Yeah, Matthew got bit by a fish

After a long hiatus, with many neglected opportunities for me to write about our daily events, I am finally back to writing a blog post. This one just couldn't be left to fade in our memories and had to be written down so here I am writing about our trip up north last week.

We spent the better part of last week at a cabin on a lake in Alexandria, MN. It was a nice, quiet place, which plenty of room for the family and Ken and Cheri. Abby even got her own laundry room to sleep in which was very much needed after an unsuccessful attempt at having the three kids together in a bedroom.

We spent our days swimming, fishing, reading, napping, playing and boating and the kids had a great time. They loved the water and the sand, although they mostly spent their time "swimming" in about 18 inches of water or less. The only child who would venture out deeper was Matthew. We'd strap him up in his life jacket, position his noodle in front of him and he and I would swim out past the dock and boat into a little deeper water where there weren't weeds (yuck, I hate hate hate weeds on my legs when swimming). So we had done that a few times and Matthew just loved it. He would laugh, kick and basically frolic about in the water.

So Thursday afternoon we were enjoying a nice day and swimming a lot. Matthew and I had already swam out in the deeper water a few times, and I decided that I wanted to go out some more. I was planning on maybe swimming a bit more for exercise, but Matthew wanted to join me, so we got in the water an headed out. After we were about 20 feet from shore, Matthew (who was behind me), started screaming, "A crab bit my foot! Ahhhh! It hurts! A crab bit my foot! It hurts, it hurts!" I wasn't sure what was going on and though maybe he was startled by a patch of weeds or something, but he was screaming and crying so it seemed to be more than just being scared by weeds. I swam back to him and pulled him to shore and when I picked him up, I noticed his foot was indeed dripping with blood and covered in a few cuts and scratches.

He continued screaming, "It hurts, it hurts! The crab bit my foot! It had 95 claws! It hurts, it hurts!" which was accompanied by extreme crying. We got him on a towel and wrapped his foot in a clean diaper which happened to be handy for when Abby was done swimming, and had a chance to look at what happened to his foot. He had five cuts, four on the top of his foot and a deep, about 1" gash on the bottom of his foot. The cuts on top weren't bleeding immensely, and two were mostly just scratches, but the bottom one was a gusher. The cuts on top were roughly in a V arrangement, from his toes, to one at the top of his foot where it joins the leg and the bottom cut was about in the middle.

We went through possibilities...did he cut it on something in the water that we couldn't see? The water was murky and you couldn't see much past 18" deep. But we had swam past that area plenty of times and never had a problem. Did he cut it on the boat ramp or the dock? Nope, he was way to far away from them...like at least 6-8 feet away....Hmmm, in spite of the improbability, based on all the evidence of the cuts, the circumstances (murky water, by weeds) and so on, we finally came to the conclusion that he was bit by a big fish. A fish with a mouth big enough the leave cuts on the top and bottom of his foot and big enough to leave cuts across his foot from his toes to nearly his leg. In other words, a really big fish.

We covered Matthew's cuts in neosporin and bandaged him up, then wrapped his foot in athletic tape to hold the bandaids in place. He hobbled about for a few hours, but was pretty much back to himself in a day or so. And now his bandages are gone and there are just a few scabbed over cuts on his foot to remind us and him of his swimming ordeal.

After talking to my dad about it, Dad said that Matthew was lucky that the fish let go as they often grip onto their prey very tightly. I told Matthew this information to which he replied, "It didn't let go, I fought it off." That's my boy. So ended our vacation. I don't know if my kids (or even me) will be swimming in a lake for a long time.

A winter walk

Since the temperature warmed up to a nice 20 today I decided it was time to head to Perry Park. We've been away from Perry Park for a long time, but today was our return. I debated whether to take the sled or wagon along with, but went for the wagon because it's pretty tough and I thought it could withstand both clear trails and snowy ones. So I loaded it in the van as our street is really sloppy right now and we drove to Perry Park. The kids played on the playground a bit first. The swings just barely swung a few inches above the snow, and the bottom of the playground structure, the slides, ladders and other climbing things were covered. Abby took to crawling around because the snow was so deep, but the boys really enjoyed trudging through the snow and sliding and climbing.

