A Hunting We Will Go

I might have mentioned before that Samuel is a wee bit, um, how to put this, enthusiastic about guns. His very favorite present for his third birthday was a gift bag full of guns and swords.

He recently got two new guns. An M-16 with a built-in flash light (he shot me with it while I was trying to get my Bible study lesson finished yesterday morning), and a sawed-off double-barrel shot gun that shoots suction cup bullets.

Sam also has another passion. He has discovered the wonderfulness of Loony Tunes (you see where this is going, right?). He would watch them all day long if he could. One of his favorites is where Elmer Fudd is hunting Bugs and Daffy with his rifle. So now Sam goes through the house with his rifle singing, "A hunting we will go.."

It's especially fun when he drafts his daddy.

Grace is Obsessed

With her loose tooth.

We had to discuss it in the van on the way to the doctor's.

We had to get a book about it at the library.

We had to discuss it more at the lunch table.

Is it very wrong to hope it's over soon so we can get it over with?

Grace is Horrified

Grace has her first loose tooth. It's not very loose, just a tiny bit wiggly. Her dad and I had noticed it, but she hadn't yet.

Until tonight.

Somehow, and I really don't even remember how, the topic of her tooth came up at dinner. When she found out it would get looser and eventually come out, she was aghast. She did not want her tooth to come out. She did not want to have a hole that would feel kind've funny and her tongue would want to feel all the time. She wanted nothing to do with any of it.

She was especially upset that she had no choice in the matter.

"But I don't want my tooth to come out. I don't want to have a hole."

"Well Grace, you really can't stop it. God made that rule that everyone would loose their baby teeth and then new, big teeth would grow."

I'm pretty sure she was not convinced, even when she saw a picture of her sister with a missing tooth.

Just wait until she finds out about the blood.

As you can tell, we went to the zoo yesterday.

Mike took the week off, just to get some things done around the house, hang out with the family, maybe even go on a date with his wife. Yesterday was the first opportunity to go somewhere.

Grace and Sam wanted to see the flamingos and crocodiles, so that was our first stop. It was still cool when we arrived, so the birds were very vocal and active. The ducks sharing the flamingos' water kept launching over Miracle's head and grouching at everyone. We were concerned about one particular flamingo as he stood with his neck limp and his head dangling towards the ground. It was rather disconcerting to see.

The crocs were just laying in the water on our first pass. On the way back through, however, one was laying on the ground, directly in front of the observation area. His eyes were open, and I think he viewed my children as tasty treats. He bored of us, however, and we actually go to see him move. He turned away from us and moved towards the water. Mike remarked of his deceptive slowness.

Grace and Sam rode the carousel for the very first time. Grace was apprehensive, so we put her in the middle, and she held Miracle's hand. Sam grinned like a loon the entire time and each time he saw his dad yelled, "Hi Daddy!" They all wanted to ride again.

The gorillas were quite active as well. One repeatedly slapped the glass, making the children on the other side squeal delightedly. Inside, one was fascinated by a man observing him. The gorilla approached him, and the man put his hand on the glass. The gorilla returned the gesture, and looked intently at the man, moving his hand to various parts of the man's face. Grace and Sam were surprised to see a gorilla eating popcorn.

Our last stop was the elephants. Thankfully there were some outside as I really couldn't face the smell of inside accommodations. There were, I think, four of them standing outside in plain sight. Well, except for Sam. He claimed he could not see them.

"Do you see them?"
"No, I don't see them."
"Are your eyes open? Do you have eyes?"
"No, I don't have eyes."

So we left, tired and hungry, with an eye-less little boy.

Vacation

Excuse Me. Do You Have the Time?

Grace is learning to tell time. She and Mike sit together at the kitchen table after supper with her work book and the clock from the bathroom, and they practice. First they did the "o'clocks" because that's the easiest one. Now they have moved on to "half-past." If it's not an "o'clock" or a "half-past" then it's a "something." So all day long I get updates from Grace. Which is good because I tend to get rather scatter-brained and lose track of time. But now I've got Grace to keep me on track. What could possibly go wrong?

Sam is obsessed with The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He sings it all the time. Well, he kind've sings it. He doesn't really know all the words, so he makes them up or just repeats what he's already said. It gets interesting.

School is going well for Miracle. She took her final science test yesterday, so she's finished with eighth grade science. Two more math tests and that's out of the way. She's almost finished with composition and literature also. She needs to finish up spelling and Spanish as well as history and grammar. At this rate she'll be starting ninth grade in January of February. I asked her if she would please wait until she's sixteen to graduate. It would be nice if she could drive before she graduated.

Mike and I celebrated our 21 anniversary on Sunday. Twenty-one years ago he asked me to go steady and gave me his class ring. I still have his ring but he lost mine in a car wreck. Somehow his Mitsubishi Colt couldn't stand up to a Ford Grenada. Go figure. Anyway, we've been stuck together for a long time. I tell him I have too much time and money invested in him to start over with someone new. He keeps me around because he doesn't know how to do hair (interesting trivia; Mike's had a daughter for 13 years and he's never done a pony tail.).