Around here

So...

Girumy now has Tati-inspired shades, which have been so helpful to his weak eyes.  He wears them faithfully and takes very good care of them.  (Thanks, Mr. Ashby, for the glasses lessons of yore!)

My friend and I have been doing a kid swap this summer.  At our house, the favorite activity for sure is building castles with the magnetic-tiles.  Every time, Mr. Glasses is the Prince and Sophie is the Princess.

The day after G's b-day, we noticed that his lower two front teeth were loose.  Finally, a few days ago, I couldn't take it anymore.  Gross.  So, upon Tita's suggestion of cushioning the pull with a towel, I pulled out the left-front tooth.  G was SO excited!

Immediately (I don't know how he is wearing another shirt already.  Seriously, ten minutes elapsed between the two pullings.), he then pointed out that the other was just hanging there.  So, I pulled that one out too!  They have since made their way into the compost bin.  Ha!

Miss Sophie, eating raw garlic scapes... my baby!

Alleluia!

And Girumy paid for dinner

Yesterday, the kids, after a talk about money, pulled down their banks.  Ty wants to use his for a trip to Ethiopia, Sophie wants to use hers for our friends in Ethiopia and Girumy wants to give all of his money to Rob and me.  After returning the twins' banks to the shelf, for later use, Girumy pulled out the plug in the pig's belly and began sorting his cash.  In the end, he gave me one twenty, one ten, one five and one one.  He said, "You and PapA should go out and do something with it.  It's for you."  We, however, decided to use it for a special treat for all of us.  Thanks, my generous baby!

A funny bunny tale

So, again the yarden is plagued by a rabbit family.  We have come SO close to capturing some of the babies, but they always hop at just the wrong moment.  The other day, I was chasing one out of the garden as the kids were eating their lunch at The White Way of Delight.  It ended up such that the little punk ran right under the children.  I said, "Why didn't someone catch it?!"  And G replied, "Little things are very energetic... like Ty."  Yes.  Yes, they are.

A happy dacha morning

A kind of funny story

It all began with a broken gasoline pump.  And, it ended with an Ethiopian pharmacist.

Last Friday, as Roberto was diesel-ing up the car before our road trip, he ended up having to pay inside.  Upon returning to the car, well... he had been robbed.  His phone and some cash were gone.  Ah, c'est la vie ici, n'est-ce pas?

Because we were going out of town right away, there was no time to stop for a new phone, so Rob was without technology: my dream come true, his nightmare.

Well, last night, he and Girumy went to the phone store to see about getting a new phone.  I put the twins to bed and settled into relaxation.  My phone rang.  Usually I don't pick up for unknown numbers, but I know that Rob has given out my number to a few people, so I figured that I ought to answer.

It was Walgreens, calling to tell me that G's prescription was ready.  The pharmacist continued, "I just wanted to call personally because Girum is an Ethiopian name.  I am Ethiopian."  Ha!  She was so excited about him and asked if we could come and meet her.  I told her that we probably wouldn't, since G wasn't home and the twins were in bed.  She ended up taking my name and number, to invite us to Ethiopian community events in the future.  After hanging up, I thought, "I should go."  So, I pulled the twins out of bed and we went to Walgreens.  We met the very friendly lady, chatted a bit about Ethiopia, wrote down more contact information and then we left.

As I was buckling the kids into the car, my phone rang.  It was my sister from L.A., which isn't unusual as she likes to chat on her drive home.  But, she said, "I am calling on behalf of (the still phone-less) Rob.  He got home and you were all gone."  Oy!

So, I explained to her that I figured he would be gone longer than me, so I didn't leave a note.  He, unwilling to pay $500 for a new phone, quickly returned home and freaked out.  I guess he went around the house looking for signs of sickness or trauma and upon not noticing anything, got a hold of my sister on the computer and asked her to call me.

As we walked into the house, Girumy was manning the backdoor, keeping watch.  Exasperatedly, he said, "MamA, we were about to drive store to store, restaurant to restaurant looking for you.  We were so worried."

All is well that ends well, right?

Road tripped

That's me: I've been road tripped.

After that risky journey to Indiana last weekend, this weekend we traveled west to La Crosse.  We even crossed over the bridge into Minnesota, so that the kids could be in the state where the Ingalls currently live in our reading.

On last Friday morning, the kids were rushing around even before I was out of bed... packing.  Yes, they packed for themselves in their excitement, and I only had to make minimal adjustments.  Here they are, ready to go at about ten in the morning... even though we weren't leaving till bedtime.

From here, we could see Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

I might like to live here.

A snacky picnic down by the river.

Afro-tastic!

It was a great, Boo-ful weekend!