PJ walks

Two "pajama walks" this week--walks around the block in jammies in the cool of the evening, just before bedtime. Quiets the boys down.

Memorial Day

Very pleasant Memorial-day weekend. Aunt Amy visited; we launched a model rocket; we visited Mt. Hope cemetery, home to Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony; we enjoyed some spectacular weather. Hope you had a good weekend too!

One of the crypts in the cemetery was open, so we peeked in. Countless hours of Scooby Doo have prepared us well for all eventualities.

Just a random huge crypt. There are many, many of them in MHC.

Josh enjoying another tomatoey meal.

Forgot to mention some of the cool names we saw on tombstones:

Durfee Herenden

Alma Creek

Electa Osgoodby

Lulu Hadley

and the first names:

Berthold

Yette

Philander (isn't that an insult?)

Erwin

Elvira

They just don't name them like they used to... 

"The Adventure to the Crystal"

Ben, Elizabeth, Rose and Josh were on a quest to the Crystal!

They found a room and they looked for the Crystal. They found a  giant green mask but they didn't find the Crystal.

"What are these, Martian rocks?" said Rose. 

Ben said, "Those weren't rocks! Those were cat food! Aaah!"

Everybody ran out of the room, still screaming. Fortunately the giant white Siamese cat didn't follow . 

"Ben, Josh, Rose! Where are you?" said Elizabeth.

Joshua suddenly found himself in the magical toothbrush room. "Everybody, come here!", he cried--but no one answered.

Ben didn't know where he was. He was in a room with a black floor. 

"Stop, intruders! This is our town and you can't pass through! Stop or die!" The guardian  threw a spear at Rose. She ran away.

"You can't boss me around! You're not my Dad," Rose said.

Then two figures stepped out of the shadow, joining the guard. "You think?" they said.

The two new guards weren't very smart. Rose and the others chased them away.

Finally, they caught them. The third guard said, "You still have to catch me!"

"I think they just did," said the two guards. "Too bad," said the third.

"There's one room that we didn't check," said Rose. "It's this one. And look, it's covered in this white stuff, with the Crystal!"

"Really? I can't believe it! We actually really found the Crystal!" said Ben.

The End.

Josh, particularly pleased with his performance at lunch

Josh, at his "new" kitchen, on the sun porch

Weekend update

Hanging out in the back yard on Sunday.

Josh points at any animal he sees, which around here is mostly birds. Sometimes ceiling fans, too.

Sam helped me make chocolate-chip cookies yesterday. Yum.

Sam went to a half-birthday party for the neighbor twins. Everyone gave and received a gift for under $10. Sam got a kit for making these little guys out of a sort of clay.

Sam needed some clothes so Susan surprised him with an Angry Birds t shirt. Sam was thrilled. :-)

Photos in no particular order. Sam attended a surprise half-birthday for the  neighbor twins. ALL THE FOOD WAS PEANUT-SAFE! Including these astounding cupcakes. Wow.

Josh enjoying crawling around on the sun porch. The weather's nice enough that we spend a lot of time out there. 

Oh, the humanity!

Sam about to eat aforementioned cupcake.

Finally, Sam chatting up the girls at the party. Catholic school girls, no less--we were the only Protestants there. (There was an atheist family, but they left early.) Make of all this what you will.  They were all quite welcoming.  Very nice party. The high point for Sam might have been finding the dead crayfish in the nearby stream. 

Visitors, Mother's Day, etc.

Josh has learned to amuse himself and us by making a funny sound flapping the back of his hand against his mouth. This video doesn't show his very best work, but is fairly good. :-)

Sam is excavating a T-Rex (you know, like you do) in our dining room. This kit was a birthday present from last November, one of several we'd set aside and saved. Once he's found all the "bones," he'll be able to snap them together into a complete model. Easy-peasey. What are paleontologists complaining about? (By the way, this is Susan commenting on all of these pics/videos today.)

We had a wonderful visit last week from friends who are missionaries in The Gambia. Sam enjoyed playing with their three children so much. Here he's pictured with Hope, who is almost exactly his age.

Sam and our visitors are eating on our porch, which we just had tiled. The tiling is a huge improvement over the painted cement that was the previous flooring, esp. since the tiling is a softer kind great for babies to toddle on.

For my birthday last week, Tim and the boys took me to a great little Mexican place nearby. As you can see in this video, Josh "chair danced" to the Latin music for most of the meal! Unexpected and very cute. He also loved the guacamole and the black beans. As a special bonus, Sam lost his second tooth during this meal. There was much rejoicing.

Josh is toddling around here practicing his new-found walking skill. He's a bit tired so he's unsteadier than usual. Cameo by Sam's friend Lexy, who was here for the evening.

First lost tooth!

To quote Susan:

Josh, on the other hand, is probably horrified to learn that the teeth he's working so hard to acquire are just going to fall out...

Sam was thrilled!  And despite knowing the tooth fairy doesn't exist, he was pretty excited to find $1.50 this morning under his pillow. :-)

The tooth next to the gap is looking pretty nervous, too.

Sam, btw, wants a grenade launcher for his birthday.  He asked if guns ever shot bombs and I described a grenade launcher. When he said he really wants one I asked what he would shoot it at. "Trees!"

We have a little ways to go before he's ready for Oberlin.

Leembo

A late addition: This weekend, quiet on the whole, had a birthday party for Shannon, who lives across the creek.

It was in the low 50s, but sunny, so the party was outside. Aside from garage dancing, it included the timeless classics of birthday entertainment: Fling the Flamingo (through an inner tube), and the Limbo.

Shannon's mom was kind and decided against strict enforcement of Limbo code. And the kids had a great time.