The latest pics

Happy St. Patricks Day! We ate green mac and cheese with peas! It tasted a little funky with the food coloring, next year mom will just puree the peas instead. But it was fun anyway!



I love to be any kind of bad guy/super hero I can. Today I am some version of Luke Skywalker with oven mitts and "light sabers" (rhythm sticks), I also have a cowboy gun and sword, who knows what I am really, but I am creative and having fun!



This is what I brought home from school today...

I actually want to be Darth Vader when I grow up so I can fly a tie fighter, Mom asked me if I want to hurt people and make them cry, don't worry, I said no, but I just want the light saber and the tie fighter.

A cute picture

This is Will and his friend Corbin. They make great super heroes.

One from the vault

I took this picture in June of 2000, in the North Cascades in Washington. This goat was literally only a few feet away, no digital or telephoto zoom on this one, in fact it's from actual film. I finally got it scanned and saved and am proud to share it. It's still my favorite picture I have ever taken.

Arizona Trip

Thanks everyone who wished and prayed for good weather, we went to visit my dad in Arizona. It was a fun trip, we drove down through Vegas, which is a little longer and a lot less fun, we got stuck in Vegas traffic for an hour and only went 5 miles. Then we got to Mesa and played at the park a lot and enjoyed the sandals and shorts. We also went to the Phoenix Zoo, which was fun as well. We didn't want to come back to the cold and snow and work. But we did come back. :) The boys did great in the car both ways, for the most part. Thank heaven for portable dvd players, and i pods for mom.We drove home through Jacob Lake and Kanab, that drive is much more scenic and you will notice with the pictures, the one with the clouds and the one with the Bryce Canyon style red rocks were taken without slowing down and without rolling down the windows. So, here's the short version story breakdown on the trip...

1411 miles on the car +
292 iPod songs +
4 mannequin police officers +
3 beautifully sunny 80 degree days +
2 sheep we saw on the drive home (Rowen says "Baaaa") +
1 pair of new turquoise earrings bought at the Navajo indian roadside stand
= Totally worth it.


Love the sand in this one.

Rowen got good at the slides.


Rowen watching airplanes, they are easy to see because the Phoenix airport is not far away.

Palm trees at the park.

What are these things?

Huge Koi in the pond at the zoo.

Trying out the digital zoom.

Again.

Will was actually not roaring, just saying "We are at the zoo!"

They enjoyed the little children's farm at the zoo with fake animals you could touch and climb on...



And real tractors too...

And a petting zoo where you could brush the goats, Rowen holds the brush wrong and just hits the goats, but they are patient and he LOVED it.

Will loved it too...

Turtles in the pond with the ducks and HUGE Koi.

Pretty clouds, on the Kaibab Plateau, near Jacob Lake.

Pretty rocks.

Nice sunset, almost home, near Fillmore.

Preschool Part Trois

So, yesterday William went to his official first day of preschool. He was a little clingy when I left him, but then he was fine and had a good time. Hopefully all will go well with him going to big boy school. He seems to take to it like it's made for him. So, that's the official story, he goes to Dancing Moose Montessori School. It is fun for him to see other kids, learn new things, learn to follow directions, be nice, etc. I will update this about his school, when something fun or interesting happens, actually the only interesting thing now is that he has learned to wipe his own bum. It was a requirement for school and so, he is officially a BIG boy when it comes to potty time.

Preschool, Part Deux

So...we went to preschool today again. This time it was at the Realms of Inquiry school. Will was having a bad morning and so was clingly and sad when we left him, so Jason went out to the car and got Boba Fett (sp?) Will's little 4 inch tall plastic star wars guy. Deal done, Will in school, us gone. So here's what the teacher said when I picked him up.

Teacher: "I have some concerns, I'll have to think about it and call you at the beginning of the week."
ME: "Like what?"
Teacher: "Well, every toy he picks up becomes a toy weapon, and we have a policy, no toy weapons at all. No weapons play."
ME: "Okay..." (READ: I was thinking, Okay Lady let's turn him into a pacifist hippie gay/woman...)
Teacher: "And we have a no-action-figures-policy too."
ME: (Thinking, Oh, so no boba fett.) Oh you do?
Teacher: "Yeah, I think we need to make that more clear, like have it in the packet and on the website, I think I'll talk to the director about that one." (I never received a packet.)
ME: "Probably a good idea."
Teacher: "And he had a lot of interesting questions..."
ME: "Like what?"
Teacher: "Like when is nap time?"

Okay so a school for gifted kids thinks that a 3 year old asking when nap time is is interesting. He asked during story time when at home we take a nap after we read a book...Hmmm...interesting, eh?

By the way, we chose the other preschool. And for further reading just for fun, read this article from the most hippie, pacifist magazine I can sometimes barely stand to read at all, about weapons play.

http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/discipline/bang-bang.html

So, Will starts school next week, when we will have Preschool, Part Trois.

Love you all.

This first three are of Will sharing his frosty with Rowen. See how happy sharing makes everyone?





These are from us playing in the snow today... Rowen had to lay down in the snow with Will, anytime Will does anything, you can be pretty sure Rowen wants to do it too. I still have a happy and beautiful dog. She is 11 official people years, 80 ish in dog years, and pretty darn healthy.









This last one is a picture of Aspen, taken by Will. Good job Will!