April and Gordon's birthday

 Uncle Dan and Ben attended one of the first games of the Dodger's season. They have fun on these "day of the brother" events. 

 Gordon turned four, and asked for a donut cake. For dinner, he told me at first he wanted pineapple and beans, or some crazy combination like that. I opted for safety, and made pizza instead. 

 Gordon got Legos, among other things, and had fun getting a lot of help to put his trucks together. Legos have been the best toy investment of the last year for us. 

 In his "supersuit." Another birthday gift. He obviously still loves dress-up, and being a bit picky about his food. But he is by far the best eater at this age out of all my kids. He loves playing with friends, especially other boys. His favorite toys are Duplos, Legos, and the dirt. He likes his cars and trains too. 

 Spring break meant lots of time outside at parks or the beach. Jilly finally developed the arm strength to do monkey bars this spring. Kind of a funny picture though. ;)

 The tide was waaaay out this particular morning, it was fun to explore areas of the beach we don't typically get to see. 

Gordon and the little girl I used to babysit. She loved going to the beach. I loved Spring Break, it was so nice to get a break from the grind of a school schedule. 

Easter

I haven't updated for six months now. So, here we go. 

 Grandma Chickens sent sugar cookie bunnies with candy for the kids to decorate. Gordon did get some on his bunny, but was more content to munch instead of decorate. The girls went all out. They love doing crafts these days. 

 Jilly still loves her chickies, and she found one during the ward Easter egg hunt. 

 Some next-door neighbors had another hunt a few days later, and the kids cashed in on this one too. 

Gordon and a buddy playing "zombies." Gordon doesn't know anything about zombies, but was happy to play along. 

Gordon Stories

Gordon got a Jack Sparrow Christmas ornament from Grandma Chickens, and he doesn't want to hang it on the tree, "Because a big spider might get him!" Later on, Gordon reasons that Jack Sparrow can't be snatched by the spider, "Because he has a gun to shoot him and a sword to sword him!"

Gordon has a pair of shark-printed pajamas that he loves, and he knows that clothes get smaller as he grows. He figured out a solution: "Mom, do you have a magic wand?" Nope. Do you think we can use magic on your clothes? "Yeah! We can go to the fairy store and buy a magic wand to magic my clothes bigger! Mom, did you magic your clothes bigger?" No, I bought mine bigger. "Oh. I want my shark jammies to be bigger."

Waking up in the morning: "Mom! We get to have Christmas and Halloween again! Let's put our Halloween and Christmas decorations up, and then we can have Thanksgiving!" This is the order in which Christmas comes again in his mind.

Gordon's "When I'm growed up" stories, or "When I was a baby," stories. He talks about how I grew in his belly, how he grew in mine, and how we went to Disneyland and all sorts of crazy stuff. I love how his little brain is processing time and space.

Musical Musings

On the way to Church today we were listening to Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije Suite." The "Romance" movement came on and after listing to a few bars Gordon asked,"Moooom, is this the kind of music that plays when your puppy runs away?" We all had a good laugh and were impressed by the fact that the boy is already familiar with the tropes of western music. The girls proceeded to mention other sad events for which the music might be a fitting accompaniment.

When we pulled into the parking lot the "Troika" movement started and we listened to some of it before heading into the chapel. When Shaunie asked the kids, "What does this one sound like?" They all said, "CHRISTMAS!!!"