Monday afternoons with Grandmother B

Nearly every Monday afternoon, Blake goes for "special time with B."  He and Grandmother B (Bitsy) play it by ear -- sometimes it's playdough, sometimes they go to the library, often they read books and discover a whole new topic.  This blog entry is directly from Grandmother B about her time with Blake last Monday:

"Here is an eel video that Blake wanted to view on Monday when couldn't get online. That's okay because instead we read books! We read about eels coming from the Sargasso Sea. Where is that, he asked? So we went to the bookshelves downstairs at Grandmother B's house. We pulled out the atlas and said  that new word a few times.

In native Utah dialogue, one might  hear a preposition dangle such as, "Where's it at"...so maybe that's a good way to remember why we call this big book the ATLAS. That's where we find where things are at! And we found the Sargasso Sea sitting near the Bahamas in the middle the Atlantic Ocean. Did you know all eels from America and Europe lay eggs in the Sargasso Sea? When they are born they look like tiny glass fish but they turn into baby  eels and start their swim journey. Blake looked satisfied learning this. But then he asked to see the eel that that has the fish that it never bites. So we went upstairs and found the bookshelf in the bedroom called "Fish Do the Strangest Things" by the Hornblows, who must know something about deep sea fishing! On the book's last page Blake pointed to the eel with its friend the wrasse, who swims in and out of the eel's mouth to clean its teeth. The book likened the wrasse  to a doctor, more like a dentist but I likened this tiny fish to a toothbrush. Blake liked my simile probably because early on he enjoyed brushing his teeth as a tiny boy.

But for the record, don't think Blake is all serious and studious. Last week at the public library we looked for books on his requested topics: dinosaurs and volcanoes. I said he might not like the silly book on volcanoes since a flying school bus goes under the ocean to see the volcano. Blake said, "Well, I like silly!" So we checked it out along with the four other non-fiction books. That's a term we'll learn next time."

Gymnastics

We've been going to Gymnastics center on Sundays after church and the boys love it!

 

 

Gavin's Haircut

Before...

After...

Granted, a lot of people were commenting on what a cute girl he was, but this new year's day haircut was a mildly traumatic start to the new year for Mama Ali!  Nonetheless, in addition to being able to see, Gavin seems quite thrilled with his new look -- he has twice the energy and sleeps 30-60 minutes less daily.
Eeks!

Belated Christmas

Happy New Year!

I didn't realize how much we've been up to until I finally downloaded pictures to my computer.  The most obvious set of  memories is Christmas.  We had two Christmases this year, and continued to be asked for more by Blake until we finally took down the tree.  The first was with Grandparents Rob and Sharon, and Bitsy and Steve, and Aunt Rachel and Uncle James.  Our 17-foot tree, cut from the Uintah forest, presided perfectly over the pile of presents and we all had a lovely time. 

Here are a few highlights:

Family Christmas dinner

Sebe's new bike shorts... just kidding, these are for Gavin!

Gavin's baby mat, handmade by Rachel.

Blake's first LEGO Power Miners set... a BIG hit.

Gavin loves snuggling his giant stuffed animals.

Uncle James and Gavin doing a puzzle.

Rachel and Princess taking a break.

 

Rob, Rachel, Sharon enjoying a laugh.

Uncle James and Blake doing a puzzle.

Ali with a wow over the top from her mom!

 

Rachel modeling a new scarf.

And our second Christmas was comprised of puzzles and books from Oma and Opa, "Team Ziesler" sweatshirts from Carole and Conrad, and mountain gear from Scott Beall. 

Team Ziesler sweatshirts on Christmas morning.

Enjoying a cup of tea with Scott.  Photo by Blake.

How cute is this little tyke?

Reading his new book in the camping chair.

Could this look be signaling the end of Christmas?

We had a wonderful, white Christmas full of lots of love and laughs.