Knock Knock

First, you must watch this video of Jonah and his cousin telling knock-knock jokes.



Telling jokes is a popular activity at our house as of late. Each kid has their own style. Skyler is still learning how to tell a joke that is funny. He can tell one that makes sense, but it isn't always funny. Jonah, well you watched the video (you did, didn't you?), he is all about nonsense. To him, if it is completely nonsensical, then it's funny. Oliver goes around saying "knock, knock" all the time. Though I can't always understand him and it's not until I see the little pincer grasp-type thing that he does with his fingers when he says knock-knock, that I realize he's trying to tell me a joke. So, I say "who's there". To which Oliver will usually spout out someone's name. I continue the joke and at that point Oliver starts laughing. He doesn't understand that the person who starts the joke is also supposed to deliver the punchline.

The Rest of Spring Break

The rest of Spring Break consisted of:

• Taking the kids to Children's Place to buy really cute newsboy/golf hats that they refuse to wear.
• Taking the kids to the park and letting them play for as long as they wanted even though it was crazy windy and I was going crazy as a result. Next time Skyler tells me I'm mean, I'll just remember that park trip and know that he's lying.
• Sleeping in! Seriously, the little two slept until at least 8 nearly every morning after we got back and Skyler slept until at least 7 (I think, he doesn't bug us when he wakes up, so I really don't know). It's all very hard to believe considering they woke up crazy early every day on our trip, thus annoying everyone in that household.
• Playing at friend's house who apparently has a way cooler house than we do.
• Filling out our March Madness tourney brackets. This has turned Skyler into an obsessed basketball fan. But, as a result, we are at the top of one of the bracket contests I entered, so I shall not complain too much.
• Me hanging out with Ollie at Old Navy (when I supposed to be at the grocery store) while Jordan took the other two "scootering" at the park. Skyler was super brave and rode his scooter down some of the small ramps at the skate park that the park had.

And now it's back to school!

We Took A Trip

The first half of Spring Break was spent visiting family and some friends. We were able to go to hiking with some old friends from college on Saturday. We got distracted by all the water and the kids had to stop and play.

We were able to watch my sister-in-law's ballet recital. She teaches dance to little girls. It was a fun performance that, although they may not readily admit it, the boys enjoyed. They especially like the 'come dance on the stage' part at the end.

Jonah showing off his moves

I had to throw in this picture just to prove that Oliver was really with us. That kid does like to dance.

We visited the desert museum. Which was much more exciting than it sounds. I would probably call it more of a zoo, but no one asked me. It had all the things you'd expect at such a place - creatures that inhabit the desert - along with some fun things like an animal show, a cave to explore and a rock path climbing thingy.

These two were telling each other knock-knock jokes

Exploring the rock path climbing thingy

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins (and other kids that happened to be visiting the house too). They were very sad when it was time to leave.

Jeopardy

Skyler had an odd obsession with Jeopardy when he was a baby. He would go crazy every time he heard the theme song and crane his head to take a look.







And yes, I realize that this makes it look like it was actually me with the odd Jeopardy obsession, but that really isn't the case. I got hooked on it when Ken Jennings was on and apparently as a result it became a part of my daily routine. So, despite the fact that even though nearly every time there is a TV on in a picture or video from that time frame, it's Jeopardy, I really only just watched it once a day if it fit into my really busy schedule.

So back to Skyler, and Ken Jennings also. Last week when he was duking it out against the robot, I turned on Jeopardy. And a little switch went off in Skyler's head and he is hooked once again (for approximately three minutes at which point he starts running around like a hooligan with the other two).

Progress... Maybe

The first week of January in Mormon blog-land was full of pictures of smiling new Sunbeams - children who are three years old and moving on from the nursery to primary with the big kids.  We didn't join in because we did not have a smiling new Sunbeam! Jonah was less than thrilled to leave nursery behind.

Actually, Skyler had brainwashed him into thinking it would be wonderful, so despite the fact that he said he was excited, I don't think he really was. He was very obviously overwhelmed when we first entered the primary room and refused to sit in a chair. He huddled next to the wall where his class was sitting. After awhile, I left him but I had to return because he refused to leave the primary room after Singing Time to go to his own class (with just the Sunbeams).

