more excitement...

We made it to the airport with no problems. I thought this was cute at how anxious they were to go.

One of our first stops was to pick up our Mickey ears. This is Jaiden's ears getting embroidered with his name.

Watching a short parade of sorts. I love this shot ... only wish I could have got it without the garbage cans.

Jaiden on Dumbo! Daddy and Alyssa went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride but Jaiden was decided on Dumbo.

Riding the monorail back to the hotel... a busy afternoon.

Now for some zzzz's...

snow and fun

We woke up to this...

but we are headed to here...

Happy end of April!

Oviparous

Goodness, has it really been 14 days since I last blogged? I had no idea. I had thought I would log on and share a silly conversation and my photo entry for this week's lesson and then I saw the last post dated April 14th! I felt I should probably explain but I am sure everyone's in the same boat, the river current is swift and there is a waterfall just up ahead you have to avoid ;)

So onwards and forward, Jaiden came down the stairs after getting his haircut and asks:

"Mom, did you know chickens were oviparous?"
M: "Hmmm, that's interesting. Where did you learn that?"
J: "Yes it is interesting. I learned it at school."
M: "Just exactly what does that mean? Oviparous?"
J: "It's an animal that lays eggs."
M: "Ohhh." Pause
J: "Can we go write our conversation down?"
M: "Why?"
J: "So I can remember to tell my teacher. She wanted us all to tell our parents and right down what they say."
M thinking to myself: Oh great, did I pass or fail? than out loud: "Did you tell Daddy yet?"
J: "Yes"
M: "What did he say?"
J: "He asked me the same thing, what it meant."
M thinking again: Phew I think that means I pass. According to Dennis the barbers were equally stumped by this word too!

So yes, he talks about oviparous at the barber shop, checks out books about genetics and space, looks at things through a microscope, is interested in the capillary effect, ask all sorts of crazy questions ... and learns big words... we are all in big trouble... BIG!

Lesson 5 is appropriately yours truly...

Just can't get any cuter than that! This assignment was using Manual mode again but taking photos indoors and capturing light... which surprisingly required quite a few adjustments and lots of practice. This was one of my favorites.

sunflowers and zinnias

For Easter, Tutu gave the kids their own egg planting kits of which they had to plant that very day... 10 days later those tiny seeds started to grow like weeds.

So today we took the time to transplant them to bigger pots...

... into their new homes. They are back inside so hopefully, we can keep them growing and have zinnia's and sunflower's this summer!

puppet and birthday preview

Today was the big birthday party day! What a day it was too. It started with Daddy taking the kids to Sunday school while I got the house ready.

When they got home, Jaiden said "Mommy, I made a foot puppet!"

M: "A foot puppet?"

J: "But I'm using it on my hand, see?"

Alyssa: "And I made God!"

M: "What did God look like?"

A: "A big white marshmallow!"

So now you know too!

Now, for the sneak preview of Jaiden's birthday party...

Tomorrow night I promise to have a collage and probably a Snapfish album sent to you as well but it's late and I am really exhausted as I just finished up some comp work too! But all in all it was a great party!

potatoes and onions...

This morning we ventured to our local farm that our friends run and helped with the planting of onions and potatoes. The kids were thrilled to be there and see their friends. It really is a small community feeling and each summer we share in the bountiful crops.

Jaiden with his onion plugs. Mark and I were actually doing the planting and the kids were trying to overwhelm us as we quickly dug and planted only to look up and see this!

Later, we dug out the carrots from last year's crop. Alyssa was really into this.

A little dark but Jaiden took home this large handful and then some of carrots.

Alyssa enjoying a carrot on the farm.

And these are the potatoes that were planted.

It was a lovely way to spend the morning. Jaiden and Alyssa keep asking if we can get a farm too. I keep telling them it's better to share and be part of the farm rather than run our own - can you imagine how busy I would be then after last year's takeover of the sweet 100s? or sweet one millions as Jaiden called them?!

feeling lucky

I have way too many things I need to share but here is one that came home from school and my heart melted...

In case you can't read it very well, he wrote "I am lucky because my family, it is nice." Love our portraits too!

the big 'M' for Manual mode...

