Boy and Girls

I was giving Grant and Johanna their bath a few nights ago, and I was struck by the difference between boys and girls that I saw unfolding in front of me. Grant was on one side of the tub throwing "bath letters" that stick to the wall, as hard as he could, at the wall making a grunting sound to emphasize the amount of muscle he was using. Johanna was sitting on the other side playing gently with two toys (one of which happened to be a pink sea turtle) making them swim around together as she was singing "la, la, la..." to them very quietly (this doesn't happen often). For a few minutes they were each oblivious to the other, until Grant became interested in what she was doing, invaded her space and then it was all over. Sometimes I have to remind myself to live in the moment and just watch them, as they will be grown-up all too soon. These are the moments that are fun to watch, but they are also easy to miss if I don't let myself just stop, breathe and enjoy.

Frozen

Every morning when I am making our fresh fruit juice, Johanna comes in and asks for "frozen". Frozen refers to the frozen fruit that I sometimes put in the juice. She loves to eat it, straight out of the freezer. Bluerberries are especially messy which is probably why those are her favorite! This is what I have to clean up every morning before we have even eaten breakfast. We were also talking about our fruit trees and how exciting it is to see all the fruit growing. Johanna asked if we could get a "frozen" tree.

Bare Buns

I was sitting with Julia the other day and Johanna came into the room wearing undies only. Her and Grant had spent the morning outside playing in their pool. I had taken her swimsuit off, put her undies on, but had not put the rest of her clothes on yet. She came up and said something to me (can't remember what) in a very stern voice with a very serious look on her face. She turned around to walk away and her underwear was not pulled up all the way, thereby showing off her cute little bare buns. She realized this and reached back with one hand to pull them up, but instead she caught on to the bottom of her undies and pulled one side up leaving her bare cheek hanging out from the bottom. Needless to say, it ruined the effect of her serious, stern attitude and it made me laugh (just to myself, of course. She was still in her serious mood).

Crazy Caterpillar

Check out this crazy caterpillar (at least I think it is a caterpillar) I found crawling on our porch.

Bluebirds

Bluey, bluey bluebird sits in a tree

Bluey, bluey bluebird nods at me

Bluey, bluey bluebird chirps "Good day",

Spreads his wings and flies away.

Bubbles and Fairy Houses

Julia caught her first fish on Sunday. Yes, you read it right. JULIA. Cory was holding her and he casted from Johanna's pole and then gave it to Julia to hold and shake around, and low and behold, she hooked a fish. It was a nice size blue gill. We were beginning to think Julia would be the only one to catch a fish that day, but Cory managed to catch a catfish on his last cast.

On Monday, the kids and I spent the morning outside. It was a sunny, 70 degree, perfect Spring day. I told a story about a little bubble's journey down a big stream to the ocean, and then we made our own bubble solution and used all kinds of fun things to blow bubbles. Pipe cleaners, strawberry baskets and straws. The kids were using the straws to blow into little cups making bubble "volcanoes". Johanna forgot what she was doing and instead of blowing out, she sucked in. I hope glycerin is not toxic in small quantities! That could not have tasted good.

It was another beautiful day on Tuesday. Tuesday is our bread making day. I make the dough after breakfast and then the kids and I knead it, roll it out, and make fun shapes with it. Just like play dough, but you get to eat it! We enjoy eating it warm with honey and apple butter. I finished telling the story of Lucy Goose and the Half Egg before heading outside to make a fairy house. Grant decided we should build it down by the pond, so we did, at the base of a red bud tree while Julia looked on from her bouncy seat. Later, after nap, the kids and I were hanging out in Johanna's room and Grant was "wrestling" with Julia on the floor. She stuck her thumb up his nose (why not, it's the perfect size, right?). We all thought that was pretty funny, and Grant wanted her to "pick" his nose again. Johanna said, "I will, Grant." Of course I said, "No, that's yucky!" and Grant said, "Go ahead Johanna. You might find a bunny cracker in there. I stuck one up there once." Now that made me laugh! Later, after dinner, while I was washing the dishes I was serenaded by Johanna in her underwear and a t-shirt, dancing around holding her Tinkerbell tin box purse, while wearing pink sunglasses, upside down. The words to her song consisted of "Da, da, da, da....."

On Wednesday morning Grant played quietly in his room with his Lego's, and Johanna played quietly in her room while a thunderstorm rolled through. It was a nice, peaceful morning. After the storm passed, we headed outside and the kids made use of the abundance of pollen strands from our oak trees. There were sloppy, wet piles all over the driveway. Messy fun! They immediately started throwing clumps into puddles, splashing water all over themselves and finally ended up making a pollen "cake" by patting, stomping and shaping a large pile they had made. Neither of them volunteered to try it!

We had another funny Grant-ism this week. One night after dinner we were outside and I was pushing Johanna on the swing while Grant was swinging next to us. They were enjoying themselves, and Grant said, "Mom, I'm going to swing until the cows come back." I said, "You mean until the cows come home." Johanna chimed in, "I'm going to swing until the cows come home, too."

Our "front porch phoebe" laid 3 eggs. I took a picture of the babies the day before they took flight. I told the kids it wouldn't be long before they left because they could barely all fit in the nest.

A blue heron has also been enjoying our pond, and we have been enjoying him.

Grant's First T-ball Game

Grant had his first t-ball game on Tuesday, April 21. It was pretty fun to watch (other than it being really windy and cold). They went through each team's line-up twice, making it a two inning game. The fun part was watching the kids running past all the bases and throwing balls in all directions. There was no outs and no scoring. The kids get three pitches, and if they can't hit it, they hit off the tee. Grant whacked a good one his first time at bat, and then had to use the tee his second time. When his team took the field, he played short stop the first inning, and first base the second inning. The game took about an hour. He asked if his team won, and we told him, "Yes. You guys did awesome!" He had a lot of fun, and is already looking forward to the trophy at the end of the season!