Mule Day

Sometimes I let myself bring the surprises inside.We hit Mule Day with Dad while Eric slaved away at work.One highlight was when the Community Center wouldn't let me take Elijah into a bathroom. "We have some port-a-potties set up outside." I looked at the lady and said, "There is no way I can fit into a port-a-pottie with my son. He has to go to the bathroom!" I suppose I could have clarified, "There is no way Elijah and I can go into a port-a-potty and me ensure that no part of our bodies or clothing touches a single thing in there" because that is actually what I meant. So we walked several blocks to Subway during which I repeated "Don't go pee-pee in your pants! Did you go pee-pee in your pants? Good job, Bud! OK, let's walk fast!" For your information, the liquor store in downtown Columbia does NOT have public restrooms.
Haven looks really tore up here, but she loved seeing all the mules. The girl goes crazy for animals - primarily by pointing and shrieking.We got home in time to play with the cats, Cheesy & Smoky. Smoky is the black one. Elijah named them. When he chose Smoky I said, "Well Mombo's cat is Smoky. Let's think of another name." Elijah responded, "But he looks like Smoky. His name should be Smoky!"Here is Cheesy. Aunt Ab and Elijah cooked this name up together. "I want an orange cat so I can call him Cheesy, like cheese."

Two Things

1. Ebates
You can go through Ebates before doing any online shopping. If your store participates (over 1,000 stores do), you'll get between 1-6% cash back on your purchase total just for linking to the store through Ebates. They send you a "Big Fat Check" every three months provided your earnings are over $5.01. If not, they just roll your earnings over to the next quarter. I just got my first "Big Fat Check" in the mail. I mean, it was only for $15.95, but still. As a bonus, right now you can get a $5 credit just for signing up with Ebates. So, go check it out!

2. Swagbucks
Install the Swagbucks toolbar on your computer and then use Swagbucks as your search engine. You'll earn Swagbucks for every few searches you do. Once you get enough, you can trade them in for gift cards, prizes, or cash. 450 Swagbucks gets you a $5 Amazon.com gift card; 700 Swagbucks gets you $5 in your PayPal account. I've been using this for a couple of years now; I usually redeem my Swagbucks for gift cards right around Christmas time.

Happy Internetting!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

{Listening to Praise the God Who Saves by Caedmon's Call just before naptime}

...Praise the God Who was nailed to a tree...
E: {popping up from his bed} "Yeah! Mom! That's Jesus! It means the cross. I have that song on my guitar." (referring to his Christmas present from MawMaw & PawPaw)
L: "Oh?!"
E: "Yeah. I have Holy Holy, Jesus,...and other songs."
L: "What other songs do you have?"
E: "(indiscernible titles)...Toy Story...and Book Story. Yeah. I have those on my guitar. I'll play them for you sometime."

9.3.2010

PawPaw Visits

Dad came for a quick visit with the goal of getting us set up with kittens. The visits was preceded, in true Hamilton fashion, with approximately 47 conversations about needing the cats, caring for the cats, getting the cats, children-cat interaction, and other cat matters. To kick the adventure off, I took Dad to a performance of Llama, Llama Red Pajama at the main library.

(Review: We like the book Llama, Llama Red Pajama; I do not like the book Llama, Llama Mad at Mama. They performed both, creating a grand display of the baby llama's bad attitude. I realized that my reading & interpretation of the former book at home gave a much different slant to little llama's attitude than the performing crew took. This made me very thankful that I have the privilege of being the primary reader to my children.) Elijah was a little nervous to be so close to the llamas. Alexis wasn't shy at all~;-)

After the show we headed to the Metro Animal Care & Control center. A few decades ago in South Carolina, picking up a pet from the local animal shelter involved about $40 and a few shots. You drove buy, found what you wanted, paid, and left. Hilda made our time at the Metro Animal Shelter a bit more involved. First, there was a pile of paperwork to complete.
We were able to look into the *locked!* room where the kittens were kept, but we could not enter until permission had been granted.
After Dad paid almost $200 for the stray kittens, we were able to enter the kitten room. Elijah was so excited to see the cats - as was Haven - but Hilda yelled! at all of us to sit on the little bench in the cat's room. I'm not really sure exactly why, but I think she was evaluating how the cats were reacting to us. It was ridiculous. Hilda sleeps with over fifty cats in her bed so I shouldn't have been surprised at her psycho-ness. (Can someone make that a word?)

Pictures of our pics of the litter coming later...we weren't allowed to take the cats home until the next morning. It's kind of like having a waiting period before you are allowed to take home the gun you just purchased, in a word - ridiculous!

4.8.2010

Flower Surprises

There will be a lot of pictures of Flat Stanley popping up in the next few posts. We did a project for our 2nd grade friend in Georgia which involved showing Flat Stanley the sites around Nashville. (And I use "sites" in the loosest sense of the word, as you shall see.) Enjoying the harvest of previous owner's gardening work is one major benefit to living in a house that is over a century old. This spring was fabulously exciting for me as I watched tulips and various others flowers pop up and bloom. When we would drive away from home Elijah and I would say "Look! Spring is here! And God gave us TULIPS!!!"

Bass Pro Shop

Sometimes you just have to get out of the house...even if you are dressed are in camo.




Duck decoys and large catfish made for an excellent morning out.
4.5.2010

Easter Celebrations II

4.4.2010