This is this week's assignment for my photography class... it is in Manual mode... which means I had to set all the settings myself such as aperture, ISO, shutter speeds and then I had to meter it to get the best exposure. It's a beautiful mathematical equation and goes like this: aperture + shutter speed + ISO = exposure

What do you think? I should note here that not only were they moving (but you can't tell, can you?) but I was moving too!

Oh, also this was our last day of skiing for the season and what a day it was. Jaiden was AMAZING!! He can totally bomb down the hill in high speeds and be in control. He was even talking at lunch about doing flips next year!

2191 days...

Hippo Birdies two ewes, Jaiden!

Every year I will probably ask is this really you? Can 2191 days really have passed this fast?

Am I 9 or 6?

I bet you won't do this when you are 9... that is, ask if you are 9 or 6!

On the way home from driving Alyssa to school, Jaiden says to me:

"Mommy, lots of people have birthdays in April."

M: "Yes, they do."

J: "But only two in my class. Max and me."

M: "Oh really?"

J: "Yep, you know I feel like I am 8 today."

M: "you do?"

J: "But I am really only 6."

Mommy is left wondering does this mean trouble later on if he feels 8 when he's only 6?

Happy Easter... Lefthand style! (or probably more likely Dennis style... kegs for eggs!)

Who could resist a repeat from Christmas with these two?

Definitely their way to wish you a Happy Easter too!

Easter went very fast. The weather was gorgeous (except the wind), and we had a nice relaxing day. I have so many photos I may have to do a Snapfish album once I weed through them but lately, I have been very behind on photos. I have taken on lots of projects... in fact, a few too many and am anxious to finish up a few (see below for one of them!)

Tonight was the night Jaiden decided his birthday dinner at Red Robin was in order. Here he is delighted while being sung too.

And because on Alyssa's birthday, she got to open two presents on the eve of her birthday, Jaiden bargained in his two presents as well (strangely Alyssa was also bargaining for him... reminds me of Cyndi for my curfews!) He chose his biggest present first because it was postively killing him to not know what it was... and he thought it was too big for Lego's!

What is hilarious about this photos is Dennis had just pointed out to him "look how many Lego pieces there are" and Jaiden was saying "oh man!" Then Dennis asked "do you know how many that is?" And Jaiden replied "no idea Daddy!" He didn't care because he was so excited to have new Legos!

Here he is working on his spaceship.

While Alyssa and Daddy played with the aliens!

This photo is really more for Mom to see that I finished the quilt I have been asking for help on. This is one of several projects I have taken on but I am so excited to see it done. It took much longer than I expected. Lots of stitches and ironing but now, I get to pass it on to the next volunteer to finish the edges and backing. I am pleased to see that for the most part the squares lined up. The center piece was incredibly difficult and required me pulling stitches out since it wasn't a uniform size and needed additional edging added. Phew!

eggs, eggs, everywhere

The last two days have been filled with eggs... everywhere. We started out Friday night having pizza, and then decorating our Easter eggs.

Here is Jaiden's army of eggs. Notice the big 'J' and the smiley face ones?

And Alyssa with her troops... notice the sea of pastel pink, pinkey orange and very light blue?

Then today it was our annual easter egg hunt at church, and again, eggs were everywhere!

Jaiden's basket full....

And Alyssa still collecting hers (notice all the eggs on the ground?).

Oh and my photo assignment for the week involved eggs too! This week was about open and closed aperture. The top photo was open aperture which allows in more light and helps blur the background or minimizes the depth of focus. The bottom photo is closed aperture = less light but more background focus or mazimizes the depth of field.

Tomorrow, it will be more eggs ... until then, Happy Easter!

watch out... here comes

... Alyssa!

In fact, this is exactly what she said as she came down the hill. She yelled to her teacher "watch out, here comes Alyssa"! She had her first ski lesson today and contrary to our concern that she might not make the full day lesson, she loved it. Her instructor said she was quite the trooper, for example, she face planted into the snow, sat up and said "let's go again!"

I swear she saw me taking photos but instead she called out "hello teacher!"

As for Jaiden, I couldn't find him on the mountain but I did find him in the lodge. I asked how his lesson went and his response was...

... which meant great! The snow and wind kicked up in the afternoon making the conditions very diffcult which is why I think the thumbs only made it halfway up but he was quite elated and excited to tell us how he rode the chairlift with a buddy or his teacher. He says he skiied through a teepee and beware black diamonds!