The Swamp Thing Returns

Once again, H has an interesting description for the taste of food. The food this time: honey mustard dressing. The taste equivalent: nail polish.

Chick Flick

As the guys prepared to watch the Mavs play tonight, JRR asked H, "Do you want to go watch a movie with Mom in her room? You'll like it; she's watching a chick flick." Her face twisting with indignation, she responded, "I don't want to watch chickens!"

To Kill a Mockingbird?

(Yes, I am aware this is not a mockingbird)

A few weeks ago, JRR and I spent a sleepless night listening to the incessant noise of a bird in the tree outside our bedroom window. This bird literally chirped all night, with no more than 45 second breaks.

Determined that I would not be robbed of my sleep a second night, I turned to the www in search of an answer. Well, we all know what kind of crazy things you can find there, but I did at least find enough information that was consistent and made some sense. What I found that greatly disturbed me was that, if this was a seasonal, territorial issue, it could last from days to a couple of months. Not acceptable.

My determination growing stronger, I asked little L that morning if he knew where his air soft gun was. “Yes,” he replied, “why?”

“Ever wanted to shoot a bird?”

“Cool!”

Since it was doubtful that he would be able to even see the bird and would only be shooting up into the tree to frighten it away, I didn’t expect the bird to be harmed. However, I was willing to take that risk. I get extremely serious about sleep, and seriously irrational without it.

We watched and listened that day as the bird (NOT a sweet dove like you see above) did some sort of fighting dance with a bird from the next tree. The noise continued the entire day. . .until dusk when little L and his dad went to take care of the matter. The noise had ceased and the bird was nowhere to be seen. Poor little L came back inside disappointed but vowing to jump out of bed that night if needed to defend his mother’s sanity. It was not needed. We never heard from the bird again.

Fast forward to a few days ago. As I was sitting at my desk in the living room, I noticed a dove sitting on the window ledge above the front door, peering in.

“Awww,” I gushed, “there’s a dove in the window watching us.”

Without missing a beat, little L offered, “Shoot it!”

Lego Girl

H has never been fond of playing with Legos. However, the other day I gave Legos as an assignment during school. I love how her mind works--she works her girlishness into everything she does. Here she is with the Lego Closet:



The flag she made for her very patriotic dad, and she definitely received the brownie points she sought with that creation!

Wool sweaters and dryers

A friend recently posted about a mishap for which he felt like kicking himself. I thought I'd give him some company.

The sweaters below both belong to JRR. The sweater on the left (given to him by his daughter for Christmas, and which he has worn only twice), made it through the washer and dryer undetected by me until I was putting the load away. Fortunately, I have a very good natured husband whose first thought was a blog entry! After reading the cell phone incident, I decided it must be time to make it happen. I owe my wonderful husband at least this!





It would barely fit Little L!

Little L

Upward basketball is the extracurricular activity of choice for Little L this season. Soccer has been the passion for the last several years, but he needed a change. I am continually amazed by his energy, enthusiasm, and drive. He may be little, but not intimidated. Although a bit nervous at the beginning of the season (he has not played basketball since 1st grade-he is now 5th), he has jumped right in and is doing well.

The camera we used to take these pictures is not so great, and the lighting in the gym (as illustrated by silhouette man in the last picture) is even worse. We'll get a better picture of little L up soon. I love this last picture; it speaks volumes about him. Notice that while the other players casually move to the bench, little L is still on a mission. He never stops!

"It dawned on me. . ."

As we are spending time following the primaries, watching our sons become interested in the candidates and the process, and finding opportunities to teach them the importance of being responsible voters, it dawned on me. . . Big L will be able to vote in the NEXT (2012) presidential election! Which means, of course, that he will be an ADULT.

So many thoughts on that, but it must wait for another time. Now, it's time to blog about Little L.