No Power Necessary

Shane and I stopped by the library again, Sunday. Something magical happened.

Another 6 year old boy named Grayson was reading Mo Willems books with his mom. Shane said, "I love those!" and the boys took turns reading to each other.

Grayson was the more experienced reader and helped Shane with a few hard words. You cannot buy awesome, in-the-moment, shared learning like that! I hope we bump into them again.

Then, Shane wanted to read the sound effects to Dylan.

Krista said Dylan wanted to show off his reading to Shane, but the boys hyper-ed out shortly thereafter. Krista was at work, and John and I didn't care what the boys did as long as there were no injuries.

By the way, I'm starting to feel a little guilty. Shane and I keep showing up for dinner. John made pizza! John and Krista had ciders, too, because they know I like them.

The pizza was a hit with the boys. When Krista came back, Eli wanted to shove toy animals into her glove compartment. The older boys followed and the car became a makeshift playground.

A side note: Dylan either likes to hide or make funny faces when he knows I want to take a picture.

The boys all crammed into the back of the station wagon to eat their pizzas. None of us expected them to stay outside so long (without coats or shoes) when it was below 50 F! I was cold!

The chalk came out and art happened. John's been practicing cow illustrations for Eli.

Shane and Dylan drew some sort of "level" with all sorts of "bosses" that made bad things happen to you if you lost.

It stretched up the driveway.

The boys were into it. I don't think any rational human being could follow all they were saying back and forth. It was good to see the creative juices flowing.

Shane and I left around 7:30 PM, so that Dylan could get ready for bed. John had to hold the fort down solo, because Krista went with a friend to a concert. I hear a minor miracle occurred: Eli went to bed before 11 PM.

Our Sunday visits seem to have become routine. I'm not complaining: Shane plays and I talk and eat.

Win-win.