Nate's moves

Nate is really into his dance moves lately. He has a few favorite songs that he prefers for his dance parties, and Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry is a real hit with him, because he loves to say the line "UNO CARDS." (which drives Christopher crazy!)

A Busy Sunday

I took the boys to OMSI this morning to see the new dinosaur exhibit. It was great! They worked with the omsi guy to build this dinosaur bone puzzle.
Nate is matching the numbers to put the pieces in the right place. It's hard work being a paleontologist!
It wouldn't be a trip to OMSI without creating something in the upstairs craft area. Today they made spy tubes with handles. Perfect for checking out the big dinosaurs!
Dan took the boys to Alberta Park this afternoon to try out their new 'polo sticks' that he made for them out of PVC pipe. There is a group of people who play bike polo every Sunday at the park, and the boys are their biggest fans. (or actually, maybe it's the other way around!) It was a nice and sunny afternoon, near 60 degrees....gave us a taste of spring!

Help find Potato!

We have taken an interest in the plight of finding this lost dog, Potato. Her signs are posted all around Portland, and we spotted one while sitting in traffic last week on MLK. The boys asked about it, and I explained that she was lost (actually stolen). They were familiar with that type of situation, because last summer we found a lost cat, posted his picture on craigslist, and found the rightful owner....it was a wonderful experience to reunite them!
We really hope that Potato finds her way home. You can see more of Potato at www.myspace.com/bringpotatohome We're thinking about you, Potato!

everyone loves Chris and Nate

The boys had their party today at school and collected a bunch of great valentines from their friends. This may rate right up there as a favorite holiday for them, but hey, what holiday isn't fun???

writing valentines for school party

We went to Target this morning to get some valentines for the school party on Friday. Both boys were so excited about this process, we barely got in the door before they started writing them out! Each one was handwritten, which means they each wrote their own name 17 times, and then wrote all of the other kids names, too.
Christopher doing his best work!
Nate putting in the valentine, adding a smartie candy, and sealing the envelope. He can hardly wait until Friday!

playing and celebrating!

Susan brought the girls down from Seattle for an impromptu weekend, and it was lots of fun! We went over to the Slater household do a week-early celebration for Aunt Deenie's birthday. It was a gorgeous and warm weekend, so we were able to go and play at the playground. It's always fun to see all of the cousins!

Love is in the air

The boys are very aware that this month is all about Valentines Day. All they want to do is work on making Valentines. Nana and Grandaddy sent a care package from Florida that was filled with all kinds of Valentine goodies. Nate got right to work writing the words 'love', 'Nate', 'Wren' and 'Yala' (two cute little girls from their preschool) on the hearts and then taping them up all around the basement. It's quite festive.
This afternoon Nate made me my first official Valentine, complete with a heart and my name. It just doesn't get much sweeter than that, does it?

Mama's 41 now......how did THAT happen?

Happy Birthday to me! On Sunday we went to Salem for dinner and celebrated with the family. Aunt Susan made this very tall and very chocolatey cake. Nate, Chris, and Catie were excited because instead of helping me blow out my candles, each of them got to 'snuff' a candle with g'ma's snuffer. That was very exciting.
This morning I woke up and some wonderful gifts waiting for me from Dan and the boys. Lots of electronic devices this year, and a new toilet seat. Attached to it was this coupon pad good for six different toilet cleanings ON DEMAND. Let me tell you, this was a wonderful gift, considering that I am outnumbered 3:1 around here.
I had a relaxing day hanging with my favorite guys. It was business as usual--- with a trip to the post office, the bank, the dry cleaners, Trader Joe's and then home. Autumn and Rhett came over to play and then we went out to dinner. I hope i've got another 41 years in me. :)

pirates!

