prodigal dog

We had a good weekend. We very much enjoyed our annual visit from the Tamisieas. Clare was Harper's first friend, the summer she turned one. Mrs. T was my good friend when I worked at Children's in Dallas, AND we've each managed to have three kids at very similar intervals, which makes for lots of shared experiences. We miss them and wish they didn't live so far away. Helena was asleep and John Paul thinks taking pictures is a major impediment to his well-being. But here are the rest of us:

Yesterday we went to a church to hear Randall Goodgame sing about bears and tractors and bees who don't say please. The kids at my house are very fond of his cd, "Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies," ESPECIALLY a little ditty called, "Tractor, Tractor." We were running a smidge late (because our air conditioner died--more on that later) and we sprinted in just as he was finishing the first verse of "Tractor, Tractor." So, crisis averted. Hudson and Harper thought it was fantastic, even if they sat very still the entire time instead of partaking of the frolic like some of the other kids. They get a little star-struck and overwhelmed. Hudson did a few, very subtle hand motions and clapped a tiny bit, all the while sporting a very stern expression. He does the same thing at the library story time. He got caught up in "Wheels on the Bus" a few weeks ago and actually "beep, beep, beeped," then, when he caught me looking, he jerked back to attention with his hands clasped tightly in his lap. Apparently the crazy dance moves we work on at home are not for public consumption. Incidentally, Randall Goodgame also writes songs for grownups, and there's a song on his "War and Peace" album about the day Charles Schultz died that may have the most well written lyrics I've ever heard.

So, the air conditioner at our house has decided it is tired and needs to rest. Which isn't as dire as it could be because, 1. It has been raining and so the temperature is not as shocking as it might be this time of year, and 2. Because the husband, when he realized that we were going to be sans cool air for at least 24 hours, promptly headed to Lowe's for TWO window units. Which, if you are keeping count, brings our total number of window units to THREE. Which earns us lots of You Know You're a Redneck bonus points. Oh, and I just remembered that just as we were finishing lunch with our friends yesterday, a LIVE ROACH scurried across our kitchen counter, and the husband, in his zeal to get it, knocked it under the table where it came within millimeters of Mrs. T's foot before meeting its death by 70% isopropyl alcohol (which the husband keeps in a large spray bottle for household uses both cleaning and insecticidal). In case you didn't know, nothing says "I hope you and your children enjoyed your freshly prepared sandwich lunch at my home" like a live roach show.

Then today while we waited at home all day for the air conditioning guy, who finally showed up at 4:45 pm, Hudson lost his stuffed puppy, Cooper. We looked everywhere for Cooper and couldn't find him before nap time. I looked in all of the usual hiding places to no avail. When Hudson got up from his nap, I asked him what the last thing he remembered doing with Cooper was. "I frew him UP. In the kitchen!" Can you guess where Cooper came down? Can you? Did you guess in the trash can? Under the coffee grounds and plum pits and the entire overripe, cut in two watermelon I had to throw away at lunch? Yes, then, you are correct. And no, the air conditioner is not fixed. Of course there's a part to replace. And of course the store is already closed. So they'll be back "first thing tomorrow." And to that I say crank up the window unit.