Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Haircuts and Wagon Rides

My boys don't like haircuts. Taylor bears with them very well now, but the younger two make no secret of the fact that they don't appreciate my work. Since I really don't have much idea about what I'm doing when I cut it, they're basically my guinea pigs as I attempt to save a few bucks.
Ha! I love this face. Caleb was not happy when it was his turn and I couldn't resist a picture of his little depressed state. It looks like life has dealt him a terrible blow.

The "after" shot! Caleb is really happy now because I had just announced that he was all done.

It didn't occur to me to take Dallin's "before" photo, since I cut his hair first. However, he wanted his "after" shot taken in order to practise his smile for his school pictures tomorrow.

The boys love wagon rides, courtesy of Daddy. He runs all over with them at high speeds, over bumps and hills and straight into the pile of gravel in front of our house. The boys shriek with laughter and love every minute of it.

Three Boys in a Wagon
We're amazed that they actually all fit.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Corn Maze (or should it be Maize?)

September 16, 2009
We picked Travis up at work and headed out to the Lethbridge Corn Maze this evening. The boys were anxious to "get lost and never find our way out!" as Dallin put it. We did the trivia maze first. Various directions were given for getting through the maze depending on which answer was selected. The correct answers got you correct directions, but wrong answers led you down the wrong path. We're proud to report that we aced "Bible Trivia" and therefore didn't get lost and made it out before the sun went down,  much to Dallin's disappointment. The boys also enjoyed visiting with the animals which were on the same farm as the maze.

Three boys, trailing after their Daddy in the corn maze.

Caleb was exciting to discover the fourth signpost in the trivia maze. Really excited.

Mardi and Caleb, in the corn maze.

Dallin, playing jungle explorer in the maze.

Caleb, playing peek-a-boo with a cob of corn.

Three Bissett Boys in the Corn

Caleb finds a piece of real corn!

Mardi and Taylor: We made it to the tower in the centre of the maze and climbed up to see the view.

Travis and Mardi: We call this "Self-Portrait with Corn".

Dallin, visiting with the donkeys on the farm. The light grey one was immediately christened "Eeyore". Caleb was hunting for thistles for him to eat, because everyone knows that's what Eeyore likes best.

The little pony on the farm was a big favourite with all three boys.

Mardi's Birthday

September 14, 2009
I just had my 31st birthday, and my boys certainly spoiled me. Travis surprised me by staying home from work for the whole day, which has always been a kind of dream of mine. We had such a nice day at home together with our boys. Travis also baked an angel food cake so we could have my favourite dessert - strawberry shortcake. The fancy cake decor also comes courtesy of my husband's great mind. Who would have though you could use a single candle for a number one?
The little boys planned a great party for me. Dallin told me that, "since you're a girl, you might not like playing Pin the Tail on the T-Rex with us boys." So, they courteously arranged a game of Pin the Tail on Hello Kitty for us to play instead. It's nice to know they can cater to the lone female in their house once in awhile.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

First Day of School


Taylor started Grade 2 at Raymond Elementary School on August 31st. His teacher is Mrs. Firth. He has always loved school and, so far, this year is no exception. Also, Taylor has some new glasses! We think they look very cute with his dark brown eyes and hair. Taylor took a few days to get used to them and was disgruntled at first that we couldn't find bright yellow glasses, but he seems to like them just fine now and admits that he can see the blackboard at school better than he could before.

Four-year-old Dallin went to his first day of Preschool on September 9th. His teacher is Peggy May, who also taught Travis when he was in Preschool! Dallin absolutely loved his first day of school and was dismayed to hear that he only gets to go two afternoons a week.

Caleb wanted to be part of the school pictures too. When he saw how fun Dallin's classroom looked, he would have been happy to stay too, but since Dallin strolled in so confidently, Mom was glad she had a little boy to take home with her.

Dallin told Mom after his first day that "the classroom is just beautiful." His teacher liked that. It must be nice to have someone notice the work that goes into the decor!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

A Look at Our Boys

Since this blog is about our family, especially our boys, we begin with a brief look at what we look like these days, especially for all of you that we do not see often.

Taylor, Dallin, and Caleb, sitting on the canister of the vacuum cleaner and expecting me to pull them along. If anyone ever wonders why vacuuming can be a challenge for a mother, this is why.

Mardi and her boys at the Cardston Alberta Temple. This is pretty classic. Dallin, rather ticked, with the ever-present Cat, Caleb (with Wolf), wanting to be set free so he can go look for bees in the flowers, and Taylor, the only one not requiring restraint. I'm pretty proud of my handsome little guys, though. (Incidentally, Dallin thinks this picture is hilarious and laughs like crazy at himself.)

A common scene. The boys love to play dinosaurs all together. It mostly consists of making their toys stomp, growl, and, of course, bite. The stories usually end with Dallin declaring, "And the dinosaur fell in a puddle of blood! Dallin's big green T-Rex is named Terrence. A good family name.

A favourite pastime of the boys. We're working on landscaping but still have all our lovely dirt. The boys love to add water and mix, thereby creating rivers and lakes and getting very dirty in the process.

Caleb and his Crayons
(Note: Caleb and his crayons require close supervision. He thought it was fun to write on all the family room walls with ink one day. I think I've only just finally got it all off.)

Reading books with Daddy.

Daddy and Caleb fixed the bread machine! They were very proud.

Three boys in matching shirts from Grandma Bissett. They all love stripes!

The boys all think it's really funny to race towards the camera as fast as they can while I'm trying to take their picture. They insist on looking at the picture afterwards and laugh themselves sick over it.

Travis and Mardi at the Cardston Alberta Temple on my cousin, Jen's, wedding day.

We were married here more than 10.5 years ago. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Lousy GeoCities

Here we are on the inaugural posting of the newest Bissett Family blog. We had a family website which we were perfectly happy with, but, lousy old Yahoo decided that as of October 26th, it would shut down its GeoCities Web hosting service and hence, our little website would be no more. This was rather sad since we've had it going since 2003 when we moved to Ottawa for law school, and I put quite a bit of time into figuring things out. I realize that the whole format was starting to look like a dinosaur and navigation wasn't too slick, but it suited our purposes just fine. Anyway, we've been forced to get with the times and upgrade to this newer, fancier blogging format, so I hope that all who are interested will enjoy visiting and keeping up with the doings of our little family.