I asked Joseph to recap one of the 2016 presidential debates:

Trump had water. Hillary didn’t have any. He kept drinking it.

I had orange juice mixed with ginger ale!

Trump said, “Wall.” That’s it. “Wall!” (No he didn’t, really?) Yeah and “Wrong!” When Hillary was talking. Just: “Wrong!” Hahaha.

Trump looked a bit dazed when he first came out there. (How did Hillary look?) She looked…nice. She was smiling a lot.

Joseph walked by with a pretty severe limp. I asked what was wrong. “My leg reaalllly hurts.” Why? “Oh, probably just too much muscle.” Yep, must be it. I showed him the photo.

So if you have 4 cookies across by 5, how many do you have? (blank stare) Think of four 5s…five and five is… “Ten!” And another five and five… “Ten…twenty!” Right…20…so if we do 5 pans, we’ll have… “Five twos…” Or two fives… “100 cookies!” 

“You tied a knot in my brain and my brain untied it!” 

Now if you make 4 tiny pans of 4 tiny cookies… “16!”

I made Peruvian chicken, with yellow rice and black beans on the side. The rice had turmeric, coriander and saffron in it (three flavors the kids aren’t used to), plus cumin and cinnamon, so I wasn’t sure how it would go over. I asked them if they liked it. 

“It’s really good, mom!” said Maddie. 

Joseph said, “It’s good! It tastes like a Christmas thrift shop!”

(Yum?)

​[wpvideo Qgh9TaV5]​

We welcomed new little sister, Annika Eileen, on May 19th. The kids spent a lot of time watching and feeling my growing belly (“baby movements time!” followed story time in the evenings) and imagining what it would be like when she arrived. 

When the day was finally here, Noah asked Joseph if he wanted to go to the hospital to see the baby. He said, “You mean see her–in real life?!” 

You’d be hard-pressed to find two prouder or more doting siblings than these two. 

Joseph: Mom, I’m going to start to be a teenager.

Me: What does that mean?

J: It means you walk like this…(he demonstrates, walking slowly while swinging his arms), and saying things are “swag.”

Me: Swag? What does that mean?

J: It can mean free stuff or just things are cool. Ya know–swag.

Me: Ok. Well goodnight. Do I still get a hug and kiss goodnight even if you are a teenager?

J: Yes, of course!

Me: Oh, whew. 

He says goodnight then comes back a minute later, teenager-swag-walking into the family room. 

Me: Come back to get your stuffed animal to cuddle with?

J (smiling): Yeah. 

He picks up his beloved Daisy, the stuffed ocelot, gives her a hug, and teenager-walks out.

(Teenager walk demo:) [wpvideo p6TqSU1i] 
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Another night… Joseph comes to say goodnight. 

Me: You smell nice.

J: Thanks. You know why? I used that 2-in-1 shampoo all over!

Me: It’s better to just use that on your hair, there’s other kind of soap in there for your body.

J: Look at us, talking about soaps! I really am a teenager.