Hollow Noggins

They all gathered round.
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To scoop out the insides.
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It was a tough job.
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One you had to psych yourself up for.
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But they all knew it would be worth it.
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An eye? An eye.
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Clean up was a snap.
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What they gave life to.

A Study in Classical Music

"This is my favorite one," I heard them say. I knew they were watching a Warner Brother's video. I wondered if their favorite one was my favorite one when I was a kid.
"Is it the barbershop?" I yelled into the living room, "where he's slapping him on the head with his ears?"
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Yep. I was so glad they'd inherited this valuable piece of history.
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Not to mention the classical music background: The Marriage of Figaro. Did you know? I knew.
Because it's written on the cartoon sign in the end.
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Now here is something you can walk away with. This previous era of animation is one looked upon as never to be repeated. There were 9 old men known as... The Nine Old Men.... that could draw like nobody's business. They created works that are unequaled today. Nowadays animation is shipped overseas to sweat shops and cranked out with little skill. I think the kids can tell. I think if given a choice, they'd like this better.
And I'm so happy to pass it down.

It Ain't Godot

Who are you waiting for Daisy?
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Who is it?
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Your best friend, of course!
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Daisy does this every day, while Kiki completes her downstairs chores.
Such a faithful dog.

Storage Space

The kids are old enough to make music choices. I told them that they had to be really careful what music they listened to because it would stick in their brains forever. To prove my point I said that I could remember songs from waaaaaaaaaay back. Songs that I listened to before anyone told me to use discretion. I told them that I bet every lyric I'd ever heard was stuck in my brain somewhere.
"Sing one, sing one!" they cried.
The first one that came to my mind out of nowhere was:
"Ooh, ooh, witchy woman, see how high she flies!"
They roared with laughter. "Do it again, Mom!"
I don't know the name of that song, or who sang it, or what it was about, but I could sing the next line:
"Ooh, ooh, witchy woman, she's got the moon in her eye-eye-eye-eyes."
They thought this was just hilarious. I didn't bother to sing the next song that popped into my head:
"Billy, don't be a hero, don't be a fool with your life. Billy, don't be a hero, come back and make me your wife. And as he started to go, she said Billy, keep your head low, oh-oh. Billy, don't be a hero, come back to me."
It's sad.
And scary.
And I hope I'm not in a nursing home at 90 repeating snatches of lines like these. It's all up there. It's just that today, I can control it.

SkateBoard Fail

Hey, let's build a skateboard ramp!
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It's not working! My wheels, my wheels are getting stuck-ded.
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This is a bad ramp.
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Sawyer, you've got to have enough momentum not to stop mid way.
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Do it like Greyson. He's got it down.
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Fail 1. Watch this 3 times quickly.
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Fail 2
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Fail 3.
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Fail 4.
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Win.
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Skateboard Win for the wee one.
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Americans Don't Do Tea

"Are you coming to Tea today?"
I never heard that expression when I was in the States. I read about it in Jane Austen novels. I thought it was something romantic and whimsical that happened in England and Ireland. But guess what? Canadians do Tea! And now I do, because they've asked me. And I think it is romantic and whimsical even though I go in my jeans and nobody is wearing lace or hats. It's just a bunch of ladies drinking tea and eating dainties. But Tea is the hub of the wheel and I've finally figured out that the reason you need Tea is to relax, pause, and fellowship. With that warm cup in your hand you can't say you really have to go, or you don't have time stay. The time frame starts and stops with the pouring of the first steaming cup, and the downing of the last sip. I wonder if God designed the cooling rate of H20 to correspond to the exact amount of time it takes to have a nice conversation and relax? It's seems the kind of thing He would do.

I'm not sure Americans can adopt this custom because like me, we think you have to do this:







This is tea for Americans. We just can't separate the two. And I blame it on 18th Century English Literature. Our forefathers should have put a line or two about Tea somewhere in all those documents they passed down to us.

Fifty Cents Worth of Fun

If you have a quarter or two you can spend a good 45 minutes doing this.
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Spinning quarters is best done first thing in the morning before the rest of the family is up and about.
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Jammies are the preferred accoutrement.
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And morning hair helps a lot.

