It's been a long time since I've posted.  Life has a way of sneaking up on me ... just when I think I'm all caught up, I remember the other 28.45 things I need to get done before I can post on Xanga.  Today, I decided that it is TIME. 

Time to ignore the dishes, pretend the floor is swept, pretend there aren't 25 pairs of shoes waiting to trip me if I don't put them up, and let you all know what's been going on.  So I'll update you on each kiddo, one day at a time.

Nate gets to go first.  He's the baby.  He usually has to go last, so it's only fair.

Here's what Nate's been up to these days:

1.) Cooking School.

Nate loves cooking in his pretend kitchen.  Oh, he loves helping me, too - but there's so much more 'scope for imagination' in his own little kitchen.

For this recipe, he'll be start ing with one orange - see the lovely orange?  And a beautiful tomato, set on top of the burner on his stove.  Should be interesting.

Step #1 -

Throw the tomato on the floor, then peel the orange.  The orange absolutely, positively must be peeled before going on to step #2. He explained this to me at length.  I tried to keep from laughing as he tried valiantly to peel his plastic orange.

Step #2 -

Microwave orange for 35 minutes, or until it explodes.

(Please note that there is a water bottle standing by for emergency use at all times, ladies and gentleman - he is safety conscious. Perhaps this comes from helping mom in the kitchen?)

"Is gonna be very yummy, mommy. Vewy yummy!"

Unfortunately for Nate, when the "Timer" dinged, the orange was still hard.  Plastic.  And fairly unappealing.  His feelings were hurt.  After all, he had worked very hard on his orange/tomato dinner, and wanted to eat it.  So, in the interest of keeping him from actually trying to eat his plastic orange, I let him help me make glazed carrots.

Now, first of all, this kid will eat ANYTHING and say "Is so yummy, mommy deawest, thank you!"

(Isn't that great?)

I had a new recipe I wanted to try.  We peeled the carrots, sliced the carrots, boiled the carrots, and glazed the carrots.  The final result looked incredible.  Absolutely delicious.  Nate couldn't wait to sample them, but it was almost supper time, so he managed.

We sat down at the table.  He INSISTED that he get to try the first bite of carrots.

This is the first carrot, headed to the mouth ...

This was the response .... (I didn't get a 'This is yummy, mommy deawest' out of this recipe)

Due to the fact that he likes pretty much any food he puts in his mouth, and the pride factor (after all, he had MADE these carrots, and they were SUPPOSED to be delicious) he decided to go for bite #2.

I don't think I'll be saving that recipe. Nate's verdict was "Those carrots got all ucky, mommy!"

That was the other boys response, too. I got a lot of "Why'd you have to ruin carrots, mom?  We love carrots!" from the peanut gallery that evening.  Dadgummit!  I guess plain and simple is the way to go.

(Side note - I didn't like the carrots either, but don't tell anyone, ok?)

OK - now that we've covered Nate's cooking obsession, here's his latest interest.

I'll give you a few hints.

Mikey's basketball season started a while ago.

Nate gets to go to the games.

Nate LOVES going to Mikey's basketball games.  In fact, he asks me every day if it's the day to go to Mikey's Basketball Game.

So, guess what he wants to be when he grows up??

Yep.  You guessed it.

A CHEERLEADER!!!

He loves going to the games and watching the cheerleaders cheer.  He's quite enamored, actually. He calls them "My beautiful cheerweaders."  He tells anyone who will listen that "They sing pwetty, huh?" He tries to copy their cheers, and wants to go cheer with them during the games. Maybe it's because he's surrounded by brothers, but he sure thinks those cheerleaders are something else.

Now, early in the season, he asked if he could please, pwetty, pwetty pwease, get his picture taken with the 'bootiful cheerweaders'. I said 'Sure, honey, one of these days when I remember the camera, ok?'

Lol - not that I mind him taking his picture with all the cheerleaders, but I thought he'd forget about it.

Not so.  I underestimated him.

He reminded me several times a day for the next few weeks. (We've had a LOT of road games, and he wants his picture taken with ALL of the cheerleaders.  He realizes that half of them are missing when we go on roadgames, and does NOT want his picture taken unless it's with ALL of the cheerleaders. Yeah, I know.) Finally, last night, we had a home game.

Nate was so excited.  He has big plans for this picture.  He plans on putting it in his room.  He plans on showing it to all his friends.  He's got plans, ladies and gentlemen!

He got his bank out and got $1 out, so that he could buy popcorn.  (LOL - we didn't realize it then, but his plan was to buy the cheerleaders popcorn - found out about that later, when taking the picture.)

He put on his Indians tshirt (so he would match the cheerweaders!!), and smiled. "I's gonna get me picture taken with the bootiful cheerweaders, Adam!" he cheered.  "Today, Adam, Today!"

(At this point, he's dancing around the room. Adam just looks at him like he's crazy.  Why on earth does he want his picture taken with the CHEERLEADERS, anyway??  I mean, he could get a picture taken with the team, at least - that'd be cool, but with the cheerleaders? Adam was NOT impressed.)

Adam looks at him - rolls his eyes - and says "I KNOW, brother.  You aweady tole me!"

At this point Chris is ready to die laughing, but we get in the van and head to the game.

Once there, Nate spots the cheerleaders immediately. He buys his popcorn - then drags me over to where they're sitting.

We took the picture.

Then he had to hug each and every cheerleader and tell them how nice they were. And pwetty. 

I think they were quite flattered. Oh - and he tried to give them popcorn too, but they already had some.

And I know he will treasure this picture - probably up until 1st or 2nd grade, anyway. That's when girls start getting cooties.  At least, that's what Kenny and Matt tell me.

LOL - we told Mikey he'd better watch out - he may have  some competition from Nate.

Mikey, however, isn't worried ... YET.

Just wait a few years.