Daniel, Lula, the Park, and Strangers

Yesterday, Mark had to work.  Like, not in the house.  He actually had to drive far away and sit in a meeting all. day. long.  Poor guy.  Poor me.  I was stuck having to haul our brood of active children to two dance classes and a Boy Scout meeting.  I normally take Fiona to her 4:00 dance class alone while the older kids watch the younger kids at home while Mark works in his office.  He is available for emergencies, but they normally don't need him.  I just can't control Lula and Daniel in dance class or run after them at the park like I used to.  But yesterday, sigh, I had no choice.

My older kids were gracious enough to help me keep Lula and Daniel happy on the playground. This meant that anyone who was "too old" to play on the playground could still have an excuse to have fun...

 ...I'm not naming names or anything.  Now, Lula has always been an independent little girl.  She has never needed someone to entertain her and she never looks back to make sure a big person is following when she dashes down the driveway or across a field.  Two days ago, someone didn't shut the front door all the way.  Lula came by a few minutes later and headed outside. Alone.  I was reading history out loud to the other kids and had no idea she was gone.  I thought she was in the back of the house harassing Mark.  But I selfishly took advantage of the silence to keep reading.  The silence lasted just a little too long, so I sent Fiona to go check to see what Lula was getting into.  She was the one that discovered the open door and the missing toddler.  Luckily, she was only visiting the chickens and Mark could see her from his office window.  But now we have to make sure the doors get closed all the way!  (And you know your house is cold when the door is wide open for a half hour and no one feels the temperature difference)

The candid picture above shows the guilty sibling who let Lula go down the big slide alone.  You can see Lula shooting out the bottom, just before she hit the ground.  Good thing she is a tough Downen kid.  She has been in training her whole life:

Daniel just can't keep out of other people's personal spaces.  It isn't normally too much of a problem, but when he is tired or over-excited, he holds Lula and won't let go.  He doesn't hold her in a mean way, just in a very exuberant life-loving way.  She has gotten really good at screaming her defense, before he can even touch her!  I'm trying to remind him that every person has a bubble that no one can see and when we go inside a person's bubble without permission, we can pop it.  So now I'm hearing, "Get out of my bubble!" and "You popped my bubble! Wah!"  Yesterday, I was snuggling my little man and I started tickling him.  "I'm popping your bubble!" I laughed.  Daniel made his meanest face and said, "I don't have a bubble! I have a ROCK!"  All I could do was kiss his sweet little nose and laugh.  He was so quick to choose a material (rock) that was unpenetrable that was the same shape as a bubble.  His quick wit is much like Ian's.

Okay, back to the park.  We played during Fiona's class and spent the hour between the girls' classes at the library and grocery store.  We dropped Evie off at her class and Ian went to Boy Scouts, so Shane was now the oldest kid.  By this time, it was dark outside.  This pregnant mama needed to use the facilities.  I put Shane in charge of watching Fiona and Daniel with explicit instructions about constant vigilance and strangers.  I gave a quick lecture to Fiona and Daniel to not leave the park with anyone but Shane.  (There was only one dad with his Daniel-aged son there whose daughter was dancing in Evie's class)  I took Lula inside with me.  By the time I was heading back out the door to the park, the dad was standing there with Daniel and his son.  Daniel said, "Look, Mom! I found a stranger!"  The dad was apologetic and said that Daniel had followed him and his son to the building.  I thanked him for watching Daniel and wondered what the heck his brother was doing...and then headed back out to where Shane was completely unaware that Daniel was missing.  Let us just say that Shane (and partially Fiona) were/are in major trouble for not even noticing that Daniel had left the park with a stranger.  It wasn't like there were a ton of people and noise that would prevent Shane from seeing or hearing what was going on!  Boy, was I MAD! I'm just thankful that the stranger was another dad who was trying to keep his son entertained while his daughter danced-just like us.

Pumpkin Party

After I checked the weather report yesterday, I realized that if we wanted a nice day at the pumpkin patch I would have to pull myself up by my bootstraps and get the kids out of the house!

Unfortunately, we were too late and our favorite local pumpkin patch was closed for the season.  Boo!  Since Mark was on a conference call and couldn't have us in the house making noise, we put it to a vote and decided just to drive to the grocery store and buy pumpkins.  So no cute pictures of Lula running through the field will be posted this year.

