Hilariousness

This day has been amusing! No pictures though, I'm sad to say.

Fun things the boys have been saying or doing abound.

Trey, when he hurts his finger or knee or whatever, but only if it's a scrape or cut to his epidermis, will say, "I hurt my skin!"

He'll threaten in silliness to pinch me or something like it. I'll tell him, "No thanks! Pinch yourself!" So he'll try and then say, "I pinch my own self."

Tonight, I had him sitting on the counter as I cooked. After sqeezing a lemon for a marinade, I offered him the bowl of remaining juice. He drunk a good amount down and exclaimed, "Spicy, mmmm." and then finished it. He then got the rind, dipped it in a small bowl of honey one of the other boys decided to fill, and chewed on it for some time. He'll probably stay healthy that way, chewing on lemons and honey!

Ranne went to his first day of swimming, though it's the second round of lessons for him. The first round was very young for him so this is much better. He marched right to his corner of the pool, though he was too shy to ask which class he was to go to, and got in. Once getting in the water and meeting his teacher, he grinned ear-to-ear the whole time. He was so excited he went back and forth their little area over and over, splashing around and spitting water like a fountain. He did very well to give his best effort for the teacher, calming down and trying to do the specific instruction after his crazy, big first try. He was hilarious to watch!

Scott took care of Toby and Trey for me today, which was really fun since I could watch without distraction. Tomorrow all the boys will be there. It'll be good for Ranne's little brothers to see him trying so hard. Hopefully they will want to work toward swimming themselves. Trey's been asking to swim but I just can't go into the pool without the compression hose at this point. Very sad. Next summer, Lord willing, things will be different.

We also met a good friend at the park with her two children. Toby did amazing. He usually plays to himself and then fusses at everyone for leaving him out. This time, he stuck with the group and played hard. He's been super cuddly too. I think the baby's coming is causing him the most hesitation.

He did decide to show off his spitting projection ability right as we were leaving, and did so next to and on my friend's very lovely shoes. We had a sit down talk right there about where boys may and may not spit. Ranne's had the talk but it's been some time. I forget who's come along since those important etiquette discussions. Oh my!

Lost in Summer Nights

Wow. What a night. We joined Dad, Brenda, brother Brendan and most of his family (missing 'little one' sadly) for Summer Nights at the local botanical gardens. It was fun music, pretty gardens, trains, hoola hoops, glow rings, happy kids.... The children all did so well and it was nice to just be with family.

Sadly Scott was working, but it sounds like his night is still going great at the Student Center. They are hosting a high school night for all the kids who were signed up to go to camp but had cancelations due to fire restrictions.


Trey found a cuddler to hold him. Nana and he had a nice time, I'm thinkin'.



My Toby, goofing off for your benefit.

Enjoying the train display.

He's my only one to really try the hip action with the hoola.

Enjoying the music, clouds and cool breeze. He always knows how to enjoy a good moment, or make it good.

So glad to have these two here!

Wonderful two.

Sharing their cherries! Summer is good!

So, as you can see it was a good night. We did have a very hard point. The boys were doing awesome, staying together for the most part. Looking at trains, Ranne would get ahead. We got that taken care of by a conversation.

When taking the boys to the bathroom, however, on the way back to the picnic/music area, despite encouraging and watching everyone to keep us close to one another, I lost Toby. After just leaning down to talk to Ranne, I realized Toby was nowhere to be seen. I ran a few places and couldn't see him so took the boys back to Brendan. Sarah watched Ranne and Trey while he and I went to find him. I finally spotted him. He made it out of the main gardens and into the courtyard leading to the parking lot. There was a security guard by the gate and I pray he would have stopped Toby if he'd tried to leave, but Toby was definitely headed that direction. He was probably afraid we had left so went to look for the car. There were fences all around the outside of the park as well, but with the crowd and all....

What a terrible, terrible feeling. I grabbed him and hugged him. He seemed afraid, but most likely it stemmed from my reaction and tears. He just said he couldn't find me and told me quietly to stop fussing. Sigh. Please never again. I'm so grateful for Brendan and Sarah's help. I know Papa and Nana knew and were looking too. Thank you! Thank you, Lord, for helping us find him.

I'm tired!