This and That

This past weekend we had company. Yay for company! A dear friend from my high school days came and stayed a night with us. Jenny Hodge! Well, she won't be Jenny Hodge much longer, cause she's gettin' hitched! Then she'll be Jenny Van Gieson. It was so fun to sit and talk to her and catch up on, oh, I think about 14 years of stuff that we've missed. (can I just say that Facebook has been an awesome reuniting tool for me lately) The boys loved her. Especially Connor. She was forced to read "There's a Monster at the End of This Book" and to listen to all the great details of all Lego cars invented in our home. Travis finally took Joseph and Connor out for a drive so we could talk in peace. (Spencer stayed home and played SIM City) She stayed less than 24 hours, but it was a lot of fun. We love you Jenny Hodge!

We are finding that since I have quit working, they have been taking advantage of the extra nights Travis has open and using them. He has been closing a lot lately. (We are happy that he has a job and not complaining.) He isn't getting home until after 1am each night because Kohl's is open until midnight practically every night now. So, for all you shoppers out there that really like to go shopping after the kids go to bed, head on down to Kohl's. They are open. (o:

Lately, the boys have been really interested in vocabulary. That's all they want to do is read and learn new vocabulary words. They have been playing on PBS Kids a lot lately, particularly Martha Speaks and Word Girl. I can't believe how much these kids can absorb and then actually use correctly. Yesterday Travis was getting after the boys for knocking our nice headphones on from the computer onto the floor. Joseph said, "Oh Daddy, we are really sorry about that." Then he turns to me and says, "Daddy really appreciates it when we apologize." I thanked him for that information.

Then, this morning, Joseph and Spencer were trying to carry on a conversation using as many of the new words as possible (on purpose). The conversation went something like this...

Joseph: "Spencer, Bert (his guinea pig), is really adorable, but he can be quite vicious. (looks at me and says) Vicious means violent and mean."

Spencer: "He can be a little vicious, I agree. Thank you for clarifying that." Then looks at me and says, "Clarify, you know, to clear things up."

Joseph: "Both guinea pigs like to devour celery though." (looks at me and says) "Devour means to gobble down food."

Spencer: "I love to devour food! Especially healthy food. But right now I think I will go read my SIM City instruction manual and learn how to make a sea port and ferry terminal. SIM City is my thing you know."

Joseph: "Mommy, did you know that colossus means really big? Oh, and I'm now going to show you a commercial that I made up about expand and contract. Did you know that expand means getting bigger and contract means getting small? I think that is very interesting." Then he proceeded to reenact a little ditty from Marth Speaks about expanding and contracting.

And to make sure that I don't leave Connor out, the other day I gave each kid a cup of orange juice. I had just made it and wasn't really cold so I stuck an icecube in each cup. When Connor saw the the ice he said,"Hey, there's an ice in my cup. Ice is 'versible' change Mommy?" Joseph and Spencer jumped in and told him how smart he was that he knew that ice was reversible change and then told him that cookie dough was an irreversable change. I just sat back and admired how clever my children sounded and thankful that even Connor was picking up some stuff that I teach.

Anyway, that's all for now. I just got such a kick out of Joseph and Spencers conversation this morning. I love my boys!!!! Okay, gotta go.