Viva (doll child)

I was looking through my summer picture file and I realized (shamefully?!) that I have more pictures of Viva than the boys.  Oops.

BUT... I figured it out!  I'm always taking pictures of her new hair, new hair things, new outfits....

the boys just don't give me those options.  :-)  Do they wear hair things?  No!  Do they have new hair styles?  Nope.  It's the same basic comb it or not looks the same do day in and out.  Do they care about their clothes? No!  They want the same T-shirts day in and day out.  Jeans one day, jeans the next.  Favorite socks washed?  Lets get them right back on.

And so forth.

They're adorable, of course.  But they don't get me new looks to photograph!  They specialize in action stunts (not Viva's forte), and those are harder to catch on camera - I'm not normally ready for them!

So there you have it.  Justification for the plethora of Viva photos.  Add in her ability to make funny faces and she's irresistible to me.

So here are a few Viva pics.

Isn't she adorable?  It almost makes a Mom want to order 10 more just like her.

Hahahah.  

She's very cute, but she also has trouble listening. I tell her not to do something... she does it.  I ask her what I told her.  She says (always) "I don't know!".  Or sometimes "What, Mommy?!".  It's a good act, I'll give her that... she almost has me convinced she's deaf.  But she can hear well enough when she wants to!

Jake's Wit

Jake, this morning:

"Thank you for this candy, Mommy!,

and thank you for the rotten teeth!"

What a hoot.  Yes, he really said that.

I think he was watching a show about healthy food choices on PBS... so now he's scared of chocolate!

Friends (Brothers)

Yesterday I asked Viva who she likes to play with best.  Her answer?  Cassidy.  (which I think is a lovely answer, a girl needs a girlfriend!)

I asked Jake who he likes to play with best.  His answer?  Bentley!

How sweet.  :-)

Jake, Still a Monkey

Jake, still a monkey.  An elusive one, at that.  Despite the fact he has been carrying (and wearing) his new winter monkey sleeper EVERYWHERE, it has been hard to capture him with the lens.  Jake wears the sleeper, then requests that it be washed.  He then carries it around as a shawl during the day, and as soon as dinner is over announces he's ready for bed (he wants to put the sleeper back on).  Morning time?  He doesn't want to get dressed.  Already dressed and it comes out of the dryer?  He doesn't care if it's 80 degrees in the house, he tries to put his monkey sleeper on OVER all his clothes.  This kid is dedicated to his new sleeper.

Hopefully this translates well to his adult relationships - he shows great ability to be committed at a young age!

Bentley's Animals

Bentley has been playing with a how to draw animals book that I found for him on Amazon, and I think he is quite good!

 It's amazing to me how quickly his art style is developing and changing.  He loves to draw/sketch, and will often spend a good chunk of time on intricate details for one of his drawings!  The medium of choice seems to be colored pencils lately, and every picture has a big story to go with it.  It's fun to see.

Swim Lessons

Yesterday the trio went for their first swim lesson. Kara signed them up a couple of weeks ago and then this past week she began preparing them with positive pep talks. Pools are fun! Swimming is fun! Rah! Rah! Rah! Viva was eager to get started. She said she'd jump right in the pool. (We told her to wait for the instructor.) Jake and Bentley informed their mother that they were not going. They weren't taking swim lessons. No, not them.

In spite of their denials, the boys got ready for swim lessons, got in the car, and entered the YMCA without undue hassle. We trekked into the women's dressing room and helped the kidlets put on their water shoes which then had to taken off when they got to the pool because water shoes are not an asset when trying to kick your feet and swim. Duh! To get to the pool we had to walk through the shower area where there were several, fat, naked ladies. Kara told me she noticed that Jake gawked a little, but he made no embarrassing comments. After the kids took a quick shower we headed out to the pool.

Showering and then waiting before getting in the pool is not a good way to stay warm, so we had to wrap the kidlets up in their towels. (None of the other preschoolers took showers.) Fortunately it was only a short wait before the swim teachers showed up. At this point we learned that the YMCA had added a second class of preschool swim and the twins were in one class and Bentley was in a different class. That didn't seem like a good thing at first, but it ended up being a great thing.

