In Toby's Eyes....

Now that Toby's talking more and using his imagination, we get to hear some of his perceptions about life. It's so fun!

A few nights ago Jonathan built a little house for Toby with his sticky blocks. The winning feature of this house was a door that swung open and closed. Toby played for a long time with Papa Alligator, Mama Elephant, and Baby Bear in this house. The game mostly consisted of Papa Alligator and Baby Bear going out of the house for pizza, walks, etc., while Mama Elephant stays inside. Jonathan asked Toby if Mama Elephant is coming too, and Toby said, "No. Mama stay home." (Guess Toby is remembering all those times Jonathan has taken him and Abbie outside so I can get a few things done in the house.)

A little later we heard Toby say, "Papa Alligator loves Mama." At that point he made Papa Alligator lean over and kiss Mama Elephant. (so sweet!)

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Have you read the Llama Llama books? They are some of our favorites. In one of the books, Llama Llama gets scared of the dark and calls for his mama. When we were reading the book recently, Toby pointed to the picture of Llama Llama hollering for his mama and said, "It's all dark. Mama turn the generator on!" (He and Abbie often wake up when the power goes off at night and cry because of the dark. Toby knows the lights will come back on if we turn on the generator.)

Post-Taxes Celebration

I finally--after banishing the project for weeks and dreading its inevitable return--finished our taxes! We get an automatic extension because we live overseas, but I worked really hard back in April to get it done by the 17th. When I realized it wasn't going to happen, I put it aside for a few weeks. And today I finally pushed through! I still have to print, sign, and mail the returns, but that's the easy part. :-) Feels so good!

We wanted to have a celebratory meal at our favorite restaurant in town, but the kids were so grumpy I couldn't bear to take them out (ha! I punned without even thinking about it). So we made Mexican rice, refried beans, and papitas, and savored every bite! Come to think of it, maybe I'm even a little bit glad that the kids were bears and kept us home. :-)

So now that taxes are off my mind, I'll give you a peek at what we've been doing over the last week or two.

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Abbie somehow managed to chip her two front teeth without my finding out about it. Seriously? How do things like this happen? She definitely has her share of falls, often with the "help" of her rambunctious big brother, but I don't remember a particularly traumatic one. I have a picture of her with perfect teeth, and 3 days later, I noticed they weren't perfect any more. Here's what she looks like now. Can you see it?

I took the kids outside for a surprise "picpic" one day. Toby loves surprises and he loves to play picnic, so it was a hit with him. Abbie thought it was great fun, too.

Yes, I know this is a weird angle. I'll do better next time, I hope.

Toby is smashing ants, his new favorite hobby.

Abbie discovered a new game: running under the clothes on the clothesline. Such sweet, simple, innocent fun!

I've been experimenting with different breads lately. We can get whole wheat flour here...sometimes...when it's available in Papua New Guinea and flown in here on special order. It's a bit pricey, so I'm trying out other options. This is my first attempt at soybean bread. The recipe is fairly simple; you just use cooked, mashed (or pureed) soybeans instead of some of the flour. I really like the flavor, but I think I'll increase the yeast next time so it rises a little better.

And--just so I don't end this post with a picture of boring old bread--I snapped a few shots of the kids peeking around the corner of the house. Love how they turned out!

Snails, Spaghetti, and Shades

We had a fairly eventful (for us) weekend. We started it off right with a long playtime out in our yard on Friday. A snail shell in the grass caught the kids' attention, but we weren't patient enough to see the snail emerge. =)

"The snail is over there!"

Toby is showing Pooh the snail. =)

Friday night Jonathan treated us to a spaghetti dinner. In honor of the occasion--and the messy meal--I declared it a "nakey supper" (for kids only, of course). lol. Side note: I hadn't realized how much I use the word "nakey" until Toby started talking. When he started gleefully referring to himself and Abbie as "nakey children" and took off his stuffed gorilla's clothes so he could be "nakey," I figured I must use the word more often than I had thought. What's even more fun is that he pronounces it "achey"-- which always makes me laugh.

The "nakey supper" was a big hit!

Our little "lefty" cleaning her plate

Saturday morning we tried something different for breakfast. As is often the case, our kids were exceedingly hungry and grumpy, so we fixed them a quick breakfast. Only this time we fed them and sat them down to a movie (hey, it's the next best thing to Saturday morning cartoons!) while we enjoyed a delicious black olive and feta omelet with toast. The peaceful breakfast was a great treat, and I'm thinking we might turn it into a Saturday morning tradition.

The community put on a classical concert up at the school Saturday night. This was a subject of much debate in our household. Jonathan and I have many happy memories of going to classical concerts during our dating months, and it's something we have missed. However, we still do not have a good babysitting option (but we're getting there!), so I finally decided that Jonathan should go to the concert while I stayed home with the kids. I took the opportunity to invite my friend Rachel to join me for Downton Abbey after the kids went to bed. (Yes, I really love that show. There's a small bit of objectionable content, but I appreciate the way it's treated, i.e. you don't get the feeling that it's perfectly acceptable to do things that are morally wrong.) It was a winner of an evening all around.

We had a busy day Sunday. We went to church in the morning and were pleasantly surprised when our kids behaved well enough that we could actually listen to the sermon. Toby was well-entertained with a toy my dad fixed up before we left. It's a long screw with several nuts on it. Toby can screw and un-screw those nuts to his heart's content. What a beautiful thing! Abbie has become fascinated with zippers and doing the put-things-in-and-take-them-out process, so I put a few little toys in my small zippered change purse for her. It's amazing how long that occupies her!

Our afternoon was short but relaxing (meaning the kids took long naps, which left us free to nap or play computer games--you can guess who did what--ha!). We headed up the hill again at 4 for an org meeting where we had childcare duty. Incidentally, we visited with a new couple and learned that the husband is from Myersdale, PA, and knows my aunt and uncle who live near there. It was just a bit weird to make that connection in this faraway place. We ended the day with popcorn, Dr. Pepper (my first in over a YEAR), and an episode of Law and Order UK.

Monday Jonathan graciously watched the kids, allowing me to do a bit of work on the computer. In the evening we joined some friends for pizza at the mall--a rare treat and one we really enjoy! We were also able to stock up on groceries since our friends were giving us a ride home (as opposed to our lugging the groceries home via backpack and stroller). =) Thanks, guys!

If you made it all the way through this post, you deserve some more pics. Here are my cool kids with their shades. =)