Aaron's Birthday Part 1

Aaron has always loved aircraft and even looked into joining the Air National Guard at one point.

So for his birthday I brought him to the Air National Guard where they have some historic planes on display.

We were going to go as a date, but he really wanted to share the event with the kids. He knew how much they would love them because he has shared his love of aircraft with the kids.

This is part one of his birthday gift. Part two will probably come once school is out and we have the daytime hours available to us.

Just a few of the planes

Ben pointing out one of the many cool things he found

Ditto

Aaron inspecting the in and outs of an F-16 (???)

Hey Dad...what happens when I pull this?

I though this one of Aaron was really funny!

Lovely Sophie watching a plane land at the airport

Handsome Aaron watching the plane land

Blond Boy and Brown Boy are definitely related.

As usual, Sophie is an expert on the subject

Checking to see if he has this plane in his book

The whole fam-damily... minus moi

That Can't Be Comfortable

Jacob fell asleep in the car while we were coming home late one day. Whenever I see kids asleep in the car I think that they must be damaging something in their little bodies. Thankfully they seem to have large amounts of cartilage in there to protect them.

I only realized now that he was unsafely restrained in the booster seat. Oops! I wonder if the chocolate he ate just before falling asleep had a soporific effect.

Ben decided to get in on the photo fun. He is also unsafely restrained, but we are parked in a parking lot at this point.

Rodent Alert

WARNING PHOTOS OF RODENT TO FOLLOW

Aaron caught yet another rodent with is hands this weekend. Except this one was running down the road while Aaron chased it, stopping traffic and I am sure causing a few people to reconsider their opinion of him as a fine upstanding member of the community.

I think this is an adorable picture of Aaron. He is so cute!

Voles are pretty cute too, and not very smart. In fact Aaron might not need kudos for catching this one. It is like they want to be caught!

Rain Won't Stop Me!

We were outside the other day when it began to rain. We cleaned up the yard, got the laundry in and coerced the children to come in.

Awhile later I noticed how peaceful the children were and immediately thought, "Where is Jacob?"

I came to the conclusion that he was nowhere in the house because someone would be screaming, crying, hitting or calling someone stupid and I would hear that if he was inside.

Sure enough he was playing happily in the sandbox in the pouring rain. There are battles that you need to pick as a parent, but this was not one of them. He was already wet and everyone was peaceful, happy and getting along so there he stayed.

I caught his lips mid bbbrrrrr

Raindrops must taste sweet.

Ben Stuff

At school Ben had his body traced and then cut into a penguin shape which he them painted. They then measured the penguin and compared the height to the height of real penguins.

Ben likes to cut paper and is even getting good at cleaning up the infinitesimal itty bitty scraps he leaves behind. Here is a rocket he cut out.

Want a Ride?

I was trying to think how to caption this, but I guess I will let it speak for itself.

Hail

The day that there was a tornado in Washington, VT we had a hail storm. I haven't seen real hail in a long time. It was pretty cool. They kids, especially Jacob, really wanted to go out and play in it, but it was painful!

The funny thing is that the next town over didn't have hail. Even our neighbors a few miles down the road didn't have hail. I told Aaron there must be something we need to repent about.

Grapefruit

I cut open my grapefruit and found this inside. I didn't know it was possible for them to sprout and have green leaves inside the grapefruit with no access to the sun. The root was very hard and woody...in case you were wondering.

Amphibians

We have been raising tadpoles for a science project. I have been feeding them boiled lettuce. The internet said that they love it, and they really seem too. They flock right to it when I put it in.

And I found this little guy in my garden this morning. I didn't take the time to get a good shot because he seemed a little frantic and I wanted to get him back outside so excuse the flash whiteout.

My Ladies

One of the chickens got out of the fence. I can almost hear what the two inside the fence are thinking.

"Oh my look at her. She's got something really special going on there. How did she do that? Do you think we could do that too?"

That may be a few too many thoughts for a chicken though...they do have pretty small brains.

Hold Onto Your Seats

I have not technically been negligent about my blog...it is just that my USB cord is semi-broken. It will still download pictures to the computer, but only if I hold it tightly in just the right position. This of course is tricky so it usually takes multiple attempts. It all takes a long time and is a little painful on the fingers. Anyway...so here come a lot of pictures/posts!

I'll start with nature shots.

My sweet sister April gave me some violets and they bloomed the day after I transplanted them. I think they will be pretty hardy.

