Naturally we are back in the normal routine of things this week. It seems like whenever we go anywhere it takes a lot of effort to get back to normal. I was scheduled to teach two in-services on Tuesday and Thursday evening and I had a meeting at church Thursday evening as well. After being with everyone on the trip I feel as if I am unplugged from my family now.
THE AUNT MAR GENE. Our tree leaves are reaching their peak but the weather has been so overcast and rainy it has been hard to enjoy the colors. All the wind and rain is causing the leaves to fall very fast. The other day Jenna, Nate and I got home from running some errands. When she got out of the van she looked around at the yard and said, "This place is a mess! We've got to clean it up."
A PERFECT FIT. Our kids have always climbed up onto the bathroom counter so they could use the faucet to wash their hands and brush their teeth. (We used a kitchen cabinet in there to make the counter 36" high since we are both tall.) Jenna is big enough not to do that now but still does on occasion out of habit. The other night she decided to stand up on the counter and discovered that she is a perfect fit between the counter and the low ceiling in there. She won't be able to pull that trick much longer.
MAGNETISM OF A STAIRWAY. Nate loves to climb stairs. He is real good at going up but hasn't figured out the going down part. At church this morning someone spoke to me as we were about to walk outside. In a split second he was off and I didn't see which direction he went. It would have been a longer search but in the joy of getting to climb the stairs he just couldn't contain himself and let our a shriek. I'll say one thing, that little booger can flat move.
FEAR FACTOR. While our kids don't have to do anything nearly as gross as what is on TV they sure think so at supper. I guess we ask for it but we have always felt that supper time is no time for Vicki to be a short order cook. So when asparagus and Aunt Linda's corn and rice dish (yes, we managed to weasel a recipe out of Aunt Linda) were on the menu we should have had the video camera close at hand. I had no idea Jenna and Ben could put that many wrinkles in their faces. Hopefully they'll develop a toleration to various foods sometime in the next 20 years.
SORRY. You remember that board game where you try to get your four pieces around the board? We played Sorry this evening and poor Ben had rotten luck. He went for a long time without being able to get a man out of start (and the poor boy was on the verge of tears). Then his luck would change a for a few minutes before reverting back. This happened several times which changed his mood from sad to happy and back. He rode his emotional roller-coaster pretty well for a four-year-old who missed his nap today (Mom and Aunt Mar took him out to eat lunch and he had a long afternoon).
We enjoy playing board games and Trouble was a big hit, but when the dice popper broke we switched to Sorry. Jenna is also a pretty decent Checker player considering the experience she has. When I make her slow down and analyze her own moves she can be pretty tough to beat.
Joe
