The Kool Aid Guy

We went to the market this morning, as we do almost every Monday morning.  While carting Max through the aisles, he blurted out, "Fat Kid!!!"  I was perplexed and horrified that he was calling out an obese child nearby.  Luckily it was just this guy ...

Max Rides a Bike!

I left the kids with Michael to take a solitary bike ride.  When I returned, Michael said that Max had a surprise for me.  At first he gave me a flower and I thought that was it.  No ...  He had a bigger surprise in store for me!

Muddy Kids

After it rains, the kids are excited to play in the aftermath.  They know that I don't like them to play in the mud let alone bathe in it.  But they are attracted to nature and all the dirt it offers.  (The strange sound that you hear in the video is not your computer having a heart attack.  It's background noise of our air compressor periodically turning on.)

The kids soon asked for a shower after these pictures because the sun was setting and they were shivering from their wet selves.

Farmers and Painters

The other weekend, we visited our friends Dick and Nettie who have bought a piece of property one hour north of where we live.  While Michael helped them paint the interiors of their house, the kids helped paint a unsightly boat that the previous owners had abandoned in their front yard.  

Needless to say, they had a great time getting dirty and painting on such a humongous canvas.

The neighbor kid also joined in the fun.  They had such a great time with Gaby that Max was quite irate when we had to leave several hours later.  

Here they are in action.

Simone Loves Corn

Simone loves corn-on-the-cob.  If you give her a plate of corn kernels, she will eat it.  But if you give her corn-on-the-cob, she will devour it.

She's cuckoo for corn!

Simone's First Grade Class

Now I know why the public schools take pictures during the Spring, in addition to taking them in the Fall.  It's for the class picture!!!  In my day, we took pictures once a year and it was a group and individual setting.  Of course, I did go to parochial school all my life.  Maybe this multiple picture thing is for public schools?

Clean Bus

We washed the bus yesterday for the first time in ... EVER!  It's so sparkly clean now but err realized that its 2 years of exposure to the sun and tree sap has cracked the special roof paint we put on it.   We vowed that its next parking spot needs to be covered.  We need to at least put a tarp on it.   We have to keep it looking pretty!!!

Chefs

When Michael and I went to the Shen Yun performance, our friend Diana babysat the kids.  They didn't just sit around watching TV - they did loads of fun things!

Diana loves to play with Simone's hair.

The highlight of the evening was making pizza from scratch!  Simone and Max took part in the process!

The kids read a book and konked out.

Whom Do You Like Better?

Lately, the kids have been asking me to compare how much I like one over the other.  It's a natural question among siblings and I remember wondering the same thing of my parents.  When my parents told me they liked Grace and me the same, I thought they were just trying to spare my feelings.  I think that reactive feeling is common too.

Max just asked me as he often does, "Do you like Simone better than me?"  I told him I liked them the same amount.  He didn't believe me and he told me why.

"I think you like Simone more because Simone is all about pretty (things), and you're all about pretty, and I'm all about coooool."


Well ... the kid is pretty darn cool.

Company

Max and I were driving around in the morning and he said,  out of the blue,  "Looks like we have company!".

I asked him what he meant and he said,  "It looks like it's going to rain!"

Kinder Hippos

The Kinder company is all sorts of wonderful.  I first had a Kinder egg when I was backpacking through Europe.  Not only did one eat a scrumptious, chocolate egg, but I got a TOY, too!

At the commissary on the base, many German products are offered.  I am always down to try new things - especially sweet things.  After picking up only 2 boxes of these cream-filled cracker hippos, our whole family has been transformed.  

We are in love with Kinder's Happy Hippos!

Minnesotans, have you had these?  I ask you in particular because the German culture is more celebrated up North.  If you haven't, get ready for your taste buds to explode!!

Californians, I doubt you'll want to head into Hollywood to risk checking out the Russian markets that might have it so I'll have to send you some!  

Painting the Bus

We had not worked on the bus in so long!  We decided we should paint to give ourselves a motivation boost.  It worked!

Our mood matches the happy face that Michael loves to spray when he's testing a new batch of paint.

A Surprise from Max

Max came up to me just now with his hands behind his back and said,  "I have a surprise for you!"

At the sight of two little flowers, I squealed with delight a "Thank youuuu" and hugged him.   As I put it in my hair,  Max watched and commented, 

"It's for you to put in your hair in case you get ugly. "  :/

Max's Eyes

About a couple of months ago, Max started asking us if he had one eye.  Even after each family member has told him he has two eyes, he still asks - even now that it is two months later.

I don't know where he got his obsession with eyes, but it has gotten to the point that he is always checking that he has his eyeballs on.  You can see the obsession in full force when you play catch with Max.  After he catches the ball and throws it back to you, he will touch his eyelids with his index fingers.  He did it repeatedly a few days ago so I asked him why he was doing it.

"I'm making sure my eyeballs didn't pop out."

As I type this, I saw a blur of movement.  I looked up to see what Max did and I found those fingers on his eyelids making sure all is where it should be!  And all he is doing is watching his sister's cartoon My Little Pony.

Simone has quirks - sometimes, she makes quick, low throat sound every few minutes and she purses her lips a lot.  Maybe this is a quirk with Max.

Max's Vocabulary

I'm sure I've written about how Simone was a sponge with words when she was a littler girl.  Max is proving to provide me with the same blog entry!

Yesterday morning we were shopping for new underwear.  He is an average size boy but he has a big but like his parents.  His size 4/5 briefs do not fit comfortably and now has to upgrade to size 6.  While at Target looking at the huge selection of designs, Max could not decide which pack he wanted to buy.  I suggested to him that we think about it for a day instead of buying right that minute.  Max was eager to be newly clothed so he asked,

"But what if I get something that's more acceptable?"

The issue was not really the acceptability of the briefs.  Max was so excited to see new logos but he had never expressed interest in 'toons such as Skylanders, nor had ever really played with Chima nor Angry Birds.  I was concerned that he would buy some underwear and then not want it after a while because he didn't know the characters on his butt.  Max was determined, however, to get something ... anything!

"But, Moooommm, I want something inventional."

Inventional?  I asked if he meant "unconventional" and he said yes, but I'm not sure if he knows what that means.  All the designs were of conventional, socially accepted, commercially viable characters.  So maybe he did mean inventional in the sense that he wanted something new to him.

Simone Lives Here

A few weeks ago, Simone and her classmate Mia became very close.  I suspect it was the departure of their mutual best friend Kaylynn that glued Simone's friendship with Mia.  The little girls devised a way to continue their fun after school.  One day Simone gave Mia my phone number.  Upon meeting us (their parents) at dismissal, Simone asked loudly, "Can Mia come over to our house?"  I said sure and approached Mia's mom and exchanged phone numbers.

Mary had specified that she could only do weekends, which was a bit of a conflict for us because we prefer that time to be "family time" with Michael.  But Michael didn't mind one weekend and was even going to possibly head out to a HAM radio convention.  Mary agreed that particular Sunday worked and I feverishly cleaned the house to prepare for guests.

Unfortunately, they never came!  Mary completely forgot.  I don't know if she was joking but she said, "Mia forgot to remind me!"  

Michael and I decided we would not make another attempt to invite them because both the mother and daughter showed lack of interest. The little girls have since been trying to find each other's house.  Simone described our house and Mia claimed to pass by it everyday, but requested that Simone put a sign on our place to indicate our abode.  Here is what Simone did ...

On our front door, she taped a tiny 4" by 1-1/2" scrap of paper that says, "Simone's home".