A medium shower

The past two days were a meteor shower... leonids? ... peonids? something like that. So, we decided to invite the Kellogg's over for a barbecue and a late night watching the meteor shower. And yes, a late night for our kids is like 9pm. However, I was excited about it. My Mom and I stayed up late one night to watch a meteor shower and it was so neat! Some of the stars would be so bright they would light up the entire sky and their path (tail??) would show for a few seconds after they were gone. So cool!. I had hopes of seeing a few, even with it being early. So, after a supper of bbq chicken, creamed potatoes and green beans, and watermelon, we headed outside for smores and some stars. The kids were so excited for the smores and the "medium shower" as Emma put it and were running around having a happy ole' time. I bought the BIG marshmallows, so that added to some of the excitement also. After a few smores each, running around, screaming a bit, the sky got somewhat dark so we could see a star. Emma had to make a wish on it and Kyra exclaimed "Wow, I have never seen the first star before!" Then... we waited and stared at the sky. We waited some more and listened to the kids getting increasing goofy as they got tired. Then we all went in to the house to change into pants and shoes (to avoid the bugs) and went back out. Nothing... not one shooting star did we see. I was pretty disappointed, but really, we were outside until maybe 9:30. Evan didn't really get into the whole star thing like everyone else. He really liked the moon and the smores. "Roast!" he would exclaim as he tried to put "Marsh" on the poles to roast a marshmallow. Here are some pics:

Here he is concentrating intensely on putting the "Marsh" on the stick.

Actually roasting the marshmallow. And yes, those are snow boots he is wearing. He loves wearing boots. Even in the hot days of summer you can normally see him wearing rain boots or snow boots.


Emma getting in on the smores action.

A family pic:

Otherwise all is good here. We are around this weekend and enjoying seeing friends, having barbecues and just being home. Here is Evan trying to help out and get his shirt on all by himself. He was getting pretty frustrated by this point and wasn't very happy with me that I went to get the camera first instead of helping him out. He would prefer to be clothesless if we let him. It is not uncommon for people to come over and he is either without a shirt or shorts. (always a diaper though, we just cannot trust that kid without a diaper)

And then, on Friday, it was our clean-up day. I decluttered the mess from the week and Emma had to put her clothes away and clean her room. I love the way she cleans lately. I had her pick up our living room the other day and she stacked all the pillows by each other on the couch, laid 3 blankets on top of each other and then used them to cover a shelf and then stacked all the little people buildings along one wall. I would love to be inside her head when she is decided how to put things away. Here are some pics of her room and the good job she did. She is so proud of herself when she is done and I like it that she has started to help out a bit.

All of her Barbies in the party corner:

And here is the top of her dresser (my favorite part). I love how she stacked her polly pocket box on top of her jewelry box and three figurines on top of that. Then, (on the left) she has all of her bracelets lined up on the top. Anyway, not that exciting, but cute I thought.

Some kid-isms:

Emma:
We were reading one of her favorite muppet stories before bedtime one day and it was the "I go to Preschool" book where Kermit goes to preschool. There is a section of the story where Kermit and Miss Piggy sit on a mat for quiet time and listen to stories. Emma looks at me and says, "Wow Mom, that would be really hard being quiet for so long. I don't think I could do it because I like to talk too much." And yes, whenever I am reading stories, she is constantly interrupting me to ask questions.

Evan:

We are still trying to wean him from his pacifiers or Nuk-ers as we call them. Many times, we keep his Nuk's in a little box on top of his dresser and we take them away when he wakes up and give them to him before bed or nap. Well, he LOVES that little box and can be found many times trying to climb up to that little box to steal a Nuk. Well, we had Nuk's in our kitchen one day and before nap, I was helping him climb up the stairs with the two Nuk's in my hand. He stops on one stair, looks at me and demands "Mama, NUK!" I laugh and say, "No, Evan, not until you are in your bed." He looks at me again and instantly his eyes fill up with tears and he loudly proclaims "NUK!" So, being the horrible, I-can't-stand-the-tears-so-here-is-your-Nuk- Mother that I am (especially because we were heading up to his bed anyway) I hand him a Nuk. He instantly pops it into his mouth and proclaims again and holds out his little hand "Nuk - two." Yup, he wanted to me to give him the other Nuk so he could have two. And yes, I gave into him again. . . but come-on! Have you seen how cute he is?

Otherwise, I think that is it for now. Have a great Sunday!