Our Little Birthday Man

Scott woke up early this morning.  It's a big day today...he's officially five.

He told me he knew he was five today because his toes have gotten even longer.  That's a nice thing to know...next October, I'll start measuring my toes early so I can hit my birthday measurements accurately.

I sure do love this little guy...

Happy Birthday, Scott!!!

A 'Quick' Photo Shoot

Just so I'll never forget the fun it is to do a group shot with the kids, here is our 'quick' snapshot for the church directory.

Hey...Let's see if we can do a little better...

Don't you love the windswept tie look?

  

Ruh-roh.  Someone made us giggle.

So close...so close...

Obviously we decided to go with an earlier attempt.  The longer and harder you try, the worse it gets.

The Real Story of Cincinnati Chili, Part 1

Before I begin with this mess, I'd better make a disclaimer.  This story is in no way supposed to be good writing.  It was, in fact, a ridiculous game some friends and I started a few years ago to amuse ourselves...a chain story.  That was before I began the ridiculous game of blogging, obviously.  I began the story, left off at a crucial moment and emailed it to a friend to continue.  She continued and emailed back to me or some other victim, uh I mean, friend until it was all done.  All in all, there were four of us who contributed, some of whom (names have been eliminated to protect the guilty parties) are readers of this blog.  As you read along, keep in mind that our whole purpose was to amuse ourselves and shock the next recipient with the next installment.  Please don't critique too harshly!!!  

The slight breeze was almost musical as it fingered its way through the leaves of the trees. 

The setting sun looked like a soggy vanilla wafer in  a  sea  of pumpkin pie filling.  

Hannistina gracefully shielded her face from her whipping, but immaculate hair.  Her thoughtsimmediately flew to the last time she had seen him.  A wave of nostalgia swamped her, as wellas acraving for chocolate.  It was three long weeks ago that the course of her life had  

changed  forever. 

While the urge to reminisce was strong, the desire for chocolate won out.  Hannistina enteredthe back door of her cottage.  The smells of home wrapped their arms around her and welcomed her into her kitchen.  After filling the teapot and setting it on the stove to boil, she hungher wraps over the back of the kitchen chairs.  She peeked in the oven door to check the 

baking apple crisp, and then went to the pantry to retrieve her own special cocoa 

blend.

Before she could prepare her "relaxation in a  cup", the phone rang.  It was him.

To be continued... 

Strategic Compulsory Visitation or How to Get Your Kids to Come and See You

by my Mom (This is scarily true...Sheesh!)

If, to see your newest grandchild you are wishin',

Send your offspring on a long distance expedition.

We'll share our plan to bring the thing about,

And you'll discover whether you have any clout.

Now this is the truth- It is not perjury-

All you have to do is to schedule a surgery.

 

If your youngest grandson has you besotted,

Have the doctor roto-rooter your carotid.

If your smiley granddaughter needs to be brung,

Just tell the surgeon to remove your lung.

If your namesake has your birthday baby stolen,

Merely go in the hospital and bisect your colon.

 

Whether you're aching to see your son or daughter,

Remember that blood is thicker than water!

Unselfishness...

"Mom, when I grow up, I'm going to work really hard so Daddy doesn't have to..."


Scott said this to me today.  It's one of those proud, sweet moments that make me think we're doing something right.  What an unselfish little man!

The Walk to the Bus

I recently wrote a post about riding to school on the bus, and it brought back so many memories!  Here's something else that jumped into my mind...the way we'd walk or ride our bikes to the bus stop.

For those of you who never went to a rural school, you'll have no idea what this is like.  We were to meet the bus at the neighbor's red house on the corner of our gravel road every morning.  She didn't have any kids in school, but it was on the turn to some other houses.  We must have been so pesky to her bickering and scaring her chickens every morning at 7:30!  She probably thought she was past all that when she married off her last kids!

Anyway...our driveway was a rocky gravelish road of 1/4 mile or so.  In the middle stretch of driveway was a moderate hill, an enourmous puddle we called a lake, and another huge very rocky hill.  Every morning I'd load up my backpack, grab my clarinet and/or lunch, hop on my bike and head out.  It was easy riding until we passed the turkey barn and silo.  Then came the first hill.  The trick to riding the driveway was to brake as little as possible on the way down hill #1, aim for the three inches of dry or muddy ground on the side of the lake, then pedal furiously up hill #2.  If you could do that, you could almost make it up to the top before getting off and walking your bike up to the cattle guard.

I've often thought of myself tearing down one of the hills on my bike, gripping the handle bars along with the lunch box and hugely inconvenient band instrument, trying like crazy to hold on.  The wind would whip through my hair and my heart rate would increase from the scariness of the ride...and we all did it twice a day!

We'd stow our bikes just over the cattle guard and walk the last bit through the field, then climb over the barb wire fence, trying not to catch hair, clothes, or any of our paraphenalia on a barb before jumping the ditch to get to the neighbor's house.  On days we were late, it must have been a sight to behold!

Last year I walked the old driveway again with my kids.  I was shocked at how steep the big hill was!  Could I really have ridden down it at full speed with all my stuff?  Yes...a lot!  Was I just that athletic or just that stupid?

You should have seen my brother, Amos fly down.  It's a miracle he can still walk!

Marcus Stone

Have you ever seen the artwork of Marcus Stone?  Here is my favorite, called Profile of a Young Girl.

I love the softness and light accents in her hair.  The innocence of the pink ribbon and rose really stand out against the darkness of the background.  It does look very fresh and young and innocent, doesn't it?  It reminds me of my sweet Cara picking flowers and putting them in her hair and clothes now that Spring is here.  It's one of the sweetest delights of girlhood!