A Fond Farewell

Tomorrow Jack will be attending his very first adoption event so today might be our last day with him. 

 

We are all dealing with his approaching departure in our own ways.  

The boy wrote Jack a song that he plans to sing to Jack tonight.  The girl will be accompanying him with her violin.  

Chase has been lovingly petting Jack and telling him how much he is going to miss him.

And Davis has been coming up with new last minute ways to torture him-- like climbing in to his cage, shutting the door, and taunting him with his ball.

The Combine Cake

Chase's combine cake. Though it isn't perfect, it was a heck of a lot easier to make than the monster truck/fire truck cake he requested last year.

We Teach Equality Young in This House

While waiting for his bus to come Chase had the following discussion with the dog

Hi Jack.  How are you?
[Chase pets him a few times]
Did you know we have the same face?
We just have different colors of skin.
Mine is . . . um
[Chase pauses to examine his hand]
 . . . kind of yellow, and yours is pink. 

An Interview With Chase on His 5th Birthday

Q: How old are you today?
A: Five

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Yellow

 Q: Whats your favorite food?
A: Pizza

Q: What kind of pizza?
A: Macaroni  (he means pepperoni)


Q:  What do you think about Construction Site Lewis?
A:  I think when I'm an adult I'll miss him . . . and the frogs . . .  and Frankie.  I'll miss them when I go to that place when I'm an adult.


Q: What place are going when you're an adult?
A:  I don't know . . . but I think it's in California.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A:  I want to help Kai at his vet place.

Q: What are you going to do there?
A: I'm going feed his fishes and drive his tractors.


Q: Tell me something interesting about yourself.
A:  Sometimes I get hats and pretend that hats are wheels.

Q: What kind of a cake are you going to have tonight?
A: John Deere Combine.

Q: Why do you like John Deere so much?
A: That's 'cause John Deere farmers feed cows.

Q: What can you do now that you're 5 that you couldn't do when you were 4?
A: Steal lephracaun's hats.  That will be funny.  But they might bite me.

My Budding Artist

I am very excited to announce that Davis has made significant progress in his artistic abilities in the last 24 hours.

When he started out with his little red marker he was limited to scribbling . . .

. . . in my bedroom

. . . and in the bathroom

. . . and on the dryer.

All this practice gave him the ability to draw more complicated things--like people . . .

. . . on the cupboard in the pantry.

Which, not surprisingly, captivated him enough that he tried his hand at modern art  . . .

. . . on the dog.

I'm so proud I'm practically in tears.

Eleven Years of Bliss

Today Michael and I are celebrating eleven years of marital bliss, which is really quite an accomplishment when you consider I'm only twenty-six.

But you know its love when the guy you're dating brings an extra coat because he thinks that you'll forget yours and get cold, when the truth is that you actually chose not to bring it. (Sometimes a woman just has to make sacrifices for the sake of fashion.)

Then, four kids later, you get up in the morning and you're taking those kids to school, and you realize he put a bunch of brand new CDs in the car's CD player the night before, just for you. It's been a pretty good eleven years.

So how is my anniversary going so far? Well . . .

My day started off by reading an email from a friend who told me I am awesome--which is never a bad way to start a day. After taking the kids to school, I threatened to take University Health Care to Small Claims Court over a matter of five dollars. I am pleased to tell you that I can expect a check for those five dollars in my mailbox within three weeks.  To top it off, I just sold a pattern.

I'd say that so far today has been fantastic! Eleven years of marriage, kids at school, selling a pattern, a threatening phone call, five dollars in the mail, and being told I'm awesome all make for a pretty damn good start to the day. Now if I only had a Dr. Pepper . . . .

Bargaining Tactics

Lately all my conversations with Davis have followed this pattern

D:  Where are you going?
Me:  Out with my friends.
D: I'm coming with you?
Me: Nope.  Just me. 
D: And me?
Me:  No.  You're staying home with Daddy.
D: You're staying with Daddy?
Me: No, you're staying with Daddy.  I'm going out.
D: With me?
 . . . .

It goes around and around like this until one of us (me) begins to scream and yank large tufts of hair out of their head. 

Though it was funny when he did it to Madison yesterday.

D:  What are you doing?
M: Vacuuming.
D: I'm helping you?
M: No.  I'm going to do it by myself.
D: With me?
 . . . .