A few seconds later 8yo came in pulling 6yo and griping at him to wash his hands. He also had 5yo in train. 6yo was protesting and 8yo was explaining that mom said everyone had to wash his hands. I was tired so I just listened! They got to the bathroom and 8yo was still admonishing 6yo to wash his hands in a very stern voice. I heard the water running in the sink, and apparently 6yo was complying because the next thing I heard was 5yo crying that she didn’t get to be first to wash her hands! So there they were, poor 6yo, who had been minding his own business with the dead lizard, torn from what he wanted to do and washing his hands obediently against his will, 8yo griping and forcing 6yo and 5yo to do something for their own good (although unnecessary), and 5yo crying and complaining about something as silly as the order in which they were doing it.

Then I thought, Is this how God sees us? It’s easy to chuckle at these kids acting like this, but are they really that different from grown-ups? We just do it in different ways about different things, but it’s basically the same.

I told her I wanted to be like her. She laughed and kissed my cheek. “You wanna be like a kid?” I told her that I’d never seen anyone so able to have fun as she is. And that she has limitless energy. That most of the time when I’m frustrated with her it’s because I just can’t keep up with her. She said, “Yeah only kids have energy.” I agreed and she said, “How much energies does grown-ups have? Only one energy? Two energies? Five?” Now how do you answer that?

8yo loves China, so for his birthday we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors at HMNS. 6yo and a neighbor came along, too. Here they are doing their warrior poses in front of the exhibit entrance. No photo taking was allowed, but it was a great exhibit. 8yo loved it.

After the exhibit we went to eat at China Bear. Here we are are feeding the fish at their koi pond.

Singing Happy Birthday.

A little help opening presents.

We love China.

Then we painted caterpillar puppets.

We started with several colors to choose from, but they all ended up with black caterpillars in the end. Kids like to mix paint. And put a lot of paint on. We have to let these dry and finish putting on their faces next week.

…and nowhere to go! 4yo came downstairs all dressed up one day. She does that often, but its usually princess stuff. This time she looked stylish, so I took her picture to remember.

Notice the camo hat with sequin headband and pink backpack.

And that great scarf!