Sneak attack!

This is my attempt to post on my own family's blog!  Don't expect too much, kind of like a low-budget film, and you'll be surprised!

We went to a great dinner yesterday, put on by one of our neighbor's.  They like waffles, apparently, so they set up about ten tables and 60 chairs in their backyard, invited the neighborhood over, and served waffles to everyone.  Of course our children enjoyed the dinner of almost straight sugar, but more than that, Christi and I enjoyed talking with one of our neighbors that we didn't know very well.  It made us realize that we shouldn't cut ourselves off from our neighbors, that maybe we could at least make new acquaintances, if not new friends.  So, Christi and I are resolved to have our own backyard party and invite neighbors.  I'm sure the kids will love it:  they already get excited about anyone who comes over.

funny kid

     Why is it that it can take months to teach a child to say "Amen", but the first time you say the word "stupid" in front of them, they can repeat it perfectly?  And not just once either.  I was talking about something and said it was stupid (I know, my mistake) and my 18 month old said the word instantly, perfectly...and repititiously, of course.  Oh well...

     Right now Noah is in the stage of repeating everything he hears, although no one would ever know it since he is so quiet around other people most of the time.  I love listening to them learn to sing.  Oh, it melts my heart!  Today's song was "London bridge is falling down" which sung by him is just the words "falling down" sung over and over again and his cute little body bobbing up and down...I love it!

adventures in toothpaste

I don't know exactly when it began, but I believe our children have a certain fascination with toothpaste. Through the years it has been found many places outside of the bathroom and outside of our childrens' mouths. Today's adventure in toothpasting took place in the kids' bedroom. They snuck it out of the bathroom when I thought they had taken early morning potty breaks. Yes, I know, I left it out of the medicine cabinet, but honestly, do you think there is much that can stop truly determined kids? Anyway, I went to get them up and dressed and found blue toothpaste smeared on the wall, on a bed, all over the rugs, and of course on the top of the boys' heads! Yay...just what I was hoping for, right? hehe. Our other adventures in toothpaste include painting a sink, painting and end table, and my favorite is filling toys. Yes, the last time we had a toothpaste adventure was right after Christmas. The kids had gotten a hand sized button that you pushed and it was Hallmark's Hoops and Yoyo making wise cracks and being funny. Cool toy...for the short time we had it. Not long after Christmas, the kids popped the batteries out, took it into the bathroom and filled the battery compartment with bright pink toothpaste! I will appreciate their ingenuity later...right? Anyway, never a dull moment!

a new kind of tag

With our kids being quite close in age, there is usually a lot of noise in our house. Jessica and Joshua in particular, are always aruging back and forth, teasing, chasing...all the typical brother/sister relationship stuff. One day recently it was particularly quiet. This is usually when my "mom radar" goes off to tell me that mischief must be afoot! I made my way into the living room to find a game of tag going on and lots of laughter and giggling. Huh? Where is all the shouting and screaming? Then I saw it. One of the kids pushed the other one up against the couch, kissed them on the cheek and said "you're it!" Aaaah...kissing tag! They have a good ole time and Mom likes that it reduces the amount of shouting, screaming, and hitting that their competitive nature usually brings out. I think I owe my thanks to Sleeping Beauty for this one, since I have also heard them say, "No, you can't kiss Mom! She's not sleeping!" Anyway, it is innocent and fun and I am sure they will be back to their regular pushing and shoving soon enough anyway!