We have weird conversations

Funny Kathryn Quote

Cassandra's recent birthday prompted Hudson to request that everyone pretend to be a member of the Opper family. Since Cassandra reached legal driving age, Hudson chose to be Cassandra and all the other members were distributed with Keaton being designated as Uncle Steve. After nearly an hour in character, this resulted in the following weird statement by Kathryn:

"OK, Cassandra, wait for a minute, I have to take Uncle Steve back to change his diaper and put on his jammies."

More Gray Boy Chatter

Big brother taking care of little brother

Current status of our new House construction

Overheard after bedtime

Some background: Hudson has a little stuffed animal frog that is only about 3 inches high and so very easily disappears. It drives Rick and Kathryn crazy because about two nights a week it results in late evening searches so Hudson can sleep with it.

"Brother?'

"Yes, Landon."

"Kuk!"

"The house construction video?"

"Yes."

"You can watch that the next time it's your turn to pick a video to watch."

[Silence for a minute]

"Landon?"

"What?"

"Do you want to come up and help me find my frog?"

"Yes!"

[We could just picture Landon climbing the ladder to the top bunk and the two of them rummaging through the sheets and blankets.]

Not much else new. We've had around a dozen showings of our house, one second-time visitor, but no offers yet. Kathryn is in a new Beth Moore Bible study. Rick traveled to Chicago last weekend for a day for a meeting at the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.

Rick plays pickup basketball at the church gym on Monday nights and Kathryn has been bringing all three boys there to watch on those nights lately. That's prompted Landon, whose vocabulary continues to grow, to put together his longest sentence to date when he told Kathryn what he thought was going to happen that Monday night: "Daddy play ball church."

Landon's other parent

Those of you who've done "Growing Kids God's Way" will appreciate this one.

Funny Hudson Quote #1:

Hudson was telling Rick and Kathryn about his day (very exciting as he spent the afternoon and evening at his friends' house) when Landon came up repeatedly trying to get Hudson's attention with his typical, "Brother?...BROTHER?...BROTHER!!?..."

Hudson: "Landon, I'm talking right now. Here, [pulled Landon's hand onto his forearm] put your hand on my arm to let me know you want to talk and as soon as I finish my story I'll talk to you."

Funny Hudson Quote #2:

After putting Hudson and Landon to bed, Rick crawled up onto the top bunk with Hudson to lay with him for a few minutes, as he sometimes does with both older boys. After a minute or two, the silence was broken...

Landon: "Brother?"

[silence]

Landon: "BROTHER?"

[silence]
Landon: "BROTHER!!!!?"

Hudson: "What, Landon?"

Landon: "Hi."

Hudson: "Hi, Landon. [turning to Rick] Do you see why he drives me crazy sometimes at night?"

May is here already?

Photographic Deja vu:

Hudson and Landon June 2005

Hudson and Keaton April 2007

The time seems to be flying by again this year. Here are some of the happenings in AZ:

Keaton is doing well. He had his 2 month checkup and is healthy. He's also our biggest so far (he'll have to be to defend himself!). He weighed 11 lbs. 12 oz. and was in the 95th percentile for length. He received four shots and didn't seem to like them at all.

Landon remains the showman. He never hesitates to put a bowl on his head or whatever else might draw attention and laughs. His language has really exploded and it's fun to watch Hudson teach him to say various words.

Hudson is still type A and a great big brother. He and Landon seem to have bonded much more since sharing bunkbeds. They play together a lot and Hudson really looks out for him. Hudson also smothers Keaton in kisses and hugs. We've noticed that Hudson generates more smiles from Keaton than anyone else - but we think he also generates more crying from Keaton than anyone else.

Kathryn has been a real trooper. We've had about 5 or 6 showings of our house and she calls to the boys to "activate the Gray team." They clean everything up and head out of the house. You'd think it would be hard enough to juggle three boys under the age of four without that stuff.

Our new house is still being framed. We found that the windows, ductwork, and fireplaces (yes, fireplaces in Arizona) had been installed when we visited last weekend. It's a good pick-me-up to go see it when we get tired of showing our house and fixing everything up.

Funny Landon Quote:
For this funny quote to have it's effect, it's helpful to actually say the words out loud as you read the quotes. Trust us, it will have more of an effect this way.

Hudson has been teaching Landon a lot of words and, of course, car and truck were among the first. This past week, he decided to add to Landon's vehicular vocabulary...
Hudson: "Landon, let's teach you to say SUV."
Lanson: "Oh."
Hudson: "Say 'S'"
Landon: "S..."
Hudson: "U..."
Landon: "Me"

Funny Hudson Quote:
Hudson poked Rick with his butter knife at dinner. Kathryn, ever the prosecutor, told him that could be considered assault. Hudson asked for an explanation of assult, and it included that it's not assult if you're defending yourself.
Hudson: "Yes - what if someone was attacking you with a sword, then you could use a knife to defend yourself."
Kathryn: "Yes, Hudson, you could."
Hudson: "But I'd want a cutting knife, not a spreading knife!"