Finally a post!

My dear friend and neighbor, Jenny informed me today that it was "poor blogger etiquette" to go so long without a post. So.. here I am, Jenny! I'm making a post!

It's getting late, and I want to get to bed at a reasonable hour, so I can be rested for our camping trip that starts late tomorrow afternoon! Imagine that, it's time for another camping trip. John and I have been very good at keeping to our commitment of a camping trip at least one weekend a month, with the exception of December. We have to make exception for December, due to Christmas, The Nutcracker, and of course.. Daniel's birthday! Tomorrow afternoon, we'll be headed over to O'Leno State Park, where we'll be meeting my Aunt Virginia and her husband Bud. We have adjacent sites, but I'm not sure how well they connect. And heaven only knows where the rocks will be on these two sites! The kids are very much looking forward to it, and frankly, so am I! We've planned on taking the canoe, although I'm seriously leaning towards renting two, rather than cramming both our kids and us into our single "3-man" canoe. It would hold us, but the kids would be a little cramped, and I could just see them starting to push and shove each other, and then we'd have a serious problem. As Daniel said today, "it's an issue". He educated me on the way home from school this evening as to what exactly an "issue" is... it's a problem, so it's an issue! Hanna asked this evening, as I put her to bed, if we could take her Barbie fishing rod, and Daniel's Spiderman rod. Of course! Kim.. I'll have to stop off at Wal-Mart and pick up some red wigglers!

To bring you up to speed on the comedy in our life, I'll start with IHOP on Fat Tuesday, or "National Pancake Day" at IHOP. I saw on Facebook that IHOP was having free pancakes on this day, and after my post there that we'd be going there for dinner, my cousin Mary text messaged me.. "which one you going to, and when?" We met up at the one in Fleming Island around 7pm, and waited an hour for a table, and took another hour plus at our table. We were getting into the truck to go home at 9:20pm! Late night for the kids! So, as we enjoyed our fun time with my cousin Mary, and her two kids, Christopher and Nicola, the kids were getting a little rowdy. No, not my kids you say! LOL! I heard Mary say, "Oh Daniel, honey, don't put that in your mouth!" I looked over, and there he was, sucking on the syrup bottle! I was horrified.. my child is leaving germs on the syrup bottle that sits on the table! John and Mary just laughed and laughed, and said.. "you think he's the only one that's ever done that?" I really didn't need to go there with that thought, and I'd prefer to think they are changed out with the passing of each new patron. Probably not, but I can dream!

Moving on, Ash Wednesday, we went to church of course, and there was also a pre-service dinner. It was hoped, we'd have much more people attend, eager for fellowship as we launched the Lenten season. I believe there were four different pots of soup, and plenty of variety of sandwiches. After my kids ate their meals, they were eyeing the cookies up on the cabinet. Daniel got his, without "issues". Hanna headed up to pick out her cookie, and I told her, look twice, decide and touch once! Suddenly, I heard a crash! I knew where it came from, and I just sat their for a brief moment, shaking my head. I looked up and saw a grin on our pastor's wife's face. I turned, and there was Hanna, looking quite flustered, with the plastic Publix bakery box dangling from the sleeve of her fleece jacket. She shook her arm, as she pointed at the tape hanging to the lid.. "It stuck to my arm, Mom!" Apparently, the tape that held the box closed, as it dangled freely, found her sleeve, held tight, and as she pulled her arm away, the box came with it, flinging the cookies to the floor! I picked them up, and placed them in the box, announcing to everyone we could either declare the "five second rule" or throw the cookies out. Are you kidding? They're cookies! Five Second Rule was the vote! I can tell you, my mother in law is the last one in the preschool/fellowship hall in the afternoons, and that floor was clean! If anyone knows Judy Chappell, they know, she leaves that floor clean, so I wasn't too worried about it. I felt better, knowing that I had disclosed the accident, and everyone knew exactly where those cookies had been since Hanna touched them!

Last but not least, and then I'm headed off to dry my hair, and go to bed...
You may recall during CHRISTmas season, Hanna was confused about elves versus slaves. She has so proudly declared her red hat with a white pom-pom her "slave hat". Then, in January, when she learned about Martin Luther King, she was telling me about the elves, and how the white people treated them so badly. Well, now we have another confusion.. pelicans versus leprechauns. Monday afternoon, she was talking to me about pelicans, and how they have long beaks with a pocket for scooping up fish. Since were are in the month of March, I'm guessing her class must have started talking about leprechauns. Tuesday, on the way home from school, I heard the comment, "I love leprechauns with their big beaks to scoop up fish." Hmm, leprechauns and beaks? What? Oh yeah, we talked about pelicans last night! I said, Hanna, do you mean pelicans have big beaks?" Yes, she said.. pelicans!