On the Floor

The Sprouts watching a LEGO movie on my spouse's Samsung S4.

Bad Breath

The light was amazing late this afternoon, perfect for capturing a portrait of the Sprouts. Only it didn't happen. They stood together, picture perfect, when the younger Sprout turned to his older sister and breathed on her. Hilarity ensued as said sister exclaimed, "Ew, gross, bad breath!" Once the Sprouts get going, especially Jo, no amount of cajoling can bring them back. Oh well, there is always tomorrow (after the brushing of teeth and a mint or two).

Quarry

Sprouts & Astrid

Sleeping Beauties

Josiah

Sprouts

Car Wash

Put In My Place

The Sprouts unpacked their school gear when they came home from Nana's house. I noticed that Fi had black paint on her fingers and commented that there must have been art club today. She nodded.

Me, knowingly: "You made windchimes today."

Fi, in wonderment: "How did you know that?"

Me, boasting: "I know everything!"

Fi, rolling her eyes and shaking her head: "No, you don't."

Sprouts

Sprouts

Word Play

While driving to school this morning there were several conversations going on at once. My spouse and I were talking about some school related issue while the Sprouts in the back seat interjected their own thoughts into the discussion. Often the thoughts were random and totally unrelated to the topic being discussed in the front seat. For example, JK kept asking questions about Pop ("Why is Pop at school?") and the previous week ("Mama, what did I do last Friday? Oh, right, I was in your classroom."). JK was in my spouse's classroom before 12:00 PM because it was a payday Friday and junior kindergarten students are dismissed earlier than the rest of the school.

The main conversation continued, but JK kept up the random thinking. "Pop is at school working"..."I had pop on Friday with my lunch"..."I like my Pop"..."pop tastes yummy". Then, some connection was made and all the random thoughts joined together in JK's mind and out came an emphatic: "HEY! There are two pops.  Pop the man and pop the can!"

Maybe I should ask the little Sprout to come in and teach a Word Study class for me...

Sprinkles

"Papa, I licked them all up off the ottoman!"  It took me a moment to process this information being yelled out to me from the living room.  "Umm...what?!"  While I was trying to fill my summer holiday relaxed brain with six traits writing ideas, the Sprouts had explored the spice and herb drawer, and, unbeknownst to me, the youngest one had made off with a few small containers of cake sprinkles.  Shaking off my befuddlement, I walked into the living room to see sprinkles strewn everywhere (except on the ottoman, which was now wet with saliva), hearing the refrain, "It was an accident!".  I just sighed, shook my head, pulled out the vacuum cleaner, began cleaning, all the while giving thanks for Nana who would be watching the Sprouts in the afternoon.

One More Sleep...

...until the Sprouts get to see Opa and Oma, who have travelled 1,895 kilometres (so far) across Ontario  to see the grandkids (and us too, of course).

We are also anxiously awaiting Nana and Pop's arrival which was delayed.  How cool is it that the Sprouts have both sets of grandparents around at the same time?

Update: Nana, Pop, two dogs, cat, car and heavy laden trailer have arrived safe and sound!

Four

Serious...

...Not So Serious

Randomography: Kidsfest

Last weekend we went to Winnipeg to visit a close friend and her daughter who were visiting family (and to allow my spousal unit some time to shop).  On Saturday we gathered at The Forks, the site of Kidsfest 2011 which included all types of entertainment geared towards kids.  The Sprouts had a blast the whole day, especially with our close friends alongside.  Below are a photos from the day. I've put a few more photos on my Flickr stream: Kidsfest Set.

Burp Starts With a B!

"Book starts with a b!"  "So does bat!" "And ball ... butterfly ... blueberries ... bingo ... barn ... bread ... badger ... bee (giggle - bee starts with a b - get it, papa?) ... bottle ... bubble ... bugs..." 

JK loves the alphabet.  He will say a number of words that all start with the same letter, then ask us (especially his big sister) to participate and help out when he can't think of any new words.  After we have brainstormed some more words, we will go on to other tasks, later hearing JK shout from elsewhere in the house (or yard or in the car) things like "Burp starts with a b!"  This even happens when he is using the necessary (see next post).  Imagine being with him in a public washroom when he shouts out, "Poop starts with a p!"

Bean Sprout

Overheard this afternoon at the dinner table:

"Holy cow! My stink is running off the table!"

"I'll trade you a stink for a chili."

Today we taught our oldest Sprout a new (to her) card game called Bohnanza.  The object of the game is to plant and harvest large amounts of beans to sell for gold.  The beans have names like red (an adorable little bean who is blushing because he is in his birthday suit), chili, blue, black-eyed, garden, green, cocoa, coffee, soy, wax and, of course, stink.  The weather hasn't been so great this spring for outdoor play (wet and cool), so FK was looking morosely over the back of the couch, body language strongly suggesting she was bored and a little bit lonely.  Realizing that in all the busy-ness of year end teaching stuff I have been neglecting my children a bit, I asked if she wanted to play a game.  Her face lit up with a big grin and she gave an enthusiastic nod.  After convincing my spouse to play too, the game commenced in a timely fashion and we spent an enjoyable hour planting, harvesting, trading and sometimes donating beans for gold coin.  Of course, anyone listening in would have wondered what was cookin' in the kitchen.