Don't Color on the School!

The boys got home from school one day and before they were all the way inside the door I hear from Logan "You'll be getting a call from the principal."

"Great. NOW what?" I asked.

"Matthew colored on the school." States Logan.

"Aaannd" starts Orin "He won't listen to Safety Patrol."

When I questioned the trio further, I learned that Matthew found a crayon on the playground, picked it up and decided it would be a good color for the school's wall.

In addition, he's been being a stinker to those in charge of waking the "walkers" to and from school.

I immediately called the school to let them know we'd be coming scrub the wall. They were appreciative and said there would be lesser consequences because we were handling things from home.

I was almost disappointed when I saw the damage. So much fuss over such a small amount of "art". If he was going to get himself in trouble, he could have made it worth his while. (At least he chose a school color.)

A little WD40 and some soapy water to scrub that off afterwards and voila! No more blue brick.

As for the attitude adjustment - the threat of having to hold hands with an older brother on the way to and from school was enough to deal with that.

Jesus and the Strangling of Cats

It was suppertime. I was making PB&J sandwiches in the kitchen. Mark and the boys were all seated at the table, already eating. Normal conversation was happening.

Out of nowhere Matthew popped out this question.

"If Jesus was still alive would we have to strangle our cat?"

(uh...)

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Matthew quizzically.
Matthew was asked to repeat his question.

"If Jesus was still alive now and he hadn't been killed, would we all have to strangle our cats?"

I was giggling so hard I couldn't turn around. What an interesting confusion of words.

I'm not sure who brought it to light - Mark or myself - but one of us said "Do you perhaps mean sacrifice?"

"Oooh... Yeah." says Matthew.

We all got a good laugh out of that one.

I got busy with other things and didn't think about it again until now, but I need to talk to Matthew and make sure he doesn't think people were strangling their animals way back when. Good to know he's thinking though!

Matthew's Homemade Megaphone

A bit of background before I go into this story...

One evening I was on the phone with my beloved hubby on his way home from work. He was in a less than wonderful mood. Something annoyed him, he was somewhat rude, I was less than pleasant back and he hung up on me. I said "Jerk". And that was that. I didn't think much of Matthew standing there.

(Really this was no big deal. By the time Mark got home the entire thing was long forgotten.)

Fast forward a week or so...

Matthew and I were sitting watching Orin's basketball practice. I had taken along some books and other activities to keep Matthew occupied. Among them were papers to draw on. Creative Mr. Matthew rolled up some of these papers into a tube-like form and began using them as a megaphone type of thing. This started out cute. He was saying things like "I saw Dad kiss Mom" and "I saw Mom hug Dad". He wasn't being too loud and actually seemed to be entertaining the other parents so I let it go.

Suddenly, I hear a huge booming voice beside me bellow out "Mom called Dad a JERK!" (emphasis on the word 'Jerk' of course.)

Everyone in the Gymnasium had to have heard it. As the surrounding parents erupted into laughter, I turned to this giggling child to try to take his homemade megaphone from him but he'd already slipped away from me.

Once again I hear "Mom called Dad a Jerk!". This time much less of a bellow, much more of a 6 year old giggly voice. Still, I had to get him settled down. Who knew what he was going to say next?!

It's a good thing I have a good relationship with my hubby. That gym full of parents could have gotten an earfull!

Gargantuan Snowman

It's not everyday you see a snowman that big!

(Unless it's winter and you live near Orrville.)

A Slinky Portrait

Pesho Family Christmas Picture. Notice the boy in the right hand corner. Yeah, the one with the slinky sneakily poised over his eye as though it were a monocle of sorts. No one realized Matthew had possession of the slinky while the portrait was being taken. That's ok. There's one in every family. (At least one.)

Trick or Treat!

Costumes, Costumes, Costumes

This year I got it into my head that I just HAD to make the boys their Halloween costumes myself. Quite honestly, I enjoyed it and I think they turned out great, but I'm not so sure I'll be doing it again next year.


Orin's mummy was by far the most difficult. Once we got the hang of how to keep the cheesecloth on it wasn't nearly as difficult. Of course I didn't get the hang of it until I was nearly finished, but that's how it goes. I don't know what I'd have done if Mark hadn't suggested using a spray adhesive to keep the gauze attached. As usual, his suggestion worked beautifully. Earlier in the day Orin took second place at a costume party!

Sweat pants, hooded sweat shirt, socks and an old broken umbrella. Sounds simple, right? I sure thought so. It always SOUNDS simple. But when I sit down to actually put it together I form some sort of mental block and nothing seems simple anymore. All in all, this one turned out great too. Matthew was thrilled with his bat and wants to be a bat again next year.

