Mmm...

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but here is Elliot chomping on a piece of dried octopus he picked up in Chinatown with Ben and Aaron last week. After reading about China in the National Geographic, Aaron wanted to go there. Luckilly, we are a subway ride away from one of the world's largest Chinese populations outside of Asia. So they went, they ate dried fish, and they came back in time for school.

Elliot "Reading" The Napping House

The Napping House is Elliot's favorite book. (For those of you who don't know the story, it's about a "napping house, where everyone is sleeping." The granny is sleeping on the bed, then the child comes and sleeps on top of her, then a sleeping dog, cat, and mouse each pile on until a wakeful flea comes and wakes up the mouse, who scares the cat, who claws the dog, etc, until they're all awake.) Elliot thinks it's just hilarious, especially the suspenseful part where the flea is on the cat but hasn't woken him up yet. Then he acts out the animals waking up, and the contortions that the child does as he's flying in the air. It's pretty hilarious.

This morning, Aaron said, "Mom, I want to marry a little girl who comes out of your tummy because I don't want to be in any other family. I just want to be in our family."

It turns out our video camera doesn't work well in mediocre light conditions. It would have been better to drag in another light to take this video but oh well. Here it is anyway. Elliot showing off his skills. He got really into the idea of taking a video of him doing cute stuff-- you can tell by the way he is sitting at the beginning of the video that he knows perfectly well what he is doing.

Elliot video from the end of February

Before I started taking this video, when blocks would fall I would say, "Bonk." I like his version when the blocks fall down. Sounds more like a burp. Also, if you listen closely at the very end (right after he puts the orange block on) he does his very best to say "yay Elliot!" (because that's what I had been saying) but it sounds more like, "yaaeeet."

Today Aaron was burbling Elliot (who was laughing hysterically) then he said, "Hehe, Elliot is so burblish!"

Consequence

Aaron did something he wasn't supposed to do the other day so we told him we were going to have to figure out a consequence for his actions. He looked at us with a sour face, lips pursed, nose crinkled, and said, "I'll just take your consequence and turn it into a party!"

Then, for emphasis, he spelled it out, "P-O-P, Party!"

A story by Aaron

Aaron woke up this morning and decided he wanted to make a book for his friend Julia (her birthday is coming up). So I sat down with him and wrote out what he wanted. He drew a few pictures, but the storyline is really the best part. Here it is, almost completely verbatim (it's hard to write as fast as an excited four-year-old can talk). There is all kinds of commentary I could provide about the origins of certain story lines and such, but I'll just let the story stand on its own. I will tell you, though, that "wildschwein" means "warthog" in German.

A little girl had to go to boarding school. She lives in South America and the boarding school is in Africa. There weren't any boats or airplanes so they had to take a whale.

Everyday her mom came and picked her up because everyday all the moms came to get the kids. That was the rule, because all the kids were sad and crying.

(This is a picture of all the mommies and kids on the whale.)

But the whale just knocked them off! They found a barracuda but the barracuda knocked them off but they needed to go on the barracuda but he didn't want them to so the daddies started a war in the ocean. The end.

This next book is about when they go on an adventure. They live in a forest because their house got knocked down and there wasn't any construction workers.

They got their backpacks and put their bows and arrows inside the backpacks so they could hunt. But they also needed drinks but they only had juice and water. They kept them fresh by making a freezer out of metal and an engine. Then they put ice and the little freezer in the backpack.

They packed their food and drinks to go on an adventure. Then they ate their food, then they saved some. They got to the mountains and they couldn't find a real campsite so they made one. The only people there on the mountain was them.

Then they builded the campsite and the daddy (he didn't die in the ocean, he got out) went and hunted three wildschwein. So they made a fire and put the wildschwein on a stick and put it on the fire. Then they ate the wildschwein then they built their toilets and made their mattresses out of sticks and blankets and pillows then they fell asleep but every night the kid tiptoed to the bathroom so he could go pooh in the toilet.

Then the little girl went back to boarding school. Then they moved from boarding school to the forest.

Family!

