Goin' on a bear hunt

Daddy got a popgun for Christmas and the gun-safety lessons have already begun. They went on a bear hunt last night and here is a picture of their two trophies.

We have read Goin' On a Bear Hunt about a 100 times so he knew there would be tip-toeing and a cave involved.

I was not allowed to post a more serious pic where Scott wiped off the smile for a more gangsta-hunting-machine kind of look.

Joel is ready and so am I

He actually moves much, much more than this, but the unborn Joel Carver is an elusive subject.

Christmas Movie

a favorite family portrait

This is an original created by Makayla Huffman, age 4. She is quite an artiste.
Pictured left to right are Scott, Trevor, and Keri. You'll see Keri's belly is accurately portrayed at 8 months pregnancy.

Our kung fu kid likes his moccasins

Trevor ran around Christmas morning in brand new silks from our friends Chuck and Kate from Hong Kong and new moccasins from G.G. in Albuquerque. And he didn't even ask to wear his Boise State Bronco Shirt for the third day in a row. (He's no fair-weather fan.)

He also opened a new pair of Fox riding gloves... they are size Peewee---XXS and they are awesome!!

For mommy...

Here's what I found in my stocking. Ahhh... Just in time for the terrific 2's. We can never find these when we need them.
I love Scott's creative gift tags. I also love that they are for me and him.

Football Basics

When it's up to him, Trevor will give Daddy the small nerf football and take the official size football for himself.

A Daily Request: helmet, gloves, glasses

Developing their game

During Bible Study we often take turns watching the children. Soon after we started, we looked in the playroom and saw this lesson in progress. Don had the boys' full attention with poker chips and cards.

1-year-old generalizations

This morning Trevor walked out to tell me he's "flying a kite!" Apparently anything connected to a long string in your hand is a kite. In this case it was actually a cassette tape that had mysteriously become unwound.

Another generalization he has made is that people and animals don't just hide. They "hide in the bushes." Scott says this stems from some play time in the front yard.

Ever since we spent some time at the computer library playing with a kids' paint program and I told Trevor how to "paint red," he only paints red. "Painting red, mommy!"

He is getting so very talkative and conversational and we are even hearing some of his old mispronunciation habits die off. What used to be "murt" is randomly turning into "milk."

Baby Jesus needs a diaper change.

Last summer, I bought a nativity playset for the Christmas season. Today Trevor and I had fun putting it together. It's by the German company Playmobil and comes with many cute, tiny, easy-to-lose, easy-to-swallow pieces, therefore, we get to play with it together as well!
Trevor informed me that baby Jesus needed a diaper change. So I he took it to the nursery and I helped him put baby Jesus down for a change and then a full body cleaning.
With a little more practice and encouragement, maybe he'll be excited to change his little brother's diapers!

The first haircut

was badly needed. Trevor was beginning to look a little unloved. Mommy took off some length from the top and back with scissors and Daddy finished up with the shears. It went really well--especially after our fidgety client succombed to a cherry sucker.

He ate it!!!

It looks like the demand for a short-order cook in the Swan kitchen is waning. Hallelujah.

We had Waldorf salad the other night and I offered all of the same things in that salad on Trevor's plate but separately. So, he sat across the table from us and consumed romaine lettuce, carrots, apples, chicken and blue cheese dressing with crumbles! "Nummy, nummy."
I'm pretty impressed.

Today he ate a tiny tuna fish sandwich gladly and willingly for the first time, too.

Now, we don't even need him to sit in the high chair (and he prefers not to sit there) because he is so skilled with even the messiest of foods!

"Rodeo, Mommy!"

That is what I heard from Trevor the day after his Daddy encouraged him to "rodeo" off the table in the front room into the bean bag-- with demonstration and help with a spot. A rodeo is a snowboard trick when the rider is turning frontside 180 while completing an inverted 360 rotation.
Trevor has the enthusiasm down, but the technique has a long way to go. But he's not even 2 yet!! I'm pretty sure I'll have plenty of exciting, faith-building, sport spectating in my future. Along with an ER trip or two.

36 bags of leaves!

