Puddle Walk

It's no secret, I love walks. I love the fresh air, I love feeling invigorated walking around, and I love all the millions of amazing, every day things to see. But I've had to make my peace, and even grow to appreciate, the "puddle-walk." In theory, puddle-walks seem idyllic, like a Norman Rockwell moment of childhood. How adorable to hear the clop-clop sound of those darling little rain boots, to squeal at the splashes that kids make as they jump into the water. Those images are true...........but puddle-walks are also messy, and soggy, and kind of gross. I mean, rain boots.........just so you know........I'm totally onto you! You seem like a great way to keep little feet dry, but you're really all show and no substance. So it was with some hesitation that I joined our latest puddle-walk, in search of the poor worms that get stuck in the enormous puddles of our neighborhood. When Peter at first gently stepped into the puddles.......then ran about with a little more vigor..........then completely lost all puddle reservations and really went for it..........I wasn't too happy. But when I stepped out of my mom shell of "Oh no, more laundry" and "Ewww! Put your shoes on for goodness sakes. Your feet are going to get a disease!" I was able to appreciate that I was witnessing, and an active participant in a "true little-boy moment." And don't I love those? Don't I treasure my boy being a real little boy, getting dirty, giggling at the debauchery, and being amazed by worms and snails? I sure do! So, for now, I'm enjoying our puddle-walks. But.......everyone gets a good bath when we get home!

Hail!

The other day we were eating our lunch when we heard a tink, tink, tink sound. We rushed to the door, and what should we see, but the sky open up and rain absolutely pouring down. And not just rain.........but HAIL! Hail?! How exciting! The kids had never seen it before, and they were amazed. I was amazed, because it is amazing. How cool! When you're only used to boring old rain, hail is very......exotic. We stood mesmerized on our front porch, watching it pound down and bounce around. It lasted only a few minutes, but boy was it cool.

Two Little Peas

Peter's so lucky he has his darling little friend, Charlie. Sometimes it can be hard being the little brother. You always tag along with the bigger kids, trying to follow their furiously paced games. You're clunky, sometimes mess things up, and often are "in the way." It can be a bit of a reprieve when the "big" kids are at school, and finally the "little" kids get their time to shine. They set the pace, they're in the lead, they're running the show. Sometimes, on special days, Peter and Charlie get a little time to play together. It's fun to get away from the chaos of the big group to have a little playtime with just these boys. They enjoy one another, and more and more, are seeming like "friends." But Charlie better watch out, because Charlie's little brother, Baby Nicky, is quickly becoming the new apple of Peter's eye. Peter loves to "play" with Nicky, give him lots of hugs, and watch him walk around. I guess it must feel good for Peter to be the "big boy" once in a while too.

Bowling

And now........we've come to the end of our birthday party bonanza weekend.........a bowling party for our neighbor Owen. Our kids had never been bowling before, and boy did they love it! I will file this away as another great activity to do when you need to get out of the house. Lizzy and Peter put on their special shoes, found some balls, and were ready to go. I was amazed at how much all the kids enjoyed this. They just kept going and going and going. Lizzy was having fun, but Peter really loved bowling- it was so cute! Back at Owen's house, we had lunch, jumped in the bouncy house, and played. With this crowd, Lizzy is the only girl, so out of 13 party guests, she was the only little lady of the bunch. With all this rain, and testosterone, the party was loud! While Lizzy does pretty well holding her own, I think we had both had enough wrestling, pretend shooting fights, and shouting potty talk to last us a lifetime. Can someone sign me up for a tea party please? I'm ready for a little bit of girl time now:)

Good Old-Fashioned Fun

The last few times we've been to our local toy store, Lizzy has managed to swindle a couple bags of marbles out of me. She loves how shiny they are and their pretty colors. She lines them all up, admires them, displays them in her room, and generally thinks they're totally cool. Yesterday when it was pouring outside and Peter was taking his nap, I suggested we play "marbles." I told Lizzy I'd look it up on the computer how to play, and she said, "Mommy, you just make a circle and try to hit the marbles out of the circle. That's it."........out of the mouths of babes! Thank you, Lizzy, for reminding me not to make things that are easy so complicated, and to just go with it and have fun! Lizzy cracked me up playing marbles. She would close one eye, line up her shot, and flick the "shooter" into the circle. She was surprisingly good! I thought at first I'd take it easy on her, but even when I was trying, Lizzy proved to be the natural at marbles. I'm excited we've found a good rainy-day-game, and a real purpose for all those marbles!

Cars!

We've been on a birthday party bender, which is a great thing considering how stormy it's been around here lately. It's been so nice to be able to get out of the house and have somewhere to go on these rainy days. I do have to have a moment of silence for the poor mothers hosting these parties. Man, are they brave! It takes a lot to allow a dozen or so hyper, crazy, loud, kids to run around like total maniacs in your house. Sheesh! Peter was a tag-along to this party, and he was in heaven once he was given an older brother's tossed aside box of old cars. Peter spent forever lining these guys up, and while it certainly created an obstacle for the other party-goers, I'm sure it was nice to have at least one kid not screaming his head off!

Callum's Party

On Friday afternoon we gathered at Callum's house to help him celebrate his 2nd birthday. Our usual "street gang" was all in attendance. From left to right we have Callum, Lizzy, Charlie, Nicky, Ryder, Owen, Rowen, Evan, and Peter. I thought Callum's mom, Kim, did such a great job having a "mellow" party. It seems like it's so easy to quickly go over the top with a little kid's birthday party. Kim had everyone over for about an hour, we had cake, played a game, played around the house, and then went home. The kids had a lot of fun, and it didn't seem too crazy.