Last week, we had sunny, 80-degree weather. This week, it's barely hitting 60, sunny, but with a cold wind blowing. The dramatic change has been rough on us. Bean Dip refuses to believe that it's actually cold out, saying it won't get cold until it's winter. He puts up such a fight about wearing clothes outside, that I've given up and started letting him go outside in whatever he wants.

This evening, he did the same. While G and I were putting on shoes, winter coats and gloves, Bean Dip was ready in just a pair of sweatpants. No shirt, no shoes.

He lasted about 30 seconds outside, not even long enough for me to snap a picture of him and G together. He ran inside to get a sweatshirt, but then threw a fit because I would not go get his shoes and socks for him. He said he didn't want to keep going inside. He stood in the garage and cried until G was ready to go in.

He is stubborn, but he is no match for me. I hope he realizes now that he should listen to his mother. That's what I told him, when I told him I wouldn't run around gathering up his things, when I had already told him to put them on before we went out.

At least he didn't try to go out in just shorts.

On Wizards and Witches

I've written about reading Harry Potter, and how Bean Dip is now into wizards, magic, Quidditch, and all things Hogwarts. I don't think I've written much about Baby G's interpretation of magic. Her information comes from Dora the Explorer, and apparently, in Dora's world, the witches are always mean.

So, last week we were outside enjoying the warm, summer-like weather by playing a game of Quidditch. (I'm sure everyone driving by wonders why I'm walking around my yard swinging a bat.) Baby G joined in, with her whiffle-ball-bat turned broomstick. But when she plays, she's a mean witch. It was really funny to see my normally sweet daughter scowling and pretending to zap me and kill me, while riding a bat-broomstick. And then, she decided to turn her broom into a beater (for Quidditch) and come after me. So we had a little sword fight. Meanwhile, Bean Dip is flying around in circles, scoring goals with the Quaffle.

The best part is, she thinks its great fun, and her scowl doesn't last long, but breaks into a grin and a chuckle. One of my favorite things about G is her wonderful sense of humor.

Fall Break

The schools here take a whole week off for Fall Break. We busted out of town as soon as Bean Dip got off the bus on Friday, and headed north. The temperature dropped about 40 degrees in the four-hour-drive, but we arrived at the Farm safe and sound.

We spent the first half of the week there, not doing much but hanging out at the farm. The kids (and I) needed some country time. I even squeezed in a shopping/lunch day with Mom, and of course the kids, after I chopped off my hair on Monday. Tuesday we had the Farm to ourselves, and spent it mostly outside. And on Tuesday night I had a dinner date with my favorite high school friends. It is always fun to catch up and see them, and our standing O'Charley's dinner date is becoming a great tradition.

The second half was spent in St. Louis with Win's family. It was much of the same, hanging out and visiting with everyone, including Katherine's wonderful cousins, who were passing through and heading home from a summer out West. On Friday, I caught up with Rachel, my college roommate. She was on bed rest, so I brought her lunch and we spent the whole afternoon catching up. Saturday we wandered around Webster Groves, which was having an art fair. We heard great live music, saw Irish dancers performed, visited the bookstore and saw all kinds of interesting art. Sunday morning, we ate breakfast out at the incredibly popular Boardwalk Cafe in Webster Groves.

It was a great visit home.

Drama Queen

A few of Baby's G's recent favorite sayings:

"Everyone ruin my life."

Her go-to excuses for not doing what I ask:

"I'm too tired."

"I can't walk."

Just picture her saying those with the most pitiful whine/cry/pout you can imagine. You'd think she has it so rough.

So proud of my little boy this morning. He went over to the group of bigger boys playing football while waiting for the bus, and he joined in. He knows one of them from sitting with him on the bus. I was even happier to watch those boys greet him and include them in their game. And when the bus came, my five-year-old-going-on-15 said, "Don't yell for me like that when the bus comes." I guess it was embarrassing to have his mom tell him to come get on the bus.

He still gave me a kiss goodbye, though.

Watching kids be nice to each other always makes me happy. It seems like there are always horrible news stories about bullying, so much that I think we sometimes forget how good kids can be. It's just little things, like the bigger girls letting the kindergartners get on the bus first, the big boys being careful not to trample the little ones on the playground, that kind of thing. It's just so nice to see.

