Collaborative fiction (third grade boy style)

T is my eight-year-old and W is another third-grader and son of a friend of mine, who drove them on a field trip:

"Then he and W and another boy, G, told a long saga about Big Pitts ( an enormously fat man who puts apples in his armpits and shoots them at others) and Giant Kung Fu Banana Slug Guy. G dropped out of the narrative task early on, but T and W kept the saga going for miles and miles, cracking up G and themselves. At one point, when it was T's turn, he began narrating, in a serious voice, "There was a lot of farting going on in the city. "
It turns out that Big Pits does not, as I suggested, own an orchard. Big Pitts buys the apples. he is a millionaire. he makes his money eating beans and selling his flatuence for greenhouse gasses. No lie."

going crazy on the pictures

DH took the toddler to the Vernal Pools, searching for tadpoles




It was their next outing to the stables that she really loved:




Random pic of her after she bumped her head:



Birthday pictures:




DS1 owning the fun of playing with the Barbie vet set with DD. DS2 went and hid after I took a pic of him with it. Blackmail potential, you know.



Granny sent this box:

uhhh..... (that's not what was in it, though)

And to all a gooooood night!

I tried. I did.

Most of the things on the boys' lists were either expensive ($250 Lego set?) or no-gos (a cell phone? You're 10. And you never make calls) or just not happening (pet).

So I found stuff they would like, not necessarily what they asked for.

I was also trying to get out a bit cheaper than usual - though I don't spend all THAT much any year.

So DS2 didn't like anything. At all. The remote control car he wanted - because his cars and only his cars never work right - DH got him an RC helicopter that is mostly uncontrollable. He got one, small lego set because I thought someone else was getting a big one for the two of them to share. He had already read one of the books (though he will likely want to read it again!). He liked the bathrobe until I went to take a picture of him in it. So, of course, the boring stuff like clothes were an affront and an offense.

DS1 was happier, but then, he got three small lego sets.

DD is pretty happy all around. She's easily pleased and we did get her stuff that we knew would please her.

I got some cool stuff and some chocolate. Woohoo! I'm waitin' and hopin' that my present from my brother was a couple of books that don't come out until the 28th.

DH didn't get a whole lot. He never tells us what he wants and then the slippers allegedly in his size don't fit him.

I'm trying to talk DH into the pet still. I think a cat or two would be great.

Right. Moving on into Christmas

No shopping done yet. Not even stuff I have to mail.

Need to get oil changed in car and SMOG test and registration done by early January.

Tree is up and decorated. Spare decorations around the house. Need to do outside lights.

Need to bake Xmas cookies for cookie exchange.

Need to bake banana bread next Thursday for both kids' classes.

Need to get holiday presents for teachers. If I want anything shipped, I have to get BUSY. (right. ordered t-shirts for 2 of the 3. Not sure what to get for the last one)

And I swear if DS2 gets any more wound up about Xmas, he is going to spend it in... in... in the North Pole.

NaNo and my life

I hit 75K yesterday and am now looking around and everything else I need to do.

DS1 has his red tip test (pre-test, I guess you'd call it) for his junior black belt on Friday. And he hasn't finished all the home stuff he was supposed to do, so unless his moves are completely flawless, he's not going to make it. He can do it in the spring and maybe he'll understand that he has to start early...

I keep meeting with my critique partners (the new one and the brand new new one) and this is the 2nd week in a row that I have nothing for them to read, really. I have to bang out a new ending and some edits to a book that one of them read for me. I also need to finish reading the stuff they gave me last week. So I shouldn't be on the internet.

And 2 parties this Saturday, then no parties at all after that, I don't think.

And Xmas shopping out the yinyang.

And some sewing. Poor DS2 has almost no long trousers and there are some in my sewing heap. Plus warm PJs for those who wear them and maybe a fleece for the boy who doesn't, because he needs jackets, too.

Right. Off to get the toddler down for a happy nap.

The happy halfway dance

I've written 25,000 words this week. Whew!

I'm still only about 1/4th of the way through the outline, having added some scenes. Some of it is repetitive and some dull, so there will be cutting. But only after Dec 1st.

But! Halfway through the official word count!

And looking at birds outside the window instead of writing more, even though I'm part of the way through a scene.

It would help if the kids weren't all being completely insane right now. All over the house.

more pictures. a.k.a. Toddler rules the camera

She built these tracks herself, with minor fixes from me to make it so we could actually drive over the hills.







I take a picture while she tries to get the camera from me.

Then, the camera was all hers:









This was the pile of clothes that she wasn't wearing.






Then she decided I didn't need socks.

NaNo is tomorrow!

Which means that Halloween is today!

The kids are ready, I guess. I'm not. I wore my "human" t-shirt to the Harvest Festival, so maybe I could put that on again.



The school's Harvest Festival was Friday. Here are my lovely children ready to head out.


Ninja and Beaver again.


Ninja, beaver, dinosaur enjoying an unhealthy snack.


We did the haunted house (pirate ship theme this year. I loaned them my pirate shirt and vest, so I don't have a costume) first and then DS2 started insisting he wanted to go home already. DH had dropped us off and had gone to do an errand, with the intention of coming back and hanging out with us. By the time he got there, we were all pretty much ready to go.



This morning in a "ponkin" t-shirt.

PICTURES

A friend wanted this out of her yard, since her baby is 8. So we paid her and went and took it apart and I put it together alone, which took more brains than brawn, which is why it took me an extra half hour or so.









DS2 mowing. $10 for the whole yard, including trimming. I might pay more, but I have to do a lot of supervising and nagging.



I got a box of books and stuff from a blog I read, Book Binge, which was giving away stuff. So my pink-clad girl got the sunglasses and hat, at least for a few minutes. If they had fit better and if she ever ever ever kept a hat on, I would consider letting her keep them. The books are MINE, though!

Intrepid monster-hunters

Defending the homestead from monsters.


Maybe monsters don't notice her sneaking up on them if she doesn't wear clothes?




Neighbors' house: under lockdown. Watch out for those monsters.








Intrepid monster-hunters checking the mailbox.

Another week of DS1 cooking for the family

raw meat! yummy!

weekly cooking pictures

Well, we totally forgot about taking cooking pictures. He made shrimp fried rice this week.

So here's a bag of rice! And DS1 working at the computer!




Beautiful DS2




And the toddler doing some drawings:


That's a, um.... horse, I think she said?



And this one was.... Oh, beats me. That's my lovely rendition of a leaf next to it.