The Tales of John

I have to admit I'm not ready to laugh about this incident yet.  And it happened over a week ago.  I know someday I will laugh.

Sometime last week I was being yelled at from the basement.  When I went to the door to yell back and say "Don't Yell!" I saw a good sized hole in the wall right at the bottom of the stairs.  I honestly didn't blame my children first, which is a first.  I was quickly trying to remember if we had just moved any pieces of furniture down there....no.  Then, since the hole was in the area where Fritz stays while we are gone I thought maybe he did it.  I decided to ask John if he knew anything about it.  I called the boys over and pointed to the hole.

"Do you know what happened here?"
Gus immediately became enthralled with the hole, my first sign he had nothing to do with the hole getting there.  (But most assuredly he will have something to do with the hole getting bigger.)  I then looked at John.
"Do you know?"
He immediately looked to the floor and the tears started.  "Yes."
"Well, what happened?  Were you angry and decided to kick the wall?"
"No, I just wanted to see what was behind it."
"You weren't mad?"
"No, I did it quietly and calmly.  You didn't even hear me and you were right upstairs."

The end of this story is that John now knows he need to ask before destroying things and, in the next few days, he will learn how to repair drywall.  Repairing drywall is a very useful skill to have, so I don't feel bad about this at all.

Oh- and my prediction was correct.  Between Fritz, Gus and Anders, the hole has gotten bigger.

Jimmy

I realized when I was looking through my pictures that I don't have any of my cousin Ericka.  I plan to remedy that the next time I see her.   I had a good time trying to get pictures of Jimmy because he hates having his picture taken.

 He was refusing to pose for a picture so I waited outside the basement door to snap some pics.

 I'm not sure what Aunt Diane is saying, but I love the look Jimmy is giving her.

 And, because I keep snapping photos, I too am getting the look.

 Jimmy just refused to pose with his mom.

What a stinker!

Next time I will focus my efforts on those who want their picture taken....I'm talking to you, Ericka.

A Train and Its Makers

For Christmas, my Aunt Diane gave John a kit to make his own train.  He was very excited but mean old mom had to contain the excitement and keep him from opening the kit on Christmas day while the house was filled with 3 million other toys.  On top of the fridge was were it sat for about a month.  Then Diane called me to say they wanted to visit and the first thing John thought of was waiting until Jimmy, his "train cousin", could help him.  John actually waited for 3 more months until they came during spring break.

 We had to tell John to stop talking because it was taking him a million years to screw in one screw.  Jimmy was feeling like it was going to take all day.

 All done with the building process.  John just loves his train.

He was excited that he could do anything he wanted with his train.  After much contemplation he decided to color it rather than painting it.  He is so proud of what he made.