The Piton Perspective: Fort Apache

Friday, February 8, 2008

Fort Apache

Before...

AFTER!!

Mark and his helpers.

After many months of the boys begging, pleading, and groveling (Gabe even drew up several sets of playset plans) for a playset...Fort Apache has arrived! We had actually bought a kit a few weeks ago, but then I decided to check ebay. It was really a rather random decision that turned out to be quite beneficial for us! There was a family in Bakersfield (about an hour south of us) selling their 6 month old playset. We watched it for the next few days figuring that there couldn't be too many people out there looking to buy a playset on ebay (especially for "pick-up only").

So, last Saturday we became the proud owners of Fort Apache. Mark and my dad spent the morning taking it down and transporting it home. It spent most of the week taking up space in our garage so we could take time to weatherproof it. By Saturday afternoon it was complete (well, except for the awnings)! The boys were more than happy to test it out without the "extras".

The slide was a big hit! I enjoyed watching Will come down the slide, the static made his hair stand straight up. Gabe mastered the rock wall quickly. Will had a lot more trouble with it...hmm, maybe the fact that he was wearing Gabe's cowboy boots had something to do with that! He would get most of the way up, lose his footing, and slide back down. His tummy has some pretty good scrapes and bruises on it from the foot holds, but that didn't slow him down. He kept trying! About 20 minutes later, he finally managed to make it all the way up! Talk about determined!

Swings sure are fun! And who says you have to sit?

Come on up, Gabe!

Love the static!

Who let the elf in our playhouse?

Going up!

Are you wondering why it's name is "Fort Apache"? Actually, I have no idea other than when Mark and my dad pulled up with it in the horse trailer my dad annouced "Fort Apache has arrived!" And the name stuck. Gabe has plans to make a sign that says "Fort Apache" to put on it. Thanks dad for all the help with the transport and dismantling of "Fort Apache"!

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Out of the mouths of BOYS...

1/11 - I asked if anyone wanted to go to the store with me, Gabe smiled and said, "Sorry, mom. I've got a date with my DSi!"

1/11 - Sam is can be a bit of a snuggler. If he wants to be held he says, "Mom, I need to hold you!"

1/11 - Anytime you give Sam a banana, he holds it to his ear and talks into it. "Hello, Noma. I going to eat you, okay?" or "Hi, Noma. Can I eat you today?"

1/11 - Will was singing "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" repeatedly. Sam turned to him and yelled, "Stop singing! I don't like that song! I LIKE Grandma!"

1/11 - Me to Sam: "When Mom or Dad calls you, you come. You don't run away."

Sam: "I didn't run away, I walked!"

1/11 - Sam was upset with me today for putting Christmas away. He said, "You can't put Kwistmas away, it's Kwistmas Eve!!"

11/10 - Sam gave me a tour of our house today. "I take a bath here, Mom." "I go night-night here."

11/10 - Gabe was reading a Thanksgiving book to his brothers. It started with "'Twas". Gabe told his brothers, "'Twas', that's how you know it's a holiday book."

11/10 - Gabe: "Mom, there's a 100% chance that is MIGHT snow. I can see my breath!"

11/10 - The boys were discussing pirates today. Gabe asked me if pirates still exsisted. Before I could answer, Will answered him with, "No, they became extinct in the '90's. Right, mom, the '90's?"

11/10 - During a family conversation (about neither ducks or geese) tonight, Will interjected with "Duck, duck, goose just doesn't make any sense!"

10/10 - Sam was BamBam for Halloween. He now introduces himself as "BamBam."

10/10 - Sam has dubbed Bryce "Baby Rice."

7/10 - With two errands left, I was hot, tired, and running low on patience...

Me: "Okay boys, I just want to warn you...I'm running low on patience. I really need you all to be on your best behavior just a little longer."

Will: "It's a good thing we're at Walmart, you can get yourself some more patience!"

1/10 - One of the boys' Christmas gifts that was delivered by Santa has a design flaw that led to it needing to be fixed...

Mark: "Maybe we should return it."

Will (spinning around to face Mark, with eyes as big as saucers): "To the North Pole??!!!???!!"

1/10 - Will: "What color was Grandpa's hair before he was old?"

Me: "It was dark, like black."

Will: "Grandpa was cool. All the cool guys have black hair."

1/10 - We got in the van the other day...

Will: "It smells like the 'Old West' in here."

Me: "What does the 'Old West' smell like?"

Will: "You know. Like when we watch Spirit, it smells like that."

12/09 - Will came running to me to tattle on Gabe, this is what he said..."Mom! Gabe just... Gabe just said... Gabe just... Oh, nevermind, I don't understand it myself."

12/09 - Will: "Check it out! That builder wipes his nose the same way I do!"

12/09 - Me: "So, Gabe, what is the best part about Christmas?"

Gabe: "Getting presents and candy. Hey Mom, you know the naughty kid in my class? Brian? (names have been changed to protect the innocent) I think he's gonna get coal."

Me: laughing

Gabe: "Well, it's not like I'm happy about it!"

12/09 - Will: "It's hard being a rockstar."

11/09 - Will came into my bathroom this morning with his shoulders slumped and his head down. He looked sad and defeated. This is the conversation that followed...

Me: "What's wrong?"

Will: "I'm gonna have to explain to my boys why we don't have any books."

Me: "When your a dad you can buy your kids books. And when I'm a grandma, I'll buy your kids books. I want my grandkids to have lots of books."

Will: "Okay, but then I'm going to have to explain to them that I can't read."