To make up for the lameness of the grocery store, I bought some instant apple cider, caramel sauce, and pizza so we could have a pumpkin party.  I also realized that if I wanted Mark to be in charge of the carving, I would have to have our party as soon as we got home.  Which also meant I wouldn't be attending the pumpkin party because I had an appointment with the chiropractor-midwife.

The good news is: Lucky flipped head down again!  I spent the weekend doing the inversion exercises and by the time I had my second chiropractor appointment, she was head down!  Now we just have to hope and pray she stays that way.  It is possible that she will flip back.  She just seems to like to move around.  I'm starting to get used to the sensation of her moving; this morning she went transverse for awhile, but then got head down again.  It was weird feeling her bum stick out the side of my belly! The midwives will be out for a home visit tomorrow and will check her position again and then I have one last adjustment next week.  I am now a chiropractor convert. 

We were definitely feeling celebratory last night when I got home.  I got to eat cold pizza, but I didn't miss the apple cider or the apple slices with caramel sauce! Yum! I love the face that Daniel drew on his pumpkin (above).  He showed it to me and said that he drew Daddy!  Ian and Shane carved their own pumpkins this year and Mark did the rest.  Can you guess which two are the boys' pumpkins?

From left to right: Ian's, Fiona's, Daniel's, Shane's (above the rest), and finally, Evie's.

Fall Camping

Mark and Shane went on their last fall camp out as Cub Scouts over the weekend.  The pack went to Penrose State Park, which is not too far from our house.  Mark was so happy to have a new dynamic in the pack.  The new Cubmaster is a good sport and even participated in Mark's Polar Bear Swim!

It was early. It was dark. It was raining. But a few leaders and a few scouts braved the elements and the low tide and the paralytic shellfish poisoning.  Someone even made a movie, so once it is posted on You Tube, I will add a link.

Mark also ran the Webelos 1 and 2s through their forestry activity badge.  He really enjoyed himself this weekend!

Shark Tank Shane

Yesterday was quite possibly the best day of Shane's life.  It all started on this trip, when Shane found a brochure on the ferry.  The brochure was for the Eye-to-Eye Shark Dive at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.  The program hadn't even opened yet; the brochure only said to sign up for email notification when more details were available. 

Getting the dry suit on

After looking the program over ($65 for a cage dive with sharks for people ages 8 and up? No experience or equipment needed? Really, only $65? No way!), we decided that this would make the perfect birthday present for Shane.  We had no idea when and if the program would be open.  But we were ready when the email arrived that we could reserve a spot before it was open to the public!

The weight belt keeps them from floating to the surface.

Shane received about 20 minutes of instruction before he went down into the cage.  Most of that time was dedicated to getting suited up.  There were two older ladies and one other girl about Shane's age for a total of four divers.  They all got dry suits that zipped right over their street clothes and diving boots.  The water was about 75 degrees, so they didn't need the hoods that Mark and I wore while diving in the Puget Sound.  They sent me to the viewing area before Shane was introduced to his regulator (the mouth piece he breathed through), so I was worried that he wouldn't get enough time to practice before they tossed him to the sharks!

I really didn't need to worry.  The cage was open at the top and the divers could come up anytime they felt uncomfortable.  Shane bobbed up a few times at the start of his dive so he could clear his mask, but he soon figured out how to clear the mask and the regulator of water beneath the surface.  He said he felt nervous when he first went under water because he wasn't used to breathing under water.  But then he got used to it and loved every minute of it!  I loved that the cage was right next to the viewing area and I could watch Shane the whole time.

Waving to the camera!

Shane knows a LOT about sharks.  He has checked out every book from the library and watched every video on the National Geographic website.  He wanted to write an email to National Geographic asking them to add some videos about basking sharks because there weren't any.  He was excited that he was able to identify the different species on the dive and determine gender as well.  (We joked that Shane wouldn't be able to keep his mouth on the regulator because he would need to spout off shark facts as they came to mind like he does at home.)

Shane and a sand tiger shark

This was such a great experience and a perfect introduction to scuba diving.  I am so thankful that he had this opportunity!

Breech Baby

I'm 36 1/2 weeks along now...only 27 days until my due date.  I had an appointment with my midwives yesterday, and they found that Lucky had flipped back into a breech position.  Two weeks ago she was mostly head down, but still slightly transverse.  Before that, she was a solid breech/transverse.

