April

One more day and I'd have to reconcile myself to having let another month go by without a blog post. Whew! Hooray to Bill for taking the boys on a hike to "the acre" so that I could get this post up.

Alex has been busy ...

1. Mastering swinging without assistance.
2. Learning to ride his bike without training wheels. I'd post a video, but he's far too quick. Bill and I ended up sprinting after him all around campus on his first day out. He still has trouble getting started on his own, but can now stop safely without assistance -- a vast improvement over his previous technique of crashing into anything that struck his fancy (grass, trashcans, me) to stop his momentum.
3. Making dozens and dozens and dozens of paper airplanes.
4. Leaving notes all around. I found this one under my pillow this morning!

4. Loving on his "doggie". Who, this night, had apparently invited some friends.

5.  And, generally loving the (on-again off-again) early spring.

Meanwhile, Owen has been busy ...

1.  Hiking ... and making sketches of both his hiking adventures and his hiking partners.

2.  Bravely going where no small boy has gone before ... at the children's museum.

3.  I have no idea. But Alex didn't seem to mind.

4.  And, playing ball! 

Alex is playing t-ball too which means we are at the park Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings as well Saturday mornings. My guess is that my blogging track record is unlikely to improve any time soon. 

Ah. Sibling Rivalry.

Altercation: Rush to the bathroom for hand-washing before dinner

Alex: It's NOT A RACE!!!
Owen: Just because it's not a race doesn't mean you can't run.

Altercation: Dominoes

Owen: Don't even THINK about it!
Alex: I am thinking about it ....

Oh my. :)

From the Boys

Hope you have a great day!

It Got Away From Me

The blog, that is.

I've been collecting pictures on the camera and quotes in my head, but haven't found the time to sit and get it all down.

I'm stealing a few moments now as the boys are amusing themselves upstairs with disaster drills; working through the crazy events of the past few days, I guess. On Wednesday, we had heavy thunderstorms and tornado watches/warnings. On Thursday, the college spent lots of time testing and re-testing the tornado sirens. On Friday, we had tornadoes touch down all around us, destroying homes as close as seven miles away. We were safe and happy hanging out in our basement, but many of Owen's peers were still on the school buses -- in hail storms, with tornado sirens blaring. Three busloads of kids and their drivers were forced to take shelter in a tiny country store less than a mile from where one of the tornadoes touched down. So thankful Bill picked Owen up from school that day!! The college is busy organizing work crews. We're hoping that we can find a way that the boys can help as well.



When not dodging tornadoes ... life has been busy, but generally uneventful.





























And, mostly for my own amusement, some quotes from Alex ...

Me: Alex, what did you have for lunch today?
Alex: We had raba-lowly. Yum!

Alex: Mom, am I doing a good job of not driving you crazy?

Alex: Mom, can we cook some meat?
Me: Um, maybe. What kind of meat do you want?
Alex: I want some chocolate meat!

Alex: Mom, can we look at more pictures of hamsters? I want to see a poisonous hamster!

Alex: I want you to paint my room this color red.
Me: Maybe we could paint it a subtler red.
Alex: I know what a subtler red means. A subtler red is a red that comes out really slow.

Upon entering the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop ...
Alex: Mama, this place smells beautiful!
Me: Yes it does, dear. Yes. It. Does.

Happy Family Day!

It's been three years since we held our sweet boy for the first time. It was an amazing (and, clearly, an exhausting) day.



This weekend, we celebrated. With spicy tofu!





And roller skating ... which was surprisingly reminiscent of dodging mopeds on the streets of Zhengzhou. :)

Owen and His Careless Parents

Owen: "Dad, can you please not leave knives laying around anymore?"

Dad: "What?"

Owen: "Because ... I just stepped on one. And it may or may not have hit Alex."

Of course, Owen neglected some important details in this story. Said knife was used for dinner preparation. It was on the kitchen counter. As was Owen.

Alex was unscathed. :)

The Grown Ups

Owen, after finishing up his breakfast at the local state park ...

I'm going to go for a walk.

Alex, eyes wide with wonderment at the possibility ...

Without your grown ups?!!!

Me, silently ...

Yeah. Not so fast, mister. Maybe when you're, oh, 18. And, frankly, we're still coming to terms with being the grown ups.