Tending and Training in the Deep Weird

The family is going to be taking an overnight trip in the near future, and we’ve made reservations for a rental van.  We were discussing it at lunch.

Jonathan: What kind of car did you rent?

Dad: A Ford Focus (5 seater…we have 6 people)

Mom: Yup.  It saves a few pennies and we figured Jonathan can ride in the trunk.

*riotous laughter from 5 people*

Andy: OK, really.  What kind of car did you rent?

Dad: I told you!  A Ford Focus!

Andy: But we already have a Ford Focus.

Katie: But this one we can damage.

whaaaaaaaaa??????

I’m not sure if it was the high wind or the cooler couple of days we had earlier in the week, but the pool at the Awesome Y was a bit chilly today.  At one point, Ellie’s chin was chattering like crazy.  We hopped out of the pool and sat in the sun to warm up a bit.

Mom:  You sure got cold, didn’t you?

Ellie: Nope.  I’M not cold, just some of the waters are cold!

Mom: Didn’t the cold water make you cold?

Ellie: Nope.  I’m not cold. (teeth chattering, mind you)

Mom: You’ve got goosebumps all over you, honey.

Ellie: Geese are scary!!!!

This is Andy’s knee.  Andy has had this conglomeration of freckles since he was a baby, and it just keeps growing along with the rest of him.  I used to think it looked like an anchor, but now I’m not so sure.

Think of it as an organic ink blob test…what do you see?

These pictures of famous baseball players are brought to you by my lovely mother in law, who not only took the pictures, but emailed them to me the same night.  It just doesn’t get any better than that. Thanks, Cheryl!

Rogers Hornsby?

George Brett? (watch the pine tar, kid)

Ted Williams?

Great googly moogly!  It’s Greg Maddox!

Look at that form…nice work, Cy.

Baseball season is upon us.  Sean is coaching an 11-12 year old boys’ YMCA team this year, assisted by his Dad.  Jonathan and Andy are both on the team (Andy got bumped up a year for the sake of scheduling sanity and so that Sean could coach both of them) and it is really something special to see 3 generations of Brandt men out on the baseball field together.

I am the official scorekeeper (thanks again, Dad, for that trip to Royals’ Stadium when you taught me that fun and useful skill!), so Katie took over as photographer for the first game.  It was 8 days ago, but I’m just now getting around to posting photos!

Some pre-game shots:

Sean and Hoover giving last-minute instructions.

The equipment coveter.  Katie was YEARNING to be able to play with her brothers.  Sorry, sweetie!

No YMCA sporting event experience is complete without the acquisition of at leat one rock.

“No, Jonathan, you may not attempt to use The Force while batting.”

I think there’s an Andy under all that armour.

Conference at the mound.

Rehydrating.  It was really really stinking hot.  A week ago I would have written “So. Very. Hot.”, but I have been informed by a reader that that sort of thing absolutely Drives. Him. Nuts.

If you happen to know my brother, doesn’t that picture of Andy look like him?  Creepy!

Lefty.  Notice the green bat Andy (and Jonathan) were using? They named it Godzilla.

Right field is secure!

Next post: Last night’s game, documented by another guest photographer!

Mom: Did you have fun playing with Tawni last night?

Ellie: YES!

Mom: What did you do?

Ellie: We played Sequence and ate pizza and played Old Maid.  And I cheated.

Mom: You cheated? How?

Katie: Tawni had the Old Maid and one other card, and Ellie had one card and had to pick.  She grabbed both and then gave Tawni back the Old Maid.

Mom: Oh, Ellie.  You don’t want to cheat.  Cheating’s bad!

Ellie: Yeah, but losing is badder than cheating.

Ellie has authored the latest catch phrase that will be sweeping the Brandt household:

“I’m very happiness and joy that we can start eating!”

“I’m very happiness and joy that the next Planet Earth came in the mail!”

What are YOU very happiness and joy about, babycakes?

Yesterday I was looking through the Veritas catalog to see what I should give to 10 year old Andy for his next “required reading.”  He’d breezed through all the G.A.Henty books relevant to what he’s studying in history, and he’s already read everything listed for his grade for literature, so I needed to find something else. I flipped ahead a few grades and saw Macbeth listed.

Now, our public library has some neat kids versions of several Shakespeare plays, and Andy has really enjoyed those, but it is a big leap to go from those to the unabridged, unaltered Shakespeare.  I thought it would be worth experimenting, though, so I sent the boy away with my 800 lb. edition of the Bard’s works.

Not long afterwards, I walked by Andy, happily nestled on the couch with the book open on his lap. He said, “Mom!  I really like this!  I’m on Act 3 and I didn’t even notice how fast I got here!  Do you think you could assign all these plays to me and I can read them one after the other?”

After I picked myself up off the floor, I assured him that he could read as much Shakespeare as he likes, and I’d be happy to help him make his next few picks.  The kid was serious because he was still licking up the remnants of his smoothie from his cheeks this morning when he asked me which play he should read next.

I suggested Much Ado About Nothing, thinking that he’d enjoy the verbal warfare between Beatrice and Benedick and the ridiculousness of Dogberry.  Sure enough, he’s in the other room as I type, reading aloud and laughing as only Andy can laugh. How cool is that?

Ellie: Jonny, you don’t know everything.

Jonathan: Yes, I do!

Ellie:  Then tell me all the things.

This morning the upper 3 and I went to a local nursery to see about putting some color in the dirt-holders at the front of our house.  I’m glad we went to the nursery because there was a very helpful lady there who gave us some good direction in finding the kinds of flowers that would do well with the limited amount of sun we get in our flower beds.  Each child picked 2 6-packs of flowers, based on the lady’s suggestions.  We consulted together to make selections for Ellie, and she approved once we brought everything home. 

I divided the 2 larger front beds into 4 sections so each child could arrange their flowers how they liked and plant them by themselves.  Ellie had a wee bit of assistance, but she didn’t mind.  I think they’re very proud of their gardens!

Ellie’s layout.

Andy and Katie choosing their layouts

I am so counting this for school.

We decided this was a good opportunity to repot some houseplants that needed attention, too.

Gettin’ dirty for a good cause.

We had some surprise volunteers from last year’s flowers.  These snapdragons are flourishing!

We even managed to get a hybrid!  These were white last year and must have gotten friendly with the next door purple plant.  Hubba hubba.

Jonathan & Ellie’s flowerbed.

Cleaning up. 

Here’s hoping we still have some survivors in a month’s time!