The Wise Man

We signed a contract on a house this week (wahoo!).  Today we drove out to the house with Trustin's folks and his sister and her kids so they could see the house.  As we drove away Trustin told Zeke, "I think your cousins are so excited to play with you at our new house." Zeke responded, "I hope it is built on a rock." Zeke is a rather wise young man. 

Then he went on to say "I must go back to the house and then I will pick it up and check." Us practical folks in the front seat mentioned how heavy houses are but Zeke responded simply, "It's not too heavy for me because I am as strong as the Incredible Hulk.  Then we can see if there is a rock under it.  I hope it is a big rock."

Halloween Heroes

The odds of me blogging these days are rather slim.  We live close enough to grandparents that that motivating factor has disappeared.  But more importantly, we don't have our desktop computer set up and Trustin takes the laptop with him to work, along with all of our pictures.  Thus, in order for the planets to align enough for me to blog (with pictures at least) I have to have time, and the thought to do it when he's home.  The planets don't align often. 
But here is a bit about our Halloween, but I couldn't download half of them because our computer is having isues.

We got into Halloween this year.  How into it?

Pretty into it.  Yes, I am married to the most amazing guy. You've got to be a man to wear those horns with confidence. I love him.

We all went as superheros (for rather obvious reasons).  In case it isn't obvious, I went as Black Widow, Trustin was Loki, Ashlynn was Spidergirl and Zeke was Thor. 

The secret love between a hero and a villain. 

My cuties!  Ashlynn was beyond excited to be Spidergirl.  She loves Spiderman. Everytime she sees a picture of him in a book or store she points excitedly and shouts "Spidey, Spidey!" 

The mighty THOR

This was the first time the kids have really been trick or treating.  We took Zeke his first Halloween, but he slept through the whole thing and the last few years have just been Trunk-or-Treats.  So this was a fun experience.  We went to a Trunk or Treat on Friday and the kids had fun playing games and getting prizes, but they really loved the actual trick or treating. Zeke was so excited, but excitement was more reserved once we were actually out walking around.  In his sweet Zeke way he quietly went to every door whispering trick-or-treat and then heading off to the next door with a thank you when he remembered.  Ashlynn, who is typically quite reserved around strangers (and even family if she hasn't seen you in a week) found that the candy motivation easily overcame any fear of social situations.  She hurried to every door and held out her hand (she was quite put out if anybody tried to dodge her hand and put the candy straight into her pumpkin).  At at least two houses she tried to push her way inside when they opened the door.  She was always activiely pushing her way to the front of the candy line to get the best goodies.  Once she got the candy she was off to the next house.  She wouldn't let us carry her, and she definately wouldn't let us carry her pumpkin, she just dragged it along behind her and went in search of more candy.  She wasn't too concerned about where Zeke or any of the rest of us were.  Priorities folks, and candy is king.  Eventually she had her fill of obtaining candy and then was more interested in eating it (I'm sure none of you other parents have any experience with this...). 

When all the kids had enough we took our look back home and dumped it out, ate hot chocolate with marshmallows because we hadn't had enough sugar yet.  All in all, it was a rather deliciously good night.

Utah's got a lot to offer

We've adjusted to living in Utah quite well.  Here are a few reasons this transition has been quite easy:

1) There are dragons in the basement.  This particular one is Toothless. 

2) The company here is mighty fine. If I was good at taking pictures I could add photos of a bunch of cousins, uncles, aunts, and my parents too.  There's a lot of love in this state.

3) There is a couch with removable cushions.  Need I remind anyone how critical a role such a item of furniture has been in the imagination of the Zekester?  Here they have become SuperHero City.

4) To add flavor and excitement and some purpose for our young superheroes, we have also discovered the presence of villains in Utah.

5) Which means it is "Time to Hero Up," something we are always happy to do.

6) and the weather is distinctly unlike Vegas. Don't ask me if this is a good thing--I miss the sun--but Zeke was so excited to have snow!  In the morning we went out to give Daddy his daily loves in the car and kisses through the window before he left for work and when we walked back inside Zeke just kept right on walking straight out the back door.  "I have to get something," he said.  He then grabbed a kid sized snow shovel that he'd found the first day we moved here, and which he has been anxiously waiting to use, and he shoveled the patio.  It was adorable how excited he was to shovel snow.  Clearly he's not from around here.

