Odds + Ends

 The boys sat and watched the plasterers with rapt attention.  It was truly amazing!  You try icing the walls and ceilings and having it come out as smooth as glass...wow.  And they are fast to boot.

We had a little campfire and had hot dogs and smores for dinner.  If a messy baby is a happy one, Eden was in heaven.  I could not fully capture her dirtiness on film, but the tub had an awful ring when I drained it tonight.  Marshmallow+dirt+grease+not yet walking full time=eeeuw.

 Little peek at the new landing outside of the new door.

A couple weeks back

We had fun on Patriot's Day (while a bombing was going on, unfortunately) going to the local state park and doing what we like to do there, walking a bit, seeing animals, throwing rocks in the water and this year....drum roll...netting fish!  Oh, the fun.  You've rarely seen such excited boys.

 Fish, fish!!!

 See mom?

 Baited trap

 Throwing rocks

 Private clubhouse (no moms allowed) under the bridge.  I played paparazzi to get this shot.

Owen:  "I'm the grumpy old troll who lives under the bridge!"

Owen lyrics

Some nights we forfeit a bedtime story for a silly made-up song.  Usually I give choices of goofy titles like...
A.  My dad is actually an alien
B.  The cow eats pickles for lunch
C.  I like jellybeans in my salad

Tonight I didn't have choices in me so first thing I spat out..."There is macaroni in my guacamole."  The insta-lyrics were going something like this...

I love guacamole
It's green and it's tasty
It tastes like limes and onions
And a little bit of garlic.
Some salt and pepper
and sometimes a tomato,
It's my favorite snack of all.

I love macaroni
Noodly and cheesy,
Yummy in my tummy
Is some macaroni,
But what I do not want
I never want to taste,
Is what I found in my bowl...
Macaroni in my guacamole!

Take it to the sink,
Rinse those noodles off
Get off all the green stuff
That goes on a taco.
Put some cheese back in it
And put it in a bowl
A bite of macaroni
THEN a bite of guacamole.

When I eat them separately
They mix up in my tummy

[Owen chimes in, following the tune:]
"But I don't have a tongue
Inside of my tummy.
So I don't care about that!"

Ha ha, that made me giggle!  Owen comes up with some great lines sometimes :)

1st tooth

Owen's first baby tooth loss happened tonight...it was hanging pretty crooked in there for a long time and every night I give it a wiggle (much to his chagrin), and tonight I talked him into letting me try again.  Out it came!  It bled a lot, I was surprised.  He caught a glimpse of his holey lower row of teeth in the mirror and promptly burst into horrified tears.  Poor guy!!  I felt so bad I had done it.  He is not one who loves a change that he doesn't ask for.  But he did pretty well and getting past it and sticking the tooth under his pillow on the sly.

Eden almost 16 mo.

Head: 50th%
Length: 50%+
Weight: 20% (21lb 2oz;  I think Asher was 21 pounds at perhaps 5 months??)
Almost walking...about 6 steps at a time here and there.  Getting there!
Lots of words but not a lot of clear pronunciation...lots of vowel sounds missing the consonants.  She tries to sing songs all the time though...faves are itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus and she sings the entire ABC's song in a slurred and adorable kind of way.
Intent on keeping up with those boys.  Jumping on the bed after bath is the highlight of her day and she does exactly what they do, to the best of her ability.  Sadly, she and Asher have developed a very adversarial relationship while she and Owen are thick as thieves.  Funny how those dynamics happen.  Owen dotes on her quite a bit while Asher sees her as stealing his spot, perhaps, and I think she senses where she stands with each of them :}
She is LOUD.  We are working on signs until the speech kicks in just so she isn't calling for a nameless something in a yelling voice All. The. Time.  How did my kids get so loud??  :}  Don't answer.

Little Chip and Old Block, the glue-sniffers

Owen and I apparently share a genetic affinity for the smell of glue solvent.  I remember as a child opening those metal-cased black permanent markers and thinking that was about the best smell I could imagine (even though I could tell it wasn't a 'good' smell, I just couldn't get enough of it).  Then, I got to grad school and discovered the squirt bottle of hexanes on the washing shelf.  So this is the stuff!  I was always glad to need to degrease a fitting or a stopper.  Weird, I am aware.  The work crew is putting on our new rubber roof over the kitchen today, which involves gluing down a very large piece of rubber sheeting.  (It would be so much more fun to spend a large wad of cash on something that I could come home and gaze at...but a rubber roof?  Maybe we can go have a picnic up there and enjoy the view to get some enjoyment from the investment.)  We stayed out all morning but when we came home the skylight was wide open, lacking its window, and the house had a decidedly gluey smell.  Owen said, "What's that smell??"  I said, "That's the smell of the glue they are using on the roof...sorry about that!" Owen replied, "THAT's OK!  I love that smell!  [Inhale deeply]  Mmmmmm."  I replied, "You LIKE that smell???  I completely understand."  It's nice to meet someone else in the world who does not think you are strange.  :)  I wonder how many brain cells we're killing off today...