Because...Bentley's class only had four students in it and the other three had some water experience already, so the instructor had the children in the pool kicking and jumping and floating from the very start of the class. Bentley has had very little pool time, but he did great. He was a little hesitant at first and shivering quite a bit from the cool pool water, but he warmed up and did everything he was asked to. I was very impressed. I had not thought he would be so willing. Great job B!

Viva and Jake were not so intrepid. (Of course they are seventeen months younger than Bentley!) Viva got right in the pool, but then decided she didn't much like being in deep water. She was okay sitting on the edge of the pool, but she did not like going out into the pool with the teacher. Jake refused to get near the pool for the first five to ten minutes, but eventually he was coaxed to the edge of the pool and even into the pool a couple of times. After his first venture into the pool when the teacher returned him to the side of the pool he climbed out and made a mad dash for the locker room. Despite this poor beginning, he went into the water again a little later.

The twins were not alone in their reluctance. The entire class of six preschoolers were not happy to be in swim lessons. The teacher said it's the most difficult class she's had in her ten years of teaching. She invited all the moms to join her in the pool next week. What else could she do when she had a class filled with waterphobes?! I'm sure the twins will do better next week.

Bentley and Jake far exceeded my expectations for a first swim lesson. Bentley participated! Jake didn't cling to his mother or grandmother the entire lesson! Viva, on the other hand, didn't do nearly as well as I expected her to. I thought she'd enjoy swim lessons. Maybe the group mentality sucked her in? I think she'll loosen up. She was the one this summer who loved playing in the small wading pool.


Bentley never smiled, but he seemed to enjoy himself.


Jake being persuaded by his mother that pool time is fun time.


Viva was mellow as long as she wasn't actually in the pool.


Jake in the pool!


Bentley (far left) with his class and instructor (two kids clinging to each arm)


Viva and Jake watching the instructor do her thing. Too bad they wouldn't do their thing.

The photos are awful. I'd delete them, but they are all we have. The kids were wearing goggles. I had a view of their backs more often than not. The light was poor and I was trying to keep the camera away from any potential water spray so I stayed a ways back. Next week since we will be in the pool with the twins, we won't be taking any photos, which given this week's gems is a blessing for all of us.

Messy Girl

Genevieve is my only child who doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.  Here she is, using her green smoothie as paint to decorate the table.

This is something that wouldn't even occur to her brothers.  Hands in food?  Yuck, no!  Wash those hands, right away!  Geneveieve?  Says this is FUN.

It's very bizarre.  Before having children I imagined all children were crazy messy little creatures.  I pictured the spaghetti and meatballs all over and being eaten with hands.  I pictured finger painting activities engaged in with wild glee.

Not so much.  Bentley and Jake do not like messes.  Bentley is the most opposed, but Jake isn't a big fan either. Geneveive is my go to girl for messy kid activities.  I'm glad I have one of them.  :-)

Uncle Ty's Mimic

Bentley is into baseball caps lately.  He's also into wearing his baseball caps backwards.  Why?  He tells me that's how Uncle Ty always wears his hat.  So of course he has to wear it the same way!

Summer Biking

This summer the bikes were a BIG hit around the home! We started out in May with a bike for Bentley and trikes for the twins. Jake wanted a bike like Bentley's, which really ended up meaning Bentley got a new (garage sale!) bike and Jake got Bentley's bike. Viva, of COURSE, then wanted to join the party. Some cute matching helmets later they were the biking trio!

Jake tells me that soon he and Bentley will be big and fast enough to go out biking with Mommy & Daddy. I asked him why he didn't include Genevieve in that statement? He told me that it's because she's "Not so good with biking yet. She can't even brake."

Sadly enough, the kid is right... she does seem to have a few problems with getting going and with braking. But that's okay! Bentley? As you can see, in the first picture, he's a blur! Jake is right behind him, although not QUITE as fast yet - but getting there! Our driveway is perfect for bike riding and when the weather has cooperated the kids have certainly enjoyed it.

