The Summer of...

This is the summer of:

Juan!
Seth currently is on a word kick with pronouncing "won" as "Juan". We frequently hear, "I JUAN - I was in first place!!" Sweet.

Front Seat!
Katey has reached a new milestone. She has been allowed to sit in the front seat of the van when we are out and about during the day. We discovered that she is not heavy enough to trigger the airbag in the van (but she is in Mike's car) so Katey is on cloud 9 since being graduated (usually) to the front of the van.

Dutch Blitz!
Katey has learned to play Dutch Blitz and we have been having tons of fun with this card game. Also, over the weekend Mike taught Katey to play Settlers of Catan. It is hard to believe our little girl is big enough for fun, grown-up games, but we are so excited to beat her at teach her all the fun games that we love to play!!

DS!
Seth has been diligently saving his cash in order to purchase a Nintendo DS. This last week he had saved half the amount needed so Mike decided to reward this savings-effort by matching it. Seth is the very proud owner of a new DS Lite!!

Ear Entertainment

The kids were so amusing yesterday. I wish I could remember all that was said that had me chuckling inside, but alas, Mommy Brain is a real thing and I definitely have it. However, here are the choice things I DO remember.

Out of the mouth of Seth:
"This is my favorite shirt b/c it shows off my armpit muscles. I’m pretty lucky because Andrew has only one armpit muscle but I have 2."

And here he is showing off said armpit muscles. I don't get it- looks like just an armpit to me...but what do I know, I'm just a girl.
Andrew is Seth's best buddy and it was news to me that Andrew is apparently missing an armpit??

Though, speaking of armpits and Andrew, Seth informed me that he and Andrew have created the AL Club. That would be the "Armpit and Leg Fart Club". Both boys are enthusiastic members and quite adept in their...um...art?!

Here is Seth showing off his mad skills!

As I was making some cinnamon toast yesterday, Katey and Seth were having the following conversation:
K: One time Daddy buttered, cinnamon-ed and sugared BOTH sides of my toast!! Can you believe it? - BOTH SIDES!
S: (laughing heartily) Yeah, Daddy's crazy!
K: (in utter seriousness) Daddy's not crazy, he's just different!

Nominated

We are pretty sure that our kids cast secret ballots to that "everyone-knows-it-exists-but-no-parent-can-prove-it" award committee. You know the one; The Worst Parents Ever Award.

You may be wondering what we have done to deserve such a vote. It is so terrible, horrible, atrocious and awful I'm not sure it should even be shared. But, here goes anyway:

We made them taste strawberry cake.

Yes, you heard it here first. We MADE our kids try something so awful as CAKE.

The Culprit:

Now you can understand why we have been voted against. I mean, really, I don't know what we were thinking - asking our kids to even consider putting this in their mouths!!

The Reactions:

Check out the evil-eye our sweet daughter is giving us. Yikes! But it is NOTHING compared to the show that our son put on for us:

This was after one (tiny) bite of the cake. It was also after he ran to the bathroom crying and gagging. Seriously.

Now you can understand fully why we have been nominated for the Worst Parents Ever Award. I think we might just win...but if not, we consider it an honor just to be nominated!!

Looks can be deceiving

Katey is the only girl I know who tattles on the perceived threat of something. Heard last week at our house: "Mommy, Seth LOOKS like he is THINKING about kicking me!"

I fear we are in for a long summer...

And Speaking of Style...

Why yes, those are light blue soccer socks pulled up to Seth's thighs! And yes, it is 98 degrees outside!

Farewell Found Feathered Friend...

Sunday, May 29 was an eventful day at church. It started off normal enough but as Mike and I were getting ready to head to Discipleship and Life (aka Sunday School) we were beckoned to see about helping a little bird that seemed injured in the parking lot. When we got to the bird we were surprised to find a beautiful little white cockatiel!

Mike, being the avian lover that he is, got down beside it and was able to rescue it from the parking lot. He drove home, holding the bird, and put it in a spare cage we had at the house. When we got home from church the kids were super excited to see a new bird friend and dubbed him/her/it "Polly". While Polly was rough around the edges, with missing tail feathers, scabs on its head and a few other feathers missing, she perked up after getting some food and water.


The search began for Polly's real home. I had no idea that there were so many missing cockatiels in our general area, but we were contacted by 5 or 6 pet owners trying to find their beloved, missing birds. Honestly, we had given up hope and decided to just try and find a nice, loving home for the bird when I got a call this afternoon and met up with a nice woman who thinks the bird is hers.

Apparently her bird, Charlie, went missing about 3 MONTHS ago!! She said that Polly looks like Charlie, but with birds it is pretty hard to tell. While we are not 100% sure that Polly belongs to her, this bird just made the day (and probably month) of a wonderful widow who was missing her bird terribly.

Our goal was to find the owner or, if we failed in that, to find a good home. Hopefully both were accomplished today!!

Stylin'

Katey has an unusual sense of style. The other day, after painstakingly choosing her outfit, she came downstairs wearing this:

Sorry I cut off the top of my child - pictures on the phone can be tricky!

Then, when I told her to go upstairs and change, she insisted that her outfit looked fine and she didn't want to change (though she did).

So, this morning Katey went upstairs to get dressed before heading for donuts with Daddy. She came back downstairs and stated, "Don't laugh, I just threw these clothes on real quick!" When I turned to look, this is what I saw:
I think this is the most matching outfit she has ever put on herself!!

And, sorry Aunt Shannon. Here is Seth's new do:
A faux-hawk!! But, shhhh...he insists it is a mohawk...and he is thrilled beyond belief!