from the car

While driving to Asher's buddy's birthday party yesterday -
Me: Asher, what do you want for your birthday?
Asher: A dump truck.
Me: Okay. Do you want anything else?
Asher: Cake.
Oh, to be almost three again, and be so easily satisfied.

Also, Silas discovered the key to success as a younger brother - be the loudest kid in the room. Amos Lee is my children's new musical obsession, and even good music, repeated 8,072 times, becomes a little ... much. But Silas lightened my mood yesterday afternoon in the car by learning, then bellowing, the echo to Shout Out Loud. Amos would sing, "I want to shout out ..." and Silas would interject (in his signature jargon - he is still at the age where context is everything) as loudly as his little 15-month-old lungs could muster, "SHOUT OUT LOOUUUDDDDD." I kid you not. He was so loud I finally had to cry uncle and hang up the phone. Not that I was talking on the phone while reading hand-written directions and winding through backroads and cranking up Amos Lee to keep the back seat entertained. But if I had been, Silas would have caused me to hang up the phone because I would no longer have been able to hear anything in the world except for Silas shouting, "SHOUT OUT LOUD" to the heavens.

Happy Sunday all.

One to grow on -

It is fair to say that we are a family of bargain shoppers. Euphemistically speaking, of course.

I've been on the hunt for a train table and train set for Asher for most of the past year. But DUDE, have you priced wooden train sets? Hundreds of dollars friends. That's without a train table. And they never go on sale, because the demand is so high. Even second hand sets have been priced above 100$. I've stalked craigslist and consignment sales, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law kept an eye out for them at yard sales, but so far nothing. UNTIL - maybe six weeks ago? A friend of my mother-in-law's GAVE her a train table. Asher calls it his "train desk," and he sits on it and plays with his little figure eight train track every single day. And THEN, yesterday morning, my mother-in-law found - no lie - probably 300$ worth of Thomas the Train tracks and trains for ... wait for it ... FIVE DOLLARS. FIVE. DOLLARS.

Tonight was like Christmas for Asher (Silas will care more about it in a few months). Now a solitary dump truck really will be sufficient for his birthday, because what else does a little boy need besides dump trucks and trains? And cake. Obviously.