Saturday, March 9, 2013

Drawings and poop

Caulder and Kessler love art. They love to do projects and draw pictures of people, animals, and buildings. They can also write all of their letters, numbers and some words, which they incorporate into most drawings. My favorite words that I frequently see on their drawings are 'I love mommy'.  Recently Caulder came home with a nice drawing of a house covered in flowers. It didn't seem like his typical subject matter, so I asked him if he actually drew that picture. He said that his school mate Alyssa drew it, but wanted him to have it. I turned it over and found Alyssa's name on the back alongside a large heart with the word 'love' in the middle. Mat took one look at it, and said 'I don't like the looks of that'.

The boys also recently learned to write the word 'poop', which they thought was really cool. I came home from a meeting one evening to find drawings covered in the word poop. Although maybe not appropriate, we try to encourage them to do as much writing as possible. However, this art project led Kessler to tell Mat the following:
Kessler: Daddy I want to tell you a secret.
Mat: What's that?
Kessler: Next time mommy is not looking, I am going to write the word 'poop' on a piece of paper and tape it to her back. Then I'm going to say 'look mommy has poop on her back'.
Definately not appropriate, but very clever!

To keep with the theme of poop, Caulder was helping me put our large garbage can back in our garage and noted as we slid it up against the wall: "One day there was a dead rat back there and it stunk" (It was actually a little mouse that got caught in a trap and died). "I said you are right it did stink". He then said, very seriously, "maybe it was pooping when it died, and that's why it stunk". This actually lead to additional discussions about decomposition, which were much more disgusting than poop.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Delicious Dinner with Friends

Lounging after an awesome dinner

The fairies fighting the super heros

OK we give up. It's much more fun to make faces.

Tutus are really cool, says Sinead O'Connor
We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Gendler's on Sunday night. Julie cooked an awesome meal and Caulder and Kessler got to play with their good pals Keaton and Asher. Asher and Avery graciously let the boys wear their dress-up clothes. I guess ballerinas are a hit???? Vivian and Josie were sitting in the sidelines  chuckling.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Backpacking trip to Jenny Lake for Father's DayC

Mat, Kessler, Caulder, Paul, Jackson, Rick, Ryan, Zach, Bridger, and myself heading up the trail

Kessler, Caulder, and Jackson ready to go!

Bridger in her backpack

Family photo at camp

Happy Father's Day

Caulder, Jackson, Kessler at Jenny Lake

The family at Jenny Lake

Jenny Lake mostly frozen over

Kessler and Bridger on the trail

Kessler and Caulder climbing a tree
Mat, the boys and I joined our friend Paul, his son Jackson, father, brother, and nephew on an overnight Father's Day weekend backpacking trip up to Jenny Lake near Idaho City. We started our hike in late afternoon, and hiked 3.5 miles to camp in a nice meadow along the river. The boys amazingly still had enough energy to play in the snow and on the rocks around our camp for hours. The next morning we hiked a mile up the trail in the snow to Jenny Lake and enjoyed the view for a while before making the 5.5 mile trek back to our car. Everyone had a great time. Caulder and Kessler were amazing hikers with the exception of the last 1/2 mile where we had a minor breakdown. We treated ourselves after the big hike with milkshakes from Dairy Queen.

Carp fishing tournament

Mat and a fish.....not the winning fish

The winning fish

Sean with the winning fish!
Mat and his co-worker Sean Vincent entered a carp fishing tournament, and won! They caught a 30" carp.

First camping trip this summer

Taking a dip in the hot spring under the waterfall

Hiking

Hiking

Mat taking a dip in a shallow hot pool

We took our first camping trip this year earlier in June to a campground called Pine Flats. The weather was nice, and the campground mostly empty. We took a dip in the nearby hot springs.

Memorial Day at Mount St. Helens

Kessler excited to see a volcano

Mt. St. Helens

The mountain

The paper airplanes at Grandma and Grandpa's house
We took a trip Memorial Day weekend over the mountain to visit Grandma Deedee and Grandpa Dick in Welches, OR. From there, we day tripped over to Mount St. Helens. It's been many years since I've been to St. Helens, and Mat has not seen the mountain since it erupted. The weather was a little chilly, but the spring scenery was beautiful. The boys were pretty excited to see a volcano, but I think were a little disappointed when they discovered there was no hot lava. We did see steam rising out of the crater, though. We drove to the Johnston Ridge Observatory and had a great view into the crater. We are looking forward to returning when the snow is gone so we can hike up to the ridge.
After out trip to mount St. Helens, Mat and I headed back to Boise for a quiet week without the boys. They stayed with Grandpa and Grandma in Oregon. The boys did a lot of fun activities with grandma and grandpa, and I think wore them out. Two four-year-olds have a LOT of energy.
Mat and I took the opportunity to see a couple of movies, and visit our favorite restaurants. Unfortunately, I had to work a lot that week, and couldn't take full advantage of the week off, but we still had fun. We sure appreciated grandpa and grandpa taking our little monsters off our hands for a week! :)