Elsa's Birthday

Tonight I was reading Stewart Little with Henry, and then told him to go get ready for bed. I went to help William with his pajamas and Henry came in and asked me where I had put Stewart Little. "Put your jamas on first, then you can read some more," I said.

"But I need to go to the bathroom first." He answered.

"So?"

"And you always read a book when you're in the bathroom."

"oh."

"And I want to be just like you."

Well, I'm honored. Thankfully, I didn't take any pictures. But I did take a few pictures of Elsa's recent birthday party. She just turned 5 and for her party we had a reptile show at the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU.

Independence Day

Here's a few pictures from our 4th of July festivities.

So far this summer has been pretty sweet. I've taken Henry and Elsa to see both Wall_E and Speed Racer, and they loved them both. We've done some hiking, some bike riding, and a lot of swimming. All three of the kids took swim lessons for two weeks and are now fearless towards the water. Henry took a big step last time we went to Veterans Pool and went down the big white slide all by himself! Another step on the road to manhood.

will turns 2

William is 2 years old now. We celebrated his birthday this weekend by going to the duck park and then coming back to our house for pizza and presents. Kim and Cynthia, Grandpa and Grandma Arnold, and Jess and Sadie all came with us. Will thoroughly enjoyed himself--throwing bread to the ducks, climbing and sliding, eating, playing with the new presents. He wasn't too keen on opening up the presents. Not that he didn't love getting presents, he just wanted to play with whatever he had just opened and couldn't be bothered with opening another one. We borrowed a ride-on Thomas train from a friend, and it was pretty entertaining. Will even had to feed Thomas some of his cake, telling him, "cake is nummy."

Will is such a sweet boy, most of the time. He is a sucker for hugs and kisses. If I smile at him from across the room, he will drop whatever he is doing and run to me saying, "Huggy, huggy huggy." He has started putting an y ending on things now. He saw my visiting teacher, an older lady who lives 2 doors down named June, walking past our house, and he ran up to her and hugged her legs. I don't think he even recognized her, but she was pleased. He also spends a good portion of the day play-fighting in a way that hurts Henry and Elsa, so his sweetnes is tempered with a lot of loud craziness. I can almost see the testosterone coursing through that boy.

The day of Will's birthday, I took the kids to the McDonald's playland because it was rainy and cold. They played with their friends, Sylus and Finn, and ate ice cream. There were two little girls that were about Will's age but a lot smaller, and he kept calling them babies and trying to hug them, much to their dismay. His new words for the day were "car" (because he got one in the mail from Chuck and Kris) and "backpack" (because he loves Dora). He was walking around today singing D-d-Dora D-d-Dora.

growing up is hard to do

This week Henry has had 2 experiences that make me want to stop time so he can maintain his sweet innocence. On Monday, we were on our way home from the park when he told me that a group of kids (one 2nd grader and about four 1st graders) was laughing at him in the bathroom.
Me: Why were they doing that?
Henry: Because I pull my pants down and they can see my butt when I pee.
Me: Well, how do the other kids do it?
Henry: I don't know.
Me: Maybe they just unzip their pants and only pull their underwear down in the front.
Henry: Oh. I wish they just had doors on the bathroom so no one could see my bum.
Me: Me too. But, we can practice having you go to the bathroom the other way.

So, what's the deal with not letting boys pee in privacy? Aren't there enough perverts around that our little boys shouldn't have to expose themselves every time they go to the bathroom? It made me very angry.

Innocence-stealing experience #2: Henry's class wrote story books. They did a couple of drafts in school, and the teacher typed it up for them, and they drew pictures. Then, they got to go read their books to the kindergartners. Henry's story was about a ricken--a cross between a rooster and a chicken. (I guess he didn't understand that that just meant it was transgender.) Henry read the book to me, and when we got to one of the pages, he had crossed out everything the teacher had typed and written something else above it. Henry's original story said, "He went to find a wife to marry. He walked into the woods and found a chicken and they got married. They had 18 children." He crossed that part out and wrote, "He went to the woods. He saw a duck food. He ate it." I asked him why he changed it and he said it was because he didn't want the other kids to laugh at him.

