Career Plans

Last night at dinner, we were talking to Zac about colleges and future career plans. We asked him where he would like to go to college, and Kansas, Harding and ACU topped his list (hmmm...wonder why he's been thinking about Kansas?). Then Scott asked him what he would like to be when he grows up.

"I'm going to be a sports player," he replied, as sincerely as you can imagine.

"Well, what will you be if that doesn't work out?"

"Probably a doctor," he answered. Seth chirped up, "I'm going to be a doctor too. We can be doctors together! I'm going to find a cure for gluten-free!"

"So, Zac," I said, "are you going to be a gastroenterologist too?"

He thought for a minute. "I haven't decided yet."

Maybe he can pay for medical school with the money he makes from his NBA stint.

The Best Laid Plans

It's kind of a slow news day today, so I thought I would recount a story from about a year ago--one worth recording. It also gets us all in the mood for summer...




In July of last year, Zac and Seth took swimming lessons down at our pool every day (except Fridays). I had seen an advertisement for jeans on sale at K-Mart, and, seeing as how school was coming up pretty fast, I decided we needed to go stock up. My plan was to get everyone going early, with swimsuits on, buy the jeans, then drop the kids off at the pool. K-Mart is probably a little over a mile from the house, so my idea was a seamlessly beautiful work of planning. By 9, everyone was dressed, buckled up in the car, and we were off.



We had K-Mart to ourselves. It was fantastic. I loaded up a cart with jeans of every size and we went to the dressing room. I put one boy in each room (Blane didn't need to try anything on because I knew his size), and I stayed outside the dressing room so I could hand the kids their jeans. By that time, the clock was starting it's upwards swing towards 10, so I was stressing a bit.



"Come on, guys...let's hurry! Let's hurry!" Then I heard Seth's little voice from over the door.



"Mom, I don't have any unduh-wehr on."



This had been a recurring problem with Seth, and I was exasperated that he had chosen this day to forget his whitey-tighties.



"Seth! I keep telling you you have to wear your underwear EVERY DAY!!"



"But Mom," he said plaintively, "You told us to put on our swimsuit, so we couldn't wehr our unduh-weahr."



So I did. This was completely my fault. "Okay, Seth, you're right." I told them to stay right there and I went to the underwear rack. Of course, everything was more than I wanted to pay for dumb old underwear. I picked out some Superman undies for the guys, opened the package and everyone could try on their jeans. We bought our jeans (and underwear), left the store and got the kids to their lessons just on time.



Two months later, Zac grew out of those jeans.

Horton Hears a Who

I took the boys to see "Horton Hears a Who" on Sunday afternoon. The theater experience is always exciting for them--it's dark! It's loud! Look at all those trailers! Since I am heading up the KC celiac support kids' group for the spring, I had planned a movie matinee for the kids (yeah, I know "Horton" is old, but it's hard to find universally appropriate movies for the younger set). Only one other family beside us came. They had a little girl who was about Seth's age, who latched right on to him. They sat next to each other in the movie and shared a GF cookie with him. She was hugging all over him and asking for a playdate when the movie was over.

As we walked away, Seth said in his Seth voice, "That guhrl was TOTALLY in love with me."

Ear Infection

Seth woke up crying early Sunday morning (as in, right after midnight). He said his ear was really hurting. This is usually what happens with the guys' ear infections...intense pressure for about 8 hours or so and then the dam breaks and the yuck drains out through the tube. It looks horrible, but they actually feel much better when it happens. I had to give him a dose of Tylenol and some Benedryl to sleep. Like clockwork, he woke up crying 4 hours later...and I gave him another dose of Tylenol. Even though he was half-asleep, he was worried that he wouldn't get to see the movie on Sunday afternoon, poor baby! I told him he would most likely be able to go.

Sure enough, by morning he was better and his ear was draining. We started his antibiotic ear drops and everything will be fine.

Seth's Robots

Seth is building three robots out of Blockhead blocks. He really wanted me to post this on the blog. So there you are.