This became the norm, with the exception of one week. I would have to escort him from the primary room to his class because when it was time to go he would hide under his chair instead of walking with his class to his classroom!

Each week, he told me he didn't like his class because he didn't like fishing (a game they play I don't know how often, but I know they did it the first week because his teacher said it was the only thing that got him away from his spot against the wall). I would tell him he didn't have to play that game if he didn't want to, but he'd still not want to go to his class.

This week he handled the transition just fine! And what was he most excited about when I asked him about his class? Fishing.

Oliver's Trick

Oliver learned this little trick awhile ago, but then stopped saying "me" and would instead say "no". I'm so glad that he started saying me again. I've learned that I must ask for this trick sparingly!

So tilt your head to the left and take 11 seconds out of your day to watch the video. You won't regret it.

Valentine's Day

I really quite enjoy Valentine's Day and I like to try and think of something fun to do to celebrate it. Because of Oliver's condition, I'm trying to steer clear of food-related holiday traditions because should we ever have to venture down the no-food route, I don't want it affecting our holiday fun. Thus there were no heart-shaped pancakes or pizzas or cookies, just a hear-shaped treasure hunt.

I set up a treasure hunt for the boys to do as soon as Skyler came home from school. Thankfully, this was well-received by Skyler, who in turn set one up for me! He asked me to cut out some hearts and told me he was going to use them to make butterflies, instead he went upstairs and wrote clues on them and hid them. We all set up a treasure hunt for Jordan to do after work. Actually, Jonah did most of it, I was super impressed at his ability to understand the rules of treasure hunt clue set-up. His rhyming though (if the clue said "flower", the next clue would be hidden somewhere that rhymes with flower, so in the shower) still needs some work.







Jonah got a maze book and Skyler got a Lego set which he promptly rejected because he wanted a maze book. So, I returned the Legos and will get him a maze book as soon as I am at an appropriate maze book purchasing store. Oh, and even though he didn't participate in the treasure hunt, Oliver got a stuffed Elmo.

In related news, the kids got some money from my mom. Jonah used one of his dollars to buy a "ball gunner" at the dollar store and blew the rest of his money on the claw game at Walmart.  You know, the one that the aliens first live in in the first Toy Story movie? Where you control the claw to try and pick up "fabulous" prizes? He didn't win anything, but he didn't care. He's been begging to play for several weeks now, so hopefully it satisfied him for awhile.

Geocaching

Geocaching is Jordan's new hobby. When you go out geocaching, you use gps coordinates to find a hidden cache that someone else has left. These things are everywhere!

The boys think it's lots of fun and they were super excited to go and hide a cache this weekend. Skyler sat at the computer for the better part of an hour looking at google maps trying to figure out where they should place their cache.

Here they are standing above it. It had a time theme and Jordan made the lid into a sundial.

Oliver decided he needed some dirt to take home (and, yup, they did take it home).

Checking out the treasures in a cache we found last month. We took the giraffe that Jonah is holding and left another little trinket.

Jordan helping Skyler use the GPS, so he can guide us to the cache. This was on New Year's Day, I believe, and it was so cold! This is really not the greatest cold weather activity, but Jordan wanted to try out his new GPS.

A Snow Day and Then Some

Tuesday was a snow day for Skyler, followed by an 'it's too cold outside' day (the high was nine and wind chills were below zero throughout the day), followed by a 'the school buses won't start' day (perhaps to be know in the future as antifreeze awareness day?), and wrapped up with a 'there's a natural gas shortage' day. Did you catch all of that? That means four straight days of no school. Here are some highlights from our impromptu long break from school.

We played in the snow. It's hard to think that this is the same kid that used to fear snow so much. When we were out running errands yesterday, Skyler even changed his path just so he could walk in the snow! We pointed out to him that when he was Oliver and Jonah's age, he screamed anytime he was too near snow and would go out of his way in an effort to not step into any snow at all.



Oliver surprised me by going down the slide all by himself at the McDonald's play area.

