Best fwends

Last week, Leah and her three little ones were here visiting J and I in HOT Kennewick. We had a blast! We saw a free movie, swam in the pool every day, and went to the park to play. My house is not terribly kid friendly, but I think we did all right.

One of my favorite things was having conversations with Connor, Jared, and Emily. They are funny kids! Here are a few highlights.

One evening my friend's son, Cody, who just graduated from Southridge called and asked if he could come use the scanner on my computer. They are making graduation / going away to college party invitations, and he wants to put a picture on them. I told him to come on over, but that it would have to be earlier rather than later because my friend's kids would be going to bed fairly early. He arrived just as we sat down for dinner. I let him in, told him to help himself to the computer, and went back to eat. The kids were very curious about Cody. So much so that Connor especially couldn't sit at the table. He kept getting up and running into the other room. When there, he apparently just stared at Cody. I could hear Cody asking him questions, but Connor wasn't responding. After one trip to the living room, when Connor got back to the table, he was really excited. This is what he had to say.

Connor: When I when I when I tell Cody my name, then we'll be best fwends!


The next evening, while Leah was bathing the boys at the same time, Emily was wandering around the house, just looking at stuff. I asked her what she typically did while her mom was giving her brothers a bath, and this is how she answered.

Emily: I usually play games with my daddy, but he's not here. Maybe I could play a game with you and Mr. J?

Of course I said sure. I told her to go pick one of the games her mom brought, and I would go get J so we could play. Imagine J's surprise when we sat down to a game of The Littlest Pet Shop. I couldn't stop giggling watching my enormous husband playing this little girl's game. When Emily beat him, I really couldn't stop giggling.



The day they arrived, Jared had a present for me. It was a painting he did in purple and green of a "Messy Monster." I asked about the monster, and Jared told me:

Jared: Messy Monster lives in the closet. That's why my closet is so messy!
Me: Great...now I have TWO Messy Monsters in my house. J is messy, too!

We put the picture on my fridge and then went about our day. Periodically throughout their visit, Jared would bring up Messy Monster and tell me about the messes he was making throughout my house. Luckily for us though, according to Jared "Messy Monster only comes out at night!"



For the duration of their visit, my cat Sid hid under the bed in my room during the day. Once the kids went down for the night he'd venture out cautiously and have some food and visit with the grownups. I had moved a litter box into the bathroom in our bedroom, so thankfully, he used that, but I didn't want to put food and water in there because I wanted to encourage the cats to leave the room. Sid was a scaredy cat and refused to come out from under the bed if my bedroom door was open. If it was closed, he'd come out and whine at J or I to pet him and cuddle him. If the door was open, though, he was under the bed. Zoe, on the other hand, was much braver. She would often come out of the bedroom to check out what was going on. If it got to be too much for her, she would retreat to the bedroom. She let all three kids pet her at various times, and even let Emily pick her up and carry her around the house for a few minutes. The boys she was more wary of, and usually stayed out of their way.

Connor was enamored with Zoe. He thought it was so cool that if you shake the treat can, she comes running. (Usually both cats come running for treats, but not even the treats could lure Sid out of my room!) Many times a day Connor asked if he could give Zoe treats. I usually said yes because the "treats" are not really treats. They are just a different kind of cat food that is low allergen like their regular food, but supposed to be good for getting rid of tartar on their teeth. I think we overdid it on their last full day here, though. While Leah was reading to Jared and Emily, Connor decided he wanted to hang out in the living room with J and I. Zoe was sitting near me, and she was in a good mood. When Connor came over to talk to me, Zoe was wrapping herself around his legs, and then she sat down right next to him. Connor crouched down (in that cute little kid squat so they can be up close and personal with whatever they're looking at) to pet her, but immediately stood right back up with his face scrunched up.

He looked at me and said: Zoe 'tinks!!

I bent down to see what he was talking about, and sure enough, Zoe did 'tink. She apparently had had too many treats that day and it made her a little gassy. Zoe 'tinked a lot that evening!


All the kids were really excited to get in the pool the first evening - until Connor was on the ladder, that is, looking down at the water. Then he decided it was not such a good idea. We could NOT convince him that his life jacket would hold him up, and that it was okay to get in. Not even seeing his brother and sister in the water moving around was enough to convince him. Finally J went to the garage and got one of our floating chairs. They are the coolest chairs ever, as they have foot rests and also a mesh bottom. That way, while you are floating around, your hiney gets wet, but the rest of you is floating on top of the water. He still didn't think that was a good idea, but we had Emily climb into the chair to show Connor she was on top of the water, and then he agreed.

The next day, when we went out to the pool, Connor was excited about swimming in his "boat" again. After he'd had some time to be in the water and to see his brother and sister swimming around, Leah thought she'd take him out of the boat and let him see that he was fine in the water. We figured he'd freak out for a few minutes, but after that would be fine. Boy, were we wrong! He flipped a gasket and continued screaming and thrashing around for at least ten minutes! Leah tried to distract him by putting his hands on the wall of the pool, then asking him to "crab walk" around the edge and catch her. She started moving away, and he started to climb over the edge of my four foot pool! I came up behind him, grabbed his hands, and started to move them along the wall so we could chase Leah. At that point, he alternated between giggling like a wild man and screaming like we were trying to kill him. We got about three-quarters of the way around the pool when we got to the ladder. I didn't pull him off the wall quite far enough, and he grabbed it and held on for dear life. We decided that he just wasn't going to do it, so we got his boat back for him. It took a little convincing that we weren't going to drop him in the middle of the pool before he let us help him back into the chair, but then he was fine until it was time to get out for the afternoon.

The next morning, we went to see a free movie (I LOVE that theaters do this during the summer!), then we came home and ate lunch. It was close to 1pm before we headed back out to the pool. I headed out there first while Leah was finishing up getting the kids ready so I could plug in the filter and start skimming the top (I love outdoor pools, but HATE the bugs and leaves!). Connor came out with me to watch and had this to say.

Connor: Kristina? I am NOT going to do that thing again today.
Me: What thing?
Connor: That thing where you guys are dragging me around. I am NOT doing that today.

I had a blast with Leah and her kids. There were so many other funny things that happened, but I can't steal them all for my blog...just in case Leah feels like mentioning any of them!