Party and Construction

My birthday party.

Ok, not really. But these four did have a lot of fun at my house for breakfast and it felt a little like a special birthday party breakfast. Nathan and his two youngest, Charlotte and Baby Jack, coming over was a special treat. Now, we enjoy all of our company and all kids. But, there are two kids about their age who my children do not go to school with and of whom they talk about often. One is Micah. Micah Micah Micah. The other is Charlotte. Charlotte Charlotte Charlotte. If there is anyone my kids want to go on a spaceship with, have come over, visit at their house, share birthday cake with, or pick up to go for a car ride with, it is Micah and Charlotte. Which is interesting because really, my kids have only really spent a handful of days in all of time with either Micah or Charlotte. None the less, we here their names a lot. So, having Charlotte and Baby Jack come over was great. It was fun to chat with Nathan, too. A rare special treat. Another friend we hear about often, a little older, is Shea. She comes up often. If I say please eat your dinner so you can grow up big, strong and healthy like Papi, they will say "big like Shea?" Yes. All things about having to wait until they are older or bigger mean I will be questioned and have to answer how this "rule" relates to Shea. She is the measurement by which they make meaning of the world with respect to kids and adults. Such rules or standards that have come up in recent weeks include those about "I want a cat" (Ana), "I want my own real baby" (Enzo and Ana), "can kids stay home without Mami's and Papi's" (Enzo), "can I go to work, I want a job" (Enzo), "I can ride a real motorcycle" (Ana). My answer to each of these, and others, was followed with the inevitable question rephrased to find out if Shea is old enough or big enough for a "yes" answer.

I didn't take any pictures at my birthday dinner. However, my sister-in-law took this picture with my phone of my kids kissing with apple wedge smiles in their mouths that night. Everyone, including the kids, thought this was super funny.

By the way, I don't remember when it stopped but Ana does not call Enzo "daddy" any more. Some time ago she replaced it with an at least equally adorable "Enn-no.""Enn-no, look! Enn-no, Enn-no, Enn-no look." Awesome. 

This is a picture Tami sent to me of my son and one of his constructions.

Speaking of constructions, we have been doing a lot of work to our back yard.... major earth moving.

I have been toying with the idea of a sand box for the kids. In the mean time, I added more dirt to their dirt pot that they play with.

I am particularly proud that my daughter, only two years old, is already thinking about and trying out supervisory positions.

I am also particularly proud of my son, though seriously, not as much as he is of his own accomplishment, for this road he built on our patio and which he put a lot of time into. It was gone over several times and given diligent attention. It went a little over budget and required an extra fill of the dirt pot. A small price for progress in our back yard.