love my silly kids

I am proud of my kids today.  They had fun, and were...well...kids.  We had soccer practice for Antonio this morning.  He does very well, and follows instruction for the most part.  Today Antonio and Andrew played rather well together.  When their friend came over they all did really well.  After he left they wanted to play outside. 

I put most of their clothes on and went to get the mail.  They spotted a cat at the end of the cul-de-sac, and they all went to see it.  The boys stayed respectively on the sidewalk, and Bella continued up the driveway to follow the cat until the cat started walking toward her.  Then she didn't know what to do and turned back away looking slightly afraid.  after a little of this back and forth. The cat came to me, and I showed Bella how to pet the cat.  She was thrilled.  She is so adorable.  He one about the kitty by Somebody Dunn.  Cute cute cute.  Then Antonio is yelling at me from our house (three away) and I knew that the timer was bizzing (as Antonio says, as rhymes with fizzing) So now getting Bella away from the cat she acted like she was scared of, was a task.  I was just glad there was no one out today to see me half drag my screaming baby back home.  I still had a large pile of mail under one arm.  Oh but wait there comes the hoodlum neighbor in his van.  The boys stop him in the street to ask him for the tenth time if they can play with his balls (the croquet set he put away for the winter) and he says "yes." Darn.  And then the old neighbor lady waves as she drives by as I'm shoving Bella, and my pile of mail in the house, and turn to yell at the kids to come after me.  Then I turn to turn off the not-quite-burnt-but still-over-done cookies out of the oven.  Then Abel calls, then Andrew slips on the slick pavement in the garage and falls on his little bum.  Needless to say it was not the best conversation. 

Then the kids find the mud.  Antonio starts bringing little bit by little bits of mud into the front yard.  Bella is having fun on the slide, and keeps saying "A-nan." "Well, when you say it like that, how can I refuse?"  By the time I get out to the front I see Antonio has made about a dozen fist sized mud balls.  And I can tell by the look in his eye that he would love nothing more than to throw them right at us, and of course I give him the look that says "and you would die"  So he lobs them over our heads.  I tell him it would be better to aim towards the street.  So he is throwing mud balls, and Andrew (who is for some reason at this point is only in his underwear, t-shirt, and boots) runs out to the street and starts stomping on the ones, that didn't break.  I was just watching them thinking that any normal mother would surely have a problem with this.  But Andrew was so adorable in his little tiny boy underpants, and big boots, and Antonio was having so much fun with his game he just invented, I just watched them for a little while.  So cute.

Then after they came inside they wanted to get the trains out.  I warned them that it was almost dinner time, and they would have to be put away soon.  But they just stared making up their own track, and their own game I pushed dinner back an hour. 

They went to sleep very well tonight.  Bella makes the cutest face.  When you look at her, like "what are you doing" she has this little Cheshire grin, where her eyebrows go up like she is saying "cheese" for the camera.  It's rather comical.