sunny january fun, my busy boy, and accidents

This Fall and Winter has been the warmest that I can remember. And we've been taking advantage with more outdoor playtime. Last week it was so nice out the kids played, picnicked, played some more, and the big kids even took their nap/reading time outside. What a great day!

I've also been trying to be better about one-on-one time, one day a week with each kid. Today Calvin and I did some reading together...and have plans to make rice crispy treats for our after school snack.

He has been busier than ever--doing, making, and discovering. The other day he planned to make freezer "tea" by putting all kinds of water-filled plastic containers in the freezer...he was so excited to see that he made ice, and had to thaw them all out in my pots and pans on the countertop, examining the different shapes and sizes.. He likes to play ambush hide and seek....waiting and waiting, then popping out when you least suspect him. He also likes to store things in unusual places, like his shoes on my decorative hooks, and the "emergency relief" ink pen taped to the wall behind our dining room curtain (for that moment that you urgently need to write something down). He loves markers and glue like any boy and came up with the smart idea of gluing a colored pencil on consecutive pages of the phone book. He also cut a near-perfect square out of a recipe clipping I was saving, and when I asked him about it he said he did it "accilently" ...he continued to tell me that he also accilently glued it to a separate notebook, and after my surprised "Really?," he reaffirmed his innocence:

"Yeah--accilently."

So I guess I need to be careful around this one...accidents seem to happen when he's around...especially when he might get in trouble.