Resident Gardeners

Again, I ask myself ... why do I buy toys and things like sandboxes, when real (cheap) things like dirt are so much more fun?!?

I like birds

This evening our four-year-old and I were outside. There was a bird up on the phone wire and he pensively said, "I like birds."

I put my hand on his head and lovingly said, "aw, you do?"

He said, "yeah...I like to scare them."

Now he is a very sweet-natured boy, so this comes across particularly funny to me. And by scare them, I now understand what he and his brother are doing when they're "screaming" at the birds on the wires. I always thought he was "talking" to them - you know, in bird-language. Live and learn.

A ceiling eatin' snake

Four-year-old to Mom: "What would happen if a snake ate a ceiling?"
Mom: "Snakes don't eat ceilings."
4YO: "It would if it was a ceiling eatin' snake."

We're good men

Our four-year-old and two-year-old running around like super-heroes:

4YO - "Let's go get the bad men so they don't kill Jesus."
2Y0 - "Okay"
4Y0 - "Because we're good men"

It's not odd that they think of themselves as good, but men?!!!

You look just like a flower

When I bought this floation ring, I knew there would be a price to pay beyond the cash register. I am the only female in our household. I didn't buy this to make a point. When I bought it, we were on our way to swim at a friend's house and it was the only one left at the store (our other one had a hole in it).

Today, as my husband prepared our pool stuff for a Memorial Day pool party the flowery ring reappeared. He started out with it around his neck, making the boys laugh at how it didn't fit. Next thing I knew he had it around his face (see the photo). Our four-year-old responded, "you look just like a flower!" And then like all things that crack the boys up (usually instigated by their dad) they proceeded to plead "can I try too." Well, one thing lead to another, and eventually even the baby and I posed for photos.

You've got to be able to appreciate a dad who spends the day with his family, the better part of the afternoon in the backyard with the boys playing in a wading pool, with water guns, etc etc and then still has a sense of humor and playfulness about getting ready for a pool party tomorrow. We love him!

Praying for chips

Our four-year-old started his bedtime prayer tonight with a request for God to make his leg feel better (he had injections at his well-child visit). Our two-year-old followed-up "and that I can have more chips."

Setting a Bad Example

About once a month, my friend and I meet for lunch with our boys at a mall that is half-way between our homes (picture two adults and five boys ages 5,4,3,2,& 8 mos - there is also an 8 year old when school is out). At one point, I talked with the two oldest boys about something they were doing that was setting a bad example for the younger boys. It wasn't a big deal, just a quick conversation.

Apparently the conversation wasn't quite as discreet as I thought. Yesterday morning I overheard my two-year-old acting out the following exchange between two of his Hot Wheels:

Blue car: "you're setting a bad example" (it then bumps into the black car)
Black car: "you're setting a bad example"
(for the full conversation, repeat above non-stop for about 5 minutes).

"Is there blood?!?"

My four-year-old now responds to any exclamation of pain from any member of the family with, "Is there blood?!?"

Now, I'm not sure if he actually wants to see some blood, if he's truly curious about the severity of the injury, or if he's just mimicking me. I guess I'll have to wait to see how he responds when we finally get a "yes" answer to the "Is there blood?" question.

Mad Dog

Ah the fun of the digital delay! Periodically I am surprised by what I actually capture compared to what I intend to photograph. This photo of our son and his dog Taz is not at all what it appears. Both the dog and the boy are fast friends (see also here and here) - and what's actually happening is our son is calling Taz to follow him, and Taz is stalling and licking his chops.

Tinkertoy Daddy

I may need a whole section dedicated to family portraits. Tinkertoy Daddy is his latest work, and in case you missed any of the others, they are:

Tinkertoy Mommy
A Portrait of Mommy also affectionately known as "deranged Mommy"
A Family Portrait

Bodysurfing Baby

Is this kid ready to bodysurf, or what!?

The worm doesn't like that hand

We were watching a family video from last summer when our son had an opportunity to pick up a worm (for fishing). His cousin dangled it infront of him and tried to get him to either pick up or touch the worm. While watching the video our son made the following observation, "The worm doesn't like the hand...and it really doesn't like the fishing pole."

That takes the cake

After celebrating his birthday a day early, and receiving a few well-wishes on his actual birthday yesterday, our now four-year-old son was convinced that TODAY was still his birthday. When we told him that his birthday was over he responded, "but there's still birthday cake." I didn't know that the celebration lasted as long as the cake!

I'm curious, does that mean if there's no cake, there's no birthday??

NOW it's my birthday!

Our oldest son turns four tomorrow. We are celebrating his birthday today at "A Day Out With Thomas". This morning as he was getting dressed he said to his dad, "I need my Thomas underwear." After he put them on he proudly announced "Now it's my birthday!"

(And if anyone is thinking about giving me a hard time about celebrating his birthday a day early this year- I did go into labor on the 29th...it just took 41 hours for him to make his grand entrance.)

Crime and Punishment

Our sons have been playing with some die-cast airplanes lately- bombers to be exact. Our almost-four-year-old started out dropping "bombers" on the bad guys - then he switched to dropping webs (think Spiderman) "to bring back the bad guys and throw icky water on them."

I'll be sure to stay on my best behavior!

Just the Two of Us

My hopes for a family photo on Easter failed this year in spite of hauling my camera all over town with us. My last hope, a photo after lunch, failed when our oldest got grumpy ("I don't want to take a picture now") and his younger brother fell asleep in the car on the way home. Leave it to Brawny Baby (Mr. Easy-going) to oblige his mommy and have his picture taken - with a smile even after being woken up. Oh well, I guess 2 out of 5 family members is better than none at all.

Family Portrait

Artistic renderings of the family seem to be en-vogue lately at our house. I find this one more flattering than the last two. In case you don't recognize us: Mommy has the long neck, Daddy has the big head, the almost-four-year-old and two-year-old are up top, and Brawny Baby is the little one (lower right).

"The pig noses help you climb"

We just got the swing set installed, and our almost-four-year-old exclaimed with delight, "the pig noses help you climb!" My initial response was, "What??!!!" Then I looked at the knobs and huh, they DO kinda look like pig noses don't they???

London bridge is falling down...

Actually the boys call it a "tunnel" when one stands up and the other inches underneath. I think some retro-fitting is in order here.

Is there a doctor in the house?

This weekend, my almost-four-year-old and two-year-old were playing in the backyard together. My older son calmly came to the door and said, "Mom, I need a band-aid." So to verify the necessity I asked, "why do you need a band-aid?" His answer, "so my finger doesn't fall off."

Is it calloused that I laughed out loud at his response???? Just for the record, I did go see the paper-cut-like injury - and provided a Spiderman band-aid.