Money Changers

On a slow Saturday, Dave likes to pull out his big plastic jar of quarter, nickels and dimes. When they were done stacking the coins, Ben added it up. It was a lot of money.

Belt Test

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Ben and Sammy tested for their yellow belts. I love their Tae Kwon Do school so much. They have lots of classes to choose from, and a set of treadmills behind glass down one side of the practice area. While the boys are taking their class, Dave and I can work out too.

My New Toy

We rearranged the dining room, so this would fit in the corner. If one more person tells me that adults can't learn to play the piano, I might smack them. I have a set of adult piano books, and my family's ears are ringing with my repeated renditions of "When the Saints Come Marching In" and "Kumbuyah". Beenie should be warned that she's in for a recital prepared in her honor at Thanksgiving, since she is one of the naysayers.

And the next day . . .

We drove up again to Grapeland, TX to pick up Ben. He had a great time at Frontier Camp, and actually managed to pack up all his things and keep track of them pretty well during the week.

Brownie Camp

We picked up Ellie from Brownie camp, and she had a great time there. This is one of her counselors, Wildcat. The counselors all use nicknames, rather than their real names at camp.

Freedom

Ellie and Ben are both off at sleep-away camps this week for the first time. Ellie's at a Girl Scout camp that specializes in horses, and Ben's at a recreation camp. We've gotten two letter from Ellie, none from Ben. From the pictures posted on the camp sites, it looks like they're having a great time.

Order of the Phoenix

We just got back from a pre-screening of the new Harry Potter movie, courtesy of Goldman, Sachs & Co. I love my job! Maddie and Ben liked the movie, and they each got a cool souvenir after the show - a display box that contains four metal clip type bookmarks with the Hogwarts team names and logos on them.

Patriots

A photographer came to Ellie and Sam's daycamp and took this picture - so cute I couldn't resist buying a print.

Miniature Horse Show

We visited a miniature horse show today with some friends. They were so amazing - about the size of a big dog, but perfectly formed little horses.

Phonics

Sammy was eating some Lemon Cookies for breakfast this morning. Or has he calls them - Lemon Cook-Eyes. Ever since he learned to read, he carefully sounds out every word he sees phonetically. Any word that ends in -ie or -ies is pronounced with a long I sound. He's been calling Maddie Mad-Eye for a few months now, and I thought it was just for the sake of annoying her. It turns out he was trying to correct us all on our obviously incorrect pronunciation of her name.

He's already lost most of his baby talk - things like lellow for yellow, so I'll just enjoy this while it lasts.