Thank you so much for expressing interest in our Pig-in-Training Program. We’ve been auditioning new Pigs for awhile now, and–as you can see-no one yet has had quite what it takes to make a go in this rough-and-tumble Pig World. In order to expedite further inquiries, we’ve compiled a questionnaire, hoping to narrow down the hordes showing up at the open casting calls. Please take a moment to answer the following:

As a Pig, your favorite animal food would be:
A) bird seed B) dog food C) hamster treats

If you answered B, you could be thismuchcloser to becoming a Pig. Tessa has expressed her love of Isaac’s dog food on many occasions. At one point, Mom had to shoo her away from the dog bowl to prevent her from consuming too much of Isaac’s meal.

Pigs generally prefer:
A) mermaid tails B) fairy wings C) four sizes too big flip flops

This was really a trick question because the answer is All of the Above. Emmett first fell in love with merman tails and he brought Riley and Tessa around fairly quickly. (However, Tessa’s vote faltered momentarily when, after wearing her tail in the tub, she slipped and fell while pretending to be a standing up mermaid, conking her chin and teeth on the tub ledge and biting clean through her lip. True story. But, as a true Pig, Tessa put her tail back on and kept on swimming.) Check out the Flickr pics. And though Asher has had his turn with a merman tail, he prefers any adult sized flip flips. As long as they cause him to walk wonky and threaten to trip him up with every step, they make the grade.

When chatting up swim instructors, what is something a Pig could have plausibly said?
A) “No, its Daddy that loved Legos growing up. Mommy didn’t like Legos when she was little because she’s Jewish.” B) “But did you know that anaklusmos is Greek for riptide?” C) “I always have the correct answers to your questions. And, I’ll usually answer before the boys.”

Again, a trick question. If you answered, All of the Above, you may just have what it takes to join our crew. Ready to double down? Who said all of the above quotes? If you answered Tessa, you would be not only correct, but you’d be naming the chattiest of our crew. Here are some of Tessa’s other memorable mouthy moments: “But I don’t want to stop talking. I like the sound of my voice;” “I know you asked me to be quiet, but I wasn’t ready to stop talking;” and “If you can’t get him to hear you, I can help. Its not hard for me to make my voice really, really loud.”

Ok, moving on… Let’s test your Pig Preferences Knowledge. This category usually knocks out at least half of the Pig Applicants.

Which Pig enjoys: A) chewing his/her own toe nails, B) reading the Percy Jackson book series, C) hiding in the pantry to poop, D) coming up with elaborate sink adventures for his/her Lego minifigures? If you said, (in this order) Tessa, Riley, Asher (I threw you a bone there, that was an easy one), and Emmett–you are starting to think like a Pig.

Let’s keep rolling… Which Pig enjoys: A) yelling “Dangerous!” when it thunders, B) hiding snack bars in his/her bed for mid-night snacks, C) sneaking downstairs at night when everyone else is asleep to play, D) spelling out words such as candy and ipad around Asher? If you said, (in this order) Asher, Tessa, Emmett and Riley, you could be a Pig-in-Practice.

Which Pig enjoys: A) a Personal Happy Dance demo at our Lights Out Dance Parties, B) regularly requesting “desert for dinner and dinner for desert”, C) imagining what to call monster mash-ups (as in, dinopotamus), D) chilling on the deck without anything more than underwear on as well as taking long drives similarly attired? Again, this was a trick. All of the Pigs love all of those things.

Last one: Which Pig enjoys: A) military history (with an emphasis on ancient civilizations), B) requesting super hero powers daily (as in, “Mommy, I want to fly like Green Lantern. When can I get that power?”), C) verifying the truth of what he/she reads in books (as in, “Daddy, are dryads and naiads real?”), D) obsessing over driving the car, to the point where he/she has put the keys in and turned on the ignition? If you said, (in this order) Riley, Emmett, Tessa, and Asher, you’d be right!

Please take the above completed questionnaire to your nearest post box, addressing it Pig Land, USA, and affix one silly sticker and one forever stamp. We read applications quarterly (the next deadline is Halloween) so stay tuned. And keep up the good work. Although not all of you will qualify, you will surely improve your quality of laugh (if not slightly decreasing the ease of your nightly bedtime routine).

We will be in touch.

