a little bit of this and a little bit of that

Sophie really wanted to go to her Spring Fling at school and I was on the fence about it. It was Friday night and I still had to go grocery shopping! Her final argument was: "Mom, if you don't go to the Spring Fling you're like out of it for the whole week. Everyone will be talking about oh, did you do this , did you do that."

Max didn't want to wear a particular pair of shorts one day. I realized he really was not happy when he finally told me: "These pants are ridiculous Mommy, I feel like I have a diaper on!" Where do they pick up these big words?

One day I went downstairs only to find one of the gates had been pushed over again and Henry had snuck a game from the office. When I asked who had pushed the gate over Henry gave me his little boy smile and said, "My imaginary friend!" Hmm, how convenient! He has never mentioned this friend before.

Our neighbor's cat was laying lazily in our driveway under an Elm tree waytchong the kids play, and Alex was on his new tricycle when he announced: "I'm donna det dat cat." He quickly peddled toward Ninja who of course immediately ran away. Maybe this is why Ninja has been visiting our backyard sandbox again!!!


Sophie gave her first Family Home Evening lesson on Monday and did a really good job! It was very thoughtful and creative. We loved her modern day story that had a plot from several scripture stories: A young boy and his friends decided to use bad words. They turned into bad boys and were so bad that they fell on the ground and couldn't speak or even get up. After three days an angel came and told them not to use bad words anymore!
At least, we know she listens. The boys really loved it, especially during her object lesson because they were able to participate. She had made a little spin the needle board with all the kids names on them. Then they got a word and had to decide whether it was a good or bad word by placing it on a blooming or a wilting flower she had drawn. The needle landed on Maxi's name first and he was just convinced Sophie did it on purpose, which made it the highlight of his evening!


Max and Henry were able to catch their first tadpoles with Sophie and Callin, a neighborhood friend of Sophie's. Of course Alex wanted to do it too, he would lean over the edge of the rock where they were under and just as his hand was about to touch the water, he would quickly pull it back. He did this several times until I finally had to drag him away. He never did get to catch a tadpole and was not very happy with me!


The boys went with me to Pikes and helped me pick out some flowers to plant. I decided to put them in a pot which Max was just very unhappy about. He insisted that flowers needed to be in the ground and had to grow from flower seeds. I just had to pull rank on this one , but ultimately he was happy and now just loves to water them!


The boys have rediscovered water gun fights this year, only these are more like rifles (the pumping kind). Needless to say, they are soaking wet when they are done, but have a blast each and every time. Alex hasn't figured out how to shoot his but he sure likes to pump and aim at his brothers. Although the family rule is you can't shoot Alex, he doesn't like it. This kind of surprises me because he actually likes cold water when he showers (something Herb discovered, ultimately he is just as mischievous as they are).

After a trip to the park during Spring break, the kids got to pick their first strawberries. The boys were enthusiastic pickers! The strawberries weren't sweet like the ones from the grocery store, but Alex still enjoyed them quite a bit. They did taste good cut up and with some sugar after a few more days of ripening.

We were having some Brotzeit after an adventure to a European Butcher in Austel the day before. We asked Max if he wanted some smoked gouda we had bought and he immediately started making a scardy cat face and asking us to please stop saying that word. He told us that hearing "smoked gouda" made him nervous and scared! It was the "smoked" part that was the scary part. We spent the rest of the meal spontaneously blurting out "Smoked Gouda", and each time we would get the desired reaction. Funny boy!

Alex was somewhat crying the other day, and I went to check on him. He was wiping his hair, I touched it and realized it was a little wet. I asked Henry if he put water on his head, he said, "No, it's not water", with a little smile. I thought gross, it must be spit, lovely!
A few minutes later, Henry calls me to come and see his hair. I said, "What, did you wet it?". He said "No!" and wipes his hand on top of his head. I noticed something fell off, picked it up and realized he had cut his hair! Thank goodness he is a boy and needs a haircut anyway.