As I was cutting strawberries for our Bible study dinner last night, I saw Bowden, out of the corner of my eye, give a little jump and heard his "Ooohh!"
I looked at him, and he looked at me and said, seriously, "I thought that was a creature."
He was pointing at a strawberry stem that had fallen on the ground.

Later, to see the reaction again, I called to him as he was playing in the living room, "Bowden, come see, a creature!"
He replied, "No! I'm scared of a creature!"
"Come on!" and so he came, stopped ten feet away from me and said, "Where?"
"Right there." I pointed.
"Where?"
"Oh, wait, it's not a creature. It's a strawberry stem! Do you want to hold it?"
He looked at it with distrust, which I may have deserved, but certainly not the strawberry stem, "No."
I am not usually so deceitful with my babes, but I loved how he said "creature," and the look on his face.
I did not scar him.

Happy Birthday, Nanny!
Bowden and Lucy and I went shopping this morning- I went to Albertson's instead of Stater Brothers, which is right down "the hill." I did this all for their french bread- bake at home baquettes that I slightly undercook until they are not doughy, but still soft. If I was a superhero, my weakness would be soft, warm bread. I lose all (will)power.
Lucy probably benefitted from the extra twenty minutes of driving, napping, but it put Bowden into such a tizzy when we got in the store that I ended up buying a cup, an apple, and a bag of fruit snacks that he bit savagely into. (Just so you know, he does not get food he bites, even if we have to buy it. Our Bible study tonight benefitted from a happy apple, and I ate the fruit snacks, although I did not benefit.)
He ran immediately to the floral section and grabbed a balloon- today is my mother's birthday, and Bowden has been excited about it all day.
He found one that said, "Sale!Sale!Sale!" in red letters at the checkout stand, and I had him put it back, as it was not really right for the situation, and not for sale so much as advertising a sale.
Then he found this mylar monster birthday balloon for $8.99. That too was vetoed.
Finally he chose a nice butterfly balloon for only three dollars, and he carried it around the store knocking into people, hitting it at people, and falling down without letting it go. Everyone, even the victims of his balloon rampage, said,
"Is this your balloon? What a nice balloon!"
Bowden would say, "Yes! No! It's for Nanny! It's Nanny's birthday! We called her, and she wasn't there, so we left a message and said, 'happy birthday!'......."
I don't think most people understood the last part of what he was saying if they understood anything at all.
When we got home, I had him lie down for a nap, so the only picture is with Lucy, who wanted to eat the balloon. She wants to eat everything but food....well, and soft, warm bread.

Happy birthday, Mom! Bowden told me that you told him he could hit your balloon around and play with it and take the string off....although I know you haven't talked to him today.
We love you!

"Bowden, hold your basket up!"
Being the first of our family's children at nearly three years old means that Bowden got to hunt for about three dozen eggs all for him.
He found three and started cracking them open and eating them right away- Bowden loves hard-boiled eggs. Rosie and Nanny and Daddy found most of the others and pointed them out, and then Bowden picked them up.
Really, he liked the toys that were in the basket most, and was a little distracted. The Easter Bunny, (yes, we have an Easter Bunny, who celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ by leaving eggs all over the yard and filling a basket with toys. The eggs, we tell Bowden, celebrate the new life we have in Christ.) oh yes, the Easter Bunny left some 100-percent-fruit snacks in some of the plastic eggs, and that is what kept Bowden going.
So, although you can't see it, Bowden has a mouth full of at least three bags of fruit snacks. If Bowden were a chipmunk, and fruit snacks were nuts, he'd be set for three or four winters.

Light in my Grandparent's Yard

My little Light is enjoying the warmth of the lowlands while her mother bedecks her with jasmine vines.

She is very interested my grandma's dog who is barking at birds. Her third word, which she pronounced at the time of these pictures is "daw."

Bowden is a wild boy with jasmine and bird feathers, but he was also in the nude and, being a wild man, shows no modesty at all, and I have no decent photos of him.

We stayed in the Valley the day after Easter and had a slow and lazy day of relaxing after our vacation to the beach...I guess we were still in beach mode.

Bowden did his best to do what my grandparent's dog did- bark, run randomly about, and defecate in the garden.

He was very good at it.

Do puppies like oranges?

You would think that Bowden loves puppies, and he likes them, but he scares the poor things by barking and growling.
This is also the way that Bowden plays with other small children. We were visited by this little fire-cracker named Lainey the other day, and her grandmother tried to warn me.
"She's a little wild."

Buckle up, Lainey, here come Bowden.

This puppy, named Midnight by some not-so-creative little girls, was very sweet and shy, and Bowden was a little too much for her.
The puppy really liked me, though, and it was a nice day at my grandma's house.