Eli Blogs: Me at the Playground

i like the play ground. it is fun. i like it. Do you?

Cole and the Bee

After winning the first grade spelling bee, Cole was able to participate in his schoolwide bee with all of the grades a few weeks ago. Because Cole was going up against fifth graders, I didn't take the bee too seriously. I was mostly worried that he would shout "You're wrong!" at the moderator when he missed his word, or throw the microphone on the ground, or drop to his knees and scream, "Aaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!" If you know Cole, you know that my fears were not unfounded.

He didn't do any of those things, so even though he got out on his first word, we considered the night a success.

However, before the bee started, a teacher was going over the rules, and a kid raised his hand and asked, "What if the word is a homonym?"

The teacher said, "Then the moderator will tell you before she says the word, 'The next word is a homonym.'"

Cole raised his hand and said, "Homonyms are spelled the same. You mean homophone."

Our little genius...

Photo Dump

I haven't written anything of substance on this blog for awhile because life has been pretty boring around here. Michael continues to work like crazy, but will hopefully be back to normal by the end of the week. In the meantime, here's a photo dump of what we've been up to.

We had an ice storm.

We went to the art museum.

I made whole wheat chocolate chip cookies using this cookbook.


We went to the playground.

Rylan says

At Joy School, we are learning about rules and decisions. I asked the kids if they got to choose what they wore that day or if their Mommy or Daddy chose it for them.

Rylan said, "Daddy chose mine."

I said, "No, I think you got to choose it."

Rylan stood up, pulled down his pants, and declared, "I chose my underpants!"

Rylan blogs: Joy School

This is me, Ericka, Seth, and Kenny, and James, and me.

We talking and being quiet.

cole blogs:My birthday

This is my friend.He was invited to my birthday party.I got a WII game.He is my best friend.

Michael-vert

According to Raising Your Spirited Child, the definition of an introvert is someone who gets their energy by having alone time, and an extrovert is someone who gets their energy by being around other people.

Based on those definitions, I've decided in the past two weeks that I must be a "Michael-vert." I get my energy from spending time with Michael.

Michael has been working insane hours lately. At first he was leaving the house at 9 AM and getting home at 9 PM, but progressively over the past two weeks, he's been getting home later and later - like 2 or 3 AM. Two nights he didn't come home at all. So for the past two weeks, I've virtually been a single parent - not just because I've been taking care of the kids all on my own, but also because I've barely seen my husband.

As the days have dragged on, my energy level has gone kaput. On Friday, I woke up by myself and thought, "There's no point in getting dressed today. There's no one here to appreciate it." Then I decided that was stupid, so I got extra-dressed. I wore make-up even.

But Michael better find his way home soon. I've had ice cream for dinner twice in the past two weeks. I've spent more hours watching Johnny Flynn youtube videos than is healthy for a happily married 32-year-old woman. And this weekend, I've been having a James McAvoy movie marathon.

Obviously, Michael, I need you.

Cole says

Cole: I think Veronica is in love with me.

Me: How can you tell?

Cole: She sat next to me three times today, and she told me I have cooties.

This one's for my Alley fam

Cole said today, "Eli's acting just like Josh. He's being greedy and selfish."

(Earlier today, Eli was making designs with a mosaic toy, which reminded me that we had one of those when I was a kid, and Josh would make elaborate designs and then insist that no one could play with that toy for weeks so his design wouldn't be ruined. He did the same thing with Legos. I mentioned that memory to the boys, and Cole drew his own conclusions.)

My kids naïveté never ceases to amuse me

The boys have been really into Scooby Doo lately. Today as I was flipping through the channels looking for Disney On Demand, I noticed that Scooby Doo was on Cartoon Network, so I left it there.

A few minutes later, Eli called, "Momma, something's wrong. I think it went to a new show."

It was on a commercial break. Hurray for DVR, On Demand, and kids that don't know what commercials are!

A conversation I had with my kids today

Starting with this question from Cole: "Do all cars that have a radio hear the same news?"

I explained how radios work and then asked, "But you know radios play music too, right? Not just news."

Cole: "Just little bits of music, in between the news."

I laughed and then changed the radio from NPR to a music station.

Cole and Eli: "How come you've never shown us this before!"