Farm House

My dream is becoming more of a reality every day! I am slowly convincing Evan that we need a small farm in our back yard. At about midnight, when he was good and worn out, I'd bring up how we needed chickens until he said, "zzzz....okay whatever, can I go to sleep now?"...which of course I took to mean that he was thrilled with the idea!  I already knew the schedule of chicks arriving at the feed store, just in case, so a couple days later I loaded the kids up, and we went to adopt our new babies.

So soft and snuggly! We got 4 chicks, 3 different types, just for variety.

I told Grant he could help gather the eggs so we could eat them.  "No," he said, "we want them to hatch!"  I told him, "that won't happen because we only have hens and we would have to have a rooster in order to have more baby chicks."  To which he replied in frustration, "that just doesn't make any sense!"  Later that night, Evan explained the concept of chromosomes, which I'm sure made everything as clear as mud.

This is 10 days later - they change so fast!

So for now,  they've made a nice addition to our dining room, since they must be kept at 95° then slowly cooling off some until 6 weeks old and they move outside.

As my husband says, "we have a circus inside the house, why not a farm outside?"  Good point.

Paper Jumbo Jets

What do you do if dad brings home a stack of old construction blue prints from work? Make giant paper airplanes of course.

Hmmm, looks like someone was practicing their camping skills earlier in the day.

Some people just insist on weaponizing planes.

Come fly the none-too-friendly skies.

Clean Teeth vs Agency

Here is a boy with some shiny polished teeth...and very proud of them!  Grant is all about this - the marshmallow tooth polish, the goody bag, the prize box, the sunglasses, the praise.....what's not to love about it? (Well, when you're 5 and have perfect little teeth.)

When it was Cole's turn, he decided it was a good time to exercise his free agency, and there wasn't no way, no how he was going to get in that chair, or even let a tooth show through.   So, Dr. Church (our neighbor and former Bishop) just said he could do the exam at his house later that night.  Some time between 11am and 6pm,  Cole decided he really wanted the dentist to look in his mouth after all (when it was HIS idea), and I thought his jaw was going to come un-hinged he opened so wide, here in Dr. Church's dining room.

Then, he was introduced to video games by their adorable son, and Cole was in heaven. (Thanks, Ty!) And so was I - because the Church's are just the coolest family anywhere, and I could stay there forever.

Long Lost Family

Evan was cruising through the Whiting Family website not long ago, and checked to see if any of his family here in the great northwest with us.  WELL - what do ya know!  Only a family in our ward that we just love to death!

If we were going through and hand picking people to be our relatives, we definitely would have wanted the Aldridge family.  They are so cool, and happen to have boys just the right age for entertaining our boys.

Missy is Evan's 3rd cousin - they share great, great grandparents,  Edwin Marion & Anna Maria Whiting.

On Sunday, Grant and Cole were trying to explain to their CTR4 teacher that Tanner (also in their class) was their cousin.  Of course, she thought they were crazy, but we confirmed the down-right lucky connection.

Cruncherisms

1. While I was cutting Grant's hair (and yes, he typically complains the entire time):
Grant: "Mom, you keep moving my head."
Me: "I'm just moving your hair, I'll be done in a minute."
(10 seconds goes by)
Grant: "Mom, if you push on my head one more time it's going to LOSE POWER!"

2. Evan: "Do you guys like to play with Bryn?"
   Cole: "Dad, sometimes Bryn is a little bit mean to us."
   Grant: (enthusiastically) "And she's BORING!"

(Now really, how can he call this little one-girl road show boring??)

Arrrrg!

Bryn got a bonk, and asked for a bandaid. I just gave her one, didn't ask any questions. Later, I noticed we had a pirate running around the house.

Spelling Bee

Grant and I were driving today and I was quizzing him on spelling. He easily spelled, "Grant" and "Cole" but when I asked him to spell Bryn he said, apparently sincerely, "B-R-A-T". He then got "Dad" and "Mom" but when I moved on to non-familial objects and asked him to spell "cat" he promptly replied, "D-A-L-E". He seemed rather pleased when I told him he'd actually spelled Papa Z's first name, later proudly telling Sue about his feat.

Ski Buddy

Hey, Cole - what's your favorite part of learning to ski?
The shuttle?
The moving carpet?
Making the "pizza"?
Lunch outside?
Looking like a pro on your first day?
Going fast?
Seeing the sun?
Being on Mt. Hood - and actually being able to SEE Mt. Hood? (A rare occurrence in the winter)
My favorite part - hearing him say over and over, "can we go down one more time?" Cole, you're a natural!
Jan. 22, 2011
Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area, Oregon
Just Mom and Cole

Bryn's Pronunciation Guide

What Bryn Says:	What She Means:
chay pup	ketchup
coo mo mo	cucumber
key buddy	spaghetti
so nee	smoothie
ow se nut	elephant
uh key sug	yucky slug

Meet Our New Pet!

The Crunchers are very excited to introduce our new pet, "Legs".

Here's a close up for our older readers.

Now watch as Cole takes him for a walk.

Unfortunately, shortly after this photo was taken there was an unfortunate "smooshing" incident and Legs didn't survive. Oh well, I'm sure we'll find one of his brothers around here soon.

Good Presents of Great Joy!

Hi! I'm Bryn and this is what we did today.

There were lots of presents under the Christmas Tree. Grant couldn't wait to start opening them.

I, of course, was a model of patience and demureness.

I was pretty excited about my Nemo Pez!

Cole called this his "cremoter" and crashed it into things until the battery died.

Uh oh! Cole cut himself with scissors but we all got band-aids in our stockings so we were prepared.

I finally got a loving family. I like to put the baby to bed.

In the afternoon we went over to Mona and Papa Z's house for Christmas dinner.

Papa Z made something called "cheesecake" but there wasn't any cheese or any cake in it. I ate it anyway.

Then Papa Z asked Hannah to pull a sliver out of his thumb. He was pretty brave and hardly cried at all.

Of course we watched some football.

Hannah let me send some texts.

There was a brief incident where my pants got lost. That seems to happen a lot.

And finally, I helped Papa Z put on his hat.

Well, he's a little less scary than the real Santa Claus.

Now that's what I call a full day. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Jam(mies)

If it's Christmas Eve, it must be time for new pajamas.

A brief look of disappointment crossed Grant's face when he saw that the present contained clothing but, as Sue pointed out later, "Get used to it." Regardless, they posed for a photo before heading off to bed to seek visions of sugarplums.

Coleopteran Decor

After Cole squished a bug, Grant admonished, "Cole, it is not nice to kill Heavenly Father's decorations!"

Falling Snow (and Toddlers)

Snow in November...in Vancouver? I'm feeling especially grateful this year!

Tres Chic!

This girl is a one woman fashion statement.

Well, she's more of a question than a statement. And yes, she did dress herself.

Uncivil Engineering

The boys have always been good at destroying towers of blocks. Lately they've become especially good at building them.

Now it's Bryn's turn to destroy towers.

Billy Goats Beware

Some bridge trolls you just want to hug.