Then we headed down the trail to our favorite rock-throwing place. The trail is quite shaded, so it was covered with packed snow despite the past few sunny days, but the wagon handled the trail quite nicely. Most of the time the wagon was empty as all the kids preferred to walk or climb. Sam especially enjoyed climbing up and down the 8-10 foot high drifts on the side of the winding trail. The snow was very packed hard from being windblown and he was quite proud of how tall he was standing on their peaks.

When we arrived at our rock-throwing place, there was only more snow with the reed of cattails poking out from the snow and ice. The boys laughed as they walked out on the snow-covered ice where their rocks usually landed in the summer. Pretty soon that portion of the trail will be covered with water and impassable with the spring thaw.

We continued our walk and headed down the trail toward Lake Johanna. The kids were doing quite fine and Sam was quite a trooper pulling both Abby in the wagon for quite awhile. The walk continued to be mostly snow covered with a few patches of clear pavement and some icy patches too. When we reached the train tunnel there was lots of yelling as there always is of "Echo!" by all the kids.

When we arrived at Lake Johanna we had to cross the sloppy and busy road and I felt rather awkward and out-of-place pulling my wagon filled with winter-attire-decked-out kids. But we crossed the road and made it to the boat launch area where we left the wagon headed out onto the lake. There are trails on the lake where cars have driven for ice-fishing, so we followed one for awhile. The boys enjoyed getting down on their knees and pushing the snow aside to look at the ice and try to see fish. They didn't see any. We also followed some cross country ski tracks and trudged through mid-calf/knee/thigh high (depending on how tall one is) snow to leave the lake and go to the beach playground, a favorite summer destination. The snow at the beach playground was higher than at Perry Park and much more solid and wind-packed from the wind crossing the lake. We didn't stay for too long as the wind was indeed blowing across the lake and it felt much cooler than it did when we were more sheltered.

So we made our way back home, Abby enjoyed quite a long piggy-back ride while we were on the lake and Matthew's energy was waning by that time so he got a piggy-back ride too. However, when we reached the parking lot all the kids found some new energy and had a lot of fun climbing up and sliding down the piles of snow from the parking lot being cleared. Then we crossed the road again and Sam and Abby wanted to walk while Matthew wanted to lay down in the wagon. That lasted for a short while, then all the kids wanted to be in the wagon. That lasted a short while then I had the boys get out and walk and pulled Abby alone. There was no way I was going to pull all three of the up the hill back to Perry Park. That is one tough hill under normal circumstances, but when snow covered it is brutal.

So we made our way back to the playground at Perry Park and Abby was quite distraught when I passed the playground without playing, but we had been out for two hours by that time and I was ready to get home. Matthew did not protest and Sam ran ahead of us and got in a final slide before heading home. Then we got back in the van and went home and the kids are sleeping very well tonight.

New sleeping arrangements

The boys got bunk beds two weeks ago. We were needing to get Matthew a bigger bed, since he was still in his crib/toddler bed from when he was a baby, and decided to get bunk beds rather than a separate bed for Matt. Reason being that Sam and Matthew would often sleep together (either in Sam's bed or Sam would sleep in Matthew's room on the floor) because Sam has a bad case of the "scares" in which he's scared of everything and doesn't want to go to sleep. The boys enjoy each other's company and don't keep each other up too much, so we thought a bunk bed would be fun and maybe alleviate the "scares". So we got the beds put together to much fanfare and got the boys off to bed a few weeks ago. When we checked on them on that first night, Matthew had moved his blanket and pillow up to the top bed and was sleeping with Sam. Sam's head was on one end and Matthew's was on the other. There was also a jumble of books between the two of them.

In the morning I asked Matthew why had slept with Sam and he told me he had a bad dream. I then said that he could sleep on his own bed that night, rather than with Sam as his bad dream was done. He then replied that he hadn't finished his dream and would need to sleep with Sam again. So he slept with Sam again and that has been the arrangement these past two weeks. They get to sleep probably a little later than they did before sharing a room, but the disruption isn't really too much and they get up at about their normal time. However, now when they get up, Sam doesn't come in our room and Matthew doesn't (always) scream for us, they play with eachother until their clock turns yellow. Mostly they're quiet with they're playing, so it's really been quite a good deal for everyone involved.

But the "scares" have returned for Sam, despite Matthew's presence. He has fears of the closet, of certain books, of dark rooms down the hall (like Jason and my bedroom), and of other random house noises. It doesn't seem to be quite as bad as before, but I guess that's just the age he's at for now. Regardless, they boys love their "new" room and sleeping arrangement. We wonder how long they'll want to share a bed, and even how long they'll want to share a room. For now, they love it and it makes all of our lives a little bit happier.

