Eight Years

Today was our eighth anniversary. The boys let us sleep in until 7:30 and we had a nice, lazy morning. Since Joel has Sunday/ Monday off, we got to spend the whole day together as a family. Well, most of it. Joel took Seth to see his first theater movie this afternoon while I stayed home with Benjamin. Joel said that Seth was engaged for the first half of the movie - I'm thinking the popcorn and root beer helped. But he got kind of squirmy and chatty the second half and it looked like the people sitting in front of them weren't able to be as interested in the movie as they had hoped to be. But hey... when the tykes get in free and adults pay only $4 for the movie, popcorn and pop, you've got to expect a few kids, right?

Since I had a few minutes to myself this afternoon I made progress on my stacks of children's lit from the library. My current project is to read through all the classics and well-reviewed modern stuff so that I can make notes for myself. Besides the fact that they're fun to read, I'll be prepared to introduce them to Seth as read-aloud books as he's ready for them over the next couple of years. He's getting into long picture books now and will be ready for beginner chapter books before I know it. Reading is the only time he sits still, but he really loves his books so we have several reading times a day and go through a handful of books each time. Today I read a couple by Dick King-Smith (The Nine Lives of Aristotle and A Mouse Called Wolf) as well as The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl and Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill. Some good ones but no prize winners in my book.

When the boys got home they tried out Seth's tigger bike (courtesy of cousin Connor) for the first time. Most of the movement came from dad pushing the bike and turning the pedals with his hands. Joel got quite a workout and Seth enjoyed the ride. At least he was excited to wear the helmet.

Joel also brought me home a bouquet of beautiful red roses. Since our friends that were going to babysit got the flu, we went with plan B and had an impromptu Pita Pit Picnic in the Park. After a quick stop at the downtown library to pick up another towering stack of kid's lit, we crossed the street and threw out a blanket in the huge and shady Julia Davis Park. Seth got to chase seagulls and watch the "squewels" eat strawberries. Then we took a stroll with the new double jogging stroller on the Greenbelt. We have lived in Boise for five years and that was our first expedition on the famous path along the river. We felt like we accomplished a lot today. Now on to the cold and creamy Tillamook Huckleberry ice cream....