Sunshine!

We are FINALLY getting some warmth accompanied by glorious sunshine. I am in heaven. I love the sun. I love to wear short sleeves outside. I love to BE outside. It's not going to last for more than a few days, but we are soaking it up.

Some funny things about us sun wimps in the Pacific Northwest:

• Today my kids and some neighbor kids were out back playing for, like, 5 minutes before they were totally sweating and standing at the back door, begging to go inside. I made them stay out for a few more minutes before finally feeling bad for torturing them. But I did insist that we play out front where it was shaded for another 1/2 hour or so. It's only in the mid-60's, by the way.
  
• The other day I took Kelly with me to run errands and as soon as we stepped into the sun, she closed her eyes and kept turning her head violently, trying to find a position where she wouldn't be assaulted by the sun. I know that most kids avert their eyes from the sun because I lived in Vegas and have nieces and nephews...but kids here are more extreme about it because they don't see it as often. We got a kick out of it with Max last year and now Kelly. Poor, sun-deprived children.
  

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Sunshine brings another joy, and that's seeing above my kids ankles. Kelly wore her first capris of the season today and Max to the Max is in shorts. He totally had to pose just like his sister. "Mom, take a picture of me too." I got the camera ready and then looked up to see him like this (left). "Whatever, goofball." And then we laughed.

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Speaking of sunshine, Max is one of my brightest rays. He has been cracking me up lately, so I want to record some Max-isms:

• At dinner a few weeks ago, out of the blue: "Mom, who has a bigger head - you or dad?" *in case you're wondering, the answer is most definitely DAD!*
  
• In a very sad, pathetic voice, "Mom, I have a headache." I sympathetically replied, "You do?" "Yeah, I have a headache in my tummy."
• After being reprimanded for going into Kelly's room during her nap and waking her up, Max was in tears and through the tears he said, "I was just singing her a song...but then she woke up." *sob, sob, sob* I soon realized that the tears were not because he got in trouble, but because she woke up crying when he was just trying to sing her a song in her sleep. I asked what song he sang and through the sobs he responded, "I have a fam'ly...but then she woke up! I was just tryin' to sing her a song." *sob, sob, sob* "That was so nice of you to sing for her, just be sure to do it when she's awake next time. That was very nice, bud."
• At lunch, out of the blue: "Mom, I'm medicine." Me: "You are?" Max: "Yeah, I'm medicine for you." Too true, dude, too true. You ALWAYS make me feel better...even if it's your craziness that's made me feel a little bad. :)
• Max: "How old have you to be (yes, in that sequence) to go to work?" Me: "Sixteen." Max: "Oh. We have to get me BIG!" After a short pause and very inquisitively..."How do you get me big?"
• Recently Max pooped on the potty for the third time (it's taken two months for this achievement...aaargh and hooray!) and we've been telling him for two months that once he poops on the potty three times then we can go to Chuck E. Cheese's. After he did the deed and we were talking about the reward I asked, "Are you excited to go to Chuck E. Cheese's?!" He said, "Yeah!!! I'm doing excited shoulders!" :)

*excited shoulders pictured below, in case you were wondering what they look like*