Splash fun!

Got the splashpad bouncehouse working! One of our free neighborhood finds... Kids loved it!

Amazing Gender Stereotypes Batman

Apparently, Jacob kicked off a helluva discussion in Kate's classroom by wearing this outfit to school.

Kate concluded: Yeah, the boys thought only girls could like Hello Kitty but anyone can.

The main kid who started the discussion was braiding the assistant teacher's hair at drop-off while this discussion was happening.  The teacher used this as a "well, some people might say only girls should braid hair" talking point. He followed with, "but I'm really good at braiding" to which she closed with "exactly. You wouldn't want someone telling you what you can and can't like, would you?"

Taking bets

Taking bets on the chance this is going to solve our sleepless nights. Trying to teach Kate how to sing him to sleep...

Oh, yay. The BIG questions.

Always at bedtime.  Always to the lucky Momma.  Looking forward to Daddy tucking Kate in...

"Mommy, when will you die?"
"Mommy, when will I die?"
"Mommy, what happens when you die?  Do you turn back into a tiny baby again and start all over?"
"Mommy, when we're all dead, do the dinosaurs come back and then the next one and the next one and the next one until us?"
"Mommy, do we get to decide how long to stay in heaven and then come back down here?  I'm not going to stay up there that long."
"Mommy, maybe the police officers and the fire fighters and the aliens know what happens when we die.  We should ask them."

Upon this rock...

We've been very spiritual lately, apparently.  It just sorta happened.  We spent a few weeks reading stories about Buddha (here) and now the kids each have their own little Buddha figurines.  Jesus's Buddha tends to ride the firetruck and fight fires.  He's very adventurous, but obviously loving and compassionate.  Tonight, Kate picked out a book about Jesus to read before bed.  It's this one, my favorite of our Jesus books.  Anyway, so we read it and she asks me to tell her another Jesus story.  Well, I quickly realize my stories need some bulking up.  I told her a story about wine from water which didn't seem to appease her.  Then I tried the birth story.  Eventually, grasping for straws, I told her about how Jesus had a friend named Peter who he put in charge of starting the church.

The story ended with this discussion:

"Jesus's friend named Peter?"
"Yep."
"You mean, Claire's daddy, Peter?"
"Uh, no. Uh, a different, Peter.  A loooong long time ago."
"So, we go to that church?"
"Um, well, no, now there are lots of different churches."
"Why don't we go to that one?"
"Well, it's kinda complicated.  You see, there are lots of different things people believe..."
(interrupting) "Did they knock it down?"
(oh!  physical church!)  "Um, I... uh... don't know!  It's probably far away anyhow."
"Like, you have to take three planes and go for 10 hours?"
"Um, yes, actually, probably exactly that."

Lesson learned:  Mom needs some brushing up before stumbling through stories.  And, although I dearly love Claire's daddy, Peter, he's not THAT old.