photos from nearly 40 years ago and we saw one of Grandma Beth. He looked at the picture, then looked at her and said, "Man, you've gotten a lot older!"

After a trip to the dollar store, Garrett was taking a poopy break at Grandma Dot's. Garrett (who has wiped himself for sometime now) hollers out, "Help, can somebody help me? There's an out-a-control poopy here." He didn't have any of those wet flushable wipes and is not an expert at t.p. wiping. Darin went in to check on him and Garrett said, "Man, I don't have any wipeys, I guess I should have bought some at the dollar store."

One night when I was tucking him in bed he asked me if he was ever going to have a stepmom. I told him probably not. Then he wondered about a stepdad, same answer. He said, "I'm glad because I dont' ever want a stepmom or stepdad." I said, "Well, some stepmoms and stepdads are really nice, like Carlos." He replies, "Well if I ever have a stepmom, I'll never forget you and when I die to heaven I'll come find you and I'll find daddy and gavin and kierstin and gma and gpa and devon and carlos and all my friends."