The Pigs

The summer sun is starting to shine, albeit intermittently here in Colorado. The neighborhood pool opened over the holiday weekend, but when we stopped in for a dip it wasn’t warm enough to stay for very long. But the early sunrise and late sunset mean our days are long and we find ourselves searching for things to occupy our time. We read a lot, and we keep up with our school work. We play outside, and we take field trips to local museums and places of fun. (Lots of places of fun. Check out the pictures.) And though the season’s not yet arrived with full, hot weather, we feel antsy. Waiting for it.

Tessa’s learned to ride a two-wheeler. We got her a new bike to celebrate the occasion and we updated the rest of our bikes with some cool duct tape decorating. She’s still practicing starting on her own, but she’s pretty good at stopping–which is nice. Baby really, really wants to master the bike riding skill (whether he wants to put in the work, though, to get there is debatable) to be like the big kids. He doesn’t get that we started on big wheels, then rode small bikes with training wheels, before trying the two-wheeler. But his determination might just get him there from the get-go. Stay tuned.

We’ve been to the Children’s Museum and the Zoo recently. We took a behind the scenes tour of the Tropical Discovery Area at the zoo, getting to meet some of the aquarium denizens. We fed a Komodo dragon some dead mice. Learned about poison dart frogs and Asian forest turtles. The zookeeper was super nice, listening to us talk about Tessa’s new bike and how we were going to Pop-pop’s after our tour to blow bubbles and eat popsicles. Asher napped for most of the tour. Mom and Dad thought that was a good choice on his part, as his attempt to climb in the Komodo dragon’s enclosure was met with a big, fat ‘No.’

We start a summer soccer league (each and every one of us) next weekend. We can’t wait for our shinguards and new soccer shoes to come in the mail so we can try them on and see exactly how awesome we all look kitted up. (Obviously, we will look super awesome. Of course.) The sessions are at an area rec center we just discovered. It has a trampoline area, a kids obstacle course, and a pool with a big water slide and whirlpool (as in, get yourself stuck zooming around and around and need to have someone reach in and pull you out, whirlpool). Outside it has a sprinkler park we haven’t tried yet and a zipline and climbing wall we aren’t big enough to try. Overall, a good find.

We are deep into the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series. We like to talk about Greek gods and Greek heroes. It dovetails nicely with our Ninja and Zen studies. We talk about reaching our true-potential, knowing ourselves, and doing-no-harm. All good things. We aren’t sure why the Greek gods seems so mean, though. We got a ‘Brick Greek Myths’ book from the tooth fairy (Emmett lost another tooth!) which features Lego scenes depicting Greek Myths and some of those people just seemed to make one bad choice after another. Tessa said that if she were there, in the myth with those gods and heroes, she’d tell them all what’s up so that everyone can live a long, happy life. You go, Sweet T!

Our favorite babysitter from our old CO neighborhood is back home for the summer, fresh from her first year of college. She comes and plays with us, hanging out while we play in the backyard with bubbles, chalk, or squirt guns or zoom around the cul-de-sac on our bikes, and we really appreciate her help. Pop-pop is a regular here too, which lets Mom get out, which we also really appreciate. (At least Mom does.)

Weather forecast says 80s are coming, so we are hoping to spend some quality time at the pool. Emmett advanced in his swim level, and now both he and Riley are Stingrays, while Sweet T is still a Sea Turtle. Whether we hang out at the pool depends on how much they all apply their swim lesson skills while playing in the pool. Only Riley does that, at this point. And having three Pigs act like they can’t get in any water over their heads (thus necessitating either Mom or Dad to yell, “What are you doing? You know how to swim!”) can be too much for any adult.

Check back in and see how it all goes.

With love,
The Pigs

“Mama, where you at?”
–Asher

“Tessa, when Emmett and I fought Darth Vader and Darth Maul at Disneyland, how come you didn’t want to be chosen to fight them? Were you afraid of them?” Riley asked Tessa.
“No,” Tessa paused, tapping a finger on her lip, before continuing. “I think I was just afraid of being afraid.”
“You know, Tessa,” Riley said, “you can’t let your fear run away with you.”

