Thanks, NPR

Some fun things I've gotten a chance to explain in the past few days that Margot picked up from "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered":

"Earthquakes"
"Soldiers" (and, along with that, the army and what it means to defend a country)
"Killing Spree"

Pomp and Circumstance

And rain. A lot of it.

Graduations can try one's patience even on the best of days. Long speeches, waiting for your loved one's name to be called amidst a sea of names you don't recognize, balancing family and friends, etc.

Add to that a cold, unrelenting downpour, an open-air stadium, and a "Rain or Shine" graduation policy and you have yourself one rough day.

Now that we're dry and comfortable again, though, we can focus on Brodie's achievement - congratulations to him!

This photo was taken moments before the rain started:



Margot and Teal passing time (also pre-downpour while the graduates assembled):



The drenched but happy family:

Home Sweet (New) Home

We signed the paperwork and transferred the funds for our new home on Friday!


It was a rainy day, and Margot had a chance to exercise her rain boots at the bottom of the driveway.

Indiana Jones and the "Wake Up Song"

The nearing of the premiere of the new Indiana Jones movie has the airways a-buzz with the theme song. Upon hearing this song on a local radio station, Margot exclaimed, "That's our wake-up music! That's what my teachers play at school to wake us up from naptime!"

Margot's teachers are totally cool. They also play the theme from "Mission: Impossible" during clean-up time. (I truly appreciate their humor.)

At any rate, Margot and Brodie have found a new common link - a love of Indiana Jones. They watched Temple of Doom together tonight. Was this the best movie for a three-year-old to watch? Probably not, but the quality time they spent together overrules any possible frights the movie might cause.

Logic 101

Margot's astute observations are teaching me how the items in our daily lives are misrepresented. How would I function if I couldn't read? Well, I'd probably function as Margot does.

For instance, yesterday Margot asked for a squirt of Pam Cooking Spray in her mouth because she thought it was whipped cream. Why did she think it was whipped cream? Well, because there is a picture of a bundt cake on the front of the can, of course.

Last week, the new bedding that I ordered for Margot arrived. I had showed her the picture of the bedding on the Internet and she agreed that pink and green dragonflies would be pretty in her new room. But when the bedding finally arrived, she pouted.

"Where's the bookshelf?" she asked. "And the little pillow?"

"What bookshelf?" I said. "I ordered a comforter, Margot, not a bookshelf."

"But there was a bookshelf in the picture," she pointed out. "And a little pillow. And a doll on the bookshelf..." she continued.

See, the bedding was staged in the online photo. I explained we only bought the bedding, but Min thought it very misleading that the sellers would show those other items in the advertisement if they weren't included in the price.

Keep on Rockin' in the Free World

Yesterday Brodie and his impromptu band played a block party in the neighborhood. Margot was the number one groupie - she danced for the whole set.