Austin's Audibles, Aaron's Academic Achivements, and Astronomic Ants

Austin is becoming a little chatterbox, picking up new words on almost a daily basis. Here is a video of some of the words he could say a week or two ago. My favorite are the last three words that he says. They may, however, need some explanation. First I ask him to say "Hee Hee Hee" to which he responds "Ho Ho Ho." Jensine has been working of this with him and it is pretty cute. Next he responds with a "Kack Kack Kack" for "duck". Obviously he is quacking. Finally, when asked to say "goose" he responds with "Gah" and hits me on the head. A few weeks ago we played Duck Duck Goose. Now, if you ask him to say "goose" he likes to hit you on the head, say "Gah", and then runs away. Very cute.

Some other words he says are "okay" ('kay), "juice" (jzz), "Jesus" (jeez-z), "Cookie" (as in monster) (kuu-khee), "no" (nooooooooo!), "moo" (in response to "what does a cow say?") (mmmm-boo), "oink, oink" (in reponse to "what does a pig say?") (khuh-khuh), and "oh, wow" (oo-wah-ooo). Our favorite thing is that he will respond to Isaac's asking him to talk as well as us.About two weeks ago, I graduated from law school. Except for the bizarre political rants of the commencement speaker, it was a nice ceremony. It will be much better when I pass the bar and am actually done with everything. We didn't really get any pictures, but here is one that my mom had taken.

After the graduation, we had a little party shindig in a park near our church with just a few friends. As much fun as we had, I think Isaac might have had the most fun since his two best friends were there: Rees and Tommie.

Lately, I have just been studying for the bar (yeah, me!). We did take a recent trip to the Minnesota Children's Museum. They have an ant farm area with tunnels that kids can crawl around in. Isaac ran in there and we lost him for a couple of minutes. Fortunately, we didn't hear any crying and the only two exits were near us. All of a sudden, we see him through one of the windows, holding some 5-6 year-old's finger. I say, "Isaac, let go of him, please." The kid looks at me and says, "I'm helping him. (Turning to Isaac) Let's go this way." I love how kids who have never met each other and don't even know each other's names can be best friends after like 4-5 seconds. Too bad we all are not so open. Here is the boys and I on with the giant ant just inside one of the exits.

On Memorial Day, we went on a bike ride (the boys wore their oh-so-awesome Minnesota wear). The end of the bike ride was a little too close to the boys' nap times.

Finally, Isaac has been putting all of his stuffed animals to bed with covers and a pillow and recently decided that it was his daddy's bedtime--in the kitchen. He put his pillow on the kitchen floor and told me to lay down on it. Then he brought in his sheet and blanket. He laid by me for "just a minute", told me to close my eyes, and gave me a "big kiss and a big hug." It was a while before I was allowed to get up.