“Mailys are not fun.”
–Tessa, writing an email (called a Maily) for schoolwork

“You can never change the past.”
–Riley, answering the question about why we don’t dwell on what’s already happened

“When I grow up, I’m going to have a brown baby. A fantastic brown baby. Like me!”
–Emmett

“You know, Mars is too cold to have any Martians on it.”
–Tessa

“Its got more potential energy!”
–Riley, when Tessa asked why a trampoline, who’s material allows for more give while jumping, will push someone higher than our bounce house

“Because Mommy, I taste good.”
–Tessa, when asked why she chews on her fingers

“No, no. Nanna in toes.”
–Asher, directing Daddy to put a banana in between his toes so he could eat it, like a character he saw on Paw Patrol

“No. Read! Read!”
–Asher, after being told its time to go to bed

Although spring has arrived, its been snowy here. More snowy than before Spring sprung. We’ve enjoyed the storms, playing in the heavy, wet, slushy stuff and realizing that spring snow is not ideal for snowmen or for snowballs. But it is ideal for snow drives and appreciating its blanketing effect from the comforting warmth of the kitchen window. The most perfect thing about spring snow in Colorado is that within a few days its melted and everything greens up. So, all evidence of our three blizzards has transformed our neighborhood into emerald perfection.

Into this blaze of color, we released our ladybugs. The second batch, that is. The first batch didn’t fare too well after Tessa and Asher dropped them onto the floor. Only three larvae pupated successfully. We let those go in the front yard in between snow storms and hoped they made it to the safety of a rock’s underside before freezing or being eaten by hungry birds. Our second batch pupated almost to a bug. We released close to twenty lady bugs yesterday.

Asher kept yelling, “Oh, cute!” and then laughing and shaking as the bugs climbed up his arm. Tessa, who has a bit of a heavy hand, squished a few while enjoying their release. She justified the accidents saying, “That’s okay. There are more.” We spoke of recognizing the need to be gentle and respecting life. She apologized to the dead and moved on. Riley and Emmett quietly enjoyed the release, letting the bugs crawl over them before placing them on the balcony’s edge, aiding their bids for freedom. Be well, little bugs.

We look forward to even warmer weather and more outside fun. We displayed our hard earned swim skills at the Rec Center last weekend with Daddy and everyone was well pleased. The big kids slid down the water side and splashed in the deep end, while Daddy swam with Little Pig. He loved splashing in the pool’s in-water playground, sliding down the little slide into the water and climbing up to shoot a water cannon. Cute!

Riley and Emmett passed a swim test allowing them to dive into the deep water next to the swim climbing wall, and Tessa professed to being “Okay” with not passing because she’s quite a bit younger than the big boys. She’ll work on swimming one length of the pool in a crawl stroke without stopping (which is what the boys did to pass). She’s almost there, though. Keep up the good work, Tessa! And well done boys!

We are slogging through story problems in math, which we all (all!) dislike immensely. We are getting to start reading chapter books and having been diligently working at our writing, both in emails and on paper. Our science understanding has been markedly improved by watching Go, Jet, Go on PBS and Miles from Tomorrowland and almost everyone understands how to apply what we learn to our real-world experiences. We talk about planets being in the Goldilocks Zone, what it means for a planet to have gravity, and finding life on other planets (and how we haven’t yet). We are budding astronomers and enjoying it.

Asher’s talking quite a bit more these days. His favorite thing to say is, “I got this.” Though, he’s also been known to walk down the stairs and call to the room in general, “Mama, where you at?” He’s learning more to share, not to scream when he doesn’t get his way, and to ask for help. Its a process, and we are all working as Team Pig to support him. He’s amazing, as are the rest of us, and we love him.

Be well,
The Larson Pigs

So much for the super, snowy Colorado winter. All of our snowstorms have been mild (nothing more than 2 feet) and have melted fairly quickly. (Save the driveway, which was an ice rink for a good 6-week period.) In anticipation of a cold, blowy season, Mom purchased an amazing bounce house for the basement. Although the weather hasn’t been strictly indoor weather, we’ve logged some serious bounce-hours, bouncing almost everyday.

We have foam swords that we use in the bounce house, we’ve got our ninja outfits, and when we feel compelled, we train. We roll, we jump, we flip. We are sneaky. We are loud. We’ve worked in teams. We’ve worked alone. But rest assured, we are ninjas-in-training. We’ve also all advanced in our swim skills. We are all doing the crawl stroke. We are diving unassisted to the bottom of the pool. And we are jumping in from the side, surfacing, and back floating or crawling to the edge again. These skills will help with water-related ninja missions.