After the patio was shoveled I convinced the kids to come get their actual snow clothes on and we spent most of the morning loving the inch and half of snow.  Ashlynn was mostly confused at first. Then she progressed to walk around observing the world like it was some strange enchanted place that she had never seen (because it was!).  This fascination with the snow led her to discover the delightful activity of dipping her binkie in the snow and then back in her mouth.  But eventually even such fun as that grew old and her fingers grew cold. None of us had gloves yet, as it was October and in my mind snow was not allowed yet.  Clearly I'm not from around here. 

Zeke was still far from done. We let the little popsicle lady head inside with Paca and kept going. "We've only made a Daddy snowman.  We must make a baby sister and a big brother and a Grandpa."  I kind of wanted that fourth one to be a Mommy, but it was either let it be a Grandpa or make a fifth snowman.  He could have made an entire Snowman family reunion (and by that I mean he could have played with the snow, thrown snow balls at me, and put carrot noses on while I followed his orders and built a family reunion of snowmen), but I guess I was a party pooper and burnt out at four.  The point of the story is, (and the look on his face epitomizes it) that Zeke LOVES snow. 

Ashlynn is a superhero too

I just wanted to add a tiny bit to yesterdays post.

Ashlynn is far from exempt in the superhero craze.  She is usually Baby Ironman or Baby Hulk.  She loves it.  Today we were out in the backyard and she pointed at said something unintelligible.  I guessed "Dr. Doom?" and she broke out in a grin and started bouncing in my arms.  Then we ran over to get the villain and she laughed as I tossed her around saying "Hulk smash!"  I put up my hand and shot the invisible Dr. Doom with my Iron Man laser and Ashlynn quickly imitated my action and sound effect. 

whistling, rough-housing, and saving the city--an update on Ash and Zeke

(The whistling when Ashlynn's face is turned is hers, so it is pretty poor proof, but you can take my word for it)

I wanted to give a little update on my cuties. 

Ashlynn is enjoying living in a house with animals.  She stands and the gate to the laundry room where the parrot lives and she and Mishka have nice long chats.  In fact I often can't tell if Ashlynn has fallen asleep or not if I'm downstairs because Mishka now makes a lot of Ashlynn noises and squawks.  She chases the cat and dog around as often as she can approach without them fleeing. 

The things Ashlynn loves most seem to be animals, shoes, and sparkly things.  However, I don't know that she will be as girly as shoes and sparkly things seems to preface.  I have never seen a growlier kid.  She doesn't say a whole lot of words but I suspect that is because she has focused her energy of becoming fluent in Growlish.  She also loves roughhousing and running around chasing people.  One of her few phrases is "dot doo" (got you). 

The other thing Ashlynn is crazy about is eating.  She's a big fan.  She walks around the kitchen doing her sign for more and pointing at food or climbing in her high chair.  Paca learned pretty quick not to leave tomatoes on the edge of the counter and she seems to have a sixth sense for when the pantry door gets left open and will rush over and raid the cereal.  We also have to make sure she doesn't catch sight of tomatoes or any fruit because she won't eat any of her regular food. 

One rather crazy skill this little lady has is that she can whistle.  Seriously.  I am going to try to post a video at the end but we had a hard time getting a good video of it.  Also, as the sister of a very imaginative big brother, Ashlynn is already a great pretender.  She fake sleeps (squeezing her eyes shut and scrunching up her face) eats fake food, chases fake villains and seems to completely understand the pretend world.

Zeke's world remains dedicated to all things super hero related.  We go to the library every week and Zeke wants every superhero book he can get his hands on (hence we are all quite educated in all the heroes and villains of both DC and Marvel comics).  We play superheroes everyday.  Stacking and building with couch cushions quickly creates Super Hero City in the living room and villains keep sneaking over from Villainville to attack.  In the backyard we run from one corner to the next and back again taking villain after villain to jail and then recapturing them again. He occasionally plays other things, almost.  When he plays dogs he plays "superhero dogs" and he is "Iron Man dog" or "Hulk dog."  When he wants to play monsters he says "Lets play superheroes play monsters."  Today we played pirates at the park and I was blackbeard while Zeke was "not the other Spiderman, I'm the pirate named Spiderman."  The other imaginary people playing with us were "the pretend pirate Doc Ock" and "Clark Kent". 

