Poor Kate

Even though it's usually the younger sister who get's teased, Kate occasionally gets teased by her 21-month-old little sister.

The perfect example happened in the car the other day. We were almost home from a short car ride. Kate was a little tired, so she was in a little bit of a daze. Anna must have noticed and from her car seat, she informed me, "Mommy, Tae ni ni."

Immeditately, Kate said, "No, Anna, I'm not sleeping."

Anna said it again, "Mommy, Tae ni ni!"

Kate, a little frustrated, said, "Anna, I'm not sleeping."

I added, "Kate's not sleeping, Nonnie."

Now Anna knew she was on to something. "Ni ni, Tae... Mommy, Tae ni ni!"

Kate shouted, "I'm not sleeping!"

Anna laughed. She went for one more, "Ni ni, Tae... Mommy, Tae ni ni."

Poor Kate.

We know that Anna completely inherited her sense of humor from Dave, and, as verification of this, when I told Dave the story, he laughed commented on how clever Anna is.

I reiterate. Poor Kate!

How much ice?

When my sister and brother-in-law were staying here last week, Kate was standing on a chair and using the dispenser on the refrigerator to fill up the water glasses. She asked my sister how much ice she liked in her glass. She then asked how much ice Uncle Nathan liked. After finding out their preferences, she commented about how much ice my dad likes. Stretching out her arm she said, "He likes this much!" and to clarify, she added, "as long as a three-and-three-quarters-year-old's arm!"

Dropping hints

This morning I had a doctor's appointment. Since the doctor and church are both across town, I took Kate with me, because the plan was to go right from the appointment to church.

As we were sitting together waiting for the nurse, Kate suddenly looked deliberately thoughtful. Although I didn't catch on right away, I'm pretty sure it was to prompt me to ask what she was thinking about, which I did. "What are you thinking about, honey?"

A hint of a satified smile flashed across her face before she answered, "You and me."

I didn't understand yet. "What about you and me?"

"I was just thinking of what we could maybe do after church..." Then I realized she was prompting me to suggest we go out for tea, our favorite Mommy and Kate activity.

I decided to tease a little. "Hmmm, like go grocery shopping?"

"No," she said, "That's not fun!"

"Oh! Like work at church a little while?"

"No, Mommy!"

"Well, we could go for a walk."

Kate was disgusted. "Mommy," she said, looking straight at me, "Let's just talk about this later."

Too hot

On Wednesday we took our pie baking efforts to church, where there are two full size ovens and another half size one. This enabled us to bake five pumpkin pies at a time instead of the two I could do it our house.

The one disadvantage to the seemingly perfect set up is that one of the full size ovens is located on the other side of the two building church and down a flight of stairs. When I hurried, I could get to the other oven in less than two minutes, but one of the trips didn't go quite as well.

Although I had two helpers the rest of the day, there was one short period of time when I was left alone with Kate and Anna, and two other girls, Ashley, 7, and Amber, 5. Of course, it was during this time when I had to rush down to the other oven to take out two pumpkin pies.

Not wanting to leave the kids alone for the five minutes it would take me to get there and back, I told them to come along. I had to bring along two pie tins with crusts and a heavy bowl filled with the filling. I did need help carrying one of the crusts, so I asked the oldest girl Ashley to carry that. This, understandably, caused Kate and the second oldest girl, Amber, much distress that they were not given that honor. So, I gave Kate and Amber each a pie crust and gave Ashley a mixer I needed carried down instead.

Anna, having been given nothing to carry, decided to instead drag Ashley's ten pound back pack with her, and the five of us headed off.

By this point, the pies had been done for at least two minutes, so I rushed them along.

I swear I held my breath the entire way, praying that both pie crusts remained off the floor. The three oldest walked quickly and arrived at the stairs/elevator before me, since I was trying to encourage Anna along. I told the three girls to push the button for the elevator, and I set the bowl of filling down on a table and ran to retreive Anna.

I couldn't convince her to leave the back pack, so I carried both of them to the elevator as Anna screamed in protest the entire time, "No! I do! I do!" the whole way.

I put Anna in the elevator and ran out to grab the filling from about 20 feet back. Anna left the elevator and the elevator doors shut without her or me.

I pushed the button and the door opened to the sounds of three girls giggling hysterically and the sight of Amber's pie crust being held sideways by one hand, with her little thumb digging into the beautifully crimped edge.

We made it downstairs and Amber and Kate took off running toward the kitchen, with the pie crusts tipping precariously in their hands. I yelled for them to slow down so we didn't lose the crust, and Amber protested she was carrying it very tightly.

