Smiling Suns and Other Joys

We have had some fairly adorable moments the past few days.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.  :-)

 Luke has been into drawing more lately.  Erik took these shots at Luke's request the other morning.  Adorable.

 In case your day needed a smiling sun.  I also think there is a person in the lower right corner.

On Monday we had our first picnic of the year!  I LOVE eating in the backyard.  No floor to sweep.  Crumbs are for the birds - literally.  Luke also ate, but for some reason I failed to get a picture of him.

 Where's Waldo...I mean Luke?  He loves climbing this "tree" and I refuse to tell him that it's actually a rhododendron bush.  Nobody wants to climb a bush. 

You will not believe how long my children entertained each other with a tape measure today.  They measure everything.  Then they played a game where they would guess how many inches something measures, measure it and declare a winner based on who guessed closest.  (Daddy's brilliant pre-dinner activity)

We need a second tape measure.  Actually two new ones that are exactly the same.  Perhaps a Home Depot visit this weekend.

 Teamwork!

What are these children holding?  The Daddy-Man's latest, greatest idea - The Bangsund Boys Bedtime Checklist!  Tonight was its inaugural use.  About fifteen minutes before we want them to be in bed, we announce it is checklist time.  My kids love to check things off lists.  Is it a bad thing that I'm feeding this semi-idiosyncratic behavior?  Regardless, it went AWESOME tonight.  The list is comprised of things that we are usually running around doing for the boys as we try to get them ready OR things that they come out of their rooms to do after we have said good night.  So far tonight, nobody has ventured from their rooms to do anything.  WOOT!

I tried to get Paul to smile, but he really wanted to make this face instead.  Yes, he's wearing his bathing suit in this picture.  (I should just re-name this blog "The Adventures of Bathing Suit Boy.")

Paul worked his way down his list, checking off each item with a green crayon on the kitchen floor as he went.  We fully plan on laminating the list and getting each boy a dry erase marker so that we aren't killing trees in our efforts to train our children.

Everything checked off AND circled just for good measure.  He's too tired to smile.  Good thing he is completely ready for bed!  :-)


Flag Football Update:  I think this face says it all.  We've been out in the backyard twice already in all the gear (including new cleats).  It has been fun each time.  Coach Nathan sends out a weekly email with stuff to work on if we have time, as long as it is fun for the kids.  So, Lorene Park Academy (our homeschool) has had a strong focus on physical education so far this week.  Yes, we've done handwriting and history.  But we've also done throwing, catching and pulling flags!  Guess which one we ALL enjoy more?  :-)  First game is this Saturday at 11am.  I've already seen answered prayer as the Lord has given my oldest boy a huge desire to practice his ball handling even when Mommy throws it a little too hard and beans him in the head.  TRUE STORY.  This picture was taken after the aforementioned beaning.  No scars emotional or physical.  Thank You, Jesus!