Lemonade

When was the last time you stopped at a lemonade stand? Not an online lemonade stand...a real homemade lemonade stand, run by children out in their front yard. When was the last time you even saw one? It had been about 7 years for me, until my oldest son set one up about a month ago. He'd been after me for some time to let him do it, but i kept putting him off, telling him, "It's not a good day for it." or "We don't have time today." Then one day, he came running in the house calling, "Momma! Today is the PERFECT day for a lemonade stand!" I was changing my 6 month old daughter's diaper on my bed. He was sweaty and out of breath, and as he ran past me to my bedroom window, he had a big smile on his face. He pulled back our bedroom curtains triumphantly and said loudly, "LOOK!!!" I looked. The child was right. It was indeed the perfect day for lemonade stand. For out on the road in front of our house was a road crew. They drove past to set up signs and flags about 1 mile or so down the road. We had errands to run, and it was pretty early in the morning for lemonade, so I told my son, "When we get back, okay ?" It was a deal. But our errands took longer than expected and cut into our school day. We arrived home just before lunch. I had forgotten about the road crew, but was quickly reminded as we pulled into our driveway. I turned to my son, thinking, "We really have to do school", but the wheels were already turning in his mind. Before I could say a word, he blurted out, "They're right in front of our house! It's almost lunch time!" Again, the child was right. He set up his stand, his sister joined in the fun, and needless to say they raked in.

What Rhymes with "Octopus"?

Nothing, you say? Well, have I got news for you! I learned this morning while my boys were playing with their much loved LeapPad that there is, indeed, a rhyme for "octopus". I know the suspense is killing you, so i'll cut to the chase and tell you what I heard from the LeapPad....."Name a deep sea creature that rhymes with 'roctopus'. " I'm not kidding. That's what it said. Sort of makes one wonder what qualifies as a legitmate rhyme, since apparently, you no longer have to limit yourself to actual words. Shoot, why stop at "rocktopus?" There's also "bloctopus", "froctopus", and "scoctopus". What about "mocktopus"?

Anyway, I guess roctopus does, in fact, rhyme with octopus. In a Dr. Suess sort of way.

Monkey in the Middle

Meet Ben. Benjamin Walker Roberts, actually. He is our third child, hence the title of this picture. As you can see, he's not a monkey, but my husband and I wonder if he isn't somehow part raccoon. The child is into everything. And much like a raccoon, he is very cute and fun to watch, but if he should crawl into your bed at night, he will thrash around like a wild animal. Get him too excited while you're playing with him, and he will sometimes bite. We don't encourage this behavior. But hey, that's the risk you take when you toy around with a wild animal. He also is a very talented young man. He knows how to sit down in Spanish.