And Keri only had to fill a few!! We had tremendously gracious help from our friends the Cooneys for a bunch and then when the rest of the leaves fell, Scott had the opportunity to fill the rest of the bags. Last year the count was up to 24. So, our brown paper bag floweth over.
The bummer part of this is the hours of raking and stuffing bags isn't over until spring when the tree in the front finally loses its leaves. However, many of those leaves usually blow down the street a good distance.
As we watched our trees go bare this year, we discovered some of the secrets they had been hiding this summer. Early in the spring we were vexed by some squirrels who decided to chew up our favorite relaxation station in the backyard--- the hammock. Scott has renamed these big furry creatures "The Stealers of our Joy."
The squirrels had apparently been hiding away these hammock rope pieces in their tree nest. Their nest was a white stringy mess. It must have been very relaxing for them, too.
I bet they just hung out in there all summer long sipping ice tea, nibbling apple cores, planning new places to hide food, comparing the taste of our roof with candy, and planning races on our roof for the early morning. Ahhh the squirrels, those stealers of our joy....

Story time

Sometimes Trevor needs the reader's perspective. Luckily, Scott has read this enough times to know it by heart.
Sometimes we ask Trevor what else he sees in the illustrations. He said the mice were punching. Daddy clarified that they were dancing---but that punching is really close to dancing.

WWF with Charlie Brown

These boys know how to rock

Trevor and Jackson enjoyed the Harvest Festival Friday night. Here they are rockin' out to the music that was echoing off the cement floor (killing me.)

Modern Art interpretations

At the post office today Trevor said, "Mommy, bird." And pointed to Tweety on a big stamp poster. Then he pointed to Sylvester and said, "Wolf."

Then he identified the breast cancer lady as "Princess." This is the wonderful influence of his cousin Makayla. And, it makes a mammograms sound so much more royal.

Baby Brother

The name Joel is the name Elijah reversed ( or ) and means Yah Is El, or Yahweh is Elohim, or The Lord Is God. Both the elements in the name refer to God, therefore implying that Yahweh is the true God. However, in cognate languages this name exists as well, but means God is Willing.

Carver means wood carver. Or, in the mind of Scott Swan, a carver of a snowy mountainside:

Interview with a future big brother

Learning Toddler Boy-ese

As the mother of a 20 month old, it's easy to see how much we don't have to teach a boy about being a boy. I grew up in a house with two younger sisters and I am maybe now just appreciating the dynamics of what that was like for my dad!
For our son, there is nothing better than making crash noises with his cars, going fast, flipping, splashing, stomping, chasing, drumming hard and loud, and doing all of the above with sharp teethed sharks or dinosaurs. I asked him if he wanted to build a tower of blocks and he answered "Crash?" As if I had forgotten the most important part.
Tower (tou'ər) : A tall, slender structure that is delightful to destroy. (see video below)

You will only enjoy the clip below if your are Trevor's Grandpa or Grandma or Poppa....or, if you need a how-to video about relieving some stress.

huh?

There is no doubt who his Daddy is...
Sometimes Scott and I have really interesting conversations. We'll be sitting together and after some talking and then plenty of silence, Scott will often ask, "huh?" To which I answer... "ummm I didn't say anything at all."
This same exact event happened to me with Trevor!!! And when I told Scott about it he couldn't help laughing and relating with his son! Apparently, if I've been around that long I must have said something.

Some memorable girls!

I asked Trevor who his friends are.... and these two are never left out:

Hula Hooping on the Wii-- A spectator sport

My sister Wendi has the Wii fit game and we all enjoy making fools of ourselves on it.



Fortunately, I only have documentation of Scott and his hula hooping skills. Sometimes watching the player is as fun as playing.

A small warning

Wendi and I took a walk with the kids this morning on the greenbelt and Makayla gave us her interpretation of the sign post.
She said we need to "watch out for bug poop."

Babysitter Shenanigans

Here is our son. He is on his Auntie Jen's motorcycle. She sent this picture to me from her phone post-facto. Which is cool, as long as she teaches him the importance of wearing a helmet. (That's right Jen--- no more motorcycle shenanigans until we talk about helmets!)
I'm not sure I won't see a picture on my phone of Trevor trying on a parachute in the future.

Learning the A B C R's

Trevor has been catching on to the letters of the alphabet... just not in order, which is okay with us for now. I'm listening to him right now from the monitor sing the ABC song to himself and randomly switching to "I love Daddy" and "I love Chelsea" and "Yay, Dara" who we just saw this morning. The funniest thing he does before sleeping is make the snore sleeping sounds--- the sound effects I make when I pretend to go to sleep.

Good times in blue and orange

It is so much fun to be AT the game.... even if it is a blowout. The excitement that sooo many people can stir up is amazing! We were supposed to wear blue for our section, but my only blue shirt only goes to my belly button now.

Yay!

