Carter interviews Logan & Brady

Carter saw me writing on the blog the other day and asked to come up with some questions to interview Logan and Brady with! So here they are:

What's your favorite color?
Logan: Blue, Red, Yellow
Brady: Red

What is your favorite animal?
Logan: Lion
Brady: Cat

What do you like about Mexico?
Logan: The food and the school
Brady: School

What do you like about Canada?
Logan: That it's cold and that we can eat perogies. And hopefully we never eat that snow with syrup again. 
Brady: Snow

Would you rather go to the beach or to Canada for a holiday? Why?
Logan: Canada, because it's bigger and you can see your cousins and your grandparents.
Brady: Canada for a holiday because I can visit my cousins.

Do you want to adopt S and S?
Logan: Yeah.
Brady: Yes.

Who are your best friends at school?
Logan: Matt, Mateo, Ian, Mariana, Diego, Diego J.
Brady: Mateo, Edgar, Santi, Enrique

What do you like about school?
Logan: Lunch and Recess 
Brady: Lunch and Recess

What don't you like about school?
Logan: The double Spanish class.
Brady: Classes.

What kind of food would you choose? For example, Italian, French, Japanese.
Logan: Sushi! Japanese.
Brady: Italian, for fettucine alfredo.

Canada Part 1: The boy's bucket list

All right, it's now been almost a full month that we've actually been back in Guadalajara after having been on Home Assignment in Canada for 2.5 months! We were there November 4-January 17 (to see what Home Assignment is, see my post from fall! Click on the link to take you there).

Coming back though is always really busy with re-connecting with everyone, getting connected again with Bible studies, relationships, school, family routine, etc etc that I have let the blog get behind me. However, I will do a few quick posts over the next couple of days to re-cap and then move on to our current ministry and life!

First off, the boys made a bucket list before we went to Canada. It had been 7 years since we were there in winter, meaning that they really didn't have any memories of snow or of a good Manitoban winter. Many of their items had to do with these things, and many also had to do with things they wanted to do with their cousins and grandparents.

So let's go through their bucket list and see what they accomplished! 

1. Play "I have never". 
I can't remember who they all played this game with, but we did play it had our extended Zac gathering with their cousins, second-cousins, aunts, uncles, etc and they had a great time.

2. Eat Lucky Charms.

3. Eat Rice Krispies cake.
We can't get rice krispies here and they love this cake...I do sometimes buy them the pre-packaged bars at our Costco here though ;)

4. Eat Puffed Wheat cake.
We also can't get puffed wheat here. Another cake they love.

5. Have a snowball fight.
One big disappointment for the boys was the discovery that snow is not always sticky, meaning you can't always make good snowballs or snowmen whenever you want to! They did have a couple of good sticky snow days in November.

6. Make a snowman.
They did this together with their friends, Rueben and Joy, from our Kleefeld church.

7. Slide down a snowhill.
We went tobogganing a few times.

8. Make in igloo.
We didn't make an igloo exactly, but Dallas did make them a quincey, together with his brother Dale.

9. Make a snow fort.
I don't think they counted this one as done. Their idea was to make snow fort and hide behind them to have a snowball fight.

10. Watch hockey.
Lots of hockey on TV, and we also took the boys (and their grandparents and great-grandparent and great-uncle and uncles and aunts and cousins and friend) to a Manitoba Moose hockey game for Carter and Logan's birthdays!

Dallas also went to a Winnipeg Jets game as his Christmas present from his parents.

11. Sit in the hot tub, roll in the snow, and get back in the hot tub...maybe.
I guess they weren't convinced they wanted to do this one ;) and they didn't, that I know of, although their cousins did.

12. Drink Root Beer.
Yup. A&W root beer, sometime they love and that we find here on a rare occasion (although it's getting to be a little more common).

13. Drink Dr.Pepper.
This we can get here.

14. Wrestle with Grandpa.
Something they like to do with their Grandpa Wiebe sometimes.

15. Learn how to sew something with Grandma.
Their Grandma Zac has cross stitched each grandchild a blanket and they wanted to learn to do this. They each cross stitched a small picture that they picked (Mario themed).

16. Put on lots of pajamas so we're not cold. :)

17. Make white cookies.

I don't think we ever got to actually making white cookies, but they ate a lot of them courtesy of their Great-Grandma Harder.

18. Go ice skating.

They got to do this several times and all enjoyed it.

19. Drink hot chocolate.

Plenty of that to go around.

