Quite the Foody

Oh yes, our son has quite the refined pallet.

"Mommy, I want something for dinner that comes in a wrapper."

Summer Activities

Over the past few days, Alexander and I (with lots of help from friends and family) have been compiling a list of 50 things we'd like to do this summer. Some of these things will require some planning, others are simply boredom-busters. Some are things that we'll probably do several times over the course of the summer. I tried to have a mix of things that help us learn or connect us to the community, along with plenty of things that are simply FUN! I plan to blog about some of the more interesting things we accomplish. I hope we are able to do everything on the list!

Our List of 50 Things We'd Like to Do This Summer:

1. Make our own play-doh.
2. Hike "the white trail."
3. Sleep in a tent.
4. Take food to the food bank.
5. Visit a new playground.
6. Pick up trash in our neighborhood.
7. Visit Ava.
8. Go to the pool.
9. Have a picnic.
10. Go to the zoo.
11. Write a letter.
12. Do a science experiment.
13. Go to the lake.
14. Go to PopPop's house.
15. Read 10 new books.
16. Make pudding.
17. Go to the library.
18. Play in the sprinkler.
19. Walk around our neighborhood lake.
20. Ride bikes.
21. Use sidewalk chalk.
22. Make our own book.
23. Try a new food.
24. Make a new friend.
25. Learn something new about the solar system.
26. Go completely underwater at the pool.
27. Learn something new about our favorite animals.
28. Learn a new song.
29. Have a dance party.
30. Go a full day with no TV or video games.
31. Do something kind for a stranger.
32. Teach Jack to count to 10.
33. Teach Jack to sing the alphabet.
34. Plant/Grow something.
35. Learn something new about Maryland.
36. Make a family tree poster.
37. Draw self portraits.
38. Learn 5 new Spanish words.
39. Make puppets and put on a puppet show.
40. Identify 3 birds.
41. Learn how to help Mommy or Daddy with a household chore.
42. Find, identify, and press three flowers.
43. "Paint" with water on the sidewalk.
44. Make a family newspaper of recent happenings.
45. Make something useful/cool out of "trash."
46. Make a fort.
47. Send a care package to soldiers overseas.
48. Play Red Light, Green Light.
49. Play Hide and Seek.
50. Play "What I like about..."

Not touching that one with a ten foot pole...

Alexander's musings of the day:
"Mommy, there is an invisible princess here. And I married her. She is going to sleep in the same bed with me every night. She will sleep on one side and I will sleep on the other side. Ooooh, I can't wait for those babies that we will have!"

The Sensational Six

I can't believe the preschool year is almost over! Only 3 more days of school! I took this picture today of all the kids to stick in the Thank You cards for their teacher (and will print one for each family, also). I'll seriously miss this class!

Kai Baby

Just a few pictures of my newest cutie! (I do realize that pictures of newborns are all basically, "look, here's my baby sleeping in a chair... and here on a bed... and here in a different chair..." and that they all look the same. But still, who can resist?)

Yep, I have three boys...

This scenario is brought to you by Jack. Words in brackets are my additions for clarity of his intended meaning.

Setting: C3PO, R2D2, and Chewbacca have all come to visit the Bat Cave.

C3PO: Hi, there. What you doing here?
R2D2: I poop here. See?
C3PO: Aw, man!
Chewbacca: I [will] shoot [the] poop. I clean poop [with] my shoot shoot.
R2D2: Alright.
Chewbacca: Shoot, shoot. I clean poop [with] my shoot shoot.
R2D2: Thank you.

("Shoot shoot," if it's not obvious, is what Jack calls a gun. It's all horribly inappropriate.)

So that's what they do...

Alexander: Today we learned about community helpers.
Me: Oh yeah? What kinds of people are community helpers?
Alexander: Police officers. They catch bad guys. And firefighters. They put out fires. And astronauts. They explore space to make sure it's still safe from aliens.
Me: Ah ha. That is helpful.
Alexander: Yes, that is why they are called community helpers.

Even better!

I really don't plan on posting a new picture of the three boys every day, but I couldn't keep this one to myself. Alexander just loves to hold Kai, and yesterday he asked to hold him and wanted me to take a picture. Jack "Me Too" wanted in, also. And either Kai happened to do the "I'm peeing," smile at exactly the right time, or he was actually smiling in response to the fact that Alexander had just tickled under his chin and talked to him in a "I wuv you, wittle cutie pie," voice. I'm going with the latter, making this his first smile caught on camera. He gave Justin a few the other day which I think were genuine, but he hasn't given me any real ones yet. All in good time...

My cuties

I do wish Alexander would occasionally wear clothes, but...

My Turn! Mom's Day

Yesterday was Mom's Day at Alexander's preschool, so Kai and I went to spend the day with Alexander and his classmates! As a special treat, a travelling petting zoo had come for the day as well. We were able to see and touch baby chicks, turkeys, a duck, bunnies, a sheep, and a mama and baby goat. Alexander was, as usual, pretty reserved around the animals, but he did touch a few and ask some interesting questions.

After the petting zoo, we went back to the classroom for some fun activities. The kids had all drawn pictures of their moms, and the moms had to take turns guessing which one their child had drawn. Here's me!

The children also presented us with beautiful hand-made cards, a gift of note cards made with fingerprint animals, and they each had a special reason why they loved their moms (Alexander's says that he likes when I cuddle and tickle him). It was very sweet. We ended with some sundaes and watched the kids do their Marching to the ABCs song and dance.

Spring or Summer?

Brothers