Tuesday Rambles

Today is finally winding down, but it was a really good day.  Took the kids to a park this morning--I drive around and go to little residential parks, because I get to explore.  We played.  Ella cried (she was sick and pretty cranky this morning) so we left.  I feel like such a grown-up when I'm out driving the kids around in the van, so I told them we could go get snacks.

Driving through a parking lot, Titus saw an oncoming car and said, "Oh no!  Oh no!"
It passed us and I said, "Did you think that car was going to hit us?"
And plain as day, he said, "That was a close one!"
Which, with Titus saying it, is drawn out like, "Tha-at was a clo-oose one."

But where does he get this stuff?!?!  That is one of the most complex sentences I've heard him say!  And I've never heard him say it before!  Every single day he is whipping out words and phrases that I'm sure he heard somewhere, but I have no idea where and I can't believe he's retained it.

So we went to a gas station and I told them they could each pick one thing.  They were really excited.  Titus was just sure he was getting "Crackers!" and so Kali was also sure she was getting "crackers."  ;)  So we walked through the door and you could tell they were overwhelmed.  So I led them to the crackers.  But Titus only wanted some smaller, flakier, diet-crackers that were more expensive than Keebler and I told him he couldn't have them.  Then I went to grab a pop and pointed out that there were cookies by us.  So they perused the cookies.  Ultimately Kali had an armful of snacks.  So I took them from her and told her to choose one.  She chose crackers.  Titus chose Chips Ahoy.  (Mommy went with a Pepsi if anyone cares.)

So it was back to driving my big, stinkin' grown-up minivan around my little big city and exploring.  One subdivision opened onto this highway that is always a little tempting to take out of town.  It almost got me today.  The clouds were so fluffy above the mountains.  And I started thinking, "There's got to be some adorable little town out there.  Surely there will be a sign.  If it's too many miles away, I'll just turn around..."  But I had to wait for traffic in order to turn left and gave up, deciding I could just go home and look at a map and I turned right back into Maricopa.

Now I feel even more determined to drive out there.

So I just kept driving around.  Landscaping was really standing out to me today.  I saw three different lawns that were really inspiring.  And they ate their snacks.  Titus ate his first cookie and when he took out his second, I heard him exclaim, "Oh, MO-ORE cook-ies!"  (Because there were 4 in the package.)  I stopped and got the mail.  Took a picture of Kali:

Yes, that's a pile of orange crumbs in her lap.

She was especially dirty, because when I went to open her crackers at the gas station I had noticed that she had already been biting them through the wrapper.  So later when she was finished, I pulled over to clean her off.  First I checked the neighborhood for gang-bangers:

I didn't see any right off so I figured we were safe.

I lifted her out, trying to keep as many crumbs as possible in her lap, and shook her out in the street.  Then we finally did go home.

They ate.  They napped.  I continued working on one of my Pinterest projects.  Titus came up to me with one of the frames I painted yesterday over his head saying, "That's fun-nay!"  If my son was on a sitcom, "That's fun-nay!" would be his catchphrase.  I said, "Yes, that's funny.  Now let's take it off and be gentle with it."  Because I had to mix colors to paint these frames right and I really don't want one to get scratched.  A minute later Kali was there with a goofy smile on her face and a different frame around her neck.  And then I got an idea.  An idea worth a little risk to the frames:

Ella posed this good for not one, but two in a row!  

So here's how they each contributed:  The frame idea belonged to Titus.  Kali insisted I bring the pumpkin.  Ella was committed to the actual shot.  Sadly, this is the best of the photos.  It's such a cute idea, though, that I might have to try again this week.

And our night continued.  I don't have any photos to spruce it up so I won't say much more than:  When I put applesauce in front of Titus, he exclaimed, "Oh,
deli-cious!" which HAS to be this biggest word he has ever said.  He is surprising me every single day.