Birthday #3

Joshua had an absolutely splendid time today at his party. Jasper, Heath, Benjy, Oliver, Amelie, Casie, Amanda, Cole, Kelsey and Laurel were able to attend. We ran around like squirrels, or rather the children did while we watched. Some climbed the little tree at the end of the lawn. Others gathered mulberries for food for the squirrels? some animal. We served pizza, chocolate cake and popped open a pinata. It was pretty cool about 65-70 degrees. Some children sat in the middle of the puddle, about a foot deep in the center, and just played. It was wonderful how the big kids looked after and included the little ones. We have some great people for friends.

pet count and ears

We now have five pets. Betty died a few days ago. I was insensitive and put her in the toilet. Josh flushed it, and only then proceeded to have a fit and cry piteously over her death. He kept saying I should have left her in her bowl. I should have put it in a box and buried it with full funeral rites. I am sure I will have other opportunities as we explore the marine side of pet owning. I am just absolutely terrible with fish.

Samantha still can't hear well at all, but thankfully is in no pain from the infection. She is on Zithromax as of this morning. Let's hope that helps!

Oh, we had pasta with pesto tonight. Sam helped me put the pasta through the rollers, then she sliced the pasta into strips. She was great! Josh helped us mix the eggs into the flour with our hands. Did I mention messy?

Witches

Joshua went outside today to blow bubbles. He marches out the door saying "bubble, bubble, boil and trouble, bubble, bubbles bubble trouble!" They have been watching Shakespeare Reduced in the car, all the works of Shakespeare performed in two hours by three or four insane actors. Shakespeare does have a way of sticking with you. I winced as they did Titus Andronicus, but the children were unfazed. The actors described it as Shakespeare's Quentin Terantino phase. Sounds right to me.

We are meeting at a playground for the Birthday party and playing on swings and games and stuff and then having pizza and cake for his birthday. He is very sweet, and has invited me to his party several times, as well as Samantha and Matt. He is thrilled that Amelie and Jasper and Heath can come. We are gonna have fun!

There are certain rules that I consider important when eating at a restaurant. I recently had cause to review these rules with my children, much to my mortification. Here they are. You be the judge if I am a hard a$$ or not.

1 thou shalt not strike thy mother with a fist

2 thou shalt not lick the milk off the tabletop

3 thou shalt not propel utensils into the middle of the restaurant

4 Thou shalt not poke holes in the bottom of your styrofoam juice cup and try to drink it faster than it pours out. [This was Samantha's science experiment for the morning. She was unable to keep up with the flow and had orange juice pouring down her chin, onto her shirt and then the floor]

I packed them up and left as quickly as possible.

Josh's party

Matt suggested Kimball Farm. They have bumper boats, mini golf and excellent ice cream. It is only about a half hour away. Now I just have to call everyone tomorrow and see if they can come to the party.

Full moon?

A quick flash of Life With Joshua:

I was giving Joshua a bath the other night. He loves bubble baths these days. He was standing in the tub when he gave me what passes for a sly look in a three year old. Then he closed the sliding plastic doors on the tub, looked at me through the semi-opaque door panel with a gleeful grin, exclaimed "Look out! Get ready! Here comes the butt print!"

Then he turned around and pressed his little cheeks against the door, mooning me.

I have no idea where he learned this, but he thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Ears

They are very cute. Sam's double ear infection hit a snag when she broke out in hives. We really have no idea what caused them, but we had to assume it was the amoxycillin she was taking for her infection. Dr. Pangburn asked me if we were okay stopping the medecine altogether and treating with pain killers until the pain went away. Sam and I said we would try it. Sam didn't ever really need any motrin, not even at night, although she can't hear well at all. I am going to give Dr. Pangburn (yes, we all call him penguin, including himself) a call today with an update. I am glad that her ears haven't hurt, but not happy that she can't hear. Or she just doesn't want to deal with us.

We had a busy weekend. Matt and Joshua went for a bike ride Saturday morning while Sam and I went to her riding lesson. Matt got caught out in a quick downpour and was run off the bike path by a crazed speeding cyclist. He is okay, but a bit sore. We like safety helmets. Joshua wasn't even jostled in his bike trailer. Yay!

Sam's lessons are going well. She cleans all of Jules hooves, brushes him down, washes him and feeds him his very important apples. Sam can maintain a trot around the ring in a complete circle. It has been hot and muggy, so Jules, understandably, would prefer to walk. Sam has been able to move Jules the way she wants, and to walk over four poles on the ground without touching the poles with his hooves. He is such a pretty horse. Sam's back is much straighter as she posts, and she just seems to me to be moving much better with his gait, rather than off beat.

Sunday we went to the Science Museum with Liam, Bill and Karen. Matt had to go to the hospital to visit Cedalle with Leslie. I think Josh was missing Daddy, and well, also that Bill is a very nice Daddy too, but for whatever reason, josh would have nothing to do with me and loudly demanded Bill carry him everywhere. Bill did. He was so patient with Josh. I tried to take Josh, but he screamed like I was breaking his heart to take him away from his favorite person. Sam got to see the IMAX movie about special places on Earth. It is sweet to see how well she and Liam still get along. We got home very tired and pretty cranky, actually. Josh didn't crash until almost 8:30pm. That is a long day for a little guy. Or not so little. I spent all morning putting together his paperwork for preschool. Agh! How did he get so big so fast?