My Young Reader

Bean Dip is reading. It's still a bit of a shock to me, because, to me, it seems like it happened overnight. Of course, it didn't, but one day he just sat down and read me the entire Cat in the Hat. Just like that.

It really shouldn't be a surprise, because Win and I both love to read, and have been reading to the kids since the beginning. Bean Dip and I are on the third Harry Potter book, and we have read Calvin and Hobbes more times than I can count, as well as all the children's books we have.

BD brought home a note explaining the Book It program. Do you remember doing that in school? Where you keep track of all the books you read, and when you get to 25, you get a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut? So we've been keeping track of all the books we read together. Right now we are definitely on a Dr. Seuss kick. I don't remember reading a lot of him as a kid, but now I really enjoy them, and understand why they are so good for young readers. All the rhyming and repetition is perfect for them, and it's so much fun to read.

The kids also get High Five the young children's magazine from Highlights. Remember that one? They love it. It is their preferred bathroom reading. We also just started getting National Geographic Little Kids.

So BD is reading everything. Including the TV guide. The other night I flipped to a show I wanted to watch, and he said, "I don't want to watch 'The Big Bang Theory.'" Yep, totally read the name on the guide.

Preschool Field Trip

Friday was Baby G's class field trip. It was also to a pumpkin patch, but a different one. The trip started out a little inauspiciously -- confusion about leaving, me freaking out about the parking situation, and G's teachers getting into a car accident -- but ended well. Firstly, the school does not have buses, so every parent was to drive their own child. I went to the school first, but then everyone started leaving so I just ended up following the directions instead of following a line of cars. Secondly, the parking at the farm was pretty haphazard, on the side of an unmowed field, and I was terrified we'd get stuck. But we didn't. Third, G's teachers got into a car accident right as they were leaving school and didn't make it to the farm. They were fine, thankfully, and we had the two four-year-old class teachers with us.

What was nice about this farm was that although there were other classes visiting, they were finishing up and gone by the time we did our tour, so we were the only ones at the farm. We had the educational talk about pumpkins, then had a tour of the farm animals, which included the biggest turkey I've ever seen, some elk, and a camel (that gave the teacher kisses). They also had some beautiful miniature horses, including a foal, llamas (like Llama, Llama, Red Pajama), a cute pot-bellied pig and a giant, 800-lbs. pig. After we saw all the animals, we had a little hay ride around the tobacco field, and then got to play for a bit. We did not go to the pumpkin field to pick a pumpkin, but chose from the ones they had on display. The tour was only an hour, and that was just about perfect.

Gwyn was so funny, she wanted to be with the teacher the entire time. She was always asking where she was, and saved her a seat on the hay ride. The teacher said they had hung out a lot the day before at school, and she had kept calling her the wrong name and finally had gotten it right.

And I have to share what Bean Dip said when G told him about the trip and the teacher:

G: And Mrs. Noon was there!

Bean Dip: Mrs. Noon? What does she show up at lunchtime or something?

A Little Sad

The news that Newsweek is officially ending its print edition and going completely digital came out yesterday. Although I stopped reading it a few years ago when the editors did the redesign, it still makes me a little sad. My major in college was print journalism, and I loved Newsweek. I worked for (almost) a year at a daily newspaper after college, and there is something so wonderful about having a freshly printed newspaper or magazine in your hands, just waiting to be read. It's the same for me with books, which is why I've only dabbled in the new world of e-readers. I know it's the changing of the times, the direction the world is moving, and better for the trees, but I still feel like we are losing something.

I do get most of my news online these days, and we don't subscribe to a newspaper. But we get Time now, and The Atlantic Monthly, and a few other magazines. And I always look forward to them arriving in the mail.

Here's the article: http://news.yahoo.com/newsweek-magazine-stop-printing-digital-2013-115928285--finance.html

An Extravagance

Ten days ago, it was a warm, sunny day, and all I had planned was mowing the lawn. Now let me just explain this first. We have a huge yard. It's one of our favorite things about this house. But a huge yard needs to be mowed, and what we own is a dinky little push mower. I am envious of all our neighbors with their riding lawnmowers, who just zip out and mow their lawns in 20 minutes.

