Arsenic Hour...

For those of you w/ kids you may know the hours between 4ish & 6ish pm are known as arsenic hour... although I prefer to call it "cosmopolitain hour" or "white wine coctail hour".

Here are two videos taken today during our "cosmo hour".

Hair Cut Day

Today was hair cut day. Oscar has so much fast growing beautiful hair that we go every 4 weeks. Calvin we do every other time. Calvin is still unsure of the whole experience but Oscar is a seasoned expert!!

If you give a Mom a muffin...

A friend of mine emailed this to me recently. So funny. (especially if you read "if you give a pig a pancake" to your kids regularly.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a Mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan dinner for tonight.

She will get out a package of chicken.
She will look for her cookbook (101 Things to Make Chicken).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring.
Her three year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee on Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.

And chances are......
If she has a cup of coffee......
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it

Calvin walks!!!

Yes he is almost 15 months. Yes he has been ABLE to walk for weeks now. But as some of you have seen he has "chosen" not to - until last night. Here is some footage of our newly mobile Lewis... go Calvin!!

Mothers Day

Mothers Day was wonderful!! We hosted a Mother's Day brunch for my mom & mother in law. We feel so lucky to be able to share holidays w/ both Darren's mom & my family.

Here is my table setting! Notice the new blue dishes (I had to buy them to fit my vision for how the table would look).

Darren got me a pair of earings & this porch swing!! So excited about both. Grandpa & Oscar planted me some lavender plants on the south side of the house. It was a fantastic day. Happy Mothers Day!!

Saturday Pizza Night

Every Saturday we make pizza for dinner. Today was the first day Calvin and Oscar had side by side ladders in the kitchen & BOTH helped. It was a total success!!

So many questions...

Someone should send a memo out to all parents of kids about to turn 3. Get ready. Get a set of encyclopedias. I am amazed at the questions that come out of Oscar. I heard that kids were supposed to ask a lot of "why" questions.... and Oscar does. However, he also has many many more specific questions. Here are a few from yesterday & today:

Do birds turn?
Do crabs walk?
Explain to me how concrete is made.
What is the difference between a grain elevator & a grain silo?
Can airplanes go backward?

For real!! The 3 year old mind is amazing. I love it. I wish we could look at the world with such innocent curiosity. On the flip side - I am pretty sure Oscar will tap my knowledge base before he is 5. We'll have to learn together after that.

May Day Fun

We had a fun filled day today. Probably too full - as the 5:30 melt down ultimately proved. However, it was fun while it lasted!!

Here is us at the zoo this am. This was my view the entire time - the back of the boys heads w/ the animals in the distance. That is a mountain goat back there in white.

And this is the view that everyone else at the zoo saw....

Then after lunch & naps we hit the park. It was an awsome day for playtime!!

This was a few days ago but I thought I'd share anyway.... give boys a pile of dirt & they are happy for hours!!

DUST!!

We've just started the final phase of our interior remodeling.... the basement. Demo was this weekend. Darren & two guys from our church demo'd the basement back to the foundation walls. Here is a shot of our dining room table - one full floor above the demolition.

Lunch time....

Meals are never boring here at the Lewis house. During lunch today Oscar serenaded us with "On top of Spaghetti".

And here is Calvin enjoying a lunch of left over black bean soup.

Playdate today...

So our weekly playdate w/ the Bailly's was today. It was fun as always. Amelia, 1 1/2 years old was talking up a storm.

This is my favorite photo:

Here is Oscar having a Mission Impossible moment:

And Calvin happy as a clam!!

"the tone"

Oscar is only 3 years old and already has that "tone" in his voice. Not only that, there are occasions already when he seems to think that I don't have a clue. Case in point....

We were reading a book & I pointed out that there was a teddy bear. He goes, "no it's a baby". And followed it up w/ a , "Mommy, it's okay - you'll get it." - as in I don't GET IT but will someday. Maybe. To top it off he patted my leg while he said it.

On another occasion I was trying to explain to him that the little ball that rolls around in his play level from his tool bench represents the bubble in daddy's real level. He laughs, walks out of the room & says, "Silly mommy. A ball isn't a bubble. A bubble is a bubble."

Cute stuff now, but wait until he's 12.

Pump it up....

It is a bouncy heaven for children! We were invited to the 3rd birthday party of one of Oscar's friends this weekend at a place called Pump it Up Jr. Our first time & WOW was it a cool spot for a kids b-day. Oscar was a bit sceptical of the mega bouncy toys and preferred to watch but Calvin dived right in.

After play time they shuffle us all into a party room for pizza & birthday cupcakes.

And one last note. Oscar shocked us all by writing... YES WRITING his & Morgan (the b-day girls) name on her card. See...

All in all it was a fantastic day!!

Playtime

Here's a few pic's of our "at home" playtime .

On the piano...









Craft time w/ Egg cartons...









"Alone" time...

Easter

This year we spent Easter with all our local family plus Great Grandma Grace. We ate fantistic food, the kids had an Easter egg hunt & treated the adults were treated to a puppet show!