We made it to the kitchen, and, with much relief, I took the crusts out of the girls' hands. I then removed the two pies from the oven, relieved that they weren't burned. I straightened the crimping on the empty shells as best as I could, poured the filling in, and placed them in the oven. Thankfully, everything had turned out fine.

There were two apple pies in the kitchen that had been cooling. I decided I should bring them and the pumpkin pies up to the other kitchen to keep them safe and to eventually box them up. I loaded them onto a wire-rack cart. As I loaded them I was struck with gratitude and relief. These four pies looked beautiful. We'd had a rough start that morning. One of the mixers didn't work at all and the other only worked on high speed. The high speed mixer had left a couple of the pumpkin pies really bubbly, but now we'd gotten things down to a system, and everything was going smoothly.

I started to wheel the cart toward the elevator telling the kids to follow me. That's when I realized only Kate and Ashley were with me. Amber and Anna had disappeared.

I left the rack and ran up the stairs where I found Anna and Amber. I picked up Anna and reminded Amber I wanted her to stay with me, so she should get on the elevator. Amber ran down and got on the elevator right away. Just as I got to the bottom of the stairs, the elevator shut with Ashley, Kate, and Amber in it. When I pushed the button this time, the door didn't open. I yelled for them to stay on and come down, and when the door opened, only Kate and Ashley remained on.

I yelled up the stairs for Amber, but didn't get a response, so Ashley ran after Amber. I yelled to Ashley that we'd be right up.

Hurriedly, I put Anna on the elevator and, holding her on , reached to wheel the cart in quickly. It didn't wheel easily over the threshold; I needed my other hand. I let go of Anna and pulled the cart with two hands. As soon as I got the first two wheels over, I heard Anna say, "Hoo hot, Mama." Too hot? What? I looked down to see Anna holding up an orange coated finger. "Hoo hot, Mama, hoo hot!" Not wanting her finger to continue to burn, I bent down and put her little finger in my mouth to lick off the piping hot pumpkin pie. "No," I told her, "Don't touch." I glanced at the pie. Just one little hole. It would be okay.

I lifted Anna to the back of the elevator, still in a hurry to get up to Amber and Ashley, and wheeled in the rack. Just as I pushed the button to go up, I heard, "Hoo hot is yummy, Mama." I looked to see Anna licking her fingers, as she'd seen me doing. She had a big smile on her face, and the pumpkin pie now had not one baby finger hole, but three.

The hope of a peaceful breakfast

As is well known, Kate and Anna have very different personalities. While Kate is generally pretty quiet, laid back, and reserved, Anna is impulsive, strong-willed, and often demanding.

For many reasons, I'm grateful to have kids that are so different. I can usually find Anna's spirit amusing, kind of refreshing, but I think Kate sometimes finds Anna overwhelming.

Yesterday morning, as is usually the case, Anna finished her breakfast in an instant, and while Dave, Kate, and I attempted to finish waking up while we ate, she began to make demands. This particular day it was, "Play choo choo with me, Mama. Play choo choo with me, Mama." I tried to explain several times that I'd play trains in a couple minutes, but I wanted to finish eating first.

After Anna's ninth or tenth demand, I decided that a couple minutes to wake up over a peaceful breakfast with Dave and Kate meant more to me at that moment than a "we all stay together at the table" rule. I decided to get Anna out of her highchair.

As I was getting her out, I began to tell Anna to go play for a couple minutes and that I'd be right there. As I was trying to tell her this, Anna interrupted by pointing to my tea in the microwave and blurting out, "Tea's in there, Mama. Tea's in there, Mama!"

I set her down, brought my tea to the table, and went back to eat breakfast while Anna repeatedly yelled, "Follow me, Mama. Play choo choo with me, Mama." Occasionally, in between her demands, I'd again explain that she could go play and I'd play after I finished breakfast.

After a long minute of that, Anna came over and began to pull me into the play room where the train table is located. Finally, I just surrendered. Once again, there wasn't going to be a peaceful breakfast. I gave her my finger and let her lead me to her train table.

As I walked out of the kitchen with Anna I heard an exasperated little voice from the otherwise quiet kitchen exclaim, "Whatever!" Anna, halfway through dinner, after sliding her plate across the table and throwing a pea.