What do we do?

During the summer I always wonder how we manage to make it through the winter when we spend 4+ hours a day outside in the summer. What do we do with those extra 4 hours of inside time in the cold winter months? Well, somewhere we manage and it really isn't too bad. We get outside if its over 20, although it hasn't gotten that warm too often lately. All the kids love to go outside and although our yard is flat, we have quite large piles of snow on the sides of the driveway these days, so the kids sled down those. One day last week, Sam ventured out further into the yard and got quite scared when he sunk into the snow up to his thigh. The boys do a pretty good job of holding the sled on top of the snow pile, so Abby can climb on and go for a ride with them.

On days when we don't go outside, the kids manage to find all sorts of other diversions for themselves. There's lots of fort building and jumping on cushions, blankets and pillows in the basement. There is also a lot of running around in circles through the kitchen, around the dining room table, around the couches and around and around again. The purpose of the running is varied, sometimes they're pretending they are planes racing, other times they are cars and other times they are cheetahs or monsters. All of the kids like to join in the racing fun and it is pretty much a daily ritual that the circle-running occurs after dinner for about 10 minutes or so, but it also occurs randomly during the daytime.

They also find lots of fun things to do with the stairs such as riding Matthew's mattress down the stairs, lining up 3 couch cushions end to end from the top of the stairs to the bottom and using them as a slide, and making a blanket into a cocoon around them and sliding bumpity-bump that way. I remember bumpity-bumping down the stairs in blankets as kids and wow, I have no desire to try that anymore, although the mattress and cushion sliding is a lot of fun.

We also do a fair number of art projects, puzzles, coloring, science experiments, reading and playing on the computer and playing other games (Sam is into Chutes and Ladders, Yahtzee, and Chess these days). We've played Yahtzee four times over the last week and in every game Sam has gotten a Yahtzee. How does that happen? Really? Four Yahtzees? He has beat me mightily in every game and now thinks he's a Yahtzee master. Well anyway, somehow we make it to the end of each day and we haven't gone crazy (at least not on most days), no one has gotten too hurt and we are fine. And the days are getting longer and soon the snow will be gone and we'll be outside for hours once again. But for now, we resume our winter activities.

Snowboarding

Despite the flat topography of our back yard, the grading away from the house provides just enough of a slope to allow the kids to try out snowboarding on their sleds. And the path from the house to Jason's backyard is a perfect track for their endeavors. I think real snowboarding might be in our future soon.

Christmas

Well, almost a month after the fact, I'm finally writing about Christmas. We had a great holiday except for traveling down to Iowa which was snowy, slippery, stressful and much longer than it's supposed to be. This is the third bad Christmas travel to Iowa in five years, so we just aren't having good luck with that (other than we've safely arrived every time). Christmas Eve was at Ken and Cheri's and after church (where Abby wasn't the best behaved, but the boys were exceptionally good), we enjoy appetizers and plenty of presents at Grammy and Papa's. We decided to spend the night over there and that was a fun change. Everyone slept pretty well and it was a nice, relaxing way to spend our Christmas Eve and morning.

Then it was the drive to Iowa which I've already mentioned, and Christmas dinner and festivities at Grandpa Duane and Grandma Verna's. This is the first holiday where Abby has been okay with being away from me for a period of time and doesn't throw a fit when someone other than our immediate family tries to talk to her or hold her. How far we've come in the last year. We opened more gifts and had dinner with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue the next day and with Grandma Sue's side of the family the day after that. It was a whirlwind of Christmas activities, and fortunately it was nice enough for some playing outside in the snow too (although there wasn't too much snow, just enough for riding around on the sled behind the four-wheeler which Matthew loved, but Sam wouldn't try).

Here are a few pictures from our family Christmas at home.

