Timing is everything...

So I think January is the longest month EVER. I mean, I know it has 31 days which is the same or more than all other months - but it still feels so long. Christmas feels like ages ago. Our trip to Vegas for our anniversary seems like a distant sleep-filled memory....And surely it should be against the law to have 5 weekends in one month between paychecks...

We head to Atlanta next weekend for a long weekend trip. We are going to see Peter Pan 360 and I am so excited. This is the show Jamey and I saw in London a year and a half ago and when we saw it, we immediately said as soon as we could, we would take our kids. And as an added (BUT SECRET) bonus, Luke is driving down to meet us. They move to CO the next week, so we are thrilled we get to see him once more time before they move.

In other news, I managed to somehow forget to pay the water bill - so guess who had a cutoff notice on her door yesterday? I mean, who does that??? Oh wait - my mom. My mom who handles everything with grace and confidence has actually done it quite a bit. Sorry to out you, mom - but as I said to her yesterday, "I am my mother's daughter." So at 3:40 when I arrive home and have Ansley run up to me asking, "Mommy - what does this special note on our door say?" I proceed to throw the children into the car as quickly as I can and fly (I mean, drive with a rapid, yet legal, speed) to the Water office, which closes at 4. (And why do they close at 4???? can anyone tell me the answer to this?) to pay the bill. And how much can you owe to get your water turned off you ask? Well, I will tell you - aparently I owed $55 for one month and $59 for another month. But is that what I have to pay? Nope - Add those two together with another $55 for a "reconnect" and "processing" fee (Does it take the lady more time to take this payment than one made on time????) for a grand total of over $150 written out in a check as fast as I could in the world's smallest office waiting area packed with people who also are panicked at the idea of spending the night in a house with two children and NO water.

"Are you gonna tell Daddy about this?" Ansley asked while we were standing in line.
"Why, yes I am." I told her. "In fact, I am going to call and tell him right now so that he must go to church before we can discuss this particular incident. Timing is everything, Ansley. Write that down."

PawPaw vs. The Bear!

Stephen, Ansley and I were riding to church this evening when Stephen says, "My pawpaw has a real bear cutter."
"A real what???" Ansley and I ask.
"A bear cutter." Stephen says. "To cut bears. I don't know why he has a bear cutter, but he better be careful, because Pawpaw is pretty old, you know."

A bear cutter??? Where does he get this stuff from?

Upon further investigation, Jamey's grandfather (Pawpaw) was showing Stephen some of his things back before Thanksgiving. Among the treasures shown that day several months ago : a batteyr charge checker (I have no idea what those are called) and a very large buck knife (is that what those big knives are called?) And before anyone worries that Stephen was running laps around his great grandparents house with a giant buck knife between his teeth, he did not actually hold the knife and it went promptly back to its out of reach location.
"Could that thing cut anything?" Stephen asked him.
"Well, I don't know about it cutting anything." Pawpaw replied.
"What about a bear?" Stephen suggested.
"Maybe so." said Stephen''s Pawpaw.
End of conversation.

This day in November apparently made quite an impression on one little boy I know. And I am guessing has had, for the past few months,  visions and dreams of his Pawpaw (who he loves very much) bravely hunting giant grizzly bears in the woods with his "bear cutter" and bringing back the giant bear for MawMaw to cook up for all of the family.

"Pawpaw has a giant bear cutter." Stephen told us. "He really does, you know."

Thoughts from the boy and girl this week...

Jamey prepared a wonderful pork tenderloin on the grill last night - we fixed our plates, sat down to eat, and Stephen says, "What is this?" pointing to the meat.
"It's pork" Jamey replies.
"Pork comes from a PIG!" Ansley adds knowingly.
And then a look of horror comes across Stephen's face. "From a real pig?" he whispers to me with his eyes wide and his forehead scrunched in thought. "Yes, baby. Pork comes from a pig. Remember how chickens give us eggs?"
"'But is the pig dead?" Stephen asks.
"Very dead." Ansley tells him laughing.
"What else comes from a pig, mommy?" he asks.
"Nothing." Jamey quickly said with a look to Ansley that dared her to utter the words "sausage" or "bacon."
She did not say a word.
We let Stephen look at his plate for a minute and then we encouraged him to eat.
"Dip your porkchop in your applesauce and it will not taste like a real pig." Ansley suggests to him.
This apparently satisfies him and he begins to eat his share of the "pig" Perhaps a vegetarian may emerge eventually :)

Ansley was reading her Community Helpers book to us in the car this afternoon. We listened as she read about fireman ('don't be scared of them" she tells Stephen), a policeman ("They don't just take people to jail" she adds) and finally a pastor.
"What is a pastor?" Stephen asks.
"You know, a pastor - like Pastor Chris from church - David's daddy."
"Oh yes" he says. "But what does a pastor do?"
Ansley replies, "A Pastor can be a boy or a girl. He shakes everyone's hand no matter what. And he tells you  God is not mad at you forever."'

God isn't mad at us forever and pork comes from a pig. Big lessons at the Duke house this week. Lessons for everyone - big and small.