home

I half circled the big oak tree

and parked the car.

As I reached over 

and grabbed my bag, purse and notebook 

from the passenger seat,

I pushed the driver's door open with my foot

then climbed out. 

I caught a glimpse of Tyler and a couple of kids

down on the hill.

They hadn't heard me drive up.

I walked past the sourpuss on the front porch clipping his toenails

and stepped through the front door.

And I was home.

I hadn't really even missed anybody;

I was barely gone 22 hours, 

after all,

so the feeling caught me by surprise.

Home.

With the people I love so very much.

what I'm listening to today

over and over

and 

over

admission

Okay.

I can admit it.

I'm glad they made me go to the retreat.

The speaker (Bev Bradley) was super

and spending time with Eva was a treat!

I'll share more when I've had some sleep.

7 quick takes real quick

Let's see how quickly I can do this;

it's 2:31.

go

1.

I don't really  have time to post,

but I'm laying girls down and only one is asleep so far.

2.

I'm heading out to a momma retreat in just a few hours

and I still have a ton of stuff to do.

3.

I'm really not excited about going.

I'm not dreading it like I do family reunions, though.

I guess that's good.

4.

Why am I going, then?

Eva and Tyler said it'd be good for me.

I said, "ok".

5.

Josiah and Brandon were in need of pants

so I took them shopping real quick yesterday.

For the first time in years,

Brandon let me buy him 3 pairs of jeans.

Usually he insists 2 is plenty.

6.

Speaking of 2 pairs,

Marcos has been wearing shorts when it's been chilly lately

in an (unsuccessful) attempt to convince us he needs more pants.

He told me he was 'living with only 2 pair'

but I happen to know he has 9 pairs

and am extending no sympathy.

7.

Last week,

we didn't have waffles for breakfast

because of the run,

so I made them for dinner.

Jeremiah asked if I was serious about waffles for dinner.

He thought that was just so weird.

This morning, 

Josiah asked if we could have waffles for breakfast tomorrow

instead of having to wait for dinner.

So I'm going to make them before I go,

and they can just warm them up in the toaster tomorrow.

2:43

Lily joined her sister in sleep,

and I'm gonna go cook those waffles now.

for more quick takes - visit Jen.

orderliness

When I had my weekend away,

I started a list of habits / qualities that we need to work on.

First on the list was obedience

followed immediately by orderliness.

I take full responsibility 

for the lack of both of these qualities

in our home;

When one has to force herself out of bed,

child-training takes a back seat.

At least that was the case in our house.

We operated in survival mode.

Frankly,

I'm tired of merely surviving.

Anyways.

We have worked through the chapter on 'obedience'

in our character training book

and are making some progress in making obedience a habit.

We are continuing to review the verses that we've memorized

and have moved on to 'orderliness'.

We tweaked their definition a bit to define orderliness for us as:

organizing our possessions and time

so that we can use both efficiently.

We've discussed  why this is important

and what it should look like in our home.

But.

To be perfectly frank,

the scriptures used for promoting orderliness suck.

Not the scriptures - the application.

I just don't think you can look at God's instructions for the building and arranging of the tabernacle and say, "See, God wants us to be orderly with our things." Or turn to 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 to read about order in the Church and translate that into 'God wants us to have a tidy house". Maybe I'm just missing it. 

But I don't 'own' it.

So I can't sell it to my kids.

The truth is,

I am more at peace in a tidy house.

I feel better when there are places to 'rest my eyes',

and yes, when my floors look nice ;-)

There is less work to be done,

leaving more time for other pursuits

and acts of service,

when we take good care of our belongings,

and we don't have to hunt for things, 

because they are in their proper place.

And when we don't throw clean (folded!) clothes in the laundry.

And yes, those scriptures do (sorta) show

that one of the characteristics of God is orderliness.

But to extrapolate from that 

that we should pick up our shoes?

I just don't see it.

Feel free to try to change my mind :-)

(really! I'd love to be wrong about this!)

prayers of a child

Lexi loves to pray.

Sometimes, I think it is a power thing,

but really ~ do I dare tell my child she can't pray??

One of the things I love about her prayers,

is that she words her requests as thank-yous.

Instead of, "Please help Mommy be more patient."

she says, "Thank-you that Mommy will be more patient"

"Thank-you that we will be obedient"

"Thank-you that Daddy and Tony will come home safely"...

Today, at church, they showed a video for

Operation Christmas Child.

