Family Life with Us: May 2008

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Wild Willy's Fat Lip and The Top of his Curly Head

I WANTED to take a picture of the hysterical way that
Isaac eats Oreos like a toddler-sized Pez dispenser operating
backwards (You'd have to see it to understand) BUT he decided
that we needed to take a picture of the fat lip he
received after colliding with his brother's large, hard
head which was why we were eating popsicles and then
cookies (HEY, you can't put an Incredibles band-aid on a fat lip)
in the first place. I figure he wants all the sympathy
he can get. THEN, he begs for me to take a picture of the top
of his curly head. I dunno why but we were
still on the mend post trauma so I obliged.

Saturday Morning

Matt and I have a common childhood experience from
when we were growing up...

Saturday Mornings = Giant, Mixing-Bowl Sized Bowls of Cereal
AND
Cartoons in our Jammies until Noon-ish

It's a tradition that we proudly continue with
our boys and one that they enjoy even if
the junkiest cereal that I'll buy is
Fruit Loops...BUT, TODAY
my sugar junkies were ALL smiles
cuz Momma bought cereal straws!

OF COURSE, Isaac is the one that figures out first
that you can blow bubbles out as well as suck milk up.
Yes, INDEED, that's my boy.

Num...junky cereal is good and ever so
much better than oats with blueberries or muselix!

Eggs

Okay so...to heal after having forced myself to read
a work of adult non-fiction, I picked up a book that Eli
brought home from the book fair and LOVED IT.

Jerry Spinelli is a new favorite author. He just
TOTALLY gets kids, their essence, their intrinsic
motivations, how they grow and develop but
mostly how they cope.

Eggs is about friendship and overcoming profound grief.

My favorite bit from the book....

"He still heard his mother's voice - "Davey" - rise like whisperdust
from unseen corners in the house, but it was no longer the only
voice he heard. His ears were also filled with the voices of
others - his father and Primrose and Refrigerator John and his
grandmother. Of course, all of their words for a thousand years
could not fill the hole left by his mother, but they could raise
a loving fence around it so he didn't keep falling in."

Anyone want to go to Vegas?

Nothing about Vegas or its possibilities appeals to me
in ANY way...really. So, when the gals
of the book club voted this one in I was
rather glum. AFTER reading it,
I find myself wanting to see if I can count cards.
INTERESTING book...a card counter's nightmare.
Of course, when those MIT kids systematically
hit Vegas in the early 90's and eventually got
figured out, the casinos had to respond and now
make it virtually impossible to repeat the feat.
Anyways, talk about broadening your horizons...sheesh!
It's a great book for vacation...how's that?

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Hummingbirds - Thanks Mrs. D for the pictures!

Legends say that hummingbirds float
free of time, carrying our hopes for love,
joy and celebration. Like a hummingbird, we aspire
to hover and savor each moment as it passes,
embrace all that life has to offer
and to celebrate the joy of everyday.
The hummingbird's delicate grace reminds us
that life is rich, beauty is everywhere,
every personal connection has meaning
and that laughter is one of God's sweetest creations.

-Papyrus Cards
Photos by The Alfano Family
Pine, Louisiana

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Back to Narnia

We finished our holiday weekend by
returning home and taking Matt to the movies
after his long weekend of working over.

WE LOVED THIS MOVIE!

I've had the good fortune to have
had a nearly life-long love affair with
The Narnia Chronicles and to see them
faithfully depicted on the screen is a true joy.

The books, as I was growing up, lended
confirmation of the character of God to my
faith journey and illustrated HIS realness to
me in a profoundly intimate way. Even though
I've read and re-read all of the
books over the years, the movies once again bring
me to that place where I can experience
in a child-like way, the essence of God.
I love that.

Well Supervised Children

My family of educators and medical professionals
feel more than qualified to
describe to you in detail what constitutes a
well supervised environment in which children
can safely and freely engage in developmentally
appropriate social play. We've chosen to
illustrate our expertise by sharing the following
photographs of an environment that we
set up at our family home over the holiday weekend.

ATTACK OF THE MINIS
how small children can beat the pudding
out of their large, much older cousins...

FIRST...you have to catch him.

Then, screaming banshee-style, you jump on his back
and throw all of your weight out from under you
while holding tightly to his shirt or skin or hair...whatever it takes.

Using this method, repeatedly if necessary, you
take him down as if he were a hulking buffalo being
attacked by tiny hungry Indians.

If necessary you employ the headlock-smacker
where one mini hangs about the neck and the other
mini repeatedly aims to smack about the head.

