The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Just now

2012-02-10T16:01:00.002-07:00

I just tried to give Nils a kiss. He ducked and scampered away before I could get him. Walter immediately says "I want a kiss!" and comes running over and sticks his cheek out for kissing.

Nils' List

2012-01-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

Since Tiffany wanted to know what Nils is wanting to spend his money on I took a picture of his list. What he did was get online, go to the Lego store, and write down all the things he wants to get. I'll translate the list below:

6 or 7 on box (meaning the age range should start at 6 or 7)
lego train $129.99 (this one*)
lego plane $59.99 (this one)
sunblock $6.98 (this one)
lego Desert cobra 30 dollars (this one)
*I'm only including the links so that you can see what he's talking about- please don't buy these for him.
And here is the chore list.

Yeah I'm a skinflint. Oh well. (Though I will say I did give him far more than 5 cents for dusting those blinds, he worked hard on those.)

Worker Bee

2012-01-04T16:14:00.002-07:00

Nils got some Christmas money this year and instead of confiscating and depositing it in a savings account like we normally do, we let Nils spend some of it. Now that he has a taste of spending money on what he wants he's been eager to earn more. So I drew up a price list of optional/extra chores he can do for pay, and he's jumped into it with relish. He spent almost an hour on Monday dusting these blinds.

It's pretty awesome if you ask me.

Thai Cashew Chicken

2012-01-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago we got some of the the Thai Cashew Chicken from Panda Express. It was rather good, and I tried my hand at making it at home. I based it on this recipe and it was great!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-31T16:44:00.001-07:00

I'm thinking that pizza on Christmas Eve is going to be a tradition for us. We did it last year and I saw some holiday shaped pizzas on the internet so we did it this year again. They all looked better before we baked them, but they tasted okay.

The kids think we should have a Santa shaped pizza next year. I don't think I'm up for that. Also three whole pizzas for the four of us was overkill, we're still eating pizza.

Tree Topper

2011-12-31T16:38:00.003-07:00

Fool that I am I decided to move the tree after we had decorated this, and the angel up top fell right off onto her head. I tried repairing it best I could but was missing a few pieces.

If I were into the Zombie scene I would have painted her face green, stuffed a walnut in the hole in her head and had a zombie angel on top of my tree. Lucky for me, I'm not into the zombie scene, so I didn't do that. Instead I made this (instructions here):

It wasn't at all hard, and the only irritating parts about it were the glitter everywhere, and having to wait for the glue to dry in between steps. It turned out very pretty, and since it's just paper it doesn't matter if I drop it, as I undoubtedly will.

Pilgrim Party

2011-12-03T13:17:00.001-07:00

Nils' class had their Thanksgiving program a couple weeks ago. Nils did a great job, and said his part loudly and clearly.

At his school they have it set up so that parents can come watch the program and then eat lunch with their kid. We didn't especially want to eat lunch with Nils, and we had to drop Walter off at his class anyways, so we said goodbye to Nils and left. A few minutes later his teacher came to find us in the preschool room, and told us that Nils was in tears because he thought we were going to eat lunch with him (even though we told him we weren't). So we went to console Nils and ended up watching him eat his lunch. That was a lot of fun.

Lucky Lady

2011-11-22T19:39:00.001-07:00

In primary on Sunday the kids took turns finding turkey feathers around the room, sharing something they are grateful for, and putting their feathers on the turkey. When it was Walter's turn the music leader asked him what he was grateful for, he put on his most charming smile and announced that he was grateful for "My mommy."All of the teachers said "aww!" The thing that makes this funniest to me is that I was most certainly *not* the intended audience of that answer. Walter is savvy enough to have picked the response most likely to endear him to all the ladies in the room. I predict that one day Walter will be that guy who knows exactly what to say to melt a girl's heart. Heck, he already is that guy.

Pumpkin guts

2011-11-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

Nils and Walter stare wide eyed and speechless into the gory innards of an enormous pumpkin.

Saving it for later

2011-11-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

Walter didn't want to finish his toaster pastry so he put it in the fridge. Obviously that is the best place for it.

Bat & Dragon

2011-11-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what kind of pose Walter is doing, but it sure is something. This is at the ward party; Nils is a bat (I couldn't get the ears to stick up very well), and Walter is a dragon. One thing that is surprising to me is how consistent Nils is. I remember changing what I wanted to be for Halloween every hour or so right up until it was time to go. Walter shows signs of being like me (his range of options is still rather limited), but Nils decided he was going to be a bat a few months ago and has stuck with it ever since.

