We really haven't had much rain in about four weeks and everything sure looks dry. The heat does generate a few late afternoon thunderstorms but what rain they do provide is about like giving a thirsty man a thimble full of water. We've watched most of these storms pass us by. At least we haven't had to mow the yards.
READY TO GO. So Tuesday was the first day of school. Vicki had told Jenna Monday night that her clothes would have to be ironed or tumble dried. Tuesday morning I was walking from the kitchen to the bedroom when I heard Jenna clomping down the stairs behind me. Seeing me in the hall she asked, "Daddy, do you know if Mom has my clothes ready?" After answering that I did not know it dawned on me that something about that question and the sound I'd heard her making as she came down the steps didn't go together. I turned around and my gaze fell upon my daughter who was standing there on the steps wearing her socks, shoes and a pair of panties. It was all I could do to duck in the bedroom without laughing in front of her.
Since then Jenna has had three full days of school and has really enjoyed it. I think Mrs. Phillips is going to be a really fun teacher. Jenna sure is excited about being in her class. She came home one day saying she needed house shoes for school. It turns out that they are standard equipment for math. I wonder if that would have helped some of my pre-algebra students ten years ago?
TRICKY STUFF. Ben got Ker-Plunk for his birthday last week (thanks Jones family). This game is made of a plastic cylinder that has a bunch of holes around its middle. There are 20-30 plastic sticks that you insert through the holes in the cylinder at the start of the game, then you drop some marbles in the top. The sticks keep the marbles from falling through. The object of the game is to take turns removing a stick. Eventually this will release the marbles. The person who has collected the fewest marbles at the end is the winner. This is a big hit with Jenna and Benton. Ben's favorite thing to say after someone has pulled a stick and no marbles fall is, "Oooo, that was a trrricky one!"
GOOD SPORTS. This happened a few weeks ago and had slipped my mind until I wrote the article above. The game of Sorry is also a favorite of ours. Ben has the best luck but it is really good that his luck works like it does because it has made him a pleasant person to play games with. One of the last times we played Sorry Ben went a long time without drawing a card to allow him to put a piece into play. We were almost through the deck of cards the second time when I decided I would let him take a man out of start in spite of his bad luck. Just before I opened my mouth to tell him this he drew a 1 (which let's you start a man). You know that boy wound up winning the game! And that has happened to him several times.
What I was really pleased to see is that Nate has picked up on being a good sport. He played a game with us (as well as a two year old can) one time and really took set backs well. There were two or three times where someone drew a Sorry card and decided to put Nate's piece back in start. He sure understood what that meant and being sad, burrowed his face into the floor. When it was his turn again he raised up and drew his card. I'm glad both boys are getting a handle on expressing sadness and disappointment in positive ways.
39 AND HOLDING--'TIL NEXT YEAR. I am not going to be like Jack Benny. My 39th birthday was Saturday. I'll hold it, but just for a year.
It was a nice birthday. Vicki and I went out to eat Friday night and it was good to share a meal alone together. Connie Coleman, a friend from church, volunteered to keep the kids. When we went to pick them up it was obvious all four of them had a blast (and the kids keep asking when they can go back). Connie has got to be one of the coolest baby sitters ever. They did everything from eating ice cream to riding the paddle boat on their pond to having major pillow fights. The kids may have had more fun that night than we did.
On Saturday Vicki cooked chicken lasagna for supper and we all ate over at Pauline's. Mom and Aunt Mar brought their famous chocolate cake. The kids made cards for me. Jenna drew the two of us riding bicycles together. Ben drew us and a monster and had a whole story that went along with it which Vicki wrote on the card for him. Nate's card was one big scribble. Vicki said he enjoyed drawing it and he sure enjoyed showing it to me.
Vicki gave me the second season of The Waltons on DVD. We had gotten the first season last year for our tenth anniversary and we lack two episodes watching all of those. We are very happy to have 24 more in the line up for the occasional slow evening. I wish someone would produce a show of that calibre today.
Good night John-Boy