Our current favorite game is Miles from Tomorrowland. We go on space missions, saving aliens–sometimes saving entire planets–and we do it as a family. This is by-far Baby’s favorite. He sings, “Miles, Miles, from tomorrowland” throughout the day. He pretends his food is a rocket he’s flying through the galaxy. And this ties in nicely with our space studies. We learn about the planets watching this show, like we learn about planets with Mr. Neil in the show Cosmos. We talk to our friends about stars going supernova (a thought that has actually woken Tessa in the middle of the night) and finding another planet to live on that exists in the Goldilocks Zone (something we’ll have to do when our sun goes supernova).

We are also still very concerned about the Greenhouse Effect. We’ve been watching nature documentaries (our favorite being Great Migrations) and we don’t like what happens when the Polar Icecaps melt. We’ve seen what it does to the walrus migrations, how it effects the polar bears, and what happens to the coastal wildlife when the seas rise. This was already a concern for Tessa who said that when she’s the president, she won’t allow NASA to launch any rockets because of the Greenhouse Gases it puts into the atmosphere. (This is a real point of contention with Emmett who wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.) But, overall, we enjoy learning about our Earth and the animals that co-exist with us on it.

Like last year, we are greeting Spring with an insect metamorphosis. We are watching ladybug larvae eat and get fat so they can pupate and become ladybug beetles. Then we’ll set them free to help with garden pests and to lay eggs for a new generation of larvae to grow and pupate. We had a bit of a setback when Baby pulled the Ladybug Habitat onto the floor, spilling our larvae everywhere. But after some shouting from Mom, we made sure we didn’t step on any and recaptured those insects we could see. They are back in their home. Snug as a bug.

We enjoyed Valentine’s Day, making Valentine’s for all our family and friends and sending them in the mail. On a similar note, we’ve been writing a lot of emails to people to practice our spelling and sentence creation skills. Our favorite sentences usually include a reference to who we love, what we love, or who our best friends are. But recently we’ve branched out and we’ve been filling others in on our field trips and what we’ve been doing with our days. We’ve also been back at crafts. We made crystal geodes with egg shells, egg dye, and alum. We tie-dyed long sleeve t-shirts. We’ve been creating little critters with our AquaBeads. And, of course, we are hard at work at our Lego projects–mostly Ninjago sets.

Check back next time and see how our Ladybug launch went.

With love,
The Pigs

“Mommy, what does it mean to not trust myself. And does it hurt?”
Tessa

“Because I wasn’t expecting it!”
Riley, answering the question, “Why did you stab yourself in the leg with a pencil?”

“I think its a g-g-g-ghost!”
Emmett, hearing a noise upstairs that turned out to be Isaac

“Who’s dat?”
Asher, hearing a noise upstairs that turned out to be Isaac

“Mommy, you don’t have to read to me for, like, the next week because I think that I can read to myself. But after a week, you can read to me again, if you want to.”
Tessa

“I’m a genius! I’m a genius!”
Emmett, when informed that only Pigs who own their own genius get privileges of TV and iPad

“I saw a comet!”
Emmett, when spotting a shooting star in the night’s sky

“No, thank you! Yuck!”
Asher, when Tessa tried to hold him down and give him kisses

“Mommy, I look fantastic.”
Tessa, after looking at her Red Ninja costume in the mirror

“Ipad, please.”
Asher

“March, march, march!”
Tessa and Emmett, in a sing-song voice while leading the baby in from the backyard

“I want him to be fat.”
Emmett, admitting he’d been feeding Isaac twice the usual amount and explaining why

Asher is officially the Class Clown. He’s out-of-control silly and over-the-top dramatic, all while managing to be so cute that no one can stop hugging him. Everything he does elicits an “Aww, our Baby is so cute” from Tessa. Swimming. Sleeping. You name it. Tessa thinks it is the bestest and cutest thing that’s ever been done by anyone.

His favorite things are to pretend cook and swordfight with two swords (double sticks, as its called in martial arts). He make Lego concoctions–like Lego pancakes, or Lego stews (where unfastened Lego pieces are piled into a measuring cup) and he opens the bottom over (which we never use) and he places them on the pizza stone for cooking. He then gets a spatula and makes sizzling sound effects while maneuvering his Lego pieces around the spatula. (He also pretend eats, but that’s more annoying than anything for Mom ‘cuz he’ll say he wants something and then take pretend bites and smile and shake his head when presented with a full fork for swallowing.)

