Off for the Weekend

Man, I've been really bad about blogging lately. I'll get back into the groove soon, I hope. Just haven't felt much like writing.

We're going to visit my brother-in-law and his wife this weekend. We hope to be able to spend some time on the beach at the Outer Banks while we're up there. Hopefully it won't be raining all weekend.

Since I'm actually in the middle of a week of from school right now (unlike all the other trips I've taken lately), I'm actually leaving the laptop at home! WOO HOO!!

Have a great weekend!

Our Weekend

Yeah, I know I haven't been writing much lately. Just haven't felt much like it, I guess. Haven't really felt like I had much to write about.

So the hubby and I have been kid-free since Wednesday night. Although we miss the kids, without a doubt, we have enjoyed the peace and quiet. I know the extended family in Alabama is enjoying the time they've gotten to spend with them. I talked to the kids briefly tonight, and they're having a great time. They were watching Willy Wonka when my mother-in-law called tonight. It was so nice to hear their little voices.

We got the chance to ride together a couple of times this weekend. We went out to lunch today and had to stop to put gas in my bike. As I was starting the pump, I noticed a wallet lying on top, sort of propped up on a narrow ledge just below the actual top of the pump. I opened it to see if I could find out who it belonged to, and found out it belonged to someone local. So while the hubby gassed up the bikes, I went in to get a phone book to see if I could get in touch with the wallet's owner (hoping he was listed). Found the name in the phone book, and the addy matched up with the addy on the license. Called him up and let him know I had found his wallet and where he could pick it up before handing it over to the folks behind the counter. He sounded very thankful, and the kid behind the counter almost sounded surprised when he took the wallet and told me to have a nice day. Hopefully if I ever lose my wallet, an honest person will find it and contact me in the same manner. The hubby and I just wanted to contact him and let him know where his wallet was before he panicked and felt the need to start cancelling credit cards and things like that.

The kids will be home some time tomorrow. I can't wait to see them and hug and kiss them! My mother-in-law was talking about taking them to the Outer Banks next weekend or the weekend after, depending on my brother-in-law's schedule. Maybe we'll all be able to go. The hubby is wanting to get some surfing in this summer, and the beach we usually go to (which is much closer at an hour and a half away) isn't really a great surfing spot, although it's a great family beach.

If there's a bad thing about year-round school, I guess it would be that the summer is lots shorter. But they have more breaks throughout the school year, so I think it all evens out.

That about covers it. Hopefully I'll get out of this slump I'm in soon and start blogging more.

Results

I got a letter from the kids' school today. I was expecting earlier in the week, but they mailed it to the old address, although I know I gave the office the new address.

But I digress.

They're promoting the boy to 4th grade for the 2007-08 school year. What a relief!! The letter didn't say anything about his test scores, so I still don't know how he did. I plan to call over there later this week to see if they'll tell me.

When I opened the letter and read it, I refrained from whooping and hollering, and called him down to read it. He took a couple of minutes to read the letter, and then said, "I DID it!" He was SO relieved. My poor little guy...he was pretty stressed about it. I'm so proud of him. Now he can enjoy the rest of his summer break...what's left of it anyway.

They're gone for a week. The hubby's parents are going to Alabama to visit family and taking the kids with them. They leave tomorrow. I met my mother-in-law at the mall this afternoon since she had some things to take care of today. I'll miss them, but hope they have a great time. I'm going to try to enjoy some peace and quiet over the next few days.

Estimate

I got a call from the body shop this morning.

They had my estimate written and needed me to come in to sign the authorization to repair.

The damage? A little over $10 grand. Fortunately my deductible is only $50. Thank goodness for low deductibles.

It's gonna take them about 23 days to get it back to me. That's what the estimate says, anyway. But all the parts will be replaced with Volvo parts - no aftermarket parts. I'm glad to know that.

I am shocked with how close my own estimate was. I was expecting close to $10 thousand in damage. I was pretty much right on with that.

I'll be glad to get it back. The air conditioner in the hubby's pickup takes forever to cool off. I'm thinking we need to take it and have it recharged or something. It will be a long month driving that around.

Wow!

I think I've mentioned before that my son's an early riser. He's generally up before 7 a.m. That's great for school days, but on the weekends and school breaks, it would be nice if he'd sleep a little later, allowing me to sleep a little later.

I guess all the playing and staying up later caught up with him this weekend. I got up this morning a bit after 8, and noticed he was lying in his bed still. My girl was in her room reading quietly. I didn't realize the boy was still asleep. Baby girl came down a little while after I did and sat down here with me for a while before going back upstairs. The hubby tried to wake him up before he left for work, but I told him to leave the boy alone. He obviously needed more rest.

