Heptadecagon

Since March 19, we have had only 1 full day without a visitor present. That is not a bad thing. We all love having family around here. Aunt Teresa was up first, and she loves to take pictures. I thought I'd share those here. The kids had a great time with Aunt Teresa, and can't wait until she visits again. That might be awhile, as she is getting married this summer, and is also in school. We'll keep our fingers crossed for another visit and in the meantime, look forward to her wedding.

Aunt Teresa caught this little gem a couple of days ago. I need to say that, while I did major in French in college, I have not taught her any of the language. We can thank Scooby Doo and the Creepy Chef book for that one. Enjoy!

Last year, our small garden was a success! Tim was the keeper, but the kids and I had planted the seeds and cared for them prior to putting the budding plants in the ground. I have been a little lazy lately, and just yesterday Melina and I went to the store to get our seeds. Aunt Teresa is visiting, so she was our helper for the morning. I had planned on purchasing seeds for tomatoes, peppers, carrots -- your usual stuff. Melina had other things in mind. She chose flower seeds and watermelon seeds. The one she really wanted, though, was a packet of school bus seeds. Yep, you read that correctly. She thinks you can plant little seeds in the ground and grow school buses. We really did look at the store, but walked away without the school bus seeds. Apparently, the little red man told her that school buses came from seeds. *** Spring is March of Dimes time. I have two friends I support with a small donation, both of whom have very healthy little boys that were born too early. T...

There are many things I love that tend to get pushed back into the closet. Any song by Asia, Air Supply, or Neil Diamond qualifies. My love for little kids' clothes-- which involves me wearing them -- is another one. That sounds a little creepy, but manufacturers make the largest kid size pretty big these days, so if I think it can pass as something an adult would wear (or not), I might just purchase it. Case in point: I am writing this while wearing pink fleece pajamas with polar bears, trees, and snowflakes on them. Anyway, Melina and I stumbled down the stairs this morning, Sunday, at 5:15 am. The only thing I love at that time of the morning is a good cup of coffee (it is sitting next to me right now). Due to the early hour, her request for watching a little television was granted. At some point, between shows, Steven Burns and Steven Drozd came on, singing I Hog the Ground (The Groundhog Song) . You can find it on You Tube, if you'd like to hear it, but your best ...

Aaron came home yesterday with a math paper that had 6 incorrect answers on it. Considering math is his favorite subject, I was quite surprised. I don't expect him to always get the right answers, but 6 wrong in kindergarten math seemed a bit much. The directions (which are read aloud by the teacher) for the first 5 said: Write the number in each group. Add. Write the sum . So, for the first one, he would look at the 7 lizards in the first group and the 2 lizards in the second group, and make a number sentence that looked like 7 + 2 = 9. Basically, he is practicing three things: counting the number of objects in a group, writing his numbers, and adding numbers. Good exercise all around. But Aaron is very much like his father, who is so excited about math, it can get him in trouble. So on the second page, Aaron should have recognized two groups, one with 6 and one with 2, to make the number sentence 6 + 2 = 8. But he Aaron didn't. He decided to write 6 + 8 = 14. True,...

Can you find Melina in this picture? There she is! The kids all found this hysterical, for quite a long time. Melina just stood there, letting the kids build the column around her. What a sport!

Do you know how much I like cats? We have two of them, so you would think that I actually love them. Well, I don't. I like one cat. His name is Oscar, and he's been dead for quite a while now. I fell in love with that cat, and he with me, and when we parted (upon my leaving for college) it was so bittersweet. I didn't think I'd ever find a cat to replace him, and I haven't. And yet, as I said, we own two cats. Why? When I first moved out into my own apartment, I felt that I needed some company. I was living alone, and could not have a dog, so I opted for a cat. I just needed to be able to come home to somebody, and not a silent apartment. I found an advertisement in the newspaper and called it right away. The woman giving the cats away was named Lillian, and she lived in the next town over. Tim and I were dating at the time, and so I dragged him with me to Lillian's house. He figured since you should never go to a stranger's home alone, he bette...