On MLK Day we all went to the mall in Spokane Valley. I got to walk around and play with these two, and Nixon who has decided that he is camera shy. We had lots of fun together, and Kim found lots of amazing deals on kids clothes. Win!
Yummy foot!
So Nixon saw a Spider-Man hoodie in a store that happened to be marked down to just a few dollar. He decided that he had to have it, even though it is three sizes too big. He looks awesome in it when he is dancing
Kim also looks pretty good dancing in that same sweater
Mason loves to sit up and play with toys
Lyza's preschool topic this week was DINOSAURS. One day she came home with this cool hat
One day Kim watched these four kids because their parents were in Hawaii. I made Kim promise at the end of the night that we would not have seven kids. She agreed!
A dinosaur at the dinner table?
Spider-man had a long day fighting crime
Parenting often looks like this. It can be messy, stinky, and uncomfortable
But it is all worth it to enjoy fleeting moments like this
It has been really warm this week so Kim took the kids out for a walk. They were so excited that they just ran everywhere.
Except for this cutie who was strapped in to the stroller
Climbing on the snow was a favorite activity
Nixon loves to work
He also loves to play
I think we may have a future professional basketball player on our hands
There has been a lot of snow around here. Good thing our kids are so willing to help with the shoveling
They also like to climb on the big piles of snow
With the new track Nixon got for Christmas and the one we already had we can make some fun tracks for the car and train
Mason has 2 teeth!
He loves playing with these blocks he got for Christmas
It is hard to show just how much snow there is with pictures, but we will try
We have had to knock this pile along the driveway down/back just so we can get more snow off of the driveway
Intense icicles
You can see how high the snow is compared to the cedar we replaced that is about 6' tall
Despite all the snow Nixon still mows the lawn
Mason loves to sit and play
The kids were proud of themselves after laying out these shells on the turtle
Mason tried baby cereal for the first time and did a good job
Kim and i went on our first date of 2017 yesterday. We went ice skating
It was a little embarrassing struggling just to stay standing while there were little kids zipping around. Especially because most Canadians learn to skate before they can walk
But we had lots of fun together
I had some fun time with this little guy yesterday
This video of Nixon is funny because you can see that he is actually aware that he is on the screen
So with all of the snow we have gotten, and lots of it being very wet and heavy, there has been a lot of talk about shoveling off roofs to get rid of all of the heavy snow. Surprisingly, that is not something I am familiar with, even having grown up in the great white North.
So I decided that I would give it a try. I was able to get lots from the top of our undersized ladder.
Then I climbed up on the roof. That was a mistake! Underneath all of the snow is a layer of ice that is REALLY slippery! I was sure I was going to accidentally slide off like a seal to my death. It was so slippery I didn't have any confidence that I could maneuver myself back to the ladder safely. So Kim and I devised a plan where I would keep shoveling snow into a pile tall enough that I could jump safely off the roof. The problem for me was that I couldn't see the snow from my vantage point and I was the one jumping off the roof. Kim reassured me that the pile was tall enough and we have good life insurance. Thanks!
By the time the pile got this big I was exhausted and could't comfortably reach any more snow on the roof without leaving the spot where I felt I had the most traction
So at that point I trusted in my wife and jumped off the roof
It doesn't look like much on video, but it was nerve wracking and kind of fun. I have done much more dangerous things (like when I jumped off of a bridge and hit the ice below), but this had taught me that if there truly is a need to shovel the roof, I am going to pay someone to do it, AND prepare a liability waiver for them to sign before they do it
Speaking of doing dumb things, here is a throwback to one of them
This was 11 days before I reported to the MTC for my mission...the rope was a little too long!
The kids liked climbing on the big pile of snow that I made (I didn't like shoveling it off the patio afterward)
December is an exciting and BUSY time. January is nice to slow things down a bit.
Church last week was a gong show. Kim had to play organ, there was tons of snow and slick roads and we were running late. As we were rushing down the hall to the chapel someone opened a door into Lyza and she hit it with her face. There was blood gushing from her nose, it hurt really bad (she is still sick at this point). Not very fun. She has had a rough couple of weeks.
Lyza has enjoyed reconnecting with her dinosaurs
Mason is 6 months!
And he wants to eat his fox
Having him sit up is nice because that is one more way to keep him happy
Destroying our family room keeps these kids happy
For family home evening this week I decided that our activity would be playing Mario Kart as a family. The kids loved it!
One of the activities for preschool this week was spraying the snow with colored water
The theme was winter, so another activity was spraying baking soda with colored vinegar, all on top of ice
Kim and Mason took me out for lunch this week
He was pretty excited
When Grandpa Keyes gave Lyza bracelets I bet he didn't know they would be used for elongating the neck of a dinosaur
Mason got this book from the doctor and Lyza is practicing writing some of the words
I got to spend some time in the crawl space of the house while I was putting Christmas decorations back and I decided to do some exploring. Underneath or kitchen I found a whole bunch of roots growing up
This is how big they were. They must be from the huge pine tree close by in the back yard
On Friday Kim mentioned that she wanted me to build shelves in a closet in one of our closets.
We had been using an old Ikea shelf and a cruddy wire shelf
I accepted the challenge and with the help of a Home Depot gift card that Auntie Terry gave us for Christmas I got to work
The finished product is a success and now we have much more usable storage in that closet
As I was taking the mat off of our trampoline yesterday Nixon was playing on the ice
We shared this video on Facebook but I thought I would add it here too. This is meant to motivate those hoping to lose weight this year. Just do what Mason does, exercise in your sleep!
