puZzle at the Pool

Here is a fun puzzle!!! Dana and I have been enjoying racing each other to complete puzzles on-line. If you click on the "play" arrow, you will be taken to the Jigzone website and this puzzle. After the puzzle loads on the screen...if it is in too many pieces, go to the left of the screen and under the small picture of this puzzle, it says "Change Cut." Press on that and you will be shown all the different sizes and cuts you can choose from. You can make the puzzle as easy as 6 pieces or even more than what we have on this post.

Enjoy!!!

Changing things

We have some friends who also blog with stories of their life as a family. To keep their children safe from any "bad guys," they have changed the names of their children---either they just use initials, or they have sweet little pet names. Because my creative juices flow not, I am giving each little one of ours a letter or two.





D-D

M-G

Z

E

Now, if you have better and cuter names than just the letters I have assigned the kiddoes, please feel free to email me...I would love to have some creative ideas!!! :)

I will be working over the next few days to change all of the kids' names to their "letters"...and if you see that I have missed some, let me know!!!

Trying a Joke

This past mother's day, E was trying to tell a joke on the way home. Our very fun neighbor had taught it to him and he was trying it out.

E: Jack and Me-Jack were sitting in a boat, Me-Jack fell out, who was left?
MG: Jack.
E: NO. LISTEN! Jack and Me-Jack were sitting in a boat, ME-JACK fell out...who was left?
MG: Jack!
E: NOOOOOOO!!! (giggle, giggle) I SA-A-A-A-I-D...Jack and Me-Jack were sitting in a boat, Me-Jack fell out, who was left?
MG: If Me-Jack falls out, then Jack is left
E: I didn't say Me-Jack fell out! I said that (he pauses while thinking through his joke)---oh!! Ooops!!! I'll try it again...
Dana and I are chuckling
Dad: E, It is supposed to be Pete and Re-Pete. ... Do you know what repeat means?
E: Do you know what repeat means?
Dad: I guess you do!
E: I guess you do!
Mom: It's Pete and Re-Pete
E: Pete and Re-Pete were sitting a boat, they both fall out. Who is left?
MG: No-one is left!
E: NO!!! Listen!!! Pete and Re-Pete were sitting in a boat. THEY BOTH fall out!! WHOOOOO is left?
MG: If they both fall out, then no one is left!
E: Ooops!!! (giggle, giggle) Pete and Re-Pete were sitting in a boat. Who is left?
MG: E!!!!!!! You didn't say the whole joke!!!
E: (pausiing for thought and then) hee-hee-hee! OK!!! Pete and Re-Pete were sitting in a boat. Pete falls out! Who is left?
(Dana and I are near exhaustion from laughing at this interchange between the siblings)
MG: (in a "Finally!!" tone of voice)Re-Pete
E: Nope!!! An Octopus!!! Re-Pete is a transformer!!!!!!! Baaaaaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!
MG: E!!!!!! Oh, brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Game

The kids really enjoyed soccer. Though they were not the best players, they certainly were not the worst, either. Here are some pictures from their last night of games.

E would try to do everything that his teammates were doing. That included falling down. If he saw this one particular boy fall during a play or a kick, E would immediately tumble to the ground with an, "oof!" This usually happened when there was no one (or no ball) around him. Those of you may remember a similar falling stunt at Carpenter's Kids' end of year program a year or so ago...he certainly makes me chuckle!!!

Teeth!!!!

It seems as if teeth are all my blog postings are about. It seems like that is what our life is about right now, too. Z has six teeth, and I am hoping that all of the waking and crying he has been doing during nap and night time is because of other teeth coming through. We had to move his pack-n-play into our closet last night so his crying would not disturb the school kids. He is still sleeping this morning (8:30 right now) because he cried so much last night. Wish I was sleeping, too, but D-D and the Thomas train set have called and we have been playing some.

D-D has beautiful teeth, by the way. :)

M-G has finally slowed down in her tooth shedding. I think she has lost 7 or 8 teeth so far...and the tooth fairy has been very generous. :) She works very hard to keep her teeth clean!

E tries to keep his clean, but he still has a hard time manipulating his toothbrush. We usually have to re-brush pretty vigorously after his attempts. He has one very loose tooth and another one that MIGHT be loose. He is pretty excited about this. Maybe we can have M-G knock these teeth out for him like he did for her last August (see posts: http://foures.blogspot.com/2007/09/emma-graces-tooth-adventure.html and http://foures.blogspot.com/2007/09/all-i-want-for-christmas.html )!

This morning when getting E ready for school, Dana opened the window to his room to let in some cool fresh air. Because the shutters were open, sunshine was flooding into the room. This showed me lots of things that needed cleaned (ugh!) as well as a good view of Z's crib. The marks along the top edge remind me of our old dog Duke, who would chew on two-by-fours until they were gone (yep---Duke ate them!!!). Our other kids did teeth on the crib, but only left pale little scratches with their teeth. Not Z!!!! There are cute little tooth sized valleys and gorges where he has exercised his ability to chomp and chew. I guess I will need to start flossing his teeth to get out any splinters (ha, ha, ha).

Climbing the Walls

M-G had a lot of energy to burn after church this morning. She tried to drive us up the wall, but decided it would be more fun if she went there instead:

Z

Oh, our little man is growing and doing all the things God designed little babies to do. He has been crawling for over a month now, still getting his feet tangled up every once in a while. It is fun to see him get around and though he has been mobile like this for a few weeks, it still surprises me when I find him at the back door pushing on the screen. !!! Aaaaack!!!! He has four teeth and I think his fifth one will be in shortly (another sleepless night???). It is really hard to be positive when predicting when his tooth will come through, though: the last few teeth gave us the same impression as this one and took forever to break through!!! :)

Last night, when running the water for the kids' bath, Z crawled into the room and went straight for the tub. He was excited to hear the water running, but a little frustrated that he could not see it. Before I realized, he had pulled himself up and was standing up holding the side of the tub!!! Then, tonight, E ran from their room frantic for me to hurry back there. Z (after I had put him to bed)had pulled himself up to standing and was hanging on to the top of the crib and yelling. E was afraid he would climb over the top. eeeeeep! I hope it will be a while before that takes place. :)

Now that he has discovered how this is done, I think that I am in for a few loud nap-times when he will stand up in his crib and not know how to get down. Hopefully this will not last too long!