He’s a master pretender, which makes sense as he’s Emmett’s little brother and Emmett’s so deep in his pretend play that sometimes you aren’t sure if he thinks pretend play is real and real life is pretend. Asher makes his fake chicken bites into space ships and crashes them into each other; he hides behind the closet door and jumps out with a lightsaber yelling “Ahhh!” to scare anyone coming by; and he’ll wander around outside with nothing more than an oversized salad spoon pretending its a plane flying threw a crowded sky. Lately, Asher’s taken to holding one (of two) black footed ferrets (ferris, he calls them) and making squeaking noises until you kiss them.

For months, since before we left Washington, he’s taken two butter knives and pretended that they are samurai swords. This is funny for us, as it is often accompanied by sound effects, and super cute, ‘cuz awwww. Look at the little man with butter knives pretending to straight-up fight you! how cute. But we all see how it can be (and is) off-putting for non-family members. Especially nannies. No one wants a small man coming at you with knives. Even if they are only butter knives.

He also likes to cook for real. He pushes a kitchen chair over to the pantry, scales the shelves, grabs a microwave popcorn bag, opens it, puts the wrapper in the trash, and pushes his chair over to the stove top where he pops the bag into the microwave–all the while humming a jaunty tune to himself. (This is his favorite part. Eating the finished product is a close third–after unwrapping the bag and putting the trash in the trash–which means he throws a fit when he wants to make more but can’t because there is leftover uneaten popcorn.)

And all the while, he’s so teeny! (Well, not really. He’s exactly where he should be with his height, which sets him up for a roughly 6’ frame when he gets older.) But he’s smaller than us. And because he’s so coordinated, he seems little because–honestly–what 2 1/2 year old is doing these things?! (Probably many of them, but Tessa would argue no one else is doing it with such cuteness.) He’s so accustomed to everyone stopping to laugh and smile at him, he plays it up when he’s in trouble, sticking out his tongue, turning his head coquettishly, and sly smiling when faced with “Say you are sorry.”

We are so, so amazingly happy with this little man. He’s melted hearts since he was fresh out of the oven, but now he slays too with humor and charm. Where does he pack it all in? (Same place the rest of us do, amiright? Or, maybe not?) Anyway. He’s fantastic and we are grateful he’s ours.

Pigs Out

This is the first year we’ve really celebrated Christmas. Oh, we’ve had Christmas-day presents in the past. We’ve gone to Pop-pop’s every year for yummy food and gifts. But this year, we wrote to Santa, we sat on his lap at Zoo Lights, we read books about how to catch him. In short, we were invested. Here’s what we learned…

Santa only comes when you are asleep. This, to us, was a bit of a sneaky move. We set up string traps in strategic locations throughout the house. If we were asleep, how could we know our gambit worked? More importantly, how could we grill him about the ins-and-outs of the holiday? (Once inside the house, how do you get out? Do your reindeers fly all year, or just on December 25th? Are you real?) But, in the interest of expediency (read: to get our presents), we accepted this preposterous condition and closed our eyes and went to sleep, waiting for the jolly fat man to tromp through our home.

Leading up to the 25th, we did our due diligence. We learned that Santa only visits the homes of children who’ve been good all year. (When faced with the choice of checking the naughty or nice box on a form letter, Tessa said, “Mama, I’m gonna lie to Santa.”) We watched the television shows designed to teach us the most about how Santa arrives to deliver presents. (Riley believed that without a star at the top of our tree, which is an in-ground tree outside, Santa wouldn’t come. So we bought a gold star.) We read books and we colored pictures and we wrote letters. Mom and Dad told us how Santa’s elves bring each of us a stocking stuffed with small toys and hangs it from our beds. Overall, we were prepared.

This coming on the heels of Emmett’s birthday and Hanukkah… We are not hurting for gifts. Emmett’s party was wonderful. It was a small celebration and full of Star Wars. Both things that the Big Pig enjoys. Mom got him a Han Solo trapped in Carbonite Cake, just like he asked for. And he got books and Cosmos-related games and presents. Perfect. For Hanukkah, we got lots of Hot Wheel cars and a racetrack, all of which have provided hours of fun (we are not exaggerating). We got a slew of My Little Ponys, books, and Star Wars vehicles and figures. So, to think that after all of this we were going to receive more presents? Well, it was starting to seem like a bit much.

