June's Mommy and Me Book Club book is Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein. Chloe was shocked (SHOCKED, I tell you) to wake up June 25th and see this HUGE book on her headboard. Maybe Santa's elves wanted to expand Chloe's horizon's a little and introduce her to the wonderful world of poetry. Or maybe all they had to choose from at the last minute was the seriously weak selection of children's books at evil, evil Walmart. We may never know the reason, but that morning Chloe brought it to me with a look of apprehension. How could she possibly read such a long book?
Then I explained that Shel Silverstein is beloved and he's written some of the most delightful poems ever written and he writes his poems especially for children and poetry is awesome and the book had lots of pictures. SO, she gave it a try. And she loved it! She sat giggling through the whole thing and couldn't wait to share every poem with me. It helped her earn mega points in the library's summer reading program. Her prizes included a giant green ball and a coupon for a slush at Sonic, so that's where we went for our book discussion.
Did you know they have peanut butter bacon milkshakes at Sonic. I haven't tried it. Anyway . . . Every Thing On It is the latest collection of poems and drawings from Shel Silverstein. The author died in 1999, but this book was published in 2011. What the WHAT? This is one of two or three works he's had published posthumously. I hope nobody finds my poems after I die and publishes them. Great. Just one more thing to worry about.
The Clock Man
"How much will you pay for an extra day?"
The clock man asked the child.
"Not a penny," the answer came,
"For my days are as many as smiles."
"How much will you pay for an extra day?"
He asked when the child was grown.
"Maybe a dollar or maybe less,
For I've plenty of days of my own."
"How much will you pay for an extra day? He asked when the time came to die.
"All of the pearls in all of the seas,
And all of the stars in the sky."
Chloe and I both enjoyed the poems very much, but agreed that some of the drawings were creepy. I like how there's something just a little bit "off" about Shel Silverstein's work. I like how he doesn't speak down to children. Chloe learned that poetry can be funny and that it doesn't have to rhyme.
Yesees and Noees
The Yesees said yes to anything
That anyone suggested.
The Noees said no to everything
Unless it was proven and tested.
So the Yesees all died of much too much
And the Noees all died of fright,
But somehow I think the Thinkforyourselfees
All came out all right.
On Monday we took the kids out for slushes at Sonic and then to the park to play big ball soccer.
Last week my friend Kim and her daughters, Catherine and Miriam, came for a visit from NC. This is the third time they've made the trip out here. On your third trip, you get a free slushee!
After the girls put on a play about dragons and princesses and Miriam made me a trap to catch leprechauns, we headed to the park to run through the sprinklers and wear everyone out.
You stay classy, Miles.
The next day I struggled to think of something to do. Kim and the girls have seen a lot of St. Louis already. Then I remembered that the twins are crazy smart and they like dinosaurs. Smart kids go to the Science Center.
The blurry figures at the top are a t-rex and his latest kill. The blurry figures at the bottom are Miriam and Catherine roaring back at the mechanical dinosaurs. Their fearlessness surprised me because Chloe has been afraid of those dinos her whole life. They're pretty lifelike.
We brought the crew in for some excavation. The twins were disappointed to learn that you don't get to take the dinosaur bones home, nor do you get a prize for digging them up. What's the point of all this?!
We were there just in time to see a mad scientist do some cryogenic experiments.
Brothers love science.
That night Kim treated us to dinner at our favorite pizza place.
The kids had fun watching the pizza guys toss the dough. I LOVE Dewey's pizza crust. I'd kill a man for that recipe. Okay, maybe not a man, but definitely a cat.
I can't believe how grown up these kids are. Chloe is very tall for her age, so I can only imagine how often Kim hears, "They're only SEVEN?" I have a feeling next time we see them, they'll be taller than me. [Miles is going through a finger guns phase. I need to get some holsters for those suckers.]
Thanks for making the trip out here and giving us a chance to catch up, friends! On your fourth visit you get a free 6" sub! (Just saying.)
As a youth leader at my church I had the pleasure of attending Young Women's Camp last week with the 12-18 year old girls in our area. I have very fond memories of "Girl's Camp" from my youth. I met my mother-in-law, Patti, at Girl's Camp as well as my BBF, Heather. We sang a lot of songs, wore a lot of embarrassing clothes, pulled some pretty sweet pranks, and learned about nature and stuff. Good times.
[Front row L-R: Kay, Katelyn, Monica, Alyssa, Hadley, Isabelle, Zoe, Raven, and Rachel. Back row L-R: Frieda, Carol, Jen, and Tiffany. Picture stolen from Nate Tripp.]
These are all the young women and leaders from our congregation that attended camp this year. I love these ladies. They are so full of goodness. Sometimes I get worried about the world my kids will inherit, and then I look at these young women and think, "If they're going to be ruling the world, we'll be just fine."
The theme for camp was "Women of Steel." The ladies in front were in charge of everything for the week and they did an amazing job. There is so much planning involved. I had a mini heart attack just now when I thought about all the planning involved.
