The Jackson Family: Why, Why and Why?

You know how most kids hear something like, "pick up that toy," and ask, "Why?" then you answer and you hear, "Why?" and you keep hearing "Why?" as the response to everything that you've said and you start to question the intelligence of the little beast asking you. I have one of those kids now. In true toddler fashion, Benjamin's favorite question has become "Why?" - but like the smarty-pants that he is, his ABSOLUTE favorite question is, "Why, Why and Why?" It's like deep down he knows where the conversation is headed and just to make it more aggravating he asks why up front. It flusters me, honestly. Like my first repsonse would never fully answer his burning need to KNOW why his toys have to be put away, why he can't sleep with 3 or 4 baseball bats in his bed, why ice cream is not a good breakfast food and why it is unsafe to climb the banisters. However I will also say that besides policing his sister, this is really the only bad thing Benjamin does lately. He still doesn't understand that he doesn't NEED a hockey stick in every color, but for now he is willing to simply add things to his Christmas list and for that I am grateful.

Sofia is at the streaking stage that Ben was at last Summer. I guess I should have known that it was coming, but no one else had even heard of a kid ripping his own diaper off whenever he pooped, so I thought Ben was going to be the lone exception. I was wrong. So Sofia drops trow whenever she poops and it's gotten us thinking that we may have found another use for duct tape cuz really it's gross and we just had the carpets cleaned. She is a fighter and won't let Ben push her around which is a good thing, I guess, but it leads to LOTS of arguments where Sofia is yelling, "No Ben!" and pointing at him and Ben is shrieking and telling me that Sofia is saying a bad word. Yes, he thinks "no" is a bad word. It's frustrating, but then funny, so I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining.

Charles is working from home and thanks to a donated desk, he is no longer operating off of two saw horses and a sheet of MDF. I have almost finished unpacking the kids' stuff, Sofia's room is painted, her curtains are up and we are starting to hang things on the wall. I still have two boxes full of clothes in our bedroom that don't have anywhere to go because I can't figure out where my dresser will fit. Charles is helping to draw up plans to put some storage in the closet which will solve that problem. I am LOVING the upstairs laundry room because I used to not like taking the laundry downstairs and the kids ask to take a bath everyday because they say, "there is a pool in here!" (They are referring to the tub in the master bathroom.) I will post a picture of the outside of the house and will not bother you with the inside since there isn't any furniture downstairs and the pictures I have of the kids' rooms are stricly "before" pictures.

There isn't much else going on. We've spent the last two weekends back down in San Diego sharing with our friends some amazing times in their lives with a birthday, a baby blessing and a wedding. We're gearing up for what people up here call "the hot part of the year." Which we are told starts around Memorial Day and lasts until Thanksgiving. A Dad at the park told Charles the hottest he's seen it get is 113 in the summer - he claimed it "wasn't that bad." I will be breaking out the kiddie pool again and soaking, I think. Here are some pics to keep you entertained...