Loganstein. This costume was great. $5.00 for the suit jacket at Goodwill. And maybe another $1.00 for the green makeup. Oh - there were the shoulder pads too. And the paint. And the hair color. But still, much less expensive than a store bought costume and much more fun. Mark made wooden blocks to attach to his shoes and spray painted them black. The blocks made him walk weird - authentic. He looked great - right down to the bolts in his neck!

Somehow or other Macchi wound up wearing Loganstein's neck bolts. She didn't mind a bit. Maybe we should have painted her face green. Poor kitty.

Pumpkin Carving

I love pumpkin carving. The best part of it for the boys isn't the carving or even seeing their beautifully lit faces, it's the destruction that follows. When the shells begin to expire we have a contest to see who can roll their pumpkin down the ravine behind the house the furthest. They always become a smashed up mess.

Autumn Fun!

We had so much fun making these scarecrows. The boys had fantastic ideas and they turned out wonderfully! We'll definitely do this again next year!

Self-Barbering

Somehow this went unnoticed yesterday evening. While readying everyone for school this morning I told Matthew to go fix his hair and realized there was no hair there to fix. He said he cut it off yesterday at school - because he felt like it. As you can see by the expression, he's not so thrilled with his new look.

(I'm wondering if he really did it at school yesterday or if it happened this morning. That's a lot of missing hair to have overlooked.)

We Will Learn To Love

Ten or fifteen minutes of showing the entire neighborhood how much they are able to love one another helps them to get along better. Even if it's only for a short time.

First Day Of School 2009

The first day of school this year was rather uneventful. No one was upset to be returning.

A Simple Picture

Missing Tooth

Matthew's been anxiously awaiting the loss of a tooth. His friends have all lost at least one, but no such luck for Matthew. Finally a couple weeks ago he noticed a loose one. Nearly every day he would ponder the length of time it takes a loose tooth to fall out. This evening he found out!

While brushing his teeth before bed he began having a fit in the bathroom. Dad got up to see what in the world was going on. THERE WAS BLOOD! Dad went to the kitchen sink to mix up a saltwater concoction to help stop the bleeding. Matthew stood at the bathroom mirror sounding as though he may hyperventilate, so I got up to comfort him. The tooth was hanging by a thread. Though a terrified Matthew asked me not to pull it out, a mere wiggle popped it loose.

More fussing followed until Matthew realized he'd bled on my hands. That's where it all turned to fun.

I suppose a visit from the Tooth Fairy is in order!

R.I.P. Matthew Pesho

At The Pier

Twas the last day at the beach. We turned in our key to the house and made a b-line for a pier. That was something we'd planned to do but kept putting it off. It was our last chance. We found a pier, made our way out onto it and what do you think caught their eyes? A CAT. All three of them were far more interested in the cat than anything else.

After we pried them away from that seeming half dead animal they were fascinated by what the fisherman had caught. We thought someone pulled in a small stingray but it was explained that's not exactly what it was. It sure looked like it to me though. We saw a group of not-too-distant dolphins and lots of guts and nasties.


What are they looking at so intently? Dolphins? Whales? Sharks? Stingrays?


Nope. Guess again.

Still fluttering filleted fish. The poor things.

I found this awful.

They found this captivating and wonderful.

Boys...

Digging A Hole

Fun With Crabs At The Beach

One evening we ventured out to the beach with flashlights to watch crabs scurry across the sand. We watched several run around before I decided I was going to impress the children by picking one up. I remember my dad doing this when I was a kid, but I couldn't figure out how to grab them without being pinched. Mark was certain that if I pinched it by the top and bottom of it's rear there was no way it could get it's claws back there to get me.


I should know better by now than to believe him. I grabbed the next crab that scurried by and that sucker pinched my pointer finger so hard I yelled and instinctively flung it as hard as I could to get it off. Poor little Matthew happened to be standing near me watching the scene unfold. As I yelled that crab came flying towards Matthew and whacked him rather hard. Matthew was traumatized. (I'm sure the crab was as well.)


The next day Matthew asked me why I would ever be so mean to him. Why in the world would I hurl crabs at him in the dark?!


The rest of the week Matthew gradually allowed himself to get closer and closer to the crabs on the beach without freaking out, but he never did try to touch one.

Logan and Orin on the other hand were intrigued by the critters. They chased them down, captured them, tormented them, dug extensive tunnel systems in the sand for them, etc. No fear of crabs shown by them - but then again their mom didn't hurl crabs at them in the dark when they were 6.

Just For Fun

The boys had a ball helping with these!

Everybody OUT! BUGS!

Mark flying the Hoser kite.





Silly boys and their friends.


I feel pretty!

See... Snakes aren't so bad.




Run away little alligator! Run away!





What the?! Where did THAT come from?!

Turns out Macchi just LOVES to surf!

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

At The Beach

Orin checking out bikini clad beauties.

Matthew's not sure he likes what he sees.

Super-stud Logan takes on a wave.