From the Mouths of Babes

Too bad I can't write what Ellie's been saying. Whatever it is, it's pretty funny, but I have no idea what it means or how to spell it.

Earlier this week we were at a church function. John was wearing a shirt that says "I (heart) my Dad". One of the ladies, Jeanette asked him about it...

Jeanette "John, do you love your Daddy?"

John (not thinking about his shirt and apparently not understanding the question "Daddy's still at work"

Jeanette "Oh, but do you love your Daddy? It says so on your shirt."

John (very matter of factly) "It's just a shirt."

Eve got her school backpack a few days ago. Princesses, of course. So, she's been wearing it around everywhere. This morning she was calling me "teacher", so we played school a bit. I asked her what she thought we should learn today. With her hand to the side as if she was carrying a food tray, and flipping it with each new subject...head slightly tilted in the other direction and hip out, "Maybe play-doh...coloring...and tattoos."

After lunch today Eve got very upset. That's not so uncommon. She gets frustrated easily and deals with it by screaming (i.e. wind is blowing her hair in her face "NO MA'AM WIND! NO MA'AM WIND! THE WIND IS BLOWING MY HAIR AND I DON'T LIKE IT! NO MA'AM WIND!") So she starts screaming. I calm her down enough to scream actual words and this is what she screamed, "I CAN'T JUMP ON ONE FOOT! I WANT TO JUMP ON ONE FOOT, BUT TWO FOOTS KEEP JUMPING!" I know it's mean to laugh at your children when they're upset, but she makes it really tough not to. Finally she got it and was very proud of herself.

Checking In

We've had a whole lot of not very much going on, which is what I was really excited about this summer. Last week we were all supposed to be doing Bible school, but even that was put on hold for all except John while Eve fought a nast cold with a pretty significant fever (boo!).
So, what's new? We got a few puzzles from the dollar store and John and Eve have been working them like champs! They've really enjoyed them and impressed me with how well they're doing them. Ellie has started trying some wooden puzzles we have. She'll put a piece down somewhere on the puzzle, then put her hands on her puffed up chest and look at me as if she's the proudest girl in the world just waiting for praise. It's pretty funny, especially since most of the time it's not even close to where it's supposed to go.
Eve is finally getting her 2-year molars. No, I didn't mistype that. She's only got one peeping through, but we're getting there. I'm sure that didn't help much with how she felt with that nasty cold. She's a really good sicko, though. She did great with her medicine and didn't hardly complain at all.
We've started a new TV/chore policy that is on week 2 now, and I still like it. The kids have to get dressed, make their beds, brush their teeth, and make sure their room and the floors downstairs are picked up before they can turn the TV on. So far it has made a huge difference on keeping the house in relative order. Also, they're allowed 2 free TV shows a day, but can earn more by reading, exercising, or writing (that one is for John, obviously). They've handled it well without really any complaining, and John has been eager to read and exercise. He even went to the kids exercise class at the Y (which we've been trying off and on for almost a year now and never succeeded). He had a GREAT time! We also signed him up for soccer for the first time, starting in September, so hopefully group activities like that will become less intimidating and more fun.
Ellie is a speed demon, still walking with her arms behind her a lot, so she looks like a gold-medal track star. She's also speaking in complete sentences. She doesn't have any words yet, really, but she makes lots of sounds and strings them all together, and along with her body language it's clear that she knows exactly what she's saying...and it's important. She punctuates each of those sentences with an exclamation point. Lots of yelling...very emphatic. She has most to say about her shoes. I only recently started putting her in shoes (she's hardly ever even worn socks). You'd think that would drive her crazy, but somehow she's inherited that same gene Eve has...definitely NOT from me...that makes her love shoes. She always wants to wear them and gets really upset if you take them off, and will tell you all about it. I guess the gene is a bit different. Eve loves the idea of shoes and thinks they're cute, but also has a hard time keeping them on. I'm not so sure Ellie cares about the fashion as much as just wanting to wear them (I think maybe because she wants to go outside). We got her some new sandals and she did a little stomp dance when I put them on her. If I tell Eve and John to go put their shoes on, Ellie will run around the corner to the box of shoes, pull hers out, bring them back around the corner, sit down, and lift her foot for someone to put them on.
Also, we took John and Eve to the water park this weekend while Ellie had a special day with Grandma all to herself. It was crowded and hot, but lots of fun. John and Eve, especially Eve, LOVED the water slides. Something tells me we're going to spend a lot of time in lines at amusement parks in a few years. No fear!

