Don't Call Him Cute!

A couple of months ago Josh stopped letting me refer to him as cute.

I actually wasn’t allowed to say that he was cute, handsome, sweet, or any other descriptive comment—good or bad.

Every time he would catch me talking about him that way, he would angrily tell me, “I’m not cute, I’m just freckle face!”

That was it—freckle face and only freckle face.

I have no idea why or even where it came from, but if I really had to talk about him I could only say he was freckle face.

After a while he started saying that he wasn’t anything, but now he’s back to freckle face.

He’s a quirky kid—and random.

I have a hard time not pestering him about silly stuff like that! It’s no wonder he liked Ben so much better there for awhile!

(He’s back to liking me and giving me smooches, but I don’t think I will ever really win out on that competition!)

My Circle of Boys

This necklace arrived in my mailbox a couple of days ago.

As much as I would love to have a boy named Josh and another boy named Oliver, I'm pretty sure I would have a lifetime of guilt trips waiting for me if I didn't also include a boy named Lucas on my circle of boys.

Back it goes to get corrected

Tie-Tie Shirts

Before we left for Branson, Linda and I made tie-dye shirts with all the kids.

My boys call them tie-tie shirts. It makes me laugh so I haven't corrected them. I probably should!

It was a fairly big job for us to tackle with them, but we made it through it without giving any of the kids the boot.

We were pretty proud of ourselves for that!

I didn't have high hopes of them turning out very good, but I was totally wrong. They are so cute and my boys wear them every other day.

I'm pretty sure we are going to have to make it an annual project.

Table Rock 2011

Last week we went to Table Rock with Ben's family.

We spent our days doing a whole lot of nothin'--swimming, eating, getting a delicious tan!

It was lovely!

We considered doing actual activities, but in the end we all decided that it wasn't worth the hassle of putting on actual clothes Our time was better spent by the water, anyway!

The only bummer part of the trip was that one of the employees ran into my car with a golf cart and dented my door. We got a free cake out of the deal, so really it was kind of a positive!

On top of that, the boys were pretty good on the car ride, and that, in it's self, makes any vacation awesome!

He's Not Mine!

This is what Josh Oliver wore to Vacation Bible School today.

Can you say DORK!

The shirt that is two sizes too big is not his fault, but the totally unmatched KU shorts and the striped green shorts are all his picks. He is also wearing his brown church shoes.

Clearly, I did not give him the once-over before we walked out the door.

Generally, I don't care what my kids wear as long as they have gotten themselves dressed head to toe--it's a fair trade off for less stressful mornings.

This ensemble goes a little beyond the acceptable limit!

Keeping Them Busy

Linda and I plan on keeping the kids busy all summer.

Busy kids often equals happy adults.

I've even written out a calender so that we can stay nice and organized!

We are doing lots of activities at the library and plenty of swimming at the Y. We've also been going to the park quite a bit and having picnic lunches with the kids.

We have a list of bigger activities to do, but so far we've just been sprinkling them in when we muster up the energy to deal with them.

It's going to be a fabulous, meaningful summer--and we are off to a good start!

Entertainment with a Side of Food

A few weeks ago, Ben and I took the boys to Kobe's to celebrate our birthday's.

We thought it would be super fun and even more delicious!

Unfortunately, Luke only wanted steamed rice.

Henry ate two bowls of soup (which was basically chicken broth) and not much else.

Josh Oliver--well, I don't know if he actually ate anything.

Ben and I devoured ours, but we still came home with an embarrassing amount of leftovers.

The entertainment, though, was fabulous!

3D

The boys love to go to 3D movies.

They are pretty fantastic--much better than what they were when I was a kid!

Henry and Josh will often watch with no glaasses.  I have no idea how!

Our New Saturday!

Last weekend Ben and I decided on a whim to take the kids and the dogs to the FOP lake.

We quickly grabbed a ball and a pan of brownies and off we went.

It was absolutely lovely!

The dogs swam and chased after their ball. The boys got all wet and dirty, and I laid out in the sun.

After the dogs were worn out (and I was too hot) we polished off our brownies, cleaned off the sand as best as we could and headed home for naps.

It was the best way to spend a Saturday!

It may have to be a weekly ritual, only from now on we will be able to swim—yeah no more cast—and maybe take a proper lunch with us!

(Luke and Henry really do have more shirts than the ones they are wearing in EVERY PICTURE! I apparently just need to quit putting the same ones on the TOP of thier stacks of clothes--or better yet just put away the long sleeved ones!)

Memorial Weekend

The boys and I visited the graves twice over Memorial weekend.

It's my favorite part of that holiday!


I love cemeteries--especially when they are chock-full of colorful flowers and American flags.

My favorite thing, however, is the stories.

Visiting the graves is the only time I get to hear a lot of them, and usually I learn a little something new each time!

Summer Kids

It took less than a week for my boys to turn into dirty summer kids.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it until we were sitting in Mass on Wednesday night.

They all have tons of scrapes up and down their arms and legs. I’ve already lost track of what caused most of them, but it’s safe to assume that they are all from some sort of fall.

Josh Oliver has a layer of skin missing from the end of his nose where a plastic UFO attacked him. It was very dramatic and involved a band-aid on his nose for awhile. Luckily it's almost healed.

Lucas is missing one of his front teeth. It came out due to a wrestling match with Josh—he said he thinks it was already a little bit loose. The other two to the right of it are also very loose so within a week or two he’s going to be quite a sight!

Also, they are all in desperate need of a good scrub down.

Generally, time spent playing in the sprinklers and pools balance out all the extra time spent playing outside. Since, we have a boy in a cast, however, no one has gotten to go anywhere near water yet. That means that they are all just really gross. Their finger and toe nails, especially!

On top of that Henry and Josh Oliver decided it would be fun to draw animals and army tanks all over their legs and arms.

On the bright side, though, I’ve decided that all of their grossness is just a side effect of a good summer!

The dirt and scrapes are unavoidable when we spend our days outside having fun!

They do, absolutely, need to get their summer haircuts. That always helps make them a little more presentable looking.

I'm also going to make a rule that on church days they absolutely must be squeaky clean, because otherwise it's just embarrassing!