Summer 'O Fun... take 2

Oh ya... I started something way back, huh? Take 1, there has to be a continuation, right?! Well, here we go... Well, of course we made more trips to the Colorado Springs zoo... OUR zoo.

More terrifying moments in the grip of the giant bear:

Chase

Aiden

And in case it's not clickable, here's a close-up! :)

And before you think I'm just mean and evil for finding pleasure in the above picture (ok, maybe I am!) the boys do this pose almost everytime we go to OUR zoo. This time, for some reason, Aiden thought he was going to fall, hence the face. It's so priceless, though, don't you think?

our friends, Megan and Trevin (I know, cute overload!)

our other equally adorable friend (and son/brother to Megan and Trevin) Talan, the giraffe.

And last, but not least, their handsome son/ brother, Tyler! :)

My very own snow leopards... dangerous, scary snow leopards, I should add! ;)

climbing through the wolf tunnel...

Aiden

Chase...

Cousin, Laura

Running into scary animals who have escaped from their cages... ok, just kidding! :) Our friends, the Malans with their cute little grandson!

These are just a few of our adventures at our zoo. Anyone want to join us? After this pictorial, how could you NOT?! :)

My laughing place

We got a flier in the mail from Geico... The boys wanted me to cut the picture of the stack of money with the eyes on top and glue it to a popsicle stick for a "puppet". After playing with them for a while, Aiden set his down and then couldn't remember where he put it. I had to laugh as he wandered around the house asking, "Hey, where'd my guy go?" Guy-go? Get it?! ha, ha, ha


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Whenever my dad says or does something that my mom thinks is inappropriate, she says, "Dennnnnnnis" with this kind of disgusted/ chastising tone. Well, Aiden has adopted it as a "catch-all" for anything and everyone who says or does something inappropriate. Like today, we were sitting at the table eating and Karam said, "I have a great idea... After we eat, we should ALL take a nap!" Aiden immediately responded with, "Dennnnnnnis!" Guess he didn't think it was such a great idea! :)


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The other day we were just sitting around in the living room after getting out of bed. Chase, just out of the blue, said, "Dad, you don't has a neck." Karam and I just looked at each other and laughed. :)

An earthly home complete with singing and dancing...

My boys love to entertain me. Aiden likes to dance. (You may remember his cute little "booty dance" that I posted previously.) Well, he's recently started going to the piano bench and pulling out the music for "Fur Elise" and asking, "Mom, will you please play this? It's soooo beautiful!" So I comply. Don't pay too much attention to my playing as I made plenty of mistakes... AND the foot is just Chase's way of trying to steal away a little of Aiden's attention! ;) Everytime I play it for him, Aiden dances for me.

Instead of dancing around, Chase sings... and sings... and sings. His two favorites these days are "I Love to See the Temple" and "I am a Child of God". He sang the first for me on camera... He gets a few words wrong, but when I've tried to correct him, he says, "I just want to sing it wrong". Very well, then. :) There is one part I haven't tried to correct, just because I think with his faith and innocence, it could be more accurate. (To "see" the Holy Spirit rather than "feel") :)

After Chase's performance, Aiden wanted to sing so here's a video of Aiden. He couldn't make up his mind which song he wanted to sing and then when did decide on one and realized he mixed up the words, he just sang a little softer so maybe you can't tell. ;)

I'm so grateful for these two little guys. They are the GOOD things in my life! :) I'm not so sure they feel the same, as evidenced by Chase's version of "I Am a Child of God". He inadvertently?combined a couple verses to come up with this, "I am a child of God, and He has sent me here. Has given me an earthly home, that I have to endure"... :) Good luck with that, my son. Good Luck!

Who am I?

I was helping my mom make a comforter for my niece, Hailey. As I cut the excess batting along the edges, Chase and Aiden would tear the pieces away from the blanket. At one point, Chase looked up at me and proudly asked, "Mom, are we the 'tearers'?" I laughed and exclaimed, "Yes! Yes you are!"

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Chase was practicing his rhyming skills. Red-Fred. Flower-power. Happy-sappy. Karam would intermittenly suggest words for him to rhyme. Chase would respond, until he said, "What about Karam?" Chase promptly replied, "Yes, you can have a turn." ;)

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Karam wondered if Aiden was as proficient at rhyming as Chase, so he was asking him to rhyme different words. Aiden was too busy playing with a Transformer and took no notice of Karam. Chase, on the other hand, would rhyme whatever word Karam said. I decided to get in on the act and asked, "What rhymes with Mom?" Chase said, "Doh-doh." Ummmm NO! Thanks a lot, Chase. And I think you laughed way harder than was nescesary, Karam.

Learning curve...

I often find myself asking "why don't they LEARN?" when my boys do something repeatedly that they get in trouble for each time. Take the following for example:

My brother, Marc and his wife, Leilani and their kids, Charly and Kavika were in town visiting a couple weeks ago. They came over one morning for breakfast. (Marc makes the BEST crepes! EVER!) After playing downstairs for a while, the kids came up and informed me that they made a MESS. This was the scene that greeted me in the family room and down the hallway:




I have a big, giant stuffed Mickey Mouse. They decided it would be fun to unstuff one of Mickey's legs and play with the stuffing... AFTER dumping out every toy in their playroom. (We had even cleaned right before Marc and family arrived, so every toy was in it's place.) So, the little styrofoam balls were E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E!!! And if you know anything about little styrofoam balls, they're very static-y (?) and stick to everything.

M.E.S.S!!!!! GIANT MESS!!!

SOOOO much fun to clean up, let me tell you. :) I was not a super happy mom, I'm not going to lie. I got everything cleaned up, and made it VERY clear that this was not an activity they were to engage in again. Apparently they didn't learn because the very next day, I went into the playroom and found that they had gotten into the beads (that I had "strategically placed" behind Mickey Mouse) AGAIN. They weren't ALL out, but still, another mess. This time I put the beads in the spare bedroom, which is off-limits AND grounded them from playing in their playroom for a week as punishment! Take THAT! They'll learn from that, right?!

Fast forward to today. I had a presidency meeting this morning at my house. While our Presidency was upstairs meeting, the children played downstairs. In the playroom. The logical place for children to play. After everyone left I went downstairs to get the boys and SURPRISE!, I was greeted by millions of tiny little styrofoam beads. Again. Everywhere. Hmmmmm...

Who isn't learning here? Could it be the 3 and 4 yr olds who find playing with beads SOOOOOO much fun (really, who can blame them?!), or perhaps the MOM who keeps cleaning them up and storing them (to restuff Mickey at some point) in reach of the 3 and 4 yr olds?

I'm happy to say that I've finally learned my lesson. Three cleanups later, I put the bag of beads up. They're hidden away. I'm not even going to tell you, the reader of this blog, where they are. They're safe from all 3 and 4 yr olds. I'm feeling smarter already!