Little messes

Well, all is OFTEN not sunshine and flowers here. For example, Tuesday I was hosting Bunko at my house. I wanted everything just right, so I spent all day cooking and cleaning. Right there...that's where the trouble started with those two statements. Things actually rocked along pretty well, but I was behind in what I wanted to accomplish the entire day. The frustrating thing was, I had to feed these little critters, or find something, or solve a problem, or break up a fight, etc EVERY few minutes. At least, that is what I felt like. I felt guilty for feeling like they were in the way. And, of course, Seth spilled an entire cup of purple grape juice on the floor (it was a risk, I know, but 9 times out of 10 it doesn't get spilled--who knew this was the one time? But I should have known...). Scott, bless his soul, was home early and mowing the lawn. He then took Seth to Sears with him, but Blane was still sleeping when he left, so I couldn't send him. Zac had to discuss different measures with me for a school project, so we rounded up quarts, pints, liters, cups and tablespoons--that took time. Then the kids needed dinner, so I sent them outside for a "picnic" on the benches. Blane tumped over his milk and was inconsolable until I cleaned it up. There were several complaints about the menu from someone who shall remain nameless but who was born between Zac and Blane. Zac needed extra cheese. They ALL needed me NOW. All within the hour before my guests were to arrive. Scott was going to take them to visit Grandma and eat Baskin Robbins during Bunko, and I was just wanting everyone to go NOW.

I was thinking the other day about a story I heard. A man was complaining about the money he was spending on his son. Another man replied, "I know what you mean. I spent lots of money on my son. But he died in a car wreck last year, and now, I don't spend one penny on him. Right now, I would give anything to be spending money on my son."

I know it is normal and natural to get frustrated with the little inconveniences and messes my sons create, especially when I am under a deadline (and pressure, I must admit, that is largly my own creation). I just want to remember that I want to be "spending" for my sons--that means they are here with me now. No matter what the little messes are, I must not forget that truth.

Questions while Strolling

This morning was really lovely--perfect temperature, everything. I told Blane we'd go on a walk. He's big enough to walk with me for quite a ways, but I wanted it to be real exercise for me, so I put him in the stroller. We (of course) had to go see the pool with the "yucky water" and I had to assure him many times that they would put "the clear" in soon. Throughout the walk, he was asking me constant questions, about when the pool would have the blue water again, and what we were seeing next, and other random questions about houses or birds or trees...anything he saw. It was pretty much non-stop. The difficult part was that he talked in that soft little voice of his, and as I usually have to hear exactly what he is saying to understand what he is talking about (he has these unusual idioms for describing things--someday I'll make a list). I could not hear him perfectly with him facing forward and over the noise of the stroller. So I had to stop and walk around to face him and listen. I was able to get the general context of most of his questions (many times he just wants confirmation of the obvious), so I said, "Yes." most of the time. Tonight I told Scott about it all. He said that he often tells Blane that he's asked enough questions. But it's a little hard for the mommy to do that--that's part of a mommy of a three-year-old's job.

Talking with Seth

Tonight it was storming, so I lay down with Blane until he got sleepy. Seth kept asking me if he could talk to Daddy. He will just have random conversations with Scott about his day or things that he's thinking about...I think he just loves to have a talk with another guy. Scott, unfortunately, was in the middle of a long phone conversation.

"Mom, can you come up and talk to me?" he asked. How could I resist?

He talked on, in that cute voice of his, he talked about how he was going to have a hard time choosing a Webkinz to buy on Friday (he's using birthday money) and that he was really sad that the chicks that his kindergarten class had hatched had to go back to the farm by the end of the week. Then he talked about randome fears of the dark, monsters, thunder and lightning (but he wasn't TOO scared, only a little bit!).

All this time I was lying beside him and he was on his side, with his face turned away from me. As he talked, I squinted my eyes and I could almost imagine a much smaller, little baby head and shoulders, just like I remember. But then when I open up my eyes, it's my big boy again.

