Autumn in NY

I love Frank Sinatra music. And since we were actually there in the Fall I thought it would be a perfect title.

Douglas finally got done with some of his harder rotations in 3rd year, and we thought we'd take a little trip. Then we found out that he had the Friday off the weekend we were planning on going, so BONUS! 3 day weekend in NY. The original plan was to see Sleepy Hollow, where Washington Irving lived and is buried, and the setting for his famous story. We thought it was a great "Halloween-ish" activity to do. And with the extra day, and Sleepy Hollow being only 30 min from NYC we decided to show the boys the Statue of Liberty as well.


Ichabod running from the Headless Horseman with his last victim

Rip Van Winkle still asleep

Washington Irving's grave

 

We had a great time, even though it rained most of Friday. And the boys were pretty excited to see the statue in real life instead of just on their puzzle map. We didn't see the actual headless horseman, but we did see the grave yard he was suppose to rise from each night to find his head.

And as for Halloween? Well, we went Asian this year...

A ninja, Pikachu, takeout and chopsticks

 

Year in Reveiw

Hey sorry I've super slacked at posting on this the last year. But here's a bunch of pictures to catch you up a little.

Cutting down our own tree

Ice storm, Christmas, Dog sled ride

Easter

Field trip fun

Pre-school graduation

Trip to Quebec City

Hot air balloon festival

Day trip to Maine

Both kids start school

 

Halloween 2013

After our ward party credit: Heather Dahle

Halloween was great this year! Fun parties, costumes and of course candy! Japheth this year chose to be Ginga from Bey Blade. For everyone who doesn't know what or who that is, it's a Japanese Anime` where spinning tops battle it out, Ginga is the main character.

What the character looks like for a comparison

Xander finally settled on being Wolverine. But not from the X-men, he says from Marvel Super Hero Squad. Makes since that he would say it that way since he's seen the one and not the other.

 

School Boys

Today was the 1st day of school. For Japheth the 1st day of 1st grade, and for Xander the 1st day of pre-school. They were both SO excited! Xander felt like such a big boy going to school like his brother. He loved picking out his backpack, that lights up by the way, and then after picking it out said "Now we need a lunch box!" And when we got home he wanted me to put the lunch box on top of the fridge right away since that's where Japheth's is. We signed Xander up for a program through the YMCA, but his class is in one of the rooms in the elementary, so for two days they both go to the same school. Which I think helps Xander feel more brave about going. It also happens to be an all day pre-school, which is sad that they're both gone for 2 days, but nice that I drop both off and pick up at the same time and the same place. I think though that Xander and I both need it to be this way to ease us in for next year when he starts Kindergarten.

When I grow up I'm going to be Spiderman

Japheth has been talking about being a 1st grader since the last couple of weeks of Kindergarten. He was excited to get the teacher he wanted, and he has a few friends from his class last year in his class this year. He was excited to show Xander the ropes when we went to their open houses. He's also pretty proud of his newest development (besides being a 1st grader) his 1st tooth falling out. He shows everyone everywhere we go that he is missing a tooth!

When I grow up I'm going to be a Bey Blader OR a Doctor OR a Fight fighter (in that order) 

Neither really needed any clothes this year (well maybe a pair of pants or two for Japheth) but of course they needed a new shirt for the 1st day of school. They both had fun shopping and choosing out their very own shirt. And they were just as excited to lay them out the night before.

And one day I'll even get all the crazy fun stuff we've done this year up on this here blog. But today is not that day.

Xander at 4

Finally. At least according to him. He has had a hard time waiting for his birthday to come after what seems like a month of birthday in March. So before we get to the fun stuff let's get the boring out of the way. He seems so much bigger some days, and it's really uncool of him to keep growing and not stay my little guy. He is 38 inches tall and weighs 33.6 lbs. Unfortunately for him it's put him in the same percentage of height as Japheth. We still hold out hope that they'll both loose my short genes and be taller one day. But I also hope to be taller than them at least through 3rd grade.

As for the more fun stuff it's hard to know where to start. Xander is a rambunctious little boy. He loves food, animals, balls and cars (both real and pretend!) He is always pretending to make food or asking when the next meal is. And he's usually pretending to be a cat or a dog. He likes to play with his best friend Japheth and to go to playgroup and play with all his other friends. The one thing he doesn't like though is being alone. This kid hates it! Enough so that if everyone finishes eating before him (and I really mean when, because he is one of the slowest eaters on the planet) he wants to be done eating too so he can be with everyine else. He cracks us all up; he always comes up with the funniest thought or story.