Getting Out

After a beautiful day of sunshine yesterday, nature decided to return to the rainy weather. After sitting inside most of the day, I thought the 1/4 mile walk to the mailbox would be good exercise. Jake wanted to stay behind and help his father, so Bentley, Viva and I headed out. Bentley took off on a run and Viva tried to keep up. The picture collage shows the true exuberance these two had for the short outing. A great way to expend some energy and get some fresh air!

My New Favorite Photo

Every couple of months I force my grandchildren and my spouse to work together to get a new great group photo. This is not easy to do. The children are easily distracted. The photographer is often less than cooperative, too. When I told him I was dragging my father's moose antlers over to the other side of the driveway because it was a better photo backdrop over there, he grumbled. I ignored him. When we started taking photos, Viva was difficult--she has a hard time standing in one spot. I persevered.


The photo is great! I might even take the image file to Costco and have a canvas print made. Last summer we had the three kids on a rock. This year it's three kids with moose antlers. Next summer...?

Fun In Idaho

A guest post from the father dude.  When I get back to it I plan to find some pictures on his camera to add to the post!

Earlier this month, Bentley went to Idaho with me for the family reunion and celebration of my Grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. We had quite the adventure during the week we were gone, and we had the chance to see quite a bit of Highway 95 along the way. To kick off our adventure, we flew down on a red-eye flight to Seattle, where we had the chance to go to the Alaska Airlines Boardroom with a pass from Grandpa Tim. Not only was the boardroom a great place to watch all the happenings of the tarmac for 4 hours while we waited for our flight, it also was the source of a pancake breakfast. Nothing like push-button simple pancakes at 6AM! Our flight to Lewiston was mostly uneventful, though we had a chance to check out the farms and harvest crews as we flew low from Pullman to Lewiston.

On our first day there, Wednesday, a bunch of my cousins and their families came down to Lewiston. It was great to see Chris, Sam, Kyle, Kim, Nicole, Carey, and Toddy. Bentley and Todd worked pretty hard for the afternoon on their golf and frisbee techniques, and managed to
get a bunch of us in to play along. Nicole and Kim made sure that Bentley was well fed (with brownies and mac&cheese) for his first night there.

Day 2, Bentley decided he wanted to go to the local park, so he talked Gram and I into walking down the street to the big playground with him. He was quite a climber and had fun with the other kids at the playground.

Day 3 was our big drive to Boise. Bentley had never done a long car trip before - I think the longest was maybe 100 miles in South Dakota, whereas this was about 300 miles. It was a beautiful day, and Gram and Grandpa shared stories about some of the places we were going past, from the train trestles to the old family farm in Grangeville. While B got to see lots of neat things on this drive, I think the two highlights may have been getting postcards of bears and potatoes. He did great - no one got puked on (though he wouldn't eat much the whole day), and my favorite quote was, "Ok daddy, I waited a LONG time and listened to all your stories. Now can I use the iPad?"

Days 4, 5, and 6 are a bit of a blur to me - and moreso probably to Bentley. For a boy with no nap, very little food, and a stubborn attitude about not wearing shorts even though it was 90 degrees, he did great! He helped with the setup and take-down for the party, had a lot of fun with more family who came for the party, and couldn't get enough badminton and croquet in with all the other kids who were there. We didn't get to bed before midnight most nights, and we were back up by 8 or 9AM. Uncle Mark and Lucretia took good care of us - even made sure that Bentley had a color book - and Jake the beagle did his best to substitute for Jake the brother. Unfortunately, Bentley doesn't like dogs.

The party on Saturday was excellent, thanks to all the effort put in by my cousins, aunts and uncles, and other family members. Beforehand, Bentley had a chance to go swimming with Uncle Tyler and Grandma Karen at the hotel pool, which he thought was pretty fun. Ihad a chance to visit with my cousins at the party and be the unofficial photographer. I missed the best action shots when the sprinklers went off while everyone was outside visiting, but I think I got the other important events. (No, Bentley did NOT enjoy getting soaked by the sprinklers).

