Nathaniel Gets Excited About a Belly Button

We have done a pretty thorough job of teaching the boys the First Catechism for Children. Here is one of the questions, with the answer in italics.

What is God?
God is a spirit, and has no body as we do.

We've also taught them about Jesus, and they know that Jesus is son of God. Somehow in our teaching, Nathaniel missed the fact that Jesus has a body. He got so tickled when Mark told him that. Mark went on to surprise and delight Nathaniel further by telling him that Jesus had feet and ears and a belly button. Later, Nathaniel confidentially whispered to me "Jesus has a belly button."

Today I actually cleaned a bit-- and did 6 loads of laundry! Now if I get to the ironing of Mark's shirts, you'll know that a miracle has occurred. I hadn't swept under the couches and rugs in a really, really long time, and I'm embarrased to say just how big the pile of dirt was. I didn't get to the dusting, though, so hopefully the people who come to my Pampered Chef demonstration tomorrow won't notice.

During recess the boys played out front. They could play out front because the cul-de-sac was not full of vehicles owned by high school students who think of our neighborhood as free overflow parking. But I digress. Each boy wanted to play a different game, and each wanted me to play with him. I tried to get the basketball from Ben while pitching the baseball to Bradford and throwing the football to Nathaniel. Then I would grab the basketball from Ben and shoot a basket while Bradford chased his baseball, and then Nathaniel would take off down the sidewalk, expecting me to chase and catch him, which I would do, and then the process would begin again. I was happy for recess to end.

Tonight, Bradford was cracking Lizzy up at dinnertime by being goofy. Lizzy, you are not helping us convince Bradford that he is NOT funny.

Mark is home from the library. He's picked up some books on tape for the trip to Orlando. He must be expecting heavy traffic-- Peter Pan (5 hours), Pippi Longstocking (2.5 hours), The Tales of Uncle Remus (3 hours), Ralph S. Mouse (2 hours), and a couple music CDs. I just looked at one of the CDs. David Bowie narrates Peter and the Wolf, and Meryl Streep narrates Sleeping Beauty. Should prove interesting.

What Valentine's Day Means To Me. by Jeni

When I was living at home, Valentine's Day meant that my mother would not be home. I never got flowers. My mother never got flowers. By the end of Valentine's Day, my mother never wanted to see another flower until Mother's Day, when she would also not be at home, because she was (and still is) a florist.

Now that I'm married, Valentine's Day means that my husband will wear jeans and a white t-shirt to school. He goes to the sock hop and puts his back out by slinging first graders around. I still do not get flowers.

The End.