We went to get frozen yogurt. What? That's not your activity of choice when it's 20 degrees outside? A local self-serve yogurt place prices their yogurt according to the high temperature of the day (so long as it's below their normal 41 cents an ounce). Thus, this should have been everyone's activity of choice at least one day this past week. They had a sorbet that was Oliver friendly - such a wonderful surprise! He was so happy sitting on the floor in the corner with his oversized cup of yogurt. It is my hope that by writing it, the image will be forever etched in my mine. Since I didn't have my camera, I am sorry it cannot be forever etched in yours.

My hope for the days off was to make some fun treats and work on Valentine crafts. Unfortunately, even very loosely organized at-home activities and Skyler don't mix well at all. We did get around to decorating some Valentine mailboxes with very few problems, even when you factor in Ollie just dumping all the supplies on the ground.







And, now that we've essentially experienced three weekends in a row, it's back to school tomorrow!

They Must Have Wii in Heaven

Jonah (during his prayer to bless the food before dinner): ...and please bless that we don't die on level 2 in World 7, and please bless that we don't die in World 8, and please bless that we don't die in the Bowser Castles, and..

Jordan: ...and please bless the food

Jonah: ..and please bless the food.

I'm happy to report that after dinner, we successfully managed to beat the apparently pesky level 2 in World 7.

Yesterday

Yesterday  I knocked out Skyler's two front teeth (that, for the record, were already loose enough for the hygienist to point it out at his cleaning two weeks ago) when I accidentally kicked him in the mouth as was crawling up the stairs and I was walking up the stairs in front of him. The first one came out right away and Jonah found it on the stairs. The second one came out only after nearly an hour of much freaking out from Skyler, who seemed to be most worried that if he were to swallow his tooth while sleeping, how would he prove to the tooth fairy that he lost it.

Meanwhile, Jonah announced that he wanted to leave the earth and go to a different planet, so, he announced, we should go find a rocket.

And Oliver learned a super cute trick that I am trying very hard to catch on video.

The end. How was your day?

How Did I Forget This?

Normally I don't like to go too far into the past for blog posts. If I forget to post something in a relatively prompt amount of time, I just let it go, but I feel this one is too good to pass and must be documented.

This picture is from an aquarium/botanic garden trip in August. That large plastic container that Jonah is carrying is his "camera". At home, he was carrying it around taking pictures and wanted to take it with us, so he ran all over the aquarium and garden "taking pictures" and occasionally having us look at them. Until he lost his beloved camera. We backtracked a bit and couldn't find it. He was crazy upset about it and insisted I go to lost and found (Skyler's idea) to see if it was there. So, I went into the security office and inquired about a large, empty plastic container. Surprisingly enough, no one had turned one in. I went back into the bathroom (previously, Skyler had gone into look) and there it was on the counter by the sink. Jonah was so very happy to have his camera back.

2010 in Pictures

Here are 12 pictures - one for each month of last year - that, unless you're a facebook friend, you've never seen before!

January -  These are my boots. I was taking a picture to show them off on Facebook. I was setting the timer and obviously needed to move the camera up a bit (or not, the picture was all about the boots after all). I got these from Target, they were the largest girls size, so when all the girls in primary told me that had boots like mine, some of them were probably right.

February - We went to Jordan's parent's house because his grandpa was visiting. We tried so very hard to get a picture of him with all three kids, but Jonah wouldn't have that. I quickly snapped this picture when decided that Grandpa Great was a good guy and at least deserved a hug.

March - One day when Skyler was in school, I decided to glue these lego plates on top of their toy storage shelf for ease in lego playing. Skyler did not approve and I think they lasted two days before he ripped them off. Oddly enough, they are now sitting in that same spot because Skyler has turned that into his lego airport.

April - This picture is from a zoo field trip that I went on with Skyler's class. It was so cold that day that it was snowing for awhile! Skyler was strangely cooperative for pictures that day.

May - Jonah took it upon himself to brush Oliver's hair

June - I'm not sure if it was this occasion or not, but once Skyler got so, so mad at me because Jonah wouldn't pick up the toys, yet I still let him vacuum. I didn't realize vacuuming was such a wonderful thing to do! Once Skyler calmed down, I let him vacuum.

July - This picture was taken as Oliver climbed the stairs for the very first time (or at least the first time that I had the camera handy).

August - He still couldn't walk, but he had no trouble climbing! I remember telling Skyler to stay right by him and hold on to him so he didn't fall, while I went to go get the camera.

