Treats from Japan

On Saturday, Rebecca surprised the boys with a box of treats from Japan!

This picture was taken after some snacks were consumed.
Rebecca totally spoiled them!

 Here they are sampling some strawberry Koala's March (aka Koala yummies). Verdict: delicious!

We tried the chocolate ones today and those were, per Julian, "2 thumbs way, way up!"

After the Koala yummies, they found the strawberry hi-chews, and
proceeded to dominate the entire package. 

And the most prized goody was this awesome police car filled with cups of fruit jelly! These little cups of magic were the best!

They replaced the jellies with hot wheels, so that now
they have a giant car full of little cars.

How lucky we are to have such amazing friends!

Julian, Super Coolian, Gigantic Hooligan.

This morning I was awoken by Julian. He came into our bedroom around 7:30 and asked if he could snuggle me. How do you say no to that? He climbed on in and got under the covers. Directly, he let out a big, dramatic sigh,

The face of a deceiver.

"I can't wait for summer!"
"Why's that?" I inquired.
"Because we get to go on vacation...I wonder what cars we'll take."

Life is full of tough calls, man.

In other Julian news, this week he showed his true colors as a schemer. This is the first instance of such that I've noted in the ole feller, but sure to not be the last! Apparently, one of his classmates snuck a tablet to school, and Julian found that to be incredible. So, he was going to see what he could sneak. He landed on a little red car. The boys were getting their backpacks on when he disappeared into the living room, came back, and then asked Doug to put the car in his backpack. Thinking nothing of it, Doug complied. On the way to school, Doug heard him brainstorming his cover story of how the little red car had somehow fallen, accidentally of course, into his backpack without his awareness--*gasp*!!! 

I'm watching you, Jules, always watching!

Shushi

Tonight after the boys got their hair cut, we visited Hong Kong [Super Buffet]. After walking into the lobby, observing the gated fountain with Big Bird standing in front, Julian paused and  exclaimed, "This place is AAAH-MAAA-ZZIIINGGG!!!"

Getting excited to go make their plates.

Adventurous is his middle name.

"This shushi is delicious!"

"I just want cake because I love cake."

They're already planning our next outing. Julian thinks we should go to Buca di Beppo, "It's in Italy and we went there for Thanksgiving. I got a meatball as big as my head!"

Snacks from Greece

To say the boys are obsessed with geography is an understatement. Their recitation of countries and states and capitals of countries and states gives me severe flashbacks of Mr. McGuire's AP History Class.

At any rate, their love for the world inspired me to sign them up for Universal Yums. A little package will arrive once a month with trivia and snacks from around the world.

Tonight, they received their first box. Snacks from Greece.

The boys tried every single snack from the box (maybe if I told them their dinner was from another country, they'd try everything on their plates). After the first taste of something "yucky," Kate bailed. She no longer trusted the snack box and stuck to drinking her "milky milk." The biggest hit was Oregano Pijarn chips. They killed the bag! Runner-up was apple-lime gummies!

They also got to read about hobgoblins. However, when asked who they'd rather have around at Christmas, they all still prefer Santa.

Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip

A girl orders black raspberry chocolate chip. She gets the sample spoon because it is "so cute and teeny tiny." She digs in with great fervor.

She can hardly stand the wait from cup to mouth. She's got that crazy look in her eyes.

Be thankful you are not black raspberry chocolate chip ice cream. No mercy is shown.

 "Well, that will give me nightmares." - The girl's dad.

Ummm.

Maybe referring to her as Monster and Creature has done some real damage.

One of her latest pieces of artwork.

Also, when playing dolls, she always makes me play Anna (naturally, she's Queen Elsa). Should I be scared?

The Funny One

At the movies with this bunch today. Paddington 2.

Last night Julian told me, “Mom, you’re really bad at iPads.” He also told me over the weekend that, “You do Netflix really wrong.” It’s all true. My 5 year old is better at technology than I am.

How I get so angry when I cannot operate my device!! I want to scream profanities, but I cannot, which makes me even angrier. “WHY, TABLET, MUST YOU RETURN TO THIS FREAKING SCREEN? I DID NOT ASK YOU TO GO TO THIS SCREEN. I JUST WANT TO READ A BOOK. WHERE ARE MY BOOKS STORED? WHY CAN I NOT TOUCH THE BOOK ICON AND BE TAKEN TO THE BOOKS? I SHOULD’VE JUST BOUGHT A DAMN BOOK.” Deep inhale. Slow exhale. Do not throw tablet. Do not throw tablet.

I wonder what it’ll be like as they (my children) get older, and I get even worse at technology. It’ll be like the time my Pappaw said, “Reckon how they got that big buck to go into the gym like that?” In response to an insurance commercial with a CGI deer. I’ll be Pappaw. They’ll be me, sniggering in the background. Julian won’t even snigger, he’ll openly mock me as he does now. He thinks he’s so funny.

He actually said to Doug that he considers himself to be the funny brother. "Jonas is the cute one, and I am the funny one," he says. What a riot!