Our "Babies"

We have a little nest box, and every year we get a wren nest. Usually this means a nest box filled to the brim with sticks, but this year the sticks were kept quite low and there is a nice, soft cup to keep the eggs warm.

Apparently the mama bird really likes this nesting box, because when I checked the box again yesterday, there were three more eggs added to the mix! I don't know if it is normal for a house wren to lay two clutches or if the first eggs were duds. We'll find out in about two weeks, when the eggs hatch!

Pretend Play- the "Mechanic"

Matt often stages bike crashes, which result in catastrophic damage to his bike. This requires an immediate retrieval of the tool set, an invisible tow truck, and lots of earnest concentration until the bike is "fixed."

As you can see here, Matt is quite the mechanic and has the bike up and running in 45 seconds or less!

An Interesting Combination

Dandelions and ice cream. Can we say that summer has officially arrived? I think so!

First Ice Cream

A very important rite of passage for any child: the first ice cream cone! Nolan was quite thrilled with this new treat of summer.

The kids really enjoyed licking the cones and getting covered in vanilla flavored goo. I took some pictures of the boys side-by-side and realized that Matt is getting quite tall!

I was quite clever and ensured the kiddie pool was filled with nice, clean water. It did help make the kids slightly less sticky, though it is hard to clean off any boy who engages in "ice cream tag."

Blisters

Sometimes I think I'm in pretty decent shape. Then an "adventure" comes along to prove I am truly a couch potato! My dear friend gave me a ring to see if we wanted to go on a hike to the hundred acre wood near Jamestown Community College. Since I'm always a fan of getting the kids into the great outdoors (and let's face it, I was excited to talk to a grown-up!), I became giddy and told her that we would absolutely come along.

The walk was supposedly 3/4 of a mile. I'm rather convinced that it was more like 10 miles, though mapquest tells me I'm exaggerating a little. Perhaps it was traversing rough terrain (hey, those uplifts in the Jamestown sidewalks are HUGE, people) and hiking up hills that wore me out. Or the fact that I rarely get true exercise- take your pick.

The walk went through the woods near Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and the kids loved climbing some pines. Matt had a little trouble getting up into the tree, but with a little boost he did just fine.

The 100 acre woods (also known as the 100 acre lot, or College Park) has a wonderful creek running through it. It also has a group of unemployed drunk men in their 40's, so we veered way to the other side of the park and stayed away from their little gathering. The kids ate some PB&J, ate granola bars, then scrambled down to the creek as fast as their short legs would carry them.

Really, there is no need to have expensive playground equipment when nature supplies all the fun. There were minnows in the water, rocks, sticks, and plenty of deep places where little boys can give their mothers heart attacks.

The kids played for hours and it was so nice to be in the sun. We hiked back to my friend's house, and found the creek and sun had definitely worn out two very small boys. I also developed two rather unfriendly blisters from wet feet in old shoes. This means one of two things: I need to get in shape, or I need to buy new shoes. You can guess which one I'm going for...

We will definitely be going back sometime soon. The creek was wonderfully refreshing, not too cold, and shallow enough for a three year old to have complete freedom in play.

Hyperventilation

I have no idea where the air pump is - not a good thing when you decide to run out and buy a kiddie pool with a whale slide that takes approximately 800 gallons of air. I'm a stalwart mother, however, and managed to get the stupid thing inflated. Luckily the slide kept the boys entertained while I passed out continued blowing up the rest of the pool.

Boys: giving mothers everywhere gray hair

Monkey see, monkey do...

Seriously, kiddie pools are so much cooler than they used to be. A whale slide with a sprinkler and molded-in steps on the whale. The pool is even labeled as an "adventure pool." That makes it even cooler, of course.

This had better yield a good nap time!

Matt having an adventure in his adventure pool.

Surf star

Cool factor aside, there was a little durability issue- one half of the whale slide keeps deflating. I have one repair patch on the thing already. We'll be lucky if this pool survives the week!

Houston: we have a problem..