Soccer

Today was my first day as a soccer mom, and Reuel a soccer dad.  Wow, life is moving along with these kiddos!  There was quite a bit of work-up to our first soccer experience today...buying the shoes and shin guards, getting books at the library to acquaint ourselves with the game (since the kids on Owen's team have been doing this for nearly 3 years already and it was his first time!  Here was ignorant me not even knowing that community soccer was going on or we might have started earlier).  The boys got so excited that they made pictures to send to their coaches in the mail...cute.  It was just a wee bit cold to be playing soccer this morning, probably 40 degrees (?), so the boys were in pants and fleeces, gloves and hats under their uniforms and Reuel, Eden and I were coated up.  Both boys were pretty frozen and nervous when we got there, despite macho confidence about how great of soccer players they thought they would be in the week leading up to the first practice/game...ha ha, quickly humbled ;)  When the practice started they warmed right up, though.  Owen is our natural athlete, and he did exactly what one might predict of him...ran his heart out, kept right up with the kids, had fun and he says...got three kicks in the net (there is no scorekeeping).  I didn't see them myself but I am inclined to believe him.  He was so excited by the end of the morning that he said he wants me to sign him up for the fall season (even though this was just the first day of the spring season ;)  Asher also played the role one might expect of him...he and the other 3.5 year olds struggled to stay focused on coaching directives.  Asher was particularly inclined to follow his own path.  Once, he found the cones at the corner of the field and used them as hats and ran around.  Once, he started pretending to be a superhero on the field when dribbling got a little boring.  Once, he started kicking the ball to the wrong goal.  Once, there was a pack of kids around the ball and Asher did what any sane person should do...picked up the ball with his hands, pulled it out from the pack of feet, placed it a few paces away, and happily began kicking it himself!  Ha ha!!  He was the star of the comedy show, that's for sure.  I noticed that if he was dribbling the ball and another child came up and got it away from him he would sort of step back to let them pass.  His playing definitely improved once I pulled him to the side of the field and informed him that in soccer, if the other team takes the ball from you, you can try to get it back and steal it from them!  It is kind of bizarre how much time we spend teaching kids to share and not grab away...which Asher heeds pretty well...and then suddenly they are supposed to do otherwise on the sports field.  Anyway, they were a couple of happy and hungry boys after that and it led to a Saturday of high-spirits.  Unfortunately, I think today was only one of two Saturdays total where they have games at the same time, so we'll be having to go back and forth to the field most days, which is less than ideal, but it seems worth it after a fun experience today :)

Asheremote

I let the kids watch a TV show a day.  It is pretty handy to have a capable older child...Owen can run the 'gear' now.  We have quite a few remotes...one for the TV, one for the DVD player, one for the netflix streaming box (we don't have cable, we watch shows via the internet with a little Roku system), so it is saying something that he can navigate all of that.  Well, I needed batteries the other week and was out so I scavenged some from the TV remote.  Never did refill the remote.  The boys have developed a hilarious compensation:  Once they get permission to watch their show, they plop on the couch, Owen gets out the remote for the Roku, realizes he needs to turn the TV on and then says, "TV TURN ON!" in a commanding voice.  Asher then gets up, runs to the TV, turns it on, and runs back to re-plop on the couch.  Who needs batteries when there are little brothers?!

Easter

Easter celebrations were a bit hasty and last-minute this year.  (Even more than previous years.)  Could it be a major construction project taking up all the free time?  Or perhaps the princess arising at 4:45am for weeks on end and driving me to the brink of sleep-deprived insanity?  Well, what saved us was a visit from my hardworking mother.  We miss her already (today was grandma detox day, and that's never pretty).  We managed to do a Christian seder/passover meal, which needs some editing for holding children's interest in future, but was still fairly successful according to our own low expectations!  Everyone even enjoyed eating lamb.  Mom and the boys made bunny and basket cupcakes that lasted all weekend, dyed eggs, and did Easter sticker/story books.  Sunday we braved the crowds for an early morning service and then headed home for egg hunting and the ever-popular ham dinner.  Oh, and we had resurrection rolls for Easter breakfast courtesy of Lauren B.'s inspiration, which didn't *quite* result in an 'empty tomb' of croissant dough, but rather a sort of melted marshmallow goo around a very low cave opening...but were oh so tasty nonetheless!!  I later learned that I think I should have made them in muffin tins.  Oops!  So it was a wonderful time of building traditions while we remembered as a family that...
Jesus willingly died for us, in our place.
He proved his claims as Messiah by rising from the dead, and historical evidence holds this up.
He conquered death and invites sinners to be with Him, even a guilty criminal.
WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, he did all of this!  Amazing.
The fear of punishment and death removed, we are freed to love God and others because he first loved us.

That is good news for me.
Happy Easter, a bit late ;)

Squirrel-hunting

Owen, bursting indoors:  MOOO-OOM!  Asher found a stick and he wants to call it a stabbing stick and he wants to stab a squirrel with it so he can bring it in and show it to you.  Can he do that???

Me:  [pause.]  [pause.]  Well, I guess it's OK to try to hunt a squirrel.  If you can stab a squirrel with a stick you will be a very talented hunter.

Owen:  WAIT!!!  Mom, can I take salt and pepper outside?  I remember that somebody told me one time that if you put salt and pepper on a squirrel's tail, he'll stay still so you can catch him.  Can I take the salt and pepper, can I, can I?

Me:  Oh sure.  Take the salt and pepper and try your best.  I'm going to take a nap while you guys hunt.