Nature . . . am I right?
Despite the heat and the bugs and the scary, scary bathrooms, it was nice to be in such a beautiful place. It was also nice to have people making me three square meals a day and FREAKING OUT every time I tried to clean something up. ("The girls have to do that! Stop it!")
I loved watching our girls make friends and watching them lead and learn.
Last month all of the young women in the area had to do a three mile hike in preparation for camp. The stake leaders asked me to take pictures of each girl posing in a gold (virtuous) cape, for a reason they had not yet determined. I started messing around with the photos and came up with the idea of making them look like superhero posters. The stake leaders liked the idea and these pictures decorated the walls of our main lodge.
I kind of want one for myself. Sometimes I forget who I am, so it's nice to work with the young women and be reminded of my divine gifts.
When we first learned we were moving to St. Louis, we took out a map to see what else was nearby. (Not that St. Louis wasn't enough.) We found we were only 4.5 hours away from Chicago! I was so excited to be one step closer to my dream of seeing the Windy City and meeting Oprah.
Jeff's brother, Brian, is doing an internship this summer in Chicago and I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to make my dreams come true. Last Friday I loaded the kids up in the car and told Jeff to have fun studying for the boards, sucka. We arrived at Brian and his wife Mani's apartment just in time for dinner.
Deep dish pizza in Chicago. Check that off my bucket list. Members of Chicago's arena football team sat at the table next to us. They were huge and they ate lots. The waitress gave them a big hug when they left. Probably wanted to make them feel better because they play arena football.
The next day we all set out to see downtown by way of the "L." Now I've ridden the "L" like Dr. Richard Kimball and all those doctors on ER. We sat next to a woman wearing scrubs and I wanted to ask if she made out with anyone in the supply closet that day, but I didn't.
Jeff was so excited when he saw this picture because it reminded him of "Perfect Strangers." So secretly all of our knowledge about Chicago is from TV.
Our first stop was Millenium Park to see the bean (or "Cloud Gate", which is its real name that nobody uses).
Right about then is when Miles' lost his ever-lovin' mind. I'm talking a tantrum of epic proportions, the likes of which I have never seen from this boy. They could hear him on the other side of Lake Michigan. I don't know what his deal was, but it may have had something to do with the fact that he slept (or didn't sleep at all) on the ottoman the night before (even after I moved him to the couch).
He clung to my leg and cried like this for the next little while. Not awesome.
Underneath the bean. Awesome.
We moved on to this cool fountain. (That kid on the right dressed as Baby New Year made Harrison really uncomfortable.)
The kids splashed around in the water and Miles eventually decided it looked like happiness could be found in the city of Chicago. He especially liked getting Uncle Brian's feet wet and watching the faces on the fountain spit.
We walked down Michigan Avenue past the Art Institute of Chicago (in the background) where my Grandpa Furniss studied. We had to cross the street so as not to get mixed in with a group of protesters walking down the street and another group of protesters walking behind the first group of protesters, protesting their protest. God bless America.
Speaking of America, we had lunch at American Dog because their hot dogs were voted best in Chicago. Their menu includes hot dogs prepared the way they traditionally serve them in different U.S. cities. Brian got the Chicago dog. Mani got the Memphis dog. Harrison got the Philly dog and still remembers it fondly. The restaurant had really funny pictures of Chicagoans eating their hot dogs. Mani and Brian recreated one for me:
On our way to the Sears Tower, we spotted this red sculpture.
Brian asked, "Where have I seen that?" Yeah, it's from The Lake House. Busted.
We made it to the Sears Tower*, but it was hard to get a sense of how big it is when you're surrounded by huge buildings. In this picture, these buildings look similar in height. Check out this picture of the skyline I found online:
Not even close.
Harrison really wanted to go inside, but we just couldn't pay the eleventyhundred dollars for all of us to go. We did get a nice laugh at the front entrance.
I can't believe I've been throwing away my pants all these years when I could have been using them for planters. Let that be a lesson to me: Always consult Pinterest before throwing anything away.
Eventually we headed back into the subway station. The kids had a lot of fun taking pictures, too.
Here's one Chloe took of me in the subway.
It's always nice to have proof that I was on the adventure, too.
Thanks, Brian and Mani for a wonderful trip to Chicago come true! Have fun being city folk for the rest of the summer!
Believe it or not, I have more pictures. It took me FOREVER to make this movie, because the program kept crashing because of all of my huge pictures. There were many tears involved in the making of this video. So please watch it. Thank you for your time.
*Wendy "Lived in Chicago and Knows Everything" Holt wanted to be sure everyone knew that the Sears Tower is now the Willis Tower. (That's what it says behind the pants.) But my dream was to see the Sears Tower, not "Big Willy." So I'm going to leave it as is.
Welcome to Brain Jail: where our memories go to die. Our children are growing up fast and the only way we're going to remember their childhood is to put it on their permanent record. Here it is.
