Last Friday morning, I got to go to Adam’s school for a “Tea and Read”. The kindergartners did a little skit. Adam had a speaking role, two lines that he delivered perfectly. I was too slow with the video camera on my phone though, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

He read me several stories and served me a muffin and some juice.

He was so proud and kept asking if I need anything else.

I was given gifts too! I got this awesome poem and with Adam’s hand print on it, and also a small plant.

It was a lot of fun and am so glad that I was able to spend that time with Adam.

Can someone please tell me where my baby girl went?

Because this little lady is way too big to be her. I still can’t believe she’ll be two in less than two weeks.

About a week ago, Adam told me his idea for a book that he wanted to write. So tonight, I gave him a blank board book and a bunch of markers.

The book is titled, “Sock, Rock, and Clock”.

Sock. Rock.

Clock. Sock and Rock meet. Sock and Rock are best friends.

Sock and Rock meet Clock.

They like to play. They like to build.

They like to have fun. Three best friends.

The End.

He really did a great job. I especially love how Clock’s hands are the hands of the clock. Adam already got a second book in mind and I can’t wait to see it. I’m so proud of my little author/illustrator.

The kids were unusually cooperative this morning when I suggested taking some pictures before church. Adam’s pose cracks me up.

We’ve been blessed with some pretty amazing (not to mention good looking) kids.

We ran some errands in the morning.

Then spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside.

“Mother, I said NO MORE PICTURES.”

Adam and Luke pretended to be firefighters. They drew chalk flames on the driveway and then put them out with their “water canons”. I love their imaginations.

Let’s talk about Luke and his geography for a minute. Not only can he correctly put all 50 states on the map, but he can place the countries in North America.

And South America.

And Africa.

Seriously, all 54 countries in Africa. This kid amazes me.

So when I saw this US map fabric online, I knew I had to get it and make a quilt for Luke. When we went to the store, he saw the world map fabric and asked me if he could have “a all the countries blanket AND a all the states-es blanket”.

It took me a lot longer than it should have to finish – thanks to my imprecise sewing, cutting, or measuring skills (though really, it was probably (D) all of the above). I spent at least 5 hours bonding with my seam ripper.

This quilt was made with lots of love, and a handful of curse words.

Luke fell asleep on the couch last night. So when I finally finished it, I covered him up with it.

I came downstairs this morning and found he’d spread the quilt out on the floor and was pointing out countries. When he saw me he excitedly said, “Mommy! Look what you made!”

It was the best reaction I could have asked for.

We got a yummy gift of food in the mail yesterday from some very generous friends. Once our goodies were stowed away in the freezer, I let Adam play with the dry ice they had been packed in. Luke and Maggie were napping, but at Adam’s insistence, we saved a chunk for Luke to see when he woke.

Adam thought it was pretty cool (pun intended) and I overheard him pretending to be an evil wizard.

When Maggie and Luke woke up, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go to the playground.

This was another new one to us and had a crazy long slide. Luke learned a valuable lesson about why we don’t walk up slides when other kids might be on their way down (at least, I’d like to think he learned a valuable lesson, but since I had to stop him from doing it again just a few minutes later, it probably didn’t stick).

Once we got back home, Adam showed Luke the dry ice.

I loved hearing the two of them laugh and cast spells.

Luke dumped a mostly full bottle of bubble bath in the tub earlier. Thankfully it was after I’d shut the water off. It was a slippery bath (but, to be fair, very nice smelling).

Adam made a birthday card at school for his fish friend, Gerald.

My dad told Adam that his cards are so good that he could charge money for them. Adam is in the process of changing his last name to Hallmark and now each card he makes for me costs me fifty cents (totally worth it). For the record, he only gets paid for cards I request – I don’t compensate him for the thank you notes he sends out.

I’ve found it’s a sneaky way to talk about money though and he’s learned that if one card is fifty cents, then two cards are a dollar. He’s also learned that just because someone has a handful of coins, it doesn’t mean it’s a lot of money (a lesson I kept hidden from my little sister when I used to pay her to clean my room).

Maggie saw me taking photos of Gerald’s card and stood in front of me saying cheese until I took her picture too.

Luke fell asleep on top of the train table. It didn’t look that comfortable to me, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Lately Maggie has been talking a lot more. Most of the time, it’s just jibberish, but I have been picking up some new words and phrases from her.

I have an alarm set on my phone for 10 minutes before Adam’s bus arrives, just so I don’t get caught up in things and lose track of time. Each time she hears it, Maggie announces, “Time get Adam!”, and then runs to find her shoes.

She gets so excited when she’s able to get me to understand her. The other day when I figured out she wanted me to refill her water cup, she clapped and jumped around like I just solved the final puzzle on Wheel of Fortune.

She’s definitely got spunk, from her sometimes wild hair all the way down to her little pink toes. I recently painted her toenails for the first time (I’ve been wanting to for ages and am amazed I held out as long as I did).

The downside with her “pretty toes”, as she calls them, is now she doesn’t want to wear socks or shoes.

Before:

After:

Amazing what a 45 minute walk can do.