Christina and Family: 3/18/12

Friday, March 23, 2012

All Boys Love To Dig

We are regrading our back yard to give us more of an area to play. Our back yard was pretty much just a downhill slope before. Todd spent one whole day playing with the Bobcat.

This is what it looks like before the dig.

All smoothed out after the rough grading.

Grass planted with straw over it to mulch and protect. Can't wait to enjoy it this summer!

Cherry Blossoms

This is the view of the walk to school. I love being surrounded by Cherry Blossoms.

This is a huge tree! But lets be honest, these trees may have the most beautiful blossoms, but they are rather ugly otherwise. They have very tiny leaves in the summer and when you even mention the word "cold" they drop their leaves. So, as with everything in life, you give and take. But I will sure enjoy the blossoms while I can!

Looking up through the trees it reminds you of winter when the snow sits heavy on the trees!

Dane walking home from school.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Pine Wood Derby 2012

Last night was the annual Pine Wood Derby that every cub scout dreams about! Dane invited two of the neighborhood boys (William and Scott) to design a car and race it as well. Thanks for sharing the fun with your friends, Dane!

Paint Branch Trail

On Monday Alex, Seth, and I hiked the Paint Branch Trail. It was a 2.7 mile hike. So we hiked a total of 5.4 miles. It was a little steep in a few places and we had to stop and rest a few times, but it is a nice trail. It is paved the whole way. It is nice for pushing the stroller or if you were riding a bike. This trail is really fun and kind of magical. It is surrounded by trees and you feel as if you are in the middle of nowhere and you happen upon a basketball court. You head down a bit further and you come to a small playground. A little bit further down is a pond. All of these places are surrounded by trees, kind of like a "Secret Garden" kind of feel. I am going to take the rest of the children on this hike next week during Spring Break. I think they will like it as well. Alex has now walked a total of 50 miles! Congratulations, Alex!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Continuation from last post

Ok, time to let you know what's going on with the rest of the gang!

Karsten- Kar has been taking swimming lessons on Thursdays and loving it. It is helping with his confidence in the water.

Dane- Dane is getting ready for the Pinewood Derby which will be held on Tuesday.

Emily- She is busy each Tuesday night practicing for her chorus concert in May.

Spring is here out East! The cherry blossoms are starting to pop out. All the tulip trees are flowering. It's been really nice. The daffodils are in full bloom as well. We have spring break in two weeks. I'm not sure what to do with the children while they are out of school, maybe some hiking. I thought about driving out to the beach, but it may still be a little too cool this far north at the beach. We'll see.

Funny Mishaps

November 2011

During Primary, the song leader is trying to teach a song about the Nativity. She asks, who is Jesus's mother? Someone answers, "Mary". Then she asks, who is Jesus's father? Karsten (6) replies, "Joseph Smith".

September 2011

Karsten (6) asks me "how can you tell if a baby is a boy or a girl when they are born.?" I reply, "How do you think you can tell the difference between a boy and a girl." Karsten replies, "their hair." I then tell him that pretty much all babies either don't have hair or it's really short and to think of another way. Karsten then replies, "by their eyelashes." I tell Karsten everyone has eyelashes! Trying to get him to think harder, I ask him what's different around their bottom areas. Karsten says, "oh, their diapers!" (Just for the record, he finally knows how you can tell the difference between a boy baby and a girl baby!)

August 2011

Karsten (6) comes into the house yelling for a bandaid. I ask him what for. His response: "Blood leakin'."

April 2010

Karsten (5) informs me that when it's his turn on the computer he is going to go on YouTube and look up cheat codes. Where do they learn these things? :)

March 2010

As we are driving down the road, Dane (7) sees a sign that says "Beer and Wine". He then asks, "Why does that sign say Beer and Wine?" He goes on to answer himself by saying, "It must be because after they drink beer they w(h)ine."

March 2010

Karsten (4) tells me, "Mom, if you type in the password for the computer, I'll let you play with me." The next day he comes up with this one: "Mom, I'll give you this if you let me play the computer." I ask him, "What do you got?" Karsten replies, "An M&M." Apparently, my son has been trying to bribe me to let him to play the computer lately.

August 2009
Dane (7): Mom, I'm bored.
Me: Why don't you take a nap?
Dane: I'm too tired to take a nap.

