Ok - Here's an extra Saturday Silly to compensate for my poor effort of a Friday funny yesterday.
It came from http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/mom-takes-childrens-songs-literally


Mom Takes Children’s Songs Literally.


BY Sarah Schmelling

- - - -What do you mean, she’ll get here “when she comes”? That’s not a time. How can I plan around that?
- -And we’ll all have chicken and dumplings? All of us? Even you three vegetarians? Who’s going to be cooking these dumplings anyway? Remember that time I made pierogies? No, I bet you don’t remember that.
- -Okay, someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah. What is this, a guessing game? And no one’s going to be “strumming on the ol’ banjo” in my house. I’m not stupid.
- -You are not a little teapot, honey. You’ve just got my hips. I’m sorry.
- -You’re paying far too much attention to that very, very small spider.
- -No, you can’t put a person in a pumpkin shell. Really, I’m starting to worry about you.
- -Is the old man snoring? Or is he in a coma? Because if he bumped his head and can’t get up we need to call someone. And it’s going to be tricky since it’s raining. And it’s pouring.
- -Well nobody asked you to carry a banjo all the way from Alabama.
- -I don’t care how many of them there are, get the monkeys out of the bedroom!
- -Again with the old man. Tell him to leave your thumb alone. What the heck is “knick-knack”? I thought he was snoring a minute ago.
- -A snowman is marching through town? Are you drunk?
- -What are you talking about, “how I wonder what you are”? It’s a star. You just said it was a star.
- -GET THE BABY OUT OF THE TREE. NOW.
- -What are you doing asking a sheep if it has wool? And I hope that’s not the same lamb that’s been following Mary around.
- -That’s a lot of pressure, telling someone they’re your “only sunshine.” Are your ready to take that step?
- -What? The bridge is falling down? For Christ’s sake stop singing!

Friday Funny

I can't rememer if I've already used this one.....so just in case, you get two today.  They aren't very good, but hell it's better than nothing. :)

The next (insert famous pitcher's name)

Katie and I went camping on Friday night with her Girl Scout troop. While we were gone, John and Will had a boy's night which included a lot of baseball.  John found Will's glove and they played catch and worked on throwing.  Will was to stand and throw the baseball at the tree.  When he showed me the next day - I was surprised at how good he had gotten!  I have a movie to prove it, but am too lazy to upload it at the moment, so I'll try that later this week.

Take note of his good form!

Happy Joe's

It's funny.....when there's not much going on, I have plenty of time to blog - but nothing to blog about. When I'm super busy there's a lot to say and no time to say it. 

I'll start with these birthday pictures of Katie at Happy Joe's Father's Day weekend.  Katie was totally excited to have the entire restaurant's focus on her.  (I should have know.)

Thank you to Mary, Jim, Denise and Wally for celebrating with us!

Since it was also Father's Day, dads got a free sundae.  Wally didn't want his so Will was able to have a little ice cream of his own.

8 Years Old!

Today is Katie's birthday!  Wow.  8 Years old.  It's getting serious now.  I had read that at age 8, girls usually experience their first surge of hormones that can suddenly bring on growth spurts and mood swings.  I think she started that already.  The mood swings, anyway.  Although we always see that around her birthday.   Will usually gets difficult at the half year mark.  At least they're on different rotations.

Our plans for today....Happy Joe's.  We've invited some family and are going to have some pizza and ice cream in true Happy Joe's form.  I was told (I don't really remember) that when I was about 4 or 5....we went to Happy Joe's for my birthday.  All was well until they brought out the free ice cream.  That's the point where they turn on the siren which fills the restaurant and the whole staff gets everyone to sing Happy Birthday while the birthday child stands on their chair.  I. Was. Mortified.  I told my family to NEVER sing that song again and each time we went to Happy Joe's I made sure that they were NOT going to pull that again. 

It's time to pass along that feeling of embarrassment.  Ahhh, tradition.  Be ready for pictures this time.

Friday Funny

Gearing up for the Olympics.....

Tails for reading

We made it to the library after soccer one Saturday and were able to take advantage of their Tails for Reading program.  They had two volunteer therapy dogs to choose from so Katie read to one while Will spent some time with the other one.  Since Will couldn't quite read on his own, the volunteer read to him and the dog.  You can see, the dog was quite interested in the story.  It was about a dog with bad breath.

These kinds of programs are extra beneficial for someone like Katie who is a bit nervous around bigger dogs.  These therapy dogs are trained very well to be quite low-key.  I also have a feeling that they are taken on a monster of a hike before they come to the library because they always look worn out. :)

Katie got a coloring page and a sticker from her dog, and Will got to give his treats using a little toy shovel (great idea....).

Transit of Venus

It's been a little bit of an exciting spring for those of us who like to think about outer space and the stars.  We were able to see part of the solar eclipse a few weeks ago - the kids thought that was kind of cool.  And just last week we went to the Eisenhower Observatory to see Venus travel in front of the sun.  They had a bunch of different telescopes set up with solar filters so that they were safe to view the sun.  Basically they all showed the same thing, but we could also see sun spots as well, which was neat.  They also had viewing glasses for sale for a $1 donation.  I think they could have charged more because they sold out of those within the first 2 hours.  (We were able to get 2 pairs.)  A volunteer mentioned that during the last transit of Venus in 2004, only 40 people showed up for their viewing party.  This one....was a little different.  There were a few hundred easily and that was only while we were there....it went until 10. 

They also had a planetarium set up where you could go inside and see a very realistic projection of the night sky, but it was VERY warm in there and jam packed with people.  We never made it up to the BIG telescope on the roof - there was quite a line and about a 30 minute wait.  So we'll go back in the fall when we can make reservations to be able to look through it at night. 

Team pictures

We got Will's soccer pictures....
pardon the copyrighted words....

Katie's dance pictures were taken the week before these, so I'm thinking they should be on their way too.  In some ways, pictures like these take to long to get back.  You're excited when you take the pictures, and order a few, but then as time goes by and you don't have them you realize that you're fine without them and maybe shouldn't have ordered any.  Oh well, too late now. 

Oh, and guess who's on the lookout for a new puppy......

Yes, I think we are starting to wrap our heads around the idea of a dog.  And by "we", I mean me.  I think we are trying to find a lab/and/or/retriever mix.  Seems to be a safe bet for a dog that gets along well with kids and a spare cat.  For now I'm just peeking at the shelter/adoption sites and see what comes along.  In a few weeks we may try going to a pet adoption event at the pet store.  

I swear, this takes more thought a preparation for me than having a baby!  

Friday Funny

Soccer star

Will is having a good time playing soccer.  He still has to work on not kicking the ball again when it goes out of bounds (in fact the whole team needs work on that!) but he is doing a great job of running and keeping up with the ball. 

Being in the right place at the right time - a good block!

Enjoying the all-important after game snack.

We have 2 more weeks of practice and games, and then the big jamboree/tournament Saturday.  I think we play at 8:30 that day and then again at 12:30.  Hmmm....we may be making a run home for a couple hours.  And Katie and I are camping with the Girl Scouts the night before....we'll see how early we can get up and leave!

Preschool Graduation

No more preschool!  No more paying $200 a month for school! :) 
Will had his last day of preschool the last Friday in May.  They had a very informal ceremony where they got certificates.  We're all excited for kindergarten in the fall!

Will and his class.

Will saying goodbye to his teacher, Ms. Nancy.