Unconventional Imaginary Friends
We've been reading and talking about Thanksgiving at our house (for some reason...) a lot lately. The boys have really latched on to a couple of concepts- so well, in fact, that we ran into Massasoit at Pomodoro today. He sat at our table (he apparently ate a whole pizza by himself), and followed us home. John told me that he is so nice that he is going to stay with us for 5 years (he was quick to refute Isaac's statement that our new houseguest was going to stay forever: "Isaac, he can't stay with us that long. Everybody gets old and dies.") All the same, by this evening, the length of stay had been revised to 16 years.

Ever the instigator, I asked whether we were going to see Squanto (to whom Isaac seems to have taken a liking- he wanted to hear the Squanto story again and again). "Oh, yes. Massasoit is on the telephone inviting him." At least we had help raking the leaves (it really did help motivate the boys), and when planting time rolls around, we know who to call!

Labels: boys, history, holidays

- posted by Lenise @ 10:21 PM |

 
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Thank you to my dear friends and our loving families for your steadfast care for us. God bless you all with great joy in the gifts He has given you!

Love,
LPJI&D
- posted by Lenise @ 9:30 AM |

 
Productive Day
The day started out pretty dismally. I woke up with the full-blown version of the ticklish throat I sensed starting last night & decided to take a sick day. It became clear that I was the appointed oven-buyer and that at least Daniel was coming along. Jay wanted to accompany me, and the three of us trudged out into the cold, very wet morning only to discover that Lowe's could not deliver until after Thanksgiving (which did not come as a shock, given that it's the Monday before!) and that Daniel was cranky.

Mr. Paxifist, having been consulted, recommended trying elsewhere (which was not welcome news to my ears: Papa John's delivers on Turkey Day, after all!), and so I went home with 1 cranky child, a cranky self, and 1 happy child (we get to go to more stores?!?). I decided en route to let my fingers do the walking, and lo and behold, neither Home Despot nor Best Bully was going to beat Lowe's Friday AM delivery estimate.

Enter Mr. Paxifist with the toolkit. Paul determined that the fix involved nothing more complicated than re-attaching a wire. Good news: oven is fixed. Bad news: it's the same stinkin' oven that doesn't match the other appliances and HAS NO WINDOW, and now I have no good excuse to get rid of it. *Sigh*

While he was soldering away and Daniel was napping, the big boys and I went out to rake leaves. It was still drizzling very lightly, and they got tired of the work in about an hour (which is really pretty good, considering), so we came in and had cocoa. The backyard is pretty well covered with leaves still, but the far back (in front of the brackish ditch) is mostly clear except for the piles.

Then, while the big boys worked on an art project (Daniel was still napping!), I finally plugged in the venerable clock Dad gave me last time we were in Ohio, a project which took several weeks to accomplish simply because the power strip was buried. Now we have Westminster chimes! I also took the opportunity to move the older clock off the entertainment center and onto the piano, where it is more accessible for winding & pendulum tapping.

Not bad for a sick day: now I just need some good solid sleep!

Labels: boys, Consumer goods, home improvement

- posted by Lenise @ 6:14 PM |

 
Dress-up Fun




We were blessed to attend a friend's 35th birthday celebration: a surprise masquerade! My big boys went as "fancy guys", and the little one declined his caterpillar costume (cold, too much cumulative time in the car over the past couple of days, hunger, and fatigue tanked the patience quotient for all of us). It was an awesome excuse for me to buy a dress which I can now wear to the Ren Faire!!

(My thanks to Heather for the photos!!)

Labels: boys, friends, photos, trips

- posted by Lenise @ 8:45 PM |

 
Exercise
We walked the 2 miles down and 2 miles back from Jay's check-up yesterday (Daniel rode, of course). A donut snack and Biscuitville lunch aren't enough to totally negate the benefits from that, right?

Labels: boys, Mebane

- posted by Lenise @ 8:51 PM |

 
Did That Crack You Up?
The boys were discussing the various volumes at which people communicate the other week. There isn't enough caffeine on the earth to allow me to remember a whole conversation around here nowadays, but I do remember the conversation ending with Isaac making an observation that Jay wholeheartedly agreed with: Apples talk silently. Well, it was funny at the time.

Jay thinks it's just awesome when he makes me laugh. I wish I could remember what he said the other night, but it tickled my funnybone, and I told him he cracks me up, whereupon he launched into a series of crazy stunts designed for my entertainment, punctuated with "Did that crack you up, Mama?" Sadly, the answer was mostly no, and now and again, his antics looked slightly dangerous- not the way to promote mirth in one's Mama. Naturally he did eventually come up with a few more funnies, but the amount of effort he put in was eye-opening (he still didn't want to carry in a grocery bag for me the next day...).