(Tyler loved the video - I wasn't crazy about it - but that's beside the point)

When Lexi prayed this evening at dinner

(sing-prayed.   thank you oo oo....)

one of the things she said sang was,

"Thank you that we can go to the sto oh ore

to buy presents"

And I'm thinking - wow! I guess that video was pretty good

after all - I mean, she's only 2 and she got it.

Then she added, 

"for us 

for us for us for us"

blond twist to an old game

You know the 'taste test' game?

Where you close your eyes,

someone feeds you something,

and you have to guess what it is?

Lily plays that game.

By herself.

Thankfully, she gets it right every time.

in which I make a fool of myself

again.

There is a house on Kibler,

a little further down the road than us,

that just screams 'perfection'.

Every time we pass it,

I tell Tyler I want to look inside.

I'm just sure we'll find something we should copy!

The house has been for sale for ages,

(and we've assumed no one is living there - there's no sign of life)

but it wouldn't be right to waste a Realtor's time,

just because I wanted to take a peek.

We kept an eye out for an Open House,

but never saw one.

Driving past it today,

I was just sure I saw a Realtor there.

There was a car in the driveway

and a man - with what looked like one of those Realtor folders

in his left hand.

Tyler said, "There's no sign."

"Well," I so smartly replied, "that's because they switched realties;

I bet that guy is the new agent."

He turned the car around.

Sure enough, there was a lockbox on the door.

But he didn't stop....

After running our errand, 

I convinced him that the agent 

(you know - the new listing agent - the one I saw...)

would just be tickled

to let us take a peek at the house,

since he was there anyways, doing the walk-thru.

(I'm thinking now, that perhaps, I hadn't convinced him;

he was simply humoring me." hmm...)

So.

While I bemoaned the fact that we were in the stupid Previa

instead of the much classier Excursion, he pulled in to the circle drive

(not to be confused with the by-the-garage drive, 

where the Realtor was parked.)

 and told me to wave him in

if we got the go-ahead.

I walk up to the door, preparing my spiel, and knocked.

To my surprise,

the Realtor did not answer the door.

A woman did.

The woman who lives in the house.

The woman who got tired of her house not selling 

and took it off the market in February

and is still waiting for the realty to come pick up their lockbox...

I bet she calls them on Monday.

the first 5K

So.

Today was the big day!

I forgot my camera, so I just have a couple of phone photos.

(you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge it)

starting out

 The girls made posters while we waited for the runners.

The first one came through the gate in like 16 minutes!

We went up to the corner

so we could cheer the runners on that last little bit.

 Brandon came in 10th in his age group and 79th overall.

His goal was 30 minutes and he ran it in 29:10

  Daddy followed a couple of minutes behind,

the 104st person to cross the finish line,

 What about Tony, you ask?

Well, Ton' had an ambitious goal of 24 min

and he finished in 23:34
coming in 20 overall

and won a silver medal for his age group!

His friend, Jamie, won a Silver in the 10K in her group, too

 He's got good genes and all

but his leg-warmers probably helped a bit, too...

this was just seconds after he finished.

I'm so proud of my guys!

And all my friends who worked hard and finished well.

And all our little spectators - they were super, too!

Since we parked at the library,
we stopped in there
(forked over the $40 bucks to renew our out-of-city cards!)
and got some books.
I got an assortment of fiction / education for myself.
I'm with Susan,
the exercising is a lot more tolerable with a book.
And maybe,
next year when the Survivors' Challenge rolls around,
I'll be running, too.
It could happen.

7 quick takes

1.

Well.

The 5K is this Saturday.

We're down to only 3 runners.

Since I am not going to be participating,

we decided to not have any of the little ones, either.

2.

I have been using my bike.

Which has a really uncomfortable seat!

Do you call it 'riding' when it's a stationary bike?

3.

I've banned all children shorter than me

from said bike.

Although, if the ones taller than me

don't lower the seat when they're finished,

I may just ban them, too.

Tyler,

I don't have to worry about.

Because of the whole uncomfortable seat thing.

4.

I angry-ate yesterday.

I am not usually an emotional eater,

but a certain someone (who is not family) living in this house

had me awfully riled up.

And I angry-ate.

I'm not sure that flaming hot cheetos is the best food for that.

5.

It got cold!

It's so hard for me to get up when it's cold.

I keep telling Tyler I want to move
to where it's 70 ish degrees year round.
with maybe a few 85 - 90 degree days sprinkled in for swimming....