I am far enough along that we are running out of time to get her flipped back into a head-down position.  First, I will be seeing a chiropractor (who happens to be one of my midwives) who will do a special technique that flips babies; this happens tomorrow.  The technique usually works by the third visit.  Meanwhile, I will also be doing exercises at home that help Lucky want to turn (so far they only give her the hiccups).  If this doesn't work, I will be referred to a medical office to have an external cephalic inversion.  And if the ECV doesn't work (they have a 58% success rate), I'll have to have a C-section.

Now, I've had two babies stay breech for a long time before: Shane and Lula.  I was actually checked in at the hospital for the ECV with Shane and when they did the last ultrasound, he had flipped on his own.  But he had flipped by the 36th week.  Lula was transverse/breech until the 34th week, but she flipped on her own as well.

At this point, I still have plenty of amniotic fluid for Lucky to move around in.  This is why perfect strangers feel like they can ask me if I'm sure I'm not having twins.  I'm really hoping the chiropractic adjustment will work.  The ECV looks so painful and recovering from a C-section looks even worse.  I do prefer to have this baby naturally at home because recovery is so much faster.  But if I'm stuck in a hospital, I'm stuck.  There really isn't anything I can do about that...

Orange, Green, and Purple

Just when everyone seems to be over the cold that has kept us out of church for a month, Lula starts to cut her lower molars.  At least she is doing it now...and will be finished with teething by the time Lucky arrives.

"Primary colors? What's that?"

My Kindergarten/Preschool group managed to get through the secondary colors in two afternoons of art projects.  I mostly skipped the stories that went along with the colors except green-I found some cute books about things that are about green things outside and green food.  However, their favorite book was Blue Hat, Green Hat.  Oh my, Fiona and Daniel just cracked up! You can follow that link to Amazon.com and take a look inside at the silly turkey that couldn't figure out how to wear the clothes right. I personally didn't think the book was that profound, but the kids' laughter was so contagious, the book quickly became a favorite.

Mixing paint

I had the brilliant (if I do say so myself) idea of teaching them the secondary colors by mixing paint in zip top sandwich bags.  I have a set of acrylic paints left over from another school year just for this purpose.  For each little kid, I put a squirt of yellow and red or yellow and blue in a zip top bag.  I closed it up and then gave them to the kid to "squish" until either orange or green paint appeared.  Oh, how fun!

Non-messy painting

Then I opened the bag, turned it inside out, tucked their little hand inside, and taught them how to "splotch" paint with the orange and "smear" paint with the green.  It was unbelievably not messy!

Big Girl color mixing :)

Evie loves art and wants to be an artist when she grows up.  I let her mix paint colors in real cups with real brushes. 

Autumn Leaves!

One thing I really wanted to do was take the kids to the park and collect colorful leaves for an art project.  It just isn't going to happen this year, so I had them cut leaf shapes out of their paint creations when they were dry (I mean, a couple days later).  Then they glued the leaf shapes to a smaller piece of paper that is nice enough to store in their "portfolio."

Now this is a manageable, notebook-sized project!

Today, I invested about...oh 15 minutes or so... on purple...  I taught Evie and Fiona the Purple Cow poem a la First Language Lessons style...

More color mixing!

...let them discover that red and blue food coloring makes purple milk... (and did you know if you turn your milk purple, it makes it taste like goat milk? I didn't either, but Fiona insists that it does and she doesn't like goat milk)

Zombies

...and zoned them out on Harold and the Purple Crayon. 

I also managed to start Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? with the boys, read a chapter in Story of the World about the start of Islam, watched a National Geographic video about Mecca, and got the kids through their normal math and language arts.  We started at 9:00 this morning and was finishing up around 5:00 tonight-it was a long day, but that's the way it goes with lots of kids at lots of levels and a mama who needs an afternoon nap!

"There's a hole in my hot dog!"

"...and I'm never eating AGAIN!"

Here are some gems from Ian, all said before lunch:

"Are you one of those moms that turn their kids against their dads?" *jaw drop* NO! But, I'm also not one of those moms who will agree with everything the dad says just because he is the man.  If he is wrong, he is wrong.  You need to go to the dentist every six months for a cleaning whether you like it or not!

"A few days ago you were RoboMom.  Now you are a cranky old lady. What happened?"

