Happy Easter!

For Easter this year we headed down to La Grande to spend time with Christine and the family.  It was just a quick weekend trip but a lot of fun.  The weather was surprisingly beautiful and we all enjoyed feeling like spring had sprung.

The boys and their cousins minus Mason (he was still at church with his dad) in their Easter finest.  We had a nice time at church.  Christine was kept busy teaching Sharing Time and subbing for the primary pianist so I filled in for her filling in for the Sunbeams teacher.  It was fun to be teaching Tate and Jack's class.  It was the Easter lesson so I even got to show them the hand in the glove, spirit/body object lesson- a classic!

 On Saturday, we filled the backyard with candy and plastic eggs and the kids filled their baskets with the goodies. 

 Luke dropped his cute chick basket at the first sight of candy and just shoved it in his mouth.  Who can think of saving candy for later when there is so much to eat right now?!

 Thanks Kimballs for letting us trash your house and have an entertaining weekend!

 

Back at home, on one of the few beautiful weather days we've had, I found Buddy doing his reading under the "shade" of our lone tree.  The small red object is an egg timer, which he sets to do his required 20 minutes of reading each day (which he often reads past if he's reading an interesting chapter book).  It warms my heart to have a child who enjoys reading as much as his parents do.  I hope he keeps it up! 

Happy Birthday Ranny!!

The boys love birthdays.  Really though what kid doesn't, with all the cake, presents and fun they bring.  The boys couldn't wait for Ryan to get home on his birthday to celebrate. When I asked Ryan what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he started thinking about the delicious turkey we had cooked up in our Traegar grill at Christmas, with all the trimmings.  I figured, a turkey dinner really doesn't take much hands-on time, just some planning (especially with the help of things like Stove Top and Pillsbury crescent rolls).  So a delicious downsized Thanksgiving dinner is what he got.  

 

 After dinner we had our usual treasure hunt for the presents.  The clues were especially tricky this year because the boys helped me make some of them.  It's hard to decipher that a four year old's drawing of a blue stick figure with monkey ears is really his stuffed blue bear.  Luckily, Tate couldn't hold in the secrets of his clues for too long without showing Ryan right were he had hidden the next clue.

 I also tried to keep Ryan on his toes with a couple clues outside of the house.  And yes, Ryan is wearing rain boots and basketball shorts, while Grant has on my brown leather flats and PJ pants which have become capris due to a recent growth spurt.  The kid is growing like a weed and our family is a fashion nightmare.

 Ryan received several books and a 5-disk DVD set entitled The Art of the Precision Rifle that he has wanted for some time.  It was a complete surprise! (Okay not really, but at least I made him let me order it online myself and wrap it up as his birthday present.)

Happy Birthday to the best husband and father ever!  We love you!

That 70's Dance

Tate and Luke being sweet and groovy.  Solid!

 Occasionally Grant's school has a Friday night family activity (usually a movie and popcorn in the auditorium).  We had yet to make it to an activity because we have our babysitting swap on Friday nights but a few weeks ago, Grant's school was having a disco dance and Grant really wanted to go.  As in, he reminded me about it at least 15 times in the weeks before!

I decided we better head on over, if only to see the kids dressed up in our afro wigs from an old Halloween costume.  The afternoon before the dance, the boys were getting excited and we had several mini dance parties to some Pandora tunes.  

Grant striking a pose, Foxy Cleopatra style.

Finally it was time for the dance.  We put on the best disco outfits we could find and headed over to the school.  After we walked in the door, the boys proceeded to do the following...

Stand with their hands in their pockets and blank expressions on their faces. I'm not sure if they were self conscious about their outfits (though they never took off the wigs), or maybe there were too many kids running around hitting each other with balloons, but they weren't really in the mood for booty shakin'.  At least we got a sneak preview of what their future church dance experiences might be like.

Eventually, we were able to coax a mild bit of dancing out of Luke, who can always be counted on to please the crowd with a little diaper shuffle.

Luckily the school had different activities planned like a bubble gum blowing contest and pinata busting that helped break the ice for the boys a little.  In the end, Grant and Tate were ready to leave after an hour so we still had time to make it to the end of our babysitting swap and Ryan and I were able to go out for ice cream while the boys played at their friend's house.  Disco dancing and an ice cream date in one night, doesn't get much better than that! 

Luke the cleaner

It's fun to see what characteristics your children develop and which ones must be passed through genetically.  Anyone who knows Ryan knows he likes to be organized and have his things kept in a certain way and is a bit of a perfectionist  We have seen this quality in Grant, especially in the way he completes his homework (it has to be done correctly or there is trouble), in the way he neatly organizes the animals on his bed,  and in his desire the wear "matching clothes" (which he sometimes insists means a top and bottom of completely the same color).  

We've already noticed a few similar characteristics in Luke.  Around the time he turned one, one of his favorite activities was to gather things scattered across a room and put them into one pile. 

Here is a picture of one such pile from last October (the bear was covering a few more items).  I remember I was in the kitchen doing dishes and I was just able to see the top of his little head on the other side of the counter going back and forth, back and forth.  I finally looked over to where he was going and saw he had been walking back and forth, picking one thing off the ground and putting it in a pile.  I guess he decided it was high time things got organized in the living room.