May 2009
At Walmart I tell Alex (11) he can get some crystal light. So off he goes to find some and brings back every flavor they sell! Needless to say we did talk him into choosing just two. And later on that same trip I tell the boys they can have a Hot Wheel. Alex took down almost all the cars off the racks looking for a police car. Never let Alex shop alone!

May 2009
At Matt and Denise's house, I ask Karsten (4) if he wants a frozen burrito for lunch. He replies, "No, I want it cooked."

May 2009
As we are traveling down to New Mexico, I look in my rear view mirror and see Karsten (4) with his finger in his nose. I asked him if he was picking his nose and he said, "No, I'm just checking."

April 2009
I asked Karsten (4) to open up the washer and take the clothes out and put them in the dryer. (We have a front loader.) So he goes into the pantry, opens up the washer, grabs a few clothes, and asks, "Where do I put them?" I tell him, "In the dryer." He then asks, "This dryer?" As if there are two or three dryers in the pantry and he has to ask which one to use!

March 2009
Karsten (4) was spotlighted this past Sunday for his birthday and was sung to as well. His birthday is this upcoming Saturday (the 28th). Well, since they sung to him he insists that he is already four years old and no one is going to convince him otherwise.

March 2009
Karsten (3) is obsessed with light sabres. Everything is a light sabre. Only he calls them light savers. So, I tried teaching how to properly say light sabre. I was telling him to say sa-bre. And he was thinking I was telling him to SAY ber. So he would just say ber. Ok, if that really didn't confuse you, then you get the joke. It was quite funny.

February 2009
Emily (8) wakes up and tells me her stomach hurts and she doesn't want to go to school (like we've never tried this). I tell her that she needs to get up and get ready for school. She wines a little and complains about her stomach, but we moms know better. I tell her to get out of bed again and she then says, "Well, Kate got to stay home on Friday." (Kate faked sick the Friday previous.) I then tell Emily, "Yes, and she had to clean all day too." Emily jumps out of bed (miraculously healed somehow) and gets ready for school. Can't pass the "my stomach hurts" one on this old pro!

February 2009
We recently got a handicap parking pass for Alex so we can park in the handicap spots now. Every where we go Karsten (3) has to point out the handicap spots. The funny part about it is that each time he sees one it's like he's never seen one before. He sounds so amazed when he points them out.

February 2009
Karsten (3) has been sick with a cold and it has gone to his eyes. When he woke up this morning I told him that I was wondering if he had pink eye. He then goes into the bathroom, looks in the mirror, and says, "No, they're still blue."

December 2008
Karsten (3) is getting himself dressed and puts his shoes on without socks. I tell him to take his shoes off and put his socks on first. He looks up at me and says, "Mom, can we pretend that I am wearing socks?" Who can't keep from laughing with a response like that!

November 2008
Alex (10) is playing with the neighbor girl. She tells Alex that her dad caught a mouse and put it in a jar. They go over to her house and get the jar with the mouse in it. They bring it to our house. Alex wants to see if Moses could catch the mouse. So he gets Moses and then lets the mouse out of the jar. Moses chases the mouse into Alex's bedroom where it quickly disappears. Needless to say, the mouse was found later that night in Alex's dresser.

October 14, 2008
I am in the bathroom doing my hair. Seth (4 mos) is lying in his crib and Dane is happily watching him. All of a sudden Dane (5) runs into the bathroom and yells, "Mom! Seth said his first word!" I then ask him what Seth said. Dane replies, "Meow".

October 14, 2008
Todd and I are sitting on the couch when from behind I hear Karsten say, "Look, I have nipples!" I turn around to look and Karsten has placed an open hamburger bun on his chest. Now I've heard of a coconut bra, but a hamburger bun bra?

September 23, 2008
Todd and I are talking to Kate (9) and discussing human anatomy when we ask her if she knows where babies grew inside the mommy. At first she replies, "in the kidneys". Then she thinks about it for a minute and then says, "oh, the uterus, I thought that was the name of a planet."

September 2008
On the way to school, Kate (9) and Emily (7) are discussing what they are learning in school. Kate mentions that they are learning about the water cycle. Emily comments that she has already learned that. Kate has to flaunt her newly acquired knowledge by asking Emily if she knows what condensation, evaporation, and participation is? I couldn't help but laugh and asked her if she meant precipitation.