Book photos...

We love books. I'm planning a half birthday party for the boys this summer and its going to be book themed. WHY?! because reading is a big percentage of our days and I seem to always catch them with books in their hands.

Soccer night...

Last Wednesday evening we went to Auntie Mick's house. Their police station in Fridley was haven't a bike helmet fitting and we found out one of our bike helmets didn't fit correctly and the other was expired. So new bike helmets were purchased for the boys and me. (Helmets expire after five years- I had no idea.) After that we went back to Auntie Micks house for dinner and a Soccer game. At one point Uncle hung was even playing with Addie in his arms. Impressive. Always a good time- thanks Mick for the invite.

A day with a second cousin...

Marmee has a lot of cousins on my mom's side. Some of them have kids and we get chances to play with them. One day last week Lucius and I agreed to watch my cousins kid. Lucius and he are second cousins (if I understand blood relationship rules). We walked to the playground to play for a while. They enjoyed the slides and filling buckets with rocks. Then we walked home to have a picnic lunch and outdoor quiet reading time. After which we played in the front yard and across the street on a big rock.

It was a pretty enjoyable day with two little people who are very easy to watch. It's so adorable to hear them talk to each other and see Lucius helping his cousin when he needs help.

Quotable: Old Fashion Way...

The Misters and the neighbor boys have been playing a lot of tag lately. Occasionally we hear a bunch of "NOT IT", but there's been enough "1,2,3 old fashioned way!" to get me curious. What is this old fashion way you speak of? So I asked Oliver and this is what he told me:

"It's where you can not talk and if you were in the 1970's and you wanted to play a game there would be no bubble gum invented so you would have to do old fashion way"

We've seen them play whole games of tag without speaking. I guess the first person to talk is 'it' but you can gesture and point to communicate to others. Interestingly quiet game- I kind of enjoy this old fashion way! Silly kiddo, I love the things that you come up with.

a Marmee & Oliver day...

On Tuesday this week Oliver and I had an adventure day, just the two of us. We dropped Lucius off at my cousins house (Thanks Mary!) and headed over to a Light Rail Station in St. Paul. We parked the car, bought our train tickets and off we went. The Light Rail took us to Downtown Minneapolis where we walked a few blocks to the HUGE downtown library. It was the first time either of us had been there. Oliver's always excited about books, so we headed straight into the children's section and started pulling books off the shelves. The Librarian was SUPER helpful and nice, Oliver quickly made a new friend in her. He saw pictures hanging up around the library and HAD to know if there was a scavenger hunt he could do. Apparently he was correct, so off he went on a hunt to complete two scavenger hunts.

 The Librarian told us about a special room we should visit before leaving. She took us back to the Stacks room (its open to the public but you need a key to get into). Once inside you could move all the bookshelves around to find anything you wanted. She showed us how it worked and even told Oliver he didn't have to worry about being smashed, cause once someone walks into the aisle, there's a light that comes on and the bookshelves won't move till the person comes out (good to know). She left us alone in the stacks room to search for ourselves. It was super fun watching all the shelves move. Super cool.

We had a picnic lunch and still had time before we needed to pick up Lucius. So we jumped back onto the Light Rail and got off at the U of MN campus. We walked two blocks to the Weisman Art Museum. Oliver and were in the second gallery when he turned to me asking "do you think they have a Kandinsky here?". Say What?!?! Did you really ask me about a famous artist's paintings and who is he? Oliver told me that his art teacher had told him about the Artist Kandinsky, and he really liked his artwork. Sadly, the Weisman did not have one but he found other pieces he really enjoyed. Like this one. 

We eventually rode the light Rail back to our car and headed for Lucius' school. But we were passing Har Mar Mall where Oliver has an art piece on display (we just found out about it). We had a little bit of time to race inside to find his art, take a picture and made it to Lucius' school with time to make a movie of our day. 

Oliver put this lovely video together mostly by himself on my phone. He labeled it, picked the videos and photos to use and chose the music to play along with it. Enjoy. the password is: library

library leal from Margaret on Vimeo.

More Fencing...

Last Saturday we arrived at Fencing a tad early. The boys don't mind, cause that means they can run around in the gym while we wait. They decided they'd practice their fencing game.

Eventually it was time to begin class, but Lucius was crying about something that happened before class started. So he missed out on a few of the games during class, which made him more sad and he cried for longer. Until suddenly it was time to put on the protective gear and he was right as rain. Funny how that happens. They both fenced with bigger kids. Lucius looks so small compared to other kids in the class.

Lucius has the grey pants with the orange stripe on the leg and Oliver is in the black shorts with blue on the side (both sort of centerish in this photo)

Someday...

There will come a day when Lucius (and Oliver) go out adventuring and he'll ask me not to come along. I'm thrilled today is not that day!

Last week on Monday, Lucius wanted to go for a bike ride. I wasn't feeling like biking, so I walked behind him. He told me about a park he remembered from last year "remember the tiny park with the big rock?". I knew exactly which one he meant. We packed a lunch and headed out for an adventure together. We ate lunch on top of the big rock at the tiny park. We listened to the birds singing in the trees and the wind whistling through the branches.

After lunch he played while I read a book. Soon enough he wanted to go biking again. Away we went- he lead the way. Lucius took us off down a few new streets we've never been down and then past Oliver's old school, through the woods past the Nature center and towards the arboretum. I stopped to use the restrooms there and then we were off to the little free library in central park. After picking out a book for himself and his brother (and leaving a few of our old ones in exchange) we rode through the neighborhood and down a dirt road to the rainbow park. There he played again, swung on the swings and climbed. Eventually it was time to head back home. It was a lovely three hour plus walk for me and an awesome Lucius lead adventure for him.

It will be a sad day when they start taking they own adventures but I'm hopeful it'll be a short phase and when they've had adventures on their own, I might one day be included again. So very grateful we have still have plenty of time to enjoy these days with each other right now!