Now, one of Luke's favorite things to do is to throw away his own dirty diaper after he gets changed.  He understands that we put the stinky ones out in the dumpster in the garage.  Usually, after I change him he runs off while I wash my hands.  Then, there is about a 95% chance that I will find him just like this, wearing someones over-sized rain boots with the dirty diaper in hand, trying to open the door to the garage.  The boy just wants to throw away his diaper!

This picture shows one of those 5% moments, when Luke has escaped a diaper change before I was able to put a new diaper on, but he still managed to try on a pair of rain boots! 

February Fun

We kept busy as usual during February and the month flew by.  One fun thing we did on one of Ryan's days off was to visit the Elk feeding up near the foot of the mountains.  Every winter the state has elk and bighorn sheep feeding locations where they drop off loads of hay for hundreds to thousands of elk to eat daily.  They do this to help ensure that the elk don't come down to the cities and invade the orchards that are everywhere.  We were told that WA state actually categorized elk as a predator because of the terrible havoc they can reek on an unprotected apple orchard.  So it was a lot cheaper for them to install a big fence to keep the elk from going down into the Yakima valley and feeding them hay on the mountain side of that fence to encourage them to not go after the apple orchards.

We didn't get a good picture to show how many elk showed up that day, but there were hundreds.  It was neat to see so many wild elk at once and just watch them eat and interact with each other.  I realize that I often try to humanize wild animals when I watch them, thinking, "man that elk is a real jerk, see how he's hogging all the hay", or "that elk is sad, look at her face," etc., etc.  When really, they're probably just glad someone put out some hay to eat.

See how Tate is always ready for action?  The rolled up coloring sheet he picked up from the visitors center has the main function of being a sword, with only the slight possibility of being colored on. 

 Some of the elk had huge racks, which I imagined they were quite proud of.  At least they seemed like the cocky elks :)

 

Valentine's Day is not a very important day in our house.  We both realize it's just another commercial holiday, although Ryan has come to realize that I still appreciate some consideration on V-day, mostly just because it's fun.  We usually leave notes or cards, but the past two years we have started some traditions that I think we'll keep.  For starters, I decided that for Valentine's dinner we will have crepes.  I made them for the first time in early February last year and thought they were absolutely delicious so V-day seemed like a great day to make a tradition out of it.  Last year I also wrote Ryan some love-limericks, mostly to make him laugh but also for sentimental value.  Ryan returned with a poem of his own, which was great.  This year I wrote a few more limericks for him (I really payed attention in 6th grade English) and threw in a couple Haiku's for good measure.  For my gift, Ryan "heart attacked" the kitchen (you can only see a portion of the work in this picture).  Many of the hearts contained witty and sweet notes that only Ryan writes best.  What makes his gesture even more sweet was that Ryan put all these up while battling a crazy stomach flu that hit the family that week (only Tate and I were spared).  And yes, Tate and I were probably the only ones who really enjoyed the crepes this year, seeing that we weren't worrying about our ability to keep them down (or up, depending on which urge hit first).  But, man, were they good!

Tate is four!!

And we skip from Christmas to Tate's 4th Birthday.  The only things that happened in the month between was a visit from Christine, Sam and the kids (which was a fun time), and another one of my birthdays, which seem to be getting less exciting the older I become.  The family puts effort into celebrating my birthday, but maybe I'm just getting less excited for them and the increasing signs of aging each year brings.

Enough about me, onto Tate and his amazing Pirate Birthday!

Tate had his first birthday party with friends this year and it was quite a party.  He chose a pirate theme (with a little prompting from me--there are pirate party supplies everywhere!).  He invited over his friends from preschool and a couple others from the neighborhood.   

When the crew arrived, they had different tasks to complete to earn their pirate gear and become real pirates.

 

The first task was walking the plank.  This earned the kids their pirate bandanas.

 

 Ryan caught footage of the 2 seconds Luke kept his bandana on.

 Several times throughout the party, the young pirates would burn off some energy taking laps around the couch.  Of course this was accompanied by throaty yells and swipes of pretend cutlasses.

 I believe Luke had just bumped heads with another young mate, but like a true pirate trainee, he just kept running.

 The next task was a quick game of stick the treasure to the treasure map.  When completed the kids earned their eyepatch.

 The last task was finding the ticking bomb (a kitchen timer).  Each of the kids would take turns hiding the timer, then the other kids had to find it by listening for the "tick-tock".  This earned them an awesome pirate tattoo.

 The young pirates wearing their gear (this was taken before the tattoos).

 

After playing hard, it was time for a little treasure chest cake.  Tate made his wish and took a few attempts to get all the candles out.  They were a little spaced out :)

 The quietest 3 minutes of the party were right after the cake was served.

  A tradition started while my dad was growing up (or maybe even before) is a treasure hunt for your birthday presents.  This went especially well with a pirate birthday party.  Tate and all his friends were really excited to open the clue at each location and find where the next clue would be.