Ankle Deep in Shingles

This is what it looks like when all the old shingles on your roof are thrown onto the ground.
You can pay the roofers to pick them up, or....
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Find cheaper labor.
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This is our side yard, with all the kids and even our neighbor friend involved in clean-up.
It was the old Tom Sawyer painting the fence scenario again. Gab saw them all knee deep in shingles from across the street and he thought, "what better way to spend the afternoon?"
So he scampered over to join us.
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Right, Gab?
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They'd already done the back yard.
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You couldn't see the green grass when they first began.
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And in the front yard, Sawyer and Tristan were taking turns with the magnet sweep picking up old nails.
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The nail sweep was a hot commodity. He who owned it was king.

Goin' Fishing

Greyson, what are you fishing for? And what's Tristan doing there in the background peering so intently into the grass?
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Fishing for nails in the grass from the roofing job. With a magnet tied on a string.
Didjuh catch any? About 20, you say?
He caught 20. Maybe with daylight he'll catch a few more.
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The boys didn't have to be persuaded. As soon as I proposed the idea they were all over it like nails on a magnet. Say, 'pick up the nails in the yard' and they'll wait until dark to start. Say, 'I bet a magnet on a string would work', and they'll be out the door to try it before they can get their shoes on.

Breakfast at Our House...

I love finding things like this at the breakfast table.
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You never know who's going to show up.

They Found My Coin

The problem is, the kids think they have carte blanche over my coin purse. If this were not the case, everything would still be okay. But since they did and do get into my coin purse, they found my "coin". Which makes me wonder why I put it there in the first place. I just didn't think it would hold an attraction for them. But now I see it is just the sort of thing a kid prizes. It's a packish, prized item that belongs in kidlife if ever anything did.
It was given to me as a gift from another mom. Ready to see it?
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Wow.
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Stupefying.
Actually, it is a Mom Coin for those stupefying moments when your head is stuffed full, stuffed to the brim with laundry and dinner and dilemmas like can I host a mother/daughter Spa Day when there are roofers on my roof? It's for those moments when you think you can't handle one more question and then your sweet child will ask you something like, "Can we go to the skateboard park after Theatre Class?" For these moments you need the Mom Coin. You don't have to think, you let the coin think for you and your brain gets a mini-spa treatment of it's own.
Well, that's before the kids found it. This morning they turned it into a Guessing Coin with questions like these:

Will I get married someday? (one of the boys asked this)
Did the kennel lady really walk Daisy, because she's so fat?
Will we go eat at a special restaurant?
Do ipods really cause cancer?
Will I ever get a horse at Bradley stables?
Will Tristan and Sawyer ever not be a booger beast anymore someday?
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The answers would bring rowdy choruses of "YAY!" or disappointing groans of "NOOOOO!" depending on the outcome.
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Here are just a few more:
Will I always be a cool ninja?
Will I get all the Webkinz I ever wanted?
Will I have a gazillion dollars?
Will I always be a skateboard guy that does tricks and be a race car player?
Will all my beautiful dreams come true?
Will SOME of my dreams come true?
Will at least one of my dreams come true?
I really want my birthday, will my birthday come today?
Will I ever be friends with Toby McGuire?
Will Greyson ever shut up?
Will I ever go to the skateboard park sometime?
Will I ever be a working man?



Here's what a yes answer elicited:


What's the best day of your life when you're 5 years old?
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DisaPPOINTed!
(name that movie)

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Foul.
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And finally, here's the first question he asked.

It makes you wonder, but I promise we are trying to raise law abiding citizens.

On the Roof...

Finally, at our house, some guys doing jobs that are fun to watch.
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Greyson did more than watch, he pitched right in. He's a pitching in boy. The other boys weren't even allowed outside because of falling debris.
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Kiki was allowed outside. Hey, Kiki, whatcha' doin'?
Looks like nothing.
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Right, Kiki? I guess you're not much of a pitching in girl.
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Unless it involves animals. She'll brave any peril for a couple of fuzzy ears
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The boys can keep the roofing job.

Just to Clear Things Up...

All of the kids have brown eyes and brown hair-- Todd's features. Except Tristan. I was examining his unique blond hair/ blue eyes and I told him: "You got Mommy's genes, Tristan." This was lost on him. His hands reached down to pat his blue jeans and he said with a confused expression, "These are yours?"
"No," hoping to clear things up I explained, "What I mean to say is, you are a Crook."

He just went back to playing his game of Sorry with Sawyer. I guess Mom says enough silly things that one more can go by without comment.

Silly punkin' head.