First day of summer!!

A great first day of break: a morning playdate, first little league practice, a trip to the library, fun with friends at the pool and swim team practice.  

Before the day had even begun, I overheard the boys talking about how excited they were to have so much more time to spend together.  (That's one way to make your mama smile!)

I was pretty sure by afternoon the novelty would have worn off but so far, they really do seem to be enjoying each other.  Check back in a week!  :)

And how fun was it to take FOUR readers to the library!  The younger ones had their books picked out within the first 7 minutes and immediately got to reading while their older brothers took a little longer to find just the right balance of graphic novels, sports fiction and classic lit! 

Happy Halloween!

Drew and Liam declared it the "best Halloween ever!" Great weather, great friends...a great night!!

Brad had lots of help carving the pumpkins!! (Notice the soul patch!!)




Ready to hit the streets...



Aarr, matey....trick or treat!

Abracadabra...poof!

Liam was doing a magic show for me tonight before bed. This consists of me sitting on the floor in his room while he stands in front of me with two items in his hands. Then he says, "Close your eyes," and while I do that, he sets one of the items on the floor behind his legs. Then he stands up straight and says, "Open your eyes," and when I do he presents the one item where there had been two. I then make a big production about where the other item went and he gives me a sly grin and says, "Magic!" Then we do the whole thing in reverse, going from one item back to two. And then we repeat...four or five or twelve times.

So tonight we were probably on repetition number 4 or so, having used various toys and other items around his room. In this particular round he was using two little plastic slinkies. I shut my eyes, he put it behind his leg, I opened my eyes, he presented the lone slinky, I carried on, he grinned and said,"Magic!" I was then instructed to shut my eyes again. Just as Liam was about to bend over and turn to pick up the slinky so it could "reappear," I heard said slinky roll across the floor and saw (because I was now peeking) it land behind the hamper. Oblivious to what had just occurred, he continued to bend down and pick it up from where he had left it. And then... "WHOA!!! MOMMA!!! IT'S REALLY MAGIC!!" I opened my eyes, trying so hard not to laugh -- Liam's eyes were as big as saucers. He looked all around and then said, breathlessly, "The other times I was tricking you. I said it was magic but I really just set it down behind my leg. But this time, it's really GONE! It IS magic!!"

He never did discover what happened. He went to bed totally convinced he'd somehow pulled off the real thing this time!

Especially for Aunt Jessica!!

So I walked past the boys' bedroom door early this morning and heard quiet talking. I peeked in just enough to see that Liam had crawled up into the top bunk with Drew. Here's the conversation I overheard as I stood in the hall:

Drew: Well, does your baby cry a lot after he eats?
Liam: Oh, yes!
Drew: That means you're not burping him enough. You need to go 'top top bottom bottom middle middle, top top bottom bottom middle middle..."
Liam (accompanied by patting noises): Top top bottom bottom middle middle, top top bottom bottom middle middle.
Drew: You're learning how to be a daddy. See now, when you grow up you'll know how to be a good daddy.
Liam: Yep!
Drew: Is your baby tired now? Does he need a nap?
Liam: Oh no, he's not tired!
(Quiet murmuring I couldn't understand and then...)
Liam (singing): Good night, little smurf...sleep tight, little smurf..

And that's when I realized the "baby" they were taking care of was the stuffed 'Papa Smurf' Liam just got from his aunt this weekend!

Missing something??

Job Description

Overheard while driving Drew and a school friend home after a playdate:

Friend (whose dad is a pastor at 2 country churches): I go to two churches! Sometimes I go to H..... but most of the time I got to B.......
Drew: Well, my mom's the worship leader at our church.
Friend: What's that mean?
Drew: She's the one that sings the loudest.

Liam Logic

1) Liam: Mom, I think I know why Oscar the Grouch is so grouchy all the time.
Me: Really...why?
Liam: Because he lives in a trash can!!!
Huh. 40 years of Sesame Street and it never occurred to anyone that maybe he just didn't like living in that trash can.

2) After seeing several PBS shows talking about dinosaur bones and showing dinosaur skeletons in museums, Liam says to me, "There sure must be a lot of dinosaurs walking around without their bones!!"

3) Yesterday Liam was anxious to pick up his brother from school but it was only 2:30.
Liam: Can't we just go get him now?
Me: No, it's not time yet. It's only 2:30.
Liam: But I want to pick him up now.
Me: Well, there's nothing I can do about that -- I can't change the time.
Liam: Well, I can! (And off he went to change the clock.)
Problem solved!!

In other news, it's official: Liam has an imaginary friend. His name is Joey and he comes complete with a baby brother named Del and a dog named Deke! We started hearing about Joey a while ago but it took us a while to figure out that he was Liam's imaginary friend. Now we hear stories about Joey pretty much every day. He leads quite an exciting life, let me me tell you! But that'll have to be another post....