The Artist

If you don't have young children and are not familiar with PBS Kids, let me introduce you to one of Xander's favorite things ... Word World.

It's something we know A LOT about in our house. Some might say a little too much.

Xander can recite entire episodes verbatim (and with perfect inflection). He anticipates moments in each show, laughing just before something funny is about to happen or saying a line just before a character has the chance to do so. He knows how to spell all of the words featured in the "Let's Build a Word" segments. He knows the entire series inside and out.

This summer Word World is also showing up in other ways.

Xander is our artist. He LOVES to sit down with markers or crayons or paint. He will go through an entire ream of paper in one sitting if you will let him. The desk in his room is filled with his "papers" from letters to numbers to drawings to signs to whatever his current obsession happens to be.

Here are a few recent examples ...

"Pig's Perfect Pizza" is a favorite episode.

 As is "The Lost Letter L" episode.

And, as anyone who's ever watched PBS knows, every show ends with a thank you to the sponsors as well as "Viewers Like You" and then ...

"Thank You."

Welcome to our "Word World."

It's a Hard Life

Mommy's Chair, a photo by here we wander on Flickr.

Now that baseball is officially over for the summer, Connor is trading in his lazy days around the backyard swimming pool for some lazy days at the lake.

Grandma and Grandpa drove up this morning. The three oldest cousins (Connor plus Austin and Kyndal) left with them for an extended trip to their cabin on the lake.

There will be boating and swimming and tubing. Charcoal grilling and good eating. There will probably even be a few day trips to other fun places, like maybe a local water park or a nearby national park.

Yes, it's a hard life, Connor says, but someone has to live it.

A Simple Request

It was a simple request.

"I want sandwich, please. I want pretzels, please."

But it was so much more. It was a moment in time.

It was the first time either of the twins had ever requested a specific dinner (not just a specific item), and not only that, actually finished the entire meal.

It happened last week. We were on our way home from our pool outing at the club with Grammy and Aunt Kelly. All of the boys had hovered around the cooler we always bring, begging for snacks and drinks all day long. That's just what they do. They will eat and drink all day long if you will let them.

But on the way home, even as we drove past the fast food places near the interstate, Xander piped up from his seat right behind me.

"I want sandwich, please. I want pretzels, please."

And when we got home, he repeated it again as we were unloading the truck. So I got all the boys inside, took a few minutes to take care of our giant puppy, then got started on everyone's dinner.

Xander had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (the only kind he has ever eaten) and pretzels, just as he requested. And he ate every last bite of it. All the more impressive because it was a GFCF meal (frozen sandwich bread from Rudi's and pretzels from Snyder's).

One simple request. One big moment.

Life is So Hard

Crushed, a photo by here we wander on Flickr.

Really. You get invited by Grammy to the club pool. But the kiddie pool just doesn't cut it anymore.

You want to go on the slide in the family pool. Over and over and OVER again. For hours at a time, without a single break. Never mind that the adults swimming out there to catch you and help give you a push back to the ladder might be a little tired.

You leave the family pool kicking and screaming and crying and falling down on the ground in protest. All the way back to the kiddie pool.

And then you think you want to go off the diving board in the dive pool, but that jump gets bigger the closer you get to the end of the board. So you bounce on the board a little, but stay back from the edge. The lifeguard blows his whistle and tells you to jump or get back down (so the other kids can jump). We go through the process a few times, but you eventually opt out. It's just too high, and you're swimming is still more of a dog paddle on a good day, so you're not quite ready. Not today.

You leave the dive pool kicking and screaming and crying and falling down in protest. All the way back to the kiddie pool.

And to add insult to injury, Mommy will not feed you every single minute you are at the club pool. We did JUST eat lunch before we drove over. You did already have a large package of fruit snacks, some applesauce and a large container of grapes. Grammy had already given you an icee from the concessions. You SHOULD NOT still be hungry.

But you are. You want more snacks. And more drinks. And you want to slide. Or jump. Or be anywhere except inside or around the kiddie pool.

Life is so hard sometimes ...

Summer Time ...

Still Snorkeling, a photo by here we wander on Flickr.

... and the livin' is easy.

For the most part, anyway. The last few weeks have seen really warm weather in our part of the world, which means the backyard pool is finally open for business (the cold nights kept the water cold the first few weeks of summer break).

The last few weeks our schedule has been pretty typical. We spend the mornings inside, me attempting to work on my freelance project or taking care of things around the house and the boys playing with toys or watching a movie in the play room. We usually have a late lunch, then make our way outside around 3 o'clock or so, when the back yard starts to shade.

And that's where we stay. We usually finish out the day in our back yard. Snacks and drinks under the patio umbrella. Boys splashing in the pool or swinging on the playset or bouncing on the trampoline. And, if the yard is clean, the boys playing in the yard. Connor and Xander do pretty well with a few simple games. Sawyer cannot be convinced to leave the pool. Ever.

Now that baseball has ended, the back yard is our new routine. We probably should be doing a little more work. But it is summer time, after all, and the livin' should be easy.