Gotta love Mythbusters!

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Tidbits from Calla:

While we were at the mall's play area (right beside the skating rink).

1. "It's a Zampony!!" (yes, the Zamboni was out smoothing the rink)
2. "I wanna talk to boys." (I had hoped I'd still have a few years before worrying about that...)

The play area was much better this week than it had been over the summer - with kids back in school, everyone there was the appropriate age (not overcrowded with running climbing screaming 10-year-olds) and it wasn't jam-packed.

Off to Pre-K!

7 Quick Takes Friday - part trois

Okay, so it is a day late...

1. Some folks' kids sing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" (or Eensy-Weensy, if you prefer) and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the such like. And while mine do as well, that's not what they were singing yesterday as we were school shopping yesterday - instead, they were merrily riding through Target singing "We Will Rock You". Thanks to those folks who create music videos of Thomas the Tank Engine to non-kid type songs...

2. Speaking of school shopping, I thought I had the correct supply list for Pre-K, which was very short - and I had only managed to get the Kleenex by the time Meet the Teacher night came on Thursday. Glad I only grabbed those, because I then found out that Patrick's Pre-K class had a DIFFERENT supply list (due to different needs in that classroom) - that was somewhere around 4 times as long. At least the Kleenex was also on it, so I hadn't wasted effort - but instead of the supplies running right around what would probably have been $15 or so, it was around $50. Oy.

3. Patrick LOVED Meet the Teacher night. I think he's REALLY going to like Pre-K -- he kept saying how much he liked "Play School" (I think he picked up the term from Caillou?), so hopefully, this will be an enjoyable year for him, as well as one that will finally finish getting him caught up on speech. I do think he'll thrive there - he's such a friendly and social little guy, and the instructors & aides really seemed like they belonged there, yaknow? Good vibes or whatever you wanna call it.

4. Car club event today, thankfully really local - nice change as compared to driving out 30 or 45 mins. Having lunch at the event, which, since it was local, meant that my mother-in-law was making two briskets - which meant that one was in her oven all night, and one was in mine. Nothing like smelling brisket all.night.long. Talk about waking up HUNGRY. Yeesh.

5. Twilight of Dragons is back on Facebook. I'm happy. You have to start all over again at 1st level. I'm very sad. :(

6. One of Calla's dolls has been sitting on my desk for nearly a month, in need of repair. It was a garage sale find, and she really has been pretty careful with it (the head is breakable), but this time the back of the doll's head is in pretty bad shape. :/ If I am able to repair it, the head will be almost as much superglue as whatever-it-is-made-of. I hope I can, but I'm really not sure. I'll definitely need more superglue first. It has a cute hand-crocheted gown, too. Looked great in the little cradle.

7. Still need to get the tree cut up and hauled away. Not sure how or when that'll happen. Hopefully, though, we'll finally be able to really get the back-backyard cleared at the same time; it'll give the kiddos at least three times as much room to run around. Can't wait for fall temps so they'll be able to play outside longer!

The Tree

Once upon a time, there was a tall tree in our backyard.



Really tall. Just over 60 feet.

There was an itty-bitty problem - the tree was rather unwell, as evidenced by two branches that fell off the tree. Not small branches, either (nothing about this tree was small), and not during a storm. Nor even a wind. Just fell. One of them took out Calla's play-tent-castle-thinger:



Obviously, this made playing in the backyard a little on the risky side, so at that point, the kiddos were banned from the back. But this meant no playing on their swingset, nor with the new sandbox. Something had to be done, and that something was the tree coming down. Now, in the ideal world, where money falls from the sky like the tree branches, we'd have hired someone to do this. Alas, branches fall, but money does not, and this would have to be a DIY project, which was started before the kiddos and I returned from a trip up to see my folks, but completed the day after we returned.

The crew (the hubby and his father) had already cut into the tree quite a bit. They were hoping to pry it loose. You've heard of Wedgewood, right...?



Well, the chisel is pretty buried in there. Maybe something longer?



Nope. Even had the hubby swinging from the bar, and it still didn't budge the tree. At this point, the tree was held up by a central portion of the trunk the size of two 2x12s. The rest of the trunk had been cut through. Now they wondered what to do...



They had the tree tied off so that it didn't fall toward the house (remember, this was day 2, so they were trying to make sure it didn't drop on the house overnight. I think they were actually surprised to see it still up on day 2, as it had definitely been creaking and popping). It was the rope and pulley that finally did the job - they moved the rope to the back of the backyard, tightened it, pulled, tightened, pulled, and...




The remaining stump is still 7 feet tall. Current plans are to level off the top of the stump and build a platform treehouse, since we do know the stump is solid. Either way, though, the kiddos have been able to play outside again, and they are HAPPY. Mission accomplished!

Enter to win...

Melissa at The Inspired Room is hosting a giveaway - leave a comment on her post to have a chance to win an antique grain sack. Normally, this wouldn't have caught my interest as much b/c it just doesn't quite fit our house; but it's printed in German, and I just can't resist that German-farmer-type link (mom's family). I'm sure I could find someone at church who could help me pillow-i-fy it. :)