Junie's birthday, Aviation Fair, and other sundries

Shall we talk about Gus-Gus? Sweetest little Gus got an idea in his head to draw a picture of a dinosaur, and then give it "the worker at the dinosaur museum." I didn't know if he had a specific worker in mind or what had given him this thought. But he was insistent. Luckily, when we brought in the picture, the museum workers were very nice and Gus and Ziggy ended up talking to one of them about dinosaurs, fossils, amber, and all sorts of interesting things for over an hour! And he put Gus's picture up on the wall.

It was this guy with the beautiful hair that talked to my boys so nicely :)

Here is another of Gus's creations: a bat. ?? He remembered from way back a couple years ago that you can cut bats from a folded paper, and he was determined to do it! It looks somewhat turtle-like, but it's cute!

For Family Home Evening, Sam had the children make lists of qualities they wanted to find in their future spouses. ("Wait," said Malachi skeptically. "You aren't going to have us do this and then say 'these are the qualities you should be developing yourselves' are you?" "I am," said Sam.)

I had the privilege of helping Gus write his list. The first couple questions were prompted by Sam's suggestions… "Do you want your wife to be really driven and goal-focused, or someone more okay with whatever? Do you want her to be a hard worker, or not?" Gus opted for the easier-going type. Then he listed his other wishes: she should like to cook, like to eat, and be pretty (not surprising—he has always preferred pretty girls. Ziggy said once, out of nowhere, "I don't like girls that try too hard to be pretty." Gus replied calmly, "I do.") 

Furthermore, he wants her to be named Gussy, have red hair, want to have babies, be able to ride a bike, and to sing songs to their babies. Anyone have any candidates for him to consider? It doesn't seem too early to arrange a match. (Since her name appears to be the limiting factor here, maybe we could have someone christened "Gussy" at a later date, like the men in "The Importance of Being Earnest." That would widen the field a bit.)

Gus and Clemmie are being missionaries here

Gus and Clementine play together a lot these days and it's the cutest thing in the world to hear him wisely explaining life to her. The very definition of the blind leading the blind! It reminds me so much of little Malachi and little Daisy, and they really are almost exactly analogous in age—Malachi and Gus born in December and Daisy and Clementine born in August twenty months later.

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Some "field trip" pictures. These are from a couple of the days we went to see the baby bunnies (I know I already posted lots of pictures!). There were three different litters of babies at different times, so we got to see them in all stages and they were SO cute! We kept wondering what Nutmeg would do if we brought home a little baby bunny to live with him. Would he like it? Hate it? We don't know!

I love the way they just pile themselves on top of each other with no regard for which is which

And they don't bother going in places where they fit. They go just as happily where they don't fit!

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This is to document the sad demise of my favorite measuring spoon. I have owned several of these spoons, but they've stopped selling them now—I even emailed the manufacturers, who confirmed they no longer make them. The great thing about these spoons is that they flip inside out to become the half measurement, which marvel of engineering amazes me. How did they make it so the inside-out shape was exactly half of the right-side out shape?? It boggles the mind. So there is the tablespoon on one side, which you flip inside out to become a half-tablespoon (such a useful measurement and so much easier than doing 1 ½ teaspoons)—and the other end of the handle has a teaspoon and half-teaspoon. I love it SO much and I am always annoyed when it's dirty and I have to use an inferior set of measuring spoons. These do eventually seem to break in this spot, which I guess makes sense given that the plastic is getting bent back and forth so often. (Like metal fatigue…is there such thing as plastic fatigue?) I bought several when I realized how much I liked them and now the last one is finally broken. Weep for me! (But perhaps they will be brought back during the millennium?)

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Up by the airport Seb has discovered a little burrowing owl that lives in an irrigation pipe. They are quite friends by now, because Seb likes to go to that spot and watch planes. Burrowing owls are the smallest owls, and I knew they lived in Utah, but I didn't think I'd ever get to see one! They are SO cute! Seb took me by so I could see this guy, and I was so happy.

Whether he was happy to see me is a different question…

Seb has been able to get much closer to him, but I was glad to see him at all. He's such a cute tiny owl!

We saw the owl on our way up to the airport for an "Aviation Fair" where they put out some of the little planes and have tables telling about a bunch of the airport jobs. Seb wanted to show all his little siblings where he works. They loved it so much! Here is Gus sitting in the de-icing truck, just like the one Sebastian worked in last winter! This little cab goes up forty feet high to spray the planes with de-icing fluid!

In the big KC-135, the refueling plane for air force planes.

The boys got to crawl down into the turret and see where the boom comes out to do the refueling!

Here you can see the boom from the outside

Such a cool big plane!

There were lots of other little planes and helicopters for the kids to sit in.

Ziggy was very excited to see the "Panthers," the airport fire trucks. They're huge! He had a good long talk with the fireman who drives this truck, and it ended with the man saying to Zig, "Okay, see you in eleven years!" Sounds like a good plan.

This is one of the huge plows that remove snow from the airport runways.

So big!!

And here's one last picture that Seb took of Junie and Teddy when he took them planespotting on another evening. He loves to share his interests with his siblings, and I love him for it!

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Junie's birthday (age 14!) was the day after Easter. We went swimming at the rec center for her birthday activity, and the girls were a little sad because their hair was still all wavy from the ringlets they had on Easter. I took a picture to document said wavy hair. (Goodness! Junie is so tall! Did I tell you she has passed me up in height now? I try to pretend otherwise, but it's getting more and more obvious! 😡 Young whippersnapper!)

We had the best homemade ramen for her birthday dinner. Especially after swimming, it was so delicious!

Cutest picture of a tall pig, drawn for Junie by Gus

She chose milkshakes for her dessert, which are tricky things to put a candle into, but we managed!

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Aha. Here is the ocular proof of Junie's height. You see we have appropriately serious faces, as the sombre occasion warrants.

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As I've said many times, Clementine is so much like Daisy in her love for matching things. I'm always coming across little collections of things she has gathered and lined up because they match.

Sometimes this is very cute.

Other times it's just…a little weird.

Here is Clementine exuberantly chasing a balloon…

…and exuberantly waving goodbye…

…and exuberantly doing who knows what! Scary wild eyes!

Holding Sharky

And…smiling at her bread? I don't know exactly why I took this picture. Probably she just asked me to, as she does from time to time.

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Oh, more bunnies! I won't apologize.

The kids love this "roller slide" at the Thanksgiving Point farm. It makes a funny noise when you roll down it, so they laugh hysterically as they go.

Holding hands again on the carousel :)

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Wondering if Ziggy is still interested in "langwijis"? Yes. He is. He found this instruction manual for some bluetooth speaker, which is written in many different languages, and adopted it as his own little book. He pores over it, copying pages of characters and labeling his favorites.

I think this is Hebrew? (Is that a still a spoken language, or is it called Israeli or something? He would ashamed of me for not knowing this.)

And this is "Caw Language," a language he made up for Gus

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I can't even pretend to find a common thread between these few pictures…this is a breakfast we call "Puff." It's basically German Pancakes, but with cheese and ham in it.

Daisy looking cute

Daisy and Goldie being silly

Playing in the field for Family Home Evening

The temple at my favorite time of year

Everyone running up the hill to see some plane or other

Making Globe Theater models during our Shakespeare Unit

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Beautiful sunset with flowering pear blossoms. I love it when all these trees are in bloom!

I do love Spring! And now it's practically Summer!