Normally, Win is the mower. He says it is relaxing (my dad calls it horticulture therapy), and it usually takes him several days to get the entire yard mowed. Now that I've taken over, I've figured it takes a solid three hours of mowing, which I try to squeeze in during G's school hours (the weather doesn't always cooperate, though).

Anyway, ten days ago, I went to start up the mower. It started up, but didn't sound right, like it didn't have enough power. I soon gave up, after mowing just enough to look bad. My dad says it's probably the oil filter, but there is no way I'm tackling that on my own.

So, today, we are back in town, and back to our neglected grass. I made one phone call, and the guy came out today and mowed/weed-eated the yard. And let me tell you, this is one luxury I'll keep for a while, at least until someone fixes my mower.

Kindergarten Field Trip

Bean Dip had his first field trip of the year on Friday, and Baby G and I went a long. It was to the pumpkin patch, and it was quite the adventure. Not only were all the kindergarten classes at BD's school going, but also several other schools as well.

I had to drive, and Ivy's mom rode with me. It was great, because it was a 45 minute drive, and we really got to get to know each other. It was fun to hear what Ivy says at home about Bean Dip, and finally figure out some of what BD tells me about Ivy.

We met up with our kindergartners on the farm, just before they started the tour. BD and Ivy were so giggly, and so affectionate with each other that their teacher threatened to separate them. But they were good, just excited about being out of school and with their moms.

So we did the tour of the petting zoo, then hopped on the wagons and headed out to the pumpkin patch. They all picked a little pumpkin, then after that we headed back to the farm for our picnic lunch and some free time for the kids.

The farm had a great playground, but with so many kids it was hard to keep track of everyone. I was glad that Ivy's mom stuck with her and BD while I helped G. She climbed all the way to the top of the tunnel slide, with an impatient mass of bigger kids behind her, then stood at the top and cried until I came and rescued her. I went down the super-fast slide with her, and then she played in the much quieter sandbox.

Like I said, it was a little bit of chaos. And our teacher kept losing kids. There were just so many other classes running around that it was hard to keep track. Matching shirts would have helped. But all made it on the bus, and we were all exhausted. BD got a little whiny before lunch, but happily for me, Ivy was whining, too. It was an unexpectedly warm day, and we were all overdressed.

Now we have two cute sugar (?) pumpkins at home, waiting to be made into something delicious. Any suggestions?

Weekend(-ing)

One good thing about this area of Tennessee/Kentucky is there is always something going on during the weekends. This past weekend, a WWII era naval ship docked in Clarksville, on the Cumberland River, and was open for tours. The USS LST 325 is an amphibious vessel designed to land tanks, troops and supplies directly onto shore. This particular ship did just that on D-Day. After the war, it spent 35 years in the Greek Navy, then in 2000, it was brought back to the United States, and now is still fully operational ship, but also a museum. Its sole funding comes from the tours and merchandise it sells. Its home port is Evansville, Indiana.

I honestly didn't think it would be really crowded, but it was. We waited in line for about 20 minutes, and it stretched much farther behind us along Riverside Park. The wait was totally worth it, though. The tour took us through the front doors -- the ones that would open to land tanks, etc., and into the hold, which could carry up to 20 Sherman tanks. (That is what LST stands for: Landing Ship, Tank.) Then we went up through the crew's mess, up onto the top deck, where we checked out all the guns, and then wheel house. We saw the officer's cabins, the kitchen, then back down onto the main deck, and then finally, through the troops berthing and back out through the hold. All along the tour there were the volunteers who run the ship, ready to answer any questions. Lem asked two -- what kind of gun one was (a .40 caliber anti-aircraft gun), and what the naval flags mean (letters and numbers to send secret codes). He absolutely loved it. I loved it because I always like this kind of stuff, and this ship is a special piece of history. Gwyn didn't love it, but she didn't hate it either. Some parts were too loud for her. And it was crowded, and at some parts claustrophobic.

We ended with a walk past the souvenir tables. Lem and Gwyn came home with a light up bouncy ball each. I figure it counts as a donation to the continued operation of the ship. I am so glad I decided to take them.

For more info:
http://lstmemorial.org/