Good Parenting 101

For your Monday:

Jeff & I are such great parents that I would like to post here an anecdote that illustrates this. And when I say that we are great parents, I mean that we are often NOT AT ALL great parents. And when I say Jeff and I, I, of course, mean Jeff. Consider:

The following is a lovely rhyme that my husband has imparted to the impressionable brain of our eldest son:

"Once upon a time when the moon was green
Around the corner came a pooping machine.
A shot was fired, a scream was heard,
A man got killed by a flying turd"

Noah doesn't fully understand the verbiage and sings it this way:

"Once upon a time when the moon was green
Around the corner came a pooping machine."

(so far so good, pooping is something any child worth his salt understands. However, the rest sort of deviates:)

"An old man got killed by a turtle"
"ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"

The end.

Easter:

I will not monologue on Easter...it was probably the same as your Easter, except that we had friends (Justin & Linda & kids) over to help us celebrate it. We put our own baskets together for economy's sake, & it was good. Enjoy the pics!

The basket

Dilly looking cute & bruised (he did it to himself, I promise!)

Noah dilligently searching for the eggs

Dillon, not dilligent at all, with the only egg he found because we actively told him where it was.

He was more into the ball. Notice the egg in his hand, tho.

Ahh, mission accomplished!

Dilly, on the "egg dyeing night", giving you the finger.

Rather dorky all round...notice the faces & strange hand gestures.

(The following pics were taken within seconds of each other. Please note the hand:)

"First, you take the freshly dyed egg...."

"Then you bite it to ensure that the maximum amount of dye is transferred to your mouth & teeth. Also, to ensure the egg is hard-boiled."

"Take a moment to ponder the secrets of the universe. Also swallow the vomit that is rising in your gorge."

"Repeat steps one through three until mouth is thoroughly dyed."

Noah, demonstrating the correct way to do it.

Complete!

Of many things:

Firstly: Happy Birthday Momma! I'm only a VERY LITTLE late in posting on this, but I figured it didn't really matter because you don't get on this blog very much. But I hope you see this & know how much I love you & Jeff & the kids too....we miss you & are so thankful for all you've done for us. Whenever we have a "child freakout" or a medical question where pregancy is concerned I always know I can call you up & get an educated, well-though out answer....or if you don't know, you research for me & send me all sorts of things you find! It's always above & beyond, and not everyone would do that.
Of course, that's just one of the things that make you special. I could go on & on...but time & space fail me. So Happy Birthday and may you have a wonderful, exciting 55th year. I hope to see more of you...don't know how that will work, but I pray that it does, somehow. Thanks for everything, especially recently.

On the job front: Thank you, everybody, for all your kind inquiries & words & wishes. Jeff is assiduously job searching still, and has some promising leads which I will not jinx by speaking of them here. But I think that if it's meant to be, it will be. I'm counting on it. Will let you know more soon.