Scott got off the phone and talked to Seth. Seth told him how he and Zac were going to pitch in money together to do a BOGO Webkinz deal at a store down the street, and how chicks poop when they get excited.

And now he's dozing sweetly, no doubt dreaming of little yellow chicks.

Loaves and Fishes, Fishes and...Burgers?

I was putting Blane down for his nap today and I asked him what he learned in Bible Class. He said, "Ummmm....two fishes."

"Oh," I said,"what went with the fishes?" I was thinking of Jesus' feeding of the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

"A basket of hamburgers."

Okay. I thought I would try a different tack--maybe that would jump-start the ol' memory chip.

"So did Jesus do something with the fishes and hamburgers?"

"Yes," he replied. "He threw them in a big hole."

I was not remotely recalling this story. "So then what happened?"

"Then it went down the drain, and through the pipes, and out into the shower!"

Never mind. Elvis has left the building.

What Will You Be When You Grow Up?

Last night, we drove down to Crown Center to take the boys to a little exhibit there. They had set up a walk-through for kids so they could try different careers...fireman, astronaut, etc. The boys had a great time dashing from one job to another. The first one was auto mechanic, complete with an "engine" to work on and one of those rolling dollies (?) that you could lie on and work underneath the car. Of course, Blane grabbed the tools and started working on the engine right away. There was also a NASCAR driver set-up, complete with sound effects--another favorite of Blane's. Zac liked the football player set in particular. Seth just ran from set to set as fast as he could. Anyway, the guys loved it, and it was free.

Next, we went outside to look at the fountains in front of CC. For those of you who may not have seen it, there is a large courtyard across the street from Crown Center. The front part of the courtyard has a rectangular grid of fountain spigots across it. These spigots shoot off at varying intervals (sometimes it is coordinated with music, most of the time, it isn't). It was a rather cold and damp night, so we were bundled up, and as soon as we could, we crossed the street to look at the fountain. Seth was running and lost his shoe just as he was about to hop onto the opposite curb. This caused him to trip and his shin landed in a puddle. But the consternation was soon forgotten as Daddy and Zac started to run through the grid, risking wetness and coldness. Blane stood with me, holding tightly to my hand and looking nervous. Scott almost convinced him to join them, but in the end, it just didn't look fun enough to risk it.

We went back inside and went to the gardens in the Westin hotel. There is this three-story limestone cliff inside the hotel, planted beautifully and with small waterfalls and a pool (not the swimming kind). I read on the plaque that this was originally a limestone bluff called Signboard Hill, that they build the hotel into. The boys loved dragging their hands in the pool, of course.

After that, we meandered home, but not before we passed some kind of disturbance on Ward Parkway with police blocking the road. We learned later it was a standoff with a crazy person. No guns involved though--everybody was safe.

Blane, Unplugged

I was reading a magazine last night while Blane sat next to me in the chair. He is such an amusing little boy. For one thing, his three year old little mind seems to travel in loops, asking the same questions again and again until he gets the reponse he wants. Last night, he was focused on the physics of a basketball going through a hoop.

He cupped his hands together. "Can you play basketball like this?"

I had heard this particular loop of the tape many times before. He was asking me if a ball could pass through a net that is closed at the bottom. "No, " I said.

Then he made a ring out of his hand. "You can play basketball like this, Mom?"

"Yes, Blane."

This repeated for a minute or two. In between pauses, I read.

Then he decided to put all the blown up balloons from the birthday party on the couch, climbed up there and danced around so they all went flying. I told him he couldn't stand on the couch. So he moved the operation to the floor and spent the next 10 minutes gathering them up and kicking them around, with admonitions to me to watch what he could do. And I did.

I don't know why three year old pass though this stage of questions and endless repitition (well, I guess I do--they are finding out about their world). But, remembering how fleeting this time is (see the last post), I know someday I will miss these innocent days. I'm already doing that with Zac and Seth--and they aren't even that old!

Lego Fun

Yesterday afternoon, Seth begged me to come upstairs and build a Lego robot kit with him. It was one of those times when I really wanted to get laundry folded and the the bed made, and...well, you get the picture. But I remembered what I have heard older mothers say so often, that these times with my kids are only for so long. So up I went.