We spent a couple of days in McCall visiting "Poppa" and attending a wedding. While we were there we tested the new playground equipment at the new elementary school, spent time sliding down the stairs on our toosh and gazing at the now quiet Payette Lake from WhiteTail's restaurant patio.

We also went to a service at Our Savior Lutheran Church. Trevor had an enthusiastic and loud "Yaaaay!" for the end of every song. I think that's the kind of enthusiasm that is worship.

Poppa is a good stand-in reader for many books, including, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree which is quickly becoming as well-read as Sharks and Other Dangers of the Deep. You can see here, too, Trevor giving Poppa some soccer dribbling lessons.

Pregnant Posers

We decided it was necessary to capture this moment in time while all four of us are pregnant, showing, and ready to take on the new adventure.
Pictured from left to right...

Detective Miranda: baby girl delivered September 26th
Special Agent Shannon: baby girl due late October
Sharon, P.I.: baby boy due January 22nd
Resident Martial Arts Expert Keri: baby boy due January 17th

This second picture shows our respective forces in training.

Daddy's shoes

Thirsty Dog

A dog in our future may be inevitable. Swan family rule #43 is "No dogs until the boys know how to pick up the poop in the backyard and where to put it.

Hmmm.....

I have noticed that Trevor has categorized a lot of types of friends... I noticed he calls many little girls Holland (after the first sweet friend), many older women G.G. (after sharing some ice cream with his Great Grandma), many dogs "Solomon." There are more, and I didn't think about it much until he called a mannequin in the lingerie department "Mommy." Now at the time I was quite flattered since the mannequin was looking much more svelt than me in my pregnant state, and had on some cute Calvin Klein number. But then I realized that doesn't seem right. I don't walk around the house in lingerie!! These things are probably better left a mystery : )
His self-perception might be just as skewed (or he is quite the joker already). Yesterday we walked by the fridge where I have a this picture of him playing the piano with Holland. He pointed her out and said "Holland" then he pointed to the BSU football schedule with photos of players on it and said Trevor. I said "That's not Trevor, where's Trevor?" and gave him ample reach to point to himself in the picture, but again he pointed to #24 Tim Brady.

Our son, the skilled thespian

At the dinner table we have, by trial and error, found what works with Trevor. And he is also always experimenting what works with us.
On several occasions now we have asked him to eat a piece of his sausage or egg or meat so that we can give him the fruit that he wants. He has a way of putting the food he doesn't like into his mouth, taking a crumb of a bit and chewing it like it was much bigger. We both have to pay close attention to his trickery. I'm telling him to save those fake-outs for football.

We are having another BOY!

It's official. We have another son on the way and Trevor will have a little brother to run fast with, talk to, share his Cheerios with, tackle, pray with, and be great "punch-in-the-face-sometimes" friends.

Ice cream, you scream

Thankfully, Trevor has matured past the screaming for ice cream stage. He now employs a much more subtle tactic... the cute stare and patient "Please."

Cousins

Wendi and I were talking to each other in the front seat and when I noticed Makayla had turned her attention toward Trevor he was laughting hysterically. I asked her to tell the joke again so I could get that contagious noise recorded. AND I did NOT know the "joke" before I had started recording : )

Wawamen

When it comes to watermelon, the bigger the wedge and the fewer the clothes is best.

I call this picture...

Mommy is pregnant.

If you can't tell

This is the perfect boat picked out by Poppa. Here he is guiding a tour of the Payette Lake.

This is what happens now when I say "Smile"

Trevor is a pretty observant guy, so I'm starting to wonder if that's what we look like when we're cheesing it up for the camera.

My favorite pic of the summer...

Ahhh.. like father, like son. I think the hands behind the head gene is dominant. It's like Trevor can't help to do it.. he is just very very good at lounging or as Daddy puts it : "Maxin' and relaxin'. "

A good game

You don't really need a reason to send water balloons flying 350 ft. down the street with a slingshot, but I would recommend watching adult men get excited and belly laugh about it any time you can arrange it.

Grandma can play!

I love this picture. It reminds me how Grandma seems to have no shortage of energy when it comes to having fun with Trevor. Even over the phone, in-between visits, my mom's voice is overwhelmingly enthusiastic about what new grandchildren adventures are in store.

Wash your tots

Being a parent has so many priviledges.....this summer we got to hose down our son in the front yard. Trevor couldn't get enough of it! It was so much fun to watch him play and be such a good sport. I don't think this would be a welcome game with many adults or toddlers.

Today we played outside for awhile since it is soooo sunny. Actually, it wasn't because it was sunny. It was because it was soo whiny inside.