Dino Dance

We just finished "dinosaur" week and I'm hopefully going to post pictures about the fun things we did. But for now, I am compelled to try to my best to convey a very funny incident that took place on Saturday... According to our recent family tradition, we were at the park on this lovely Saturday morning. This park has quite a few big statues that the boys like to run around and play "hide-and-seek" on. So they were playing away when this cute little chunky local boy comes up and tried to start playing with them. The 3 boys ran around and around the statue laughing and playing for a while. Now keep in mind that this little boy didn't speak English and my boys don't really speak the local language so they were playing without really talking to each other. Normal for us. Well, then the little boy started putting his hands up and growling like he was an animal and was chasing my boys. He seemed to have quite the imagination as he played and wasn't being mean or anything; he was just playing. But Joshua and Luke both ran over to me and said they were scared of the the little boy because he was a "T-Rex". I told Joshua he shouldn't be scared but he should just pretend he was a triceratops (his current favorite dinosaur) and try to get the little boy with his "horns". I was confident that Joshua could do this playfully and not really try to hurt the boy or anything. Joshua thought for a minute then said to me, "No, I want to be an ankylosaurus." I thought it was a little strange that he would want to be that dinosaur, but whatever. Now, before I go on, you must know that an ankylosaurus was an armored dinosaur with a club-like tail that it would swing at predators as a means of protection. Already armed with this information, Joshua proceeds to walk up to the little boy, turn himself around so that his backside was facing the boy and started, shall we say, "shaking his tail" at the boy. I cannot imagine what the little boy's father was thinking as he watched Joshua. But as soon as Joshua started doing it, I knew what he was trying to do and I burst out laughing. Of course, then I called Joshua over and encouraged him to try the club-like tail some other way than shaking his bottom all up in the boy's grill. I still laugh now just thinking of what Joshua did. Shortly after that the boy and his father left. I wonder why...

Isn't imagination such a fun thing?

Permission

Okay, so the other day Daddy and I walked into the living room only to find Joshua and Luke in the act of jumping off the coffee table. Just as the correction was about to ensue, Luke took a dive and hit the floor with a loud crack. "Crack" is not a good sound when it involves small bodies hitting something. (Trust me, I know.) There was no blood, but Luke was screaming, so I was holding him on the floor trying to console him and get him to tell me where it hurt. His response was "everywhere!". Thankfully, he was not really hurt in any major way, though I'm sure he was sore for at least 5 minutes. Anyway, while I was holding Luke and trying to talk to him through his crying, Daddy was trying to stave off Micah (who thought we were playing on the floor) and Joshua (who wanted to "help"). Seizing the opportunity for what it was, Daddy proceeded to talk to Joshua about the disadvantages of jumping off the coffee table. To which Joshua asked (totally serious), "Daddy, but when you're not looking or not at home, can we jump off the table then?" At least he was honest. :o) It does make me wonder what else they think is okay to do when we're not looking...

Little Mr. Communication

It's been a while since I updated you about Micah's happenings, so I thought it was high time to do so for my 14-month-old. First of all, he's still wins cutest one year old award, hands down (unless you're referring to my other boys at this age, then it's a 3-way tie). He's walking/running anywhere and everywhere and even recently (when exposed to stairs for the first time) has begun climbing. He totally wants to be all up in whatever his big brothers are doing, but also likes to wander off by himself to see what he can find. As of this week, he is completely weaned (which went off without a hitch both for mommy and baby), and is in general hard to contain. He's still snuggly when he's tired, but otherwise prefers being down playing or running around rather than being held (unless there are strangers around). Best of all, he's starting to say more and more words! He says Hi/Hello to most people and sometimes even says, "Hi guys!" Please, eat, more, baby, cookie (his favorite word), night-night, Mom and Dad are also all part of his repertoire of speaking these days. He knows the signs for some of the words (especially "cookie"), but he usually just says the word. He's got 8 teeth now (that I've counted) and thinks he can eat anything. He actually does have quite the appetite, sometimes rivaling his brothers in the amount he can put away. He does still pucker up for kisses from time to time, and is generally a very happy little guy. I wish you could all see him now because he's just so much fun!

Lake

While our friends were here we visited a famous lake in our country. We had heard lots about this lake, but had no idea just how amazing it actually was. First of all, it is a HUGE lake (111 miles long and 37 miles wide) with beautiful beaches. We contacted a travel agent in town and they recommended a hotel/resort to stay in. Having lived overseas now for some time, we all had very low expectations, all of us having stayed in "resorts" that were more like Motel 6's. So, after our 4 hour van trip, we were all shocked and amazed when we walked into our very modern, very beautiful cottage. It was 2-stories with a full kitchen and dining room, washing machine, 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms upstairs, and a fold-out couch downstairs. This resort had about 30-40 cottages as well as a hotel, restaurant, outdoor and indoor pools, outdoor and indoor gyms, tennis courts, and (best of all for a family with 3 small boys) an incredible playground on the beach. Needless to say, we continued to be shocked and amazed every time we discovered something new. Even the food was good (which we also did not expect)! There were 7 adults that went along with our kids and another's 5 month old baby. We stayed two nights, 3 days with all our meals included in the cost and eaten in the restaurant. It was a GREAT trip! It was a bit too chilly already to swim in the pool outside, and the lake water was really cold. We opted for the indoor pool, but even that was pretty cold and we felt the need to remove the boys from the water when Luke's lips started turning blue. The boys, of course, had a fabulous time just playing in the sand and on the playground. It was a great trip for our family and good time to spend with our friends. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

So... You're Leaving When?

As you may know, we had 3 lovely guests this past week staying in our home. They were all friends from where we used to live, and all very, very dear to us. The boys refer to each of them as "aunt" even though they are not related to us. We had a wonderful time with them all; I will tell you more about our lake trip in another post. But for now, I must share a story with you about my eldest son and his hospitality skills. One day he was sitting with Aunt Amy watching television as it was nearing lunchtime. I mentioned to him that as soon as the show he was watching was over, he needed to turn off the TV. Well, I was not present when the show ended, and Joshua was having a difficult time following the wishes of his mother and turning it off. So Aunt Amy tried to help him decide to obey, but he was not interested in help or obedience. You know, he just wanted to keep watching as long as he could. After repeated failed attempts to get Joshua to turn off the TV, Amy just turned it off for him, resulting in Joshua going over the couch and hiding his face in unhappiness. So, Amy went over to him to smooth things over as she began to wax eloquent about the value of obeying parents and how she wants what's best for him and will always ask him to obey his mom and dad, etc., etc. Then Joshua looks up at her and says, "So... you're leaving in a week, right?" Nice. I'm so glad that my children make our company feel at home here. Thanks, Ames, for loving my kids!