Daddy can't win

Dave has been developing a slight complex lately about Kate's lack of enthusiasm for him. Last night was particularly bad. While I was delivering pies, Dave was alone with the girls, playing with them and getting them ready for bed. Throughout the whole time, Kate kept whining for me. After he put Anna to bed, Dave was trying to spend some one-on-one time reading to and cuddling with Kate, but she continued to whine for me.

Finally, Dave asked her directly, "Why do you always want Mommy?"

Perhaps to show him the situation was not his fault, Kate explained, "I just like girls."

Dave, trying to lighten the mood, joked, "But I'm the best boy in the whole world!"

Kate looked stunned and said, "No, God is the best boy."

Dave, thinking there may still be a chance for him, conceded, "Well, I'm the second best boy."

Kate rolled her eyes and explained to her heathen father, "No, Jesus is the second best boy!"

Dave probably should have seen then that he just couldn't win, but he tried to salvage the situation, and optimistically said, "But, I'm your favorite boy."

Kate plainly told him he wasn't.

.

At this point, it was obvious to anyone, even Dave, that he couldn't win with Kate. Maybe he just wanted to see what he was up against, but Dave dared to ask, "Well, who's in your line-up?"

Kate laid it all out for him, "It goes Sam, Sam, Parker, Parker, Calvin, Calvin, Mason, and Mason."

.

So, Dave could have left it alone and assumed himself to be in third place, and just after Divinity, but he had to ask. And then he wasn't even seventh; Kate had managed to make poor Dave eleventh, behind only six others.

Thank you!

I'm grateful to everyone who helped the orphanage, but I want to mention special thanks to Diana, Nathan, Samantha, Caroline, Ann, Victor, Mom, and Dad for their incredible amounts of help, to Kate and Anna for their great patience with me, and to Jamie, Katrina, Shelly, and Fiona for their especially generous contributions.

Thanksgiving pies and caramel apples

What an uplifting experience!

I spent the last couple months planning this fundraiser, organizing orders, writing donation requests, collecting donations, and buying what we couldn't get donated.

But, none of it could have come together without the enormous amount of help I got from friends and family the last couple days, and it wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful without the incredible generosity of friends.

A lot people gave up many hours of their time, and many people were especially generous with their money. Together we made 25 pumpkin pies, 15 apple pies, and 34 caramel apples.

In the end, because of all these people, La Cuidad Blanca will be getting $662 wired to them on Friday. My prayer is that this money, and our continued prayers, will make life a little better for the children in the orphanage and the nuns who devote their life to helping these children.

Easily impressed

Some of Kate's favorite toys, actually her very favorite, aside from the new Barbie dolls, have been homemade paper dolls. Some of these dolls have been cut from pictures drawn on lined paper and others from pictures of Strawberry Shortcake dolls we printed from the computer.

She said the cutest thing to one of these homemade dolls the other day. We were playing and the paper dolls were discussing castles. I made the paper doll I was holding make a reference to a Dora special from last winter. Her paper doll commented back to my paper doll, "You were made after that show!"

Aside from the homemade paper dolls, Kate was also recently very impressed with a couple of drinking glasses I bought her. I showed her them before I put them in the cupboard, not really expecting much of a response, but she was thrilled. "They're glass!" she exclaimed, "I can't believe it!"

Aunt Diana and Uncle Nathan visit

Kate and Anna have been thrilled to have house guests. It's not every day they have constant playmates entirely at their beck and call!

Anna and her opa

Anna and Opa each think the other is hilarious. They have so much fun together.

Mommy gives in

The isolated and seemingly harmless "cheap Barbie doll purchase" prompted a series of events that eventually led to Kate and Anna becoming the proud owners of three Barbie dolls, a Ken doll, and four other outfits for the dolls.

When the cheap Barbies continued to lose limbs, and Kate mentioned this to my mother, my mom located her Barbie doll collection from when she was a kid, washing and ironing a couple dozen great outfits, including some Jackie O. style dresses and coats. I justified the collection, as a kind of heirloom. Kate adored the collection, playing with them for hours. Unfortunately, my allergies couldn't handle the dolls and outfits. I was miserable. I tried washing them a second time, but to no avail. When I finally had to take the collection away from her, I felt I had no choice but to go make the previously mentioned purchases.


Their mother may feel like a bit of a hypocritic and traitor to women everywhere, but the girls are incredibly happy!

Anna humor

I love Anna's sense of humor.

The other night, I was changing her diaper, and she was poking me with her foot. I looked all surprised, and she exclaimed, "Woh, me!"

Yesterday at Pump it Up, Anna climbed up into a toy and declared, "Yeah, me!"

