a storybook made me laugh.

A few weeks ago I wrote an article for Quirkee about the various toys around the house and the songs and sounds they play. Last year Nana and Papa gave Coan a LeapPad storybook. It's a great interactive book made by LeapFrog with music, words, and sounds that play when you touch different parts of the story pages. It has three different levels of play depending on how old the child is. This book disappeared for a while (not on purpose, though!) until yesterday when we cleaned out the toy closet and came across it again. Last night we were playing with it and I put it on the 3 year-old level for Coan. I don't remember hearing this part before but it made us laugh! Coan had to hear it again and again...

I was short on time...

so I'm skipping the weekly Quirkee Thursday's photo. Here is a portion of my article from today's edition...

"Thank goodness somebody is looking out for our children. An elementary school in Attleboro, Massachusetts, made national news last week when they banned tag, touch football, and other chase games from the playground. They don’t want little Johnny getting hurt and his parents suing the school."

I know you are intrigued and can't wait to read the rest. Click on the Quirkee logo below and you won't have to wait any longer...

we went to the pumpkin patch...

with Coan's class from school.

He got a free little pumpkin from the patch in the photo above, then we moved on to the BIG ones!

Even Julia got in on the action!

Then they stopped and smiled for a photo...

We went home with the "biggest pumpkin I ever saw", said Coan.

you guessed it!

It's Quirkee Thursday! The one day during your whole long and boring week when you can sit back in your desk chair, put on some tunes, and accidentally burn yourself with your coffee because you laughed so hard at today's edition of

“Here you go sweetie. Can she eat this?” she asked me.

This was before she started eating solid foods and in the back of my mind I heard my wife saying to me, “No, James. She’s too young to have all that sugar.”

So I replied, “Well, she hasn’t had a cookie yet because she’s only 6 months old and only has a couple of teeth. I’m not sure if she can chew it up.”

“Oh, okay.” said the nice lady in a disappointing tone. “Well you can eat it then.”

“You bet I can!” I said. “Thank you!”



You will just have to click here to read the rest of the story. But before you do that, I want to leave you with the weekly quirky photo. During last Saturday's stomping of the Baylor Bears by our Texas Longhorns, I had to pause the TV and get my camera. I'll bet Coach Brown was wishing he wasn't standing downwind from the guy in the gray slacks...

"Did he just fart again?"

That is one big dude.

while we were at Lowe's...

buying the new vent to replace the one torn up by a possum, we got new swings for the tree outside. The fiberglass ropes were starting to shed on the old one. Coan was getting too big for it anyway so we got him a new big kid swing and Julia a new custom cruiser car swing. As you can tell, she's really not that excited about it...

We made a trip to the corner Ace Hardware to get hooks for Coan's swing because it did not come with any. While we were there checking out other stuff like chainsaws, weed eaters, sprinklers, and bicycle horns, we came across a mini LED camouflage flashlight on sale. It even came with a carrying case! He loved it so much that he took it to bed that night...

a possum called our attic home.

Have you ever had a possum in your attic? They kind of creep you out when they walk across the ceiling with their claws scratching and digging in the insulation. Not a good roommate to have. Since they are nocturnal animals, this scratching and digging ocurred above the bed at around 4:00-5:30 am. The little creature got into the attic by ripping open a vent in the eave of the roof. Here is what the new vent looks like...

This is what the old vent looked like after a crazy possum wanted to make a nest in our attic insulation...

We have not heard the possum milling around in our attic since the first two nights last week. Our neighbor, Mr. Scott, said he was probably just using it as a hotel and moved on. The lack of new possum poop on the roof suggests that he is right. Nevertheless, he let us borrow his trap that he used to catch one in his garage earlier this year. It is a non-lethal trap, but I decided to use it anyway. I was hoping to climb up on the roof one morning and find a half dead possum gasping for air in a large mousetrap type mechanism, but I guess the humane way to rid your house of unwanted visitors is the way to go. Besides, Coan likes to look on the roof, too, and see if we caught that little sucker. I would hate to scar him for life by showing him a half dead, puffy headed, bug eyed varmint before breakfast.

After a week of having the trap on the roof by the vent opening, no possum was ever caught. Apparently he didn't care much for cat food or peanut butter sandwiches and never walked into the trap. Maybe he saw one of his brothers get nabbed in one and knew better. Since we did not hear him anymore I decided to take down the trap and replace the vent. I only used a couple of nails on it in case he was still in the attic and wanted to get out. I didn't want the smell of dead possum coming from my roof in the event that I happened to trap him in the attic.

