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Sunday, November 26, 2006

Pine Boughs Keep Falling on My Head....

I was awakened from nap today to the - ahem - sweet sound of power tools. I didn't think much of it; my husband had mentioned that he was going outside with our neighbor, Mr. Dave, and when those two men get together, power tools are usually involved. Like the time they built the catapult in Mr. Dave's driveway, and used it to shoot his dead Christmas tree to the top of the hill. (In case you're wondering, we do live in suburbia; it's not as if people aren't around to notice these things. I did tell Todd that they would not be allowed to play together very often - between Dave's creativity and Todd's engineering mind, they could cause a lot of trouble!)

After we were up and about, the girls went outside to see what was going on, and Emma rushed in to tell me that I had to come outside, right then. Out I went, to discover that the boys had decided to cut down the rather large Loblolly Pine tree that stood between our houses.

I knew this day would come; we've often talked about the need to remove that tree. It dumped loads of pine needles in our gutters, and was generally a nuisance where it stood. Usually, though, I get some kind of forewarning that these little projects are going to take place.

The girls and I went out and harvested all the pine cones we could find, and we got a 30-gallon garbage sack full of beautiful cones! We can make angels, bird feeders, wreaths.... whatever comes to mind. And, if we are so inspired, the branches are in the back yard for more gathering.

When I asked my husband why they decided today would be "the day," he responded, "Mr. Dave lost his satellite connection."

Friday, November 24, 2006

Little Sisters

My Abbie is such a funny little nut. Yesterday morning, she asked me what "no comprendo" means - I told her it means, "I don't understand." I'm not sure where she heard it; probably on Sesame Street.

Anyhoo, last night, my mom was telling us about taking the girls up to a park to ride their bikes. It's a small park in our neighborhood, with sidewalks all the way around and through it. It's a perfect place for bike racing, apparently. They rode their bikes around and around, and if one girl thought the other was ahead, they would quickly turn around and go the other direction so that they were suddenly in the lead. Tricky little things, aren't they?

So, at one point, Abbie was way ahead of Emma, who of course could not let that continue. Emma is, after all, the eldest and determined to be in charge at all times. She said, "Abbie! Wait for me!" Abbie replied, "I can't hear you!" and kept on pedaling. Emma yells again, "Abbie! Wait for me!" and Abbie says again, "I can't hear you!" and pedals faster. For a third time, Emma called to Abbie to slow down, and Abbie hollered back, "NO COMPRENDO!" and pedaled as fast as she could in the other direction. We laughed and laughed. I must say that one of the best fringe benefits about having children is the comic relief.