Garrettism

Somehow the topic of whether it would be better to be deaf or blind came up at dinner. After much discussion, Garrett said,
"I know sign language, so it would be okay if I was deaf." Darin asked,"You know sign language?" Garrett, "Yah, I learned it in preschool, so if I was deaf before preschool that wouldn't be good, but after preschool it would be alright."
Wow, I didn't realize he learned that much in preschool!!!

Like mother, like son

Gavin came home from school yesterday in a lively, excited mood. He usually doesn't have too much to say about what happened in school, but yesterday was different.....it was day 1 of the CSAP (state assessments). He told me about the entire test (I felt like he was the proctor), from what kind of pencils they used, to how they started, to what each story was about. He spent a good 15 minutes recapping the test for me. He said it was fun and he thinks he did well......it's so funny because I remember loving taking tests as a youngster!

An artist

Garrett and I were in an office and there was some artwork from a local high school displayed on the wall. He thought the art was "awesome" and wanted to know who drew/painted them. I told him that they were some high school kids from a school near the office. He looked at them for a while and made several observations. After a while he said, "I want to go to high school there." I asked him why and he replied, "It looks like they have a really good art teacher and I'm a really good artist, so I just want to go there." Sounds like a plan!!!

Pink Girl

The super fun days of dressing Kierstin as cute as I possibly can are quickly coming to an end. She has developed an unhealthy desire to "match." Unfortunately, matching means to Kierstin exactly what it meant to a teacher at my high school.....it means all the same color, preferably pink, different shades are alright as long as everything down to the socks are the same color. Same goes for bows....as long as they're pink it doesn't matter if they look alike or if you wear one or ten. HELP!!!! :) She'll tell me I don't match when I put on jeans and a white or pink or black shirt. I tried to get her to explain her incredible fashion sense on video but she doesn't do it justice. Here it is anyway.....

A touch of spring

We've had some fantastic weather the past couple of weekends. We spent a lot of time outside playing, going to the zoo, hiking, etc. We went on a guided hike near our house in North Cheyenne Canyon where we looked for animal tracks in the snow and dirt. We saw prints from squirrels, coyotes, weasel, and maybe a mountain lion. The boys loved looking for tracks. We forgot our camera....so no photos!
We also went to the zoo, where we were entertained by the hippos and apes. I have never seen hippos so active in my life. They were waddling around, snorting, blowing the nastiest water you've ever seen out of their noses. Yum! Needless to say, there was some serious hand washing going on after we left the hippo display.







The view from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is incredible...I'm pretty sure you can see Kansas in the background.
Sidewalk chalk made it's 2008 debut this weekend also....the kids drew for hours! Garrett took some photos of their hard work. They made an amusement park for their matchbox cars. I love when they spend hours playing creatively.

A duet of sorts

Gavin has been giving Garrett a piano lesson here and there. Garrett is really into playing his own songs and actually produces some pretty catchy tunes. Here's a sample of the boys playing together.

A trained professional

We had some friends over to play. Garrett and Maddie (almost 5) were playing the piano together. Maddie asked Garrett to play Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and he said, "Only my brother can play that because he is a trained professional!"

Wicked age, witching hours!

Kierstin will be 3 in April and is officially in the 'what to do with nap' stage. If she doesn't nap, she passes out about 7 pm or earlier, however from about 4-6 she can be a bear. If she does nap, bedtime is 'party time' and takes quite a while. Not fun!! Here's a picture of her sans nap about 6:30 at night, supposedly watching Scooby Doo.

Skiing, again!

Yaya and Grandpa Rod came to visit this past week. The kids had a great time playing with them and probably wore the grandparents out enough that they'll sleep for a week straight. We were planning to go see the snow sculptures in Breckenridge while they were here, but it was a little too cold for us and a lot too cold for Yaya (you'd think she was a Hawaiian native, not a Utahn). They did watch Kierstin while Darin and I took the boys skiing at Monarch Ski Resort. It was a snowy day, but very fun all the same. I spent most of the time with Gavin, who only did the bunny hill once and was ready to move on up the hill. Garrett and Darin practiced on the bunny hill quite a few times and then for our last run, we all rode the quad lift together and made our way down. I don't know how Darin did it alone last time!!