Currently

He::

:: tells jokes, especially knock-knocks, all day long.  You'll find him reading joke books, memorizing them, trying them out on us; making up his own, laughing a lot, learning that the interrupting cow is always a good one.  Ask him next time you see him.

:: needs a hair cut, but is sort of liking the length enough to let it be.

:: is counting down the days till we can go to the Pumpkin Farm.  This countdown is super intense pretty much from Easter onward.  Less than a month to go!!

:: wanted to lay out on the deck at bedtime the other night as a family and "look up at the solar system."  So we did and are pretty sure we saw 2 planets, one satellite, 5 airplanes and a shooting star!!

:: is interested in skeletons and bones.  He got a cool raccoon skull from Grandpa which has led to his interest in collecting more. Now he makes me save chicken bones for him from dinner :-)

:: learned how to play Ghost in the Graveyard this summer while hanging out for late-nights with friends.  It's a rite-of-passage I think, and each time he is more brave and proud of himself.

:: says every day, "I need Jed" in reference to his favorite friend.  If only we didn't live quite so far from each other....

:: has decided that when he grows up he'd like to own an RC race track where people pay to use his space and play together.  He even made a map of our backyard to show what it will look like. 

********************************

She::

:: calls Ruby "Mrs. Mow" (rhymes with cow).  She also runs to let her in and out of the door 85 times a day and loves to feed her breakfast.  She makes her "cat nests" and tunnels and beds all over the house.  Pampered cat.... for now.

:: has been the great moth-hunter this summer. She traps them and holds them until they fall apart, then sort of feels bad.  They really are fragile!

:: traded in all her skirts and dresses for shorts and pants again.  It was a short-lived phase and I enjoyed it, but she says they are too tickle-y.  Oh well.

:: taught herself to braid.  I find braided strands of grass everywhere.

:: is a parrot of Evan.  She says everything he says.  If I ask her a question, she looks at Evan for an answer first, then says what he does in the exact same way.  She is also his echo, repeating him constantly and looking at him for approval.  Luckily, he loves it :-)

:: can now make it through a day without a crying breakdown.  We've counted two this summer and expect to see even more....  She has cried every single day since August 15, 2006 so this is a big deal.

:: loves reading fairy tales and folk tales more than any other stories.  Right now she's into Anansi the Spider stories.

:: draws pictures (of horses) and gives them away to her friends constantly.  She just recently started giving some to me!

******************************

They::

:: moved the stereo/cd player into their bedroom so they can listen to their Sandra Boynton silly music without driving us crazy.  They listen to Lonely Peas and Faraway Cookies on repeat so many times.....

:: play in their room with the door closed.... a lot.

:: have both deepened friendships this summer.  When we get together with families, they run off and play with their friends for the duration of a visit.... so different from how it was not so long ago...

:: really love watching "Lady and the Tramp"

:: spend a good portion of every day swinging from the ropes on our tree -- they can both swing with one arm holding on now (which is more difficult than it sounds).

:: stayed up later at night this summer then ever before.  We moved bedtime to 9pm with a shorter book/cuddle time (we usually started it at 7pm to be in bed by 8pm) so we could have late visits with friends and it was so worth it.

Evan and Chloe experienced some lovely moments together as a result of these more casual evenings -- catching fireflies after dark, watching a thunderstorm blow in, taking walks while it was raining, petting bumblebees when they are sluggish in the evening, sitting around campfires eating s'mores in the dark, realizing there are thousands of stars in the sky (not just the 20-30 we can see in the city), staring up at the full moon in all it's glory -- these are things you miss out on if you can't go outside after 7pm!!

*****************************

I haven't done many in depth posts since we have been out experiencing summer together, but now that it's cooling down again, I'll hopefully be back to the way I like it on here -- with lots of stories.