Random Bits

My kids crack me up! I gave Ephraim a bowl of colored goldfish crackers. He just smashed them into the carpet and didn't eat them. Less than 5 minutes later, I find him chewing a mouth full of colored chalk!! It was bits of blue and red chalk and he had lovely purple saliva oozing out!

I made two loaves of meatloaf for dinner a few days ago. The first time Gabriel had meatloaf, he asked for seconds. This time, he wouldn't touch it for two nights in a row. So tonight, I made spaghetti noodles and sauce, cut the meatloaf into cubes and called them meatballs. He was excited and gobbled them down! Yay, for mommy creativity!

I was taking a shower Saturday morning when Gabriel burst in on me and excitedly shouted "pirate turtle" and ran back out. So random!

Indoor and Outdoor Fun

Gabriel spelled his name all by himself using the letter magnets. I asked him why there was a 4 in the middle of his name and he matter-of-factly told me it's because he's 4 years old. (Duh!) He can spell out his name using a pencil, but usually forgets the "I" there too.

New game for the week: making bubble soup in the bathroom sink. (Gabriel learned how to pull the stopper in the sink and has been giving his action figures and frogs baths for about two weeks now.) The boys were fighting over the one wooden spoon they had found, so I gave them a second. It made for a good clean mess, that's for sure!

I rediscovered the local Farmer's Market. We went first thing in the morning on Wednesday and went to the park up the hill from it afterward. We were just in time for the water sprinklers to be turned on.

On Saturday, Paul's friend was in from WA, so we invited people to a park to play with boffer swords. It turned out Eric, John, and the four of us were the only ones there. But we had lots of fun!

Happy Anniversary!

Gabriel is growing up so fast. He had his 4-year check up and is still at the top of the charts for height. This was his first "big boy" check up, where they did the eye and ear test. (It seems like just yesterday he was on the baby scale and we were so worried about how tiny he was.) He is healthy and strong and very active. Gabriel favorite game outside is a game he made up called Gingerbread Man. I chase him around the yard and he sings, "Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man."

Trains continue to be popular in our house! One day while Ephraim napped, Gabriel built a train set all over the front room--even between the couches as a tunnel toward the front door. "Choo-choo!"

Once Gabriel asked me to built a set for him. I tried to make it as complicated as possible. Had to take a picture to record it.

Ephraim loves hats. He also found the ogre wrap. This was too cute!

 Some days Ephraim seems to be growing out of his naps. He'll fight it as long as he can until...

Ephraim is so patient. He loves taking the time to balance and stand each of these characters up.

August is our anniversary month. This year we celebrate 10 years since our first date and 8 years of marriage! Paul spent lots of time designing two necklaces for me. He modeled them in a 3D program and then sent them to a special company that makes whatever you want. One was super-sturdy red plastic, the other was gold-plated metal (I'll have to take a picture of the second one too). The heart necklaces represent the heart we made out of Contrux during our second date.

Our wedding anniversary is the 30th, but we celebrated early on Saturday. We went to Comedy Sportz, an improv comedy show in San Jose which we saw on our second date and loved! It was so special going back again after all these years.

More Quotes

Gabriel quotes of the day:
"It's the end of the day? Which day is it now?"
"Mom, don't be a small animal because big animals eat small animals."

Ephraim hands me the pirate hat and asks me to put it on his head, and starts singing his version of "Yo, ho, pirate's life for me" (which has a sing-song quality and sounds kinda like "yo-yo, yo-yo")

And sad to note: Ephraim is outgrowing his naps! He used to fall asleep between 11:30 and 12:30pm. Now he doesn't even show signs of being tired until at least 2:30pm.