daddy's helper

 Ethan has an attention span for very few activities except when it comes to helping dad with yard work.  He will push his mower right behind Chris for 30-40 minutes.  Hauling mulch in his dump truck kept him busy most of the  morning!

Jokes

NiNi has been creating some of her own original jokes lately.  Here goes for a flash back to first grade humor:

What did the bunny call the cat when it was jumping?  A bunny jumper
What did the kid call the cow when it was eating grass? A land mower
What did the kid call the baby in class?  Warm up your brain!  (not sure about that one)
What did the banana do when it loved banana splits?  Do the splits!
What do you call a monkey eating a jalepeno?  A cry baby
What did the kid call the monkey with a hat?  A funky monkey

and my personal fave...

Why did the post-it note want to be warmed up? So it could become a toast-it note!

misc. kids stuff

Ethan constructing...or deconstructing....his sandwich

Rough morning...found him like this when I turned around with breakfast

NiNi getting a citizenship award at school

Ethan giving his bear a time-in.  He said bear was "not ok at" (not ok where he's at)

 

Dad and NiNi's lincoln log masterpiece

baby goats

Ethan is collecting more and more things he can't sleep without.  2 dish towels, froggy pillow, dinosaur blanket, and now this little bible:) 

Kid stuffed in a bucket

Ethan update

We got a good report at Ethan's last check up.  He is 26.8 lbs and still in the 1%ile for both height and weight, but the doc is satisfied that he is growing.  We can finally take him off the formula.  Good thing because I was starting to think he may have to take it to kindergarten with him.  He has a lip and nose revision coming up August 1st.  They will work on the cleft side of his nose a little and remove the excess tissue from where his lip was "over-closed" during the initial repair.  Not sure how I feel about this since his little fat lip has become so much a part of his smile and look.  A new lip will take some getting used to on my part:(

 Against my better judgement I filled a baby pool with sand and put it on the screened in porch.  It does keep him busy, but costs me dearly in terms of the mess.  Some days this is worth it, other days, well....  The kitchen floor has a "beachy" feel to it.  And my bathroom sink is clogged with sand where he takes his cars through the "car wash." 

 

The "Cars" movie is his new favorite and he asks to watch it everyday.  Every red car he sees is "Lightning McQueeen."  In order to give me a break (and so he can have some time to pray), Chris will take Ethan on a drive...there are some country roads north of here.  Ethan likes this since daddy has a "race car."  "Mommy no race car," he reminds me daily.  Yea, the mini van is pretty boring.

 

Mother's Day pear tree

The stache

 

What do you think? Sort of a cross between the Stalin and the handlebar. Sophisticated, mysterious and just a little bit menacing. 

 

 

 

 

Parenting: Dirty little secret #64

 

I teach my kids potty words.  There I said it.  Awhile back we had an extra long wait to get Ethan's hair cut.  He had crunched through three suckers, scribbled on all the paper in my purse and was becoming more rambunctious by the second.  I started whispering secrets in his ear and this kept him on my lap.  As you can imagine, your run of the mill secrets got old pretty fast.  But the "potty secrets"...now those were a completely different story.  Golden nuggets like, "Superman wears pink panties" and "Spiderman goes poopy in his pants" seemed to cast some sort of hilarious tranquilizing spell on him.  He would cackle and slap his hand on his knee and then cozy his face up to mine and ask for another. Kept him busy for 20 minutes until his hair cut and I left feeling pretty proud of myself.  And no one ever had to know.  Until today.  Ethan's 61 year old preschool teacher came over for a home visit.  At the end of their session she picked him up and he said, "Rita I tell you a secret."  We all know little boys can't whisper, so from across the room I heard, "Rita, mommy went poopy in her pants."

Ethan's 4th birthday

Ethan and Cohen

 

Soaking in all the birthday love

 

First pedal bike

Taking her for a spin

 

Kyle entertaining the kiddies with his stellar juggling and magic skills

Oreo cupcakes and race car apples