Too funny to keep to myself

I just got back from taking the kids to the store. As I was driving through the parking lot, Katie said, "Out of my way sonny". She said it a few more times. At first I thought she was talking to the pedestrians all over the parking lot. Then I thought she was talking to me. I said, "Are you talking to me Katie?" She said, "No, I'm talking to the sun".

Christmas 2008

This year we decided to go to Utah for Christmas. We left here on December 15th and just got back on Tuesday. We had a great time and were able to spend a lot of time with our families.

Tommy and Katie did a great job of decorating Grandma Janet's tree.Aunt Kathy let all of the kids help her make sugar cookies for her neighbors. She is an amazing lady! Katie and Stockton played beautiful music on the piano.Saturday Knight FeverWe took the kids downtown to see the lights. This is my favorite part about Christmas in Salt Lake. We rode the Trax and all of the kids loved it, even though it was cold!This view continues to amaze me.Christmas morning... otherwise known as December 23rd since Mike had to be back in Chicago that night and wouldn't return to Salt Lake for 5 days. Katie said, "this is just what I wanted" to every gift she opened. What a sweetie.My mother had her knee replaced on December 9th. She stayed in the hospital for a few days and then moved to a rehabilitation center. It was beautiful and everyone who worked there was so nice. Of course she made many friends while she was there. She hoped to be home for Christmas but she had to stay until the next week. She got fabulous therapy there and she is getting around much better than before the surgery. The kids opened some of their presents there with her. And then she got to come home!We had such a great time with Mike's mom, my sister and her family and my mom. I got to see some old friends and eat way too much really good food. We went sledding and had more snow than I have seen in a long time. I was snowed in at Kathy's house for two days. Mike was able to come stay with us two days of every week we were there. I hope you all had a great holiday season too.

And then we came home.

Air Force vs BYU

Our neighbors gave us tickets to Saturday's Air Force Academy football game against BYU. Even though we have lived here for six years, this was our first game. The kids were very excited.

I love the traditions of the Air Force. I'm so happy my kids got to see this. Here the cadet wing is in formation on the field for the National Anthem. It is very quiet in the stadium and everyone sings along softly. It is a very moving experience.

The Wings of Blue! I flew the Twin Otter for this squadron until I separated from the Air Force last summer. The jump team is amazing. There are active duty staff members but cadet team members perform a lot of the training. They do a lot of Air Shows and competitions throughout the year and they always do very well. The training they give impresses me the most. They train their fellow cadets to jump out of airplanes. This is the only airfield where a person's first jump is by himself. At other jump schools, you have instructors holding onto you as you jump. I worked with amazing Air Force NCOs at the Academy. Many of the guys had backgrounds in the TACP (Tactical Air Control Party) or survival career fields. One was a Silver Star winner. They all had amazing stories.

You can just barely see the Twin Otter in this picture.

And then there was the F-15 fly-by...

We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. The kids couldn't make it through the whole game so we had to leave at half-time. Air Force was leading 14-7 when we left and that's all you need to know.

Happy Halloween

Tommy told us in September that he wanted to be Indiana Jones for Halloween. He was completely obsessed and had to watch the movies and play the video game all the time. So we got him a hat and a whip and a jacket. But, as Halloween got closer, he started to have second thoughts. He loved looking at the costumes at Target. He thought he wanted to be something scary. We told him that it was too late and he was already committed.

We even had him dress up like Indiana Jones just to convince him. He said "I look like a barnacle". I thought he looked very handsome.

The whole time Tommy was saying he wanted to be Indiana Jones, Katie said she wanted to be a princess. We tried some other ideas just for fun...In the end, they both decided they wanted to be...

Stormtroopers!

We all went to Tommy's Halloween party at preschool. Here he is with his friend Colby.Katie felt right at home at preschool. This is where she will go next year. They made their own goodie bags. All of the kids brought a treat to share. They took turns passing out their treats. Tommy couldn't wait for his turn.Trick or Treating was so much fun. This is the first year that I went with the kids. Usually I just stay home and pass out candy. We just left the lights off for a little while and Mike and I took the kids. Katie loved it. After each house she would yell, "Let's go trick or treating some more!" I just went down the street with them a little and then came back to hand out candy (so we wouldn't get egged). I'm so glad I got to see them having so much fun. Mike said one guy answered his door and was wondering why the street was so dark. Where is everyone? He told Tommy and Katie they should go egg those unlit houses.

Here's Mike dressed like a scarecrow to scare unsuspecting trick or treaters. His biggest success was when he snuck up on the neighbors as they were getting home. Dave saw him coming but his wife didn't.

Counting, sorting...

The next day, the kids were enjoying some of their candy. Tommy said, "this sure is a lovely date Katie" She said, "yes it is very nice outside". They just make me laugh all day long. They haven't eaten too much candy. Mike put their buckets high in the pantry. I came home from work the next day to find them with a chair in the pantry. Tommy said he had climbed the shelves and handed Katie his bucket. I'm glad it all turned out ok, and I can certainly relate to risking injury for the sake of chocolate but I had to tell him it wasn't safe.

Tommy & Katie, my little paleontologists

I am working again this month so Daddy continues to be the fun one. He took the kids to the dinosaur museum in Woodland Park the other day. They both love it there. Tommy picked out this souvenir. It is a brick with plastic dinosaur bones packed inside. It came with a hammer and chisel so you can dig them out and put them together. When I got home from work that day, The kids were in the driveway digging away. They didn't even notice me pulling up.

The project took a couple of days... After they finished "excavating" the site, they assembled the bones and then painted them.
Pretty cool! Now for some funny stories. Tommy wanted to play battleship the other day and Mike and I were feeling too lazy for such a task. We just wanted to watch TV. Yes we will probably win parents of the year. Anyway, he decided he didn't need us. He would stand by one board and call out "B-3" then walk over to the other board and say," oh man! You hit my submarine!" He kept this up for a while. It was hilarious. We asked him who his opponent was and he said it was his cousin Tommy. That's been his imaginary friend for a while. What a funny guy.

Katie and Tommy wrestle all the time. They usually are both having fun but sometimes, one of them gets hurt...
When wrestling turns into fighting or hitting, they have to go to the green chair and hold hands until they are friends again. My sister and I developed this method of parenting when we were children and we had cats. If two cats weren't getting along, we stuck them under a laundry basket together until they were friends again. Usually they just fought more and became so violent that the basket flew off. I decided it was worth trying with the kids anyway. We don't have a big enough laundry basket though.