Fat cat in a little dress

2011-11-01T10:27:00.003-07:00

My sister was talked into buying halloween costumes for her cats by one of our nieces. (I suspect it didn't take much work for the niece to accomplish this). When this sister came to stay the night at our house we tried the costumes on Theta. She was, as ever, very tolerant, even though she really really didn't like it. Poor cat.

A Billion Things part 5: Hat

2011-10-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

There this new-ish website called pinterest. It is an image centered bookmarking service. You see something you like on the internet, you 'pin' it, and then when you visit your pinterest page you can see little pictures of all the things you saw on the internet. It is great fun, and a horrible time waster. (These are my pins.)Anyhow, I wanted to avoid the trap of spending all my time looking at pretty, neat, or handy things without ever trying them. So I've been trying to hold myself to following through on the things I pin. I've been trying the recipes, and now making the crafts. This hat:

was made from a pattern I found on Pinterest. Except for the flower. I made up the flower.

Don't make promises you can't keep

2011-10-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

I told Walter we could have mac and cheese for dinner without checking to make sure that we actually had some in the house. He was quite distraught.

Camping trip

2011-10-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

We went camping last week. We had our 72 hour kits to up-date, and the kids had the week off of school so conditions were perfect. Except for the weather. It got down into the 40's that night, and we were all rather miserable while we were trying to sleep. The kids had a great time setting up camp, playing around in the trees, and putting sticks on the fire but after that night they were ready to get back to their warm beds. Nils was especially worried that we would miss the check-out time and have to stay another night.

New Name

2011-10-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

Walter just informed me that his 'next' name will be "Walter [Lastname] Wolf."

I asked if I should start calling him Wolf now.

He said yes.

Numb face

2011-09-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

It looks like Nils has inherited my bad teeth. Our last trip to the dentist revealed 6 cavities for Nils. On the plus side, he is a fantastic patient. The dentist continually gushes about how great he is, and how still he sits in the chair. Jay thinks they're just saying that to make us feel good about going to the dentist. I would say my favorite part of taking Nils to the dentist is watching him deal with the numb face. It's so fun to try and get him to smile for me. He gets so mad.

Expert

2011-09-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

Walter has been in Preschool about a month now. He's given up on the waterworks show when I drop him off, and has moved on to shamelessly buttering up his teachers. That said, I continue to be impressed by the strides he's making academically. He went from being able to roughly draw a 'W' to writing his name by himself (with minimal coaching from Nils).

A kid who likes sports, Part II

2011-09-28T13:44:00.001-07:00

Nils is slowly getting better at soccer, though the bugs he sees at practice continue to be the highlights of the day. One thing I didn't know while registering for this league is that they have 1st and 2nd graders playing together. So Nils is as much as 2 years younger than some of the kids on his team. All in all I'm not very impressed with this league. But we'll see if Nils still likes sports next year before I start hunting for a better league.

A kid who likes sports

2011-08-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

The other day at dinner Nils announced that he likes sports. "I really do," he said. "For reals."

Just for some context, 2 years ago we signed him up for soccer. He looked lost the entire time he played. When it came time to sign up for soccer last year he declined my offer. When I ask him to show me the exercises he does at PE he refuses, and tells me how much he doesn't like PE.

For school he was assigned to write a paragraph about himself. He wrote "Nils is a boy. He has a soccer trophy. He likes sports."

Huh.

I offered to sign him up for soccer again, and he said "Yes! Because I like sports." Turns out the last day to sign up for the local league is today, at his school down the street. We went to sign up, and they were having a 'free skills clinic.' So Nils got in the rotation, and did his best. Most of the kids are way bigger than him (even in his age group). He still looked lost most of the time, and opted to skip the second half of the clinic.

The highlight of the day? He saw a butterfly out on the field.

A billion things Part 4: There! I fixed it.

2011-08-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

Our gate is broken. The latch thingy snapped clean away. The landlords know about it, but I'm not sure they're planning on fixing it, or getting a new one or what. In the meanwhile the gate has been swinging freely in the breeze, and likely further breaking itself.

So I got the rest of some machine screw Jay used to fix his car awhile ago, and some zip ties and jury-rigged this monstrosity. It works. And that is what counts. Besides, if I really cared what this gate looked like I'd have painted it before now.