6.

oh!

I finally found a 'nature table' for the LEM.

I've been keeping my eye out for one since January

and actively looking regularly

since April.

I almost feel a little lost.

I have yet to decide what color to paint it.

If it weren't laminate

(on top of solid wood - no less)

I might actually leave it un-painted,

stain just seems more appropriate for a nature table.

But it is laminate - and ugly laminate at that, so it needs paint.

7.

I need a little help.

It's almost embarrassing.

I tossed around the idea of getting  a french press

for a couple of years;

supposedly, they make the best coffee.

And I really sorta wanted to be drinking the best coffee...

Plus, I sorta think that, maybe,

if the coffee was amazing, I might could drink it black??

As you can see, I am now the owner of a gorgeous french press

(thanks, T and Ton'!!) 

but the problem is - so far,

all I've done with it 

is waste coffee beans.

As in

dump the 'coffee' down the drain

'cause there is no sense drinking it.

Best coffee, my eye!

I really want to love my press

and - more importantly - the coffee it makes.

Currently, though, my press is mocking me.

Any suggestions?

visit Jen for more quick takes

sisters

I love how much these girls love each other.

(and I just choose to ignore how much they also bicker and scream...)

Today,

Lily was playing while I worked and Lexi napped.

She thought she heard Brandon talking to Lex'

and figured she must be awake

so she jumped up and took off running towards the bedroom
shouting, "Sister! I been waiting for you!"

Poor girl - Lexi was still sound asleep.

~

completely unrelated - except it kinda goes with the picture:

I drew a stick person the other day of Lexi with pony tails

and she took one look at it and said, 

"My ears don't look like that!"

squishing it in

Every once in  awhile,

I'll look on Craigslist at exercise equipment.

I haven't walked (for exercise) since Dollar General opened

the Sunday after Brandon's birthday.

My blasted heel is just not healing very quickly

and every time I think it feels okay for me to 'push it' a bit

I seem to overdo.

I came to the un-appealing conclusion

that the best thing to do, would be to get an exercise bike.

That way, I could get my heart-rate up,

without aggravating my heel.

But there's that whole tiny house thing going on.

I came to the even more unappealing conclusion

that the only spot for this seat of torture

would be where my chair sits next to the bed.

Now,

I've been looking to replace that chair for quite awhile;

the cushions are shot.

But I had hoped to replace it 

with something more comfortable. not less.

After overhearing a discussion about me,

I was especially thrilled to find an older, knock-off airdyne

for $75.

Only problem was - it came with 3 other big exercise things, too.

But the guy ended up selling everything separately,

and all he had left when I called on it,

was the bike.

for $20!

SOLD.

And it turned out,

that I didn't have to give up my rocking chair after all;

we managed to fit the beast 

in between the cabinets in the dining room

conveniently right in front of the air conditioner.

And it's got wheels, so we can easily roll it into our bedroom

when guests are coming.

I think I got it just in time - what I'd overheard earlier,

was Josiah whispering to the boys,

"The reason we couldn't buy that house

(we periodically look at houses, 

on the off chance that we'll find something perfect for us,

without having to build it ourselves.... We'd looked at one Sunday.)

is because Mom is too fat

to fit in the storm shelter."

Saturday morning dirt in the sunlight

For perspective, 

I was going to sweep this pile into my dustpan

before taking a picture.

Considering the size of said dustpan,

I didn't really think it'd help... ;-)

It's just crazy how much dirt I sweep up on a daily basis!

The other day,

my vacuum cleaner bag busted

and somehow 

the quart of previously-vacuumed dirt on the carpet

- more so than the remaining 20 lbs of dirt in the bag -

made me realize what an incredible amount of dirt we relocate

regularly.

Something must be done ~ but what??

the stray

We had a visitor yesterday.

When Lex' saw her on the porch, she excitedly squealed,

"We have two puppies!"

Of course, I let the kids feed her.

What was I supposed to do?!

But then Daddy came home....

He says strays don't belong here.

I nodded my head towards Marcos ;-)

When Tyler prayed last night,

Lexi kept telling him to pray for the dogs.

He prayed for Lola and Bernie.

She reminded him - with her fingers and her voice -

that we have three dogs, not two.

He's right.

He's completely right.

We certainly don't need another dog.

Shoot.

I don't even want another dog.

But she is kinda cute.

It's good that somebody in this house can withstand the cuteness.
And the children's pleading.

