Hammered & Toasted

              This is an all over the place kind of post, so know that I won't try to tie it together.  Very similar to the way my mind is ALL THE TIME, plus it kind of represents our schedule of late.  Here goes!

              We made a pre-camping trip trip to Academy the other night and the boys just had to have these.  Well, after B told them they had to have these.  Anyway, they're pretty cool and the boys rushed right  outside to try them out.  We sat on the back porch watching them run all over the yard and B pointed out the obvious benefit of their new toys.  Definitely a worthwhile purchase.  Now let's just hope they last long enough to make the actual camping trip.  

                Yesterday evening J and I hunted grasshoppers out back in preparation for Show & Tell in J's class today.  My competitive side came out and I had to have J had to have something really great.
                Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was a snake; a solid 10 on a scale of 1-10.  But that would be too hard to find and probably not allowed.  Maybe next year...
                Then I thought about a toad, but felt sorry for the poor thing imagining its day in the hands of eight 4-year-olds.  Having a Show & Tell toad die right before the eyes of those 4-year-olds would make for more dinner conversation than I'm sure the classmates' parents would appreciate.
                 Sooooooo, when grasshoppers came to mind, I knew we were on the right track.  I was in hog heaven, reliving my childhood as J and I stalked hoppers all over the backyard, ultimately snagging 6 of them.  We looked them over and chose the best two for Show & Tell.  

                This morning the jumpers were not jumping.  Unaware that J was right beside me, I said out loud, "I think the brown one's toast."

                About 15 minutes later J came into my room and announced, "Momma, I think the bright green one's roasted.  Yep, it's roasted."

                Upon reevaluation (sticking my hand into the bug catcher) it was determined that the grasshoppers were actually fine.  I instructed J on proper handling of the hoppers; keep the lid closed at all times, don't swing the container, don't tap on the container, and that we would release them back into our yard as soon as we returned home.

                 Show & Tell went great-the grasshoppers were a HUGE hit, said Miss Megan.  Bonus:  they were still alive by the end of the day.  

                On the way home I tried to explain the meaning of the word 'toasted' as I had used it that morning (since J brought it up again, saying 'roasted'). Sometimes 'toasted' could mean dead and sometimes it referred to what happened to bread in the toaster over.  I beamed with pride in the front seat; the boy totally got it.  

                We arrived home, released the weary hoppers, and J asked, "Momma, are you toasted?"

                This year we made a couple of big changes.  The boys are in preschool 2 days a week and have moved to a different school than the one they've always attended.  I don't know how I feel about all this change.  Well, I feel great about the new school-It's wonderful; great teachers who the boys LOVE and lots of new friends.  I don't feel all that great about my boys being gone 2 days a week, but I'm slowly getting used to it.

                I started thinking about what to do with my extra time early in the summer and thought of the Peters'-some of my favorite people who have done more for B and me than we could ever repay (though they would deny that :).  Since having the boys I haven't been able to spend much time at their place.  I've missed being out there helping out.  I'm not sure how much help I actually am, but I'm willing.  :)

                Anyway, I get to go out there and have them put me to work (or play, if you know Mr. Peters) on one of my days 'off' each week.  The first day I hammered staples till my hand could no longer hold the hammer.  There's just something so satisfying about doing manual labor in God's beautiful creation. 

               When I got in my car something didn't feel right w/ my boot.  Something was not right with my boot.

               For the past 2 weeks we've ridden horses.  Tough work they give me.  :)  As we were heading out on our ride this week Mr. Peters pointed and said that would be a good pic.  B/c of the sunshine I couldn't see my phone screen, but I took this pic from Georgia's back.  See her ear in the bottom L corner?   

               I'll close with a L story.  With the weather so nice lately, the boys, L especially, have spent hours each day playing outside.  The other day they'd been outside for about 2 hours when J was ready to come in.  L asked J several times to "pwease come outside wif me," to no avail.  J responded politely each time that he did not want to go back outside right then.

L, with lips quivering, said, "But I need a bwuddeh outside."

Sweet J finally agreed and they were off for another hour.  :)