Forsythia got me through many tough days in the Missionary Training Center. They have always been a bright ray of hope ever since. Aaron gave this to me last year (I can't remember...birthday maybe???) I am happy to report that it transplanted successfully and bloomed this year. YAY!!!!

A random weed that I kill on a regular basis, but have come to appreciate since taking time to examine it up close.

Another weed, that I have always loved because they are bright and sunny, but after I took the photo I realized that they have amazing delicate little curly-q's that I had never noticed. You may need to enlarge the photo in order to see them.

Baby maple seeds. I never realized they were so red when they were just sprouting.




Lovely, delicate, ladylike fiddlehead ferns. I especially loved the ones that were growing in a circle.

Sophie

Three things about Sophie...

We had a Young Women's activity where we painted pottery and then they fire it for you. We needed a tenth person in order to get a discount, so I brought along Sophie. This kind of thing was right up her alley. I only wish I could so things like this for her more often.

Also I mentioned that Sophie was entering a photo contest. Well... SHE WON! She received a $10 gift card to a local bookstore for her three photos.




She also entered a contest for a coloring book put together by a drug and alcohol prevention group. Her drawing was chosen to be included in the coloring book! She received a t-shirt for that prize, but we haven't picked it up yet.

All in all this has been a real confidence booster for Sophie. I am very proud of her for her efforts! She is a great kid...I love her so much!

Aaron

It is rare that I get anything on here about Aaron. So...

Aaron doing one of the things he is best at...looking studious. Well actually, being studious. He is one of the most studious people I know.

Sophie wanted to do Aaron's hair and he was more than will to oblige as it involved having his head scratched by the hair brush. Aaron still pulls off studious here.

Oh and Sophie had a full cup of water to soak the hair brush in. Somehow I knew this would end badly, but I allowed it anyway. Sure enough the whole cup poured down the back of the couch and into the carpet. Someday I will learn to trust my gut.

The Boys

I can't remember what cool vehicle was passing this time, but whenever any loud sounding vehicle passes, this is where you will find the boys.

Preschool Masks

Ben has made a couple of paper plate masks at preschool. The pig mask was used for theater day where the students acted out "Little Red Riding Hood," The Three Little Pigs," and Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

All three were very entertaining. Ben was obviously part of the "Three Little Pigs" play. I did take a video, but none of the students have found their stage voice yet. I may entertain putting it on here anyway, but not today.

The bunny mask was for Easter. I personally watched Ben make it all by himself. He won the award for the mask that looked the most like the Easter Bunny. Having seen all the other masks with whiskers out the eyes and pink noses for the chin and ear going every which way, I think the award was warranted. Some of Aaron's artistic gene coming through I guess.

The mask was starting to fall apart and Ben suggested that we take a picture so that he could throw it away.

Easter

I know that Easter is long gone, but we did in fact celebrate it. Here is the photographic evidence to prove it.

The Easter bunny came Saturday instead of Sunday so that Sunday is not so hectic and so that we can preserve the true meaning of Easter. Because really what does the Easter bunny, candy and dyed eggs have to do with the Resurrection of the Savior? If I try really hard I can connect them, but it is a stretch.

In a slip of the tongue Aaron revealed to the children who the Easter Bunny is. Sophie was pretty close to figuring it out anyway. Oh well, I guess there are worse things in life.

Jacob was fairly resistant to using a spoon to dye his eggs.

I am not sure how to label this look that Sophie is making...

Cataloging the spoils...Starburst jelly beans, mini Reese's peanut butter cups, 1 solid milk chocolate bunny and garden/sand tools

Miscellaneous Nature Post

Wow...almost a month since I posted. Have I ever done that before? It was a combination of camera issues and who knows what else. Maybe I just needed a break. HA!! Maybe you all needed a break from me!

So here is a bunch of nature shots from the past month. There is no rhyme or reason to them, just stuff that makes me happy.

I am always so grateful for the early crocuses and the spot of color they add to the brown spring.

Every year the seedum collects rain water between the leaves and then when the sun comes out they sparkle so beautifully. And every year I try to photograph it and fail. None the less here is my attempt. It is so much prettier in real life.

One of Aaron's students shot a turkey and stopped by to show it to us. The feathers are sooo beautiful. I would have gotten some better more detailed shots, but I didn't want Aaron's student to think I was weird.

While I am grateful for the opportunity to see the feathers up close, this is my preferred method of observing tom turkeys.