Solution: Traps

Yesterday I was telling Zane that I think he is an attractive little boy and that he is going to draw people to him like a magnet. I also said that when he gets older he is going to have trouble with girls. He replied, " I've got all kinds of things [ideas] to stop that!" When I questioned him regarding what he would do, he replied, "Traps." He also said that he would tell the girls that he likes how to get out of the trap. It is hard to believe in a few short years that Zane's perspective on girls will change 180 degrees.

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I've been trying to plan a party for Cade's birthday with his cousins Lolly, Gabriel, and Abigail. I had to cancel the first time because my mom wasn't able to be there and really wants to be. When Gabriel, age 5, found out that the party was canceled, he was excited and asked his mom if he could keep Cade's present. Today, when he found out the re-scheduled party is tomorrow he was disappointed. I guess he would rather stay home from the birthday party and play with the present. Hopefully Cade will be extra nice and let Gabe play with it.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mary Poppins & Samantha

My boys are very noisy when the play. Zane is the most noisy. He seemingly cannot play without sound effects and although I know I will someday miss this, at times it is a bit much. Really, when they all three get going, it is a lot of noise. Today Zane was playing and instead of asking him to quiet down I decided to start making my own noises. Sort of a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle approach to parenting. So as I am washing dishes and wiping counters I begin making loud, random noises. Within seconds Zane is by my side asking what I am doing. I respond that I am just washing dishes. I take off to the bathroom to put towels in the washer while making jet-plane-like noises. He is right on my heals. He tries to ask questions. I tell him I'm busy. He asks, "Are you trying to make it fun?" Being that he cannot engage me in conversation, Zane goes off to play. Maybe five minutes transpire and my throat is becoming sore. I also notice that Zane is no longer making noise and I call him to the kitchen to ask why. He says that he doesn't always make noise. Then he asks if I was trying to make my job fun like he suggested yesterday. Yesterday, the boys and Cory were going for a bike ride and I was thinking about whether I should go or not. I asked, "Who will make dinner while I'm gone?" Zane told me that, like the lady with the umbrella says [aka Mary Poppins], we should have fun no matter what we do. He thinks maybe I should stay home and have fun making dinner. I laugh and decide to go on the bike ride. So today, after my experiment with noise making, he thought I must have followed his sound advice and used noises to make housework more fun. Personally, I would prefer the twinkle-my-nose approach to housework like Samantha on Bewitched, but he hasn't [and probably won't] see that show.

Cottage Grove Lake

Last weekend we went camping with Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Marsha at Cottage Grove Lake. We had a great time! Grandpa and Grandma brought their boat and the boys got to ski tube for the first time. Zane and Cade loved it! They had their thumbs up most of the time signaling that they wanted to go faster, faster, faster. Cade would hold up both thumbs hoping to urge Grandma to go ever faster.





You may have noticed that I didn't mention Luke. He didn't even want to be in the boat and was crying [warning: the picture below may break your heart]. He finally decided to give the tube a try, but there were conditions: (1) I would ride with him [not Dad, who enjoys speed and; therefore, crashes on occasion], and (2) Grandma Marsha would drive very slow. While on the tube, he confided that the only reason he agreed to the ride was because he could then control how fast the boat went. [Pretty smart kid!] Thankfully, being that Grandma and I did exactly what he wanted, he eventually liked it and we spent our time absorbing God's beautiful creation as we meandered around the lake.