Just because...

I liked these and it's nice to remind myself that my obnoxious little 3.5-year-old is sometimes gloriously happy...and has dry pants. These were taken last week, before the onset of this lousy cold, in the playground after school. This cold has totally taken the wind out of her potty training sails!

Smunch on Fire Safety

A while back, Smunch noticed a banner in front of our local fire station and asked me what it said. It said "Practice Your Escape Plan" (or something like that). So, naturally, we had to go practice our fire escape plan. The kids and I had a grand old time running around the house, finding the closest exit and meeting each other at the tree house. When we were all tired, Smunch decided to make his own fire safety video.



Note: The stuttering's not so bad. We've finally gotten to the point where he has a large degree of control over it when he really wants to. He still isn't able to speak this fluently on a daily basis, but it's a far cry from the times when he could barely talk.

First Field Trip

Last week...or was it the week before? I'm really behind here. Anyway, Smunch got to go on his very first field trip without Mommy. The kindergarten class went to a local farm where they got to sample persimmons and mint plant, touch a sheep and pick out a pumpkin to take back to school with them for an as yet undisclosed project. Smunch had an awesome time and came back really excited. His favorite part?



If it hadn't been for everyone else getting off at the farm, I'm guessing he might have stayed on the bus the whole time...just because it was fun. And the seats were "so soft!" And yeah, I was surprised they didn't take a plain ol' school bus too.

Still, he had lots of exciting things to say about the farm too and he was very pleased with his pumpkin. Here he is with his group from the trip, his classmates, Reilly and Carter, who are twins and no bigger than my little guy. I'm always thankful for just how many children of smaller stature (is that the PC term?) are in his class. He fits right in!

Mam-in-a-Box

One of the true beauties of children is how they take one thing and turn it into something else entirely. And that's only for one day. The next day...or the next minute...it can be a completely different thing and they can use it for a completely different type of entertainment.

This is the box our new tent came in (or maybe it's the box for the tent I returned...which I clearly returned sans box). Smuch decided to color it and turn it into his rocket. Here's Mam taking a ride...weeks later...in the front yard.


Moments later, Smunch thought he'd take a rocket ride too, but Mam decided that it was clearly time to play "Big Brother Roll" instead. This game was even more popular!

Pack Mule

Daddy looks pretty loaded down, huh? I don't know that I've ever tried this particular stunt with both kids, but I can say that metaphorically speaking, every day has the potential to feel just like this!

Mam Logic

My kids have colds. I feel a little bad about sending them to school, but it's not like they're going to stay home and relax if I keep them here. Smunch sounds like someone in an old Western suffering from consumption (and yes, I know what that is, but it seems like it sets off fewer alarm bells if we just stick with the old timey term). Just the mere suggestion that they should stay home leads to some fairly creative arguments though. Yesterday, this was Mam's argument.

"I like [our cat] Skimble the best. So I don't want to go to school."

Here's your lunchbox. Off you go!

Waiting for the flood

Noah built an ark. Mam...she just made sure she'd be dressed for the occasion if it should come about while she was sleeping.

Mam and her friends

Relatively speaking, our kids really don't have any problem with sleeping at night. They're not hard to get down. They sleep through the night. They even get up and entertain themselves at 6:45 instead of getting in our bed...which is what they used to do. But Mam has a new requirement for sleeping at night. She not only needs to be surrounded by all her "ammials", but she needs to create a "fort" out of them, covering herself, and in this instance, even using one as an additional pillow. You almost have to wonder what's next...but I haven't blogged in a while, so I already know! See the next post for more sleepytime craziness.