Congratulations Grandpa and Grandma!

Steve, you're welcome to put in an arbor, lawn, and treehouse at my place if you're looking for something to do next summer! Tenille, along with some of the aunts and other cousins, put together a delicious Sunday brunch at her house. Bentley had a great time with her kids playing Wii, watching movies, and doing a whole lot of other stuff, since it had finally gotten too hot out to play. It was so much fun he didn't want me around. I heard "Go away dad" at least once an hour when I went to find him.

We finished off our Idaho visit with a trip to the Boise Zoo with Tenille, Geoff, and their kids. I wasn't aware that Bentley had such a fascination with the "creepy" things rather than what I consider the "cool" animals. He wanted to see snakes, bats, bugs, and reptiles. Apparently giraffes, lions, and monkeys just aren't as impressive. He liked them, but they really didn't capture his attention. We topped it off with a trip to Rocky's Cafe (I think), which was featured on Man vs Food. I had never heard of 2lb burgers before, but now I've seen one! It's huge!

My uncles took us to the airport later that evening, and we flew home after finding another large batch of postcards at the airport store. No major calamities on the way home, though I only had four hours between arriving home and taking off for Barrow to be at morning meetings. At least Bentley got to sleep in!

All in all, it was an excellent trip and we made a lot of happy memories with family in Idaho.

High Tech Learning

Our household has "gone Apple".  Opa & Matt have been Mac OS users for a while, and I've had an iTouch for about a year.  When the iPad came out, however, we went a little crazy.  We have a few of them in the house (I'm ashamed to count them), we are in love.

And when I say we, I mean more than just the adults.  The toddlers want to know why they don't have their own.  Do you know how many applications there are for kids out there?!  Our model, above, is working on her letter recognition (a program Opa found and modified for them).  Everything is more fun on a shiny touch screen... !  There are great mazes.  There are flash cards.  Memory games.  Drawing programs.  Math programs.  Fishing competitions.  Etc etc.

My question?  I know it's "common" knowledge that too much TV time or computer time rots the young brain.  And we're pretty good with the TV, and the kids don't ever use the computer.  But WHAT is an iPad?  I know it has much in common with a computer, but... it actively engages them.  Is it the same as drawing with pencil and paper from a creativity perspective?  Not as messy, and not QUITE the same - I know.  But it sure seems different than my laptop.  It talks to them.  It can repeat what they say.  So does it develop the brain?  I say yes.  I hope so.  :-)

(P.S. - don't worry.  They do still engage in other activities besides iPading, despite what their father may believe.  This is simply one of their many favorite activities!).

More Quotes from the Kids

Bentley, irritated with me as I try to enforce order at family prayer time:

"You're not in charge of me.  God is."

Viva, excited to play with Rachel.  Rachel, has just gotten home and ran downstairs for a few minutes.

Viva:  "Mommy, can you set the timer for 20 minutes?"
I ask why...
"Rachel said she needs 20 minutes and then she will play."

Can't get away from this girl... :-)

Jake, good with his bible stories (or at least one of them).

Where did God ask Jonah to go?  "Ninevah!  "

and what did God want him to tell the people?  "REPENT!"  (said in all caps, of course)

So Clueless

Today Viva was drawing on the iPad. She showed me her drawing (lots of loopy circles) and said. "This is a drawing of T-Rex. He eats plants and people." Technically, T-Rex didn't eat plants or people. He was a carnivore on the planet before humans walked the earth. Before I could save her drawing she X-ed it. When I complained, she said she'd draw me another one.

Here is the second drawing. It is "all the dinosaurs who lived with T-Rex." What dinosaur would live with a carnivore as vicious as T-Rex?


As you can see, there were a few construction vehicles added to the drawing. Can you tell this girl has two brothers?

Looking Good

Yesterday the family went to the fair. Jake, when getting dressed, carefully selected a shirt to wear. He chose a polo style shirt instead of his usual T-shirt. He then told me, "This shirt is good. Rachel will see me in it."