'Cuz otherwise,

we'd have three dogs.

very last first 'momma'

by Lexi, 2 1/2 

She drew her first person Friday evening, sitting in Aunt Marin's lap

but in all the hubbub, I didn't save it :-(

but then she drew one for me yesterday,

"Momma - it's you!"

so we're good again.

freeze frame

I looked out the kitchen window to see

Lexi

completely naked

holding a gun in her right hand

and Josiah's hand in the other.

Their arms were swinging comfortably as they walked.

I wanted to run grab the camera

but knew they'd be gone before I got back.

Plus the window is filthy....

So I just watched - freezing them in my mind.

They stopped abruptly,

Josiah dropped Lexi's hand and snatched the gun.

He shot the bad guy a few times 

(I presume that's what he was doing - maybe he shot the sheriff...)

handed the gun back, grabbed her hand

and away they went, arms swinging again.

selfish

During my un-well time,

I could feel myself becoming more and more selfish.

Or maybe that selfishness was in me all along

and I just became more aware of it.

Either way, I hated it!

But I couldn't seem to do anything about it.

I was forcing myself to get out of bed in the mornings,

to keep people fed and clothed

somewhat educated and reasonably clean;

I had nothing else to give.

I'd get an e-mail asking me to provide a meal for someone

but all I could do was guiltily click 'delete'.

I'd know Lana could use a break,

(what mom of little ones couldn't?!)

but keeping my grand-babies to help out my daughter

was out of the question.

I needed someone to give me a break.
I was needy. Too needy.

And I hate being needy.

Conversations with other people

(although somewhat rare - wonder why??)

were always about me.
My children drove me bonkers
and I've always been a momma who enjoys her kids.
Let's not even talk about my poor husband.

I couldn't see beyond my own pain and distress

and it disgusted me.

I enjoy helping and being a blessing to others,

but it took everything I had just to survive

And I really didn't even want to do that.

No two ways about it - I was selfish.

me. me. me.

~

Knowing how I love a good fire,

after everyone had gone home Sunday

and the house was straightened

and the kids readied for bed,

Tyler went out and re-arranged the logs

so I could sit out by the fire pit a bit before going to bed.

I was so tired and my feet hurt so stinkin bad

(my heel is still not fully healed, although it is much  better)

I wasn't sure I wanted to walk all the way out there,

but with a perfect fire, how could I not?

I grabbed a piece of leftover Baked Alaska

and went to stare at the fire.

Which, of course, is code for 'sit and think'.

I reflected over the past few days

which were crazy for any sane person. 

Not once did I feel like it was more than I could bear.

(with help, of course!)
I was only near tears once
and that was after I'd fought for an hour with recovering a chair
and had to give up 'cause the chair was winning
and I had no more time to spare messing with it.

I realized that as my hormones are balancing

and I'm feeling better and better,

the nasty selfishness is disappearing.

I'm human ~ I'm sure I'll still be selfish from time to time,

but it is no longer a defining characteristic.

And I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

whirlwind weekend

What I failed to mention in my last post

was that we started tearing into the kitchen at noon,

knowing that my brother, his gal, and TJ

would be walking in the door to spend the weekend

in 6-7 hours.

And I had been helping a friend Thursday evening

and didn't get home til almost 3 am.

And the house was a bit of a wreck when we started on the floor.

And the kids wrecked it further

while we were busy...

Mid -project, I asked, 

"What kind of people put in a new floor

hours before guests will arrive?!"

Brandon said, "Probably the same kind of people

who make clothes right before walking out the door." 

tou·ché

We somehow managed to get the kitchen put back together

and the rest of the house, too, by 6:17!

Friday evening was spent visiting,

making and eating a late dinner of fried rice and eggrolls

and playing Tele-draw 'til almost 2.

At which time

we finally put the kids to bed.

And ourselves....

We were moving a little slow Saturday morning,

if you can imagine.

Tyler and T ran to the grocery store for some meat and potatoes

to add to the waffles for breakfast

since breakfast

 was turning in 

to brunch.

They got sidetracked by a huge yard sale,

and Tyler called 

twice

to tell me that Marin and I needed to sneak out 

and head over.

My girls love Marin.

There was no sneaking out!

We managed to leave anyways

and spent about an hour shopping

but the whole time

I was thinking that I really needed to be cooking waffles.

(It takes a long time to make waffles for a dozen people!)

I got home to find that Tyler had found a waffle iron

at the sale!