Observations on laundry

Today I did a lot of laundry and I noticed some peculiarities in our laundry which I've had on my radar for awhile. The first peculiarity is that when I'm done doing laundry (and I'm very thorough), Sam has maybe one (or no) pairs of underwear and socks in the clean laundry. The other thing is that Matthew has an inordinate amount of underwear and socks in the clean laundry. I have a few ideas on what is going on. My first idea is that Sam is not changing his underwear at all or very little between launderings (which generally happens every four days or so). The second idea is that Matthew is changing his underwear and socks more frequently than what would generally be considered normal. Another idea is that Sam is changing his underwear, but hiding it somewhere where I'm not finding it on laundry day. Hmmm. Usually his laundry is in plain sight (strewn across his floor), but perhaps he's hiding some of it for some silly reason. Another idea is that Sam is wearing Matthew's underwear which would account for both unusual laundry observations. As of now, I'm not exactly clear on what's going on, although I have a strong inkling it's idea #1 and I need to be a bit more aware of Sam's changing habits.

Tub terrors

Although I have lots of pictures and other things to write about since Christmas just passed, I had to write about our latest events during bathtime. The events mostly pertain to Abby being afraid of the bath, and the source of Abby's fears is Matthew. A few weeks ago the kids all took a bath together. We haven't been doing that much lately since they're getting so big, but we were short on time and I decided they could all go in the big bath (in Jason and my room) together. So they all happily got in, then after a few moments we noticed there was, um, stuff, floating around in the tub. After a few moments, I realized what it was (lets just say that Matthew, while he likes to take care of his own wiping on the toilet, is just not very good at it...) and we all got quickly out of the tub and took showers.

So fast forward to now and Abby is terrified of anything floating in the tub (other than toys). Anything. Hair. A speck of lint. And I mean speck...like the size of a grain of finely ground pepper. She gets in the tub and refuses to sit down, asking and pointing at every little thing in the tub, "What's that?" Then I try to scoop it out with my hands or a washcloth (which is not an easy thing to do), while she becomes increasingly terrified and shakes and starts crying as she says, "It's coming closer!" I try to tell her it's just lint from her feet, but she will not be persuaded that it's anything innocuous and continues to basically freak out when my efforts to remove every little bit of lint fail and they come closer to her. She won't even sit in the tub anymore. She used to love the tub. And now it's just a source of terror. Poor Abby. Oh how she cries and cries until I finally take her out of the tub and we decide to take a shower. By we, I mean that she and I take a shower and she's so distraught that she doesn't want to take one by herself and will only take one with me. (So I do feel that I'm being a little manipulated in the showering thing...but will deal with that later). Fortunately, she also likes showers and doesn't mind getting her face wet, so we shower up and she's happy and more importantly, clean.  I hope this phobia doesn't last long, but for now we're dealing with aborted baths and relying on showers.

Winter fun

We've been enjoying the cold and snow lately, and when we haven't been able to go outside much we've been enjoying making cookies. I gave each kid a batch of cookie dough to cut out cookies and the boys really did a good job. Abby mostly pushed her cookie cutters in lightly and repeatedly, not quite making a thorough cut, but she did do a thorough job of eating a lot of dough. In fact, she threw a fit of all fits when I took the dough away and told her she couldn't eat anymore. I had never seen her throw a fit like that, it was extensive and very loud. I have since experienced another fit when I made cookies again a few days later and limited her consumption of cookie dough. That girl really likes dough. 

Waking up

The kids all have their own distinct ways of waking up. Sam, almost every day, comes into Jason and my room at 6:30. That's when his clock turns yellow. I have no idea how long he's up prior to that time; occasionally when I get up before that time and peek in on him, he's already awake and other times he's not. Anyway, he comes in at 6:30 and sometimes he excitedly says, "This is your morning wake up call!" Other times he comes over to my side of the bed and asks to get in and cuddle for awhile. Other times he goes into the bathroom or closet if Jason is in one of those places getting ready. Regardless, Sam is a morning kid. He's happy, wide-awake and in a good mood. Unfortunately, I don't always greet him with such enthusiasm as I'm not quite so excited at 6:30 in the morning. But he's a good sport.

Matthew wakes up a little differently from Sam. While he used to get up really early, he now gets up a bit after Sam. And he's generally not as chipper as Sam either. Matthew is a slow-to-warm-up kid. He takes his time easing into new situations and getting comfortable with new people and he eases into his day as well. And don't you dare approach him in the morning before he's had an appropriate warm-up time which means that he has had plenty of time to lay in bed, sucking on the tags on his blanket for awhile and he will get up when he's ready. Often Matthew screams and hollers in the morning for Mommy or Daddy to come see him as he waking up and I've tried in the past to send Sam in to tell Matthew that he can come into our room. To which Matthew responds with a tirade of angry words for his brother. Sam doesn't go in to see Matthew in the morning anymore. Once Matthew has his warm-up, he's a chipper, quickly dressed kid and ready to go, but before then, you'd best stay away until your summoned.