So sad to me that he has to grow up so fast. But, it seems like the other kids in his class really like him--even the ones who were laughing at him in the bathroom. So, he'll be fine. He does have to learn these things sometime. I just wish it weren't quite so soon.

siblings and soup

Today at lunch, Elsa was excited that Will learned how to say juice instead of just ju. She was thinking he was funny, and she said, "I'm glad I have a little brother, and I'm glad my little brother is William."

Will discovered the cans and packages of soup and was really excited about them, so we had soup for lunch and dinner. Will started eating first, and Elsa thought he might like the talking Eeyore to keep him company. He started telling Eeyore all about the soup and feeding it to him--"n' is soup. n' is hot. n' is nummy."

Anytime I get out the camera, Henry needs his camera too. He is actually a decent photographer if we let him use the real camera.

i'm a little busy right now

Elsa has become the queen of projects. She always has some creation that she works very intently on for hours. I will ask her to play something or read with me or make her bed, and she'll say, "I'm a little busy right now." (Hmmmm . . . I wonder where she's heard that.) Last week she decided to make a bird house. She planned out the whole thing by herself--made the hole for the door, cut out 4 triangles for the roof and said she was going to tape them into a pyramid, etc. I only helped tape everything together, since someone needed to hold it while the other one taped. I even questioned her roof design, but it worked. Not bad for 4 years old. Each wall of the house had a different bird picture on it, and she gathered sticks to make a nest inside, and made a handle to carry it.

Meanwhile, Will was busy in the sandbox. He loves sand and dirt, as evidenced by the floor always being dirty and the piles of laundry.

fun on the farm

In honor of Henry's 2-day spring break, Brandon took the day off and we went to the Wheeler family farm. The kids loved it, and I learned to bring an extra change of clothes for Will when we do anything that messy. He tried to throw food to the ducks and got up as close to the fence as he could. But, there was a drop-off before the fence (thanks Wheeler family farm), and he ended up about a foot deep in water. We decided to feed the chickens the duck food instead, as they were much more appreciative. Elsa, the little naturalist, cried when we said it was time to go. She could have stayed there all day.


Will loved feeding the horse hay.


Elsa and Will in the tree house.


Elsa and Henry got to milk a cow. It was the highlight of their trip by far, even though the cow relieved itself while they were waiting in line, so there was quite a stench in the crowded barn.
Henry looks so cute until we decide to take his picture, and then he makes this face.

chapter books and buckles

This last weekend Henry discovered a love of chapter books. He has been reading simple chapter books for a while now, but he hasn't really gotten into them. But, on Saturday night we took him to the Orem library and asked the librarian for suggestions. He came back with 3 new books, and he had finished the first one by 10:00 Sunday morning. He kept saying, "This is such a good book." (It was the first Secrets of Droon book, if you're wondering.) Sunday he also finished "Stink," and today he started on the first Moondoggle and Me book and is almost done with that. It's fun to see him completely immersed in books.

Will has discovered a love of buckling seatbelts. I thought it was cute at first, but it has become a source of much frustration to us both. Every time I try to put him in the car, he just wants to stand next to his carseat and do the buckles. It takes all my force to wrestle him into his seat. He is amazingly strong. Once he can see the buckles in front of him, he calms down momentarily. He can get the chest buckle, but he still can't quite do the bottom buckle, and he screams for the first minute of every car ride because I do it for him. We have the same struggle over the booster seat at the dinner table, but it's a little simpler because he can buckle himself in that one. I remember dealing with this with Elsa, but I think she was 2 1/2, not 1 1/2. Oh well. He has to get over it sometime.

Henry successfully taught Will how to sing "neener neener neener" at the park today. Elsa has been super sweet with Will today, sharing cookies with him and cheering him down the slide. She read her own "chapter book" tonight before bed by sticking 2 of her Bob books together.

Just so I don't forget some funny things that they said in the last few months, here are some recent gems:

Brandon had made the kids lunch. Elsa sat down to a peanut butter sandwich placed directly on the table and lukewarm tap water and said, "Ahhh, the freshness of lunch."

Brandon was reading scriptures with Henry and it talked about being diligent. Henry asked what it meant, and after Brandon explained it, Henry said, "I'm diligent at playing video games."

halloween pictures

Wil-bot.

Elsanator.

hal 9000.

3 robots and a cousin named Sadie.

Hi

Here's some pictures from the last few months.