He knows he's right...

Today we went to Tom Thumb to get a few groceries. On the way out, Aidan heard someone on the store intercom system saying something like, "Customer service manager, call 202. Customer service manager, call 202." I'm not sure exactly what they said, as I was trying to get two kids and a bunch of groceries to the car! Aidan heard it, however, and said, "That's not right. It's supposed to be 201. They always say 201." I have no idea if they "always" say 201 or not, but I could not believe that he was so sure that he was right and that they were doing the wrong thing. I tried to discuss it with him a little, but I was obviously wasting my breath!

Won't it be fun to homeschool him! Actually, it will be fun to do school. He loves to learn and loves to be busy. Some days I'm just not sure how to handle him. It's hard to teach someone to be teachable. It's also hard to pick which battles are worth having. Obviously, this Tom Thumb discussion was not worth having, but it is a problem that he approaches life assuming that he knows more than everyone else.

Time to go look at curriculum options...

Knock, knock...

Since Aidan is 5, I thought I should teach him some knock knock jokes. Every child goes through the stage of making up jokes that don't make sense and driving everyone else crazy with them, right?

Here's his favorite so far:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Boo
Boo who?
Why are you crying?

Here's one he made up:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Alligator.
Alligator who?
Alligator crocodile!

Followed by lots of giggles. Yep, he's right at the developmental level I thought he was! I may be sorry I taught him these...

Guess he's been listening to Dad...

Yesterday, Aidan was playing with our Little Tikes ride-in car and was driving around the house. He got out and said, "Wow, I had a hard day at work today."
"Oh really?" I said.
"Yeah, people just kept returning stuff, and no one wanted to buy anything!"
You can tell where his dad works! (Eddie Bauer store manager, in case you are wondering...)

My favorite Gresham word...

Listen to him say "steps" - precious!

My son is 5!

Aidan turned 5 on Tuesday! I can't believe it! He woke up saying, "well, I don't feel 5..." I also don't feel like the mother of a 5 year old!

He had his first birthday party with friends. I wanted to wait until he was old enough for a friend party to actually go well, and we had a great time! We had a castle theme. When the kids came in, the boys made crowns, and the girls made medieval princess hats. I'm not sure what you call those...

We read "The Frog Prince" and then played "hot potato" with a stuffed frog.

We also played "pin the coins on the treasure chest." It was quite funny! Jordan got this castle stone paper at Teacher's Tools, and we made a castle on the wall. I made the treasure chest and "coins" out of poster board.

Then we had pizza for lunch - Aidan's choice!

Jordan organized the gift time, and did a great job! He held up each present, and had the person who brought it raise their hand. Some of the kids made the cards themselves, and I am going to save them because they are so cute!

On Sunday we are celebrating Aidan's birthday and Dad's birthday with the family, and then we can take a break on birthdays for a while!!!

It's a good thing we're not planning to sell our house anytime soon...

Yesterday we had some violin lessons. Between lessons, I asked Aidan to pick up some of the toys that were out. He was all wound up from playing, and was also mad that he had to pick up, so when I heard a crash in his room, I thought that I had better check it out...

When I got in there, he said, "Mom, I think I need to pay you some money."
"Why?"
"Well, because of this hole in the wall."
"Did you throw something?"
"Yes, I was trying to throw this truck at my tool bench, but I missed and hit the wall. I'm sorry. I'll pay you some money to fix it."

The hole is about the size of a nickel, so not too big of a deal. Still, I don't think that Dad is going to be real happy when he sees it... I was thankful though that Aidan was so repentant about it since he usually thinks of a way to make everything not his fault!

Then this morning, we got out crayons and colored for a while. I thought that they were all picked up, but my Gresham quickly found the 3 I had missed and left this artwork on the kitchen floor. It was a much bigger area than in the picture, but I had to get really close to get the camera to pick it up. Thankfully, non-washable crayon comes out with some 409!

Visiting Great Granny Dees

On Wednesday, Jordan's Dad came to visit, and we all went to visit Great Granny Dees! The nursing home where she lives had a birthday party for all of the residents with July birthdays, and so we were able to be there for that. Everyone had a great time! Granny was delighted to see the kids!

Bible Time with Gresham

Everyday after breakfast and bed-making, we have Bible time. Usually I do something super basic with Gresham, like summarize the pictures of the Big Picture Story Bible (a good book by the way), or read one of the stories in that book, or read a Bible themed board book. Today, Daddy was off, and so he did Bible time. I enjoyed listening to it, since usually I am the one trying to explain spiritual concepts to a not quite 2 year old!

