Free bike wash

Unbelievably busy day today.  Dentist appointments, school work, laundry, ballet, drama, martial arts, single parenting while Mike is in Chicago for work.  I was looking at the schedule and wondering how we were going to do it all when Noah came running in and yelled, "Mom!  There's a free bike wash down the street!  Can we go?" 

Then they dropped a white feather down the drain across the street and ran to the creek to see how long it took it to come out.

They built a wall out of rocks and mud too.  We finally did get everything done on the list, but it involved Sarah doing math while Noah was at martial arts, and Noah doing laundry while Sarah was at drama, and all of us working later than usual.  Tomorrow is shaping up to be another busy day. 

Earning his stripes

I'm so proud of how far he's come in three months!

Stories

The Adventure of the Peanut

by Sarah Janes

10/11/12

Once there was a peanut, which rolled off the picnic table. It got pushed into the ground by a gray squirrel. It grew some roots, a stem, and branches. Not a peanut tree though. It became a peanut bushel, and squirrels ate off it.

THE END

Nutty for the Nut

by Noah Janes

10/11/12

There once was a little walnut. It grew on a tree. When it fell down, a squirrel almost ate it, but then a gopher tried to get it. They argued and argued and argued over who would get the walnut. They finally said, “Let's take a vote.”

Each got a piece of paper and a pen and went scampering around getting signatures. (Now this is only between you and me, but while they were scampering around, the walnut was slowly decomposing). First, the squirrel went to Mrs. Peacock's house, just across the farm. Gopher went to the old horse to get his signature. Then Squirrel rushed towards the pigs, and Gopher went to the cows. Squirrel got the chickens' signatures, and Gopher got the goats'.

By the time they got back and were about to count up the votes, they noticed...Hey! Where's the walnut? They looked right where they left it and all around, but it was nowhere to be found. It had decomposed while they were getting votes.

The next spring, guess what they found growing out of the ground?

THE END

The moral of the story is: You can't be too greedy.

Free speech

While we were at Lin's Buffet today, the kids and I were talking about the Presidential debates, the upcoming election, etc.  Sarah was getting all riled up until she finally yelled, "Obama stinks!" at a moment when the full restaurant was pretty quiet.  Noah sank down in his chair, mortified, and hissed, "Everyone is looking at us!  You can't just yell that out in a restaurant!"  I told him that, actually, she could, because we are blessed to live in a country where we have freedom of speech.  Then I told them both that we should respect the office of President of this great country, even if the person holding the office "stinks".  Just because disrespecting our President is legal and all too common doesn't mean it's right.  Romans 13:7 tells us to give respect and honor to those who are in authority. 

a golden day

Today marks the 8th year that we got Sarah on October 8th, so that makes this her Golden Gotcha Day!  I hope it was an extra special one for her.  She was pretty sweet all day.  She woke up requesting waffles and also wanted to make the ginger lemonade she saw on Food Network.  She asked if we could go to Lin's Buffet for lunch (which she quite often does and I usually say no), and I said yes.  Tonight I took her to Fancy Nails, as promised in the Great Nail Fight of three months ago.

Then we topped it off with a Dilly Bar at DQ.

When we got home, we made cookies for Mike to take to a potluck at work tomorrow (killed two birds with one stone there!).  Sarah rattled off this poem she made up on the spot about her big day:

Oh the fame of being a gotcha day girl.

You can be loved and dance and twirl

just like you're a famous shining pearl.

Oh the fame of being a gotcha day girl!

Nashville--last one

Last night at the pool

I nabbed a luggage cart the night before we left, so we could load up in the morning.  The carts are under tight security, and it's hard to get your hands on one without a bellboy.  Sarah usually rides on the cart, but she disapproved of my stealing this one, so she said, "I'm not riding on this cart of sin."

A welcome sign!

Nashville--day 5

The weather was finally perfect, so we went to the zoo.

There's a great playground in the middle of the zoo.

You enter the playground through the snake's mouth.

Playing football in a field at the zoo.

This elephant was doing some weird stuff.  He was blowing in his own ears with his trunk, doing some strange ballet steps, and he topped it all off with a loud trumpet!

elephant skull

There were two adult giraffes and two babies (only one baby in this picture).  The male was trying to make more babies the whole time we were there, but the wife kept walking away. 

Inside the meerkat habitat

Lots of bamboo growing in the zoo

This meerkat was shaking and making a squeaky noise like he was laughing.

zoo parking lot on the way out