Last Year - 2/15/12

Growing up living in Joseph, Oregon February meant a few things mostly cold walks to school and alot of snow and all things that come with it. And I am not talking about a skiff of snow here or there but SNOW, the kind you had to take turns being the lead person because they were the trail breaker and therefore got worn out, that snowball fights never ran out of ammunition, you could invent entire families of snowmen, and sledding/snowmobiling was a part of every weekend.

I have adjusted to many things living in Walla Walla, but the lack of snow is the hardest for me. Apparently February here means spring has begun, 50 degree days aren't unheard of, and everything is starting to grow. It might seems silly to those of you who didn't grow up with a love of snow, but I miss it terribly. My kids however think it's awesome, these were taken last year on a very warm February day (those 4 words together still blow my mind) but nevertheless you can see the lack of snow isn't bothering them at all as they race around our back yard playing with Jake (my mother and father-in-laws dog). Hope you enjoy.

Last Year - April 2, 2012 The treasure hunt

Okay this is one of my favorites from last year. The pictures are not all that great but the story is to good to pass up. Last April my parents went to the coast, in the spirit of the piratitude that my family adores (my daughter has a pirate flag on her wall and several pirate chests she hides things in in her room) they bought some Spanish doubloons (tourist fake ones obviously not that the kids care or know) for them. However, in the dramatic flare that follows our family through life, instead of just giving the kids each their doubloons, dad bought a small treasure chest as well and filled it with the "treasure".

My mom and I distracted the kids when my parents came home and dad made the pass off to Travis who promptly took it out side to our unplanted garden and buried it in what was supposed to be a shallow hole (more on that later) placing to large wooden staves from his bow making supply in a large X on top of the buried treasure. After discovering the X the hunt began.

After they moved the X, they used their hands to clear away the debris that was on top of the dirt.

Next came the shovels, each of the boys took turns using the shovels to dig on their expedition. (Sydney was playing the big sister and letting the boys have fun as she video taped the whole thing.) 

 

Suddenly realizing that something is wrong and this is taking forever Travis decides he better help out in the digging before everyone freezes. (Notice the hole isn't just getting deeper but wider as well.)

 

Alright now Sydney, the expert in piratitude, is called in and the little hole has grown substantially. It has now become a full scale operation.

 

Last come my favorite picture, it's the moment when Travis realizes he has no freaking idea where he buried the treasure that was supposed to have been found in a matter of minutes and is now running on an hour. Some time later the boys got bored and cold and soon Travis and my dad were digging large wholes all over our garden looking for the stupid thing. It took sometime and a few beers, but eventually it was found. Of course by then it had become a mission for fun, but it did help get a huge section of my garden tilled up and makes for a good laugh now.

The last year

So I haven't been here in a while because I have been crocheting my fingers off (okay I still have my fingers but I have been crocheting alot!!!) and that has left little to know time for anything else. I have been looking through pictures from the last year in my spare time.  Since we have been leading a pretty solitary life I thought as I go through them I would post some of the pictures of the kids up here so you can watch them play there way through the year.

Last January we went on an adventure up Mill Creek with our kids and my nephew Ezra, had a fire, roasted hot dogs and marshmellows over a fire, threw rocks in the river, and in general just had fun as we froze our butts off.

Hope you all enjoyed these, and could see how much fun the kids had, even though all of their noses are red.

Aric-ism or motto of the day, I am not sure which!?!

Last night the boys were playing a video game together. Aric yells, "Come on Taylor we must take the castle!!!" Taylor proceeds to ask, "Why?" Aric's response: "Because we are men!!!"

Now to Travis and I there was only one response to that aside from laughing, if you don't know what it is shame on you. If you know what it is shame on you. lol

Either was "Because we are men!!!" here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRdJ9lyr9-k&feature=player_detailpage

I'm Taylor and I am TWO!

So Aric and Eza had ran into Aric/Taylor's bedroom and shut the door. Taylor did not think that was fair as he didn't want to be left out, but the door was being blocked by the boys so he couldn't let himself in. After throwing himself against, kicking it with his foot, banging on it with a shoe, and all manner of yelling at them to try to get them to open the door I heard him lower his voice and saying in a very serious voice:

"You let me in right now, or I will huff and puff and blow this door down. And then you will be sorry!"