Cross the Street 5 times One way

Today on our walk to school to pick up Jongr, Jontu asked me how many times we have to cross the street before we get to Jongr's school. So we counted, it is no less than 5 times. That adds up to 10 times for a round trip and since Jontu, Jonev, and I walk that route roundtrip 2 times a day, it equals 20. That would make a good math story problem. LOL!

Today we also went and read a story in Jongr's classroom. We took Pirates Don't Change Diapers to read today, since it is National Talk Like a Pirate Day this Saturday. We didn't walk this time though, we drove or else the math problem could have read; If Jonsu and Jontu have to cross the street 5 times to get to the school, how many times did they cross the street today if they walked to the school and back 3 times? Anyone that is looking for a good story problem for their kids? Maybe we could come up with a few more.

Snapping Turtles

This summer when we have been feeding the turtles on our walks we have been seeing a snapping turtle. The boys really enjoy watching it and trying to feed it more than the other 30 or so turtles that we feed each day. It is pretty cool to watch how it eats compared to the other turtles, I am sure glad that there is about 8 ft between us and the turtles so that I don't have to worry about anyones fingers getting bitten.

Monday when we went to go feed the turtles there were 2 other snapping turtles hanging out with the others. The boys were so excited to see so many in one place and couldn't wait to tell dad when he came home from work.

Wednesday we decided to walk like we were going to school and not feed the turtles, however we did see another snapping turtle when we crossed the bridge on the way to school. We rarely see turtles there, but there is was a huge snapping turtle. What fun!

Our walk to school

This is Jontu and Jonev in front of our house getting ready to get Jongr from the last day of school for this school year. It is a pretty typical day, Jontu has his stick (one that he has had in his collection since sometime around January I think) and Jonev is ready to see the world from the seat of the strolley.

Along the way we generally encounter at least 2 obstacles of some sort or another blocking the sidewalk. I really don't like this aspect of our neighborhood. Most people use their garage as a basement since we can't have basements here. For our northern friends and family try to imagine where you would put all of the stuff that is in your basements if you didn't have it anymore. However it is really annoying to try to maneuver about 80 lbs of boys and stroller around said obstacles and not roll into the street.
This is one of the many reasons why we do walk though. We get to enjoy so many beautiful plants and flowers as the seasons change. This is a lovely Crape Myrtle tree, it is almost as pretty as the lilac bushes, but doesn't have a fragrance at all. They can be purple like this beautiful one, pink, or white and so many people have them. I don't remember them blooming last year, probably because we weren't out of the house much since Jonev was just a new little baby. They sure made me smile this year though.
This is a view of the bayou that we walk along for a little while, we often see turtles, frogs, snakes, fish, egrets of all varieties, cranes, and even the occasional bird of prey (hawks or falcons) swoop in and pick up a fish out of the water. To me it is a small reminder of the country life I enjoyed growing up in so much. I am thankful for our own little preserve. You will notice the big white objects in the picture, it is the water treatment plant for our neighborhood. It is right by Grant's school and it doesn't always smell the best, sometimes we hurry through this little park a little faster than other times.
This is MonNa (her Jedi name this is not the best picture of her, we were trying to hurry), she lives near us and we walk home with her part of the way. We have enjoyed planting seed pods, racing across the park, watching the animals in the bayou and talking on the way home this past year. You can see the front entrance of Jongr's school behind them. A pretty normal looking elementary school building.

What Fun!

Jonev has been walking along the walls, furniture and anything else that he can grab onto. He has even been walking between things that are a few steps apart, well on Monday afternoon when he woke up from his nap, he decided that he was ready to leave the furniture and walls alone and walk on his own! No looking back now. He is so happy to be walking like everyone else in the family and wants us to take notice of him. He starts walking and then looks at us to make sure that we are watching him. He is so cute so of course we are watching. Silly boy! Here is a picture of him with a little love from AZ on (sorry it is a little blurry). His cute Alligator(because there are alligators in TX) robeez from Grandma Judy and Shauna and a cute outfit from Misha, THANK YOU! If you want to know about his hair, we don't cut it until they are one year old, it is getting really long on the sides though. Alas his 1st birthday is coming in just a few short weeks and so he will be looking like a little boy soon.

This week the boys and Paul decided to build some scripture stories out of lego's, here is one of the results. This was the first one that they did on Sunday night and there have been others this week, they have had so much fun. They also discovered that there are lots of other people on the internet that have also done the same as them. You should google it to see some of the pictures and videos (stop motion) that have been done. Keep on with the Lego building everyone. Jontu and I also built a giraffe and gorilla's and sheep and made a zoo on the kitchen floor out of Lego's is was so much fun. His lego building skills are really amazing for his age. He has started to ask how things are made, everything from dirt and grass, to houses, roads,and bridges, Grandpa would be proud. He is growing into such a sweet little boy!

It was transfer week here in our mission and we had to say goodbye to 3 of the Elders in our ward, they are moving onto other areas where they will no doubt do much good. They worked so hard in our ward and Elder Johnson has been here for 8 months and has seen a lot of good. There have been many baptisms in our ward this past 8 months, some good strong families. Thank you Elders it has been fun to work with you. Here is a picture after we all enjoyed dinner together the last night here in our ward, I really should have made Jonpa be in the picture too so it would have been all of the boys! It was a fun night, we ate brinner (breakfast for dinner) as Jongr likes to say.