A billion things, Part 3: The Spice must flow.

2011-08-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

The problem:

Is that mustard or ginger behind the the thyme? Do I have any basil? Where is it?
The (prototype) solution:

The result:

Yes! I do have basil. It's there on the left.

A billion things Part 2: The Entryway

2011-08-20T19:26:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid my backpack didn't have a place. So it seemed like it was always kicking around, and in the way. The other day Nils came home from school and dropped his backpack right in the middle of the doorway. I got after him by saying "Nils! Where does your backpack go?" I immediately realized that his backpack doesn't go anywhere. This was also true of my purse, Walter's backpack, and Jay's stuff as well. It often looked like this, if not worse.

So I fixed it the American way. I bought something new.

There is still a bit of flotsam up top, but now everyone's stuff has a place. Now we just need to get in the habit of putting our stuff in it's place.

A Billion Things: Part 1, Theta

2011-08-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Now that I have 2 kids in school for a few hours every day I'm going to get to work on all those things I've been putting off for when I have more time. Theta's fur was getting out of control in this summer heat. Also given her, ahem, rotund stature she has a hard time keeping herself as clean as she should be. In other words she was too icky to pet. So I took her to get a lion cut today.
She looks, at once, more slender, and more chubby. More slender because her profile is smaller without the fluff, but more chubby because there is no fur to hide the rolls.

When we told Grandma A. about our plans to give her a lion she said Theta would be a portly lion, and she is. Also someday when I have a pub I'm going to name it The Portly Lion.

First day of school

2011-08-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

My kids both have a photo face that seems to say "I'm smiling for you, just how you wanted. I'm a good kid!"

Nils was super excited about his first day of first grade. He got to play on the big playground and has transitioned very well.
Walter did really well too. There were no tears shed by either of us, though I can't say the same for some of the other kids & parents.

I had grand plans of using all my new found free time to get a billion things done. That didn't happen. I think after I've recovered from the summer a bit I'll work up to the 'get a billion things done' phase.

The magical checklist

2011-07-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

~~Sometimes~~ Frequently getting ready for bed is a, cough cough, source of conflict. The other day Jay had a stroke of genius and said that I should make up some 'instructions' for Nils- this was the start of the near miraculous "Bedtime Checklist."
Nils has always been very pleased with the idea of following a clear, printed, numbered set of instructions (I suspect this is precisely what appeals to him about origami). He very much likes getting out recipes and looking at the list of things one must do. His favorite part of any lego set is the little booklet that tells you how to assemble the pieces.
So I made up a bedtime checklist. Since then the most annoying thing about having Nils get ready for bed is his inability to cope with doing things out of order, and his policing Walter on completing every step on the list. The whining and conflict at every step of the process has almost entirely disappeared. And if he forgets something, pointing out that he missed step 3 is more readily received than me telling him to put his shoes away.
I've also made a bathroom checklist which has had the wonderful effect of getting the toilet flushed regularly. Amazing.
This morning in the middle of the "HurryUpWe'reGoingToBeLateForSwimLessons" panic Nils asked me to make him a "get ready for swimming" checklist. I have a feeling we will be making many more such lists in the coming months and years. I only hope they don't lose their allure.

Practice makes perfect

2011-07-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Summer wears on and Nils is still folding an entire origami army almost daily. Today he folded this 8 point star:

He folded it by himself. From memory. After being shown how only 3 times. No, it's not perfect. But structurally it's all there.
Just to give you some context this is something that I had trouble figuring out while I was in high school. Granted I didn't have someone showing me how and was learning from an old book with unclear diagrams, but still sinking the point of the bird base is non-trivial stuff.

Trip to the farm

2011-06-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

So, the comment form is being dodgy for some people, and I've switched to a pop-up window for adding comments to hopefully fix the problem. If you're having trouble commenting let me know. Somehow. I'm not giving out my email address though.
Anyhow, For Christmas aunt Geneva gave me a coupon for a dairy farm tour with free ice creams, flavored milk and a hay ride. Since it was May and about to expire, I figured we should go.
There was this great calf with an underbite. That was the highlight of the trip for me.

Since my parents have chickens, and we had chickens for awhile, they're kind of passé for my kids. Walter did get a kick out of watching this little girl chasing the chickens though.

