Overhead: The Food Edition

When we went to Savannah for my cousin’s wedding last month, Jason and I drove past a Chuck E. Cheese on the way to the rehearsal. Knowing we would pass by the dreaded mouse house many, many times during the next two days, we devised a plan…

Every single time we approached that area, Jason and I would take turns saying things like this with as much excitement and enthusiasm as we could muster while pointing to the opposite side of the road:

“Look! It’s a Bennigan’s! Athens used to have a Bennigan’s, but it closed down years ago! I haven’t been to a Bennigan’s in so long! It was pretty good, from what I remember!”

Really, we gushed and babbled so excitedly about Bennigan’s, I was sure the kids would catch on, perhaps during an especially dramatic roll of the eyes--but it worked, even with all of the groans from the back seat with every comment we made. And Jason and I secretly high-fived each other with every pass along that route even as the boys wondered if we'd lost our minds.

We never ate at that Bennigan’s while we were in Savannah (for obvious reasons), but we did eat lunch at one on the way back home. As we were leaving, Robert said, “I don’t know what you loved so much about that place. It wasn't that great.”

See? No clue. And, for those of you who know our family in real life, let's keep it that way!

~~~~~

Josiah: I think better when I eat.

Good thing he wants to eat all the time, huh?

~~~~~

Each of the kids put in their 2 cents about where they wanted to eat one day, which is interesting because that’s about as much as they could have contributed to paying for the meal…Anyway, Grace really, really wanted what she calls a “chicken burger”--the little chicken sandwich from Wendy’s. I told her we weren’t that close to Wendy’s, so that wasn’t an option, but she could still get a burger (which she normally loves). Her response?

Grace [cheerfully]: OK…I’ll just pretend it’s a chicken burger!

OK, and I’ll just pretend you’re always that easy to please.

~~~~~

Me: Come on to the table--it’s time to eat.

Josiah: "Eat"…I love that word…

~~~~~

Josiah: Now I feel like a real man!

Robert [laughing]: How does this make you feel like a real man?!? You’re drinking hot chocolate out of a little cup with a smiling snowman on it, with miniature marshmallows!!

There's nothing like a big brother to burst your bubble.

So maybe you really can rush Mother Nature

My son Josiah is known for his kooky ideas inventions, such as the giant birdbath, an interesting desk, and a swing on one of the trees in the front yard.

He does the best he can with what he has on hand...like a tree that isn't the kind of tree that would be good for a swing.

His most recent invention was born out of impatience. He is anxious to rake leaves, and the vast majority of ours are still, well, firmly stuck on the trees.

So...he's going to help them fall with what he calls

The Leaf Swacker.

Swack!

Swack!

Swack!

You can see it's going to take him awhile, even with this marvelous invention. ;)

It makes a great "rock star" prop, too. ;)

Patent pending...

You Capture: Food

This week’s theme of the You Capture blog carnival hosted by Beth over at I Should Be Folding Laundry is food.

Now, that's not too much of a challenge this week, is it? ;)

I could show you what I fixed for supper last night...chili.

I used a new recipe for the chili. Actually, I used bits of two chili recipes together to make this. And I didn't write down anything about what I used and how much I used and what I didn't use, so there's little chance of perfectly replicating the taste...but that's OK. I think my husband is almost used to my methods of cooking. It's usually a little different than the last time. ;) (Still good, according to him...and that's what counts.)

But what about today, on Thanksgiving? This is what we ate for Thanksgiving dinner:

I get off easy at Thanksgiving...I merely bring green bean casserole (I know, I know...you either love it or you hate it!), macaroni and cheese (so Robert, my picky eater, will eat something besides bread), and something for the dessert table.


I hope each of you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Jesus said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

(John 6: 27-29 NIV)

Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

(John 6:35 NIV)

Check out I Should Be Folding Laundry for more You Capture participants.

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!

This was an idea I had bumping around in my head for a couple of years, after several trips to a variety of zoos and more animal photos than I knew what to do with. I recently remembered my idea when I was going through some boxes in a closet and found a framed photo of a lion and another one of a tiger, plus a blank frame.

I was just waiting for a good photo of a bear.




And now I had one!

No, not that kind of bear (but thank you, Jason, for filling the empty frame that I had already put up on the wall)...

This bear replaced Winnie the Pooh today.

Are there any Wizard of Oz fans out there?

If you give a girl a protractor

If you give a girl a protractor

she's going to want to trace it.

So she'll ask for some paper and crayons.

When she gets the crayons and the paper, she will draw the cutest rotund girl with a dimple at her chin.

(Grace always draws a dimpled chin when she draws faces of people!)

...And then the little girl will tell you that she drew a picture of you.

~~~~~

The next morning, the little girl's Daddy will hold up the protractor and ask, with a gleam in his eye,

"Can you draw a picture of me?"

And the little girl will say,

"No, Daddy, you're too big!"

And you will laugh and laugh...

You Capture: Sunsets and Sunrises

The theme for this week's You Capture challenge is sunsets and sunrises.

To which I said, "Yeeeessss!"

I kinda like sunsets. If you've been coming to my blog for any length of time, you know I take shots of sunsets whether Beth tells us to or not. ;)

There is the subtle, glowing kind...






The light, feathery kind...


And, my favorite, the dramatic kind, where you take shot after shot because the sky changes so quickly...

As a bonus, here is a guest photographer's work...my son Robert (age 12) took this shot of a gloriously colorful sunrise.

To see what everyone else captured this week, head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry for more You Capture participants.

And join in the photography fun next week! New participants are always welcome!

If you are looking for an honest babysitter, I can recommend one for you...

Last week, Jason and I had a babysitter. (Whoo hoo!) When we came home from our date, we found Grace, who doesn't like to go to sleep in her own bed, asleep in the sofa cushions beside the babysitter.





The babysitter sighed and, nodding towards Grace, wistfully said, "I'm looking forward to having one of those someday."


I chuckled and told her, "You have to be careful, though, because sometimes you have to earn one like this," as I gestured towards the boys' bedrooms.


Without skipping a beat, our babysitter said, "Well, you earned her."

;)