Mommy! Mommy!

Yesterday morning, I was in the bedroom finishing getting dressed, and I could hear Gresham calling, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" I called back to him, "Gresham! Gresham!" and I could hear him giggle. "How sweet," I thought. Well, it turns out that he was calling me to wash the POOP off his hands because he had put them in his dirty diaper! Lovely! There was some on his crib and his jammies, so we started our day with a bath and laundry.

I was just thinking of moving him out of his crib and into his big bed. Now I'm thinking maybe not...

Our finished living room!

Here is our completed living room! Well, sort of. We haven't painted the entryway yet, and it looks like we have enough paint to do the hall, so we'll be painting that as well. We should be able to finish on Jordan's day off on Tuesday. Lord willing, that is! With small children, you never know what the day will hold!

I am very happy with the color, and we were able to arrange the furniture to have a bigger "open area" for train layouts and games of chase.

Highlights of the Week

• We painted our living room this week. Actually, we aren't done yet. Jordan is still working (it's 10:00 p.m.!) to try and finish. It looks great! I will post pictures soon. We still need to do the entryway and hall, but that will be for another day when we have a babysitter!
• There is no good way to arrange our living room furniture.
• In the midst of this painting project, I am listing bunches of stuff on ebay (kid's clothes) that I bought on sale last year. It's a crazy week, but I need the money to buy stuff for the kids, and this is the best time to sell for a good price.
• We bought our school curriculum! Now I just have to pick a start date! We bought some first grade phonics books and first grade Saxon math. I just couldn't bring myself to pay money for kindergarten stuff, so we'll just go ahead with first grade, but take it slow.
• School starts for me on the 28th! Yikes! I'm not sure if I'm ready!
• I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow, and have no list made. This is a recipe for disaster but I am too tired!
• Time for bed!

Somos hermanos...

When I was little, we watched a lot of Sesame St. One clip that I remember in particular was a song called "somos hermanos," which means "we are brothers." It was about a boy and his baby brother, and it was cute. I'm sure it's on YouTube somewhere. Aidan and Gresham remind me of that song - they sure do love each other! I took these pictures on Saturday when Aidan was "reading" to Gresham. Sometimes he really is reading, but mostly he "reads" books that he has memorized. Aren't they cute?

How to have an unproductive conversation with a 5 year old child

Aidan: Mom, what are those metal things in the street?
Mom: What do you mean?
Aidan: Those round metal things.
Mom: Man-hole covers?
Aidan: Yes, I guess that's it.
Mom: That's how people get to the pipes to repair them.
Aidan: Do they leave the cover off when they are down there?
Mom: Yes, I think so.
Aidan: So they have light to work?
Mom: Well, they probably also take some lights down there.
Aidan: So maybe that would be a good way to get to somewhere like Califonia. Travel through all the pipes down there.
Mom: Um, if you went through the pipes you would probably end up at the city water supply.
Aidan: The what?
Mom: The lake where the city gets it water.
Aidan: Yeah (in his "duh" tone) so you could just get on a boat and sail across the sea and go back in those things (meaning pipes) and get to California.
Mom: This is ridiculous, we aren't going to talk about this anymore.
Aidan: I'm just trying to come up with a plan for us!
Mom: Okay, well on Sunday let's try that - we'll go down the manhole cover and go through the pipes to get to church!
Aidan: Nooooooooooooooo!

How to have an unproductive conversation with a 21 month old child

Aidan: Mom, Gresham is throwing train track!
Mom: Gresham, come here!
Gresham: Hiding!
Mom: (after finding him). Gresham, when Mommy calls you, you must obey. Did you throw train track.
Gresham: No.
Mom: Yes, you did. Did you throw train track?
Gresham: Nope. Nope. Nope.
Mom: Aidan saw you throw it.
Gresham: No.
Mom: I know that you threw train track.
Gresham: No. Nope. No.

So here's my new and better way!

Aidan: Mom, Gresham is throwing train track!
Mom: Gresham, you threw train track. You are going to be disciplined for this.

The end!

Note: We do not usually like Aidan to tattle, but he is allowed to tell us if Gresham is doing something that could hurt someone or something.

Little Miss Muffet...

So, the other day, I was watering the back yard, and the biggest black widow spider that I have ever seen came darting out onto its web and back again before I had time to smack it. We have seen at least 10 of these delightful creatures since moving into our house, and this was by far the biggest! Unfortunately, her whereabouts remained elusive, and I had not seen her again despite spraying water directly at her little hole in the foundation.

Then, last night during dinner, Jordan looked out and saw her in her web in our playset! Jordan willingly left the table and killed her, which made me very happy since she looks awfully "big" and I'm not really wanting thousands of baby black widows all over the yard!

Unfortunately, I doubt that she will be the last...