I'll be looking at the "moom", but I'll be seeing you

Daniel, who still can not quite get that just because you may be on the phone with a person, and you can hear their voice, it does not mean they can see what you are seeing, because, though you may hear them, they are in fact not where you are at all (ah, the marvels of technology) said to my mom while he was talking to her on the phone the other night, "Meme! Meme! Look at the moom! Look at the moom! It's so cute! And so cazy!" He then tried to show her what the cats were doing through the phone. Too funny.
He is fascinated with the moon, this wild child of mine; this boy who would rather be outdoors than in, who loves to walk barefoot in the grass, who spends most of his time when he is inside looking out of windows and doors, and most of his time when he is outside running and playing and laughing, or just looking up at the sky and wondering at the birds and where they are going.
Which reminds me of another story . . . we were driving home from grandpa's a few weeks ago. Joe had taken the older boys on home and it was just Daniel and me in the truck.
It was a lovely late afternoon, the sun dusting the leaves with golden light.
Daniel had asked for some gum, but I was all out of my purse stash, and told him he'd have to wait until we got home because there was more gum there.
He had taken this news grimly, but silently, sticking out his lip and making a pouty face.
We had the windows down, and we were stopped at a stop sign when Daniel began talking. At first I thought he was talking to me, "Hey! Hey!" he called out excitedly.
"What, hon?" I asked, turning to look at him.
His head was cocked and leaning against the door, upturned and peering out the window.
" Birds! Birds! What are you doing up there? Hey, can you hear me? Can you get me some gum?"
He then proceeded to pretend the birds flew down to him with gum, which he popped into his mouth and began to "chew."
I laughed and laughed.
"Are you asking the birds for gum, silly?" I asked.
He grinned at me, blue eyes shining, "yeah."
It is the first time I saw him "pretend" something.
He made my day.
My bird-boy.
My wild child.
My open-eyed dreamer.
My beautiful son.

Are you ready for some football?!

Two practices a week.
A game every Saturday for the next month (two down, four to go).
It's football season!
And Isaac looks so handsome in his uniform!

Studying the playbook before suiting up.
Don't mess with the Colts!
Now what?
His brother's biggest fan.
Let's play some ball, boys.

More (or, Puff, anyone?)

They say less is more.
But sometimes, more is more.
Here is more stuff from our lives.
Remember the blueberry muffins I told of in yesterday's post. Those golden muffins, dotted with deep blue gems of gooey goodness, warm from the oven, which provided a much needed Hallmark moment for Daniel and I?
Last night, after a very busy evening of teacher's meetings and family dinner and football practice and visiting with a friend, Daniel, who was relaxing on the couch, said, "I wann'a puff."
"A what? A puff?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"A cheese puff?" I inquired.
"No, a puff!"
He was becoming animated, and I knew in a few minutes he would be frustrated if I could not decode this word that, for him, was so obvious a thing.
What kind of puff could he mean?
Puff the Magic Dragon?
As far as I am aware, he has no idea about that movie, thank you Jesus.
Certainly he was not talking about taking up smoking!
"You want a puff to eat?" I asked gingerly.
"Yeah."
He wasn't giving very much away.
"Show me," I told him, hoping he could lead me to this mystical wisp, and peace would be restored to the land.
We went together to the kitchen and rifled through the cabinets, me pulling various snack foods out for approval and he frowning more deeply at each one.
All of a sudden, his eyes lit up.
He spotted the container we placed the muffins in earlier that day, and began chanting "Blueberry puffs! Blueberry puffs!"
Ahhhh. The light broke through, a heavenly chorus rang out and all was right with the world.
Blueberry muffins, saving the day yet again.
Isaac is playing tackle football again this year for the YMCA. It is the last year he will be able to do so. He is on a team with four of his classmates and other kids from the community. I love watching him practice and play. I am watching him grow into a young man right before my very eyes. Sixth grade seems to be going well so far, and there is a visible maturity in areas of schoolwork and responsibility from last year.
Josiah is loving second grade with Mrs. Harrison, but then, she is "magic." He is growing up, too, and he is very smart and creative. Another thing about him is he is always watching out for the little guys. I love that about him.
Joe and I are trying to recover from a pretty nasty stomach bug we both had this week. Definitely fluish. We are at least up and walking at this point. Hopefully, it gets better from here.
School is off and running, and I can't believe it is already almost October! I love this time of year. Even the school part of it!
The weekend is almost here. Game day, tomorrow, and Isaac will play a tough team. Next week we have off for a leadership conference our church is hosting, so I will get in some fall cleaning and laundry, but also on the agenda: walks with the boys, picnics under the tree, lots of board games and puzzles . . . and more muffins!

One of those days . . .

It is just now 9 a.m.
Actually, it is 8:56 by my computer clock.
Already,
1) Daniel has drenched my kitchen counters and floors with water while he was "doing dishes."
The good news: they are now infinitely cleaner than they were before he sprayed them down to the point of waterlogged-ness with the "water gun" sink sprayer thing.
2) I found gum in the dryer, after falsely believing that I rescued all the gum from the washer yesterday, so as to save it and all our nice clean clothes from having it melted to goo all over the place.
Nope. There was a lone hanger-on-er.
Yep. While the gum most certainly deserves what he got for hiding out in the wet laundry, I would like to believe that I certainly do not.
Oh, well. What does deserving have to do with anything anyway, right?
There is no good news about this one, by the way.
3) I found his diaper on the hall floor with a sporadic trail of pee-pee leading to his toilet seat, where he finished up his business.
The good news: I'm pretty sure you can figure out the good news in this story yourself.
But you know what made everyone one of those pull-my-hair-out-and-run-screaming-from-the-house moments worth it?
Making muffins with him this morning, letting him lick the batter, and him looking up at me with a big, sparkling smile, crinkling his small face and giggling, batter dripping from his nose.
Yep. Somehow, none of that other stuff seems so big compared to those big baby blues!
Of course . . . it is only 9:14 a.m. . . .

Two for the road

Blogging is free.
I should do it more often.
But then, there's that time thing.
Oh, well. I'll get what I can and give it away.
Craziness, I know.
So, here are some "road" stories.
The other day, as we were getting into the car to head to school, Daniel spied a fly buzzing lazily around near his car seat.
Daniel does not like flies. I won't mention where he gets that from.
Anyway, he began waving his arms and yelling to me, "A fly! A Fly! Die him mom!! Die him!"
I thought this was cute.
Later that same day, in the car on the way home from school, Josiah said "bird church . . . " and sure enough, there were several dozen birds on the telephone wire above, and I remembered that Isaac always used to call birds gathered together up there on those wires bird church. I smiled, again.
I don't ever want it to stop, these child's-eye observations and exclamations of my beautiful young boys!