Rain

A little fun on a warm rainy day before the pj's get changed.  Owen is pleased with his recent 'bubble' umbrella acquisition.  Then, boys ready to gaze at the eclipse of the moon.

Eden art

Eden is on a people theme...a prolific artiste!  And there are pages and pages of letters, usually E's, D's, M's, O's, i's, A's, N's and Y's.  Eden will say, "Mom will you sound out these letters?"  I will make up some real words and she'll say, "No, that's not what it says!  Sound out the letters."  So I will sound them out as written.  Then she'll give a frustrated sigh (as in, Mom, you just don't get it!) and then she will read to me what it *actually* says.  She's got her name down, and is now practicing Asher's name, too.

I LOVE the hands with fingers :)

Quotables

Asher: [gazing into a sunbeam]  I am eating dust mites.  Aaaampf. [Opens mouth wide to take in as many motes as he can.]

Owen:  But aren't those coupons inspiring?
Me:  What??
Owen:  They're inspiring, you can't use them.
Me:  OH.  I do believe you mean EX-piring.

Me:  I love you all the time Eden.  Every minute of every day, forever, no matter if we're having a good day or a bad day.
Eden:  Me too, I love you too all the time Mommy. [pause]  [under breath] Except sometimes not.  Sometimes I don't.
Me:  Like when I got you in trouble for not listening to me earlier?  You got mad at me and didn't feel like you loved me anymore?
Eden:  Mmm-hmm.
Me:  Well that's the good thing about mommies. Even when we are mad, we still love our kids because love doesn't happen just when you feel happy.
Eden:  Hmm. [not sure at all about this.  sounds very fishy.]

Asher:  Mom, you would LOVE Magic Treehouse books.  I am absolutely sure you would love them a lot.  You should read them, really!

Owen:  Why do so many people write movies and books that give kids bad dreams.  That makes no sense!

Eden, the marker years

Eden and her markers are fast friends.  There have been a WHOLE LOT of pictures of cats from the internet that have been colored in.  Rainbow cats, gray cats, cats with spots added, cats with stripes and extra hats and tongues licking up food, and anything else you can draw on a cat.  Eden is branching out into more drawing now at 3.5.  She was pleased as punch to show this one off today.

"That is me, Eden.  And I am on the beach.  And that is a crab I am holding.  And there is another crab on a sandcastle."  I think there are a couple of trees, and a sun and a sky there too :)  She was SOOOO proud.  The neck was a new addition after asking, "Mommy, what comes next after a belly?"  She always draws from the shoes up.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening at the beach and found handfuls of hermit crabs.  Great fun!  If you have never been to the beach on a hot day in September in New England you are missing out.  Absolutely perfect, and the water is finally warm.  It was bliss!

Tomorrow is Eden's 2nd day of preschool and she is staying for lunch.  She is going to the same preschool that Asher attended.  Asher was giving her a hug goodnight after day 1 and I overheard their conversation from the hallway.  Asher said, "Eden, you are SUPER lucky.  You don't even know how lucky you are!  Mom only let me stay for lunch one or two times and it is so much fun and you get to do it every time.  You are gonna LOVE it.  That is super, super lucky!"  Asher has been detailing all the fun she is going to have, and let me tell you this smoothed the transition of my reluctant separator by an enormous amount.  Siblings are just fantastic.  Eden is indeed one lucky little girl with two very loving (to her, anyway!) big brothers who regularly roll out the red carpet for her.

Magnets

Asher:  Mom, I found these from science, where should I put them? [little steel scraps that are fun for picking up with magnets]
Eden:  Asher found the magnacks!
Asher:  Eden, you mean Mag-NETS.
Eden:  No, Mag-NACKS.  Those are the magnacks!
Asher:  Mag-NETS.
Eden:  Mag-NACKS.  Magnets pick up Magnacks.

I'm sure that'll sort itself out in a few years ;)  The things she thinks up!

p.s.  If you order a 4"x.05"x.05" neodymium magnet from Amazon, expect to have to sign for it and remove a whole bunch of safety warning before you get to the magnet.  Also, don't have a pacemaker.  Or credit cards.  And don't get too close to your fridge or anything else iron-containing with your fingers in the way.  And don't get iron filings on it!  But short of that, have super-fun.

Break time

When moms need a break and have some polymer clay on hand:

Anyone need tiny chicks or penguins?

Owen's 8th

Owen requested a Minecraft party for his 8th birthday and had a blast with friends.  Games--beat up the creeper relay, creeper pinata, minecraft war card game, can't remember what else...

There's even a Minecraft version of the Bible!

It's always something...

...I am no longer surprised in any way by what happens at any time.  Just when I think I've seen it all, there is something new!  You can go down the slip 'n slide much faster with a garbage bag dress I guess.

Paint!

Asher's 6th

Asher wanted a robot party!  He had a great time celebrating with his buddies :)

Making robots out of all sorts of goodies + glue guns

Robot jobs obstacle course (this is the house-cleaning robot, hanging up clothes)

The sniffing robots had to sniff out the cinnamon from many choices.

Robot pinata!

All lined up and no inattentiveness when candy is about to rain down...

Robot cake!

4 months!

Looks like it's been 4 months since I've posted a thing.  Blame it on being plumb worn out at the end of the day, and a whole lot of summer travel!  I will endeavor to do some catch-up and post old pictures that have accumulated.  All the missed moments, though!  It was a grand year for family, relationships, and fun.  It's hard to live in the moment and keep notes about the past for the future all at the same time :)

As for the present, the end of summer has brought out the craftiness in everyone.  There has been so much peace in this house thanks to the Rainbow Loom!  Owen is absolutely engaged at every free moment he has in figuring out how to make a new pattern, or a little loom creature, or a project from his new Rainbow Loom pattern book.  He has permission to get on YouTube as he wills if it involves a new project and he has spent many hours watching others make something and copying the steps.  This is only a very partial pile of the fruits of his labors!  We have gone through many bags of tiny rubber bands, but Oh. So. Worth. It!!!

Asher has joined in the fun too and recently acquired his own loom.  Having a big brother to show you the ropes makes all the difference.  

Eden isn't quite up to rainbow loom yet, but she is coloring like a 1st grader, writing all her letters (in gibberish order and then reading to you what she's written) and is recently in love with stringing beads and making perler bead shapes.  She tells me quite often that she used to be little, but now she is BIG!  She is headed to 3 days of preschool next week and is feeling quite big in her britches.