She'll also come up behind Dave or me and, prompting us to ask it, ask, "Behind me?" Then we'll ask, "Who's behind me?" And she'll laugh and climb on us.

Anna clears things up

Yesterday morning, Kate hadn't slept well and was really tired and crabby. She had been whining since she woke up, and about 45 minutes into the morning, I had officially had it. I said, "Kate, you have to stop whining now. I know you didn't sleep well, and I know you're tired. You don't want to sleep, but if you keep whining, it won't be a choice. You'll have to take a nap."

Anna listened to what I said, but then took it upon herself to make sure Kate understood. She walked over to Kate, put her little hand on Kate's shoulder, looked her in the eyes, and said, "No, Tae. No, no. Bubidablahbubidablah, ni ni."

Going door-to-door

There's no way I'll be able to accurately relate this. I have videos of moments in my mind, and I laugh aloud every time I think of them, but words, at least not mine, can not do them justice.

.

Kate and I stopped for tea after running some errands today. We always share a tea, but usually she gets less than a fifth of it. Today the barista gave her about half. She was wired.

By the time we were ready to leave the coffee shop, she was talking incessantly... and loudly. As we left, she actually slipped out the coffee shop door without me. She waited right there, and I was watching her the whole time, but she's never done anything like it. When I reprimanded her, she immediately apologized, but a few minutes later, she added a suggestion that I could also have sped up.

When we arrived home, my usually calm, well-behaved child was possibly even more hyper. She would not stop talking, and she stood on her chair at least five times during dinner.

(Do any of you want to admit to remembering the Beavis and Butthead "Cornholio" episode? That was Kate.)

.

After dinner, her little mind racing wildly, Kate came up with a brainstorm. Thinking of the orphans in Honduras for whom we're raising money with the pie sale, she exclaimed, "I know! We shouldn't send the orphans money. We should send them parents!"It was a stop-the-presses moment for her. She continued, "We can put them on airplanes and fly them to the orphans."

I was so proud of her for caring enough to think of this, but I was also a little amused with her. I asked her where we'd get these parents. She thought about it and decided, "They'd have to be people who didn't already have kids."

.

I took her onto my lap and, hugging her me, suggested people. I'd say, "What about Oma and Opa?" She'd answer, "They have kids: you, Aunt Diana, and Uncle J.J." Then I'd suggest someone else. "What about Joe Harrington?" "No, Mommy. He's a kid. He seems older, because he's a teenager, but he's still a kid."

Finally, I asked, "Well, how will we find parents?"

She answered definitively, "We'll have to go door-to-door."

.

When I finished laughing that she'd used the term "door-to-door," she elaborated, "We'll go door-to-door tomorrow and ask, 'Do you want a kid?'"

Lessons I've learned this week, amended

#6 - Just because a toddler asks to sit on the potty chair to poopy, doesn't mean that toddler will still be on that potty chair when the poopy comes out. She may be standing diaperless in the kitchen.

#5 - Huge containers of small beads and not-yet-two-year-olds don't mix well.

But, a small bead will not necessarily hurt that not-yet-two-year-old if she ingests it.

#4 - Super cheap "Barbie" dolls are super cheap.

Notice I didn't say "inexpensive." If my time is of any monetary value, a real doll would have been a much better deal. It takes time to reattach arms, legs, and hips. When that amount of time is taken every four to five minutes, it especially adds up.

#3 - Whatever it is you say you will never buy for your kids, whether it be a DVD player for the car or bad-body-image-causing Barbie dolls, you will buy for them, probably before they even turn four.

#2 - Don't attempt to save time by vacuuming up around shoes. Just move them.

It takes much more time to detangle the laces from the vacuum cleaner than to pick up a few pairs of shoes.

And the #1 lesson I've learned this week:

#1a - Onions should not be grated in a food processor. The onions will clog and then become pressed and onion juice will leak quickly from the food processor all over the counter and floor.

#1b - If onion juice is all over the counter and floor, do not try to be environmentally friendly and use kitchen towels to wash it. Tell Mother Nature to suck it up and reach for the paper towels.

#1c - If for some reason, you do have towels saturated with onion juice, do not wash them with other clothes. If you do, all your clothes (and your husband's clothes and your children's clothes) will reek of onion.

#1d - If your clothes reek of onion, washing them another time will make no difference whatsoever.

#1e - If you have clothes that have been washed three times and still reek of onion, washing them a fourth time with lemon juice will not remedy the situation. It will merely cause them to reek of onion and lemon.