20. Decorate the Christmas tree together.

Did this at both sets of Grandparents.

21. Make Logan's Minion birthday cake.

We did a small Minion themed party for both Carter and Logan with the Wiebes and some friends. More to come on Logan's birthday in another post!

22. Make Carter's Lego Batman cake.

This didn't happen....we were so busy everyday that I didn't have (or take I should say) to make them elaborate birthday cakes. The minions were just cupcakes and for the boy's party with the Zacs we had an angel food cake, which they did request as well.

23. Play with our cousins.

A ton! More to come on that yet, still going through those pictures.

24. Play Chess.

25. Play Checkers.

?? haha not sure about these, as we have these here at home also.

26. Play Poker against Risa.

Carter and his cousin Risa had this thing going about beating each other at poker :) Unfortunately we only got to see Risa's family for 2 days b/c of work situations so we made the most of it in other ways and didn't get to poker!

27. Go bowling.

The boys did this for their Grandpa Zac's work party (which they say didn't count as Dallas and I weren't there) and then we also went bowling again with the Wiebes.

28. Make a fire.

We had a weiner roast at the Wiebes one "warmer" evening.

29. Roll a big snowball down a hill.

30. Jump into a pile of snow.

There wasn't a lot of snow this winter in Manitoba!!! But they did play in snow.

31. Night of Christmas carols.

We sang carols together for our Harder Christmas gathering.

32. Eat perogies.
Yuummm....the boys had this for one of their birthday parties and we had them for a Christmas gathering, and several times in between.

33. Christmas painting competition.
Not a competition but they did some painting, drawing, crafting type things with their cousins several times.

34. Find a hibernating bear.
Enough said.

35. Eat Canadian Candy.
Too much of it. But it was good.

36. Make stockings for our Grandparents and everyone.
Didn't happen! ;)

37. Drink a Peppermint Mocha and get donuts from Tim Horton's.
Grandma Zac introduced them to Peppermint Mochas, and Carter and Brady are all about anything that remotely tastes like mint.

38. Open presents.

39. Bonfire outside.

I guess the weiner roast refers to this one as well.

40. Fireworks.

Instead of finding some Fireworks for New Year's Eve, we went to the hockey game.

41. Crack glowing sticks.

Pretty sure they got this from a movie, that you should crack glowing sticks in snow. Well, I bought them some at the dollar store and they sat in my room for a long time until I forgot about them....

42. Same pj's for all the cousins.

My mom tends to buy the cousins matching clothes or pj's and they all had matching pj's this year! I do need to get some pictures off of other family members yet!

43. Sleigh ride.

We went on a sleigh ride at Roseau River Bible Camp!

44. Movie and popcorn.

45. Cover us in snowmen.

haha they wanted to make themselves into snowmen. Didn't happen.

46. Buy and play Clue.

The boys like this game, and they got it as a Christmas present.

47. Punch snowballs.

Another invention in the boy's minds :) They would throw them at each other and punch them in the air.

48. Make monster cookies.

So, that's it for their list! Of course they did a ton more as well, and next post I'll update on what Dallas and I were up to during our time in Canada.

Interview with Brady: On turning 6

Brady turned 6 on August 14 so we had a little party with our Bible study group, since it was a Sunday.

He asked for chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and he asked to go mini-golfing and have pizza. So that's what we all did. All of the pictures are from the day with the cell group.

School just started up this week so next week we'll also do a little party at school with his friends during lunchtime.

Now, time to hear some things from Brady.

Interview with Brady:

Why do you like being 6?
Because we can have birthdays. And because like if some keys fall into a little space, I can get them cause I'm still little like when I was 5.

What is your favorite thing to do in the house?
To eat a snack.


What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Play soccer.

Carter's birthday tradition of making "cards" 

Waffle wake-up in the morning

Traditional MX birthday bite

Who are your best friends right now?
Paulina and Jesse, Agustin, Santi, Cesar, Mateo and that's all.

- This is quite funny, as Paulina (18 yr old in our cell group) has always been his favorite and vice versa. Now that she's dating Jesse, Brady has been jealous that he is not always her centre of attention! He has now decided to accept Jesse as a friend though ;) The others are friends from school.

What do you want to be when you're bigger?
I don't know!

What's your favorite food?
Waffles.

What is important to you?
That I'm special, because God loves me.

What do you think of your brothers?
They're good.