Abby is much more gentle in her waking up. She generally doesn't make a peep in the mornings and the only way I know she's awake is that I can hear her bed creaking as she's rolling around. When I do go in to get her (anytime between 7 and 7:30), she usually greets me (or Jason) with a quiet, "Hi Mommy" or "Hi Daddy". Sometimes you'll get a gentle "Get me out." It's a simple command and is obeyed quickly. Other times, Sam wants to go in to "get Abby up" and he goes into her room and gets her riled up for the day. On those days, Abby usually ends up holding onto the side of her crib and excitedly jumping up and down as Sam is jumping up and down next to her bed (sometimes Matthew goes in to greet Abby too and they all have a jumping and hollering wake up).

 And I wake up, usually by Sam (occasionally by Jason when he gets up to get ready for work), at 6:30.

One week ago...

One week ago we had a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Sam was ecstatic. At 6:30 in the morning. So was Matthew. They came into our room full of joy at the white covering on the ground (which melted by the end of the week). When Abby woke up shortly after them, they showed her the snow and she then held up her nearest stuffed animals and dolls to the window and said "Look, Sheepie, snow!" or "Look, Baby, snow!"

After a bit of celebration indoors Sam declared, "I'm going outside now," and the boys went downstairs to get on their boots, coats, hats and mittens. I was still in my PJs and was about to tell Abby that she was going to stay inside with me, but her excitement about the snow got the best of me and I took her down and got her wrapped up in boots, hat, mittens, and coat. Then I bundled up a bit and went outside too. It was 6:50AM. 

The kids had a snowball fight with one of our neighbors and we were out for about 15 minutes before I got too cold and told them it was time to go in for breakfast. Later in the afternoon we were outside again, this time for a long time, building snowmen and throwing snowballs and just running around. Abby does quite well with her boots on and seems to enjoy the snow and wintry outdoors just as much as the boys. Here are some pictures of our afternoon a week ago, the snow is gone, but it will be back again soon.

Leaf raking

Every year raking seems to be a quite enjoyable time for our family. The boys are getting better and better at it and Abby is trying, although she generally ends up reducing the size of the leaf piles rather than contributing to them.  Despite the wet leaves from the rain earlier in the day, there was still a lot of fun to be had at our house today. After filling up the truck with leaves the it was time to decide who got to go to the dump with Daddy. Since he has only two car seats in his truck it's a contentious time for the kids. Who gets left behind? I try to spice it up by saying, "Who gets to stay with Mommy?" but none of the kids seem to buy my attempt at making being left behind a treat. They know better. Sam and Abby got to go this time around, leaving behind a dejected Matthew. Next time he'll get to go, leaving behind another dejected child with Mommy.

Happy Halloween!

All of the kids fully participated in trick or treating this year. Last year Abby didn't go out beyond one of the neighbors and Matthew only lasted for a few, but this year they all made it. We went to the trunk or treat at Ken and Cheri's church over the weekend, so Abby had the process down when we went around our neighborhood on Thursday. We visited our neighbors on the back of our property first. They welcomed us into their home and as we walked in, Abby held up her bucket ready for a treat. No small talk for her. We are still working on the finer points of manners. The kids all made it through all of our neighborhood and had a good time going from house to house. It got rather cold, windy and a bit rainy after awhile, but fortunately by that time we had already made it to the end of our street and just needed to get back quickly.

We visited about 10 homes and got plenty of treats. Abby is not too quick to share while Matthew and Sam are pretty generous. Either way, Jason and I get plenty of treats too with what Abby takes a bite of and decides she doesn't like and the boys' sharing. Abby was a bumblebee (or butterfly) after the walrus costume was rejected, Matthew was Thomas the train and Sam was a Ninja Turtle (we don't know which one).

Fortunately, we caught Abby with her eyes open as she still closes her eyes most of the time when a picture is taken of her. Matthew is still into the big open mouthed smile phase, thus the expression on his face. I don't know what face Sam was making behind his ninja turtle mask, but he sure looks like a tough turtle with his combative arms.