It was almost 10:00 before he came downstairs. I think I'm going to have to wear him out like that more often!

Happy Father's Day!!

I hope all the dads out there had a great day today.

We had a very nice Father's Day here. This morning the kids and I got up and made Daddy a special breakfast of pancakes with blueberry syrup. You should know that I don't cook breakfast, which makes this a truly special occurrence. They even helped me pour the batter onto the griddle, which they just loved. So we served him his pancake breakfast and gave him his Father's Day cards, and his coffee, and he loved it.

Then we all got ready to go up to spend the day with his dad. His brother and sister-in-law had come in for the weekend from Little Washington. So we went up to have lunch with them. We had a delicious lunch of steak and baked potatoes, along with tossed salad. Then for dessert we had homemade peach ice cream. Doesn't get much better than that. I just love homemade ice cream, whatever flavor.

Then we all came back here to our house, because the hubby's brother and sister-in-law, and his sister hadn't seen our new house yet. So they followed us back to the house. When we got here, his brother made a bee-line for the guitars and he and the hubby had a little jam session before we got a chance to give them a tour. He apologized after, but it didn't bother me in the least. I was glad they had a good time. So then we gave them the tour of the house, and then headed into the back yard.

While we were in the back yard, Princess A and Aunt J started knocking the volleyball around since we have the net set up out there. Gradually, everybody joined in. We had the most fun out there attempting to play some volleyball. The hubby is pretty good, and his brother isn't too bad, but the rest of us aren't that great. But the important thing is we had a great time.

Then we came back inside and visited for a little while, the boys played the guitars a little more, and then they had to leave because Uncle J and Aunt J had to drive back home tonight, which is a minimum of a couple of hours. It was a great day, though.

Only thing that would have made it better would be if my dad were still with us. I miss you, Daddy.

Happy Father's Day!

Dance Pictures

I got Princess A's dance pictures in from the photographer this week. I just thought I'd share. I'm tickled with how well they came out. The one in her tap costume is adorable, but I have to say that the ballet is my favorite.

Isn't she precious?

Finally!

So LL blogged a couple of days ago about her frustrations about not getting to ride this year. I've been feeling the same way since we got back from D.C. Yes, I've put in more time riding so far this year than she has, but I still wish I could get out there more.

The hubby has gotten to ride every day pretty much. He rides in to work daily. It's nice because it saves on gas, but I'm a bit jealous. After all, the kids are out of school and I can't exactly go out on the bike by myself with both of them.

My mother-in-law came to pick up the kids yesterday afternoon. The hubby had a retirement ceremony and organizational day that we had to attend today, and they told us that there would be no activities planned for the kids. So we didn't want to take them because we knew they'd be pretty bored.

Last night since we were alone, we took the bikes to get dinner, which was the first time I'd ridden since Memorial Day. Man, it felt good! Then we decided to ride to Raleigh today. The forecast called for PM showers in Raleigh, and few showers here today. There were some dark clouds when we left, but they were moving south, so we decided to chance it. I'm so glad we did. We had such a great ride up! The retirement ceremony was nice. I really like the outgoing CSM...she's a really neat person. I'm glad she's staying in the area. She rides, and we'll hopefully get to ride with her while we're still here. Then we went to organizational day. Not a whole lot of fun. The planning just wasn't that great. Oh well. The ride back was great though! The weather really held out for us all day, although there was a pretty menacing cloud when we got home. At least we stayed dry. I feel much better after getting the chance to ride some this weekend. Hopefully this time it won't be so long between rides!

Spring Break 2006 - Day 1

I've had a couple of requests now to share the story of our spring break in Italy last year. This will be the first post of several about that trip. I plan to do an entry for each place we stopped.

So April 7 we left home on our way to Milan. We had reservations at the Army hotel at Vicenza. We planned to drive straight to Milan first, do a bit of sightseeing, and then drive back to Vicenza. Naturally, we spent most of the day driving, although we made really good time. I had borrowed a GPS unit from a friend of mine at work, although I had never used one and wasn't sure how it would work. So I also had printed off directions from a European website similar to Mapquest. I stopped trusting Mapquest for Europe the first time I drove to Paris...but that's another story.

