Sunday, December 9, 2012

Boy Party!

DeA and Jens have spent the past few days down in Medford for Grandpa Hugh's funeral.  Mama Rae, Papa Dale and Lindsea all helped take care of the boys during the day and at night we had what the boys kept calling a 'boy party'.  Saturday we started the boy part right with some biscuits and gravy.

 Then I took the boys down to Wapato Point from some ice skating (sidenote: Sister Toolson - they told us we had to be guests, so I told them we were your friends to rent the skates.  We paid for them and everything, but hopefully you don't consider that a stretch of our current social status.  Thank you!).  Little Cosmo was a lot better at skating than I thought he was.
 There were other kids there that were six and five and he was skating circles around them (literally.  The kids were standing there and Rock skated around them asking if they knew what they were doing.
 Ryker got really grumpy when we got there and didn't want to leave the car.  Sometimes he is like that, so I didn't think much of it.
 Meanwhile, Cosmo kept dominating the ice.
 Even when he fell he looked athletic and surprisingly talented for a four-year-old. 
 After skating we hit Green Dot and split mac and cheese, a sandwich and ice cream.  The boys act like they own that place.
 When we got home Ryker started cuddling with me and acting tired.  He fell asleep and then I realized that he was warm.  He slept for about three hours and still woke up with a fever.  I guess the boy party was just too much for him to handle.
 Rock kept partying and playing.  
 Rock had been getting over a cold the past few days and both lil' guys wanted to cuddle.  So we stole some wood from Papa Dale's pile and got a roaring blaze going.  Rock thought that with a mask I'd let him play in the fire.  He's smiling because he can't hear me say no.
 It was a pretty cozy fire and a good end to the boy party.
 They both slept through the night (mostly, Ryker had some coughing fits that woke him up) but they seemed to really like the 'fire bed'.

Christmas Tree

Even though we measured the tree on the mountain, remeasured here at the house and trimmed it carefully it still didn't fit in the house.  So we trimmed it a little and hacked it a lot.  Finally it was short enough to fit in the house majestically in its corner of the living room.  

When Rock woke up and saw it he said "that's not a very pretty tree".  I promised him that after being full of decorations it would be very pretty.  So, they got to work...
 Jensley really, really wanted to help by tasting every one of the ornaments.



  I'd say they did a good job of making the tree all sorts of pretty.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Rocket Ship and Christmas Tree

The other day I came home from work to a 'surprise'.  I turned out that the surprise was a giant puzzle that was supposed to end up looking like a rocket ship.  The boys were so excited about it that they couldn't wait until we finished and tried climbing all over it.
They have loved that thing and especially love having Jensley as their copilot. 
 Jensley loves being the copilot.
 "Men, this is your captain speaking.  Since this is an enclosed vessel please refrain from tooties...copy that Ryker?"
 "Tooties?  Is that why it smells like boys in here?"
 "I wouldn't know anything about tooties..."
 "OKAY!  I do know about tooties!"
 Jens loves going on the missions but sometimes she is sure that her brothers are weird. 
 Last Saturday we all loaded up in Cheeto (our escape) and convoyed up into the mountains with Jefe and Aleasha, Nate and Girl Nate and Megan and Travis.  We drove high enough to try and find snow when we finally made it.  The kids were pretty excited.
 She doesn't look it, but trust me she was excited.
 Ryker liked eating snow and did a good job of only eating white snow.  He did a much better job than Lily the dog who ate yellow and brown snow.  Then she tried to like Ryker's face and Ryker tried to lick back.  And that's why DeA tried to boil Ryker.
 Ryker picked out the tree.  He did a pretty good job.
 Jensley really liked the outdoors and smiled most of the time.
 So did her mommy.

 The kids kept themselves busy by sledding while the dads did the tree hunting.

 After her brown snow debacle Lily got put in the bed of the truck.  Look at those puppy dog eyes and tell me that you wouldn't let her go play.
 DeA wasn't in enough pictures so I tried to take one of her.  She's in Oregon right now and I can't ask her if this picture is okay to use, so I'll just assume that she'd say yes.
 The kids seemed to like being shoehorned into the backseat.  Ryker loved playing with Jensley.
 Rock wanted to take pictures from the backseat, so again I'll assume that I can use the pic that he took of DeA and me.
 When we got back to civilization we enjoyed a delicious meal of Mac and Cheese and milkshakes.
 Jens seems to love just about everything.  She is one happy girl.
 So pretty, just like her mommy.

 Ryker didn't quite make it down the mountain.  He napped really, really hard.
 When he did wake up he was his typical happy Ryker self.
 Rock immediately got into the Christmas spirit by wrapping up his toys to give to people.  He is a loving and giving little guy.
 Ryker was pretty super duper excited for the Mac and Cheese.
 Excited to the max.
 And silly to the max.  Plenty silly.
 Jensley!!