Fun for a Dollar

That's one thing I love about kids (and some adults too). Finding amusement in simple things. Several weeks ago when Logan was spending the day with us, we ended up at the Dollar Tree to get a few things. Two of them were squirt bottles the boys used on each other.

Since then, Luke has been fascinated with squirting. I told him not to in the house, but reluctantly gave in to his persistence and let him squirt in the trash. Lucky for me he thinks that's great.

I took these pics of him from the inside of the glass doors.

Inches Away

Almost literally were there inches away. Luke, Norah, and I were at work today. I was sitting at my desk working at the computer and Luke was sitting at a nearby computer desk playing kind of behind me. I turned around to find him playing with scissors just inches away from my hair! Now I'm expecting him go after Norah one day, but me??? Anyway, it was a close call.

Tales of Potty Training

Well, I admit that I haven't read enough books about the subject, but we're trying to potty-train Luke. I think there will be plenty to blog about on this subject alone.

I'll start with Luke's first impression of the potty. He was drawn to the soft cushion he should sit on and thought it would be better used as a steering wheel. I should've seen that coming.

A few weeks ago, Luke did go potty on his potty. It was great! We praised him and rewarded him. Here's Pup giving him a few "new" trucks for his accomplishment. (I bought a bag of trucks from Weeruns for $3 to use as rewards when potty-training came.)

Yesterday he woke up dry so I took him to his potty while I got ready, hoping we could chat and he'd forget any pressure to go potty. He had some trucks in there and was sitting on his potty waiting. When he got up to get a truck, he ended up peeing all over the bathroom. Oh well, practice makes perfect. We'll keep practicing.

Truck of the Week - a summary

Well, I've fallen short of keeping up with the blog, so I wanted to catch up

Truck of the week - June 28th - metal Tonka dumptruck

Seems indestructible and we'd seen one at the church retreat that another little guy had brought. I got it at a yard sale despite Kim's advice against getting it. Sorry Kim, this one was just too cool.

Truck of the week - July 5th - actually, it's a motorcycle

We spent most of the week visiting Mom and Dad's. Luke wanted to see the motorcycle Dad keeps on a high shelf. He didn't part with it very often the whole week.

Truck of the week - July 12th - a fire truck given to him by the neighbors who were getting rid of toys their grandkids no longer wanted

Fireworks

We went out to the Reinhardts for their annual 4th of July festivities - that's fireworks and homemade ice cream. I was looking forward to Luke trying a sparkler.
In this picture, my eyes were closed on purpose because at the exact moment that we lit this sparkler, someone lit a firework that made a really loud boom. I figure Luke will associate those two things now. And he was very scared of the loud fireworks - as you can see in the last picture. He ended up inside playing with his friends.

Hand-me-downs

Not much of Luke's apparel is appropriate for hand-me-downs to his sister, but this Cardinals outfit sure is. He wore it often when he was this age. I think she looks quite cute & comfy in her Cards attire.

Hand-me-downs

"Night Night Moon"

Reading Goodnight Moon at bedtime has become one of the parts of the day that I don't want to miss. I started reading that book to Luke a couple months ago, and it soon became his requested book at bedtime. After we read the book, we lay there and say "Night, night _______," filling in the blank with every person's name and word in his vocabulary.

One night as I was tucking him in I got an important text about one of our friends, so I was sitting on his bed texting and calling our friends to ask for prayer about the situation. Luke was patiently waiting for me with Goodnight Moon. While I was talking I noticed him "reading" it to himself. He'd say the right words on the right pages, like "Night night stars" on the star page and "Night night mittens" on the mitten page. It was so cute. A teacher-mom heart melted:)

A Lesson on Living

This week I made plans to bring the kids and visit my parents. It's usually a pretty relaxing time and I want my kids to know their Pa & Mema even though they live 3 hours away. The day after Mom and I made plans, she called to tell me that my neighbor from childhood, Roy, passed away. He was 90 and had lived a great long life. He and his wife Bernice (whom he's standing behind in the pic) lived next door when we were little and were just like grandparents to us. In the past few years they've made the effort to come to our wedding and baby showers. That meant a lot to us.

I think that God uses death to remind us of what's important in life. Last night Bernice and her son & daughter-in-law were over visiting. We all sat around reminiscing. Not over Roy's bank account or what kind of car he drove. But of how he treated people, the impact he had on people just by his kind behavior, the way he taught by his actions not just words. We shared stories of the time we spent with him, conversations we had with him.

So here's to not putting so much thought into replacing my ugly kitchen floor or landscaping our yard. Here's to making time and people count. That means that marathons of Settlers of Catan games ARE important. And morning walks with friends. And time spent scrapbooking and chatting. And meals shared among friends. And days spent at Mom & Dad's to just be together. Harley rides and frisbee golf. At least that's what I'm reminded of when I think of a certain neighbor and the Pepsi breaks he shared with the little girl next door.

This is what life is made of and what we remember, so let's make it count.

The Tale of a Lover's Quarrel

Many of you know that Luke is quite smitten with Cate Taylor. They've probably seen each other nearly every day for the last year. Nowadays they stroll together in a double stroller so that Norah can use the single stroller and we can all still walk together. Kristin and I were amazed at how well Luke and Cate strolled together, and how patient Cate is with Luke's tormenting ways. Most days they are very sweet with one another, and Kristin has been known to say the kids practically make out in front of us. Other days are not so good. Like last Monday. Here's Luke's side of the story when asked:

Luke: "hit...cup"

Momma: "Then what happened?"

Luke: "mad"

Momma: "What did Cate do when she was mad?"

Luke: "bite Cate"

Translation: Luke hit Cate with his cup one too many times, she got mad, and bit him.

I looked down to notice teeth marks on his arm, but I think his feelings were more hurt than anything. His girl had lashed back for once. And I'm sure it won't be the last time!