Looney Bin

We have a new (relatively new) favorite in the house. Looney Tunes is a HUGE hit! All 3 were cackling this evening. Good, honest, belly laughs, which brought the number up to 5.
While we're talking looney, I started to feel guilty that Ellie doesn't seem to know things that kids much younger know, like what a cow says and where her nose is. Now granted, we just haven't gotten around to focusing on those things, and I'll bet those other kids don't know how to use a whoopee cushion. Still, I felt like I should start being intentional with some of those things. SO, in addition to sticking her tongue out when we ask "Where's your tongue" (still with some coaxing, but I'll give it to her), she also knows where my nose is, and of course, expects it to "honk" when she squeezes it to show me.

Cute For Now

I'm surprised it took this long, but Buck just taught Ellie to stick her tongue out. I know one day (or lots of days) she'll get in trouble for it, but it's cute for now, and she's so proud and thinks it's hilarious.

Ridin' The Waves

We just got back from a week at Sunset Beach, NC with Grandma and our friends the Powells. We had a house on the canal, so we had the best of both worlds. We spent plenty of time at hte beach, just a block down the road, but also plenty of time fishing, crabbing, and kayaking. It was a really great, exciting, relaxing, fun vacation. It really couldn't have been better. I thought a week at the beach would be too long, but I think John put it best. I was saying to him, "Aren't you glad Daddy works so hard so that we can have this nice vacation? We should give him a big hug and say Thank You." Not meaning to be disrespectful or unappreciative he replied, "I wish Daddy could work harder so we could spend THE WHOLE SUMMER at the beach!" Here are some (OK, lots) pictures. Ellie spent more time in a chair snacking than riding the waves. She was OK with the water on her own terms for a short while, but enjoyed the food better. I think it was more of an attachment phase than a real dislike for the water. A couple of times Buck took her out into the waves and they jumped them together, and she actually loved it.

Our best purchase was this shovel.

Fort #1. That's a proud little boy!

What are we going to do with that girl? 20 more years, sweetie.

Lots of fishing to do, not so many fish to be had. Well, not so many to be had by us, at least. Still, lots and lots of fun.

Eve's favorite place to play. Eve, when you're older and looking at this and wondering why there aren't many pictures of you, it's because all week you said, "will you please not take any pictures of me?" Or more often, "DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE!!!!!"

Her legs are not really that long. It's the camera angle.

Ellie and Grandma bonded a lot this week.

The beginnings of fort #2 (I think). Ahhhhhh! So relaxing!

For some reason they both started eating fistfulls of sand and thought it was the greatest most hilarious thing. Gross.

July 4 - the kids decorated festive cupcakes.

And Suzie decorated a festive cake.

We caught at least 6 crabs, but a few were small and one died in the bucket (it was the biggest one...John caught it...bummer)

Ellie decided to decorate her face, too.

Every kid tried the crab except Eve. Every kid liked it. Yum!

Buck gave a concert to the entire canal. He got lots of applause. Now the kids won't stop singing "Bungalow Bill".

Thank you to the Buckinghams and Cushmans for leaving the boogie boards from our family reunion at Tybee Island a few years ago! We got your money's worth out of them this week!

Jumping over the volcano in the middle of fort #3, or was it 2? Either way, it was awesome! A volcano surrounded by a moat.

IN the volcano. I promise it's a big wide hole. He was never closed up in there and always had plenty of room to breathe. He's actually doing sort of a head stand.

Eve was a bit tired and found another use for the volcano (after she spent her share of time jumping over and in).

Here comes the water!!!!!

The work crew. This was a HUGE deal!

And once the water hit it was even more messy fun.

Ahhhhhh. This is the life.

Eve loved making sea-foam beards. Never a dull moment with that one.

John has a new love. He's gotten to be really good at casting. Unfortunately he practices a little too much to actually catch anything (and for me to feel like I can lower my guard for a minute and not worry about hooks flying near my head)

This is Ellie's new walking stance. A few times she started to walk happily and courageously (or ignorantly) toward the water...until a "big" wave came and stifled her happiness and courage.

What a great family time together to relax and enjoy each other. The kids were asking before we had all the sand rinsed off how long until we can go back.