Chalk and Hockey

Greg told Benjamin he could only use chalk on the sidewalk or the driveway. Benjamin looked him in the eye, drew on his face, and said, "I'm a sidewalk."

On our way to a hockey game!

Happiness all around!

And silliness!

One hunky husband.

I was told to take one of myself, too. I follow orders.

I love the rare moments when I can catch him just laughing freely.

 No analyzing, no worrying, no "trying" to be something in particular. Just laughing.

At the game.

Little troublemaker.

Making my insides feel all warm and mushy.

I love this little face.

Out of the Mouths of Boys

Benjamin told me tonight that I'm his best friend. He said Daddy is our best friend, too. And Jake.
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Benjamin said I have Miss Tosha hair. And eyes. And mouth. And face. And I am Miss Tosha. And he is, too. So then we had to play Miss Tosha by calling each other Miss Tosha over and over again. Silly boy.
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We heard a song by Carla Bruni. Greg told Jacob her name. Jacob said he'd heard the first name Carla before, but hadn't heard the last name Bruni. Greg told him it's an Italian last name but that she was married to the French president. Jacob said, "What? So they're mixing up two countries in Europe?" I was impressed.
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It's 8:54 p.m. Bedtime is at 7:30. They're both chatting away in their room, just being goofy. It's a huge improvement from before bedtime, when the spent most of the evening fighting.

Surprise Trip!

Last night we took the kids on a surprise trip. It started off as just a normal evening after school/daycare. We got in the car and drove for a couple of hours. The kids enjoy any trip when they can take off their shoes.

They requested several photos of their feet.

They're very happy to show their feet off.

Our hot driver.

At the surprise destination! A waterpark hotel!!! We got there too late to swim last night, but let the kids enjoy popcorn and TV in bed for a while.

Benjamin got to spend a few minutes on the top bunk. He was pretty happy.

A hotel room with a king bed and a set of bunkbeds? Pretty sweet.

Enjoying the breakfast buffet.

Benjamin wasn't sure what to make of it at first. I think he was in sensory overload. He stayed very close and didn't want to get wet at all. Jacob took off right away and didn't stop for several hours.

Look at this place! I can't imagine how massive it would seem to a 2-year-old.

My beautiful Jake.

It took a while, but Benjamin finally agreed to the inner tubes.

Jacob wanted to try the monkey bar rope/floaty things. He wasn't quite tall enough to reach the ropes, so two very nice older boys held it down for him. :)

About halfway through, he got scared, and jumped down. He made it to three floaty things. Not too bad for a boy who's too little to reach the rope by himself!

One of the tubes goes OUT of the building and back in. The dark blue one is pitch black inside!

Getting the hang of things and loosening up.

Jacob in the whirlpool area. He had fun for a while, but I made him get out when the big kids started making the water go around really quickly. 

Pure joy on Benjamin's face as he goes down the slide.

In front of the waterfall on our way back to our car.

Note how big the t-shirt is. This is a kids' medium. They had extra small, but Benjamin didn't want them. He made sure he chose a color that wasn't available in extra small. 

Super bands! 

To wrap up our fun trip, we went to one of our favorite restaurants. Our favorite server doesn't work there anymore. :( However, we still had good service.

They have a new dessert for kids! It's a fun-shaped rice krispie treat on a paint tray. The kids have a paintbrush and chocolate and strawberry "paint" with sprinkles!

Our first surprise trip was a success! 

Do you concur?

Hi, I'm Greg. I'm a long-time reader, first-time contributor. So anyway, my story from today:

Katy and I had something to do this evening, so my brother was going to watch the boys for a couple of hours. Because I didn't want my brother to have to worry about feeding them, I was running through the McDonald's drive-thru after picking them up from school. Benjamin never wants to eat in the car. He always says, "Are we parking?" If the answer is "no," he gets a little fussy. Today's conversation went something like this:

Benjamin: Are we parking?

Greg: Not today. We have to get home, so we will be eating in the car.

Benjamin: [whining] I want to park. I don't want to eat in the car!

Greg: Would you rather we not go to McDonald's at all today?

Benjamin: ....

Greg: Ben? Do you want to drive through, or should we just go home?

Benjamin: .....

Greg: Should we drive through?

Benjamin: Yes.

Jacob: I'm glad he said yes, because if he said no, I would not concur, because he would make me not get McDonald's either.

Greg: [Internal monologue] Did he just say "concur"? Yes, he did, and he used it correctly. hmm...weird. Where did he hear that? Who knows. Whatever. You shouldn't be so surprised; he does this all the time. Also, did he really think I would let Benjamin decide whether we got to eat dinner or not?

Jacob DOES do that kind of thing all the time. Yet I'm still surprised every time, and I wonder what may be coming next. Whatever it is, it will be something amazing.

A New Hardy Boys Fan

I'm allowed to brag on here, right? I mean, you don't have to read this. If you don't like it, you can just close this page. And I'm just a proud momma. :)

Jacob started reading a Hardy Boys book yesterday. Just a page before we realized it was past bedtime. This morning, he woke up early and started reading. He got through 20 pages before it was time to go to school. I'm happy to say he loves it! I am super excited. I hope he remains a book lover forever. 

And this little stinker wanted me to take a picture of the new dump truck. CVS had plastic dump trucks on MAJOR clearance tonight. $1 for hours of fun. I wish I'd gotten two!

My Cute Boys and Fresh Haircuts