Even though Walter's "cotton candy" flavored ice cream was sick, the other flavors were pretty good. The flavored milk not so great. All in all it was a good time.

Trip to Utah

2011-06-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

This past week we drove up to Utah to visit Grandma Great and help her clear out her shed-type building. On the way up we stopped for a night in Las Vegas. We visited Oldemor at her place for a little while. We went and saw the sharks at Mandalay Bay, and later that night we went to the M&M store. All the while our camera spent some time relaxing the hotel room.

Sigh.

When we got to Utah the kids had a grand time playing with their cousins. And I promise they did more than sit on the couch playing phone games.

(And I'm not sure who's phone Walter is playing with here, cause it's not ours.)

After we cleared out Grandma Great's shed we piled up all the wood and had a bonfire. It was great fun, and Nils had a grand time running up to it throwing a bit of wood onto it then fleeing.

Overall it was a great trip.

Onigiri

2011-06-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I made some rice balls (or onigiri). Nils loves them. And eats them. With gusto. Since he loved them so much (and I liked them pretty well too), I went ahead and ordered a mold to make them with. Let me just say that the mold is way more comfortable than burning my hands trying to smash some hot sticky rice into a ball, and the result is so much more attractive.

I like them filled with shredded chicken and some of this sauce:
In a saucepan heat to boiling:
2/3 C sugar
1/4 C soy sauce
1 T lemon juice
1 T vegetable oil
1 t minced garlic
1/2 t minced ginger(or paste)
(watch closely, as it will foam up and out of the pot. Ask me how I know.)

Add:
1/4 C water mixed with 1T corn starch
Stir until thick.

Culling the Herd

2011-06-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid my parents got me an origami kit. I loved it. Recently Nils has been trying to do some stuff from my books, but has been having trouble. So I bought him his own super-simple book and big stack of papers. He loves it, and has been diligently working his way through it. In response I've had to mandate that he pick 4 every night to keep and the rest get thrown away. This is just one night's to-go pile.

I count 7 pianos, 2 cups, 3 boats and various others. I'm glad he hasn't learned how to make rabbits- otherwise we'd be overrun.

Shaun the Sheep

2011-06-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't cut Nils' hair in who knows how long. He was starting to get some pretty magnificent bedhead every morning(see below). This last week the long hair began to just look ridiculous- getting in his eyes, long wisps around his neck, and just overall unkempt looking. So this morning we went from this:

To this:

He looks like he's been shorn, and I think I'll start calling him Shaun.

Butterfly Race

2011-05-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

When I picked Nils up from school yesterday he runs up and tells me that he gets to do a butterfly race tomorrow. His teacher came up and explained that he gets to do the butterfly release. I guess the whole school got a whole mess of butterflies and each class would let two students release their class's butterflies at a big assembly, and I could come watch.
Here's Nils, posing for his teacher to take pictures.

It's good to know that it isn't just me, and he does that to everyone.
Walter seemed to enjoy the whole thing, and got a big kick out all Nils' classmates saying "Hi Walter!" to him.

After we sat in the sun waiting for the rest of the school to get there, some guy (the vice principal?) yammered for a bit and then they let the butterflies go. It quickly devolved into a melee of kids chasing butterflies, but before it all fell apart Nils managed to get one on his finger, and he seemed pretty pleased with that.

Easter

2011-05-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

I thought I posted these pictures a week ago. Guess not. Anyways, Easter was fun.

Happy Birthday Walter

2011-04-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

We had a last minute party today. Mostly for Walter, but since most of our family has a birthday within the same week, it was really for everyone except for Nils.

So we had a party. It was fun. I made egg-rolls, they were good. I also managed to get the impossible baby to sleep. I'm very soporific.

Pros and Cons

2011-04-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

Nils' school has a dress code. This is a good thing, to me, because it takes some of the focus away from dressing stylishly, or whatever. It also simplifies the morning routine, because you just wear your school clothes.
On the downside though, without getting feedback from your peers about your clothing choices it lets idiosyncrasies linger longer than they otherwise might. I would guess that Nils has no idea that the other kids in his class don't dress like this at home too:

And yes, not only is he wearing socks with sandals, they're Christmas socks too. And the shorts are swim trunks.

72 Hour Kids

2011-04-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Since it's conference weekend it is time to update the 72 hour kits. Walter got about half a pack of gum in his mouth before we caught him. He also has been running around in the pants from his kit (which he's decided he prefers to his regular pants).
Best conference ever (according to the kids).

