Heptadecagon

Melina has the coxsackie virus. She is pretty miserable when not under the influence of Ibuprofen. And, she is contagious. So taking her to the pool today -- the only really good pool day we've had in a very long time -- was out. Thankfully, we joined the same pool that many of our friends have also joined. One mom called and said she'd watch Zoe, Talia, and Aaron at the pool as long as I dropped them off. Done deal. When I went to pick them up, I ran into a mom with whom I am a casual acquaintance. She asked how Melina was doing. I spoke briefly with her, and moved on to find the kids. Next mom up, same thing. And the next mom, she also inquired about Melina. Apparently, word spreads as fast around here as the virus might! I know these ladies, and they all have kids older than Melina, and I know they were just concerned. But it reminded me not to mention my deepest, darkest secrets to them anytime soon!

From Melina, with respect to a Scooby-Doo episode: This is the one with the villains! Don't they all have villians, Melina?!?

The kids have constructed a crime scene investigation in our living room. Therefore, the doorways that lead to the living room -- all three of them -- are blocked by police lines. To get to the kitchen from the family room (and vice versa), I still have an outlet. I can go by way of the back hall. But I am a creature of habit. So each time I try to walk from the kitchen to the family room, I forget about heading down the back hall and try to go by the pantry and bathroom. Doh! How many times do I need to do this before I remember NOT to do this! Apparently, a couple of hundred times. Give you a good laugh?

This afternoon, while Melina napped, the other kids worked on math pages. The girls had some review work to do -- more advanced addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Aaron was working on pretty simple addition math facts. Apparently, Aaron's work was not interesting enough for him. About halfway through he says, "Mom! Come look!" This is what was on his paper: FART - FAR + OOT = TOOT So proud of that child I am!

This is sort of a response to our friend Kelsey's post about marrying a good husband . It's also a fun math problem, so I can't resist writing about it. Here it is: how does one choose a wife? We'll begin with some rules: You'll meet N eligible partners, in random order, over your dating lifetime. You don't know beforehand, during, or even directly after the date, who your best partner is, but you can judge each date relative to previous dates. You can date from the total population of N partners until choosing one to marry, or exhausting the population -- at which point you're stuck with the last one. After each date, you have to decide whether that person is the one . If so, you marry. If not, you resume dating from the rest of the population, but cannot date that person again. So, it's kind of like barbering: the trick lies in knowing where to stop. It should be pretty obvious that you don't want to marry the very first person you date, becau

I completely forgot about posting the end of the year pictures of the kids. I love looking at the differences between the first day of school and the last. This year, the girls didn't change as much, but I think Aaron matured over the course of the year. First day: Last day: Aaron might have matured in the looks department (and let his hair grow out) but he clearly has not matured emotionally! *** Another wrap-up of sorts occurred with the girls' spring recital. This year, like last year, they girls each had a short piano piece and then a small vocal performance. The girls were confident in their piano pieces and did a great job. I don't remember hearing any mistakes. Good job, ladies! The church lighting isn't the greatest, so the pictures are very dim. In fact, they are really bad. But at least the kids can't say I didn't post them. Can you tell who is who?!? The girls sang two pieces. One was with their friend and I don't have a good picture.

The day after I say I am taking a summer hiatus, I post something. Go figure. I haven't used that term in a long time. It reminds me of my high school days. Speaking of which, my high school is having a very informal 20 year reunion in June. I looked at the people who were not attending. Those are the people I would like to see. Therefore, I think I, too, will decline. For those of you not in the know, I did not enjoy high school. I had a handful of good friends, and more than a handful of good times, but I had a tough time walking into that school every day. But that is another story. The reason I logged on is because Melina is singing at the top of her lungs in her bed. She is supposed to be napping. We'll see where it goes. Right now, she is making me laugh. I sort of hope she doesn't sleep so that I can keep listening to her over the monitor. What is she singing? "THE VERY LAST RESORT, THE VERY LAST RESORT, THE V-E-RRRRRR-Y L-AAAAAAAST RE-SOOOOOORT!&

I can already tell that I might be taking a summer hiatus from the blog. I still enjoy writing and recounting what occurs, but by the time I think to sit down and write it, the thought has escaped my brain. And with all the kids home, I don't have the time to sit down until nighttime, and at that point, I am just too tired to do it. So, like your favorite TV shows, I might be on hiatus. Disappointed, aren't you? Speaking of TV, the girls informed me that Aaron, who watches Scooby-Doo with Melina and the girls, doesn't even like Scooby-Doo. I asked him if that was true. He said yes. Talia wondered why he watched it then. I said, "Any TV is better than none at all, right Aaron?" He agreed. I then thought about my TV viewing. Unlike Aaron, I don't think that any TV is better than none at all. I can't even stand to watch something I don't want to watch, even if I have clothes to fold (a task often done in front of the tube). In fact, last night

That is what the kids were asking. ON THEIR FIRST DAY OF SUMMER VACATION. It is going to be a long one, I say. That is also what I was asking, yesterday, at the library. When we all came out of the building, we noticed a car pull up along side of us. A mom and her child got out, locked up, and headed into the library. Once I got everyone all settled in their seats and all library books in the front, I went ahead and turned to put my seat belt on. When I turned my head, I noticed something about the car that had pulled up next to us. There was a child sleeping inside of it! He wasn't an infant, but he was still in the same size seat that Melina uses. In my estimation, he looked to be about 2 or so. It wasn't an absolutely hot day, but when we came out of the library, our car was plenty hot from having the sun streaming on it. I took another glance, just to be sure I was actually seeing a child inside of a car. Haven't we all heard the horror stories about this?!?