Summer Squash

I have to add, after maligning Matt's mowing skills, that he mowed the lawn perfectly and left several very nice, petite summer squash completely alone. They are growing at a rapid pace in the heat. Joshua hasn't found them yet, so they are doing well.

Yesterday Matt asked Joshua to take the crayon out of his nose. He tells Daddy that he puts the crayon in his nose so he can think better. We look at each other and crack up. Thankfully, Josh just had the crayon *next* to his nose.

Ella kissed Joshua yesterday, and Joshua kisses her right back. He comes to me in delight, Mommy, Ella kissed me, said in a sweet, aw shucks tone of voice. He gets me.

Samantha has a double earache and can't go swimming yet. We are huddling inside in the air conditioning as the heat rises outside near the 100 degree mark. She hasn't slept well in days because her ears hurt. Three days of amoxycillin haven't killed the germs yet, poor sweetie. Of course, she is, well, perhaps not the sweetest child with pain and no sleep, so we are all hoping she recovers very quickly. :-)

Bowling

We went bowling today, Sam, me and Josh. Sam, true to form, was very concerned about winning and got very upset when bad players like, say, me, or perhaps Joshua, played on what the computer considered her turn. That meant that the computer registered our play under her score. She was slightly mollified when she won at the last game. The girl got two strikes, I mean really, she played very well! Joshua helped me alot too, when he pushed his ball hard enough to actually make it all the way down. The ball stopped rolling partway down the lane about a third of the time, but when it did make it all the way, its very slowness was devastating to the pins. I thought he was an asset to my score, but Sam was having none of it. I was quite relieved when we were done. I don't plan to rush back any time soon. Sam is way past me in competitiveness.

No brown words here

But I do want to tell all those interested that Joshua is now without a diaper during the day, all day. he just wears one to bed. I bought myself a new purse to celebrate not needing to carry diapers anymore. The new purse will hold a joshua change of clothes and my new kindle. Yay!

The Farmer

Samantha and Joshua are really enjoying the beans, tomatoes, carrots, blueberries, herbs, nasturtiums, and strawberries. We are starting to have some fruit now. We got a handful of blueberries, since this is just the first year. Joshua picked them all while they were green and planted them in a hole under the maple tree. The tomatoes have been coming in for while. Joshua picks the green ones and chops them up or leaves them in a basket in the yard. We got some strawberries, but not many. Joshua picks the white ones and throws them in the grass as far as he can. I do that with the moldy ones, so you can make the case that he is only copying me. I am still annoyed. Samantha is picking the beans now, but I think we are supposed to wait and pick them when they are dried on the vine. They are fava beans and some other cream bean with red on the eye. She is so enthusiastic, I can't really get too upset about them. There are a couple of summer squash starting to grow. If Matt doesn't mow it over (it is starting to grow into the lawn) we may get all of two summer squash. The potatoes have so far avoided any predators, human or otherwise, well, except for something eating its leaves. They won't be ready for harvesting for a couple of months. Samantha thinks I just planted them for the greenery. It will be fun to see what we get in the fall for potatoes. Both Sam and Josh love eating potatoes, especially grilled or roasted the way Daddy makes them.

Some day, we will have all these plants and no children to eat them anymore. I remind myself of that as I head to the grocery store to buy tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries.

Fish are safe

I realize it is more important that the children are safe, and they are doing fine and off with Marie this morning. Rainbow and Betty survived the night and seem none the worse for wear. Hamlet is oblivious, Joshua has not dumped anything too horrible in Betty's bowl, and Rainbow is, according to Samantha, showing signs of great obedience.

Succumb

succumbed to the pleadings of my children today, so now we have two more pets. These are much easier to feed and no vet bills. Samantha is the proud owner of a very lovely blue and red male beta fish in his own vase. Joshua is thrilled to have his very own female Beta fish, a small one colored light blue. Samantha plans to teach Rainbow tricks, like following her with food bits or her most ambitious one, swimming through hoops. She is very worried that it will get bored and wants to entertain it. Joshua wants to give it toys too, so he dropped a date into the fishbowl. I stopped him just before he put a cherry pit in. He was adamant that the cherry pit was too clean and was just the right toy for Betty. I can only say that I hope this kind of fish is as sturdy as the pet store clerk says they are. And of course, nothing can keep them safe from Hamlet, although Sam tried to get me to lock Hamlet into her room at bedtime to keep the fish safe. Matt is betting on Hamlet getting a late night snack.

Mandarin

I enjoy meeting lots of different people. So I was interested when I heard a mom talk Mandarin to her little girl at the Y's mat room. I was even more amused when I heard Josh running around repeating what the little girl said to her mom. I think he was saying, "yes, mom" in Mandarin, but I am not sure. Age two is the age of mimicry. Her mom said Josh had a pretty good accent.

Sam is happy, as am I, that our German friends, Angelika and Aaron, are moving back to Arlington in a couple of weeks. Yay! Aaron and Matt will have to work out the marriage agreement, but Samantha and Oliver have already made the important plans. They are adorable! Oliver will be in Sam's school, so they can play together during recess.

Have a cool day on this 105 degree heat.