So we headed south on the Autobahn. We decided that since we had never been to Switzerland we'd go that way. One of the highways that is on the Switzerland side of the Swiss/Austria border was on the route that I printed off the website. Hey, another country to add to our list of those we visited...I'm all for that! And I was not disappointed. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL drive! We were in awe! I wasn't able to do a lot of sightseeing myself since I was driving, but the hubby got quite a few pictures. You can really see the reflection from the windshield in some of them, but we got some really good ones. In fact, those were really the only pictures we took that day.

So we arrived in Milan. The GPS took us there with no problems. Granted, we didn't have a specific address we were looking for in Milan - just a place to park so we could walk - but I still thought the GPS was pretty cool. So I found a place to park in Milan and we started walking. We really wanted to see Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." That was our main goal of being there. I tried to book most of our museum visits in advance for the really popular things like that. I wasn't able to get an advanced booking to see "The Last Supper," but we thought we'd take our chances that they reserved some tickets for same-day sales. But when we found the convent where it is located, there was no such luck. So we checked out the gift shop, got a few things, and took off to head back to Vicenza.

Some people LOVE Milan. I know we weren't there but a couple of hours, but I wasn't incredibly impressed. Milan is very much a modern European city. My favorites are the ones that have held on to their tradition in spite of time. When we went to Munich, I searched out the old part of town. I LOVE Rothenburg o.d. Tauber because when you enter the walls of the old town, it's almost like stepping back in time. Those are the kind of cities I love. Maybe I'll go back to Milan again and have a different opinion, especially if I get the chance to check out the shopping district!

We didn't take any pictures in Milan. They were doing construction on everything we saw that we wanted to take pictures of, which is very frustrating. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad they are so diligent about maintenance on their structures, but when everything is getting a facelift at once, it can be frustrating. Plus we didn't get a chance to visit the cathedral. Bummer! But I did get a beautiful print, so that will have to do until I get the chance to return.

So we made it back to Vicenza with no problems. the GPS wasn't much help there, because military installations over there aren't stored in those things...at least the one we were using. But I had printed out directions to the inn, and it was easy to find using those. We were really impressed with it, too. It was the nicest Army hotel we stayed in the whole time we were over there (not including Edelweiss in Garmish which isn't specifically Army). So we settled in for the night before heading off for Florence the next morning.

Below are the pictures we took that day. Aside from a couple pictures of the kids, all the pictures are pretty much of the scenery in Switzerland. Breathtaking! Enjoy!

Reminiscing

As I was unpacking and organizing things last week, I came across one of my USB drives where I have lots of pictures stored. I didn't remember what all I had on the drive, but I knew most of them were from Germany. I started scanning through the folders, and pulled up some of the pictures, and did a double-take a few times when I opened them.

See, for about three years while we were in Germany, I colored my hair. I had been highlighting it for years, and gradually adding more and more blonde each time. So I finally said to heck with it...let's just color it blonde altogether and get it over with. After all, it was much less time-consuming, and less expensive as well. And I really loved it at the time.

Before we left Germany, I made the decision to return to my natural color. That was over a year ago now. I look back at those pictures when I was a blonde, and realize that it really didn't look as good as I thought it did at the time. Haha! So I don't think I'll be doing that again, although I might decide to start highlighting some again once I give my hair a break for a while longer. After all, I have a lot of gray in my hair these days. Who knows...I might just let it go. The hubby kind of likes the gray.

Anyway, a lot of the pictures on that drive are from our Spring Break trip to Italy in 2006, the last year we were there, and about a month and a half before we moved back to the States. That was an awesome week! I was talking with Mel tonight and shared some of the pictures with her. I told her how I had originally planned on blogging about that trip in retrospect this past April, but time got away from me with the moving and everything. I just thought it might be fun to revisit the trip on the one-year anniversary. She urged me to go ahead and blog it anyway...might help get my mind off other things. She's probably right. Maybe I'll make the time to start on that within the next few days.

It also reminded me how much catching up I have to do on my scrapbooks. I haven't even really gotten started good, and I'm way behind. How is that? I just have so many good memories from our time in Europe...I want to be sure I capture them before I forget them.

First Day of Summer Break and Car Update (with Pictures)

Friday was my kids' last day of school. J has to go back tomorrow and Wednesday for testing, but that's another blog entry. I was looking forward to the opportunity to sleep in a bit more than usual for a week day. My kids haven't quite learned the art of sleeping in yet (a trait they definitely get from the hubby's side of the family), and usually have a tendency to make quite a bit of noise when I want to sleep in, making it impossible to do so. This morning, though, I know they got up fairly early, but they were so good! They played together quietly in my son's room until after I got up some time between 7:30 and 8:00. These days, that's sleeping in for me, although many years ago I thought nothing of sleeping until noon on a lazy weekend.