Sicko

2011-03-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

It looks like we'll be under quarantine for the next little while. I picked Nils up from school, and he seemed perfectly fine. Granted I don't make it a habit to closely inspect his eyes whenever I pick him up. About two hours later his eye was all red, and covered in goop. Naturally this was a few minutes after the doctor's office closed. So instead I had to drive him to the urgent care, and hang out there for two hours, then go to the pharmacy, and on and on.
So we'll be stuck at home for the next few days, administering eye drops every 6 hours, and amoxicillin every 8 hours, and Cadbury mini eggs every hour.

Birthday Boy

2011-03-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Because of all sorts of things, poor little Walter's 4th birthday came and went with very little fanfare. (I have a party planned for the weekend, but yesterday was his actual birthday.) His grandma stopped by while we were out and left a toy for him at our house. For dinner we had Hardboiled eggs and strawberries (his favorite foods). Later we went out for ice cream, after making a stop at AutoZone, per his request.

Prolific Author

2011-03-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

Over spring break Nils authored, illustrated, and self-published about 20 books. These are some of the ones about dragons.

Starting at the top left is "Dragon Sting" about dragons that shoot lightning from their eyes. There is also: "But how big is a dragon," "Big Giant Dragon," "Dragons that look like Snakes," "Giant Dragons that has 2 wings," "All about dragons," and "The dragon at the field." These are all educational books with diagrams. If you come over Nils will make you read them all.

Just in case you were wondering, my kid is awesome.

Say Cheese

2011-03-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

I took several photos and this was the best I got.
This is why I haven't had professional portraits done. I'm fully aware that there is a difference between a snapshot and a portrait, but a grimace is still a grimace.

New toy

2011-02-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those people that has always thought in the back of my mind how great it would be to hook up something to a bike and power it that way. Today my long held dream of having a bike powered grain mill became a reality. Or, mostly a reality. It still needs some tweaking to get the belt tension right, but it is a bike rigged up to power a grain mill.

You may now applause.

New Shoes

2011-02-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Walter's shoes just kept getting harder and harder to put on, until I finally realized that his feet were getting bigger. Nils' shoes were falling apart as well so I took them both to get new shoes. They were really excited.
They measured Walter's feet and he was wearing shoes a full size too small for him. Now he's wearing shoes just slightly too large for him and he looks like a little clown. He's got big feet.

And he wanted to wear his new shoes to bed.

Guess where it was?

2011-01-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

So you know how I misplaced my camera? I found it. Can you guess where it was? I put it where it officially goes. Who would have ever thought it'd be there?
Anyhow.
This morning Walter was playing Diego (note the backpack), and thought Theta needed some rescuing. So he very gingerly put his cloth on her like a blanket, and spoke to her in very soft tones about how she will feel better soon.

I couldn't have asked for a better cat for my kids. If they were inclined to dress her up and have tea parties I think she'd even tolerate that. Though I'm not sure if she's so tolerant of the kids because she's virtuous and long-suffering, or if it's just 'cause she's lazy. But I guess it's the same either way.

Excuses excuses

2011-01-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

So, I misplaced my camera. I'm sure if I put some effort into finding it I could, but I haven't done that yet. As it stands there are lots of things I would have taken a picture of and put up a post about, but when the camera isn't right there then it just doesn't happen. And posts that are just text are rarely as exciting as posts that have pictures of charming children in them, though my goofball kids are better than nothing I suppose.
That's why there haven't been many posts lately. Bear with me. I'll find the motivation to find my camera soon.
Probably.

Christmas Wrap up

2011-01-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

I put away the Christmas stuff a little while ago, but before I did I took a picture of these stockings I made. I am insanely proud of that snowflake, and for good reason; it was really hard

Snowday

2011-01-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday we went to the Zoo. It was raining and cold, but there was no line for the sting ray petting place, and almost all the animals were gamboling about in the rain. Like the Bobcat. Seriously, has anyone ever got a good view of the Bobcat at the Phoenix zoo? Well we did. And it was awesome.
Anyways while it was raining here it was snowing at my parents, so on Friday we took a day trip up to play in the snow for the last day of winter break. They had a great time, even though they were miserably cold by the time they finished.