Auntie Leann and Uncle Frank sent some pirate gear to help us celebrate Gasparilla, Tampa's big annual pirate festival. So this afternoon has been all about being a pirate. Butter knives work great as swords, and with a little more practice they should have the one-eye-closed pirate eye down pat.

giraffe surgery

Nate loves giraffes, and has quite a collection of them. Yesterday Nate found this guy at the GW and instantly fell in love. He named him Diamond, since he was found on a diamond day at the Goodwill (to help you understand this term, I refer you to the November post of 'A Diamond Day'). Well, Christopher was playing with him and twisted his neck, and that was the end of his upright posture. Nate was sad, so there was only one thing to do----surgery!
Here is Diamond with his broken neck.
Here is Diamond in a fully upright and perky position after a few stitches, and about 20 cotton pads were stuffed in his neck. Nate helped me with the procedure. Can you see his scar? He's as good as new,--- or should I say good as used? :)

a penny saved is a penny earned

Today was Chris and Nate's first lesson in the fine art of banking. They had been sorting all of the coins in their piggy bank, so we decided that it would be good to take it to the coin-star machine, then make a deposit at the bank into their savings accounts.Here is Chris dumping his coins and pushing them down into the coin counting abyss. He was a little bit sad about giving the bank all of his 'monies', but he decided it would be best to give it a try.
Nate's turn! The boys divided the coins themselves, and said that it was "'even-steven". Each boy carried his own loot into the Safeway and ran to the coin-star.
As you can see, it really wasn't very "even-steven", since Nate only came away with $9.24, and Chris had $13.35 However, it didn't seem to be an issue.
Then we drove to the bank and went inside, which was a huge excitement in itself. My boys have only ever seen the bank from their carseats at the drive-thru window. Our favorite teller Tyrone was working at the counter today. He took the money, and put it into his big safe!
Deposit slips in hand, each boy was excited to tell everyone on the way out about their "aposit" into their bank account. As luck would have it, Chris found a penny on the ground, so this was the start of the next round that we'll bring to the bank in a few months.

to infinity.....and beyond!

Chris Moore as Buzz Lightyear. When he pulls down the face mask on his helmet, he's a dead-ringer for the guy.

little guys

I was cleaning out my "kathy downloads" file on the computer yesterday when our internet was not working, and I came across this little video that Dan put together in 2005 after we got our new laptop. A little stroll down memory lane is always good for the soul, and really makes me realize just how quickly time does go by. What cute little fellows!

mmmmm........donuts!

This morning I flashed back to 1977 in Salem, Oregon. I have fond memories of these donuts that my mom would make for us on the weekends. The recipe was VERY easy, and in hind-sight, VERY bad. Vegetable oil, Pillsbury pop biscuits, powdered sugar. That's it. Heat up the oil, make a hole in the biscuit by stretching the dough, and then toss into hot oil. Shake the sugar on them in a bag. I remember that we had a school carnival at our elementary school (go Brush College Bulldogs!) and that we introduced the Slater family donuts to half of West Salem. People took turns frying these things and selling them for .5cents each at the carnival---a big money maker! I have not had one of these little gems for probably a good 25 years. It all changed today though when I realized that I had some tubes of the Pillsbury dough left over from a recipe last month. Time to use them up! The boys thought it was so much fun being donut makers. Their important job was shaking the powdered sugar to coat them. They loved them! I guess this is how traditions carry on.

the weather and the moon

This is a weather station that Dan ordered for our house. It's mounted in the dining room and the boys just love this thing! It shows us the outside temperature, inside temperature, time, humidity, and the phases of the moon. Oscar the boy will dress appropriately, so as you can see it's only 38 degrees outside right now, so he is wearing a coat, scarf, hat and carries an umbrella. They check this thing probably 15 times a day. Their favorite part is the phases of the moon in the lower left hand corner. They are completely enthralled with the moon. Did you know that today is a waxing gibbous???? Well, it is. :) Anything about the planets and the moon are real hits around here!

Here is a big 48 piece puzzle of the planets that grandma got for them at the Gilbert House. Puzzle+Planets = the perfect combination!