Father's Day

This year for Mother's Day Eden's daycare provider helped her make a fun little present for me.  She asked Eden a bunch of questions about me and wrote down whatever Eden said.  It went like this (Eden's responses are in red):

1.  My mom is 1 years old.
2.  My mom weighs 4 pounds.
3.  My mom's favorite color is yellow.
4.  My mom cooks the best chicken.
5.  My mom's job is school stuff.
6.  My mom and I like to play games.
7.  My mom really loves me.
8.  I LOVE my mom because I love her so much.

I loved it!  So I decided to do something similar for Father's Day, but this time did it with both Z and Eden.  Here's the list of questions and their answers (which they gave separately):

1.  What is Daddy’s name?

Eden:  Daddy

Z:  Nathan and Daddy

2.  What does Daddy do for fun?

Eden:  Play with  me.

Z:  He does nothing for fun because he’s a grown-up.  And he goes bowling.

3.  What does Daddy do at work?

Eden:  He does stuff.

Z:  Works in a classroom. 

4.  What are his favorite things to eat?

Eden:  Chicken!

Z:  Pork

5.  What does he like to drink?

Eden:  Water!

Z:  Whisky

6.  How old is Daddy?

Eden:  28

Z:  36

7.  How tall is Daddy?

Eden:  Like a monster.

Z:  6 feet 3 inches  (This is actually exactly right.)

8.  How much does Daddy weigh?

Eden:  28 pounds

Z:  950 pounds  (This is not exactly right.)

9.  What makes Daddy the best daddy?

Eden:  Daddy baddy.  Because he’s my friend.  Because he’s my daddy.

Z:  He wrestles with me.

10.  What is your favorite thing about Daddy?

Eden:  Playing puzzles and playing games.

Z:  That he’s not 24.

11.  How long have you known Daddy?

Eden:  Like three times.

Z:  For 6 years

12.  When did you meet Daddy?

Eden:  When I growed up to be a big girl.

Z:  On the day of my birth

We Love Summer

We had a warm day (finally!) so we got out the sprinkler and put on the swimsuits.  Z and Eden decided that adding a little mud into the mix would be fun.

A Fork in the Road

So this post has been a long time coming!  Last January I taught a class on theology and Harry Potter.  We all had a great time and at the end of the month the students asked if they could do a musical final.  I love a good musical final, so of course said yes!  I managed to get pieces of it on video, so here they are:

The whole gang.  You can see the resurrection stone right there in the middle of the front row being held by Harry himself.  The students gave it to me at the end of the class.  Awesome!

Conversations

Today I had this conversation with Eden:


Eden:  Daddy is a person.

Me:  Yes, he is.

Eden:  But you're not a person.

Me:  I'm not?!  What am I?

Eden:  Umm. . . you're a mom.

From the Past

Nathan found these videos today, so they must go on the blog.  They're from September, 2012.  Eden was one and a half and Z was just five.  It seems like a long time ago and like just a moment has passed.

Lee came for a visit that fall:

A family dinner:

Showing off their dance moves:

General craziness:

Bath time:

And the apple orchard, a fall favorite:

The Black Hills + Spring Weather = Happy Family

We stayed one night in Hot Springs, which has the loveliest stream running through it.  Because the steam's source is a hot spring, the water is comfortably warm rather than icy cold.

Z found a crab claw, which he was very proud of.  And, if you look closely, you can see a "Z" in the red rocks behind him, just above his head.

Z and I making crab claws after wading in the stream.

Eden was not quite so eager to go in the stream.

Z clearly could not get enough!

And Eden finally decided to try again when she was how much fun Z and I were having.  This time she liked it!

The next day we discovered Cascade Falls, also fed by a hot spring.  

You can see behind Z is a man made pool.  In the 1890s it became popular for Easterners to come take the hot baths in South Dakota.

Another pool at the bottom of a little waterfall.

Eden wanted to collect everything she saw.  Several times she told me, "Mama, I'm a collector!"

An old house, probably built in the late 19th century, but it looks like someone is still living there.

Z hiking near a cool red rock formation.

Enjoying the view.

Daddy and Eden.

Is there any greater pleasure of childhood than throwing rocks over a cliff?

Can anyone identify these tracks?

Squeeze in, family!

Echo

We were in the Black Hills this weekend and I caught this little exchange on video: