MUST PLAY WITH...

EVERY SINGLE TOY THAT'S BEEN COOPED UP IN THE GARAGE ALL WINTER...
...and make sure my bath is very well-deserved...

...on this first day of 70+ degree weather this year. YEA! :)

Two of my dwarves would be named...

There are two things that you should know about Evan before you read this short story:

1. His favorite show right now is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. (He thinks that the dwarves are hi-LAR-ious.)

2. For whatever reason, Evan was a little stinky last night when he was sitting on the couch next to Henry. We are theorizing that it had something to do with a rather large broccoli intake the night before.

And now, on with the story.

We were watching (you guessed it!) Snow White, and Seth found something that the dwarves did particularly funny. He was laughing so hard that I had to stop watching the movie and just enjoy watching him. (When something really tickles Seth's funny bone, it's hard not to laugh at him laughing!) So I said to Seth, "Hey buddy, cheer up, will you?!" And then, in honor of the movie we were watching, I said, "If you were a dwarf, we might have to call you 'Grumpy'!"

Without skipping a beat, Henry said, "And I would have to call Evan 'Gassy'!"

Hee-hee!

The More, The Better

That would sum up my children's philosopy of cookie sprinkling.

I think that there might be some cookies somewhere underneath those sprinkles. Maybe.

I would say these cookies are homemade, but that would be lying. And I think that their squarish shape might give me away anyway. ;)

Fusion Fun Factory

That's what my daughter is. I picked up a Fusion Fun kit for Caroline and her friend, Sydney to do at their sleepover last night. I had no idea what a hit they would be. The kids placed little plastic beads on a form, and then I ironed the finished project to hold their work in place. I couldn't believe how long the girls worked at creating these little crafts, and how many hundreds of beads they must have placed. Caroline was so thrilled with her work that she carried her pieces around with her most of the day, and they are currently spending the night on her bed stand.

Two Cutie-Pie Girls

going...

going...

gone. O.K. So you got me. They DID pose for this picture. If only this was what they truly looked like right now...sigh. ;)

Because our kitchen isn't messy enough...

Aside from the dirty dishes, stacks of paperwork, groceries, and miscellaneous clutter in our kitchen, apparently we need dirt...

lots and lots of dirt...

with four young assistants to spread it around. :)
I think most of it landed in our seed starter trays...

where we'll soon have Delphinium, Lupine, Morning Glories, Columbine, Shasta Daisies, and Pansies growing.

Good job, young horticulturists! Now, please grab the broom and the dustbuster. Mom needs help cleaning up!

Planning Seth's future career

Sometimes, as a mom, I feel like I have such a weight on my shoulders.

It is partly my responsibility to analyze my children's strengths, encouraging them through the right activities or experiences or conversations so that they can have a fulfilling, happy, successful life now and in his adult years. I sometimes tend to overthink this, as Seth pointed out in a recent exchange I had with him.

Me: (Internal Thought Process) He's very good with animals...he has fish and frogs and we'll soon be getting a dog...the neighbors' pets all love him...he reads about animals all the time...we need to renew that zoo pass...hmmmm...maybe he'll be a zookeeper someday, or an animal trainer, or a veterinarian?

I share my ideas with Seth, trying to compliment him on his patience, kindness and understanding of animals, and suggest that working with animals might be a good career path for him someday. Want to know his response to all of my analyzing and planning for him?


Seth: "Mo-om, I'm 8. I don't need to figure that stuff out yet!"

Fair enough, Seth. :)

Evan walks the plank

I'm so PROUD of this boy!!! He is such a swimmer! He can blow bubbles a-plenty and keep his whole head underwater for 10 seconds! He can monkey crawl around the edge of the pool, and jump in the water to his teacher with no hesitation. With assistance, he is swimming on his front and back, so he'll be moving up to the next level soon. He loves going to class (or, as he calls it, Jeremy's house), and his teacher (Jeremy) is probably one of his favorite people around.

Today, two of the classes were able to "walk the plank."

Evan thought that this activity was the coolest thing ever, partially because he loves pirates. When I picked him up after class, he immediately asked me if I saw him, and was absolutely beaming when I told him that I did. He said, "I'm such a big boy, Mom!"