A Bissett Boys' Christmas

The boys were, of course, very excited to open their presents on Christmas morning. However, nobody woke up to do this until 8:15 am so Mom and Dad got a nice gift right from the start. Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas together and it was so much fun seeing our boys so excited about everything. They all agreed that it was well worth the wait.

The three boys with their Diego Rescue Packs full of great Lego pieces for making trucks, cars, planes, and submarines. They had all been wishing for propellers and wings to make their cool vehicles.

The big ones are always so exciting!

Caleb's big brothers help him open his new blocks. Baby Leopard will soon have an addition on his house.

The Bissett Boys on Christmas morning.

Checking out the stockings.

Dallin, hard at work building one of the amazing Lego hovercrafts he is famous for.

Caleb, playing with the new Lego crane and backhoe loader.

Official Hot Chocolate Tasters

On December 5th, we woke up to a huge blizzard and six-foot drifts. The boys decided that hot chocolate was the only remedy for being snowed in!

Taylor

Dallin: He's my big-time chocolate loving boy.

Caleb

Caleb is a big fan of marshmallows, even if he has to fish them out by hand.

A Home for Baby Leopard

Caleb has a little baby leopard toy that he likes to carry all over. The trouble is, it's a little bit too little and Caleb is always setting it down and forgetting where he left it. Thus, looking for Baby Leopard is an oft-repeated daily ritual. I wish I could stick some kind of GPS tracking device on him. Anyway, Caleb decided that Baby Leopard needed a home and so he set to work and built quite a magnificent block castle all by himself. Caleb pointed out to me that the yellow blocks inside the house made a "really fancy floor". Nothing but the best for Baby Leopard. Maybe he can live here now and won't go missing quite so often.

Ooooo Yes, It's Pajama Time!

We got out the new pajamas for the boys a little early this year, partly because Dallin and Caleb's are seasonal and so it's more fun to wear them leading up to Christmas. Wearing Santa jammies in March might not be quite as much fun. Also, Taylor is outgrowing all his pajamas like crazy, and so he really needed some that actually come down to his wrists and ankles! The boys were pretty thrilled with their pajamas and wanted to pose by the Christmas tree with them. They were pretty cute!

Group Brothers Hug!

Travis was pretty disappointed not to receive new pajamas too, but he put on a brave face for the camera. Looks like my shopping isn't done after all!

A Very Merry Bissett Christmas Album

Here is another in the Bissett Boys' series of holiday albums. Dallin once again brings home some great song selections from Preschool and has taught most of them to Caleb. Highlights in this video include Taylor in character as a shepherd (though he mostly succeeds in appearing to be Russian), Caleb as a "poor bee" (mostly because Dallin dressed up as a sheep for Taylor's performance), and the boys all displaying a complete disregard for the lyrics to "Jingle Bell Rock". Who knew that the phrase "miss all the fun" was in there? What's missing from the footage is the bee threatening to sting the sheep and the shepherd cheering the bee on. We hope you enjoy this little video from the Bissett Boys in the spirit of the season!

The Best Birthday of Dallin's Whole Life!

Dallin turned 5 years old today! The day began at 6:30 am, with Dallin appearing at our bedside and saying, in a very casual voice, "So, I just remembered that today is my birthday." And so it was. 

Dallin had a fun, happy day. We opened presents in the morning and then baked a volcano birthday cake. We had a visit at Great-Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house, and then received visits from Grandpa Smith (Grandma Smith was still away at a family wedding), Great-Grandpa Regehr, and Grandpa & Grandma Bissett. Dallin declared that it was "the best birthday of my entire life!" We're not too sure how many other birthdays he remembers so far, but it's good to know that they're getting better! Dallin is such a fun little character and we love him very much. We're so glad he's in our family.

Dallin, full of anticipation for present-opening!

A plush woolly mammoth that Dallin had long wished for, but hadn't actually ever seen anywhere. He was just sure his idea must exist somewhere, and it became his mother's job to find it (which I did!). He immediately named it Tuskers, a name he had picked out long ago.

This is a book all about prehistoric Sea Monsters and is based on Dallin's favourite National Geographic documentary. He learned about Tylosaurs from this show and has become fascinated with them. Another of his gifts was a small, plastic Tylosaur replica.

Our Little Wolf Pack

Taylor and Caleb received brother presents on Dallin's birthday so that they would all have matching wolf T-shirts and binoculars. The boys have decided that the binoculars provide "scent vision" for when they play wolf pack together. That is, the binoculars allow them to "see" smells, in order to locate prey, other pack members, and enemies. Daddy is usually the enemy bear and they all howl to warn each other when the bear is approaching. They play some variation of this great game almost every evening. Now we have "scent vision" to add to it!

The best part of making a birthday cake, is licking the bowl clean!

Messy Hands!

Mardi made a volcano cake for Dallin, since he has long been fascinated with mountains that spew fire. Daddy brought home some dry ice and we placed it in a hollowed out spot in the top in order to make the volcano smoke. It was such great fun!

I love the look on everyone's face here. As we added more dry ice, the whole table became covered in mist. Dallin and Taylor are just loving it, but Caleb looks as though he's a little nervous about it touching him! Dallin's new Tylosaur can be seen beside the volcano cake.

Caleb did get into the spirit of things as soon as he realized the dry ice didn't actually do any damage. We've never had so much fun with a birthday cake before! We spent a long time just playing with it! Easy to make, cheap, and a big hit.

We put several sparklers around the top to make an "eruption".

Blowing Out the Candles

Dallin, with a little toy fish aquarium from Grandpa and Grandma Bissett, and showing off those beautiful eyes.

Dallin's Great Skills

At the end of the summer, Dallin learned to ride his two-wheeler without any training wheels. He was very pleased with himself, and expresses himself quite well in this short video. We're sure you'll agree that this was indeed "the Bissetts' lucky day!" (But Mardi really hopes he's wrong about the African mission.)