At which point, Mom and Dad agreed. So starting next year, we will each research and pick out a charity to donate to, instead of asking for Hanukkah gifts and instead of such a large Christmas haul. This year, we learned that not all kids have warm homes, food for their bellies, or a loving Pig Pile. It surprised us. We want to help the small kids who don’t have what we have. We want to share with them. We want them to know and to be loved.

But this year… We were excited to participate in the pageantry of the Christmas holiday. So, the night before, we went on a holiday-lights drive, singing Christmas carols and eating chips (don’t ask). Then, before the sun had risen completely, we jumped on Mom and Dad’s bed, announcing that there were, indeed, stockings in everyone’s room. And, what’s more, there were presents downstairs along with a note from Santa thanking us for the cookies and for carrots for his reindeers. Amazing. Somehow, that fat, fat man had gotten down our chimney and back out again without tracking so much as one iota of dirt on the carpet. And he’d even tip-toed upstairs into our bedrooms to hang stockings on our beds! Kudos, Santa.

Our gifts this year had a decidedly science-y and craft-y feel. Yarn and a loom for T-bone. An entire fleet of cars and planes for Baby. Straw airplanes and a geode kit for Pie-pie. Nasa flash cards and science tricks for Emmett. (When Mom held up one of the Space flash cards and asked Emmett what it was, he barely glanced up from Dad’s new Lego Vampire Castle saying, “A butterfly nebula.” And he was RIGHT!)

Some presents broke from those themes. Riley got a joke book to flesh out his thin cadre of jokes. (“Mommy, how does the Christmas cat climb up the chimney? With her Santa-claws!”) Tessa got some jewelry. Emmett’s still waiting for his Lego Millennium Falcon. (Don’t ask.) And Baby got a ton of chocolate (he loves that stuff more than Daddy does!) and a new fuzzy robe.

So far, so good. We head to Pop-pop’s in a bit for Christmas Day Part Two. Is it too much? Perhaps. Will we do ALL of this again next year? No. But we know for sure how well we have it, and we will be looking forward to sharing that with the less fortunate come this time next year. Count on it.

Be well (and merry),
The Pigs

With Daddy commuting from Washington to finish up the tail-end of his Army contract, we maximize the time we spend with him when he comes home. We sled (LOVE the snow!), we build Legos (Riley and Emmett are finishing up marathon Star Wars projects–keep an eye out for pics), we go to the Zoo, we wrestle and play and Pig Pile. We FaceTime Daddy lots too. He gives us a tour of his office back in WA, and we show him how we’ve tied the Baby up in a blanket so that he looks like a little burrito. He brings us presents, and we come in countless time in the middle of the night to snuggle with him. We know he appreciates our displays of love. Mostly, we don’t care what we do, as long as we are together.

We loved trick-or-treating at Pop-pop’s with Ms. Ann. Earlier that day, we went to a trick-or-treat street at Wings Over the Rockies, so we got a lot of candy there too and saw and played on planes of all vintages. (They even had an x-wing fighter. Too cool.) So, needless to say, we still have a TON of candy in the pantry. After about two days, we stopped asking for it, which Mom and Dad appreciate. (Here’s something not appreciated: Tessa jammed a plastic candy cauldron onto Baby’s head and it got stuck. Ten minutes later– with the application of kitchen shears–it came off.)

Riley’s birthday was fun. Low key. Just family. And Emmett’s is just around the corner. He’s asked to go to a Broncos game for his present, so they boys are heading to the Raiders game the day after he turns seven. (Tessa said that the girls will stay home and do yoga.) Hanukkah starts a few days before then, and we have already started to ask for presents. Jammies, mostly. And this year, we are already talking about seeing Santa. Tessa says that if we stay up and see him when his sled and reindeer land, maybe we can offer to help him deliver the rest of his bag of goodies. Cuz who wouldn’t want our help?

Next week, we’ll go to Disney on Ice, our annual outing, which always is amazing. (Though, full disclosure, we’ve been angling for another trip to Disneyland ever since we left. Maybe when Daddy’s home for good, we’ll get a housetruck and we’ll drive around and see all the United States. You never know. It could happen. Any-hoo, we aren’t sure what the rest of the year will bring, but we are stating clearly our intentions… Stay tuned.) Baby’s never been to Disney on Ice. He’s sure to love it.

December is sure to be full of tree decorating, menorah lighting, present opening and general joy and amusement. No complaints here.

