Depressed

I lost it with Jake tonight. He just doesn't get it, no matter what we say. I don't know what else to do.

Had to walk all the way around the block tonite just to cool off, so I wouldn't take it out physically on him. Damn cold outside too. And its a big block.

How can he be such a great kid sometimes, and so bloody impossible others?

Floating Eggs

You would think Easter would be a time for eating eggs, but Charlotte had more fun flying them instead. Not exactly flying, more like throwing and then watching as they float down slowly on their attached parachutes. And then chasing to see if you can catch them before they hit the ground. Never-ending fun, as you can keep throwing indefinitely. Until you get cold of course and run back inside.

Of course later she had fun eating them too (after the obligatory easter egg hunt).

The Herd

Charlotte gave a scream of delight as she opened her eBay purchase, 7 Schleich horses, a rider, blanket, 2 saddles, and a bridle.




She added them to the rest of her family, including the real and makeshift stables.



I think we might have enough horses now :p

Elevator

"Baaaa!"

Bad, bad, bad

Some days words are not enough to express it. Take a look at this:



And that's just the top layer. There is lots underneath. This is all the food that we found while looking through Jake and Charlotte's rooms today looking for her wallet that she can't find. Instead we find they have been stealing food and taking it upstairs to their rooms, smug and self-satisfied that mum and dad didn't know what they were doing.

Grounded for two weeks, no after school clubs, early bed-time. But its not enough. How do we get them to understand this is a bad idea...

Udderly Irresistable

Charlotte tonight told me a bed-time story, since I couldn't think of one to tell her. She made it up as she went along, which was surprising, as the whole thing fitted together quite well. Its quite short, and it went something like this:

There were once four animals, a horse, a dolphin, a rabbit and a cow. Each represented a different aspect of life.

The horse, majestic and free, represented the soul, proud and strong.
The dolphin, quick and playful, represented the mind, intelligent and creative.
The rabbit, cute and cuddly, represented the heart, emotional and compassionate.
The cow, slow but content, represented the stomach, empty, full, and everything in between.

One day the horse, the dolphin, the rabbit and the cow came together for a party. Everyone brought something to eat, that they might all share with each other.

The horse brought cookies, the epitome of soul food.
The dolphin brought bananas, food to enrich everyone's brain.
The rabbit brought candy, little valentine sweets to make everyone smile.

The cow didn't quite understand the whole concept of party food, being, as we said, a little on the slow side, but nevertheless brought something that seemed appropriate, at least to her. Although the others were not exactly impressed with her choice.

"Can you guess what it is dad?", asked Charlotte, stalling a while so she could make up the ending in her mind. "No Charlotte, I can't."

'C'mon, guess, please?"
          "Um, was it grass?"
"No."
          "I don't know, tell me Charlotte."

Charlotte thought for a moment more, and finished the story with one quick statement, that sort of summed the whole thing up in a nutshell.

The bright bovine brought a cowpie.

Tasty Bovine Treat

Sitting at lunch today, most of the whole crowd, Albert, Bright, Sruthi, Manju, Nabil and I, discussing the usual motley collection of random topics.

We get onto soup, which seems to be a popular one. In this case the unspiciness of my "spicy crab chowder". The usual americanized cafeteria food. I wonder why we don't go out more often?

Someone, I think it was Bright, puts the weirdest image in our heads. Cow soup. He doesn't mean soup that has beef in it. He means grabbing hold of the teats of a cow, and exercising them in a "milking" motion, only, instead of milk coming out, you get delicious, spicy soup. Putting your mouth under them and the soup squirting straight into it. Tasty. Scrumptious. Bizarre.

Not as bizarre as the egg soup that is suggested next. That's right. Nothing Chinese about it. Crack open a nice fresh egg, and out comes, you guessed it, delectable soup.