We sat in the bonus room floor surrounded by the tiniest, most intricate Lego pieces imaginable. Seth was flipping the instruction booklet, snapping together pieces posthaste. As I am not spatially gifted, I often have to depend on my sons to quickly acertain where pieces go...but we eventually got most of it together. As I was telling Seth how impressed I was that he was so good at this, and that he was much better than me, he said, "Don't worry, Mom, if you make a mistake; you can just laugh at yourself and have fun." Words to remember in more situations than just Lego building.

Seth's Birthday Party

Saturday was Seth's birthday party. I made the monkey cupcakes, then Susie and I taped green balloons all over the dining room chandelier (a tree-top!) and hung stuffed monkeys all over the light. It was really cute.

The eight little boys arrived about 12:30. Our reinforcements included Scott and me, my friend Donna, who had two sons at the party, and Susie. We had brought down Legos and a basket of robots and dinosaurs to the living room, but instead the guys grabbed every spare pillow on the bottom floor and built a fort. I decided start some games when one of them asked me if they could ransack the upstairs for pillows (not his words, of course!) We got everyone rounded up and played "Monkey, Monkey, Gorrilla" (like Duck, Duck, Goose). A few minor injuries ensued, but everyone had fun. Then it was "Hot Banana" (like Hot Potato) time. We had a plastic banana for that one (a real one would have been mush by the end). Then it was time for cake and we herded everyone in the dining room and passed out the cupcakes and lemonade. I decided against getting the ice cream out as we all needed a breather (and we were only 45 minutes into a 2 hour party). They finished wolfing everything down, and we went for the presents. In the barely contained chaos that followed, I was somehow able to scratch down some semblance of a list of who brought what. It was time for the big guns...I started the balloon relay where the kids had to run and sit on a balloon and pop it. Some of the kids didn't really get the concept of the race; they just wanted to sit on the balloons! Anyway, everyone got to pop one twice. We also did a drop the clothespin into the bottle game, which was not quite as popular. At that point, 30 minutes remained in the party--ack! Fortunately, we turned on the movie "Madagascar", which I had queued up in the event of an emergency (hey, it fit with our animal theme, too!). That turned out to be a good move and everyone quieted down. We had one young one that was a bit overwhelmed by all the excitement and had a little meltdown in the middle of the movie, but he recovered and somehow we got everyone out the door with their moms and dads again by 2:30ish. Whew! We did have a latecomer who showed up at the end of the party (his mom had not gotten the message about the time change!) This little guy was from church and good as gold, so I told his mom to just go and let the boys have a playdate for a while. It worked out well...I hardly heard a peep from the guys for about two hours! Anyway, Seth and his pals had a GREAT time, but next year we will probably have to cut back on the numbers. I had hoped the weather would have been nice enough to throw them all in the backyard, in which case, everything would have been much easier, but as it turned out, Saturday was the coldest day yet of the spring with snow flurries. Murphy's law, I suppose.

We finished out the day by going over to a funky pizza restaurant in the Waldo district of town (which serves gluten-free pizza!). The three boys (Blane likes their plain pizza, even though it's GF) devoured all but one piece of a 12 inch pizza. We then went home and watched "The Water Horse", which Susie had brought for the boys. We had three very tired, but happy, boys that collapsed in bed last night!

A Cold Royals Game

On Friday morning, Scott called to tell me that Uncle Michael had very generously given him 4 tickets to the Royals game that night. Greg and Susie were coming in for a quick weekend trip, so Scott, Greg and the two older boys were going to go that night to the Royals game. I made some pizzas and Michael and Pam came to join us and the Harndens for dinner. Unfortunately, this weekend was unseasonably cold and very windy, so we dressed everyone in layers and the guys took stadium blankets. They stayed warm enough to make it through about the 8th or 9th inning. After the 5th inning, Garth Brooks appeared on the massive scoreboard screen and they played "I've Got Friends in Low Places". Scott said that Zac and Seth had their arms around each other and started swaying and singing together with the music. Wonderful.

