When I Grow Up

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Mia: Barbie Designer

Mateus: Police Man

Miranda: Fireman, well, a fire woman

Bianca: Mia

Lennon: Mimi (one of his words for Mia)

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

Lennon has officially told his first whopper. A few days ago I mistakenly left the room while Lennon was holding a yellow highlighter. When I returned, not surprisingly, he had colored all over the coffee table, a DVD case, his face and body as well as a few other things in the room.

Me: Lennon? Oh, no! Did you color on yourself with that marker?

Lennon: No.

Me: Lennon, did you mark on your face with that highlighter?

Lennon: Not! (he sometimes says not instead of no for emphasis)

Me: How did that highlighter get all over your face?

Lennon: Uh...uh...uh...uh.......Maaw do dat.

Me: Angel colored on your face?

Lennon: Ah. (that means yes.)

Later that night at dinner I was retelling the story to Shelby and when Lennon was again asked if he colored on his face with a highlighter he stuck with his story.

Shelby: Lennon did you color on your face with a highlighter?

Lennon: Not! Ennon not do it. Maaw do it.

Shelby: Come on Lennon, you really expect me and mommy to believe that Angel colored on your face with a highlighter?

Lennon: Ah.

Shelby: Lennon, Angel doesn't even have hands, how is he supposed to hold a highlighter?

Lennon: (without skipping a beat puts his fists together and says) Ike dat. (like that)

Days later he still maintains that Angel colored on his face. He has also mentioned several times that we should buy hands for Angel.

Trip to Smolak Farms

Yesterday morning we had an impromptu trip out to one of our favorite farms to pick some fresh strawberries and raspberries. It ended up being a pretty large group comprised of my Stoneham friends as well as a couple of my church friends. Everyone had a blast. We always go apple picking in the fall, but this was the first time we had gone out there in the summer. It was as gorgeous as ever. Everything was super green and alive. Claire and I drove together and got lost which is pretty much par for the course with us. We still made it in time to have lots of fun, but the babies had to miss their naps. Lennon did really well despite missing his nap. We ended up with a whole bunch of delicious fresh picked fruit!

Lennon and Michael going in for the kill.

We put the kids to work! From left: Tyson, Mateus, Miranda, Mia and Lennon

Mid-field snuggles

Discussing the ripeness of the strawberry

Beautiful raspberries

Mia read a book about how every little girl can be a princess the night before and it mentioned that they should always dress beautifully, so she wanted to wear her flower girl dress from Kelsey and Bethany's wedding. We compromised on this $7 salvation army dress that is just as fancy.

Mia, Michael and Mateus wrestling after a snack.

Lennon enjoying a nice clementine.

Taking a break for a snack

Mateus and Mia posing on a tractor in the playground. I think the way he is looking down at her is so sweet.

Mateus and Lennon after feeding the goats. Lennon thinks Mateus is the coolest!

Mateus feeding the goats

Lennon's hands got so tickled by the animals.

Letting a sheep lick his hand

All the Stoneham kids

A Nice Week So Far

Mia's soccer camp ended today. Her coaches comments said "Great Work this week Mia, you've been a pleasure to coach, always have a massive smile on your face and give 100% in each game. Well done." I guess maybe those two years of soccer did teach her a thing or two. She really enjoyed the camp and there's another one toward the end of the summer that we'll likely sign her up for if I can arrange another deal with Claire. For this week she paid for the camp and I'm going to give her extra free babysitting during the daytime to make up for it.

It was nice having just Lennon and Bianca around this week for a few hours. It's amazing how much calmer the house is when the older two are not here. I love having them around it's just such a different vibe when they aren't. Claire and I just sat around upstairs in the playroom drinking coffee while the babies played peacefully (well, mostly peacefully.)

This week at bedtime Mia and I have been reading The Secret Garden. We read a version from a collection called Classic Starts that they sell at Barnes and Noble. They take classic books and condense them so that they are manageable for younger kids. We've also read The Little Princess and Granmommy bought her several more for her birthday. Well, now I am dying to read the original Frances Hodgson Burnett because this condensed version was so good. I was fighting back tears the whole last chapter and Mia and I both had tears in our eyes by the very last page. It was so good. I don't think I've ever cried at a book before. I don't read much fiction. This made me want to do more of that though. It was sooo good. I am going to get online and see if I can get ahold of a DVD version of The Secret Garden movie that I remember loving as a kid. I can't wait to watch that with Mia!

Lennon's newest concept is "almost." As in:

"Ennon amos done eating." Me, "You're all done?"

"NO. Ennon AMOS done eating."

or: "Mia's amos done pay socc?"

And he is quick to point out as we drive past that "Piinonnees" is a "ettnaught."

Pignones is a restaurant

We also often drive by the local hardware store or the "tee hou tore, Mommyyyy!"

tree house store Mommy!

Birthday Party Pics

Mia and Naomi goofing off at one of the two playgrounds by the lake

On the way up the hill for the treasure hunt

Rechecking the treasure map

Pirate Daddy explaining treasure hunt protocol

Lennon loving the water. I forgot his swimsuit, but he didn't seem to mind

Mia and Mateus swinging super duper high

Mia helping me decorate the table before the party

We made some cute centerpieces, but they were both broken before the end of the party. Good thing they were from the dollar store.

I think I have more pics. These are from Granmommy's camera I think.

One Tough Girl

Mia's in a soccer camp this week and it's going really well. She is loving it and I think she's already learned a lot more than she did doing league soccer in Malden for almost two years. Yesterday she was accused of tackling another little girl. She denied doing it and was very upset about the accusation. The coach sort of laughed it off and said it looked to him more like she fell, but also said "she's a tough one though...I like it!" Lennon isn't a big fan of dropping Mia off so far, but he gets over it quickly. I have forgotten my camera so far when dropping her off and picking her up, but I'll get a picture before the camp ends.

Our Night at The Museum

This year Mia and I invited Claire and Mateus to come with us to the overnight at The Museum of Science. Because, clearly we aren't getting to see them enough these days, what with living in the same house with them and all. Overall it was a huge success. I think the activities were better this year for the younger crowd. We built domino chains, made fireflys that really lit up, learned about alligators, ferrets, hedgehogs, and chickens up close, along with all the other awesome stuff that is regularly at the museum. The lightning show at 10:15 was great except I think the kids eyes were about as heavy as The Van De Graaf Generator that was creating the indoor storm. (The world's largest of it's kind.) In the morning we ducked out of the planetarium show early because the kiddos were bored, but then thoroughly enjoyed the IMAX show about dolphins. Here are some pics.

Mia and Mateus proudly showing off their firefly necklaces. It was super cool because we had actually spent the week studying bugs.

As usual, not even phased by being up close and personal with a big scary looking creature.

Our ever-impressive domino chain.

Definitely Mia's favorite activity here at the museum - spinning around as fast as she can for as long as she can before some impatient kid asks for a turn. She never seems to get dizzy at all.

Right here Mia is in "The Sneakiness Corridor"...Seriously. It's an activity where you try to sneak up on deer and stuff before the birds start chirping. The idea is to see how easily birds can sense movement.

Our bedtime snack of Dippin' Dots. Claire is lookin' out for the ice cream police. She looks so nervous. She must have already had her daily dose of sugar for the day.

Sweet action shot of their pre-bed pillow fight.

Enjoying breakfast with a beautiful view of the Charles River and Boston

Our "camp site"

Mia wasted no time once we were home making another domino chain. It ended up looking just like a sea horse we thought.