Over my spring break, my sister Krista came to visit us in New York with her husband and two kids. Throughout the course of the time they were here, Kori and Tony came down a few times as well. Kerrylin and Matt were also here for a few days in there, so basically it was a major party. On Easter night, we had six of us siblings all together here with our significant others and kids-- Kori, Kami, Ben, Krista, Kourtney, Kerrylin, and all our appendages.


Five of the six cousins (we missed you Tucker!) on Easter-- Elliot, Eve, Aaron, Tony, and Gabriel

Elliot and Eve, almost exactly one year apart

Reading stories at bedtime (The book we're reading, called The Napping House, is Elliot's favorite book. Sometime I hope to put a video up of him narrating it. It's pretty hilarious.)

Playing with the Thomas tracks during a trip to Toys R Us

Aaron and Evie. Aaron has always been cute with babies, and maintained his reputation with little Evie. He would sit with her for periods of time, talking to her and snuggling with her.

Aaron also took it upon himself to help Gabe eat dinner. Several times he made little creations and fed them to Gabe, who was surprisingly receptive. And of course Elliot had to get in on the action, too.

Evie and Aunt Bonis

Kami, Kourtney, Matt, and Kerrylin on the Brooklyn Bridge.
We walked across one night and had pizza at Grimaldi's on the Brooklyn side. Best pizza in the world. Or, at least, as far as I've ever tasted.

Natural History Museum

On Tuesday, Kerrylin and Matt joined us for a trip to the American Museum of Natural History


Sitting in a giant clam shell

Elliot certainly could not get enough of the "wow"s this trip. Here he is with Uncle Matt, wow-ing at some monkeys.

Aaron, Elliot, and Matt checking out the elephants

Elliot was just so hilarious at the museum. He just walked around, stopping to point at everything and yell, "Wow-how-how-how!!!" He's been saying wow for about six months now (it was one of his first words) but it just keeps getting longer and louder. I kept following following him around trying to get a video of an extravagant wow but it was really difficult because it's really a hit and run thing. But this is the best I got, which wasn't nearly as extensive as many other whoas, and it's in a dark room-- sorry.

Bronx Zoo

On Wednesday afternoon we headed up to the Bronx Zoo


Lots of walking; it's a huge zoo.
(from right to left, that's Aaron, Kourtney, Krista, and Kerrylin, with Krista's baby Eve in the stroller)

Cousins Gabe, Aaron, Elliot

Chris and Gabe popping out of a prairie dog hole

A mama wallaby with her baby in pouch. A highlight of the trip!

Sliding down the slide tree

Checking out the fennec foxes, with very large ears

What would it be like to hear like a fennec fox?
Kerrylin kept saying, "Not so loud!"

Aaron and Elliot feeding a goat

Road Trip

We took a trip with the Wellses up to Palmyra, New York to see some historically important places for our church. We rented a van and drove north five hours or so, saw some sites, then drove back the next day.


The beginning of the trip (still smiling... poor, unsuspecting souls)

At our first stop in Palmyra (the "Hill Cumorah," where Joseph Smith found the golden plates that were buried in the ground, which he later translated into the Book of Mormon), Aaron was excited to find a huge pile of snow to climb on.

Climbing up the hill (wearing my jacket)

Elliot's typical "Wow!" directed this time at the angel at the top of the statue

Cousins Gabe and Elliot sitting on the statue

Sisters!

All of us inside on of the Smith's old homes (over 80% original material). The babies were all sleeping, and Aaron was trying to join them

Spotting this was one of my favorite moments of the trip. A vending machine stocked with live bait! What more coul

On the way home, we dropped off the Wellses at Kori and Tony's and stopped in for dinner.

Elliot enjoying a smoothie or two

Aaron trying to make words on the refrigerator. Despite my attempts to get him to write short, three-letter words with a vowel in the middle (in order to help him get closer to spelling actual words, which he would really like to do in theory) he is much more interested in very long ones. I think he's always trying to stump us. "I bet you can't read this word!" Then we sound it out and he laughs. But after awhile he gets frustrated because he never produces real words.

Ben's pinewood derby car, which exceeds the weight limit by at least a pound. But it looks cool.

Legos!

4 year-old ferocious "booey" (I have no idea what that means, but Aaron insisted I write it as a caption to this photo.)

Two pretend people (with detailed left hands)