The Return of the Jedi

Although the title will not be discussed right away, it seemed nice and dramatic, especially for a boys Mom's blog.

We have been blessed with fun neighbors. On one side, we have a family with a two and a half yr old and a 2 month old baby (both boys). On the other side, a very nice younger couple (Kyle and Charley) who is great with kids! This is a picture of Kyle playing with our kids. Beside him in the orange shirt is another four year old boy who lives two doors down. Jon David and Luke love their neighbor playmates! Thanks for entertaining them so much, Kyle!!! Kyle and Charley also have just started growing lettuce plants, and sometimes Kyle lets the boys help him water them. They love doing this, too!

Warning: bragging portion of post... We have been so proud of Jon David for how well he has been doing in school. We received a letter recently stating that he had been selected, along with a handful of other children from his class, to be a part of a special group led to conduct scientific experiments (age appropriate, of course). So for a few days, he has been pulled out to be a part of this group. The culmination was a class session in which he and the selected others got to share their experiments with the rest of the class... OK, so MAJOR help from the teachers on this one. It was a little humorous to see the children pretend to be in charge. I don't think there is any way that Jon David could have presented these experiments by himself. The teachers were constantly telling them what to say, but I was super duper proud none-the-less. And it meant a lot to us that he got to be a part of that. So here are a few pics of him "leading" his classmates. Oh, and if any of you would like some science ideas, the experiments were pretty clever, I thought. Here are the three that we saw: Pouring tonic water into a cup and then adding raisins to see the raisins "dance" (move up and down in the water); adding baking soda to vinegar to see the fiz; and experimenting with which items float or sink in which medium (chose your own items, and try them in water, oil, and then corn syrup). Before each experiment, they were supposed to ask their classmates a question (ex: do you think this will float or sink, or what do you think will happen to the raisins/water?...).
Luke got to try one of the experiments, too (he looks so grown up here...):
Luke also helped me take pics of JD, who caught him doing so:
On Friday, I was getting ready to vacuum, and I was asking the boys to put certain items away that were on the floor. They put several items away, and also several larger items on the couch for me. After they were done and the downstairs looked pretty clear, they disappeared upstairs for quite some time. By the time I got up there, they were playing outside. I was so surprised to see their bedroom floor, and the floor in my bedroom totally clear. They had taken everything that was on the floor, and put it on the beds, so that I could vacuum... I had a moment realizing that even though I don't have any girls, God is providing in special ways, what with my children helping me with house work... and they are boys! It was a good moment.


Saturday was gearing up to be a pretty crazy day. Jon David had to be at a soccer game at 8:40 A.M., and Luke had to be at soccer practice at 9:15 A.M. And, you guessed it: two separate locations. So Don and I had to divide and conquer. Well, we woke up and it was rainy, but neither event had been canceled yet, so out we headed (having had to wake up the boys)... Only to arrive at both separate destinations and find out that both events were indeed canceled... When we came back home, it was still early on a rainy Saturday--not exactly a boy's version of heaven. So Don scored major points and popped in "Return of the Jedi." The boys loved it! They kept talking about each character. They were very brave to watch the "Jaba the Hut" sp? scene, too. They got to see Yoda, and the Emperor, and they also got to see Darth Vader's face, and see how he turned good at the end.
And finally, the next pic is of making chicken-and-dumplins with Mommy. Oh, and just in case you're starting to think I'm being a little too Mommy-of-the-monthish: they had no sooner kneeded the dough once or twice each, that they were done and licking their fingers. The help was very short lived. But as you can see, we had a good time!