Daniel, now, is really getting to the age of cracking me up. He still will say "no" when he means "yes", but when he means "no", he'll add "uh-uh" and shake his head vigorously. No mistaking that one! Tonight, he wanted to "play on the bed" (I'll bounce him on my stomach to the Wm Tell Overture in the key of bum-de-bum, or he'll raise his arms, smile, and say "Aaaaa" while falling on top of me, or he'll climb over me, run around the bed, and repeat, or...). He was in the mood for "Ta Tell!" (Wm Tell), so we did that once, at which point Daddy came up to commence bedtime operations. Daniel yelled "'Gain!", so I told him we could do it one more time, and I may have had to repeat once more before I pitched him over sideways onto the bed. This time when he said "'Gain", I told him he had to go find Daddy. Whew! Not a peep did he utter, but his face went from bouyant to aggrieved and suspicious in a split second. He even did that furrowed-brow glower out of the corner of his eyes. I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while! A few seconds later, the tot was cheerfully bidding me goodnight from his Daddy's arms. He may end up being more of a dramatist than Isaac. Heaven help us.

Labels: baby talk, boy talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 9:48 PM |

 
Yesterday's Fun
The boys voted for going to the Goldfish Store (Pepperidge Farm outlet) over attending the delivery of the Mebane Presbyterian elementary Sunday School food drive donations to Loaves and Fishes. The allure of Finn and the gang can not be overstated.

As the boys were loading into the car, John made a fascinating discovery:


He even knew that it was a praying mantis. The thing was about six inches long; it didn't require careful inspection if you were familiar with the species, but I was impressed that he spotted and named it from the car, about 5 feet away.

Thus began our 30-minute detour.

We learned a few things: Mantises do not like to be picked up
Mantises know when you're trying to lure them onto something
Mantises have SHARP spikes on their legs and can get their legs on you however you're holding them.


In fact, I didn't get the reaction I expected from Jay when I offered to show him the mantis photos. He went so far as to call them the stupid pictures, and made a point of mentioning the very sharp spikes on the insect's legs. I think his feelings were hurt that this insect he had regarded with so much fascination and handled with tender care had poked him with such cruel viciousness. All the same, he did want to make sure his grandparents saw the photos. He wanted y'all to be informed of the dangers attending praying mantis study (and the perils he had endured)!

Labels: boys, entymology, photos

- posted by Lenise @ 7:44 PM |

 
Photos from Ohio

Labels: family, photos, Travel

- posted by Lenise @ 9:33 PM |

 
Home Again, Home Again (Jigetty Jog)
Wow, is Daniel a fan of Uncle Todd. We've all missed him, but Daniel's just plain devoted. Daniel's starting to form sentences ("I see cat!") and I'm pretty sure he even put a question together the day we left home (though I can't for the life of me remember it), but his pronunciation is age-appropriate, which is to say, not especially intelligible. Hopefully I've finally learned what "shasher" means now (Daniel gets very frustrated when he's telling me he wants to take his fork to the dishwasher and instead of releasing him from the high chair, I sit there like a fool saying, "What?"). Todd's name, though oft-repeated, does not start with a "T" sound (not out of Daniel's mouth, anyway!) I can't tell whether he's saying "Codd" or "Godd", but it's not quite right!

We ended up staying at a hotel for part of our visit, owing to the size of my family, and so when we arrived at my parents' house Sunday morning, my parents and Todd passed us in the driveway on their way to Sunday School. We got out of the car and went into the house, Daniel asking hopefully, "Codd?" After I had explained to him that Uncle Todd had gone to church and we'd see him there, he constructed a classic baby sentence: "See Godd church." :) When we came into the sanctuary, Todd was sitting with my parents and Daniel went up to their pew and hesitated just a second (he's been very shy recently) before proceeding to cling to Uncle Todd for the first half of the worship service. It was very sweet! The older boys did really well, too, having been not especially disruptive rght up until Communion, when Paul decided to take them out for a walk (we're not LCMS-approved, at least not yet). Daniel slept on my chest the second half of the service. It was little short of a miracle, how smoothly that all went!

We had a great time at the playground Saturday morning with some high school classmates of mine and their families as well. It was really nice catching up with Jen & Rita and meeting their small folks! We even had decent weather for playing outside (though Paul thought it necessary to buy a warm hat and gloves- he's clearly been living in the South too long to survive in his native habitat!)

Labels: boys, family, Travel

- posted by Lenise @ 8:46 PM |