Tor-mados

Blane was upstairs with Scott when he was changing clothes after work today (that's a little special thing that Blane and Scott have--he "helps" Daddy change clothes). Blane was playing with the weather radio--we DO live in Kansas, after all. Scott asked him what the radio was for.

Blane answered, "That's a weather radio for tor-mados."

The Perk of Umbrella Duty

Today we went to the Dollar Store (read a few posts below and you'll see why) after school. We were driving in and out of rain showers and I caught this bit of the conversation in the back seat.

"Seth, when I go to college, you'll be the oldest kid in the family and you can hold the umbrella!"

For Babies

Last night, on the way home from church, Scott had a stern talk with Seth. Apparently he was a little nutsy in OP Live last night (example: the leader says, "How do you have joy?" Seth answered, "You burp in their face!" Not good.) Anyway, his punishment is going to be that he will not get to go to OP Live next week, but will have to sit out in the hallway outside Blane's class where I help teach on Wednesdays.

Seth was a bit distressed. "Can I have some books or activities to do out in the hall?"

"No."

"You mean I won't have anything to do? I can't do that!"

Zac tried to be helpful. "Maybe you can listen to Blane's class while you are in the hall."

I couldn't see Seth's expression back there in the dark, but I can just picture it. "Come on, Zac," he groaned, "that class is for babies..."

Unlike that towering paragon of maturity which is my middle son, I suppose.

Leap Pad Upgrade

Zac asked me yesterday when he was going to get his Leap Pad upgraded to a Leapster. The logic was classic Zac:

"Mom, the age range on the Leap Pad is ages 4 to 8."

I thought I would offer him a bargain. "Zac, if you want a Leapster for your birthday, I will give you $20 towards the Leapster, since that is what I would spend on your present anyway. Then you can use your money to pay for the rest." This is a child who's piggy bank account is close to the century mark. "Or, " sez I, "you can have a simple birthday party with your best friend over for cake, and I will use the money we would have spent on the party to get the Leapster."

He thought for a moment. "No," he replied, "I want a new Webkinz for my birthday instead."

Ah, choices. They start early. I mean, I could have had new granite countertops last week, but, uh, I wanted a drivable car instead...

Monkey Bags

The gear-up for Seth's birthday party on Saturday (snow forcasted!) began in earnest yesterday. Blane and I headed to Wal-Mart to get supplies. He was a great little helper, but did get restless at the end as I was trying to decide whether Raisinets or Milk Duds would make better monkey ears on the cupcakes (I ended up going with Milk Duds--I'm not a big raisin fan).

I carted the loot home and spent the afternoon making the goody bags for his party. Seth was anxious to help, but I did talk him out of cutting out the monkey faces for the bags (sheepishly, I admit I do care what those mothers think when their kids bring those bags home). So Seth decided he would help me fill the bags. I introduced the Industrial Revolutionary concept of assembly lines to Seth (by the way, why didn't anyone think of that before the 18th century?) And that's when the problem started. What I forgot to take into account at the store was that Zac, Seth and Blane would all want goody bags as well (I just went on the number of invitations I sent out). So I needed to fill 11 bags, and only had some treats in quantities of 8. Sigh. No matter how I was going to spin this, there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

After an outburst and a fit of crying after he threw himself on the bed upstairs, I explained to Seth that, hey! we can go to the Dollar Store and get cooler stuff to fill his bag that only he would get, since he was the birthday boy and all. The tears dried up and he immediately began asking when we could do just that. I explained that since it was Wednesday afternoon and Zac had homework and a project due on Thursday, we would probably need to wait until Thursday afternoon. So guess what we'll be doing today...

By the way, the monkey bags turned out super-cute. I think we'll hang our assorted house monkeys around the dining room for effect on Saturday.