Nolan didn't like the cold water and promoted himself to pool manager. He took charge of the hose and quite enjoyed this little duty.

Possibly the most fun Nolan has ever had

Taking care of the riff-raff

I love this warm weather. I suppose the long, long, l.o.n.g. winters really make you appreciate the sun. Still, the native Californian in me feels like the weather should stay this way year round!

The best water comes with a plastic aftertaste

Coloring on Rocks

It can be hard to find craft activities that both boys will enjoy, since Nolan is very young to participate in all things crafty. A mom in our "two-by-two's" (preschool) class told us about coloring on hot rocks, so I thought I'd try it.

Nolan couldn't color on the warm rocks -I was worried he'd pick up a rock that was still a tad too warm. He helped us find and wash the rocks, which was great entertainment for the both of them. I didn't realize how much fun rock-washing could be!

Matt and I colored them while Nolan was taking his nap. The rocks were warm, but not hot since we didn't want any fingers getting hurt! The wax from the crayons melts on the rocks, which Matt thought was neat. The finished rocks were then relocated to the fairy house in the woods.

...And Not a Drop to Drink

The water heater gave out last night and decided to give us an impromptu indoor swimming pool. It is amazing how much water those things hold- you don't think about it until the water is squishing around your tennis shoes as you wade through your new water park.

We learned two things with this most recent flooding event:

1. Our neighbor's shop-vac has a hole in the bottom of it.
2. Seeing our basement flood may have been the highlight of Matt's entire year.

We put the boys into a baby-gate secured area (not that Matt couldn't thwart the gate if he wanted) and proceeded to clean up the mess. All to Matt's running dialogue from upstairs:

"Mommy, I never see a flood before!"

"Matt, you need to stay up there."

"A real flood! I need see it!"

"STAY THERE, Matt."

"We build a boat?"

"No, we don't need a boat. God didn't make this flood, the water heater did."

"Oh. Good. We don't have giraffe."

Vacation Bible School ought to be interesting this year!

Oh, The Naughties!

It is always disconcerting when, at 9:30pm, you see a pair of sparkling little eyes glancing over the stair rail. Little eyes that belong to a very small toddler, who could not possibly scale a baby gate.

"Dennis, did you close the baby gate?"

"Yes... why?"

"Nolan."

We scrambled upstairs, concerned that the child had managed to scale the gate and then fallen.

Matt was quite pleased with himself, having discovered that baby gates are something that can be taken apart like legos.


Our lives may never be the same.

Heaven help us!

Escape Artist

The weather has been nice lately, which means our sliding glass door has been open lately. This lets fresh air in, and three year old boys out.

As Dennis and I were finishing dinner clean-up duties, we notice the house is oddly quiet. Disconcertingly quiet. And then we notice the tricycle going full-bore down the driveway.

And there is our three year old boy, dressed in a t-shirt, socks, and sunglasses. Only a t-shirt, socks, and sunglasses. Upon further questioning, we found that he was going to visit the neighbor's house. And he doesn't know where his shoes, pants and underpants could possibly be*.

Thank goodness we caught him in time. I can only imagine what the neighbors would think when a half-naked child with dirty socks** and sunglasses came knocking at their door.

* We found the pants and underpants stuffed into the couch cushions. We've learned to stop asking "WHY?"

** His socks were only dirty because of the lack of shoes. I just felt a need to clarify this point.

Impromptu Education

I was cleaning out our nesting box (woefully late) and Matt became quite interested in what I was doing. I told him it was a nest, and he became worried that I was going to hurt some eggs. I told him it was last year's nest and the eggs had hatched and the baby birds had long since flown away.

He was fascinated with all the sticks, and I told him it was a house wren's nest and she gathered her sticks from the pine tree line next to our house. He proceeded to take the old nest apart and inspect the different sticks used in making the nest.

He then decided he should return the sticks to the wooded area, just in case the bird needed them to make another nest in the future. Mighty considerate of him! Hopefully we'll get another nest in the box this season.