The Good News Is, the Oven Broke Again
The bad news is, all the sales ended. Anyway, Paul went out and bought me this, which should be delivered next Wednesday. A definite improvement over this:

Labels: Consumer goods, home improvement

- posted by Lenise @ 8:31 PM |

 
Unconventional Imaginary Friends
We've been reading and talking about Thanksgiving at our house (for some reason...) a lot lately. The boys have really latched on to a couple of concepts- so well, in fact, that we ran into Massasoit at Pomodoro today. He sat at our table (he apparently ate a whole pizza by himself), and followed us home. John told me that he is so nice that he is going to stay with us for 5 years (he was quick to refute Isaac's statement that our new houseguest was going to stay forever: "Isaac, he can't stay with us that long. Everybody gets old and dies.") All the same, by this evening, the length of stay had been revised to 16 years.

Ever the instigator, I asked whether we were going to see Squanto (to whom Isaac seems to have taken a liking- he wanted to hear the Squanto story again and again). "Oh, yes. Massasoit is on the telephone inviting him." At least we had help raking the leaves (it really did help motivate the boys), and when planting time rolls around, we know who to call!

Labels: boys, history, holidays

- posted by Lenise @ 10:21 PM |

 
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Thank you to my dear friends and our loving families for your steadfast care for us. God bless you all with great joy in the gifts He has given you!

Love,
LPJI&D
- posted by Lenise @ 9:30 AM |

 
Productive Day
The day started out pretty dismally. I woke up with the full-blown version of the ticklish throat I sensed starting last night & decided to take a sick day. It became clear that I was the appointed oven-buyer and that at least Daniel was coming along. Jay wanted to accompany me, and the three of us trudged out into the cold, very wet morning only to discover that Lowe's could not deliver until after Thanksgiving (which did not come as a shock, given that it's the Monday before!) and that Daniel was cranky.

Mr. Paxifist, having been consulted, recommended trying elsewhere (which was not welcome news to my ears: Papa John's delivers on Turkey Day, after all!), and so I went home with 1 cranky child, a cranky self, and 1 happy child (we get to go to more stores?!?). I decided en route to let my fingers do the walking, and lo and behold, neither Home Despot nor Best Bully was going to beat Lowe's Friday AM delivery estimate.

Enter Mr. Paxifist with the toolkit. Paul determined that the fix involved nothing more complicated than re-attaching a wire. Good news: oven is fixed. Bad news: it's the same stinkin' oven that doesn't match the other appliances and HAS NO WINDOW, and now I have no good excuse to get rid of it. *Sigh*

While he was soldering away and Daniel was napping, the big boys and I went out to rake leaves. It was still drizzling very lightly, and they got tired of the work in about an hour (which is really pretty good, considering), so we came in and had cocoa. The backyard is pretty well covered with leaves still, but the far back (in front of the brackish ditch) is mostly clear except for the piles.

Then, while the big boys worked on an art project (Daniel was still napping!), I finally plugged in the venerable clock Dad gave me last time we were in Ohio, a project which took several weeks to accomplish simply because the power strip was buried. Now we have Westminster chimes! I also took the opportunity to move the older clock off the entertainment center and onto the piano, where it is more accessible for winding & pendulum tapping.

Not bad for a sick day: now I just need some good solid sleep!

Labels: boys, Consumer goods, home improvement

- posted by Lenise @ 6:14 PM |

 
Dress-up Fun




We were blessed to attend a friend's 35th birthday celebration: a surprise masquerade! My big boys went as "fancy guys", and the little one declined his caterpillar costume (cold, too much cumulative time in the car over the past couple of days, hunger, and fatigue tanked the patience quotient for all of us). It was an awesome excuse for me to buy a dress which I can now wear to the Ren Faire!!

(My thanks to Heather for the photos!!)

Labels: boys, friends, photos, trips

- posted by Lenise @ 8:45 PM |

 
Exercise
We walked the 2 miles down and 2 miles back from Jay's check-up yesterday (Daniel rode, of course). A donut snack and Biscuitville lunch aren't enough to totally negate the benefits from that, right?

Labels: boys, Mebane

- posted by Lenise @ 8:51 PM |

 
Did That Crack You Up?
The boys were discussing the various volumes at which people communicate the other week. There isn't enough caffeine on the earth to allow me to remember a whole conversation around here nowadays, but I do remember the conversation ending with Isaac making an observation that Jay wholeheartedly agreed with: Apples talk silently. Well, it was funny at the time.

Jay thinks it's just awesome when he makes me laugh. I wish I could remember what he said the other night, but it tickled my funnybone, and I told him he cracks me up, whereupon he launched into a series of crazy stunts designed for my entertainment, punctuated with "Did that crack you up, Mama?" Sadly, the answer was mostly no, and now and again, his antics looked slightly dangerous- not the way to promote mirth in one's Mama. Naturally he did eventually come up with a few more funnies, but the amount of effort he put in was eye-opening (he still didn't want to carry in a grocery bag for me the next day...).

Daniel, now, is really getting to the age of cracking me up. He still will say "no" when he means "yes", but when he means "no", he'll add "uh-uh" and shake his head vigorously. No mistaking that one! Tonight, he wanted to "play on the bed" (I'll bounce him on my stomach to the Wm Tell Overture in the key of bum-de-bum, or he'll raise his arms, smile, and say "Aaaaa" while falling on top of me, or he'll climb over me, run around the bed, and repeat, or...). He was in the mood for "Ta Tell!" (Wm Tell), so we did that once, at which point Daddy came up to commence bedtime operations. Daniel yelled "'Gain!", so I told him we could do it one more time, and I may have had to repeat once more before I pitched him over sideways onto the bed. This time when he said "'Gain", I told him he had to go find Daddy. Whew! Not a peep did he utter, but his face went from bouyant to aggrieved and suspicious in a split second. He even did that furrowed-brow glower out of the corner of his eyes. I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while! A few seconds later, the tot was cheerfully bidding me goodnight from his Daddy's arms. He may end up being more of a dramatist than Isaac. Heaven help us.

Labels: baby talk, boy talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 9:48 PM |