Have we mentioned that Rachel was visiting us last week? Rachel is Kara's cousin from Utah who comes up every summer and visits family and friends for a couple of weeks. This year she cut her time in Anchorage short so she could work at the State Fair. Jake knew we were going to see her while at the fair, so he wanted to make sure he was looking his best. Bentley also really likes Rachel. And Rachel has a boyfriend (Tanner) her age. She's very popular.

What do think, will Jake win Rachel away from Tanner?

Berry Fun

The kids are great berry pickers!  We have some raspberries around the house (and after getting some starts hope to have many more next year!) and the kids love to go out picking them.  Earlier in the summer it was strawberries with Daddy, but lately it's been raspberries.  Even better?  They all like eating raspberries too - even that Bentley child who is suspicious of most fruit.

They must be related to me.  I love raspberries - I have visions of turning the back yard hill into a huge raspberry field.  It would be lovely.  :-)

Happy Birthday, Old Man!

Matt turned THIRTY this year!  We had german chocolate cake to celebrate.  And some presents.  :-)  The kids are all about the presents!  Now that they're getting a bit older they want to know what they're buying, how many presents people are getting, etc...

Matt was lucky enough to have a Saturday birthday, so it was a nice day for relaxing.  The kids made him some lovely pictures for his birthday, and in the afternoon Matt & Bentley went to see a show downtown featuring life size dinosaurs.  We debated buying tickets for all of us, but figured Jake would have nightmares afterwards and Genevieve just wouldn't care!  So Matt & Bentley it was.  :-)

They had a great time, and came home raving about the cool effects.   We then spent the rest of the evening hanging out together!

Happy Birthday, Matt!  We're lucky to have you.

Toddler Wit and Wisdom

We were sitting at the dining table eating dinner, and Bentley was picking on Viva (unfortunately not the first time THAT has even happened!).

Rachel tried to console Genevieve with some wisdom: "I have older brothers too, Viva. It's a tough world out there".

Viva's response? "God made it"!

Fun with Grandma Vicki

Summer in Alaska is particularly lovely because it's when visitors normally come to see us!

Last week we had Grandma Vicki here with us for a few short days, and we all had a great time.  The kids spend the entire first half of the week anticipating her arrival, and they spent the second half of the week overwhelming her with their constant attention and excitement.  :-)

There were pirate stories and activities, new sticker pages to color, campfires to build, Wii games to play, stories to read, games to play, building workshops to attend, and more.  There were bike and ball skills to show off, post card collections to admire, drawings to create, and play to be had.

Thanks for coming, Grandma Vicki!  We sure enjoyed our fun packed time with you!

Twin Power

The twins have been very chummy lately. I don’t why it is, but the past couple of weeks they have spent more time playing together and chatting together and just being twins. It's very cute and I wish you all could visit us and observe them together. You'd all want a pair of preschooler twins in your home!

At meal time they will sometimes share a chair and share food. (Other times they withhold food from each other.) Bentley has been gone the past few days (in Idaho, more on that in a future post) and the twins haven't seemed to miss him very much. They are too busy bonding.

Dirt & Raspberries

Earlier this summer we had a large load of dirt delivered to our property. We told the children to stay away from it, and they have, but this past Saturday we relaxed our policy and the twins took advantage of our good nature. At first they offered to scoop up the extra dirt near the pile and add it to the pile. That was good. But after a half hour or so, they moved half way up the dirt pile and started just playing in the dirt.




As we would expect, Viva got a lot dirtier than Jake and she stayed playing in the dirt a lot longer. Her jeans are pretty much ruined. However, she had a good time.

We coaxed them off the dirt pile (for a while) with an offer of raspberries. They love to pick and eat raspberries.



They had a good afternoon outside. We adults got a few perennials planted and a few wheelbarrows of dirt transferred to the back. There's a lot more work to do.

Alaskan Gothic

For over a year I have been gathering the props to take a photo of the twins in the style of Grant Wood's American Gothic portrait.