Once you get him down, by the way, you can do this kung-foo style,
that's always nice...one mini goes for the eyes while the other mini
repeats the banshee-style scream in order to paralyze the victim
and surrounding parties (lounging complacently under the
shade trees) with utter deafness.

In the final moments, your pull out your vast
knowledge of world-wide wrestling and
(OMG is that Zoe actually pile-driving him?
I know Isaac is totally biting him in the a@#...)
finish him off.

You close in a big pileup aimed at suffocating the victim AND
when the gp's (grandparents) come out to see what
all the screaming is about you play dumb and blame
your sister because she started all the roughnecking
by playing let's eat em' up!

And THAT, my friends is how professional educators and
medical professionals supervise children.

***note*** no large, older cousins or minis were harmed in the
making of this educational documentary.

Some people's idea of fun...poor paw.

Some folks hot-rod around in their sporty little
cars for Memorial Day Weekend but
poor ol' Paw gets stuck with the grandkids piling
in and yardwork. Nana was inside cooking and
cleaning and painting...there's no rest for the weary.

We even put the babies to work to help out...
We're BIG help, lemme tell ya...

Do you think it's possible that he goes mow
to drown out the noise in the house? Hmmmmmnnnn?
Poor Paw...he needs a new mower too.

Shady Trees

Really, one of my most favorite blessings
in all of God's creation is feeling the breeze
blow by as I sit under a shade tree's freckled light.

He might make it to 10...MIGHT...

This is his I'm-gonna-ask-to-do-something-that-
you'll-probably-say-no-to-so-I'll-lay-it-on-thick face.

THIS is his I'm-gonna-whine-when-you-actually-do-say-no-
after-I've-gone-to-all-the-trouble-to-lay-it-on-thick face.

This is the standard 9 year-old eye roll that
seriously endangers his life that I get
when I proceed to lecture regarding the whining
and illustrate deftly the reason why I said no
in the first place.

I know that he's almost too cute to smack...ALMOST...

Smiley

Yeah, yeah...this here is smiley but don't
let that fool you. You can't take your eyes off of
him for a second AND he'll flip on a dime. Here he is
below madder than you know where...
something to do with sticks...
Check the tongue. It has to be genetic
because that's a classic ticked off
"Needler" expression. I swear
EVERYONE of my blood relatives on
my dad's side makes that face
when they're running hot.

LIttle Brother

We have new family members...
Shockingly, mom and dad have taken to
two little pets seemingly dropped off at their door.

Roamer (Roamy for short) is the little dog
and though he's the favored pet (he's actually in the house)
he wouldn't sit still long enough to get a really good picture.

His BFF (best friend forever, duh) is Stripe, a spry
young Tom Cat who's quite sweet. Stripe had a nice shoot
that afternoon as he didn't realize I was trying to take his picture.

He's got these amazing liquid-gold eyes.
The kids are all smitten and we girls are stunned.
Do you even know how long and hard we had to BEG
for pets when we were little?

Anyways, we're all in love with our new family members...
and though he won't really admit it, so is dad.

NO DIRTY SHOES!

Miss Zo-Bug has tiny cherries on her mary-jane
canvas sneakers with the velcro strap AND
she does NOT like it when they get dirty. SO...

Off they come for a cleaning.

I'm told to "Watch Em!" while
she goes inside for a wash rag.

Miss Zo does NOT whistle while she works
she belts out kid tunes with the lungs of an opera singer,
"LA LA LA LA!"

She got em' clean to her satisfaction, popped em' back on
and off she went into the dapple sunlight to play some more.

Belly Buttons and Boo-boo's

Well, gosh...don't YOU ever show yours off?
The outies have it in this group.

Zoe's Hickory Nuts

More of Zoe's backyard treasures...
She found these and exclaimed,
"My daddy will say these are lovely!"
Looking at her little hands, I quite agreed.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed

Chez Eli's Mother's Day Pancakes were FABULOUS!
My little chef was up early and
had em' served hot to me as I woke up
before we had to get ready to leave for church!

Am I spoiled or what?

Anyways, eight thumbs up from us...
DEEE-LICIOUS!

Friday, May 09, 2008

Go, Speed Racer! Go!

OHMIGOSH! We LOVED it!
What could be better...cars, crashes, monkey poop...
WOW...what little guy wouldn't go crazy for that!
Of course, Matt and I remember the cartoon.
8 thumbs up!

I'm having so much fun hangin' out with my guys.
What a great start to Mother's Day weekend.