Just when you think you have your kids figured out - they surprise you.

Yesterday we visited my friend, Lesley. Lesley has 2 year old twins. Ben and I had a long talk before we arrived at Lesley because he dislikes babies and toddlers and is wont to show it. I gave him strategies on how to avoid the toddlers that would still allow him to appear polite and gracious.

Imagine my surprise when I heard fits of giggles coming from the children. Ben was hamming it up and totally cracking up the toddler twins. Then he took it on himself to give Katie and Rivvie rides on their ride on trucks. Those were two happy little girls (mom as well as pushing them kills her back). Ben loved being the object of adoration and pushing them around the house allowed him to be very active without becoming obnoxious.

My little Shira spent time hamming it up and pushing them around and then decided to read Katie a story. It was so sweet seeing her so earnestly reading "Spider's Tea Party" to Katie.

Notice Katie's red curls. I badly wanted red headed children and instead got children with mousey brown/dirty blonde hair. Somehow all my wishing translated into all my friends having red headed children. It's crazy. I am surrounded by them and not one of them my own.

Talking about red headed children, my dear friend Lydia has two children, the red headed Benny (Benjamin) and the red headed Sadie. My twins, who I dearly wished to be red heads are Benjamin and Shira. Shira was named for her late great aunt, Sadie.

Here they are spelling their words at one of our spelling bees.

Benny


Sadie


Ben


Shira

Our spelling be was another surprise. Each child got to spell 10 words at each bee. Who would have thought that something like this would be the hit it was with the children. We're taking the summer off and my kids are not happy. So now I hold mini bees with just the two of them while we wait at the allergist's office after our allergy shots. I think there is something very empowering for children when they can show off their skills. I always choose words that I know they have the skills to spell. The idea behind this spelling bee was to encourage the children and to give them confidence in their spelling abilities and it's worked.