All of our family has been great sports.  His cousins obligingly agree to play superheroes every time they get together (Zeke will occasionally concede to other games, but rarely).  Grandma Anderson has accepted that her new name is Ironman, and Grandma Brockbank has demonstrated extreme martial arts skills as Black Widow. 

Other than that, Zeke is just his usual cute self.  His favorite things to do are play superheroes and read books and he is such a bright kid.  We were reading a book today that had a fire truck in it and Zeke asked me why the bumper was red on one page and then when the truck is in the book again (4 pages later) it has a gray bumper.  That kid is observant.  I am so proud of him every day.

Sorry not much pictures.  Haven't had the camera out much.

Camping and the Hand of God

Last weekend we went camping for the first time as a family (unless you count sleeping in a tent in the backyard while a tiny baby Ashlynn slept in the living room in her bassinet). You may recall that that night was...exciting. So was this one. Zeke slept well, but Ashlynn prefers a bed. She went to bed at 9:00 woke up at 10:00 and stayed awake jabbering at the campfire until midnight. Then we enjoyed a blissful four hours of sleep. Then 4-4:30 consisted of a lot of bouncing and whispering and singing (from Trustin and I) and a lot of howling, wiggling, screaming (from Trustin and I). Then I decided to spare the other campers and Ashlynn and I sprinted back to the car and drove around until she fell asleep...after 5:30. Then I parked the car and realized that in my run I had grabbed blankets for Ashlynn but none for me. So I slept curled up in the front seat turning the car on and off every fifteen minutes to keep the car somewhat warm.

But, it was worth it.

I loved seeing a bunch of old friends and reminiscing.

I loved seeing Zeke throw sticks and leaves into the creek and then jumping and pointing as they float off, taking credit when they catch speed and lamenting when they get caught in debris.

I loved that seconds after we arrived I set Ashlynn down and she instantly walked over to an old fire pit and transformed her little tan hands into black crayons which she quickly rubbed on her cheeks and my pants.

One of my favorite views in the world is the feeling of looking up through tree leaves into a contrasting sky. Shortly after we got to our campground I stopped under a tall red and pumpkin aspen tree and looked up through its boughs. Like I always do when look at this type of scene I found my thoughts brought to God. Yes, God created this. Then I looked down at my finger all wrapped up in a little charcoal hand, and up the path to the silly boy throwing his Frisbee (code for Captain America shield)at bushes. Yes, God created these. This is God's hand in my life. And yes, everything is worth it.

Zeke and Ash are my Super Heroes

Here is a book that Trustin and I made for the kids this week. 

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Photo Shoot

Last Sunday we drove out to a path near Red Rock and took some photos of the kids since they both had a birthday last month.  We took a ton of pictures.  I narrowed it down, and then blogger went weird and narrowed it down  even more, so here are some cute ones.

(always have to include a bow the size of your head, right?) 

Cheesin' it.

Yes, Trustin brought the hat and coat and staged this one.  But Zeke provided the handsome.

Actually unstaged this time.  Whoa!  This picture absolutely kills me.

We really struggled to get a good shot with the kids together.  I don't know how mothers of more than 2 ever succeed.

Love

Trying to see through the crack.

Pure Zeke.  My silly nut.

The chase and tackle.

Ashlynn's zoney face

A snippet from the imagination of Zeke. I could post a lot of these.

Yesterday at the park Ashlynn was vehemently expressing her desire for me to hand her another strawberry.  Zeke watched Ashlynn's fit and looked at and said quite frankly, "Ashlynn said she wants her Captain America suit."  He then turned to Ashlynn and said, "Sorry Ashlynn, your Captain America suit in in the washer.  It will be done in 3 minutes....[two second pause, Zeke's hands fly into the air] Beep.  Okay Ash, its done."