9/09 - Tonight we had my parents over for dinner. After Will was done eating he wanted to snuggle with Nana. While snuggling, she mentioned that he smelled like soap. He decided to smell Nana and declared, "You smell old!"

9/09 - As we pulled into my parent's place yesterday, Will started yelling "Hi, Grandpa! Hi, Grandpa!" (Grandpa was on the tractor and couldn't hear him.) He then turned to Gabe and said, "Grandpa is my favorite character! Who's your favorite character Gabe?" I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly, so I asked him what he'd said. He said, "Grandpa is my favorite character. He's kinda like Gary."

9/09 - When Gabe threw his banana peel away a little piece fell on the floor. I asked him to pick it up. As he was picking it up, he started gagging. After he threw the piece of banana away, I asked him why he had gagged. His response: "My mouth thought I was going to eat it."

9/09 - At dinner the other night, Will looked at me and said, "Good dinner, Honey!" I replied with, "Thanks! But, you can all me 'Mom.'" He said, "No, you're a girl and girls are 'Honeys'".

8/09 - The night before preschool started, we were talking to Will about what he'd be doing there. Gabe walked over to him, grabbed him by the shoulder, and said, "Go make some friends tomorrow!"

8/09 - I overheard Will talking to himself today, and this is what I heard... "See, I knew I was a genius!"

8/09 - Will: "I'm all sweaty because I ran faster than a beaver and a bear!"

7/09 - Will: "Do we have tiny little phones in our bodies incase a little mouse calls us?"

7/09 - Will has a bit of a lying problem lately. It's not serious (yet!), he usually lies about things like who made the mess and things like that. He's had many lectures about telling the truth. I thought we had gotten the point across until this...

Me: "I really need you to tell me the truth."

Will: "I did tell you the truth! It was MY truth!"

5/09 - Will: "Mom, which hand is the right hand to tell the right hand it left?"

Me: "Huh?"

5/09 - While walking in a parking lot Will yelled out, "This place is dusty!!! Jesus needs to send someone over here to clean this Earth up!"

5/09 - Will looked at me lovingly at church on Mother's Day Sunday and said, "Your hair looks like a farm." (Patting my head) "Farms look like this."

5/09 - Will: "Do mouses think we're giants? Because they're only this big (holding his little fingers about 3 inches apart) and we're this big (standing on this tip toes with his fingers stretched up to the sky)?"

2/09 - The other day, I took the boys to get Sam's picture taken. I wasn't paying too much attention to the older boys...then I heard Gabe.

Gabe: "Mom...Mom...Mom...Mom!"

Me: "What?"

Gabe: "I just fell in that girl's heart!"

I'm pretty sure that if this scenerio had been a cartoon, Gabe would have had hearts in his eyes!

1/09 - Will: "Mom, you're better than a monkey."

1/09 - Gabe: "When will you be a Nana and a Grandpa?"

Me: "When you have kids. Am I going to be called 'Nana' or 'Grandma'?"

Gabe: "I think 'Grandma'."

Mark: "What am I going to be called?"

Gabe: "King of the City."

Mark: "King of the City? That works."

1/09 - Will had his hands behind his back and was looking very mischievious...

Me: "Will, what's behind your back?"

Will (looking at his hands and shrugging his shoulders): "Um, just a couple of thumbs and some fingers."

1/09 - Gabe: "How did Heavenly Father make us? He must have a REALLY big factory!"

12/08 - Gabe: "Why don't we have a star on our tree? If we don't have a star, Santa might think we celebrate Hanukkah!!!"

12/08 - Gabe has a bit of a problem keeping his pants up...no matter what size I buy, they slide right off. The problem is caused by the fact that the boy has no bum. The other day Gabe and I were at my mom's house when once again he was tugging at his pants trying to keep them on...

Nana - "Gabe, you were NOT blessed with a butt!"

Gabe - "Mom, what's a 'butt'?"

Me - "A bum."

Gabe - (quickly turning back around to Nana) "I WAS blessed with a butt!"

12/08 - On the way home from preschool, the boys were looking at the Walmart ads...

Gabe: "Mom, do you want a microphone for Christmas? It's a a girl one."

Me: "No thank you, I don't think I want a microphone."

Gabe: "Well, what do you want Santa to bring you?"

Me: "I don't need him to bring me anything...I just want you guys to be happy."

Will: "No mom, you have to ask Santa to bring you something...he can't put 'happy' in his bag!"

11/08 - (Peanut is our neighbors dog)

Gabe: "I want a little dog like Peanut."

Will: "I want a peanut!"

Gabe: "Peanut might bite you, remember like when you bited me?"

Will: "Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

11/08 - On the way home from soccer practice...

Gabe: "When we get home, I'm gonna tell daddy to get our Christmas boxes out, 'cause we don't have any Thanksgiving decorations."

Me: "You should ask him tomorrow, I think he's a little grumpy tonight." (He'd been working on a very frustrating work problem.)

Will: "He's not grumpy, he's just jealous at us!"

11/08 - Again, the topic is Christmas…Will REALLY wants a motorcycle (a REAL motorcycle…not a “small” one!).

Will: “Gabe, I’m going to eat LOTS of food today so my legs can grow big to fit a motorcycle! Mom-ma, I want a motorcycle!”

Gabe: “William, you have to put it on your list for Santa after Thanksgiving. He’s magic and can put BIG things in his bag! Mom doesn’t know how to do that.”

The Piton Perspective

Friday, February 8, 2008

Fort Apache

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