Coke Volcano~

Ethan has two main science fascinations right now: Skeletons and Volcanoes. He loves to look at pictures of bones on the internet, even though he says, "That looks SCARY!"

He has been intrigued with volcanoes since his science teacher made a vinegar and baking soda volcano for class before Spring break. We decided to make our own volcano today:

Bed Time Conversations with a Three Year Old

"Mommy, where is God?"
---"He's everywhere. And He's here with us."
"But I can't see Him."
---"You can't see Him like you can see me, but He shows us He is here by the things He does."
"Where is God going?"
----"God isn't going anywhere. He's staying right here with us because He loves us. He will never leave you."


"Would you like to pray for anything tonight?"
"Dear God, please make a baby in Mommy's tummy. Amen."
"How do babies get out of Mommy's tummy?"
"I am BORN? Am I born? Why am I born?"


"Would you like to pray for anything else?"
"Dear God, please help me to not have nightmares. Thank you, God, for helpin' me. I love you, God. Amen. Mommy, that prayer was beautiful?"

Yes, baby. It was a beautiful prayer. You are beautiful, and you remind me that God is real. I love you, Little Bear.

Humongo

Humongo: The word Ethan uses with much enthusiasm to describe something really big.

Lord, please let my little boy have a humongo heart for You and for others. Amen.

Slumber Party

We get home so late on Sunday evenings from Bible study, and hardly get to spend much time with Ethan on Sundays since we also attend the two morning services, so Sunday nights are our special "Slumber Party" nights. Ethan loves to go to sleep with us. In fact, every night he asks for a slumber party, to which we sometimes give in only because we have gotten too sleepy to do the whole bedtime ritual (i.e. LPM: Lazy Parent Mode). So, in a few minutes, I'm off to cuddle-snuggle with my sweet potato. I wonder if he will still want slumber parties with Mom and Dad when he's 16?


In other news, I had to be Valiant Mommy and rescue a tormented toad from our yard this evening. Ollie thought it appropriate to scoop up said toad in his mouth and run off with it (in Ollie's defense, one of his favorite house toys is a stuffed frog, exactly the same size as the real one). Ranger didn't notice the toad and kept stepping on it. Ethan kept poking it with his finger to make it hop....Here's what he had to say about it: "I don't really like it. It's a little bit fuzzy" and "Why is he hopping? Why doesn't he hop into the bushes?" I tried to encourage HIM to pick it up and put it in the bushes so that I wouldn't have to. He was reluctant and needed a little encouragement, so I courageously picked up the little toady between my fingers. It took everything within me not to squeal, but thank goodness under the dark of night, Ethan couldn't see my twisted face. It was much more squishy AND bony than I thought it would be. ew. Upon seeing my fearlessness, Ethan yelled, "Hey, let me try that!" Um, OK...it's all yours! Ethan held that poor little toad a few seconds before giving it a grand send-off into the bushes:

Sleep well, little Toady, sleep well.

Tiny Waist

Ethan's T-shirts and Pants: 3T
The bathing suit he wore last night: 12 months
We love our chicken little

Maybe we should love him enough to spring for new swim trunks....

Poopy Projects

Here's Chris installing some new bolt locks (we decided to just do a couple bolts instead of all our handles at once). This was not one of his favorite jobs. In fact, I think his exact words were, "This kind of makes me want to say the "F" word." And by "F" word, he means "Fun", I think.


**If someone could tell me how to make my pictures face up and down, that'd be great**

With my mom coming next weekend, I had this sinking fear she would wander into our pantry to find Ethan a snack and then get lost, unable to find her way out! This would leave Ethan to fend for himself while I'm going down the zip line, having a slumber party with gal pals, and learning about God and Jesus at our Women's Retreat. Either that, or my mom would think I am disgusting. Sometimes I am. But I try to at least cover my tracks :)

About 45 minutes into it (ok, who am I kidding...15 minutes), I was bored and ready to quit. But, that would leave my kitchen looking like this:



Two big trash bags and several hours later: Yayy!!

Best find: Ethan's Popeye Smarties dispenser. He's been looking for that thing for forever!

Most surprising find: Products that had expired in 2004. Could this be the reason Chris doesn't care for my cooking? hmmmm....kind of makes me wonder..... Come to think of it, I think I was a better cook 4 years ago. my goodness.

Anyway, a productive day, but not our idea of fun. Ethan had a good time, though...he got to eat all the random candy he found from our pantry AND go to Home Depot THREE times with Daddy.

New Favorite

I certainly haven't figured out all the fancy picture options of this thing yet (so they're sideways...you get the point). Here are a couple pics of Ethan and one of his new favorites--the rock climbing wall. The park across the street from us will no longer do for this kiddo. Now we have to jump in the car and drive to a cooler park so Ethan can do his rotation: Ladder, Fire Fighter Pole, Rock Wall, Ladder, Fire Fighter Pole, Rock Wall, Ladder, Fire Fighter Pole, Rock Wall... Being 3 is awesome!

First Entry....

I've been tossing around this "blog" idea, and just can't see why anyone would actually read our daily adventures. However, at the prompting of a couple folks, I've decided to give it a try. In other words, here I go from being the "stalker" to the "stalkee" (or is that "stalked"?). Anyway....

Our garden is popping up :) We've got radishes, spinach, and lettuce popping up from the seeds we planted. The plants are doing well (artichoke, tomatoes, strawberries, onions, blueberries, & grapes). The bell peppers...we'll have to wait and see. They look a little wimpy. I love the way the garden boxes look after they are freshly watered. So fresh. I was reading a book today that we totally should have read before jumping in with both feet....talked about succession planting and organizing, and that would have been so much smarter than what we did---"Do we just poor ALL these seeds into rows?" We'll have about 75 radishes ready for harvest in about two months! oops. Succession planting would have been a nice idea. Next time, I guess.

Chris and I took Ethan to get B&R ice cream and then to the open gym and open swim at WinKids today. He had been asking to jump in the foam pit for several days now (at least since we took him to get registered for swim class last week). There is nothing like jumping into a foam pit as a family! Good times. Swim was so FUNNY though! He kept saying, "This is SO exciting!!" and, "I don't want to fall into that drain because then I would get lost FOREVER!". He picked out his "favorite noodle" and swam with that most of the hour. He also got brave enough to throw some rings down and go under water to pick them up. I'm glad he'll be getting lessons this summer to learn some skills. We plan on spending lots of time at the water park this summer!

Last big thing of the day....we finally decided to replace all our door handles in the house. Our front door handle looks so crummy, all the inside ones are pretty cheap, and the back bolt is broken (Chris loves to hear me trying to open and lock it at 5:30 every morning to let Ollie out to pee. It's a most wonderful morning sound). Anyway, after tons of debate and empty-handed trips to Home Depot and Lowes, we finally bit the bullet and bought them all. So, bummed out at all the money we spent, we brought them in. Then we backed out. Chris took them all back during Ethan's swim session. We realized that changing the handles would lead to changing the doors which would lead to repainting and that, of course, would lead to new floors and carpet. jeesh. Not like we're made of money.... sometimes we just like to pretend. Thank goodness for return policies :) Like how I just returned $80 worth of clothes today to Old Navy and Target. At least I got to parade them around my bathroom vanity for a couple days. Cute! Just not cute enough to keep...

So, we'll see if this blog thing lasts. It'll probably be like my Myspace obsession or my Getting Fit for the Summer obsession or Drink Healthy Veggie Shakes obsession...here today, gone tomorrow.

love: michelle