Kindergarten!

Today was Gideon's first day of school! He was so excited. I asked for a hug while we waited for the bus and he ran over, kinda tapped my hip, then ran back to stand on the curb.

Braden tried to board the bus twice, and was sorely disappointed to learn that he won't get to ride the bus until he's five.

How We're Playing This Summer

Gideon loves to play "Boo!", so I found the perfect place to do that: a box fort!

 He's useless at designing/building, but once it's finished, he'll spend a good long time looking through all the holes to try to find me. He especially likes the reed shade on top; its high visibility and high sun blocking abilities are perfect for peeking through!

Each box (which is a top and bottom pair) cost me a quarter, making the whole project total in at $1.75. For older kids, I might double or triple that to really give them a good building set. I plan to buy more boxes and invite the older cousins over sometime next week to see what they can do.

Easter Sunday with Gideon

There Be Treasure!

The Day that Project 365 Died

I can't do it. The Universe has conspired with my husband and has left me unable to complete my New Year's resolution to post a photo every day. But that sounds dramatic. Let me back up.

Daniel is busy. All the time. He works on work stuff for many hours a week, tweaking, planning, and drawing up tweaked plans for this project he's working on. He also works on church stuff for just as much time every week, going over lists, mission statements, assignments, and all sorts of stuff. (For those who care, he was just called as the Elders' Quorum President a few weeks ago. It is quite the load of extra stuff to do.)

Most, if not all, of this homework is completed on the computer. The same computer that holds all my photos, my Photoshop, and which also has a full-sized keyboard and mouse touchpad. I take photos almost every day, but the little time I spend on the computer (which is a laptop, and therefore portable, and therefore used for work, at work, where I am not) is simply not enough time to keep up with a daily posting habit.

So, I admit defeat. I cannot post a picture every day. But, my dear readers, fear not! for I will not give up on blogging altogether. I am announcing my intentions to scrap this 365 project. It got me started on my blog, and that is enough. Please enjoy some pictures I've taken but not posted:

Not really getting the point, yet.

"Walks." Hah! More like, "Let's see if we can break and enter!"

Project 365: Day 80

Project 365: Day 78 Big Shoes to Fill

Project 365: Day 77 Putting Up Fences

Project 365: Day 52 Tiger

Project 365: Day 51 Glamour Shots in the Dairy Aisle

Every time I think of the word "glamour", I think of Fergie spelling for us in the song: "G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S". Then I can't get that stupid line out of my head. OKAY! We get that you can spell! It's about as inspired as listing off the days of the week. I'm looking at YOU, Black Eyed Peas. Isn't that the same formula that Rebecca Black used? And yet "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" was a hit. There's no fathoming the top 40.

Project 365: Day 50

I have two canners: one little and one large. The larger one we use as a toy box 11 months of the year. The smaller one sits in the garage 11 months of the year. Except when we bring it out to hold other toys. Or Gids.

"Daniel, have you seen Gid's toothbrush?"

Contents of the crevice behind the couch:
1 remote
3 manual toothbrushes
1 electric toothbrush
1 envelope
1 1/3-cup measure
1 baby spoon
2 grownup spoons
2 measuring spoons
1 giant rubber band

Project 365: Day 47

This little boy had a blast playing with the bowl that I need to return to the church kitchen.

Baker in Training

Gid loves when the timer goes off. As soon as he hears the buzzer, he says, "Oh!" and runs to the oven, pointing. He's very good about not touching the open oven door, and, apparently, watches me pretty closely when I use my oven mitt to grab things. He also loves to carry silverware around. He takes it from the dinner table and throws a fit if we try to reclaim it.

Project 365: Day 44 Our Helpful Boy

Project 365: Day 43

My boy is a rascally boy, and it's not often that he sits still in my lap. The only times he clings to me are when he's first waking up and when he's being shy. So I enjoy taking him into groups of people--he loves to hug me, then.

But leave him alone for one minute and he'll be up to his rascally tricks pretty quick:

The poor boy has a lot to learn. He innocently tried to play with these knobs (they aren't powered), but this little girl told him off. She's an older, more sophisticated woman, and knows not to touch knobs like that!

Project 365: Day 40 Playing with the Flash

Project 365: Day 39 Play Date

We wanted to take Gid and his cousin to the zoo to see the animals, but we showed up just as they were closing. We were bummed, but still wanted to play out of the house. I'm not a fan of the current outdoor temperature, though, so we stopped by McDonald's. The Play Place is probably just as good as the zoo in the eyes of these one-year-olds.

This kid had the greatest hair! I'll be disappointed when his mom gets around to cutting it... His cool spikes and porcelain skin make our Gid look almost flat and boring.

Project 365: Bath Time

We had Gideon's cousin stay with us for a few nights. It was possibly the most fun Gid has ever had. He loved playing all day with a friend, and I loved having someone else to entertain Gideon. 

Bath time was a blast. I learned that it's really hard to take pictures of naked children without capturing their privates. Thank goodness for the crop tool!

They loved pouring water from containers and dropping soap lids through the net hoop.

But I couldn't let them play for too long. At least one of them peed at least two times in the water, and Gideon enjoyed taking frequent gulps of water from his cup and straight from the bath. I eventually got too skeeved out to let it go on.

 They both love books, so that was the easiest part of the bedtime routine. Then it all fell apart for our boy.

Sleep? Hah.

Canadians; Parenting; Christians

Today was a fun day. I got to meet a man from Toronto, who had the most perfect Canadian accent you've ever heard! It was a delight to hear the differences between our Englishes: almost the same, but just different enough to occasionally jar you.

***

We're working on weaning Gideon, who adores nursing, and it's a little bit rough. Tonight, after putting him down for the night, I remarked to Daniel, "Sometimes, parenting is fun..." And, after a brief pause, "But sometimes, it makes you want to stab your eyes out."

"Why would you want to stab your eyes out?" He replied, "Then you would just be blind. Wouldn't it be better to stab something else, instead? He is cute to look at."

Yes, I suppose he has a point.

***

Today, while we were at the print shop, they had the radio on a Christian station. Now, I don't mind Christian music. It's generally fine stuff, just not my cup of tea. The station had a contest where you had to be caller number such-and-such, then finish the lyrics to a song fragment. The caller who finished the lyrics won tickets for a cruise, and said something to the effect of, "Oh, that's so awesome! Thank you, Jesus!" And I laughed out loud in the otherwise quiet print shop. 

Then I had to cover my faux pas by telling Gid, "You're so funny!" Whoops.

I tend to believe that God is more of a hands-off sorta guy. I think that Jesus doesn't usually care if you go on a cruise or win your sporting event. So the idea that Jesus had something to do with this woman winning was laughable to me. She didn't even thank the people at the station, like they had nothing to do with it.

Except, notice I said "usually"? I shouldn't have laughed, just because it's rude. But maybe the Lord wanted this woman to go on this cool Christian cruise for some reason. Who am I to judge the mind of God? Bethany is suitably chastened.