 I added this picture to my facebook page as well because it was my best drawn clue.  I think Baloo turned out pretty well, especially since I'm not an artist :)  This clue, of course, led them to the Jungle Book movie case where the next clue was hidden.

 The excitement level rose as the clues went on.  We had to stop Tate a few times from wrestling a friend to the ground for opening "his" clue, but in the end everyone was safe and had fun.

 Tate found his presents and received many nice things from his friends and family.  Here Tate is opening his Hulk Smash fists.  We knew he would love these because his favorite thing to do these days is to be "stoowong wike Hulk" and punch stuff.

 Ryan "helped put together" the castle which has been a hit among the entire family.

 Happy Birthday Tate, we love you!!

Christmas 2012

I figured I better finish up our Christmas posts now that we're three weeks into January.  We thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas season and stayed pretty busy with all the fun.  Our ward went all out with a Polar Express themed Christmas activity, even including a moving cardboard locomotive, complete with steam puffing out the smokestack.  Everyone came in their pajamas, too.  Santa made an appearance and even though the boys spent their entire time in line memorizing what they would say to Santa, only Grant could bring himself to offer a quick, sideways glance at Santa once seated on his lap.  Tate kept his eyes safely diverted to some point on the floor and Luke lasted long enough to snap a quick picture.  How come some of the most exciting childhood experiences are also the scariest? 

 We were hoping to have the Kimballs join us for the weekend before Christmas, but sickness and bad weather prevented any visitors from coming.  We still had fun as a family and continued with some family traditions.  On Christmas Eve night we had a little family nativity with the boys and I dressing up like shepherds and Ryan as the angel who delivers a message to us.  We then went to find the previously set up nativity in another room (basically a baby doll in a box with some toy animals around).  Apparently Luke had snuck in the room while the angel was delivering his message because we found all the animals thrown around the room and baby Jesus tipped out of the manger.  After putting everything back together we all had a chance to bear our testimony of Jesus.  Then we continued with the Nickerson tradition of bundling up to head outside for a star walk.  It was freezing cold, but fun to pretend to look for a new star.

When we got back home, the kids got cozy in their new Christmas PJ's and we enjoyed some hot cocoa before sending the little ones off to bed.

 

 The boys were very excited on Christmas morning but actually did not come and get us out of bed until 7:00am.  We had emphasized the night before that they had to stay in their room until then and, surprisingly enough, they listened.  We all had a fun time opening presents and getting treats in the stockings.  Even I had a surprise or two (a swanky, red necklace), thanks to my awesome hubby.

Poor Luke had been sick and had quite a sore bum Christmas morning.  He took about 20 minutes until he had calmed down and was ready to enjoy the presents.  He must have filled his diaper early in the morning and then gone back to sleep, because his little bum was quite raw!   That's got to be a pretty hard way to start your Christmas, no matter how old you are.

 The boys were very excited that we finally got a gaming system.  Ryan and I felt even more in tune with the 21st century when my brothers gave us a 6 month membership to Netflix.  We are living the high-tech life now!

 Luke's two most favorite gifts: his huge puppy and a stuffed animal that was sold as a reindeer but that Ryan assures me is definitely a moose because it has palmate antlers; a long, skinny, one-colored body; and a rounded muzzle (all traits that a moose enjoys and a reindeer lacks).  Grant had picked out the reindeer/moose for Luke from the dollar section at Target and it has become Luke's new sleeping buddy.  After much debate, Ryan now refers to it as "the moose formerly known as reindeer" or "the moose that once masqueraded as a reindeer" or "the mislabeled moose" or, when pressed, "the reindeer that looks exactly like a moose and nothing like a reindeer".   It's also fun to see that Luke tackles the giant puppy and rolls around in its fur about 20 times a day so we know we picked a good gift.

 The boys have really enjoyed all their Lego gifts this Christmas, and I have enjoyed the extended quiet play time they have brought.  If I ever notice that things seem too quiet in the house, I usually find the two of them kneeling on the ground, surrounded by Legos, building away.  I'm just glad there is something they like to do together that somehow results in less fighting than usual.  And it's fun to see that they build some very clever things- usually planes, boats, or cars for their little character people.

 

Ryan's boss was awesome and gave all the docs a new Traegar grill for Christmas so for Christmas dinner we let the Traegar do the work.  The turkey turned out delicious!  Possibly the juiciest turkey we have ever had!

The recipe is really simple. Just rinse and dry the turkey with paper towels inside and out. Salt and pepper the inside body cavity of the turkey then fill the body cavity with celery, baby carrots, garlic cloves, rosemary sprigs, and a lemon cut into quarters (Ryan squeezes the juice out of each lemon quarter with his fist as he puts it into the turkey). Then rub the outside with olive oil and salt and pepper the outside.  Cook at 325 F until the temp of the deepest part of the thigh is 165 F (~4 hours).  After removing the turkey let it sit for at least 15 minutes before carving it.  

It has been the best recipe we've used in an oven and it was made even better by smoking/cooking it in the Traeger grill at 325 F with Maple wood pellets.  The turkey was so moist that the breast literally gushed liquid as Ryan carved it. Delicious!!