When I come to #1f and learn what does work, I will be sure to post it. I'm about to go try vinegar.

Princess-cat cookies

On Monday, an amazing idea occurred to Kate. Out of the blue, she determined it was imperative we make "princess-cat cookies"... and soon.

Because we were out of eggs, the cookie making endeavour required a trip to the grocery store, which was okay because it allowed us to load up on sprinkles.

Because we didn't have a cat shaped cookie cutter, we also headed to Michael's. In case anyone was wondering, Michael's doesn't have cat shaped cookie cutters.

After I finally convinced Kate we could make princess-people cookies, we purchased a couple gingerbread cookie cutters and headed home.

By the time Kate got home, she was in an exhausted slumber. And try as Anna might, Kate would not be awoken.

We made cookies the next morning instead.On Tuesday mornings, Joey comes over. Joey enjoyed cutting out the cookies and making the frosting, and he was thrilled when the oven timer buzzed, and he knew the cookies were done. Handing the kids the cookies, I mentioned that they might be a little too warm to frost, so Joey blew on his cookie before he took a giant bite of the arm.

After I stopped Kate from chastising him for eating the cookie before he decorated it, I showed Joey how Kate was frosting her cookie and pointed out the spoon and the frosting I'd given him. Joey nodded in understanding, and brought a spoonful of frosting right to his mouth.

By the time we got him around to frosting, he was decorating a mostly headless amputee of a gingerbread man.

Anna doesn't see the need for frosting... or shoes... or table manners.

Anna speaks

Anna is getting to be so good at communicating. She can get her point across to Dave, Kate, or me about ninety percent of the time.

However, it’s not always best that I know what she wants to say. For instance, at the aquarium in Florida, Anna ran away. I had to chase her down, practically at a run myself, to retrieve her. When I did, I kissed her in relief, but said, “You are naughty!” Without missing a beat, Anna replied, “You nau-na, YOU!” As I deliberated within myself about whether or not to get into a debate with a one-and-a-half-year-old about who was really naughty, she drove her point home, “No, Mama, you nau-na.”

Anna also makes it clear when she doesn’t think I should be stopping other misbehavior. When I stop her from doing something, before I even get a chance to discipline her, she often yells at me, “No, Mommy, no, no, no!”

The other night, Dave was gone and I was trying to get Anna ready for bed. As she struggled with me, she kept protesting, “Daddy, baby ni ni!” She didn’t want me to put her to bed; she wanted Dave to.

She’s also learned to yell (and I emphasize the word yell), “I need help, Mommy!” She learned that one from Kate, and inevitably she uses it anytime she wants me to create a situation for her where she can make a really good mess, like turn on the sink for her or unlock the water dispenser on the refrigerator.

A couple other notable things she has said involve Mason. A while ago, Mason bit the head off Anna’s favorite ducky toy. I thought Anna would be really upset, but she thought it was hilarious. For weeks, she bragged to anyone who’d listen that, “Mason ate Dutty!”

The other day, Anna asked and asked for a Tootie (cookie) for dessert. Right when I finally gave her one, Mason walked into the kitchen. I heard Anna say, “Here you go.” And by the time I turned around, Mason was walking away with a beautifully decorated cookie between his jaws. I knew it was no use, but I still yelled, “Mason, drop it.”

Before Mason even swallowed the last of that cookie, Anna asked me for another. I said, “You had a cookie, but you gave it to Mason.” She said, “Mason ate Tootie.” Because it makes so much sense to argue with a baby, I said, “I know! You gave him the cookie.”

After Anna thought for a moment, she put an adorable expression on her face and told me, “Mason ate tootie, TOO.” I realized exactly what she was trying to say, and I thought that was pretty philosophical, to imply that she should have a cookie and Mason should have a cookie, too. So I gave her a second cookie. When Kate came back in the kitchen a few minutes later, Anna triumphantly declared, “Mason ate tootie, too!"

Anna doesn't use her words exclusively to cause trouble. One of the cutest things Anna does is ask if we’re okay. For weeks now, anytime Kate starts to cry because she’s frustrated, Anna has asked, “Otay?”

When Dave and I were packing up the taxi at the end of vacation, we must have appeared a little stressed, she asked each of us, “Otay, Daddy? Otay, Mommy?”

When Kate fell asleep in the car the other day, at first Anna just reported, “Tae ni ni.” But, when I dragged Kate in, set her on the beanbag, and she still wouldn’t wake up, Anna wasn’t sure what to make of it. She put her head up close to Kate's head and yelled, “Otay, Tae? Otay, Tae?”

