A meatless hot dog

Braden does not much love meat. He never has much cared for it, even as a baby. Today, we went to an end-of-the-year picnic for his dual language kindergarten, and hot dogs were served. Braden adapted, though.

Like father, like son

This evening, I heard the unmistakable sound of tools clanking in the garage. Because Kyle had just bought a new weight bench last night, I thought he was in there making some minor adjustments to it. I could hear the sounds of little voices, too.

I finally got up to bring the boys inside for their baths.

Kyle was not in the garage.

Braden, Garrett, and their neighbor-friend Luke were in there.

And they had removed the training wheels from Garrett's bike. He's four, you know. And big brother learned to ride when he was four, so it is high time for Garrett to learn.

Braden accomplished the training wheel removal by standing on a chair to reach the tool box, finding the correct size of wrench, and then getting to work. He was quite proud of himself.

I'm sure daddy will be proud, too, once he wakes up...I found him in bed asleep by 8 pm.

All that is left to do is teach the Garrett Carrot how to ride.

Birthday Party Deluxe!

Last soccer game of the season!

Happy Birthday Garrett!

Today is Garrett's fourth birthday, but since his big party is next weekend, we didn't really have anything special planned. It was our turn to host our Sunday evening dinner group, and Ryan Kovacs came with a cookie cake just for Garrett. So sweet of her (and her parents!). She helped me put candles in the cake, and we took a quick picture before showing the cake to Garrett. Garrett got a little embarrassed when we sang Happy Birthday, and covered his face. I've never really seen him embarrassed. Too cute!

It took about ten tries to blow out the five candles (four small white ones plus the number 4). How is it possible to miss when the candle is inches from your face?

Yuuuuummmmmmy!

After the dinner crew left, we gave Garrett a couple of little presents...a red dragon and a knight dress up set. He's currently in bed next too me still playing with the new sword. It might be confiscated soon...

Calendar time!

Braden is a funny kid with some funny habits.

One of those funny habits is that he marks off a day on his calendar every night before going to bed. He doesn't mark off the day that just happened though, he marks off the following day. He also marks special days with what appears to me to be an erupting volcano. This month, the celebratory volcano marks Easter, Garrett's birthday, and Braden's birthday. Notice the collection of stickers that also mark Braden's birthday. Notice, too, that he did not share the stickers with Brother's birthday. On April Fools Day, he has drawn two faces that are smiling and the words "OH HO." I think that is laughter. My favorite thing: On Good Friday he drew a face with X's for the eyes. That would be the face of dead Jesus.

(that reminds me a funny story my friend Susan told about her four year old niece. The sweet girl was in the car with her mother discussing the reason for Easter. "Jesus died..." mom began. "WHAAAT?" shrieked the little girl. "WHEN? YESTERDAY? WHyyy didn't you telllll me?" )

Daddy's helpers