We had to dig the car out before we could get home, but I think it was worth it.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Stylin'

2010-12-18T22:28:00.000-07:00

Nils thought we were going to buy a pizza for dinner tonight, so he got all gussied up for the occasion (which sadly never happened). So we've got Nils in a goofy hat and mittens, with sandals, and Walter in backwards, inside-out sweatpants (note the pockets-turned-wings and the tag).
We've got ourselves some stylin' kids.

Sigh

2010-12-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the Primary sent Nils home with a service advent calendar. It is a bunch of strips of paper with activities listed on each one, and as we complete them we make the strips into a paper chain. Yesterday's was to write a letter or draw a picture for someone you care about and give it to them.
Nils decided he wanted to give his picture to Lily, a girl in his class. He drew the picture, and asked me to write out the words "Lily you're my best friend" on a card so he could write them himself on her picture. I was all full of warm fuzzies while doing this.
Later he came to show me his picture, and we started talking.
"Is Lily your best friend?"
"Yes."
"So you play with her a lot" (I asked because I've been trying to figure out just who he plays with at school, so maybe we could invite them here to play someday).
"Uhhh.... Lily doesn't play with my every day."
"But she plays with you sometimes right"
"No, she doesn't play with me." At this point the warm fuzzies were gone. "But she will play with me after I give her this picture."
"Maybe so."
This morning after dropping Nils off at school, I hung around in order to spy on him at the playground. He gave Lily the picture. She took it. They stood there awkwardly for a little while. Lily kept talking to her friends, and Nils wandered off to look at things by himself.
Sigh.

Chin Beard

2010-11-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Lately Nils has been rather taken with beards. Making a 'beard' out clay, or other things laying about the house. So we made him a yarn beard. It had a mustache, but he didn't like that, so we took it off.

Sandwich

2010-11-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

I bought some English Muffins the other day. After school Nils asked if he could have one. I said okay, and he marched off to the kitchen to prepare his snack. He knows how to work the toaster so I let him do it by himself. From the kitchen he asked me if he should put butter on it. I told him that, yes, he should put butter on it.
A few minutes later I heard him chewing rather loudly and decided I should see how successful his food preparation was.
He got two whole English Muffins, spread butter on them and put them together like a sandwich. He ate just about the whole thing.
Yummy.

Farm boy

2010-11-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

On that same trip to the pumpkin patch Walter got to climb on the tractors. I was told he *had* to push every button and pull every lever he could see. He also refused to get off of the tractor, until another kid asked to have a turn. At least he's willing to share.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-02T21:07:00.001-07:00

Grandma took Walter with her to the Pumpkin thing at the Botanical Garden. She said he first picked out the very biggest pumpkin he could see, and after she talked him out of that he then picked the very smallest pumpkin. She ultimately managed to talk him into a medium sized pumpkin.

Halloween Preview

2010-10-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the ward trunk or treat. We had a chili and pie competition. My pie won, to quote the judges, "hands down." The kids enjoyed frolicking about, Nils as a ghost and Walter as a fruit bat. Though I'm thinking we should add some blinky lights or something to Walter's costume. His all-black costume makes him hard to spot in a dark parking lot.

Trip to the fair

2010-10-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

We went to the fair, and rode the carousel. A moderately good time was had by all. Though the weeping and wailing as we left the fair made me glad that it only happens once a year.

School Project

2010-10-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Nils was sent home with a pumpkin to decorate over fall break. This is what he came up with.

I especially like the backwards K. While Nils was working on his Walter was working on some scrap paper. After he saw me take a picture of Nils he insisted on having his taken too. So here it is:

Puppeteers

2010-10-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

When we visited Prescott Nils had an especially good time with his cousins. They played Monopoly- his new favorite game. They played dress up. They played dance party. They played puppets too. I didn't get a picture of the dancing, and because I want Nils to like me when he's older I'm not going to put up the dress up pictures.

New Boots part II

2010-10-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

The day after I got the new boots for the kids I woke up to find Nils dressed like this. He pitched quite a fit when I told him that he couldn't wear the boots to school. On the other hand he didn't seem too torn up when I told him he couldn't wear the hat either.

New boots

2010-10-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

After a trip to Target our dear old friend Clompy McBootsOn has returned to our house, and is- at this very moment- clomping about the house singing to himself about boots. We got some firefighter boots for Nils, and have yet to see how those will be received; we'll find out I guess.

