patriotism, summer learning, and birds

What a day! We were happy to attend a reading of the Declaration of Independence this morning outside the courthouse. And Gran and I took Dennis to the summer camp workshops at Bass Pro Shop this afternoon where he was delighted to earn 5 pins and practice archery and casting. Then he went to a birthday party with his daddy while Gran & I went to pick up our new roommates. There are 8 baby guineas in a crate in our garage. Apparently they are going to rid us of ticks and bugs and provide occasional eggs without a lot of hard work. Dennis has already named one Zippy and plans to name the rest tomorrow. I wonder how our free range guineas will like the neighbor chickens!

more Star Wars

I happened to catch Spike TV's "Force of July" Star Wars marathon. It started yesterday with The Phantom Menace (Episode 1) and will have one per day through Return of the Jedi. We started Dennis with Episode 4 because that was the first one made (and also because we own the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS). Tonight we finished watching The Phantom Menace, which Dennis loved. I'd forgotten what an awful movie it is (acting, characters, etc). Sadly, Dennis has a new favorite Star Wars character. He has thrown over R2-D2 in favor of Jar-Jar Binks. Oh the horror.

Thank goodness for DVR. While Star Wars may be PG, the commercials on Spike most certainly are not!

Tonight, Dennis took care of me as I suffered a headache and stomach cramps. He covered me with a blanket, brought me medicine and a cup of water, wet a washcloth (well, actually he picked a hand towel) and put it on my head, brought a music box to soothe me, brought a plastic bag in case I needed to throw up, and gave me a big hug and kiss and told me to feel better. Then he asked "so am I acting like a nurse?". I told him he was the best nurse ever! I'm so fortunate to have such a thoughtful child!

slugs

Yesterday we hibernated. David went to work, but Dennis and I holed up in our own bedrooms and watched movies all day. This was preferable to getting out in the heat, for sure. I was wondering if the 4 hours at Peach Jam were a bad idea, and Dennis told me "I am so tired after all my hard work at the Peach Jam that I just want to rest today." And that was all I needed to hear! We stayed indoors. We rested. When David got home, he did the same. And it was awesome!

more hot than peachy

This year's Peach Festival has almost ended. We had a pretty good time at the Peach Jam Jubilee tonight, as good a time as it's possible to have in over 100 degree heat. Dennis did a number of different Taekwondo demonstrations at his instructor's booth. He played some games at different booths and scored an awesome inflatable "rock guitar" (his term). It is red and black and has flames on it, and he assumed numerous rock star poses throughout the evening. He would get it out every time he heard a rock song and would faux-strum the thing and jam to the beat. A lady from church told him he played a mean air guitar and he solemnly informed her "it's an INFLATABLE guitar." He also won a light up, noise-making bubble gun with a laser sight. I have to admit how cool that thing is! He carefully lined the perimeter of the Taekwondo booth with a bubble rectangle before pronouncing us safe. Good thing we had him with us!

music lessons

I got a phone call to come down to the church office and to bring Dennis, so we headed down to see what was happening. We were treated to a psaltery concert, an instrument I'd never before seen. And Dennis had never heard of one either, but our church's office volunteer for the day had brought one along and shared it with us. She played some hymns and then let Dennis have a turn with it. She held the bow along with him and together they played Amazing Grace. He was SO proud of himself! Later, when David came by to pick him up, he found Dennis in the office where he'd returned on his own for another lesson. David got to see and hear him play Happy Birthday.

Even though he'd already had a full day of peach picking and shopping with Gran and playing the psaltery and working with me, there was more to come. The youth minister poked his head in my office to ask Dennis if he knew how to string a guitar. He took him next door to his office and let him help with the entire process (stringing and tuning) and then play the guitar some himself!

I wonder if Dennis will want to learn to play an instrument of his own soon. He loves music and tonight at home gave us one of his best ever dance shows. He invented a new "Dennis Chop" move that he's especially pleased to demonstrate.

office pranks

Back when the Staples commercials were popular, I happened on an "easy" button in the store. I bought it because it was fun (and cheap) and brought it home. I didn't do much with it, but it provided great entertainment on more than one occasion. Dennis loves the thing and will push the button again and again to hear it say "that was easy". And once, just after David and I had labored to move a very heavy piece of furniture, I bumped the table it was on and it spit out "that was easy!" only to have David and me replying "NO IT WASN'T!".

Today Dennis left it on the desk of the administrative assistant at church (who is a good friend as well) before she got to work this morning. When she rang my office, I picked up the phone and heard "that was easy!". I told her Dennis had done it and he heard me and ran downstairs to chat with her. Now the button is sitting on my desk. I wonder who it will visit next! Dennis was so pleased with himself over this that he's asked me again to take this position permanently (he adores "going to work" at church), to which I reminded him that I have not yet been asked to do so.

road hazard

I told Dennis that I couldn't turn my head to see what he was trying to show me because I was driving and I needed to watch the road. He said "why? What are you watching for?". I explained that I didn't want to hit any animal that might run out in the road, like a cat or dog or deer. He replied "and you should watch for an elephant stampede." Of course I should!