What are three things you want to do this year, when you're 6?
1. Eat candy
2. Play tablet all day
3. Go mini-golfing

What are three things you want to learn more about this year?
1. I want to learn about playing piano.
2. I want to learn about painting.
3. I want to learn about math.

What is daddy like?

In honor of Father's Day, here is another round of "What is daddy like".

For the record, Carter is 9, Logan is 7, and Brady is 5. Also for the record, all of the pictures in this post are from other times, no we're not at the beach! ;)

You can see previous answers here:
2 years ago
4 years ago

 1. What is something Daddy always says to you?
Carter: That I'm funny.
Logan: That I'm funny.
Brady: That I cannot play on the tablet.

2. What makes Daddy happy?
Carter: Wrestling him.
Logan: The blue guys. I like them and so does daddy. 
Brady: That I make him some hearts.
~ any guesses as to who the blue guys are? 

3. What makes Daddy sad?
Carter: If I do something bad.
Logan: When someone dies of his family I think.
Brady: I don't know.

4. How does Daddy make you laugh?
Carter: Tickling and wrestling me.
Logan: When he tickles me.
Brady: Tickle me.

5. What was Daddy like when he was a little boy?
Carter: He liked to pretend to be in a singing group. 
Logan: mmm....I don't know...happy!
Brady: Toys.

6. How old is Daddy?
Carter: 36
Logan: 30 something
Brady: Right now? I don't know.

7. How tall is Daddy?
Carter: About 20 feet. I think.
Logan: ah, tall
Brady: Verrry tall.

8. What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?
Carter: Eat steak.
Logan: Wrestle!
Brady: Play tablet.

9. What does Daddy do when you're not around?
Carter: I don't know cause I'm not here.
Logan: He does his work.
Brady: Bike.

10. If Daddy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Carter: Being a good missionary.
Logan: If he was the President...
Brady: Money!

11. What is Daddy really good at?
Carter: Hockey.
Logan: Work, like working on his homework.
Brady: The bomb games. Like with the bomb and the numbers.

12. What is Daddy not very good at?
Carter: He's not very ticklish.
Logan: I don't know.
Brady: I don't know.

13. What does Daddy do for his job?
Carter: He tells people about God.
Logan: Missionary.
Brady: Work. Homework.

14. What is Daddy's favorite food?
Carter: Steak.
Logan: Perogies.
Brady: I think...waffles.

15. What makes you proud of Daddy?
Carter: He's a good daddy.
Logan: em...he's good at my homework. Because he's the dad, he knows better than me.
Brady: I don't know.

16. If Daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Carter: Moglie, cause he was once.
Logan: Superman. No not superman, because he has a girlfriend! Batman.
Brady: Ironman

17. What do you and Daddy do together?
Carter: Wrestle.
Logan: Wrestle.
Brady: Play card games.

18. How are you and Daddy the same?
Carter: We both like to play sports.
Logan: We're boys. That's all.
Brady: We're not the same.

19. How are you and Daddy different?
Carter: He's an adult and I'm a kid.
Logan: He has brown hair, and he has darker skin, and he has different color of eyeballs, and he's my dad.
Brady: Because I'm little and he's bigger.

20. How do you know that Daddy loves you?
Carter: Because he's nice to me.
Logan: Because he kisses me.
Brady: Because he's my family.

21. Where is Daddy's favorite place to go?
Carter: The Brazilian restaurant.
Logan: Peter Piper Pizza. He likes pizza.
Brady: Biking.

Interview with the boys: Describing Mexico!

Some of the questions we received had to do with the boys - what do they think of Mexico, are they at home here, etc.

A basic answer would be that they do feel at home here, as it's the only place they ever remember living. Carter spent a year in Canada but otherwise they have grown up here and for them, Canada is where they go to visit their family. They do say they are from Canada though, they love it also!

I decided to interview the boys, as I for one always enjoy hearing their answers.

For the record, Carter is 9, Logan is 7, and Brady is 5.

Describe the weather in Mexico:
Carter - It does not snow here and it's warm.
Logan - It is hot, cold, rainy, that's all.
Brady - Warm!

Tell me something about Mexican history:
Carter - Benito Juarez is the hero of Mexico, one of them. He was very smart. At first he was poor and then he was rich.
Carter is currently reading a children's history book on Benito Juarez.
Logan - There was dinosaurs, there were guys that had stuff and those things...the cavemen. And they lived in caves. What?! That's true.
Brady - They used these rocks as spears
Holding a piece of Obsidiana rock - Obsidian from lava.