Peeping Tom (Cat)

2010-09-23T19:50:00.001-07:00

Tycho lounges on the floor totally unaware that neighbor cat is watching him very closely.

Walter these days

2010-09-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Walter has been on this kick of putting on his pajamas at about 12:30 in the afternoon. He also has been lagging in his use of the toilet- so he has been earning donuts by using the toilet instead of his underpants. And he's been on a kick of asking me to take pictures of him, he mugs for the camera and loves every minute of it. Lastly he has a weird fixation with bridges, and loves pretending that he is one. So here it all is in one image.

Little Liberties

2010-09-17T19:45:00.001-07:00

Nils made these at an assembly today.

Animal Rescuers

2010-09-09T07:50:00.002-07:00

They've been watching Go Diego Go, and have really latched on to the idea of the arctic. So they've been wearing coats and backpacks around the house, pretending to be rescuing penguins and polar bears, and being so! cold! I've had to forbid them from wearing the coats outside because they don't seem to care that it is over 100 F out there.

So comfortable.

2010-09-05T07:38:00.002-07:00

Nils has been sleeping in the tent again, and Walter starts out in the tent, but has been ending up anywhere but. This position was fairly unusual. Also he's been insisting on wearing mismatched pajamas.

Camping

2010-09-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

We got out the play tents and left them set up for a few days. During those days Nils slept in his tent every night.

On the road

2010-08-30T13:26:00.001-07:00

I took these pictures while driving home from our trip to Utah. Note the pillow carefully positioned between them.

Whack-a-Walter

2010-08-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Puddle Jumpers

2010-08-24T22:46:00.002-07:00

We went to the ward campout, and it rained. A lot. Walter and Nils both had a great time playing in the rain. The best part was when Walter came up to me under the awning, sat down, took off his boots and poured the water out of them.

Mixmaster

2010-08-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Walter preparing for his career as a DJ. He may need to lose some of the babyfat in those cheeks to be taken seriously though.

Walter sleeping with the cars

2010-08-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

While we were in Utah we got out Grandma Great's race car track and set it up for the kids to play with. Walter could barely tear himself away from them.

Second day of school

2010-08-10T19:53:00.002-07:00

After school on the first day Nils came home and told me all about it. I think that was the chattiest Nils has ever been. He told me all about octopuses, and how one kid got in trouble for talking because his teacher likes quiet, and how a different kid peed on the carpet, and how they had donuts but the teacher called them bagels.
On the second day he told me about how one kid had a nose bleed, and spiders that jump are called 'hopping spiders.' When I asked him why his lunch hadn't been touched he told me that the 'teachers in the room where we eat' gave him pizza. That was about all I could get out of him about it. As far as I can tell he left his lunch in his backpack and got shuffled through the hot lunch line with the other kids. How he managed to do so without paying is something I'd like to know.

Anyhow, he passed out on the couch after a few minutes in time out. School is tiring.

First Day of School

2010-08-09T10:39:00.002-07:00

I got one nice picture, like this:
And about 10 pictures like this:

Fun Times

2010-08-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

While in Utah we visited Grandpa Hansen's garden, and played a little bit on his tractor. It was really hot and humid so they did have fun, even though they look so miserable.

Walter Eats his Candy

2010-08-03T22:23:00.001-07:00

We went to the store and I told Walter he could pick out a candy. He picked out a ring pop, and when we got home he sat down and ate the entire thing.

Us Guys

2010-07-29T22:19:00.002-07:00

Nils and Walter were watching cartoons and Tycho snuggled in between them just like he was one of the guys.

2010-07-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

Aunt Jennifer sent some slide whistles to us from Italy. Walter doesn't quite get the concept yet.

Bakers

2010-07-21T18:23:00.002-07:00

I asked them to punch the bread.

Fondue

2010-07-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

I got ambitious and got out the fondue pot, thinking I'd be showing Nils and Walter a good time. Nope. For some inexplicable reason they both burst into tears. I still don't know what caused it.

The napping couch

2010-07-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

5 years old

2010-07-10T19:48:00.003-07:00

Nils turned five today. He wanted a yellow flavored cake, and drew me a picture of what he wanted on his cake, which I replicated to the best of my ability.

He also went and got out the birthday crown with no prompting needed from me. After we had cake and presents we went to watch Toy Story 3. The kids liked it okay, but I think more adults would enjoy it than kids.
Anyways, here's the birthday song and candles for your viewing pleasure:

How to eat a donut

2010-07-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

Some people believe you should eat dessert first. Walter takes that to the next level, by eating the best part of his dessert first.

