But this effort was all for a jumping pile which I had told Marike and Wills they could create; hence, they went to the highways and the byways to gather leaves. Marike even ventured behind the pool deck (a place they typically avoid, possibly because it's narrow and scratchy and damp and seems like a good hideaway for mysterious critters), and I heard her muffled shout of glee: "They-o tons back he-o!"
Wills, meanwhile, isn't one to content himself with timeworn methods of getting a job done. I glanced out the back window and saw that he was painstakingly tying these bushels to the back of a tricycle. He was just trying to pedal off on this contraption when I ran out with my camera and suggested the addition of a blue crazy carpet. (You know, so that he could actually MOVE. :))
"Will-Ee!" She chopped his name into two bite-sized pieces. "You could have just CARRIED these over, faster than you could..... THINK!"
I suspect that behind every great invention there is a woman standing with arms akimbo, pronouncing the whole endeavor ridiculous.
"Just watch, Marike!" Wills puffed, pedalling with all his might over the bumpy lawn. He stopped beside their leaf pile.
He tried to lift one of the bushels to dump the leaves, then remembered they were tied together, to the sled, and to the bike. With his best knots.
"Uh..." He thought fast, trying to appeal nonchalant. "See? You just take the leaves out and throw them on the pile!" ...And he proceeded to lift one small handful from his bushel train and threw it on to their leaf pile. :)
I think some of the other great inventors of history didn't produce such great stuff on their first try, either.
In other news, it's birthday month here, with four of our kids celebrating birthdays in November.
We were going to have a few boys over to help us celebrate Jim's and Willie's birthday, and ended up having the whole W. family from church.
Joseph also made a poster for the Remembrance Day contest.
We love, love, LOVE having our Baby Bear around. He is sunshine on a dreary day.
His babbling about Dadda just about kills us with its cuteness. Try as we might (and we do try :)), none of us can quite mimic his adorable little voice.
6 Kids Catering reopened in honour of a visit from Opa and Oma. It was not quite up to its usual high quality, what with me doing the cooking (with, inevitably, lots of help from Oma), the kids being a little too busy with school and paper routes to prepare well, and Isaiah's clamouring (which overwhelmed the Handel's Messiah serenely playing in the background, as well as any attempts at civilized conversation). :z