Doctor's appointment

Abby had her 2 year check up yesterday. The boys enjoy coming along for appointments these days as they have learned that they all get stickers, regardless of if they are the patient or not. Abby was a pretty good patient. She got a little upset when she was weighed, but during the exam she was very brave. She had to have her finger pricked for a blood sample and she didn't cry at all. Sam said she was braver than he was at his last appointment. I don't know if that's quite true as Sam bravely held back tears and only a few escaped when he got a shot and Abby saved up plenty of tears when she got a shot later in the appointment. Matthew was definitely the loser in terms of bravery and he cried quite extensively when he got the flu mist in his nose. Oh how terrible!

The boys entertained themselves during the appointment by playing doctor. One of them would lay on some of the chairs in the exam room while the other was the doctor. The doctor would then grab an appendage and bend it back and forth aggressively pushing it this way and that while asking "Does this hurt?" The patient would then laugh and wiggle around and try to escape from the doctor's examination. When comparing the two doctors, I would definitely prefer Sam as Matthew was quite rough and seemed rather more interested in causing pain than in finding out what was causing the imaginary pain.

Abby is growing up so quickly. Here are her 2 year stats:
weight: 25.5lb (53rd percentile)
height: 36" (94th percentile)

Someone's two!

Abby just turned two, going on 15 it seems sometimes. We had the Kirchhoff family over for pizza and cupcakes and Abby had a grand time playing with her cousins. She relishes the attention and definitely is not shy about it. She opened her gifts and after nearly every gift she had to be persuaded to open another as she just wanted to play with her new gifts rather than open more. She got some jewelry, clothes, a baby doll, a toy kitty and puppy, and a book.  All have been thoroughly enjoyed especially the kitty and jewelry. In the pictures below Abby is wearing part of her bee costume (minus the wings) which she claims is a butterfly. She tried on the walrus costume (which is a tradition), but after wearing it for a few minutes she said, "Different one" and wanted to take it off. Hence, the bumble bee.

During the singing of Happy Birthday, Abby bowed her head and closed her eyes. She apparently was thinking it was some kind of prayer. It was quite cute. She perked up a bit to eat some of her cupcake, then declared "Want to sleep" and that was the end of that and she went to bed.

And here she is two years ago...

And one year ago...

Vacation

This past weekend we went up to Alexandria, MN with Ken and Cheri. The kids traveled well, slept well, played well and fished well. It was a nice trip and we stayed at a rental home on Lake Carlos. Despite some rain and cold, the kids had a lot of fun playing with Grammy and Papa and playing games and other activities that Mom and Dad don't usually do with them. Sam turned out to  be the best fisherman as he caught 8 or 10 fish, including 2 small large mouth bass (I think they're bass, see the picture at the end) from the dock. Matthew caught a few small fish and when asked how big his fish were he holds his hands a few inches apart. Apparently he hasn't learned to exaggerate with regard to his fishing accomplishments. Abby did not fish but did overcome her fear of the dock and kept us busy when she started running back and forth on it. She also slept well which we were a bit apprehensive about as she hasn't slept away from home very often and has used the "cave apparatus" at Longville and Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue's house when she's slept there. But she was completely fine. Ahh. I think road trips may be sooner in our future that we had thought before the trip. The cousins and Uncle Brian and Aunt Stephanie came up for a bit and the kids greatly enjoyed playing with them, as they always do. It was a beautiful trip, a beautiful time of year to be at the lake and we look forward to another trip up north next year. 

This past

Trip to the zoo

Today we spent a whopping 4 hours at the Minnesota Zoo. I was anticipating a trip of maybe 2 hours, but the kids were real troopers and really enjoyed themselves so we spent a lot of time there. Sam walked almost the entire time except for a short stint in the double stroller (with Matthew) when Abby was rebelling against sitting in the stroller. And by rebelling I mean screaming and thrashing about and making a general scene. She sure has a mind of her own these days and lets you know about it.

I haven't been the to zoo since I was 11 and it is a pretty amazing place. When I asked the kids what their favorite animals were they really couldn't say what they liked best. They were in awe of almost everything. Abby probably didn't like the monkey that jumped at her, hitting the window right next to where she was standing, as she cried a lot when that happened. Sam liked the Komodo Dragon which he told Jason was not the fire-breathing kind. Matthew seemed to like the goats and the farm part of the zoo best. He and Sam had loads of fun holding out their hands to the goats, pretending they had food, and watching the goats come over to them and stick their heads through the fence. They would erupt in laughter as they teased the goats.