Only

it doesn't work for my recipe :-(

And what's worse, 

it took me 2 cycles (8 waffles!) to figure it out.

When the first batch was a bomb, I chalked it up to

forgetting to oil the non non-stick surface.

After brunch

it was time for Tyler and the boys to head out

for a TKD camping trip

(which they'd shopped for Friday evening,

between cleaning up the house and the guests arrival)

Marin and I had to get down to business and get the list made

and the shopping done for the surprise party

we were having for my sister, Terri, on Sunday evening

that Mom and I decided on Wednesday evening 

to throw together .

Oh,

and Terri and James were due to arrive

to spend the night also, in just a few hours

so we couldn't have any party evidence laying around.

This is turning into a book!

I'll skip to Sunday evening

- just know that the hours in between were full....

...with everyone's help

we had a very nice bonfire birthday party

and even pulled off the surprise part

only

instead of shouting "surprise"

to Terri,

we 'surprised' James;

my sister hadn't walked up to the house with him.

We all had a pretty good laugh about that one...

this is the only picture I took all weekend

Gramma called this morning

to say it was the best time she'd had

in as long as she can remember.

Which may not be saying much, but still...

It was a very good - albeit it crazy - weekend

but it was nice to wake up to a rainy slow day

today.

floored

So.

Ya'll know how I feel about decent looking floors.

Up until about just a few hours ago,

I 

did not have

a

decent looking floor

in my kitchen.

This is what I had in my kitchen.

Brace yourself.

you can't tell, but that there hole is about 1/2 inch or more deep in spots.
I'm sure eventually, I'd have broke an ankle in it.

 That spot remained covered with a throw rug

that had to be moved every time we rolled the dishwasher over

and of course, we had to be careful not to get the dw

stuck in the crevice.

In other spots, we've got the stick on tiles

(which I am a fan of - on a flat surface...)

slip-sliding away

 And in places where the floor stayed put,

because of the waviness of the boards

(in addition to the more extreme waviness of the entire floor...)

we have this loveliness

Not good for my psyche. 

I have really struggled with this.

I should be content with crappy floors.

I know this.

And yet,

They make me crazy.

Because my mind can't seem to get through to my eyeballs.

This is what the floor looked like

before we put the tiles on 5+ years ago.

I wanted to be fine with a painted floor ~ really I did.

But, I wasn't.

 In all fairness, most of the floor didn't look that bad;

most of it looked more like this.

Except for, you know, the holes...

So anyways.

before we could fix the unsightliness of the floor,

we had to fix that blasted hole

with something a little more solid that the Great Stuff

we used last time we fixed the hole.

When Tyler and Brandon were looking for a solution

at the hardware store,

they found plaster of paris ~ which I happen to have...

so I mixed up about 2 1/2 cups

and poured it in.

this looks like a geography project

We'll see how it holds up....
After the plaster dried,
Tyler drug the DW and tall cabinet into the dining room
and we got busy

After we had about half of the floor finished,
we had to move all the appliances onto it.
(Brandon & I were so worried we were going to scratch it!)
We found all sorts of long lost goodies back behind
and under
the fridge and stove
(washer and dryer were moved just last year, remember?)
and,
I kid you not,
a half of a brown paper grocery bag
full of nasty trash.
I spared you the picture of that.

 Five hours after we started,

we were looking at this pretty sight.

Ahhh. Much better!!
thanks, Love!!!!

Lexi on a Fall morning

breakfast in the sun

love that girl!!

43 things

To kick off my 43rd year,

43 little-known things about me, in no particular order

1. If I had to choose between a cleared off horizontal surface

and clean floors - I'd pick clean floors every time

2. I rarely have clear surfaces or clean floors

3. I have a really hard time picking a favorite - anything

4. My baby toes don't touch the ground,

so I have funny footprints.

5. I found out that my nose was wide in the 8th grade

when David Fulton (who also happens to have a wide nose!) told me

6. To this day, it's still what I see when I look in the mirror

7. I don't multi-task well

8. I've been known to throw away money while on the phone

9. I like a little something in my chocolate

10. I pretty much always have a burn somewhere on my arms
in some stage of healing.

11. I really love a well-organized cabinet

12. I used to insist towels were folded a particular way

13. Now I'm happy if they're folded at all

14. I use The Works toilet cleaner from Dollar Tree - it works!

15. I don't drink sweet tea

16. If it wasn't such a pain to make the bed, 

I'd wash my sheets every day I could hang them on the line to dry

17. I had my first baby when I was 18

18. and my last when I was 40

19. I became a grandma (Mimi) at 41

20. I talk to animals (which my husband finds endearing)

21. and other drivers (but only the stupid ones)

22. I still read the comics a few times a week

and usually laugh a time or two (Tyler find this adorable, too)

23. I don't do okra

24. but it's okay, 'cause I do eat eggplant

25. I have to turn my socks inside out to clear out all the fuzzies

before I can put them on.

