What Would I Do Without My Older Brother?

I just heard this exchange...

Joshua: You crack me out.
Noah: It's up. You crack me up.

Silence

What's funny about this to me (besides the obvious) is that they were playing a video game and neither one was laughing. Maybe Joshua meant you crack me in because he was laughing so hard on the inside? It was nice that for once Noah corrected Joshua without being rude. Score one for video games - they distract you to the point of politeness.

Snarfing

Thanks to the book Snarf Attack, Underfoodle and the Secret of Life: The Riot Brothers Tell All by Mary Amato my boys have been trying to snarf. What is snarfing you may ask? That would be trying to make your opponent (brother) laugh while drinking his milk. In fact, you want him to laugh so hard that milk actually comes out his nose. Thankfully, they've taken some liberties with the definition and just want to make milk come out their nose. This is better because instead of snarfing at the dinner table (which I prohibited) they took mouthfuls of milk out onto the deck and tried to make it come out their nose. Noah found it more difficult than Joshua and was not able to get the milk out. Joshua however, was proud of himself for being able to snarf once. It looks like we might have a new talent for the talent show next year.

The Lincoln Girls

Last night Charity and I spent a little time in Lincoln for Maya's preschool graduation. Almost as exciting was that we went without our children. My boys were not happy about being left behind until I reminded them that we were going to be spending the weekend in Lincoln. With guilt averted, I was able to leave the house alone. 

Here are a few pictures of the Lincoln girls. Unfortunately I was not able to capture Owen's blur of activity. Maya, the soon to be kindergartner, was giggly and adorable. 

Here she chats it up with Ava after the ceremony.

While here she attempts to find the proper graduation pose.

Happy Birthday Ava! - She celebrated her 6th birthday Tuesday. We are ready to rock out at your party on Saturday.

Stella - Cautiously watching for the next Owen attack.

I am thrilled that summer is almost here and that means more time with Lincoln cousins!

The Helicopter Seed

Noah came home from school this week with a helicopter seed and every intention of growing a "helicopter tree" in our yard. Before I knew it he was showing me where he had planted it in the middle of the grass in the backyard surrounded by four bricks. I told him we didn't want a tree growing in the middle of the backyard and that he needed to put the bricks back.

While I was making dinner I heard things like "uh-oh" and "oh no." Noah came into the kitchen and told me not to get mad but a little dirt got in his bedroom. When I asked why he mumbled something about it falling out of his shirt but since I was trying to get dinner on the table before going to 6:00 soccer practice I didn't think much about it. 

When we returned home this is what I discovered:

A trail of dirt and dirt balls leading to Noah's room.

Dirt over a mess of things on the floor.

Dirt all over his table and DS. (That would be his rock collection on the table - mostly from the school playground.)

More dirt on the floor - I particularly enjoyed the shoe outline.

Finally, the helicopter seed planted in the dirt that made it into the container, drowning in water, sitting on a pile of books, with a nightlight to help it grow. 

When I saw all of this I told Noah that there was too much water, that a nightlight wouldn't help a plant grow and that he couldn't keep it teetering on a pile of books. His response: "I never said I was an expert at gardening." 

Add gardening to our list of summer projects.

Jackets: Friend or Foe?

Our outdoor "weather station" currently reads 47.4º. Anything under 60º and I make the boys wear a jacket. I'm just mean that way. Apparently once you start wearing shorts your little boy brain tells you that jackets are never necessary again. Of course, this means there was moaning when I said " you need jackets" even though Noah was sitting under a blanket too cold to brush his teeth just moments earlier. 

The jacket conversation continued in the car when Noah informed me that he wears his jacket to school but then doesn't put it on again the rest of the day. This is where I made the mistake of trying to reason with him by telling him he wouldn't need it by the end of the day, but it would be cool this morning and he would want it. His reply, "I'm already BLAZING hot!" Too cold to brush teeth to blazing hot in less than five minutes. My in head response - whatever Noah. Yes, I'm mature like that.

Still not prepared for these around the clock conversations once summer hits. Last nights dinner conversation: If the world was made of chocolate... 

Hula Hips

Friday marked the first Crawford debut in a talent show. Noah performed a hula hoop routine with his Daddy assistant (Joshua was originally going to assist but that never worked - it usually ended in fighting which I don't think qualifies as talent.). 

Not everything went as planned but Noah kept on going and finished strong. We were proud of him for doing it and I think he was pretty proud of himself. He definitely enjoyed the crowd appreciation. I see more shows in our future.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

The other night we were out on our deck discussing the unwise choice of a ground squirrel to make its hole next to our backyard. With two cats living at our house and two frequent cat visitors, the ground squirrel doesn't stand a chance. The neighbor's cat, Jasper, was at that moment sitting behind the hole waiting for something to dart out. 

Suddenly a shadow in the grass started moving and fluttered up. Jasper quickly knocked it back down. At first glance we thought it was a wounded bird, until the same thing happened again and we realized those weren't bird wings but bat wings. After a few more rounds of this the bat ended up laying in the middle of our backyard. Jasper wasn't interested in the bat unless it was moving, which it wasn't. After several minutes of no movement Rich went to get rid of the bat while Joshua and I watched from the deck. 

To verify that it was dead Rich tossed a stick. Nothing. He tossed a rock. Nothing. He went over and poked it with a stick at which point the bat flew up and directly at my head! I swear it looked just like the bats at the beginning of Scooby-Doo with it's little scrunched up face coming straight at me.

(When I replay the event in my head I hear those screeching bats.) 

I turned around and stumbled over Joshua as I tried to push him inside and get the screen door closed before we were attacked or had a bat in the house - I know I did a very girly scream the whole way in. I'm sure the bat didn't even get close to us before it flew up into our tree and was gone.  

Muskrat. Bat. What will our next wildlife encounter be?

*It's good to know that I will save my son in times of danger instead of pulling a Costanza.