Both Abby and Matthew meowed at the cougar and the lynx in the Minnesota exhibit. Sam howled at the wolves and coyotes and hooted at the owls. None of them animals meowed, or howled or hooted back. Maybe next time. My favorite were the grizzlies. They are just huge...and scary looking...but cool nonetheless. Abby frequently told the animals "Don't take my snack!" when we'd stop for a look and I'd reassure her that her snack was safe. She also said, as she grabbed my leg, "My mommy!" whenever another small child would walk close to me, which was often. Here are some pictures of our trip. The boys took a lot of the pictures as they really enjoy trying out the camera these days.

Left to their own devices...

The boys discovered that balloons will float above a fan pointing upward. I had given them balloons last week and a stick made out of rolled up paper bags and they got to hit them around a bit inside the house. We kept the balloons around for a few days and just let them play with them whenever they wanted. One afternoon when they were having some time in their rooms (some afternoons I have them go to their rooms for about a half hour for some time to themselves while Abby's napping), they excitedly called me up to see what they had discovered. They were both in Matthew's room and after spending some time with the fan on, blowing around their balloons while they kicked them and batted at them, they came up with the idea to lay the fan down on the floor, pointing up, and they discovered that the balloons would hover up above the fan on the column of air. They were having great fun and afterward they brought their fans downstairs so they could have more fun with the balloons and show Jason when he got home. After her nap, Abby didn't get into the action much, but she did pause long enough for a quick picture.

Sam is bigger

Sam woke up on his birthday (very early, I might add) and thought he was taller than he was the day before. It's really quite cute as he really thinks he gets bigger overnight before his birthday. He showed me how he could look on top of some shelves that he apparently couldn't see over before and walked around his room and the house looking on top of things and being very proud of his new age and height. 

Sam was all about the Planes movies for this birthday. It's his first birthday party since he was one which didn't involve Disney's Cars. He had a Planes picture on his cake (he requested an ice cream cake  with chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, hot fudge sauce, Oreos and whip cream...yum, good choices, Sam!), a Planes banner above the window and some Planes presents among plenty of other presents. He also enjoyed playing outside with the cousins and Jason and after lunch and playing, laid down in the basement and said, "I'm exhausted!" His exhaustion was quickly overcome when it was time to open presents and he received many nice presents which have been thoroughly enjoyed this weekend (and even shared with Matthew). 

Matthew was in good form and didn't shed a tear during present opening which was traumatic for him last year when Sam turned 4. We had a discussion the day prior about how Sam was going to be getting a lot of presents and he wasn't going to get any and he "took it like a man" and really was a good sport at the party (although he did get one gift which has also been thoroughly enjoyed). Abby enjoyed lunch with us, then went down for her nap, only to awake when Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue and Grandma Marge left. The last picture is the kids watching them drive away. 

 Happy 5th Birthday, Sam!

Personalities

On Saturday Abby and I went to Iowa for my second cousin's wedding. The boys stayed with Jason to have some fun together. When I was getting ready to leave I was saying goodbye to Sam and he asked me to tell him if I meet any pretty girls. I asked him if he meant girls his age or girls my age and he said, "Well, just tell me if you meet any girls in pretty dresses." Hmmm. Isn't he too young to be saying things like this?

And on Friday night after I put the boys to bed I was trying on dresses to figure out what to wear to the wedding. Matthew came in after a few minutes and looked at me in a dress and said, "You look beautiful!" Now, I don't think he's learned this phrase from Jason...I thanked him and told him he needed to go back to bed. He left, then returned a minute or so later. I told him he was supposed to stay in bed, to which he replied, "I just wanted to see you again in your pretty dress." Awwww, Matthew. Where does he get this from? He is going to be trouble too.

And not to leave Abby out of the post, one morning last week, Abby took a bunch of stuff out of one of the drawers in the bathroom as I was getting ready. She does this often and generally just leaves. But she's old enough now to help pick up her messes so I told her that she  needed to put everything back in the drawer. She made a little high pitched noise of frustration, walked over to one of the objects, picked it up, and threw it. Wow. That kid has a temper and a mind of her own. She still put everything away, (after a stern instruction to put things back in the drawer) and she had made her view of the situation known to me.