Oh the weather outside is frightful...

BUT we braved the cold and shoveled the walks and driveway (and not to toot our horn, but to remind the boys in the future when they read this blog as a book, we shoveled the neighbors driveway and walks as our "Christmas service for the day"... they were so proud and kept worrying that she would come home and catch us! ha ha) and THEN we built a snowman. Am I a good mom, or what?! If any of you answered "yes" to that question, you may change your mind when I confess that Aiden and Chase's winter boots are too small for them, so they wore MY boots/ shoes which are way too big for them!! (You can kind of see them in the snowman pics, but here is what they looked like after being removed.)

Yes, I really did let them go outside wearing those! :)

On top of that "technical difficulty", the snow is waaaaay too powdery to stick together. Not to be deterred, we figured out that although we couldn't make the snow stick together enough to "stack" we could make piles that we could semi-form. So meet our tired/ resting/ lazy snowman.

Wow! Check out those big feet! ha, ha!

All in all, a fun time. Now if only my toes would thaw... and my BONES would warm up. Sooo worth it, though! ;)

Back seat drivers...

Grandfather usually has to stay late after church because he's in the Bishopric and has things to do. Last Sunday he just happened to be leaving at the same time as us, so the boys excitedly declared they were riding home with him... The following is an experience and resulting conversation that Grandfather relayed to me:

Someone was kind of riding Grandfather's tail on the way home, so as he turned the corner to head to his street, he caught a bit of the curb.

Chase, "Uhhh What was that?! A bump?"
Grandfather, "Ya, it was a bump."
Aiden, "It felt like a dead human!"

Ummmm what?! I don't even know where to begin... So maybe I just won't.

Things learned in Primary...

We were sitting at the table last week eating breakfast and out of the blue Chase asked, "You know what my teachers say when we say 'nothing'?" I said, "No, what?" He replied (with a pointing finger and great enthusiasm), "You greatful UNchild!" lol It has become my new favorite saying. :)

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!

Summer-O-Fun... take 1

This may come as a surprise to some... those people who don't know us AT ALL, anyway... We went to the zoo. The news here is that we went to the Denver zoo, not the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We met our friends, the Smiths, so they could show us around the zoo in their neck of the woods (as we took a few turns escorting them around the zoo in ours... or OUR zoo as we commonly refer to it... ha, ha). They have animals that we don't have. For example, red pandas (Kristy's favorite)... Camels...

Polar bears...

Very friendly polar bears who stand on their hind legs and let us compare heights with them...

Ok, just kidding. What? You couldn't tell that was a cutout? Obviously our little ones have a way to go...

Seals...

Elephants...

Oh. Just kidding. We have elephants. I just thought this elephant was so funny. She looked like she had a little too much to drink (not the tipsy-kind-of-too-much-to-drink, just the too-much-for-your-bladder-to-hold and you have to cross your legs and hold it while looking for the nearest restroom...)

Then Aiden found a matching-shirt-twin. Actually his matching-shirt-twin found him. It was cute, the little boy came running up and just stood in front of Aiden not saying a word. He just knew that words were not necessary. And he was right. Aiden simply gasped, cheered, and hugged his instant buddy. Then their proud moms took pictures to document their little meeting. :)

And finally, we found a gorilla on the loose that turned out to be no match for my two little animal tamers... (He doesn't look happy about it!) ;)
It was a fun day. Thanks Smiths! Too bad we waited so long and only got one chance to go with you before you moved far away to Alabama. Maybe one of these days you'll be back. Or maybe there's a cool zoo down there we'll have to come check out... In the winter, of course! The Denver Zoo was hot enough for us! We miss you already!

Happy Birthday Grandma...

or as I used to lovingly refer to her, post children, Mom!

The other night we were on our way home from Grandma's house and I reminded the boys that Grandma's birthday was coming up in just a few days.

Aiden asked, "What kind of birthday?"

I replied, "Her 61st birthday."

To which Chase asked, "How OLD is she going to be?"

Me: She's going to be 61!

Chase: Wow, that sure is a LOT.

Here's to a LOT more birthdays! We love you!

Home of the Braves...

