Current Events

*As I type, my kids are playing in their "spy fort" under the dining room table. We know this because

1. Jeff told them he could see them in there, to which Wyatt responded, "okay, but don't tell Mom where we are."
2. Natalie asked if they could spy on me some more (only she says, "fy", darn those tricky sounds) and when I said yes, she excitedly ran to tell Wyatt, "Mommy said we can FY on her!"
3. We can hear every bit of their conversation which has included snippets like, "Natalie, we are not cats, dogs or animals so we don't hibernate, we just sleep."

*My new favorite phrase of Natalie's is delivered when she sees trash on the ground then tells me that someone has "glittered." Ah, yes, glittering is so rude.

*Wyatt has read three books out loud to his class this past week. So proud of him!

*In the past few weeks, Natalie has mastered pumping her legs on the swing, therefore rendering me unnecessary at the park, and just last night she mastered the monkey bars. My baby girl is strong and fearless.

*Wyatt watched a little bit of Top Gun last week - his first time ever. Now I'm hearing new phrases when he has dogfights with his airplanes and seeing new drawings of tactical flying in his art. Two nights ago he demonstrated a flat spin with his Tomcat and told me that's what happened in the movie. If it involves airplanes, he's a sponge.

*Both kids are playing church league basketball through the Y and it's highly entertaining. Natalie is very interested in the water breaks and the wearing of her team shirt, but mostly stays out of the fray of the game (and there is much fray with a few boys who believe tackling is part of basketball). Wyatt is improving weekly, aided in large part by the amount of time he spends on the back patio with his new basketball goal, and manages to ignore the ceaseless flirting from one of his cute little girl teammates.

*We have one fish (swordtail) who has survived for a month. It's a record and, now that I've typed this, he'll probably float belly up too soon. For now, we're all feeling good about reducing our fish-killer reputation.

*Wyatt received the board game Othello for Christmas. It's not a well-known game but I grew up playing it and loved it. My parents realized he was probably ready for it and they were right - it's played almost daily, most often with Natalie who's okay with losing since her brother is playing with her. It's a pretty great arrangement since Wyatt enjoys playing more when he wins.

*Thursday marked our one year anniversary here in little ol' Sumter. To say that it has been better than we expected is a vast understatement. We are blessed with a great network of friends, a church that feels like home, two kids who love their schools and a sense of being connected to the community that we haven't always had. 

*Natalie is ramping up her birthday talk. To refresh your memory, she began talking about her 4th birthday only two days after her 3rd birthday and the topic has come up every few days for the past ten months. This week, her planning has begun in earnest. She's whittling her guest list, planning the cake and games and deciding where we'll have it. All of this despite me telling her she might not be having a party.

*The kids saw me looking at beach houses online last night and Wyatt wanted to know if South Carolina had beaches. I reminded him about our weekend in Myrtle Beach two months ago and he was only kind of convinced. Looks like it's time to get serious with a map since I refuse to have geographically illiterate kids.

*I have good intentions of blogging more. I'm told my audience of one will appreciate it (here's to you, Mom).