Overheard:

4 Year Old: "'Sexy' means 'really really gross,' right?"

7 Year Old: "No. 'Sexy' means ATTRACTIVE."

4 Year Old: "What is ATTRACTIVE?"

7 Year Old: "It means, like, really beautiful and it, like, makes people want to love you and stuff." (heaves a huge sigh) "I'm kind of like that. It's so annoying."

Oh, my poor ATTRACTIVE 7 year old. Life is rough.

On Housework:

3 year old: "Mom, folding laundry is not very fun."

Me: "Well, it isn't that exciting, but there are things that are worse."

3 year old: "Yeah. Like hitting your head on the sidewalk."

Quote of the Day

Mom: "Well, were you surprised when Dad picked you up after school instead of me?"

6 year old: "No. I knew he was there right away because he's so tall and has short hair and was wearing those see-through shorts that I can see his underwear through."

Oh dear.

Boys and girls

Today I declared a moratorium on the words "penis" and "balls." I also engaged in a rather lengthy conversation about the best way to kill a bad guy with a coconut. This, of course, proved difficult for my two fellow conversationalists, given the afore-mentioned ban on anatomical words. I also had to explain to a frustrated 6 year old why he could only check out FIVE dinosaur books from the library, repaired a lego battle ship, and gave a rather grizzly presentation to a three year old about why we don't drink the bath water (pretty sure I violated the ban on both words during that).

I also found a little time to go outside and smile at my sunflowers (four of the five I planted have bloomed and are just covered with happy bumble bees. I have big plans for the seeds this year - last year I left the seed heads outside too long and they were moldy by the time I harvested them. Not this year!). Then I made blackberry crumble cookies. No, I can't eat the cookies, but I've been assured they are delicious. I just couldn't let all those big fat blackberries sit out there on the vines waiting for the chickens to pass by. Oh, and last night I painted my toenails sparkly pink. So I guess everything evens out. :)

Things you don't want to hear

There are many things that a mother does not want to hear coming from her kids' lips as they play in the other room. One of them is, "Just hurry up and wipe it off." The other is, "You'd better put your bicycle helmet on before you do that." I have heard both of these blood-chilling sentences today. The first in reference to the WORST possible thing a kid could want to hurriedly wipe off: blood. A friend's blood, no less. In his defense, my son wasn't sure if the blood came from him "punching her in the face," or from "her slamming her face into his chest." Ah, details... The second phrase, the one about the bicycle helmet, came when the boys were outside working on their new fort. They have been very hush-hush about what precipitated this comment, but seeing as the advice came from someone who once told me his baby brother "wasn't doing anything dangerous" as he wielded a machete, I nipped that activity session in the bud REAL fast. Too bad big brother wasn't doling out advice when the 3 year old and his friend drove their toy tractor off a 3 foot cliff, landing it upside down in the sand pit. A bicycle helmet would have come in pretty handy at that point of the day. (Fortunately the two dare-devils escaped with nothing but a few minor scratches, thank God.) They are now plopped safely in front of some cartoons, and I am resting my nerves. I think we might have had enough healthy activity for one day.

First love

Today my three year old informed me that he has a girlfriend. With a completely straight face he let me know that "Papa's blonde araucana is mine girlfriend and I love her." In case you were wondering, an Araucana is a chicken.

I think the technical term for this color is "white," but "blonde" certainly sounds more romantic. *sigh* I'm not sure if I should be excited or concerned.

Prehistoric Activities

These are our favorite toys lately - we are totally going for the "all-I-had-to-play-with-when-I-was-a-kid-were-a-stick-and-a-rock" type of summer. We have to thank Aunt Cindy for this one. For some reason, tying a stick to the end of a big feather makes the whole thing much more exciting. I've even taken to carrying around one of these when the boys are otherwise occupied - something about the way the feather catches even the slightest breeze is really entertaining. The boys have been calling the biggest feather an owl feather because of our latest owl sightings, though I think it is actually a wild turkey feather. The "owl feather" has become somewhat of a celebrity at our house. If it isn't clutched in the hands of my 3 year old, I am sure to hear desperate cries of "where's mine owl fedder???" until he locates it. I had a really hard time convincing him that the owl fedder couldn't take a bath with him. Yes, owls are water-proof. No, they don't die in the rain. No, you still can't take it in the tub.

We also made ice cream yesterday - the ol' shake-it-by-hand method. It was super easy and very quick; a really good kid activity when you want to do something that isn't too messy and doesn't take a long time. Just put 1/2 cup cream or whole milk into a ziplock bag with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Zip it up, then put that bag into a larger gallon-sized ziplock bag that has 6 tablespoons of salt and 2 cups of ice in it. Zip up the second bag, go outside, and shake it for about 5 minutes. Ta-da! And when you're done everything can just go in the garbage can. That's my type of activity!

Our chickens are always around for our various outside adventures - we can hear the click click of their toenails trailing behind us on the driveway as we head out. They are hoping for scratch and usually get bored as soon as they realize we haven't come out to feed them. This time one of our Buff Brahmas was very interested in our ice-cream making endeavors. Something about all the bag shaking was enough to distract her from her bug-eating long enough for a few good pictures. Isn't she cute? If you're ever in the market for chickens and want some that will be gentle and make great pets, Buff Brahmas are the way to go. I'll yak your heads off about chickens some other time, though.