Middle

Today is the middle of the week. "The Middle" tv show is on tonight--one of my faves, I admit. My middle son is at a delightful age right now. More on that to come. We are currently in the middle of winter, but blessed with spring-like weather. I am always in the middle of a good book. Add up all of these things--and I have a title for this post. :)

First things first. Braylen has been so good about saving his mowing money. So when his iPod dock bit the dust and he asked if he could buy himself a new one, it was a no-brainer! He did his own research, called the store to see if his chosen stereo was in stock, made sure it was on sale, and asked Dad to take him there to make his purchase. Woohoo! He is enjoying his new stereo very much, and we are very happy for him. :) In no time at all he will be buying a stereo for his first car...or buying a car...yikes!

Moving on to Kaleb, our middle. He is such a character these days! He makes funny faces, funny phrases, and funny (realistic) impersonations. I just love this age on him. He's a mature 5th grader, and yet--he uses his imagination to play with Aaron. He cuddles with me on the couch during movie nights. He looks up to his big brother and leads his little brother so well. He's just a delight to my soul!

One thing he made very clear to me the other night? He absolutely despises carrots in his salad. I've always known they were not his favorite. As our pickiest eater, he is happy with meatloaf or a hamburger. Anything else is questionable. Still, I didn't expect such a strong reaction to his carrots. He finished them, but it was not easy!

After I took this picture, Kaleb said I caught him in one of his moments!

Aaron is persistent as ever these days. Once he thinks of something he'd like to do, he will ask me about it all day long. Maybe even all week long. I hope God uses that for good someday, because in the moment it can be extremely draining! One activity he's been begging me to do with him was make shaped crayons. When we found an open Saturday afternoon--I said yes.

We tried making this airplane shaped crayon several times. Sadly, it leaked no matter what I tried. Thankfully we had much greater success with heart, shamrock, and cactus shaped crayons. My favorite part of this process was the preparation. Aaron and I sat together and sorted through hundreds of crayons. All 3 boys spent many hours coloring with those crayons--many times I joined in too. How fun to put the crayons to use once again. Notice, dear Derek, that they are called crayons, not colors!!!!!!! :)

Finally--remember in my last post I talked about Ginger getting into something she shouldn't have? Well, our gamble of treating her ourselves paid off. She is just fine, no harm done. Thankfully Derek came home at lunchtime that day, or else things might not have turned out so well. She found a small box of used shotgun shells on a shelf, knocked it down to the floor, and proceeded to chew them up. We were mainly worried about lead poisoning and gunpowder poisoning. Between Derek's efforts at lunch and my efforts after school, we were able to get it out of her stomach and make sure we got it all. Lovely, I know. Now she is back to chewing on what she's supposed to chew on. I treated her to some sweet potato chew bones this week. Good girl, Ginger. :)

And that's all I have for today!