Summer lovin'

We had a fun week as usual amid the craziness. One day was happily spent at Davis' Farmland with some friends though the boys kept asking if their Cousin David would be there because they thought I was saying "David's Farmland". They were disappointed to find out he wasn't there but managed to have fun instead.

Eamon happily playing in the water. He fell asleep before we actually go to the water park side of the farm, but he got his fill anyway.

Colin had fun in the "car wash".

They loved the goats, but Liam had the most fun brushing the baby calves.

when he wasn't tormenting the chickens.

Oh, how they've grown even since last year!

The whole crew getting some chow.

Colin is just in love with letters and writing and language and reading. We're reading chapter books at night now for him (hallelujah for Mommy) though Liam still doesn't have the attention span for picture-less books so he gets to pick his own first. This week, Colin wanted to stop off at the cemetery on our street and do some grave rubbings. Liam fell asleep on the walk over but Colin did a great job of finding all the letters to spell out their names and make crayon replicas. Liam woke up at home long enough to glue his letters to a piece of paper which was enough for him... he'd take a gluestick over pretty much ANY toy at the moment. As his perpetually sticky fingers can attest to...

I know I should be past getting surprised over this, but they really are COMPLETELY different. The farm had an area to do face-painting. Colin asked me to do a rainbow and a bug on his cheeks then delicately added a few dots to flesh it out.

Liam refused to let me help him with anything and ended up as something between a tribal warrior and the Incredible Hulk. I don't know where they learned about warriors, but for the rest of the week, they've covered their bodies daily with markers so they can "play warrior up in ours rooms" according to Liam. I tried to leave them be as I probably don't want to know what "playing warrior" really means. No bones have been broken. Yet.

Is it appropriate, do you think, that Eamon's name is just ONE LETTER away from being DEMON? How many boys are AFRAID of their baby brother? I know two for sure. Actually, Christopher and I are terrified of the little guy because he is constantly cuddling us... then pinching, scratching, whacking, head-butting, swiping as soon as we feel safe. It always starts so nice... and ends so bloody. And the cackle he gives when he beats on us is so maniacal. He's already suckered us in a million times. A stern "no-no" will make his bottom lip quiver pathetically. But DO NOT BE FOOLED! The moment you pick him up to "comfort him", he will laugh in your face and grab at your _____. (Fill in with any body part in his reach that he can possibly take a bite of.) He is evil. Just look at that face (and how he has managed to hold down two boys that significantly outweigh him.)

Our other art project of the week started when Colin found some tangram games on the computer. I thought we could do something similar with foam art stickers, but they proved to be too hard for us. (Ahem, too hard for me. Colin's ability to discern spatial relationships far outweighs mine. And probably 75% of the people who have aced the GRE math exam.) We decided to be "creative" instead. Here is one of Colin's masterpieces. Robots are very big this week. Liam even has an imaginary friend named "Robot" now.