Book worm...er...racoon

This girl loves books. And her racoon costume. A couple of months ago (before her 2nd birthday), she looked up from her book and said in her most petulant voice, "Dad, I can't read!"

Hold your horses, little lady. You've got plenty of time.

new family photos

We are trying to be better about getting regular family photos taken. There was a pretty long drought there between 2006 and 2010, which shall be known from here on out as the Great Memory Drought (sorry mom).

Hanna Caldwell took these and she did a wonderful job, don't you agree?

More photos here.

magic tricks

Jack recently discovered the 25 cent soda pop vending machine at our neighborhood grocery store. Whenever he finds a coin, he begs to "go to the store and turn [his] monies into soda pop." I can't tell which is more exciting to him: the soda pop or the magic trick of turning a quarter into something tasty.

pillow talk

I love eavesdropping on the conversations Lincoln and Daniel have after they've been put to bed. Here's the gem we overheard tonight.

Daniel: Venus is hot.

Lincoln: Hot? Really hot?

Daniel: Yeah, hot.

{In the next room, Joe and I are looking at each other with raised eyebrows. We are very curious to see where this conversation is headed}

Lincoln: Like, stylish hot? Is she stylish?

Daniel: No. Temperature hot, like a hundred degrees. Even her winters are hot.

{At this point, we parents realize with a sigh of relief that he's talking about Venus the planet and love that Lincoln used the word stylish)


Also, Jack was on an airplane kick this evening. We went for a Sunday evening drive, which he decided was an airplane trip. Joe was the pilot, and he quickly realized that Jack would obey anything daddy said in his pilot's voice. But the best part of all came at bedtime. Jack was busy being an airplane mechanic doing a little before-bed airplane maintenance, but found he needed to get deeper into character.

Jack: I'm not Jack. What's my name?

Joe: I don't know, what is it?

Jack: Ummm... Miyogi.

Joe: Miyogi? What's that?

Jack: A woman.

Joe (confused): Roman?

Jack (disgusted): No. Morning...no... vvvvvwoman.

Joe: You're a woman airplane mechanic?

Jack: Yeah.

for the quote board

I forgot to record this little gem from Jack:

In the lead-up to his birthday, Jack wanted us all to know that when he turned three he'd be really big ("wee big") like his brothers, and not little. 

He sounded pretty distressed when he went to get dressed the morning after his birthday.

"Mom", he called from his bedroom, "I can't wear of these tiny pants. I'm too huge!"  He would only be satisfied when I claimed that his pants had also had a birthday and weren't little kid pants anymore.

Bird is the Word

 Long-Billed Curlew, photo via Flickr

Okay, so Mr. Joe and I may have jumped on the birding bandwagon after reading (and loving) The Big Year.  Is there a birding bandwagon? I dunno. Whatever the case, everyone in this family (even Jack and Stella) has gotten really excited about birding (or bird-watching) lately. We've now got a (very amateur) family life list, and have started spending most of our family fun time looking for birds.

We've long been aware of the Pigeons, robins and quail in our neighborhood, but had no idea until recently that we had a Downy Woodpecker living in our yard, that House Finches and Northern Flickers have been regular visitors to our bird feeder, that the flock of pretty little birds in the trees outside Joe's office are Cedar Waxwings, and that a few of the birds we thought were pigeons are actually Eurasian Collared Doves.

It's been amazing to see the variety of birds that surround us on a regular basis. They've always been there, but we're just now starting to appreciate them. It kind of makes me wonder what else we're missing out on because we're not paying attention...

We spent a little time yesterday at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on our way home from Nana's house, where we got an up-close look at a Long-Billed Curlew (pictured above) and a Blue Heron, along with about 10 other birds we hadn't seen yet.  

Very Exciting.

And yes, without a doubt, very nerdy.  But in a world where where it seems to get harder and harder for kids to develop any sort of real relationship with nature, I'll take nerdy any day if it means my kids are excited about being outside and looking around.

As far a bird guides go, we've really loved Stan Tekiela's bird field guides. Our copy is Birds of Utah, but he's published one for every state (Birds of Alaska, Birds of Alabama, etc.). We love them because they are so user (and even kid) -friendly. The birds are organized by color and then size, so you don't have to know a bird's name to look it up. The field guides also include only birds you're likely to find in your State, so you don't have to shuffle through pages and pages of unrelated birds. They've been perfect for beginners like us.

Jack turns three

Today was the big day; the one Jack has been waiting for ever since Lincoln and Daniel's birthdays. He'd been saying for a week or two that he wanted to launch model rockets for his birthday. We remembered that we built a water rocket last summer and stored it in the garage. It was a great substitute, maybe even better than a real model rocket because he got to launch it over and over again.

Here he is, in command of one of his launches:

Fire station field trip

We're part of a little homeschool group that gets together for PE and field trips.

Today we saw went to the fire station to learn about fire safety and look at the fire trucks up close.

The boys have been looking forward to this trip for weeks. I may or may not have used a little fireman manipulation to get Jack to cooperate lately ("firefighters are gentle/eat all their breakfasts/flush the potty/etc.). It may or may not have been ridiculously effective.

Lincoln got to try on the firefighters clothes-- he thought it was really heavy and hot.

And he's off...

We dropped Ben off at the MTC this afternoon. It's going to be a strange two years knowing he's just over the mountain and we can't see him. But seriously, the Salt Lake City South Mission just got a great missionary
.

Jack's already asked "Where's Uncle Ben?" about 20 times.

We are going to miss him like crazy.

Caught...

...red handed...er...white-faced.

Somebody's got a bit of a thing for flour.

The kid wouldn't take a bite of my apple pie, but he's all over my flour. Flour? Really?

I don't get it.

Overheard

Lincoln: Daniel, if I catch you doing that again, I might bite you.

Daniel: I'll bite you back and then I'll tell on you.

Quote board

You've GOT to experience having Jack for a brother. It's awesome.

-Daniel

early riser

Jack likes to get up at the crack of dawn-- a little before actually. Most days Joe is ready for him and will let Jack "help" him get ready for work while I steal a little extra shut eye. (Joe even lets him shave with his electric razor for reals. Won't that be a huge bragging point when he's a teen: "Oh yeah? I've been shaving since I was TWO!!)

One morning recently, after a really rough night, Joe was not ready for our little morning man. Here's how it went:

Jack: (cheerfully bounding into our room) IT'S MORNING TIME!!!

Joe (groggily): Oh man... Daddy's still tired Jack. Why don't you go sit in the green chair and read some books for a while.

[ten minutes later] Jack: Did it. Can I be wake now?

Joe (still from bed): Yeah...


Jack: Can I put my jammies in the hamper?

Joe: Yeah...  (jack puts jammies in the hamper)

Jack: Can I pee in da potty?

Joe: Yeah...  (jack pees in the potty)

Jack: Can I put on my underwear?

Joe: Yeah... (jack puts on some underwear)

Jack proceeded to get himself ready for the day (even grabbing the container of leftover oatmeal from the fridge and helping himself to a breakfast of cold oatmeal and almond milk)--  asking for "permission" at each step of the process.  He's truly a do-it-yourself kind of kid.

If only his brothers would get themselves up and ready for the day before mom and dad rolled out of bed every morning...

good for us

The other morning, Lincoln asked why he had to practice new math facts and couldn't just stick with the ones he already knew and could answer easily. I gave him the typical mom reply: "That's how you learn. Hard things are good for us."

To which Jack chimed in from the kitchen, "Tasty things are good for me."