Daddy: Who made Gresham?
Gresham: Aidan
Daddy: No, not Aidan. Who made Gresham?
Gresham: Jesus
Daddy: Well, God made Gresham.
Daddy: Last time we read about Adam and Eve. They had to leave the Garden because they disobeyed God. Today we're going to read about Abraham. Abraham obeyed God. Why did Abraham God?
Gresham: Sheep! (pointing to picture)
Daddy: Why did Abraham obey God?
Gresham: Bed. Crying. Bed. Crying.
Daddy: Gresham, listen. Why did Abraham obey God?
Gresham: Aidan
Daddy: No, why did Abraham obey?
Gresham: Jesus
Daddy: Well, that's a good Sunday School answer...

It's okay, we have plenty of time to work with him!

Why...

...does a boy who hates milk or juice absolutely LOVE to drink bath water???

Swimming!

What do active boys need on a hot day? A POOL! We bought this inflatable pool last week, and the kids love it. Gresham would stay out there all day. He has absolutely no fear of the water which is fun and scary! He kept laying down to rest his head on the inflatable seat in the pool!

Look, Mom! Look how I can throw my ball real high! Oh, look at it go over the fence... again!

(To Aidan's credit, our yard is about 3 feet by 5 feet. Okay, maybe that's a little exaggeration, but it is really tiny and it's hard to keep ball in our yard...)

Jordan is 30!

Jordan turned 30 on Sunday! We had a party on Friday night, and he even cooperated for a few pictures. He has had a big year - he is just finishing 1 year as store manager at Eddie Bauer. He's really good at sales and leadership, and enjoys his job. Jordan is also working hard on finishing his degree, and hopefully by next summer we can report that it is done!

Well, maybe not that fast!

Tonight I made some pasta for dinner. I really liked it - the boys had other opinions... It was penne pasta with cherry tomatoes and fresh spinach cooked in olive oil with garlic and onion. Aidan wanted to forego dinner and move on to dessert, so I explained to him that the dinner has nutrients in it that cake does not. I told him that the spinach and tomatoes have vitamins A and C, which are good for the skin and for eyesight and for helping things heal. I told him that the spinach also has iron, which is good for new blood cells.

A few minutes later, he said, "Wow, everything looks lighter now!" (meaning that the food was working and he could see better!). A few minutes after that... "Wow, my boo boo on my knee is already smaller!"

Maybe it works, but I'm not sure if it's that fast!

Gresham's Haircut

Before the haircut - I was not wanting to loose all the "baby hair," but he just gets so sweaty in this hot Texas weather!

For some reason, blogger won't let me type in between the pictures... Anyway, it was hard to get a good "after" picture. Gresham is crying in the top picture because he wanted to "see" himself in the screen on the digital camera. Unfortunately, there is nothing to see when you haven't taken a picture yet! He saw me editing these pictures and said, "Crying. Wagon. Have it."

He looks very cute and grown up now!

Gresham's newfound ability to express himself...

Gresham is almost 21 months old, and has recently aquired some better verbal skills...

This morning I went to get him out of his crib, and he was laying in there saying, "funny, funny."
I asked him, "What's funny?" He said, "blankie head." I can just picture him in there amusing himself putting his blankie over his head!

Today our air conditioner thermostat said "check filter," so I did, and it obviously needed replacing. Right now. So, we left for Target. While we were there we looked at water guns (Aidan wanted to get Dad a water gun for his birthday). Gresham found a toy wagon in the water gun aisle that he wanted badly. I told him to get back in the stroller, and he had a huge fit. One of those ones where everyone in the entire store is looking to see whose child is screaming like that. We finally made it to the car, and I informed him that he was not to behave like that. I asked him, "Did you throw a fit?" and he said "uh huh. wagon. Wagon have it. NOW!"

It really was a cute wagon. It's too bad he threw such a fit because I'm not buying it now...

More Suzuki Institute

This is Aidan's master class. The boy to girl ratio really was much closer to 50/50 in the overall institute, but Aidan's class just happened to be all girls and him! His teacher was Dr. Susan Baer from Lubbock, and she was wonderful.

Contrary to popular belief, children who play musical instruments do actually have fun as well. (And, playing the instrument is fun!) Here is Aidan eating Anca's chocolate cake.

Climbing on rocks during a break

DFW WOW Suzuki Institute!

This week has been monumental for me as a mom - I am taking my son to his first Suzuki Violin Institute! It is a week long camp for strings students, and I have many happy memories of attending Institutes myself. Some of the teachers are the same teachers that I had when I was a student. I wasn't sure if Aidan would like it, but I signed him up so that I could at least observe and pick up some teaching ideas. I am determined to not be one of those parents who pushes their kids to pursue the parent's interests, but I am pleased to say that Aidan is genuinely having a fantastic time! He told me last night, "Mom, I love this. We have to go every year!"

Aidan has four classes - art, a master class (which is pictured above - it's a small class where each student gets a short private lesson), a group class, and a music and movement class. The teachers are excellent! His group teacher had them singing the A major scale and doing ear training activities. Gresham came yesterday, and he loved music and movement. The kids got to play drums, shakers, etc., and then got to dance and march around the room.

We have two days left, with a concert on Sunday night. More pictures to come...