So I got up and came downstairs, put a pot of coffee on and fixed the kids breakfast. The hubby came down and had his coffee and breakfast and then got ready to leave for work. Since I knew he was going to be riding his bike in to work, I asked him to leave me the key to the pickup truck just in case I needed to go anywhere. He informed me that I would, indeed, need to go somewhere, because Friday we had picked up the tags and registration for his new bike (yet another post), and had forgotten to get them out of the car Friday night. So he wanted me to go over to the tow yard and get the tags out of the car and reminded me that I'd said I wanted to take pictures. Crap. He also wanted me to call the insurance adjuster, but I told him that I had already filed the insurance claim, so at this point I needed to wait and let the adjuster call me, which USAA told me would be within two business days. OK, he said, and took off for the office.

I spent a good bit of the morning working with the boy on math trying to help him prepare for his testing this week. Some time after eleven the phone rang, and it was my insurance adjuster calling me. I was pleasantly surprised to hear from her so soon. However, I wasn't happy about having to explain, yet again, the details of the accident. Ugh! Apparently the lady who took down the information for the claim didn't include the details. But she explained to me how we needed to proceed. I need to go over to the towing service and release my car to the shop that's going to do the work on my car. It just so happens that the body shop that the gentleman who towed my car told me works on "high-end" cars like mine (his words), is also one of the two in the area recommended by USAA. This means that any work they do on my car is guaranteed for as long as I have it. That's great news! Anyway, after I release my car, the tow service will get it to the body shop, and then they'll work directly with USAA to get it repaired and paid for. She went over my coverages with me, and we're in good shape as far as that's concerned, thank goodness. I have the lowest deductible offered by USAA. That's something I did over five years ago after the hubby had an accident in my van while we were living in Heidelberg. I hope nothing like this happens, but prefer to pay less out of pocket if it does. But I digress.

I had a nice talk with the adjuster too. She was so sweet. She, of course, asked if we were ok, and told me she had talked to the other lady too. And she was going to be calling her back. When I talked to her about how bad I felt, she said she understood, but not to beat myself up too much, because that's why I have insurance. She also told me to be sure to call her if I had any problems or questions. It sure is nice to have someone like that put me at ease a bit.

After I talked to her, I called the hubby to tell him what she had said. I told him I was going to get showered and dressed and go over to the tow yard to get the things we needed from the car and to release it to the body shop. Then I mentioned that I wished he could come with me because I wasn't keen on going over there by myself. He told me to come get him and he could probably take off and go with me. I was relieved! Call me crazy, but I just didn't want to see my car in daylight for the first time by myself. So the kids and I got ready and left. I don't think I've ever been so nervous to be behind the wheel of a vehicle in my life. Not even when I totalled my car when I was in college (but that may be because I didn't really remember the accident). But I got through it and the kids and I went to get the hubby.

When we got to the shop, the gentleman who owns it had just left for Rocky Mount and wouldn't be back until later tonight. Bummer! So we'd have to wait until tomorrow to get the car over to the body shop. But we were able to get the stuff we needed out of the car, and I took some pictures, which are at the end of this post. The kids were dying to see it, and both of them said "it doesn't look that bad." I think they were worried about that. What can I say...we all love that car. I have to say, though...it didn't look as bad once I got to see it in the daylight as it did Friday night. I really was kind of scared to see it. So, truly, the only thing I'm concerned about at this point is the airbags. And I wouldn't be worried about that if someone hadn't said something to me Friday night about insurance companies usually totalling cars if the airbags deployed. I probably have nothing to worry about, but that's been on my mind ever since Friday night.

We went to get some lunch before taking hubby back to work, and then the kids and I came home. J and I continued working on math, and A went to continue working on cleaning her room. It was an absolute disaster last night, which was quite a surprise. Usually they both play in his room and his gets the messiest. Then she wants to complain when I tell her she has to help him clean it up. Kids!

So besides the normal evening routine around here, that's pretty much our day in a nutshell. I'm still tickled at having my kitchen pretty much the way it needs to be. I'm not a great housekeeper, but now that I have it clean and organized, I'm trying to be diligent about cleaning up right after dinner so I don't have anything to worry about for the rest of the evening or the next day. At least not in the kitchen. Lots of other rooms to get done.

Here are the pictures I took of the car.

It was the right front corner that bore the brunt of the impact.