Winning Jayhawks and Sleepy Boys

Last night was a big night, of course. Scott called earlier in the day and asked me to have the boys rest for a while during the afternoon. Neither Blane nor Seth ended up sleeping, and Zac ended up playing at his friend's house after school until 5 (but he is a sleep camel, after all). We got everyone all ready--pajamas on, teeth brushed, chores done, and we did our family devo too. The much anticipated game arrived, and within 5 minutes Blane was sawing logs on the floor. Seth lasted until halftime, at which point he said he just had to take a little nap. He was soon dispatched to the upper bunk. Zac remained, and stayed up (with his pillow and blanket) through the exciting OT win and until Luther Vandross sang "One Shining Moment". Scott had to give a few hoots outside, where we saw dancing and celebrating at the house across the street and heard firecrackers going off in the neighborhood. He stayed up for a while to watch some commentary, while I went to bed.

Everyone got up okay this morning (even Zac)!

Birthday Pie

On Saturday, Seth decided that he wanted "square waffles", strawberries and cherry pie for his birthday dinner. So we did the waffles in the waffle iron and got the strawberries out, which were enjoyed thoroughly. I had not had much experience with a gluten-free cherry pie before, and it was a bit difficult to get it into the pie plate. Finally, we got it baked and stuck a candle in it for Seth. He took one bite and decided he didn't really like it. Somehow, I knew there was a good chance that would happen! The pie wasn't bad, but we had a pretty treat-heavy weekend planned, what with the Malottes coming over and me fixing thick cheesy enchiladas and double-chocolate chip cookies. So, we dumped it. I guess it was worth it for Seth to have the experience.

A Visit from the Malottes

On Sunday afternoon, the Malottes (Aunt Patty, Susie's sister, and her family). Uncle Don's father died, so the entire family was here (Ben and Austin, Scott's cousins). Of course, Aunt Patty loved walking around our house and garden! We had enchiladas and finished off with chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Austin took Uncle Don to the airport while Aunt Patty and Ben stayed to visit.

Blane, of course, showed Aunt Patty his cars. He made some great sound effects as well. Aunt Patty said, "Blane, what would happen if I pushed a 'button' on this car? What sound would it make?" She pushed the imaginary button and Blane made the engine sound.

"Now, what would happen if I pushed a different button?"

Same sound.

In fact, all his cars, and all their buttons, make the exact same sound!

Zoo Boys

Back to our Friday...we went to the KC Zoo after eating our lunch and the library. We were thrilled when we got in for about half-price: they cut the rates because of the temperature that morning, but by the time we got there at 1 pm, the warm-weather exhibits were open because it had heated up sufficiently. We first headed for the Africa exhibit, and decided to take the tram there. When we told Blane we were going to ride on a little train, he screamed, "NO! I DON'T WANT TO!" We have no idea what bothered him so much---but, too bad, dude! He reluctantly got on, and later realized that it wasn't so bad.

We first stopped at these large plains that were supposed to contain a variety of African antelope (gazelles, oryxes, kudus) and cheetahs? At least, that's what the sign said. Scott and I were a little concerned, because the simple electric fence, ditch and small wooden fence certainly did not appear cheetah-proof (um...I'm no expert, but can't they jump?!) Surely we misread the sign...why would they put cheetahs in with the antelope (poor babies!)? For what it's worth, we did not see any cheetahs prowling about. When we turned around and looked at these beautiful cranes, Seth exclaimed, "I'm glad God made the world, because if He didn't, we wouldn't have any zoos!"

Next we crossed a big suspension bridge into another area. Blane saw a "crashed airplane" that they set up for decoration and later declared that this was one of his favorite parts of the zoo. The best part of that area was the silverback gorilla. He had a very odd smell--not at all the manure smell you expect from an animal pen. It was really pungent, almost like body odor, but certainly not a human smell. Anyway, that was a fascinating experience for all of us. We eventually wound around to the chimpanzees (as you can imagine, this was a highlight, especially for one of our children--can you guess which one?) Fortunately, there was an enclosed viewing area, shielded by poop-deflecting glass. They were amazingly fun to watch. The oldest chimp knuckled over to the window and sat up, looking straight into Scott's eyes with great curiosity. Then he gave Scott that chimp "grin" and walked away. A few minutes later, one threw himself against the glass, playing around, I guess. The display talked about how chimps and humans share 99% of their DNA. As we walked away, Scott commented, "There is a big difference in that 1%!" That's something I never thought of, but...how very true!