For his 4th birthday he wanted a dog party. I needed a bit more than that to go on, so we looked at different dogs and settled on a 101 Dalmatian party. He loved it and so did all his friends! Instead of party hats they wore dog ears, and we painted dog noses. They loved having doggy training (somewhat like Simon Says but just telling them to do things like: sit, roll over and chase a pretend cat).

Of course we had pin the tail on the dog, and a dog pinata.

Followed by eating what dogs like best, a bone! ...cake.

More on Japheth

I know that most posts have been about Japheth lately, but I thought that combining his party post and an update about him would get too long. Plus his check-up wasn't until today so you wouldn't get to know how big he's gotten or you would have had to wait a while to hear everything. He is now 43 1/2 inches tall and 42.6 lbs.

Japheth LOVES school! He's always sad if he has to miss any, or they cancel for weather. (latter happened twice out of precaution) Also when there's a break he can't wait to get back. And there are a lot of breaks (Christmas, winter and spring). Though he is happy to get to go to play group with Xander and me when he can.  He is improving on everything: reading, writing, math, everything.  He loves to read, and is currently enjoying the Magic Treehouse series among other misc books. He really likes PE, they get to do all sorts of stuff here for it. So far he's been learning to: climb a rock wall, play basketball, do simple Yoga, and play floor hockey. Though I am sure I've missed some (for older kids they have snow shoes to go snowshoeing). 

Fun with the photo shoot

He also loves to make things. For Christmas he got a Snap Circuit Jr set, basically different pieces you put together to make different electrical things (light switch, doorbell, etc). Of course he had done all 100 projects before his birthday. Well, we found a 300 project set, and he's already been working on those projects (which apparently we eventually get to a lie detector, cool!) He's always enjoyed pretending to invent things, and that love is obviously still going strong. Speaking of which did I introduce you all to the newest member of our family?

I would like you to meet Roby (like robe-y) Bakenyo (almost like Spanish for small but with a b). Japheth spent the Sunday morning before his birthday coloring all the pieces for him (before church). So after church I did some cutting and taping according to his directions to make him. This robot is complete with On/Off buttons and a battery pack that holds 3 batteries aka pencils. And of course Japheth came up with the "perfect" name for him. Be careful with the off switch, apparently pushing on, off, off will make him explode.

Party 6 Style

For this year's party Japheth chose (cue music) Lego Star Wars. (As you may have guessed off of the last post). I was feeling a bit nervous about things this year since everything is feeling new, but it was a lot of fun and much like birthday celebrations back home (which I really have to stop calling home since it isn't home anymore).

The spread

But on to the fun; they came in as Padawans and left as Master Jedi. As part of their rigorous training they played: Yoda Says...

Pin the light saber on Yoda (to practice using the force/Jedi mind tricks)...

Took a snack break to keep up energy...

Death Star cupcakes and Light Sabers aka popsicles

Then tried the force again by finding the right sting to open the pinata. It was seriously the last one they pulled (don't know how we managed that). Xander was so excited; he knew it was his turn and that it was the last one, he just ran up and yanked it!

After everything we decided that it was time, they had earned their light sabers. So one last training of keep the balloon off the ground using the light sabers...

 to get them ready for...

Douglas wearing the pinata

And just for an added bonus for you...

Xander insisted I take a picture of him eating his popsicle. You have to concentrate hard to do it right?

Happy Easter from Darth Vader (where it sat during the party)



I See You've Constructed a New Light Saber

It's very important that you read the title of this post hearing it in Darth Vader's voice.

Now it's confession time. How many of you closet geeks have constructed your own light saber? Well I can now add myself to this list (sigh), and Douglas, who was good enough to help me. But how is it done? According to Pinterest pool noodles make great light sabers, and they do look good. But what do you do when your child's birthday isn't in pool noodle season? Head to Home Depot, and know it'll take a little more effort than pool noodle sabers.

After not finding pool noodles available I had the great idea of using pipe insulation. And nicely enough we found a pack of 4 already at a pretty good size for under $3! Then as grey light sabers just wouldn't be as cool, we headed over to Walmart for some colored Duct Tape. (Home Depots selection of colors not being to my liking for this project) We got some light blue and green and some shiny silver Duct Tape.

 As for constructing these light sabers I wasn't really excited to have to cut piece after piece to wrap around the whole thing, so we did some long pieces down the length and then some horizontal ones at the end to tidy it up. Use the shiny silver for the handle (I did 4 high) and top it off with some black electrical tape for a bit of detail. And viola awesome light saber in the off season.