"There is no point in going on the Night Hike without Dad.  He is the best.  He is always there for me.  When I'm tired and I don't think I can go any farther, he *giggle giggle* calls me a wimp and a sissy *giggle giggle* and then if I fall, he *giggle giggle* kicks me in the *giggle giggle* butt and tells me to get up and get going!"

"I wish I had a grizzly bear.  I'd train it to keep Shane locked in his room when he makes me mad.  I'll also teach him to sit."  Hmm...the logistics of keeping a grizzly bear in the house just to keep Shane locked up doesn't really work for me.

Ian, for the most part, makes me laugh.  He really does have a great sense of humor.  He made his first joke before he could even string two words together.  He and Shane are only 15 months apart.  When Shane was a little baby and I was nursing him, Big Baby Ian was giving him kisses.  I said, "Kiss Mama, Ian."  He ignored me and kept kissing Little Baby Shane.  I said again, "Give Mama a kiss!"  He kissed Shane again and smiled, pointed to Shane, and said, "Mama!"  But there does come a time when his joking really gets on my nerves and I want to send him to public school and never see him again.  But then again, I would be missing out on the really funny jokes if he were gone...

A Bygone Era {Nesting}

I'm counting down the days 'till my due date.  I've never done that before, but this time, well, I don't know why, but this last trimester has been miserable.  I'm tired, I'm achy, and I'm frustrated that I can't do all the cleaning/chores/projects I want to do.  It doesn't help that Mark sees me snoozing downstairs while stuff is piling up all over the place.  I want to nest.  I'm nesting inside.  But I can't breathe when I get moving and I get dizzy if I bend over to pick stuff up.  I think Lucky has been rearranging her living space over the last few days too because I have been feeling intense pressure in strange places anytime I change position.  Mark is feeling frustrated too and I'm pretty sure men nest when their wives hit that last month...

We had a less than stellar result when our drinking water was tested a few weeks ago.  Since then, we have treated our well and tried to figure out where the source of contamination is.  One possibility is the fort that has been sitting next to our well for more years than I know.  The fort was built by Grandad and used by both Mark and his sister when they were younger.  It's been used as a storage shed for decades...and mice and bats and spiders live there too.  Mark has been wanting to pull the fort down for a few years now.  He took the day off from work yesterday to do that, but I wouldn't let him until he helped me clean some stuff in the house.  I had to resort to tears, my friends.  This morning, he was up early again, pacing and thinking about the fort.  Since I am a good wife and my little nest is much improved, I let him attend to his nest...I mean mousetropolis.

Evicted!

Today was the first time since I came down with this cold (that Daniel and Lula now have) that I felt like going outside.  My broken computer mouse still makes navigating photo programs and the internet tricky; I have to use keyboard shortcuts more than I'd like.  But I can't NOT take pictures and post about such an event!

Shane locks Ian inside the fort while Mark works.

The boys got a day off bookwork school and instead got a day of Things You Must Know About Being A Man school.  Will they learn anything or will they just play and annoy their dad?  I guess we will see!

The first tug on the fort only pulled out the front.  It took two more good tugs to get the rest down.  Now Mark and the boys are busy hauling pieces to the fire pit in the pasture.  Daniel helps by cutting things with the brush clippers and looking at spiders.  Even with a nasty cough, he must be where the action is at.

Ian just came in to announce that after they moved everything, they found buried treasure.  He collected two plastic bags and laughed and wouldn't tell me what the buried treasure was.  I just took a little trip down there to satisfy my curiosity.  The treasure? Mark's auto emblem collection from a really, really long time ago.

Bejeweled

Mark inherited his mother's and his grandmother's jewelry when his dad passed away and it has all been stashed away waiting for...

...enough harassment from Fiona.  For two days she pestered her dad to let her "play" with the jewelry until, FINALLY, she got her wish.

We can't tell what is valuable and what is costume jewelry.  But it was so fun that the boys had to join in.  Of course they pretended they were pirates and clutched big handfuls of jewels and only wore one earring at a time (Mark's grandmother didn't have pierced ears so all the earrings are clip on).  Daniel wore the "boy necklaces" which were actually bolo ties with large ornate slides made of polished rocks.  Maybe someday big jewelry will come back into fashion and all of us grandchildren and great-grandchildren will finally be able to use these fun pieces for more than just dress up and Halloween!