We stopped after rhinos, hippos and zebras for a snack break, for which Seth prayed, "Thank you, God, for the zoo and all the animals You made!" We later took the tram back to the Austrailia area (no fuss from Blane this time). We saw the orangutans (did you know they come from Borneo and Sumatra? I always thought they were African), the tigers, the red pandas and the kangaroos. The kangaroos were loose on a lawn...again, a little big of a creep-out factor, just not as much as the cheetahs. They were all sleeping, so it didn't matter anyway.

We wrapped up our day with the kids playing at the Discovery Barn and the Climbing Tree (a big model of a baobab tree with a slide inside). I walked over to see the sea lion show, but it was forgettable.

On the way home, we stopped at Old McDonald's for an early "dinner", because we had promised Seth that we would go as part of his birthday celebration. We rented "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" from the Red Box there and finished out our day watching that. Whew! We were tired when we all went to bed last night!

The Smart Car

I have to take a little interlude from our Friday Fun day and talk about Thursday night. The Zanders came by after we picked up our van. They were driving a Smart Car, which they will be buying soon. This is a French car that looks like a glorified golf cart (to my gas-guzzling, cowboyed, arrogant, no-eye-for-real-class kind of American mind, I'm sure). It has tremendous gas mileage, and despite its size, is basically a steel cage on wheels. In fact, it is so squat that it can be parked perpendicular in a parallell parking spot. Michael let Scott and I drive it around the block. It has a tiny engine and of course, no pick-up, but it's basically made for putting around town, which is great in Europe, but often not as well suited to our wide-open American spaces. Anyway, it would be an around town car for them, and save them a load on gas--just depends on what you want to use it for. Pretty cool, altogether.

The boys got in the car (which is shockingly roomy despite its size). This particular model was a convertible. Blane was unfazed when the roof retracted while he was in it, which was a big deal. Last September, Papa drove his convertible up so Blane could see it, and B was so freaked out when the roof retracted that he refused to get in the car. Anyway, the boys proclaimed it really cool. It was great to see the Zanders as it has been a while since we've been together--funny how that happens when you live about 2 miles from each other. They came in and we visited a while.

Family Fun Friday

Scott took the day off on Friday and we had a great day together! Scott took the boys to Belton with him because he had one patient to see. I used the morning to visit a few doctors trying to drum up more business for myself. Then we all came home, grabbed our sack lunches and after I made one more doctor visit at the Plaza, we headed over to Linda Hall Library to see Aunt Cindy's display there. For those of you unfamiliar with the library (as I would be if we didn't have an Aunt Cindy there), it is a research library on the UMKC campus. Aunt Cindy works in the rare books division.

We met Aunt Cindy there (surprisingly Uncle Joe showed up--he had other business there and we happened to see him, so he walked around with us too). Then we looked at a series of prints from copper engravings, many of which were taken from botanical sketches from Captain Cook's voyages. Without getting too detailed (and above my pay grade), a friend/associate of Captain Cook collected the botanical sketches from his voyages (CC discovered Hawaii and made trips to Tahiti, and charted coastlines of New Zealand and Austrailia--he was accidentally killed in an incident in HI), and had them preserved as copper plate engravings. It never made it into publication because of the expense at the time, and was only in modern times has the "florilegium" been printed up. The plates were purchased by the library and are stored there There were exquisite prints of exotic plants--just breathtaking to me as a plant lover and an erstwhile artist. Plus the kids and I knew the story of Captain Cook from one of our ValueTales, so that made it more meaningful to us. Then we went back to where Cindy's office was and Scott and I got to go into the vault with her and look at these ancient rare books. She opened that door and you could just smell the centuries in that cooled room...that musty old smell of time. Anyway, she showed us these books from the 14th century, printed in Latin...with actual penned notes in the margins! I was fascinated just touching those old vellum (?) bindings. The Captain Cook florilegium copper plates were stored there as well, but they are so heavy and large, we did not look at them. Of course the boys were a) uninterested and b) forbidden from taking more than a few steps into the vault. There would not be enough leaves in the world for them to rake if they did something to one of those books. I think we would all have to resort to indentured servitude.

