Random Snippets

I found a really unique bug in the vegetable garden the other day.  I've never seen one like it before:

Sometimes Stu or I make a "smorgasbord" for the kids for lunch or dinner.  They love it because we basically set a tray down in front of them like a trough and they get to go to town.  It usually looks something like this:

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I took Max and Ryann to T-ball tonight so I could take some pictures of them playing ball.  I got some cute shots, including:

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After T-ball, Max and Ryann had a funny interaction.  First, they challenged each other to a race.  I started them out by calling, "On your marks, get set (Max took off at this point), GO!"  Max made it halfway to the hill they were running to and one of his tennis shoes flew off.  He held out his arm to try to stop Ryann and I called out to him to tell him not to.  Ryann burst past his arm and made it to the hill.  Max turned and looked at me and his face crumpled and he started wailing.  I got closer to him and he bawled that it wasn't nice for Ryann not to stop when his shoe fell off and he wanted to walk barefoot to the car.  It wasn't a big deal to me so I said it was fine and put his shoes and socks in the bag I was carrying.  Stu's mom was walking with me and when we got near the car (Max had calmed down by this time), I told the kids to say goodbye to their grandma.  Ryann pulled Stu's mom down and traced a heart on Grandma's chest with her finger and then smiled and laughed and said, "A heart!"  Then she turned toward her brother with an evil little glint in her eye and traced an "X" in the air in front of him.  Max again burst out wailing, yelling, "Ryann broke my heart, Mom.  She broke my hearrrrrtttt!"  Well, that broke my heart and I gently chastised Ryann telling her that was not very nice and now she'd broken her brother's heart.  I got them in the van and buckled in and Max was again regrouped.  I heard bits and pieces of their conversation from the way back of the van and at first Max was trying to get Ryann to talk to him and was failing and getting frustrated.  He was saying something to her about bumps in her throat.  About 30 seconds later, she was totally engaged in their conversation and the two of them were making plans, should she ever have painful bumps in her throat again, they would ensure that she got both "Miracle Mouthwash" and ice cream to make her throat feel better.


I am reading "The Good Thief" by Hannah Tinti for my book club.  I'm only a few pages in and already intrigued.


Stu and I are going on a date on Saturday night.  The first one in a while.  We never like to be out too late because it's too hard to get up the next day and be tired and have to take care of the kids.  Anybody have suggestions for a fun early-night date?