And look at that piece of history!  That, my friend, is a genuine snake skin purse!  Shane was so offended that a snake lost its life for just a stupid purse.  Well, there is a handbag to match, so hopefully the whole animal was used (including the meat in a soup).

Shopping With Daniel

Daniel has reached that hilarious age...the age where he enjoys talking to strangers at the store and has no idea what he should and shouldn't say.  Ian was just like that too.  He loved to strike up random conversations with strangers...which is why I never taught him his address or phone number.

For example, today we went to the feed store.  The guy that loaded up the bale of straw had long hair and a beard.  Daniel laughed, "That boy has a ponytail! ...Or is that a girl?"  The windows were down, so I wasn't sure if the guy heard Daniel, but Mark did and pointed out that only boys have beards.

Then, when we were in the grocery store, he saw a dad shopping for beer while two girls were running circles around the displays.  He looked and me and asked, "Mama, are those girls orphans?"  Well, they sure were acting like they had no parent around, so yeah, I guess they were orphans.

A few weeks ago, we were at Costco and he greeted everyone he saw and told them how old he was.  He holds up three fingers, but then makes an X with his two index fingers to show "half."  Because he is, of course, three-and-a-half.  Don't forget that half!

His funny sayings aren't limited to the store.  He is also quite hilarious at home...if you have a sense of humor.  He tried to tell me he could use a knife and he couldn't cut his finger off because he was "miserable."  Miserable?  He looks at me with his cute wrinkled nose face and asked, "What does miserable mean anyway?"  I told him it meant sad.  He laughed and said, "I'm not sad! But I can't cut my finger off!"  Maybe he meant invincible.  He does try to fly...but before he jumps he always shows me his wings that are broken that make him fall every time. 

I'm convinced he has Opposition Defiance Disorder.  I'm not a fan of diagnosing every quirk of human nature (it would have been really easy to get Shane on the Autism Spectrum when he was younger), so when I say Daniel is ODD, it is with a little *wink*  Here are the symptoms:

• Frequent temper tantrums
• Excessive arguing with adults
• Often questioning rules
• Active defiance and refusal to comply with adult requests and rules
• Deliberate attempts to annoy or upset people
• Blaming others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior
• Often being touchy or easily annoyed by others
• Frequent anger and resentment
• Mean and hateful talking when upset
• Spiteful attitude and revenge seeking

Mark challenged my internet diagnosis and asked for an example (all in fun, right?).  Here is the conversation that followed with Daniel:
Me: Daniel, I'm older than you are.
Daniel: No, you're not.
Me: Yes, I am.  I'm 36.  You are three.
Daniel: No, I'm not three.  I'm 3 1/2.
Mark: He got you on a technicality; He's 3 1/2!
Daniel happened to be getting sleepy-but he insisted he was sitting on my lap just to get warm.  As he eyes were closing, he once again insisted that he wasn't tired.  A few minutes after his eyes were firmly closed, I asked him if he was asleep.  I felt a muscle in his back twitch, but he didn't say anything to the contrary...until Lula tried to climb up in my lap.  Then he stuck his foot out, right at her neck, to keep her from getting up in his space.

Most of the time, when Daniel defies me, he is bluffing.  During today's grocery store trip, he refused to get out of the car via his door.  He needed to come out my door.  Instead of making him go out his own door, I chose to not battle him and let him come out the front.  Then he refused to come with me inside the store because I chose a cart that he didn't approve of.  He exclaimed, "Fine! I'm not going in the store with you!"  I said, "Okay. See you later," and kept walking.  He quickly ran to catch up and said, "Actually, I am coming with you."  About two minutes later he started doing the potty dance...a clear indicator that Mr. Control Freak needed to be in charge of doors and carts because he couldn't tell his body what to do.  On the way home, he didn't like his dad's choice of music.  I didn't either, but I'm too old to scream that I hated it and to turn it off.  Mark just turned the music up louder so he wouldn't have to hear Daniel's protests.  After Daniel cried for awhile saying he hated his dad and that Mark couldn't be his dad anymore, he fell asleep.  See? Daniel isn't really ODD.  He just needs to go potty or take a nap or eat some dinner or go to bed.
 
He's just a precious three and a half year old with opinions...

...to be continued...for the next fifteen or so years...