Ready for church

2010-07-05T18:14:00.001-07:00

Pants? Check
Shirt? Check
Tie? Check
Safety goggles? Check
Cape? Check
Alright, we're ready.

Monkey see monkey do.

2010-06-06T12:29:00.006-07:00

So Walter goes outside with a book and knocks the door until I go over and open it. When I open it he then does this (see picture) while mumbling. Finally he put the book down and said "please let me in."
He did this a few times, and I finally caught on when he said "Wilderness! cah cah rawr!"

Thanks Grandma

2010-06-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

So I have a Grandma that keeps everything. This past weekend she gave me a box of stuff that she thought I could use. It included a few patterns, some oddments of fabric and this terrifying cat thing.

Of course we get the box home, Walter starts unpacking it and finds the (not-yet-stuffed) cat and decides it's his new favorite thing ever. He doesn't care that it looks like it would eat your soul, all that matters is that it's a kitty and it's red. So we fill it with stuffing and he carts it around all day, and used it as a pillow that night. The next day Nils decided it needed to be in his shirt with the head sticking out of his neck so he can pretend to be a cat.

Oh, and apparently the cat's ears are some sort of gun. You know, 'pewpew!'

It was their idea

2010-06-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

So my husband looks out the window and says "If one of our neighbors peeked over the fence right now they would think "those poor kids." But we had nothing to do with it."

Hibernating Cave

2010-06-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Nils has taken to hiding under our desks lately. It was only a matter of time before he decided to start napping under our desks as well.

Battle gear

2010-06-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Walter assembled this Bumblebee costume from things he found around the house. I can totally see the resemblance, can't you?

Cool toys

2010-06-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Our friend Brian came over the other night, and as he was in town for work he had with him his DOD robot. He got it out, drove it around the back yard, chased the kids with it, chased the cat with it, and even let Nils drive it.

Before he left I told him that he's ruined our kids forever. After playing with military grade equipment no remote controlled car is ever going to be good enough.

Graduation

2010-05-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

Nils graduated from preschool this month. They recited the alphabet and numbers in sign language, and sang a few songs.
Walter was all set to line up and perform with the rest of them.

Good clean fun

2010-05-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

They came up with this all on their own.

Speak Softly

2010-05-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

And carry a big stick. On that same hike Walter wanted to carry a stick like his cousins. First he tried to pick up this log.

Then he gave up on that and went for this one.

Very practical.

Old stuff

2010-05-28T16:46:00.003-07:00

Now that it's getting hot, I thought I should put up the clip & photo of the last time we saw snow.
We were on a hike, and Walter spied this snow just off the trail.

Stuffed Animal

2010-05-18T22:28:00.003-07:00

I still can't get over how much Theta likes Walter. He was sleeping on the couch, and she jumped up to lie down next to him.

New toy

2010-05-16T14:14:00.002-07:00

I finally got around to putting this PVC pipe marshmallow gun together. Nils and Walter aren't so great at shooting, but they really like being shot at. And they clean up the ammo just as fast as we can shoot it at them.

Little Red

2010-05-15T14:12:00.001-07:00

Walter dressed himself. Can you guess what his favorite color is?

Swings

2010-05-13T22:01:00.001-07:00

Granted that they're not swinging, so much as spinning. But hey, nothing wrong with that.

Reduce, Recycle and Reuse

2010-05-03T12:30:00.001-07:00

Nils learned this song at preschool and was singing it around the house. I wanted a video of it, so we used the computer to record it, and Walter was right there helping.
Here is what they're saying, in case you're wondering
Nils: "Reduce, recycle and reuse. If you want to show* your part. Show the earth that you have a heart, reduce, recycle and reuse!"
Walter: "oh no, it doesn't take picture. (exasperated sigh) Ready set go! (repeated 4 times) Recycle, reuse. Pew! Boom!"

*I'm pretty sure the song is supposed to say "do your part," but Nils consistently says "show your part."

Busy busy busy

2010-05-02T20:31:00.003-07:00

Yesterday we got out the adding machine to play with. Nils and Walter had a grand time. The real stroke of genius was when Dad looped the paper into a big circle so it could go and go and never run out.

Monkey

2010-04-23T11:31:00.001-07:00