The Van is Back

We got our van back, by the way.

New Names

I'm a little behind since we've had a busy few days.

Seth said something funny in the car on the way home from church Wed. night. He said, "Mom, what was your name when you were a little girl?"

"Diadra."

"No, what was your name when you were a little girl?"

"You mean my last name?"

"No, your first name."

I wasn't sure where this came from. "It was the same as it is now. Did you think you get a different name when you grow up?"

"Yes," he replied.

Later that night, he asked what Uncle Dan's name was when he was young. I told him it was Dan. I think he finally got it.

Van Update

Scott came home about 4 pm yesterday and we stuffed everyone in the Altima, because we were going to transfer the van to the dealership. The van apparently has problems with the computer, which is good news, because the dealership put in a new computer 6 months ago. We can't imagine that it's not under warranty. Anyway, I insisted that all the babies stay in the Altima with me, as I was not crazy about Scott driving ANYWHERE in that van after what happened on Monday. But the mechanic said it was drivable, so I agreed. Scott got in the van and drove around the parking lot. I could see rhythmic puffs of smoke coming from the exhaust pipe--it was not looking good. Finally, he backed into a parking place--it was NOT road-worthy. On the way home, Scott called Farm Tow again.

Later Blane was walking around the house with his "cell phone", reeling off our phone number, pausing, and then saying, "Correct!". I guess he was calling Farm Tow too.

Boys' Toys

Seth went up the street to play with his friend Paige today (she's in his kindergarten class). He arrived back home an hour later with Paige and Lauren (who is also in his class). Paige, Lauren and Seth tumbled into the house with Seth excitedly exclaiming that Paige had given him three toys (McDonald's Happy Meal toys, but still...). I turned to Paige.

"Are you sure you want to give him your toys, Paige?"

She shrugged with a disinterested look. "They're boys' toys."

Seth was just about as excited as Christmas morning--a dancing wind-up bee and two chattering skeleton heads.

The kids set up a "campsite" and then decided to rummage through all the sports equipment. Later I found what was left of a raquet handle sticking up in middle of the backyard. Good thing we don't have expensive stuff!

Tow Truck

Yesterday, on the way home from school, the car started to sputter and the power braking went out. Fortunately I was on level ground and going slowly, so I was able to stop with no danger (the brakes worked, but it was more difficult to stop the car--I had to press really hard). We have towing service with our insurance, so I called Farmers' and after 15 minutes of talking with a very courteous phone rep (who sounded outsourced to Mexico), we were informed that the tow truck would arrive in 30 minutes. We had to stay the car, even though we were about a half-mile from home. Seth immediately began exclaiming how terrible this was, and why couldn't we just go play out on the sidewalk? After much button-pushing up in the front of the car, a bathroom break shielded by the door, an attempted "nap" in the very back with the snow blanket, a few tic-tac-toe games, and a dots war game with Zac, the tow truck arrived. We all stood on the sidewalk as the tow truck used a pulley to crank the van up the ramp, then the ramp leveled on the back of the truck, and they secured the van. It was a fascinating sight for three little boys. I told them where to take the van (Scott was already in contact with our mechanic) and we went home. Of course, it had been 70 degrees at 2 pm, so Blane, Seth and I were in shorts and T-shirts, but a cold front had since blown it, so it was a bit nippy walking home. Fortunately, Seth had left a coat in the car, so he was okay. Blane and I made it without too much trouble as well (it was only a 5 minute walk home--especially when we were cold!). We will see what the diagnosis is today!