This side is mostly ok

So, see, I really probably don't have much to worry about as far as getting it repaired. As long as they repack the airbags properly we should be ok. I'm still really bummed, though, and can't believe I did it.

Making Progress

So we spent today working on turning our new house into our home. It's nice to finally be able to focus our attention on our own house.

I have the need to finish one room at a time. If I work on several rooms at once, none of them gets finished, and I don't feel like I've accomplished anything. I need that feeling of accomplishment. So today my project was the kitchen. The hubby had several different projects going at once...which is his style. He hung some things on the walls, worked on getting some work done in the garage, and then decided to put up the volleyball net we bought several weeks ago.

After he got the volleyball net up and we had all had lunch, we told the kids to put their shoes on and I took a break and we went out and played a bit of volleyball with them. It was mostly teaching them about how to hit the ball over the net, but it was fun, and they enjoyed it. Then they started complaining about being hot (it's June in NC...it's gonna get lots hotter before it gets cooler), so the three of us came in to get some water and I got back to work on the kitchen. The hubby set up the sprinkler in the back yard and we let them play in the sprinkler while the grass got some much needed water. Is there much better when you're a kid than playing in the sprinkler in the summer time?

I managed to get finished in the kitchen today. Everything now has a place and has been put away. The floor has been cleaned, just in time for the kids to drop bit of food on it at dinner tonight. I'm very happy with the way it looks. I still have a lot to do, but I'm one room closer to being finished.

The hubby and I also went upstairs today to decide the best way to arrange the bonus room to utilize it in the ways we had planned. We finally came up with a solution, so that will be an ongoing project for both of us as we finish everything else.

We're watching "Eragon" tonight. The kids are out of school (except for testing for the boy this week...that's a different blog entry). The Princess complained briefly that it's a scary movie, but she climbed in the recliner with Daddy and is happy as a little clam watching now.

I truly am blessed.

Disgusted

I'm so disgusted with myself right now it's not even funny.

I had a car accident last night. Yep, wrecked my (relatively) new Volvo. I was pulling out of the parking lot of a local gas station and didn't see an oncoming car. So I hit the right side of it. The hubby was with me, but the kids weren't. They spent the night with my sister last night. Everybody is ok.

So right now my car is sitting at the yard of the wrecker service. I called the insurance company last night and filed the claim. Hopefully they'll be able to repair it and fairly quickly. I'm afraid the other car may be totalled. I feel so bad about that too. Someone told me last night that often the insurance will make the decision to total a car if the airbags deploy. Both of the airbags deployed last night. So I'm a bit concerned about that...but we'll see.

Most important thing, though, is that everybody's ok. I'm glad the kids weren't with us. It's funny, because I was telling a friend about it today and she asked me how it was that it always has worked out lately that if something like that happens our kids aren't with us since they go pretty much everywhere with us. I don't know, but I'm very thankful. The Good Lord is watching out for them, I guess.

I'll post updates as this plays out.

D-Day

63 years ago today.

The kids and I visited Normandy twice while we were in Europe. The hubby went once, which was the second time the kids and I went.

It was amazing being there. The first time the kids and I went was Memorial Day Weekend 2004, the weekend before the 60th Anniversary. Walking the beaches was powerful, as was walking through the Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. On our first visit, we were with an organized tour group. The weather was beautiful most of the weekend, but the day we visited the beaches and the cemetery, it was gray and rainy. Seemed appropriate.

I was amazed at how it affected the kids, too, especially the boy. He still talks about it to this day, and all the soldiers who died there. For a 6 year-old (at the time), he was incredibly somber and respectful.

Never forget.

Military Health Care

We got spoiled the four years we were in Germany where health care was concerned. Especially the ability to access that care. Yeah, I worked in the clinic there so didn't really have to worry about busy phone lines or things of that nature, but I did follow the rules about making appointments.

The access to care here at Womack stinks! The first time the hubby made an appointment to see his primary care provider there - he had to wait a month between the time he called and the actual time of the appointment. I disenrolled from Tricare Prime shortly after we got here so that the kids and I could get our care at our old family clinic - the place my dad ran for 20 years and where I used to work. I'm willing to pay a bit out of pocket for the peace of mind for good continuity of care. Well, the hubby had been going there for his care as well. Much easier to get in to be seen, often within the same day if needed. Everything was fine for a few months, until he got a phone call from Tricare shortly after his motorcycle accident around the end of March. So they told him he had to stop going to our family clinic.