Yesterday I went out to get the paper from the yard and the vent was still intact. Today when I went to get the paper it was pulled (or pushed?) open a little bit. I'm not sure if he was still in there and got out, tried to get back in and gave up, or if Crunchy the Squirrel and his buddy squirrel that he plays chase with were stashing acorns in our attic. I guess you will just have to stay tuned to find out...

I missed the Quirkee Thursday post!

I'm a day late with this one. Most of you probably know the routine by now and when Thursday rolls around you automatically go to Quirkee.com to read the new articles. Here's a teaser of what I wrote...

"So, Terrell Owens is preaching the word of sharing in a children’s book. That is just as crazy as if Paris Hilton wrote a book titled How To Grill The Perfect Meal. I don’t think she even knows what a meal is, much less a grill! She might know how to use a microwave, but do you really need to nuke your crackers and TrimSpa? ... "

This quirky fella says, "Click here to read the whole enchilada!"

there was a quote to share.

Coan was running and sliding across the floor, pushing his talking dump truck that screams "Let's get another load!" I finally turned to him and said, "Stop! You're driving me crazy!" He paused for a second, looked at me and said...

"That's because I'm a craaazy driver!"

Good one, my boy.

my calendar said...

it was Thursday again! Yipeeeee!

“Hello lion in the African sun. Tickling your mane is really fun!”

Cute, huh? That’s one of the songs I hear daily coming from the many toys around the house. This particular line is from a Leap Frog soft rolling animal block that sings a different line on each side. Sometimes I think I’m going to go toy nutty and take the batteries out of everything in the house. That would be pretty mean, though, as the kids really enjoy this stuff. Instead of unplugging and silencing their little world from these songs and sounds, I’ve decided to make up my own words to keep me sane.

“Hello lion in the African sun. When my baby outgrows you, I’m going to smash you with a hammer!”

Read the rest of the article here at Quirkee.com!

Here is another quirky photo for your Quirkee Thursday! This silver cowboy was at The Old Pecan Street Festival in downtown Austin last weekend handing out beads for donations. Strange fellow.

He was conveniently standing by the ATM in case you ran out of money by following this girl around for too long...

an email came my way...

from Aaron Bundschuh, a best friend of mine since high school. Some of my family and friends reading this know Aaron. He is running in the LIVESTRONG Challenge here in Austin. We are helping Aaron by making a donation and supporting his challenge. A few of our own family members have died of cancer, or currently have cancer and are fighting every day to keep it under control to stay alive. Here is Aaron's email...


Greetings,

Last month I got a wake-up call that couldn’t be ignored. My cousin, Cody Gonya, had his life turned upside-down when he was diagnosed with cancer. Cody has just begun an aggressive chemotherapy program and is in the fight of his life. And he's only 16.

It’s such a helpless feeling, watching a member of your family battle this disease, especially when you are separated by such a distance as we are. So, I decided to take action. I will be participating in the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Austin this October, running a 5K and raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. While I am only required to raise $50, my personal goal is $2,000.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation was founded to provide practical information and tools for people living with cancer. Their mission is to inspire and empower people affected by cancer through advocacy, public health and research programs.

I’m doing this because one in three people will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. I’m doing this for my cousin, who has become one of those three. I’m doing this because I’m grateful to have two healthy children and I don’t want to take that for granted. Mostly, though, I’m doing this because I can.

Please support me by making a donation to this worthy cause. You can donate online at my Livestrong Challenge page. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated. Please forward this to all of your friends and family members.

Thank you for your friendship and support.

With love,
Aaron


If you are interested in donating to help Aaron reach his personal goal of $2,000, please click on this link: Aaron Bundschuh's Livestrong Challenge page. THERE IS NO MINIMUM DONATION AMOUNT SO EVEN $5.00 WILL HELP! You can pay with a debit or credit card at the site or print out a form to mail a payment.

Below is more info about what the LAF does.

From the Lance Armstrong Foundation LIVESTRONG Challenge website...

"The LIVESTRONG Challenge is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s (LAF) signature fundraising event. This annual series of events takes place in cities across the country, enabling anyone to support the LAF’s mission to inspire and empower people affected by cancer.

What We Do:

Advocacy: We are unifying people affected by cancer to make survivorship a health priority.

We’re your champion on Capitol Hill.
We’re your supporter with the healthcare system.
We’re your sponsor in the research labs.

Public Health: We are creating a network of resources for cancer survivors, their family and friends and healthcare providers.

We help you deal with long-term physical and psychological challenges.
We provide the resources you need to get on with your life.

Research: We recognize that research plays a vital role in eliminating suffering caused by cancer.

We connect survivors to clinical trials that may ultimately lead to new therapies and treatments.
We fund innovative research that may not qualify for traditional funding."

Go to http://www.livestrongchallenge.org for even more information.

Thank you for reading this and good luck Aaron!