That Pink Balloon.

As Eva was eating dinner tonight, Wyatt went into the kitchen with her balloon and popped it with a steak knife. She had that balloon for about two weeks and it was one of her current treasures. So I told him he couldn't watch tonight's special Redbox presentation of Madagascar 3 with us.

He begged and begged and tried to bargain.  He even tried his usual ploy which is to offer me his ten dollars. That never works. I never take his ten dollars. He should know that by now.

Movie time approached and after more begging, I told him that it was Eva's decision and that the two of them should go discuss it in private.  She followed him to his room and I spied on them.

He asked her gently and she thought about it for five seconds and said to him:

"It's a yes.
ya don't need a balloon to live.
ya need food and water.
and a heart.
but ya don't need a balloon.
so it's a yes."

I was astounded.  They came into the living room. My girl smiled.  My boy beamed.

I told Wyatt he was super lucky to have a sister like her and I told her I was so proud of her for forgiving her brother.

So my little ad hoc plan to put them together and give her the power worked, it was a really great parental moment for me.

It could have backfired if he had tried to bully her but he didn't. He just quietly appealed to her with sympathy and a little remorse and she bypassed any revengy feelings and told him straight up.

Yes my darling Eva, ya need a heart. You got a good one sweet baby.

Appreciating.

Right now these are the things I am most appreciating:

Tony's strength to bear more than I wish he had to

Wyatt cooking breakfast for us. Mmmm mmmm

Getting invited to dance parties

Celebrating birthdays with amazing friends who have dance parties

October sunsets

Pumpkins and fall and cooler days, finally

Eva's singing in the shower.  Eva's singing outside the shower

How it is so easy to make Eva laugh and all of her seven year old sweetnesss

Sarah's supreme thoughtfulness

Bunny. I'm going to write about her soon

Pandora radio, all day every day

Watching Emily play volleyball. She is a freshman who was on JV for 2/3 of the season and has now been pulled up to varsity. I am so proud of her, she works so hard. Watching her play is definitely the highlight of my week. So much fun.

Tomatoes from my garden!  And not having to buy the ones that aren't tasty for five whole months!

The best friends anyone can hope for, Happy 40th to Nena and Victor!

Lazy Gardeners.

 

We just harvested these tomatoes two days ago.  It felt like 20 pounds.  They are the best tasting tomatoes you could ever find.  There are still a lot of green ones on the vine but our 90 degree weather just ended abruptly yesterday so I don't know if we will harvest another bowlful like this.one. This year we had enormous quantities of zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes.  I feel so lazy about it because there is no effort involved, these things just grow without any help from me.  They have automatic drip sprinklers and it's way too easy.  We also planted corn, which is a waste of space because you make such a giant plant and get so little in return.  The worms got more than we did.  I almost forgot about the carrots, which turned out to be a blessing for our rabbit, Bunny.  The carrots themselves are so small and tasteless that we don't use them but Bunny has been loving  her carrot tops every day since she arrived, and there is still a good supply in the ground.

Tony built a beauty of a shed out there this summer. It is so tall! Whenever we look at it we say, "it is so tall!" My husband is such a go-getter. It took him a month of Sunday's but he got the job done. So the garden looks grubby but the tomatoes don't care. The small planter in front is strawberries. We don't really know what is going to happen to them over the winter but they sure look healthy now. We didn't compost this year, not sure what happened with that. Lazy gardeners we are. Oh but the tomatoes!