What do you do in Guadalajara when you see someone you know?
Carter - Depends who. If it's a friend I say hello and play with him. If it's a girl adult that I know I say hello and give her a kiss. When I get to school I say good morning to my teacher.
Logan - A friend - Play. That's what we seriously do, just play. Adult that you know - Just say hello and hug them. At school? Sit down and play.
Brady - A friend - hug them. Adult - Say hello and hug them and say bye-bye. Teacher - say hello like a baby

What's your favorite food in Mexico?
Carter - Flautas
Logan - Flautas
Brady - Tacos dorados

Do you speak and understand Spanish?
Carter - Yes. How well? Good!
Logan- Yes. How well? Good. So-so
Brady - Yes. How well? Good.

How did you learn to speak Spanish?
Carter - From you guys and some at school
Logan - From Mexico, with you guys. What? Seriously, you tell me how to talk Spanish.
Brady - When we went to Canada and you guys showed me how. (???)

If a visitor came to Mexico to see you, where would you take them?
Carter - To my house
Logan - Home. Oh. Like that...to the zoo
Brady - To the beach


What do you think is different in Mexico than in Canada?
Carter - They celebrate Día de la Independencia (Independance Day) and we speak Spanish
Logan - There's no snow and here it's hot and there it's not hot. There are tacos, flautas...
Brady - Snow, cold. that's all.

Would you rather eat a taco or a hamburger?
Carter - hmmm...hard one.
Walks around thinking. and rubbing his chin. and laughing.
It depends on what hamburger, like from Burger King or somewhere else. I'd rather have a taco. I like the burgers that daddy makes.
Logan - Taco because I like to crunch it
Brady - A taco because it's yummier. You mean the hamburgers from McDonald's? Yeah, still tacos.

Would you rather have A&W root beer (not common in MX) or jamaica (hibiscus drink)? 
Carter - root beer!!!
Logan - Jamaica
Brady - Root beer

And the boys just made this earlier today to post for Dallas' birthday, their reasoning for making it crazy is that "daddy likes funny thing". Love 'em.

Carter - age 8

 It's been quite a while since I've just updated on the boys....there are things about these ages I don't want to forget. Their quirks, the things they're learning, what they're interested in, etc. A few weeks ago I had meetings with their teachers, as always in fall, and I loved seeing that their teachers also noticed their little quirks and found them funny. Obviously they each have something they can work on at school too, but it was neat to see the appreciation the teachers had for them also.

So, today is Carter's day.

Carter....what can I say....

He is responsible.
When Dallas and I were away for a week, I think I mentioned that he was the one that made sure his brothers obeyed, put their things away, etc. He is the one I can count on to get the others on board with doing something. As the oldest child this is probably often something they have to do, so we also need to make sure we don't abuse that! The other thing with this responsibility aspect is that he sometimes thinks he has the right to tell Logan and Brady everything they do wrong and everything they say that isn't correct ;)

He is kind
Carter likes hugs and likes to make sure he is getting along with others. It bothers him a lot if he has a problem with a friend and has to fix it. He'll include those that others may not want to play with. This was something his teacher mentioned to me - that he has a personality that fits in with everyone and he is never playing alone, and that at the same time, he often will include the kids that are "different" and doesn't see the difference. That is something we like!

He is silllyyyy....
Carter likes to tease! He thinks he is goofy and likes to be goofy and make others laugh. We have a lot of fun with him.

He is inquisitive
It probably has to do with getting older, but it's interesting the things he picks up on and asks questions about. And what he's learning in school! Right now he likes math, science, art, music, and reading, and likes to "google" things he wants to know about. He also likes to be on conversations a lot more now, with the adults. This picture is from this past weekend, when we had our annual staff retreat. He likes to hear what adults talk about and occasionally likes to sit in with the adults for our session time.

Dallas with Darryl Klassen (our speaker and pastor from Kleefeld EMC) w/ co-workers John and Ernie

He is creative
This boy loves to draw, and Logan and Brady have caught on to this also! They can spend a looooot of time just drawing pictures, and will often draw their characters and cut them out to play with.

They do have toys ;) as evidenced by this lego, and play with them a lot too, but since I enjoy art and drawing etc. I kind of like it that they do, too.



He is adventurous
This is a newer one! Carter has always been our child that is the least impulsive. He likes to know what's coming up in the day and hesitates to try new things. Maybe it's living in a latin culture where you don't always know what's happening in the day or just growing up, but he has grown a lot in this area! He still doesn't usually like to do something if it's sprung on him and we try to give him a bit of a heads up, but he now loves to try new things.

