Snapshots: Taft and the Garbage Man

Taft loves the garbage truck and the garbage man. Every Tuesday and Friday morning when the truck comes, Taft runs outside and waves while shouting "Hi!" over and over again until he gets a wave back and even a few honks of the horn.

Taft decided a week or two ago that he wanted to do something for the man who drives the garbage truck. His original idea involved 3D printing an actual garbage truck he could fill with something. We worked it down to an ornament in a bag filled with candy. 

Taft drew the garbage truck and wrote "thanks" inside of it. He also drew himself on the back of the garbage truck and the garbage man is inside. He thought about it for 2-3 days before actually starting his drawing and he drew it 3 times before he got it just right. 

Tuesday morning was an exciting morning as we all waited for the garbage truck to come! He eventually did come and Taft was ready. Erik lifted him up and Taft handed the goodies to the garbage men (there are always 2)! Taft got lots of honks from the garbage man that day! Unfortunately it wasn't the normal guy, but Taft has already started printing more so he can give one to his normal friend!

 

Update: Kent

Kent is a little firecracker. He is vivacious, active and attentive to what is going on. He likes to be a part of the scene if more than one person is involved in anything. He catches on quickly to family activities, family chores, and anything that poses a potential benefit or reward. It makes him kind of messy and at times, confrontational, but he seems to enjoy all that he does!

He was more than happy to be a part of the painting afternoon this week. He had more paint on his body than on his paper. He had even dabbed his lips once with the dabber making them look very red right in the center!

Kent also has a funny assortment of his daily favorite he likes to take to bed with him. It usually involves his favorite car from the day. I don't know if they are very snuggly, but he doesn't seem to mind! He also loves having books in his bed. He lines them all up along one side, tucked in between the matress and the pack n play. When he is stalling to go to sleep, he pulls out book after book to be read to him while he stands attentively in his crib. His favorite is good night moon and he says, "ssshhhh" the whole time because of the "quiet old lady whispering hush".

Snapshots: Boys in the Bathroom

Joel is potty training. His greatest motivation to sit down and poop is to watch 2 minute Paw Patrol clips. He can watch one for sitting down and another one if he has success. All the boys take advantage of this time to catch a glimpse of Paw Patrol at least once a day!

 

Snapshots: Joel Sleeping

Joel is a true Nelsen. He likes to have his blankets spread over the top of him. Sometimes he asks me to spread them out and sometimes he does it himself.

 

Snapshots: Sibling Symbiosis

Our kids have a beautiful symbiotic relationship. They look out for each other, help each other, spend all day together, and live happily together. I hope their relationship will only grow and flourish from here and that they will always enjoy the love and comradery that they enjoy now.

Taft earned enough money to by a garbage truck - which if you have video chatted with him in the last month he has told you about. He finally got it and they all put it together. We ordered it the day after he paid his tithing on Amazon and the price had dropped $5! 

These two sat outside with me during a baptism following church on Sunday. They ran around the grass. Kent started yelling "Joe(l)! Joe(l)!" in their play. They are silly and have fun together.

Boy Bathtime with Bubbles! These 3 are crazy in the bathtub. More water is usually on the floor when they are done and it is often a very loud time as they all try to claim their space in the small tub.

The library had a take home craft the week of Halloween. It was a little cat luminary. Alyssa helped everyone make theirs. Having Alyssa home all the time is a game changer around her. I was not brave enough to take her out of school just because homeschool sounded great, so I am grateful for this excuse of the pandemic that I had to start homeschooling. She is so much happier being home and I think she and the boys get along better because she is always here. 

(Christina, you're right. Homeschooling is the celestial kingdom on earth.)

One afternoon when I pried my eyes open after a nap, this is what I found:

And a couple of other photos for good measure...

We make pizza often. This pizza had a GIANT bubble in it and it was super delish!

Kent is funny. He likes to put things on his head. On this particular day he found the panda headphones. Doesn't he look great?!

And on this day, Erik dressed him in Native American headwear and a Peruvian sweater as we were having a Pow Wow to celebrate the end of our Native American studies and Alyssa's Native American project.

 

Halloween Costumes - 2020

 

This year we had a variety of costumes!

May I present

The Dragon:

The Dinosaur

Hiccup, the dragon trainer, from How to Train a Dragon

The pioneer and the Nephite Warrior (Kirsten)

Joel wanted to be everything: a sheep, a ghost, a pumpkin, a dinosaur, a robot, a unicorn. We settled on the dragon because I had blue felt on hand. Taft was concerned no one would know who he was, but actually quite a few people did know who he was! He had Toothless with him, which helped.

Our Halloween was simple and just about perfect. We decorated sugar cookies with some friends on Friday evening, which is quintessential Halloween in my book. We had a nice Saturday. The apartment staff dropped off mini pumpkins, paint, and candy so the kids had fun painting more pumpkins. And then we went to a reverse trunk or treat at the church in the late afternoon. We ended the day with a movie. We did enough to celebrate but it was enjoyable!

Aren't they cute?