The Pigs

OVERHEARD

“Delicious.”
–Baby, while eating a cookie

“No, Baby. You are a kid. Not a dog.”
–Emmett, telling Baby not to eat Isaac’s treats

“When I grow up, I’ll be president and I’ll be in charge of the whole world.”
–Tessa

“When I grow up, I’ll be president and I’ll make sure no one is a slave.”
–Riley

“Stuck! Stuck!”
–Baby, while pinned at the bottom of a Pig Pile

“When I grow up, I’m coming to your house to eat pizza with socks and shoes.”
–Tessa to Riley, cracking each other up

“When I grow up, I’m coming to your house to eat pizza with underwear.”
–Riley, in reply

“When I grow up, I’m going to go to the moon and you can stay here on Earth.”
–Emmett, catching the end of the conversation

“But, Mom, why is the world like that?”
–Tessa, wondering why it hurts when she brushes her hair

“Daddy, is there a park we can go to without bears?”
–Riley, when Daddy tried to get him excited to go to Rocky Mountain National Park by telling him it had bears and elk

“Mom, I’m worried that the Sun’s going to explode.”
–Tessa, after watching Cosmos (Emmett’s favorite show)

“That will be a billon years from now. You’ll be dead by then.”
–Emmett

“No, I’ve decided I’m not going to die.”
–Tessa

We are (sort of-kind of) moved into our Colorado house. The movers (kind of-sort of) brought our Washington things and we’ve (mostly, but not really) unpacked. The stuff we wanted most, we have. The things that we weren’t sure about, we can’t find. And the rest? Well, if we can’t remember it, it’s probably something we never needed to begin with. Right?

Birthday season is upon us. Riley’s birthday is Friday, and his party is on Saturday. Nothing too big. Just family and a few friends to help consume Star Wars-related baked goods. We’ve been busy Pigs lately, too, though. So the thought of birthday season is pleasant but not ever present.

A few weeks ago, we went to our first pumpkin patch of the season. We rode on a tractor through bee-u-tiful fall foliage. We launched gourds (or tennis balls meant to act like gourds). We roped some steers; jumped on a trampoline; and rode ponies. We got sunburned and slept well that night. Perfect end to a perfect autumn day in Colorado.

Last night we went to Glow at the Gardens, at the Denver Botanic Gardens. They had the place lit up with luminaria and jack-o-lanterns carved with the theme ‘dinosaurs’ in mind. We got dragons, flowers, and spider webs painted on our, and Asher (sans face paint) was a wild man all night. Running and stomping and yelling, he was every bit the cave dweller the big Pigs were a few years ago. We’ve never seen him so confident in wandering away from Mom or Dad before. Although it tired out Mom, who got a good work out trying to hold onto a small struggling man, maybe its not a bad thing?

We’ve been busy visiting all our old haunts, too. The Wildlife Experience is always exciting, what with Nemo and the hissing crocodile. The Museum of Nature and Science is always interesting, and its current installation about the Power of Poison did not fail to amaze. We also had our very first visit to the planetarium, watching a show about the solar system. We love the stars and planets. So it was wonderful.

Our new nanny, Miss Tiffany, has been wonderful as well. She helps Mom with everything while we do our best (kind of-sort of) to do school work. We are swimming again with our favorite Miss Darcy, and Miss Tiffany helps Mom corral us for that twice-a-week adventure. With her help, we’ve dived head first into seasonal arts and crafts too. We pressed sugar skulls and decorated them for the Day of the Dead. We’ve constructed (and consumed) chocolate haunted houses. We’ve busily collected pinecones and leaves, and we’ve made them into nests for area wildlife.

We’ve been keeping ourselves entertained, but starting tomorrow the universe will entertain us. (Right?) After Riley’s party, we are going to Boo at the Zoo with Daddy. Then, next week we clean up (candy wise) on Halloween. And right after that we begin to look toward that magical time of year known as Emmett-anukkah. (Emmett’s birthday often coincides with Hanukkah.) Which is, of course, immediately followed by Mom’s birthday/Christmas/New Year’s. Which is immediately followed by T-Bone’s birthday. (And Valentine’s Day and Daddy’s Birthday and…) All of it is, yay!

It all starts with Pie-pie’s birthday. Riley’s sure to bring home a good haul this weekend. Stay tuned and see what he pulls out of the gift bags…

Be well,
The Pigs