for brandon...

My brother had this on his blog a while back. Brandon is training for a marathon right now, so this has been on my mind for the past month or so...

the wonderful world of willie

We constantly have magpies out our kitchen window eating our cat food. I think they eat more of it than the cat does.
Will says if the cat caught a magpie and ate it, it would be like eating a stuffed pepper because the magpie would be all full of cat food.
That boy's wheels turn a little bit differently than most.

memories...

One of my earliest childhood memories is from Valentine's Day, 1979, the day my little sister was born. I was 4 1/2 years old. The youngest, at this time, of 4.
I remember going to spend the day with my grandma and grandpa Chris.
I remember walking up the sidewalk and into their house. I think there was snow on the ground.
I remember my mom had baked valentine sugar cookies early and put them in the freezer.
I remember voting on a name, at sunday dinner sometime before she was born. I voted for Kelsey, because Larry did.
I remember standing in my grandma's kitchen, talking on the phone to my dad. He tried to make me guess what it was, but I never liked guessing. He told me I had a baby sister.
I remember peering through the nursery glass at a little baby with tons of jet black hair.
I remember people asking my mom, and me, if I was going to have a hard time not being the "baby" anymore. The thought had never occurred to me. Having a sister just 21 months older than me, I never felt like the "baby"...jealousy never crossed my 4 year old mind.

I guess maybe it should have. I didn't know I was getting a sister that would forever be cuter, funnier, thinner, more creative, more spiritual, more stylish and more talented than I. I loved her then, and I adore her even more now.

Happy 30th birthday, Shaur! I LOVE YOU!
Love, your older sister...

poor little lucy...

I've heard it said that children are never satisfied with their ages. They either want to still be babies, or they want to be adults. Funny, I have two little boys that I think want to still be babies, and 2 girls that already think they are older than they are. My Abby, however, must be an exception to the rule. I think she is perfectly happy right where she is.
We have a rule in our family that when we eat out the kids can't bring their sodas in the van. It's always been that way, and all of my kids know that, and we don't have a very hard time enforcing it. I'm sure you can guess which of my 5 little darlings has a problem with the rule. Lucy. She rarely argues or tries to bring her drink, but she is not happy with leaving it. Twice last week I happened to bring a drink with me in the van, and both times she asked, "Why do YOU get to bring YOUR drink?" and both times the answer was "Because I'm a grown-up." Which makes her mad, but what can she say? Well, the second time this occurred last week, she had had enough. "Because it's just a grown-up-grown-up-grown-up land!" she huffed, arms folded and eyes rolling.
Funny, I feel like I spend a whole lot of time in kidsville...