Humongous Fungus

The only non-blurry picture from Ian's photo collection of fungus

Another looooong boring week.  I caught that nasty cold and spent the whole week trying to hear out of my stuffy head and pounding vitamins and grapefruit juice.  I really don't want to be sick on top of these third trimester woes (only 5 1/2 weeks left).  I feel like a slimy nasty toadstool.

The mouse on my computer is broken.  It double clicks even if I click it once.  I'm not spending as much time on the computer or messing with pictures as I normally do because of this.  That, and I need to sleep even more than I needed to last week!

Lula discovered how to jump off the rocking chair.  She is also waving and saying, "Hi!"  Daniel is supposed to be doing green or orange and diamonds or ovals in his special preschool.  In my imaginary world, where I'm not sick or 34 1/2 weeks pregnant, I took Daniel to the park and we picked autumn leaves that were orange and green and ovals and diamonds.  Instead, he picked up a chip and said, "Look Mama! It's an oval!" and wore his neon orange sweater for a day or two.  I did manage to get Fiona through Lesson 25 of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  She is picking up reading FAST, just like I knew she would.  Evie is racing to the end of her 2nd grade math book.  It will be fun to see who finishes first: Lucky or Evie.  Shane and Ian learned about cameras and photography.  When I'm feeling better I will do an entire post about that project!

A Boring Week

Yep, the title says it all.  I haven't blogged because there really wasn't anything blog worthy.  We had a normal week of school, normal activities, normal events.  The older boys and Mark have a nasty cough (and I think I'm coming down with it).  My energy is even lower than it was before, so low in fact that I can barely do a load of laundry without needing to rest.

I'm gearing up to do a unit on photography and cameras with the kids.  Ian wants to earn the photography merit badge for Boy Scouts.  Shane wants to earn the belt loop and academics pin for Cub Scouts.  Evie has some great pictures she has submitted to National Geographic's Great Nature Project.  I have no idea if you can search for me there, but try to find me on Flickr and see some of Evie and Shane's pictures. 

The girls started dance on Tuesday.  Fiona was moved up to the big(ger) girls class along with two of her other classmates.  She isn't a preschooler anymore!  Evie is still in her class, which meets the same time (and same place) as Boy Scouts.  That's convenient!

Fiona had a few funny things to say this week, one of which I posted on facebook:  She had been going through my cookie cutters to find Halloween themed shapes.  She pulled out a pumpkin, a bat, and a cat...but also added an angel.  I said, "An angel? For Halloween?"  She replied, "Yes, it's the Death Angel.  I learned all about it in Sunday school.  If you don't put blood over your door, the Death Angel will come and kill all the first born babies."  The other funny thing that happened was one of those times where you just had to be there.  She asked if people get shots so they don't get sick.  I said yes.  She thought for a second and said, "I want to be a doctor when I grow up."  See? That wasn't funny!  It was the way she said it that made it funny.  It totally sounded like she wanted to be a doctor just so she could stick people with needles!  (The day before she wanted to be a dentist)

I took the kids to the dentist on Thursday.  It was Daniel's first time!  I was so disappointed.  Our trips to the dentist are always fun.  I thought for sure that my most belligerent would give us a show.  But he was perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  He was sweet, obedient, and didn't embarrass himself one time!  Boo.  It was Lula who spent the whole time butting the back of her head into my shoulder so I would put her down (which I didn't).  I was exhausted by the time we got out of there...only 35 minutes after we showed up!

Ian worked another shift selling popcorn last night.  He is up to about $1000 in sales (Shane has done $750).  Our approach this year is so different than last year.  Last year (and years before), a Cub Scout sells $350 to cover dues and everything over that goes to the general fund.  The Scout gets a prize that corresponds to the amount of sales.  Usually the prize is something stupid, like a little LEGO set or a pocket knife.  This year, Shane sold enough to cover his dues and a winter camp.  He'll get a prize, but we don't care about that.  We are done signing Shane up for selling shifts.  Ian will get a percentage of his sales deposited into his Boy Scout account.  The more he sells, the more trips he can go on.  So far he has covered summer camp and maybe a few smaller trips.  Usually, Ian is reserved in public.  But last night he started coming out of his shell and entertained people with his lame magic tricks.  He knows they are bad, but he had fun talking to people, even though the people weren't buying.  Our area has been saturated with popcorn; everyone who was going to buy some has already done it.  The same shift that earned Ian and Shane over $500 in sales, barely cleared $200 last night. 

So, that pretty much wraps up our boring week!