A Day in Boston

We went into Boston with our workers and friends from Minnesota last Monday. We toured Fenway Park, stuffed ourselves at Pagliuca's and walked the Freedom Trail. We had a wonderful time such that it was hard to part ways at the end of the day.

On Wednesday, Nathan had his appointment at Children's Hospital regarding his tonsils and adenoids. He went into the appointment saying he would be a big boy and do exactly what the doctor said. I liked his attitude. It was much better than a week before where he simply said he wasn't going. When it came right down to it though, he was terrified and wouldn't hardly do any thing. The nurse, had Thomas sit up in the chair with Nathan and everything he did to Nathan, he did to Thomas first. It totally relaxed him. The extent to the exam was a flashlight by the nurse practioner who exclaimed over the size of his tonsils and the sound of his breathing. She said if she was at all uncertain or it I was, that we could go downstairs for an X-ray. I knew and she knew without an X-ray he would benefit hugely to surgery to remove both so that is the plan on July 13. He'll have one night there at the hospital for monitoring and then 2 weeks of nothing for recovery. I can take him to the grocery store and other quiet activites but nothing more physical than taking a walk or wading his feet. Thomas is desperate to come with us but he'll have to stay with his Dad.

Thomas called my computer a "black-top" the other day.

Nathan Whistling

Flowers and Strawberries

Thomas surprised Jen with this bouquet of flowers from our yard on Monday! How nice! He's learning to cut the stems long enough to fit a vase....these are details you have to teach. Nathan and I picked this bowl of strawberries Tuesday morning just from our patch that we put in last year. We also picked at our local pick-your-own Monday afternoon. I found last year that they got to running around as soon as they were bored which happened far to soon for me. So, my story-holics had me tell them a story as we picked and I could only tell the story if they were picking though. It worked wonderfully. I forgot that I had done that last year while we husked corn for the freezer...same idea. We also had a little competition to find the largest strawberry which made it fun too.

Life with Free-range Chickens

We finally found the cache!

Nathan has an imaginary friend who he calls his baseball friend. I never had an imaginary friend, so I think it's cool! His friend is always coming to see him but never seems to get here.

Memoial Day Fishing

We went yesterday afternoon to try out some new junior fishing poles at Maurice and Debby's dock. We kept catching little sunfish (look closely at Maurice's hand, he is having the boys count to 4 before he throws it back). Nathan definitely had a blast and kept at it! Thomas had more fun watching Maurice work on his shed. Thomas and Maurice put up a sign on it that said ROBBERS KEEP OUT.

Big news: Nathan can tie his shoes!

In the Mud

Just playing trucks in the mud. They've created a pond with bridges and Thomas is demonstrating that one of the bridges is actually a drawbridge. The boys have been playing so well today, it just gives a different feeling to the day. I set up our new tent and they have been playing that they are in the wilderness roughing it.

5 Year Well-Child

Matt reading to the boys: aren't Saturday's great?
Favorite pastimes: Thomas figuring out Legos and Nathan on the phone.
Nathan keeps my grocery list up!

The boys had their 5 year well-child checkup this week. Nathan especially was dreading it. I think it was the shots that worried him. I told him he needed shots to go to school. He said that he would just not get the shots, stay home and be home-schooled. He came up with that all on his own. He went as far as to say he wished I had never married Daddy! He must understand that he wouldn't be if we weren't married. Poor guy. The doctor looked at Nathan after Thomas and noticed immediately that Nathan's tonsils are much bigger than Thomas' which led us down the adenoid path. He noticed Nathan's breathing (which is always loud), asked if he snored (which he always does) and if he sleeps with his head in an odd position (yes!). The short story is we're going to the ENT mid-June to get his adnoids checked. Apparently large adnoids lead to sleep apnea which leads to poor performance in school, etc. So, we'll just get them checked. The shots were an ordeal (only two each)! Thomas cried his eyes out which Nathan witnessed. Nathan actually fought us! I thought my kids were braver than this! They did have their hearing tested also. They wear earphones and are directed to point at objects on a board starting at 25dB and decreasing to 15 dB. Thomas heard the 25 and 20dB but was unable to understand at 15dB. Nathan couldn't understand any of the settings but could hear a voice down to 20dB which means he passed. Apparently he has fluid his right ear though not infected but it could of impaired him some. At lunch today he said his ear popped and that he could hear better so I don't know how often he deals with that. Matt says he remembers that happening to him as a kid for long spells.

A few weeks ago, I showed Thomas a man wearing a pink dress shirt thinking that Thomas would like it. He wrinkled his nose and said that was for girls! I think the age of pink is over!

The other day when Matt was leaving, I was noticing his shirt was fitting him better. Thomas pipes up that he noticed too....he thought Matt's feet looked smaller!