The hardest part was finding a child sized pitchfork. I tried getting one at Halloween time. I looked online for the props for a devil's costume and for Trident's pitchfork. I had no luck. Then this spring while I was wandering through the aisles at JoAnn's I found one! It was on the gardening aisle attached to a bird house. (The pitchfork was the end you stick in the ground!) I removed the birdhouse and had Mark cut a dowel down to the right length and finally I had my pitchfork.

The next item of business was finding the right costumes for the twins. Viva owns dozens of dresses, but none of them were staid enough. Then early this summer Kara purchased a size 4 (too large, but I used safety pins) brown corduroy dress. I put a size 2 (too small) dress with a white collar under the brown dress. Kara put Viva's hair in a pony tail and she was ready.

For Jake I had to purchase a pair of overalls. Again, they were too small, but it was only cheap pair in the used clothing store. To the overalls I added Bentley's (too large) suit jacket. The kids were decked out. Now for a good location to shoot.

Mark lined them up on our driveway with the neighbor's pitched roof behind them. It wasn't perfect (the twins are much shorter than the couple in American Gothic), but it worked all right.

Next I wanted to borrow the neighbor's lawn because he has a small Alaska log cabin (AKA cache) on the edge of his lawn. The only problem is he's a recluse and wouldn't answer his door when I knocked so I couldn't ask his permission. Mark didn't care about that technicality, he just stuck the twins in front of the cache and took some quick shots.

How did we get them to cooperate? I bribed them with a promise of box of fruit snacks each. Fruit snacks are a banned-by-mom food, so they will work hard to earn them. Jake was very easy to work with, but Viva was a bit of a trial. She kept bopping up and down and running off.




Did they do a good job? Remember they are only three years old! (I kept telling Viva to look grumpy--hence the VERY grumpy expression on her face.)

Where did all the dinosaurs go?

This is a question that has long stymied paleontologists. Today during sacrament meeting we were given insight into this mystery. Bentley made another of his awesome drawings and when we asked for the title of it, he told us "It's a stegosaurus turning into a butterfly." So there you have it--the dinosaurs morphed into butterflies. If caterpillars can do it, why not dinosaurs, too? I'll be contacting the Smithsonian this week to suggest that they investigate this most excellent theory.


P.S. I've been trying to convince Bentley to trade out his current sketch book which has lined paper and tacky pink princess penguins in the lower right corner of every page. I bought him a Moleskine notebook with unlined pages, but he refused to use it. !?!

Birthday Parties Fun

Three of our friends celebrated birthdays at the end of July/beginning of August!  We had a fun zoo adventure with Tallis, and some gorgeous weather for the adventure!

We also had a great time at the Bouncy House with Patrick & Cassidy.  The kids went crazy.  Bentley was a wild rock climber too, check it out:

You can't really see it, but his hair is plastered to his head with sweat.  He was playing hard!

Thanks, friends!  We had fun celebrating your special days with you.

Kids on a Rock

For some reason, most of our shots of all 3 kids have them perched on a rock.  Whatever works, right?!  We've had QUITE  a bit of rain this summer, but whenever the weather is halfway decent we try to get some time in outside!

Fire Station Tour!

This summer we went on a rather impromptu tour of the fire station!  Amrita was driving by it on a Tuesday, and thought: "we should take the kids there".   So she called, and the next day we showed up.

Apparently though, fire station tours aren't at the very top of the priority list at a fire station (go figure!).  The fire truck and crew at our fire station were out on a call!  So we (and 16 other small children we had gathered) waited and waited, and finally had a brilliant idea - we called another fire station and asked if we could come visit them instead!

We were all loaded out and turning back onto the road, when the fire truck returned.  Ah well, it goes like that.  We had moved on!

We had a great tour of a fire station.  We saw where the fire men sleep, where they work out, where they eat (4 fridges!), where they watch TV, how they get all dressed up to fight fires, and, of course, we saw the fire truck!  The fireman showed us all of the tools fire men have to break things to get to fires - and the kids were all quite impressed.

At the end of the tour a call came in, so we lined up all the kids along the wall and waved the firemen out to do their job.  Great tour, fun times!