Wesley played at his aunt’s house today and kept asking for “kime,” which meant “climb,” which meant he wanted us to hoist him up on this bar on the swing set so he could hold on until he could hold on no longer and drop to the ground.

Then he’d say, “Moh kime” (“more climb”) or “A-din!” (“again!”) and we did it over and over and over.

Recently we ate lunch at Tucanos. Carissa ate the whipped cream off my sundae.

Wes ate nothing.

This afternoon I took the kids to Costco to return an item. We couldn’t leave without ice cream–or, as Wes says, “ISCWEEM!”

Costco sells waffle cones with three scoops of gelato (berry, pistacio, and chocolate chip) for just a buck-fifty. Good price. Good eats.

And aside from me helping lick up a few dribbles down the side and sneaking an occasional bite of cone, Wes ate the ENTIRE thing by himself. All of it.

Here’s proof: Wes finishing off the cone tip.

Later in the day we spent a little time at the water at Riverwoods. Wes LOVED playing in the water. Carissa got really excited and screamed happily as she toddled around, until the water squirted her in the face and then she needed some love from Mom or Dad before going back in.

There’s nothing better than seeing your kids happy.

Yesterday we welcomed home my brother–a.k.a. “Uncle Matt”–from his LDS mission.

We were ready with a sign and everything.

Carissa was the Guardian of Balloons.

We waited anxiously at the bottom of the escalator for several minutes and watched other families welcome home their missionaries. Lots of moms in tears and dads with huge grins. We also saw brand new missionaries in their brand new suits with brand new luggage arriving to head to the MTC in Provo.

Until finally, at last, we saw our missionary descend the escalator and we got to give him our hugs.

…When you have a perfectly functional bed?

I took this kids on a trip this morning. First we spent a little time at Gardner Village. It’s a quaint place, but I suppose it would be quaint AND enjoyable if you were with other adults and not a four- and one-year-old. We walked through two stores, both of which were nice, but Wes would have none of it. I ended up carrying Carissa in one arm and pushing Wes in the stroller with the other so he would at least be contained. When we came to the duck pond it was all I could do to keep him from jumping in and throwing rocks at the ducks.

It was a quick visit.

Instead of going right home, we stopped at Thanksgiving Point. I had heard about the children’s garden that is supposed to be nice to visit. And it was. (Even for $10 admission–$6 for me, $4 for Wes.)

The first thing you see is a giant Noah’s Ark water feature. Wes was basically in heaven.

Carissa’s favorite game was tossing her bottle in the water and then standing at the edge, innocently saying, “Oh, oh!” over and over until I fetched it. And then she’d throw it in again.

Carissa thought the water jets were really fun, but she wouldn’t venture into the water by herself (it was chilly).

I didn’t dress the kids for playing in water. Wesley’s corduroy pants were sopping wet, even rolled up–especially after he sat in the water.

After Wes fell face-first into the water (he was chasing the big kids), I took off his shirt to dry and he sported this cool saggy bottom look.

At long last I dragged them away from the water and we strolled the gardens. They have some cool features: a bear cave, a fish pond, and hedge mazes (there was NO WAY I would let Wes loose in there). The best part was probably the giant sandbox.