He was running low on his medications, so he called out to Womack last week to make an appointment. I was shocked when he told me he was able to get an appointment for today. Maybe things are getting better.

Apparently not.

He spent three freaking hours out at Womack today. His primary care physician is leaving the Family Medicine Clinic, and they don't know who's going to take his place. So much for continuity of care. I guess PA he saw had to leave the room two or three different times to run things by his boss. I found that kind of odd. Or maybe this PA's just new and inexperienced. Then he tells the hubby he wants him to be seen at the Pain Clinic. The hubby has been through this whole rigamarole before. So P goes to the specialty referral center to get his appointment like he was told to do, and after about 45 minutes of waiting there, they tell him that the Pain Clinic makes their own appointments. So he didn't get that done.

By the time he got back to the office after 2:00 this afternoon (his appointment was at 10:40), he had a terrible migraine. Is it any wonder? So he managed to cut loose from the office a bit early this evening and has been lying down to try to get rid of it.

Womack is supposedly one of the best in the system. I beg to differ.

Prayer Request

Kat in GA needs prayers and good thoughts.

Her husband is in the hospital after suffering a heat stroke. He spent a night in ICU with a temperature of 105 degrees. His body temperature has returned to normal, although he will be spending at least another night in the hospital. Apparently doctors found the beginnings of pneumonia on exam which likely contributed to his susceptibility to heat injury.

Please send prayers and good thoughts for a speedy recovery.

Recital!

The Princess had her dance recital this afternoon.

She did so well! I'm really proud of her, especially considering the fact that this was her first year of formal dance training.

When I went backstage with her during intermission to help her get changed from her ballet costume to her tap one, I ran into her ballet teacher, who was my dance teacher for every class I took every year for 9 years. Her school has grown a lot since I was one of her students, and she has several teachers who help her out. She told me that A was doing really well. When I told her how proud I was, she looked at me and said, "she's gonna be just like her momma."

That made me feel good. I just loved my dance classes with her. I learned so much, beyond just how to dance. It's good for kids on so many levels. The hubby even suggested putting the boy in dance...maybe tap and/or hip-hop. I was surprised, pleasantly. One thing's for sure...it would be good for discipline.

Here are some pictures of her in her ballet and tap costumes. I couldn't take pictures during the recitals, but I had my video camera. I don't know how (or if I even can) to get the video from my Hi-8 camcorder to the computer and then to DVD. Haven't had time to research it yet.

Did I mention how proud I am? I guess we've come full circle...at least that's kind of how I felt as I was there helping her get ready like my mom used to help me.

Taking her picture between routines. Nana was trying to take her picture too...she wasn't sure which camera to look at.

I had her attention here...this was her ballet costume, by the way.

In the dressing room in her tap costume. So cute!

Another one in her tap costume...I wanted to be sure we could see the gloves

I ordered professional photos from the photographer who was there Thursday night at dress rehearsal. I'll try to remember to scan those in once I get them.

Silly Boy

So the boy has come out with some funny ones lately.

When we got back home Monday my mom was telling me about a conversation they'd had in the van on the way home. J had informed her that he knew how to drive the van. When she asked him what made him think that, the Princess told her it was because they've been driving the golf cart with the hubby's parents. He then told her that his Papa had also let him drive his tractor, which is a Ford. My mom's boyfriend's van is also a Ford. His eight-year-old logic told him that since he could drive the Ford Tractor, he could drive all Fords, meaning he could, of course, drive the Ford van my mom's boyfriend has.

So then my mom asked if he remembered driving her car. He said, "Yep, so that means I can drive all Hondas too." Apparently, though, when she let him help her drive she was still driving a Jeep Cherokee. Oh, ok, so that means he can drive all Jeeps. Then she asked if he remembered driving the ambulance when she was still volunteering with the Rescue Squad. Yes, he remembered, and he even reminded her, "it's a Ford." So that goes back to his former logic that he can drive all Fords. Hahaha!!

Tonight we went out to eat at our new favorite Sushi restaurant. The boy wanted to try everything on our combination plate, and loved everything he tried. I was kind of surprised, but not really surprised at the same time, if that makes sense. After all, we've always encouraged them to try things at least once. Anway, a while after we got home, he was ready for a snack. I was surprised he waited as long as he did before he asked for a snack. They wanted popcorn. Popcorn is a special treat for them...it's Daddy's favorite late night snack. So he looked at us and said "Please? Pretty please?" Then I hear this:

"Well, I AM pretty!"

I nearly rolled in the floor!

He's such a funny kid! I just love these little monsters so much!