The other day I asked them to think of a time when God taught them to trust Him. Carter told about the time a few years ago when he was sooo scared to climb over an obstacle course - after almost a couple of hours of sitting on the top of this thing trembling and crying (with Dallas sitting up there with him), he overcame it and climbed over. That seemed to have been a turning point for him and he still remembers it. This in turn allows him to have a lot of fun, especially with Dallas!

This weekend we had a few hours at the beach (we rented a house all together for our staff retreat - cheaper than hotels or retreat centres!) and he did quite a bit of boogey boarding with Dallas and going out into the deeper waves. Logan and Brady also took turns jumping the deeper waves with Dallas....for some reason they have more trust in their dad than their mom in this area......could be b/c their mom gets tossed around like nothing in those waves! It's called sure footing, balance, stroooooong waves, and a swimsuit that doesn't always want to hold up to those strong waves ;)

There is a ton more I could say, but I will get long winded.

Quick extras:
- Food: still doughy things - waffles, pancackes, perogies. Also tacos and flautas.
- Habits: holding his little blanket by his nose when he's tired, having long hair that has to go down his forehead, being methodical
- Likes: cooking, reading, lego, drawing, swimming
- Friends: Salvador, Diego, Angel, Didyvesh, Analia
- Color: red
- Collecting: Rocks and seashells
- Wants to be: a Missionary
- With dad: wrestle, swimming underwater & diving, listen to music, ride bike, read
- With mom: play board games, bike, read, cook & bake

HEART {30 Days of Writing} - or WHAT DO I LOVE?

I just asked the boys the question "What do you think mommy loves?" Here is what they said...

Brady - "Hugs, kisses, and games. Now I want a hug and kiss mom." 

Logan - "Ice-cream, Movie theatres, us, and God."

Carter - "Us, God, Daddy."

They were all pretty right on, other than the ice-cream and movie theatre thing, but I think those come b/c we happened to have done them last week! And to be fair, I'm not super huggy but with the boys I am.

So, what do I love?? In no particular order.

1. First and foremost, God

2. Dallas

3. Carter, Logan, and Brady, aka The Boys

4. Our parents and brothers and sister-in-laws and nieces and nephews

5. Our Grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins - family is important

6. Friends near and far

7. A real talk with a person, more than just surface things

8. Coffee

9. Iced Coffee

10. Coke

11. Burning candles

12. Music

13. Art - in several different forms

14. Visiting family or friends

15. Paraguay - the food, the drinks, the people, the country

16. Canada - ditto to the above

17. Mexico - again, ditto to the above

18. Colorful things

19. Relaxing or doing things with the boys

20. Laughing with Dallas

21. Board games

22. Water activities

23. Reading

24. The smells of grass, coffee, and rain

25. Road trips or plane trips

26. Looking forward to things

27. Remembering good things in the past

28. Enjoying the present

29. A thought provoking devo book

30. The Psalms

31. Figuring out language (mostly just Spanish - English is not fun to try and figure out!) and cultures in general

32. Studying something

33. Numbers

34. House decor that has meaning or memories

35. Skyping

36. Camping

37. Seeing people realize new truths about God

38. Doing weird or new things with people you can totally be yourself with

Did you make it this far?? I notice and realize that when I try to think of specific activities that I enjoy, I usually think "it depends on who I'm doing it with". Relationships are key to me, to me it's far more important who I am with than what exactly I'm doing.

Anyway, on that note it's time to do some things I love, and some I don't love quite so much. Drink coffee, hang out with the boys, and do the laundry....

{To see all posts in this series, click on the label "30DaysofWriting" below the title}

SCHOOL {30 Days of Writing}

Today I recruited Carter to tell you some things about school:

This week at home we made a poster. We had to do a science experiment about whatever we wanted.

What did you like about doing the Science project? 

Everything.

Why did you choose to do it about balloons?

It was more fun.

What did you have to do with the poster at school?

Present it to the class.

What do you like about Grade 3 more than the other grades you've been in?

Everything's the same.

Tell me one thing about your school that might be different than at other schools?

They have American teachers. 

What is your favorite thing to take for lunch?

Ham and Cheese sandwich, hot dog, and juice box.

What is your favorite subject?

Art and Computer.

{To see all posts in this series, click on the label "30DaysofWriting" under the title}