September - This is Jonah. He is cute. The End.

October - Look what Jonah gave me for my birthday! A game that I actually gave him for his birthday four months ago, but one that he decided he didn't like anymore.

November - Who doesn't like some tunes while enjoying a bottle? Obviously you can't hear it, but Oliver was playing the piano while drinking this bottle.

December - What? Your Nativity scene doesn't look like this? The boys couldn't find baby Jesus, so they decided Sir Topham Hatt would be a fine stand-in.

Pole Vaulting

This is especially for Sarah, a college friend and pole vaulter extraordinaire, but the rest of you can watch it too. Who knew Skyler knew so much about pole vaulting?

Christmas Lessons

Lesson #1 PVC Pipe is fun
The kids got a bunch of PVC pipe and a variety of connectors to build houses and tents and whatever with. They think it's super fun.

Lesson #2 Jonah likes to get dressed first thing in the morning.
The kids all got Christmas pajamas, but Jonah insisted on changing out of them as soon as he woke up! I was not pleased as that somewhat defeats the purpose and I never got a picture of all three of them in their new jammies (and slippers for the older two)

Lesson #3 Jonah and the FedEx guy are apparently best buds.
Jonah asked Santa for a rocking horse. Considering this was a very last minute request, I wasn't sure that Santa's elves could whip one up in time. But I was pretty sure Amazon.com could. So, I ordered one. It came via FedEx and the delivery guy, unbeknown to me until it was too late, were greeted at the door by Skyler and Jonah. The stupid box had a a picture of the rocking horse on it. On the bright side, Jonah announced that it was just the one he wanted. If you ask him, he'll tell you it's from the FedEx guy. This lesson could also be re-titled "take your kids to talk to Santa the second he hits the malls (even if it's in October) so Santa has plenty of time to build rocking horses." or "ship all packages to your husband's work instead of home"

Lesson #4 Rocking Horses are super cool.
Why did we not have one of these before? All the boys think it's so much fun and Ollie looks so cute on it while shouting out his rendition of "yee-haw"

Lesson #5 So are "Susan Pets".
My mom got each boy a Zhu Zhu Pet for Christmas and can I just say that I understand why they were all the rage last year? They are pretty much lots of fun, though Oliver may or may not agree. I can't decide if he thinks they are cool or scary.

Lesson #6 Skyler prefers a scooter to a bike.
Long ago, Skyler asked for a scooter. Jordan told him he couldn't have one until he learned to ride his bike and that was the end of that. He was so excited to get one for Christmas! Apparently "scootering" is much more fun for him than biking.

Lesson #7 Weight Limit of 100 lbs. means nothing

Merry Christmas everyone! We've been truly blessed this year and Christmas was somewhat like the icing on the cake. Thanks for being a wonderful friend/family member. We love you all.

Snow

Last week, we woke up to quite a bit of snow! It had been raining all afternoon the day before and Skyler was very afraid that it would turn to snow and result in school being canceled and missing his Christmas party! Jordan was vocal about his desire for snow, which made Skyler mad.

We ended up with the best of both worlds, snow but only a two-hour school delay (thus we didn't have a grumpy Skyler!)

Half a Birthday To You

Oliver and Jonah recently celebrated half birthdays, celebrated in style with a half birthday cake.

At 18 months, Oliver likes cars, balls and blocks. He likes reading books, especially Stuck in Muck. He has finally perfected that walking thing and is starting to run. He likes to wear socks on his hands, hats on his head and other people's shoes on his feet (though not at the same time, but I wouldn't put it past him). He doesn't say much - he mostly points and whines and nods and shakes his head. Dad and book and ball and bottle (baba) are about the only words he uses consistently.

At 3 1/2, Jonah loves puzzles and building things with K'nex and Duplos. He loves playing Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart on the Wii. He also likes to build "Bowser castles" with the couch cushions.  Everyday for lunch, he requests a cheese sandwich shaped like a triangle.

Christmas Clothes

The Sunday before Christmas is one of the two Sundays out of the year that I force my children to wear to church the clothes that I specify (though I did not authorize Skyler's tie). Some are more agreeable to this than others. Then I take pictures. Again, some are more agreeable to this requirement than others.