A Picture Says a Thousand Words

 Well, both dad and mom had to be out of town for a while over the last week and a half.  Dad had a conference in Chicago while mom had meetings in Boston.  So part of Aunt Jen Jen's time was spent taking care of us while both parents were gone.  And let's just say . . . . a picture says a thousand words . . . . see for yourself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok - so no one actually died, or even got hurt.  No blood was spilled, no bones were broken, and actually a lot of fun was had.  Aunt Jen Jen did great!  And her reports to the parents were that we did great too.  (Thanks Aunt Jen for not telling all the stories!)  And thanks for coming to take care of us!

 

We had lots of fun - she got us to school on time and picked us up on time. We played at the park . . . .

 

 

 

 . . . and we went out to eat.  Yum - our favorite.  The yummy roll place!

 

 Dad brought us back some fun excavation projects from the Field Museum.  We missed the parents, but we were well taken care of!

 

 In other happenings this week - I did some reading.  Ok that's not new.  I read all the time - constantly!  This is how you can find me for usually at least a hour every night after we go to bed.  Mom or dad has to come in and shut me down for the night.  I'm reading some big novels right now - thick, big chapter books . . . and I'm loving them!

 

 

 We spent a lot of time with our neighbors this weekend.  A couple of neighbor dinners - we have the BEST neighbors!!!

And Sam and I did the usual brotherly fighting this weekend.  It all works out alright in the end.

 

Sam Alert:  Hey everybody!  Boy did I have a great week.  Jennifer is so much fun to play with.  She loves to cook - just like me.  Turn your head sideways (this picture wouldn't load right side up for some reason) and check out me cleaning out the cookie dough bowl!

 

And this is me having dinner one night - instead of using a chair, I made my own "eating station" by using the couch cushions in a big pile.  Gotta be smarter than a monkey to survive around our house!

 

Sam out!

Signs of Spring

 Ahh - finally.  We have some solid, wonderful signs of spring.  After a long, cold winter we had some warm days and now we have hope for a soon-to-come-spring.  Check out this picture Sam took of some crocus flowers at our neighbor's house.  Sure signs of spring!

And then there are afternoons playing T-ball in the backyard.  Sam will do anything to be outside.  This was one afternoon this week after we got home from school.  We went straight from school uniforms to pajamas, but Sam decided he needed to spend some time playing T-ball.  And he did!

And then, we hit a day in the 70's this week.  That called for some short sleeves, shorts, and bike/scooter riding time outside.  It was fabulous!

 And in other good things that happened this week - Aunt Jen Jen came to visit us.  We had been waiting so long and she finally got here.  We've been having so much fun!  Cooking . . . .

Face timing with family . . . .

 And playing at the park . . . .

 The park was the best!  A perfect day for playing at the park!

Aunt Jen Jen even did slide races with us.

And a trip to the library to stock up on books.  Good times!  We couldn't even leave the library before we had to open the books up and start reading. 

 

Oh - one more thing.  I lost another tooth this week.  It took forever to come out - it has been loose for days.  But finally it did - with the help of a maple bar! 

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone.  What a great week!  I'm loving the warm weather!  It makes being outside so much more pleasant!  Here I am playing at the park.

And here I am - pj's and running shoes.  The best of both worlds!  Have a great week.

Sam out!

Good Times

 Our first "good time" for this week was a late night outing to see "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" at one of our local theaters.  It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!!!!!  This particular theater does theater-in-the-round.  The story was excellent and the characters were great.  Our favorites were the Baron, Baroness, and the spies.  They really made the whole show.  The car actually "flew" and the breakfast machine was incredible.  All in all, it was a stellar night!

 

Here we are at intermission overlooking the stage.  I wasn't very happy about mom taking our picture - I firmly believe the signs that say "No pictures"!

 

And here I am again, this time waiting for the show to start.  Still not happy that mom has her camera out!

 

Here is Sam out in the lobby.  The actors came out to say hi to everyone at the end of the show.  That was very fun!   We both fell asleep on the ride home - and on a school night at that.  But it was sooooo worth it!

 

 In other good times, we got to spend Friday night at Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy's house.  Dad and mom both had a conference to attend on Saturday.  We had so much fun!  After the parents picked us up on Saturday afternoon we got to go to a neighborhood wedding reception.  Aren't we a couple of handsome boys!

 

 Sam Alert:  Howdy - Sam here.  I have two cute pictures of me for this week.  Up first - I've taken up archery.  I've been practicing and practicing down in our basement.  Uncle Carl sent us this great archery set last year and I have gotten really really good at it!  Check out my form!

 

And here I am at the theater the other night.  Oh my - was I excited to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  And it was everything I expected it to be . . . and more!  I loved it!  I even managed to stay awake through the whole thing, even though I said I was super tired even before it started.  We've been singing all the songs this week.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - our fine four fendered friend!

Snowshoeing in Nebraska?

Ok, so we didn't really go snowshoeing in Nebraska this week.  But I did have to give my state report at school this week about the state of Nebraska.  And we did go snowshoeing yesterday here in Utah.

 

So first up - for you hard core Mason fans, I present a full six minute video of my Nebraska state report.  Dad and Sam were able to come watch it.  So for everyone else, enjoy.  Or not - it's good if I do say so myself, but it is six minutes long.  That's a long video.

And then we have a plethora of snowshoeing pictures for you.  It was an amazingly beautiful early spring day yesterday.  Temperatures were in the low 50's and there was hardly a cloud in the sky.  We headed up to our local Nordic Center and spent the day out in the snow.  

Here we are crossing the bridge with dad.  Can you believe how deep the snow is?  It's up to the top of the railings.

 

Here's Sam getting a tow up hill from dad.  

 And then there's me - I spent the majority of my  time lounging around . . . .

 

. . . . or laying in the snow.  I had soooooo much fun! 

 

Here's the family for a quick pose.  Look at that blue, blue sky!

 

We snowshoed about a mile around the lake (frozen lake that is).  It really is so much fun - if you've never tried it, you really need to. 

 

 Dad even spent a little time laying around in the snow - although not on purpose.  He tripped himself up on his snowshoes. 

 But while he was down, he took this great shot up to the sky.  Pretty cool, huh!

 Proof that he actually made it back up to a vertical position. 

That's us three boys hiding in the trees.

 And one more quick shot of the whole family. 

 We couldn't miss out on a picture with mom.  It's possible that she may actually enjoy snowshoeing more than the rest of us put together.

 

 Here we are coming back to "the stable" - ok not really a stable, but the main building.  Sam decided it looked cool to walk with poles, so he stole one of mom's poles.  It was way too tall for him, but he didn't care.

We ended our wonderful afternoon with a picnic lunch in the back of dad's truck.  It was a great, great day!  

 

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone.  I present two cute pics of me from this week. 

First up - me having a super great dinner of spaghetti-o's the other night.  Mason and I cooked dinner for the family that night.  Mason fixed the spaghetti-o's and I fried up some eggs for mom.  Dad was on his own - I think he made some toast.  

And second - a perfect picture of me out snowshoeing yesterday.  I {LoVeD} being outside.  It was warm and wonderful.  I was in heaven!  We're going to try fitting in one more snowshoeing trip this year before all the snow melts.  

Sam out - have a great week!