Lookin Out My Back Door

After blood, sweat and tears, Joey got the grass planted and the sprinklers working in the backyard. I also got our garden planted after perfecting the art of squatting with a ginormous belly. Our only challenge left is keeping Max from destroying our hard work. So far he's already ripped out the drip system.

From May26

From May26

From May26

Your fork's ringing

I really wonder what life is going to be like with another boy in the house. Max's new "thing" is spitting. I think he picked it up watching us brush our teeth, but he ran with it. No matter where he is or what he's doing, he takes a moment to spit. He also likes to spit in disgust if he doesn't get his way. It's attractive. He spits in his sandbox, he spits in his food, he even spits in his shoes. (sort of sounds like a Dr. Seuss book) We took him to the park and as he was climbing the steps of the slide, he paused halfway up to spit. It was a blustery day and his spit sprayed right back into his face. I think boys are just predisposed to be gross.

Max is pretty funny. Last night at dinner (I use the term loosely because dinner to Max means throwing his food everywhere but his mouth) he picked up his fork like a phone and held it to his ear with his shoulder. He was talking to someone he really liked because he was laughing and talking gibberish excitedly. He lied to his friend, "haha yeah... mmm rice num yummy!" He didn't take a single bite, so I can only determine he was sarcastically telling his imaginary friend how horrible my cooking is. He then finished his fork call with a good spit.

Squash, Anyone?

From Mothersday

I am happy to report that my gardening efforts have not been in vain. My little seedlings are sprouting! The only ones who haven't shown their little green heads are my watermelon plants. My dixie cup planters have worked fabulously, except they have this fuzzy white mold growing on the outside of the cups. It's probably not healthy, so I hope to get my sprouts in the ground this week. I have a feeling that we are going to have more corn and more peas than I ever want to eat.

Besides being the mother to my little sprouts, I was given the royal Mother's Day treatment for breakfast... well as royal as it gets in Dayton. Notice the lovely ice cream scoop sized butter and fancy garnish. Nothing says I love you like grapes on lettuce.

From Mothersday

The force is strong with this one

Come on, the resemblence is uncanny! This was one of our baked potatoes from dinner. Ok, the picture is a little out of focus, but really it was like he was there telling me, "It's a trap!"

Hostage Situations and a Green Thumb

Joey and I have realized we really need to start some good habits early with Max. We've always been pretty lame about Family Home Evening. We've tried a little harder lately to have a family activity with Max on Mondays. This Monday, Joey decided that Max needed to learn about Jesus. Joey thought we could show him a picture of Christ so in the future Max isn't the kid who stands up on his chair during sharing time and says, "Who's Jesus?" (Ok, he'll still be the kid who stands on his chair and yells, but atleast he'll know who Jesus is!) Joey got out the picture from his primary binder and we all sat on the couch for a nice little lesson. Joey showed Max the picture and immediately Max tried to grab it, and not in a gentle, I-just-wanna-look way. They wrestled and there were cries of panic on all sides as Max tightened his grip on the picture. The more Joey tried to take away the picture, the more Max crumpled and ripped it. It was like watching a hostage situation, only with a picture of Jesus at stake. Eventually Joey won, but at the cost of the picture. I have to say I'm a little disturbed Max had such an instinct to grab the picture and destroy it.
In non-related news, I started some seeds for our vegetable garden. You sort of have to improvise when you live in the sticks and can't just make quick trips to Walmart. I figured if it works for first graders, it can work for me. I filled a bunch of dixie cups with dirt and planted my seeds. I planted a lot because judging from my record, about half should die. If I end up with any sort of vegetable by the end of the summer, I'm going to count it as a success. Of course while I was planting my little seedlings, Max got a hold of the hose and made himself a nice little mud puddle which he quickly drenched himself in. At first he laughed and said, "Is cold," but that quickly turned into a whine of, "inside!" Even Max has his limits, I guess.

Quandary

I've been informed that I'm in the "fun" stage of pregnancy. I'm not exactly sure what is so fun about it, but I am happy to say that I can again eat chicken and my nausea is all but gone. Of course every time I say that I end up waking up with a stomach ache in the middle of the night. I can't believe how the time has flown by! I have about 14 weeks left. I think it's gone by so fast because we're still trying to figure out how we're going to handle two crazy boys. We also can't figure out what we are going to name this little guy. We can't seem to agree on any name, and just end up creating lame name combinations with our last name like Flor Escent Light. So, against my better judgement, I'm asking for help. Joey suggested asking for a dollar from everyone to make a suggestion, then giving the winner the pot... We are not doing that, but if you'd like to help us out, feel free to give us some ideas!

Max can now open the front door. Fantastic.