Spinach and Hummus--Yum!

Time to give a little update, which may be a bit lengthy.

Zeke has been having a grumpy week, mostly due to his five new teeth that are coming through. One of them finally poked its way through his gums on Thursday, the other four look like they've come through just because they're pressing on his gums so hard. We're hoping they poke through soon, mostly because he's the only 14-month-old we know with just two visible teeth! Zeke also continues his dinnertime eating strike, but we made a great discovery this week--he loves hummus! He ate a bowlful of plain hummus a few days ago, and yesterday when I spread some on crackers for him, he licked it off and threw the crackers on the floor. Well, we figure if he lives on fruit, yogurt, and hummus, he'll be healthy enough. Oh, and sugar cookies, yeah, he loves those too!

Riley had a great time at his fourth birthday party last weekend. We were very relieved that he didn't wake up with the stomach flu that morning (the rest of us had just recovered). He and his friends made spaceships, went to "Mars" in our basement, and devoured the entire planet of Saturn (a cake version). They were five really well-behaved four-year-olds!

Sammy gave a talk last week in Primary. He was cheerful and read the whole thing clearly all by himself! We were proud, but also surprised, because the whole thing seemed doomed from the start. He was mad that he had to talk about an assigned topic, not one of his choice. He also had been up until 10:30 the night before with cousins, so he was grumpy and hysterical most of the morning, until right before church. Thank goodness for little miracles.

This week he and Riley have been obsessed with Popeye, which is both good (they gobble down spinach like it's candy) and bad (they pretend to fight, and do Popeye's special wind-up punch). The boys also ended up with tons of temporary tattoos from Valentine parties, and they have been covered in them for a few days. But this morning Sammy came to me concerned that they didn't wash off in his bath, and he asked me to remove them before church! When the boy wants to do the right thing, he goes all the way. (Good thing he wasn't sleep-deprived today like he was last week!)

Not much new for Bruce and me. I started helping out in the nursery at a local gym once a week in exchange for a family membership. Bruce and the boys are excited about that one. We are trying to decide the best way to spend the holiday tomorrow--Bruce is trying to keep me out of the kitchen because I've been baking a bit too much this past week. By the way, Bruce challenges every one of you to a human bench-pressing contest. He practices on Zeke frequently, but I've warned him he has to be able to bench-press ME before he can really brag. He talks all the time about what wimps Dan and Kent are...