Summery Summary Part 2

I'm a little disappointed in you guys. I proudly left my last blog post patting myself on the back for a clever title, only to find out I would spend the week repeatedly disappointed that another day had passed without any of my readers bowing down to me for my creativeness. I hate to do this, but I'm forced to give you guys an ultimatum. If I don't get the recognition I deserve for my prized title, I'm going to be forced to title every post with the same title until someone does finally notice my efforts to bring you fresh, exciting and original blog post titles.

That being said, I have exerted all my energy to come up with one good wrap up title for all posts of this nature, so I will actually probably continue on with the Summery Summary titled series whether I get recognition or not. But come on. Someone tell me how clever I am. Am I bloggin' to a brick wall here? I do this solely for the praise and validation that comes in the form of comments. So help a sister out.

We decided to do a repeat hike on one particular napless Monday. We needed a quick and easy hike that we knew the boys loved because no one had much patience after a day of screaming, so we headed on over to Birdsong Trail.

It's the perfect kid hike.

Eli spent the second half of the hike carrying a stick to his bum while playing real life Mario Kart with Jeff. When we asked him what the stick was, he matter-of-factly replied it was his exhaust. And then he threw a "turtle shell" at us and ran away.

We saw some deer as this conversation happened:
Me: "Hey! There's some deer!"
Eli: "Wow! Reindeer!"
Carson: "It's raining?"

A few days after our hike we checked out a little reservoir thing by our house on a whim. Luckily we had some leftover snack bags in the car because there were quite a few ducks ready to be fed.

We found out ducks love Goldfish and aren't big fans of pretzels.

And of course Carson the animal lover had the ducks cozying right up to him.

Carson has been napping more than usual lately. And by that I mean once a week. When he finally does crash, he's usually sprawled on top of his favorite stuffed animal.

We introduced Eli to self-timer on the camera and he was a fan. This is a weekly ritual now.

My sister and I both realized we were craving my parents' traditional Sunday dinner, so we invited ourselves over last week. And like good parents, we banished our children to eat outside so we could ideally eat in peace. We quickly discovered the freedom of being outside allowed them to spend the entire dinner leaving the door wide open, or slamming it shut, giving their cars car washes with their drinks, and wandering down the stairs to the front yard. But the food was just as good as expected.

A little rain isn't enough to stop these two monkeys from jumping on the trampoline.

Eli had his 4-year-old well-child exam last week. As we got there, the nurse told me Eli could get his Kindergarten shots that day. I distinctly remember getting my Kindergarten shots and I was mortified by them -- just the same as I am for every shot I ever have to get. I figured it would be better to have them sooner than later, so I agreed to let Eli get stabbed.

We nervously waited around for the nurse to come back for the shots after we had seen the doctor. I didn't even really tell Eli what was going to happen because I went in with the mentality that the less he knew the better. After the nurse arrived, we sat Eli up on a table, and she told me to hold Eli's hand. I gently got hold of it, fearing the reaction my 4-year-old was going to have to a shot, and even more terrified that I had to be the brave one for him when I am so terribly afraid of needles. Then the nurse told me to hold his other which is when I realized I wasn't holding his hands for moral support so much as holding his hands so he wouldn't become violent with them. I clutched onto both of them. Then came the shots to the unsuspecting Eli.

I cringed, expecting a yelp, screech, violent thrashing, or a combination of all three. He was poked by both shots while sitting perfectly still, and only after all was said and done he looked at me and the nurse with obvious betrayal in his eyes and exclaimed, "HEY!! SHE POKED ME!"

She sure did, Eli. Now put this sucker in your mouth before you have time to cry about it. Kindergarten shots -- check! And without a single tear shed. My little boy's growing up!