Strike that! We're actually the home of a couple "A's". There just happened to be some confusion somewhere. We're not sure how or where it happened. When we signed the boys up for t-ball, the forms we were given said we were the Bonforte Braves. So that's what we were... For a couple weeks. Then we got the t-shirts that said, "Athletics" and the green and yellow hats with the big capital "A"... It has taken a little time to turn our Braves into A's. Now the boys like to remind me, "We're 'A's', NOT Braves"... I think they think it was MY mistake. :D Whatever. It wasn't my fault. I wasn't wrong, ok? (Do you get the impression that I've been defending myself for a while? Chase, especially, likes to ask, "Mom were you wrong and I was right?" ... mind you, it's not JUST in the case of the mistaken t-ball-identity, but that's just what I happen to be blogging about right now.)

Part of the team at the beginning of practice. (Can I just say I think they lucked out in the coach department?! He's awesome!)

I digress...

So, the boys are playing t-ball and LOVING it. Chase asked me (prior to signing them up) "Mom, when do WE get to play sports and everybody can yell, 'go Chase, go Chase'?" I guess that comes from going to watch Madi play soccer and Luke play t-ball and Dennis & Liz playing softball. :D They decided they wanted in on the action.

Chase batting during practice

Aiden batting during practice

These are their favorite things about playing t-ball:

Aiden:

-anything COACH related. He just likes saying the word.

-the big water cooler and paper cups that COACH brings to games and practices (I don't know why I even bother bringing their water bottles anymore.)

-the snacks after games.

-the dirt to play in while "out" in the field.

-being able to use his own bat.

Chase:

-hearing his name being "cheered on" during games

-batting

-being the one to "catch" the ball

-snacks after games

-saying Coach Craig

-reminding me that I was wrong about the team name

Their games are a riot. Aiden has run for 3rd base twice after hitting the ball in a game. Chase got lost running from 2nd one game. The coach was telling him to run for 3rd, but he headed across the field for home. When the coach told him to "come back", Chase decided that meant to go back to 2nd, so off he went back across the field. He did finally figure out that he was supposed to go to 3rd. :D This is a perfect age for them to learn too because they don't get embarrassed or self-conscious about anything. It's all fun and games for them, which I love. We're already looking forward to soccer in the fall... at least I am. :D

Watch as the ball rolls right past Aiden who is busy playing in the dirt!

Chase's first at-bat... first game

Aiden heading straight to 3rd base.

fashion?!

This is my sister, Staci. (She's Madi's mom to those of you who don't know her. Of course everybody knows Madi!) She watched Chase for me last week while I took Aiden to the dentist. (I'll blog about Aiden's dental-work experiences another time!) They have two dogs, Peanut (a chihuahua) and Tyrone (a mutt?... Stace?).**

While we were visiting with Staci and Mad after Aiden's appointment, Chase suddenly got a concerned look on his face and asked Staci, "Did your dogs rip your pants?"

To which Staci replied, "Ummm, No. I bought them this way." I think he's with Grandfather on this one and thinks Staci must be crazy. ;)

**If anyone wants a free dog, Staci is ready to give hers to a good home. :D

Through the eyes of a child...

We went to the library the other day and Aiden saw "A" car in the parking lot... He got excited and disappointed all at once saying, "Mom, we never had that car before!" Then as we walked past the car, Chase and our little friend, Trezden, commented, "Isn't this car B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.?!"

It was highly decorated... and artistic. Life would be so much easier and better if we were more like children and could appreciate a beautiful car because of it's art instead of it's "status" ... don't you think? (Not that I'm "there". I just wish I was closer!) :D

Remember my architect in the making?

I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of Chase's designs.

In spite of his continued building (on an almost hourly basis... while we're at home, anyway), he's decided he now wants to be a zoo keeper. It's a toss-up, really, whether he spends more time building or at the zoo (our home-away-from-home), so his indecision between professions is understandable (well, that and the fact that he's only 3!).

Chase has now combined his two passions and reguarly creates animal habitats... Quite the variety of animals, you'll notice. (I think there's even and monster/ogre type thing in the mix!)

While visiting the zoo last week we met a zoo keeper who was working with the monkeys. After Chase had asked her a million and one questions (at least), I informed her that he had decided he's going to be a zoo keeper. Pleased with his decision, she offered to let him and Aiden help her prepare a snack for one of the monkeys. They put the treats into a paper sack, scrunched up the sack, and then the zoo keeper threw it to the monkey. The monkey pulled everything out one at a time and gobbled it up. Once she devoured everything in the sack, she tossed the sack back at the keeper. :) Very entertaining! It only encouraged Chase more to become a zoo keeper... We shall see.