Do I wish I had a video camera on Zeke every minute of every day? Yes. Yes I do.

Ashlynn Update

I haven't had time lately to blog about any of the cute things the kids have been up to, or about any of the things we've been up to (i.e. guess what, we are moving to Utah, maybe more on that later).  But there are some things about the stage Ashlynn is in right now that I keep reminding myself that I need to write down before I forget.

Ashlynn is adorable.  She is still definately a Momma's girl, but I love snuggling and holding her so that works out pretty well for me most of the time.  One of my favorite things that she does that is unpredictable and therefore unfilmable is the way she tilts her head to look at us sometimes.  She bends her head completely horizontal and then curves her body and neck to look at us when we are holding her.

She spends a lot of time with Zeke, which is evident in the fact that the only words that she really says A LOT are "Hi!," "uh-oh," "roar," and "hi-ya!"

She has taken 16 steps at once, so we are just waiting for her to realize that walking could be a full time thing.  But she remains a very fast bear-crawler.

Her current comfort thing is to stick her arm inside of our clothing: down our shirts, up our shorts, up our sleeves (this can be a little bit awkward in public places...).  She just slips one hand into whatever layer she can find and then she can relax.  One day when she was really tired she lay down on the floor and tucked her hand inside the flap door on a toy dump truck.

Ashlynn is still quite dramatic when things don't go her way. Sadly the cute belly flop tantrums are less and less frequent, but she still lets us know that she is not happy with us.

I love you little Ashlynn-Bo-Dashlynn.  Your scrunchy face smile is one of the highlights of every day and I just can't get enough of it.

Teach Your Dragon

Zeke had no interest in watching How to Train Your Dragon when we first bought it.  That was alright because we bought it for us.  Eventually though, Zeke came around, and now there is a daily request to play "teach your dragon."  Here are some of the elements involved in playing that tonight.

First we all had to pick a dragon (various couch cushions or the love sac) and hop on.  Zeke would then ask which dragon we were on and after we told him he quickly corrected us and informed us which dragon we were actually on and why the choice we made was incorrect (i.e. "No, that not the blue dragon; Astrid is on the blue dragon and they are flying up so high").

Once we were settled in on the correct dragon we all had to buckle up.

Next Zeke instructed us to read our dragon maps. (His was a library book about Ironman, mine was a Berenstain's Bears book about pets).  These "maps" told us everything we needed to do or know.  For example we learned that  The big scary dragon (this role is played by our couch; I tell you, that couch is the best toy we've ever found on the side of the road :)) is afraid of birds, so naturally we found some birds and sent them at him. 

Zeke read in his book that the big dragon would come in 5 minutes and Ironman would come in 2 minutes to help us.  Ironman eventually showed up, but he wasn't much help; he ran away, the chicken!

When I let Zeke consult my map he discovered that Brother Bear, Sister Bear, Mama, Papa and Honey would all be coming as well to help us.  Zeke said "They won't run away like Ironman." 

Shortly after the bears showed up Zeke exclaimed, "Oh, and there is the family of frogs!" (the frogs from Leap Frogs Letter Factory), however these characters never actually made further appearances in our fun.

With the help of the bears Zeke read his map to discover that we needed to throw hard things at the dragon.  Zeke wanted to throw the Hulk's hand, but when I reminded him that that toy is actually hard, hence against the rules to throw, we settled on throwing some nice hard pillows to get that dragon.

At one point Zeke read in his book that the big dragon is afraid of brown suckers.  So what's to be done but eat a sucker.  The dragon is not afraid of blue suckers however, but Zeke said, "Oh, Ashlynn can share with him. That will be nice."


When we were back to playing he said "Good I have a gorilla shirt, 'cause those help us fight.  And good I have these shorts; they make it so he won't eat my legs."

And so the game goes.  I can't remember every element Zeke added, but I wish I could. He is the silliest, sweetest kid I know.  One of my favorite things Zeke does is a trait he definately inherited/learned from me. He is a singer.  My personal favorite song has the following lyrics: "I love Daddy and Mommy and Ashlynn."  He sings that one a lot.  Keep singing Zeke.  I could listen to that one all day.