The Week In Review

• The kids are starting to recognize places that we regularly go, and they enjoy announcing these moments of recognition.  "Dat's da church!"  "Dere's da Y-simmee-A!"  (translation:  YMCA)  "We're at da groshry store!"  
• "No."  That's Caden's new favorite word.  It applies to everything and I mean EVERYTHING.  No breakfast, no milk, no Caden do it, no Mommy do it, no look at me, no stop sign, no green means go...  NO!!  He's so funny throwing that word around in most of his sentences.  Most of the time he really seems to mean what he says, other times he just is in such a rhythm that he says it when he absolutely does not mean it.  But does he recant?  You guessed it...  NO!  Our sweet boy is growing a little independent streak it seems
• "Actually".  That's the most complicated word Addison has correctly used to date in spontaneous conversation.  We were watching a construction crane work the other day from our parking place and a landscaper came near us with his leaf blower.  She said, "I hear a mixer..." and before I could rev my proud meter up and comment, she said--and I quote--"Actually, that's not a mixer..."  It took me a few minutes before I felt collected enough to drive.  "Actually?!?!"  We'll see if it's a one hit wonder or if she really knows of what she speaks.
• Remember that new tractor Caden got for his birthday?  He now regularly brings me the nut that secures the steering wheel to the drive shaft.  Yes, our boy is an inquisitive chap.  And every little piece of hardware is worth fiddling with, just to see if he can undo it.  Newsflash:  he can.
• Addison has a bad habit of dawdling when she's supposed to come with you.  So recently we started saying, "Guess Caden and I will go downstairs" and then leaving.  She would scurry-hurry to join us and all would be well.  But I knew.  I told Travis that one day, we'd do that and she'd love it.  And that exact thing happened less than 24 hours later.  Caden and I headed downstairs for snack while Addison played on, happily without us, for a solid ten minutes before she asked to come join us.  Ug.  That strategy just got removed from my bag of tricks...
• It's official.  The age of pocket-checking before starting a load of laundry has begun.  I was doing a load of the kids' clothes today when I heard this awful racket in the dryer.  I dug around to discover three pieces of really clean gravel getting tumbled dry.