The after meal games were of particular interest to any saber-tooth tiger fans out there. Josiah decided it was time to dress up as one and proceeded to tape straws to his upper lip and then, before i was aware of it, all clothes were off, with the exception of the underwear, and stripes were being drawn all over his body. Noelle, who had been painting (at first a picture, but then her hands) immediately joined in the fun when she noticed that it was "mark all over almost naked body" time. Noelle also managed to find some straws (pink, of course), to tape to her upper lip. Isaac was preoccupied with finishing up both of their milkshakes (which they claimed to not like: what kind of child does not like chocolate raspberry banana milkshake? Isaac and i couldn't understand it). Josiah then started roaming the living room like a tiger when suddenly he wanted to know if we could fill the living room with mud puddles for him to walk through. When i said no he asked if he could be ruler of his bedroom- and i said no (knowing that mud puddles were in the picture if i said yes). I told him that when he got bigger and moved out he could have as many mud puddles in his house as he wanted. Now, one would think that a 5 year old wouldn't see through this empty promise- but, not Josiah- He responded quickly with, "but by that time i won't be a kid and i'll have to work all day."

So, we only had big questions from Josiah (our precocious 5 year old) today. The morning begun with, "does God make the volcano erupt?" which, inevitably led into a discussion about the problem of evil. By evening, the topic was a little easier with, "Why are their priests?" (he says "priestiz"). At one point, we told Josiah that we were as old a Catholic as he was- that dad and mom and he were all 4 year old Catholics and Noelle piped up at that point excitedly saying, "yeah, that's because Jesus is our daddy!"

summertime, and the living is... messy :)

so it was another one of those beautiful Saturday afternoons this weekend. The kind that we earn many times over after the long, dark winter. We walked to downtown Palmer for Colony Days and watched a parade and the kids won some bubbles (see first shot). Afterward, we headed home to plant flowers. Josiah and Noelle put some water on the dry dirt and with elation Noelle noticed it became mud. SO, naturally, she proceeded to try and roll her whole body in the 5 inch diameter circle of mud. This required some tactical maneuverings on her part- how to get the face and the belly and the legs all muddy in one move. I am proud to say she managed it as the first picture attempts to portray and the second picture shows the success. Josiah of course would have none of that tactical maneuvering since it went against his number one rule to live by- which is not to get dirty (not on the fingers during dinner or anywhere else). Being dirty could bring about hysterics on his part so he avoids it at all cost :)

testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...

so, this is a tester blog- the only picture i could find on my computer. let's see if this works.