Poor Barbie

Curtis and his cousin Maika were having a grand old time at Grandma's house, launching Ken dolls across the room.

The next thing I knew, Curtis was standing there with a leg-less Ken (and a guilty look on his face) and Maika's doll was missing its head.

I couldn't let them get away with destroying the toys, but it was tough to keep a straight face as I said, "Boys, if you break the toys again, I'm going to take them away and you want get to play with the Barbies any more!"

I know. Tough but fair.

Days Go By

Curtis is smart, but not that smart. Tonight we had this conversation:

Curtis: Dad, is today Monday?

Me: No, it's Wednesday. What day comes after Monday?

Curtis: Tuesday.

Me: What day comes after Tuesday?

Curtis: Wednesday.

Me: What day comes after Wednesday?

Curtis: June.

Me: June? No, Thursday.

We've still got some work to do.

Fashion Twins

There are a lot of parents that like to dress their kids up just like them. Turns out, I just want to dress like my kids.

After wearing the same pair of brown shoes for, I dunno, seven years or so, I decided it was time to buy some new ones.

I chose what I thought was a pretty sharp pair, tried them on, and then showed them off to Traci.

"Nice. They're the exact same shoes that Curtis wears to church."

Indeed, they were.

Either Curtis dresses like a fashion-less 30-year-old or I am very hip four-year-old.

A Pretty Good Day for a Four-Year-Old Boy

It would have been impossible to predict how things could have gotten better than they already were. Curtis was pretty excited to get up close and personal with Grave Digger in the parking lot of a Cricket store in West Valley. (That's even better than going to an actual monster truck show, when your four-year-old ears don't like loud noises.)


















Things only got better when we came back home and this cement mixer was at our neighbor's house. Curtis spent the next hour in the front yard, taking in all the action.

How could you ask for a better day?

Tate Taken by Carney, Parents Don't Seem to Mind

We were just standing there, minding our own parent-ly business, when the ride operator reached over the metal gates and said, "I'll take him, too." The next thing we knew, we had just handed our 14-month-old child to a complete stranger, who then put him in a moving vehicle.

And Tate loved every second of it.

This was our second visit to Taylorsville Dayzz (extra z's means extra awesome), the Fourth of July celebration in our lovely city. Paige and Curtis were very excited to go on the little carnival rides. We hadn't planned on Tate riding along as well, but when a carney takes your kid, what are you going to do, right?

Curtis was in heaven, with all of the car and motorcycle-themed merry-go-rounds. Paige bravely (and without prompting) ventured into big-kid land, going on the Tidal Wave-esque ride all by herself. She looked a little unsettled when she first got strapped in--and a little queasy when the ride took off--but she hung in there like a champ. Tate would have liked to go on more rides, but we made him spend the rest of the evening in the stroller. (Next year, buddy.)

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