Hotels, beware

Robert Plant at the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles, 1975.

Hotels have long known to be leery of rock stars staying in their rooms. But, forget Robert Plant! They should have been watching out for Anna.Anna at the Holiday Inn in Clearwater Beach, Florida, 2009.Doesn't this kid have a mother?!

Lunch for the paper dolls

Dave and Kate were playing home made paper dolls together this morning. Because Dave was being a male character whom he'd given a bizarre mustache and a strange hat, Dave was talking in an obnoxious Spanish accent.

When Dave's doll told Kate's doll he wanted to a "burrrrito" for lunch, Kate looked somewhat horrified.

Dave, missing her expression, continued to insist he wanted a burrito to eat, until Kate exclaimed, "We don't eat puppies!"

Because Kate knows some Spanish, she thought Dave, with his accent, was using the Spanish word "Perrito" which means "puppy."

Good one, Kate!

I needed to go to Milwaukee Public Schools Central Office, long story. When we arrived, Kate asked about where we were going once we went in.

Anna chimed in with a question, "I go, too, Mommy?"

I said, joking, "Oh, you want to come in? Hmmm..."

Just then, Kate added, "I don't think they allow monkeys, Anna."

Gum

Kate's Sunday School teacher, who's amazing with the kids, started a behavior system where the kids start out with three stickers. As long as they're good, they keep their stickers, and at the end of the class, they get a piece of gum.

A couple weeks ago was the first time Kate had ever had a piece of gum. When I mentioned this, her teacher's daughter Helen, a wonderful kid who Kate adores, explained to Kate that she should chew it, but not swallow it. She emphasized this a couple times. Kate chewed her gum sitting in her car seat and thoroughly enjoyed her first piece of gum.

Yesterday was Kate's second time having gum. I tried to "lighten up" and let her have it right after class, like all the other kids. We walked from her classroom to my room to clean up my children's church materials. All of the sudden Kate looked completely sick. I bent down and ask her what was wrong.

With wide, deer-in-the-headlight eyes, she whispered, "I swallowed my gum." I thought for a second. That was disappointing to only have gum for 30 seconds. Knowing her teacher is really understanding, I asked, "Do you want to ask Mrs. Harrington for another piece." She looked shocked. "No!" she exclaimed.

I hugged her and she, starting to cry, explained, "I'm worried."

I then pictured Helen explaining, "Don't swallow it. Chew it, but don't swallow it!"

I immediately explained, "Oh, it's okay. You're not supposed to swallow it, but it won't hurt you..." In a whisper I added, "It'll just come out in your poop."

After more reassurance from my friend Samantha, who told Kate she'd swallowed a piece that morning and felt just fine, Kate began to recover.

Message in the sand

When we were at the beach, Dave and I were building a castle with Anna, and Kate went a little ways away and was writing in the sand with a stick.

When we looked up, we saw Kate had written her first and last name. I had never taught her to write her last name. (Later, she explained she'd just heard me spell it often enough that she remembered it.)

I just laughed when I saw it, saying, "Well, now you can get a library card." (The library just requires kids know how to write their first and last names.)

Kate the mommy

While I was uploading pictures for the last post, Anna somehow got into my bag for Awana and found some candy. She came up to me with two suckers. I returned the rest of the candy to my Awana bag, and let the girls sit and each eat a sucker.

Later, Anna returned with a tootsie roll. I watched as she gave it to Kate to open. Kate looked at her and said, "We're not having that now! We already had a lot of sweets. Well, we already had one big sweet... No, Anna, we're not having that now."

Beach lessons

At the beach, I thought it would be fun to dig a really deep hole to show Kate how you can find water under ground.

As I dug down, I saw different stratas of sand. I told Kate to come look at the stratas. Dave mumbled sarcastically, "Yes, I'm sure that is very interesting to a not-quite-four-year-old... You guys will have a lot of fun when she's thirty-three."

After a while, I came to a strata where the sand wasn't ground as finely. It was still noticable that it was made up of pieces of shells. I was so excited to show Kate. I said, "Kate look. Here you can tell that sand is still shells. Because, sand is just a bunch of shells ground up really..."

Kate interupted, "I know. I know. You told me that when I was a lot younger."

Regardless of Dave's sarcasm or Kate's boredom with such "simplistic concepts," we had a lot of fun getting into the hole, and we did hit ground water!