26.I won't let my kids drink hot chocolate 

unless the high for the day is below 50

27. I'm thinking about lowering that to 40;

we went through a lot of hot chocolate last year.

28. I'm a wee bit competitive; mostly with myself, though
(okay - with Tyler, mostly)

29. I love wrapping gifts 'pretty'

30. and once gave my sister-in-law a gift

that she kept for years before opening

31. I don't do chit-chat well

32. I wear the same earring 364 1/2 days a year

33. and call my sister in a panic when I lose one

34. To keep the mismatched socks from getting out of control

I try to match them up every time I have a lone one

(which is pretty much every day...)

35. I'm wishing I was only 35 right about now

36. My first car was a blue Plymouth Horizon, I paid $800 for it

and the gear shift broke when I was driving it home, 

so my first stop was the shop.

37. I really don't get the chevron decorating trend

38. But I shouldn't talk - I used to have a toaster with geese on it

39. and a matching coffee maker 

40. I save my best bite for last

41. but if the baby asks for it, I'll (grudgingly) give it;

anybody older than the baby gets told, "No!"

42. When I was a kid, I'd make 'long fingernails' out of scotch tape

43. I think a good fire is mesmerizing

~

That took a ridiculously long time.

27 minutes to come up with the last two,

if that gives you a clue,

but I was trying to come up with a few things

that even my kids don't know.

For fun ~ how about you tell me in the comments

how many of these things you already knew about me :-)

eta
Tyler informed me, I was actually kicking off my 44th year.
Darn it, he's right!
44. I was 16 when I graduated from high school.

telepictionary

We played the 

funnest game ever

last night!

I'm telling you - we laughed so hard

most everyone had a headache!

I learned it from Susan about a month ago

(and you really should go read her post and see their drawings!)

but here's the gist of it

(copied straight from her blog; pretty sure she won't mind a bit)

just in case you don't want to click over.

1. Cut 8 x 11  inch pieces of paper into 6 index-card size pieces each (split each paper lengthwise in half, and then cut each strip into three pieces).

2. If you have five people playing, each person should start with a stack of five pieces of paper. If you have seven players, each person will have seven papers. (Each person starts with a number of papers equaling the number of players.)

3. When you're ready to start the game, each person should write a sentence or phrase (it can be a famous quote or saying, if you like) that the next person will attempt to draw.

4. When each person has written a saying on the top piece of paper of his stack, he passes his entire stack of papers to the person on his right (or everyone can pass left, just so all papers are being passed the same direction).

5. This person will read the sentence or phrase, move that paper to the bottom of the stack, and, on the top piece of paper, draw his best rendition of  the phrase or sentence he read.

6. When everyone is finished drawing, they pass their entire stack of papers to the right again, and the picture they drew should be on top (no one should look at any of the papers on the bottom of the stack).

7. This person looks at the picture, puts it on the bottom of his stack of papers, and then writes a sentence or phrase describing what he saw.

8. Papers are passed again, and the next person reads the sentence the person before him wrote. Now he will move that sentence or phrase to the bottom of his stack, and on the top (clean) piece of paper, he will attempt to draw a picture depicting those words.

9. Papers are passed again, and the process continues.

10. When the papers have gone all the way around the circle, it's time for everyone to show their stacks, starting with the original sentence and working through to the last picture or sentence. I think it works best if there is an odd number of people because you start with a sentence and end with a sentence, and you can clearly see how it changed during the course of the game.

We did add a time limit of 1 minute for the writing cycles

and 2-3 minutes for the drawing.

so we could keep the game moving along.

This one started with Brandon
(you should be able to click on each picture to view it larger)

went to Lana

who passed it to Luke.

'this little piggy cried, "wee, wee, wee," all the way home.'

Then to Marcos

Tony was next...

'Hansel and Gretel have a pet pig'

 Then Tyler

And I finished the round

 See???  Hilarious!!

This next one was the funniest!

I was feeling like a goober

'cause I was laughing hysterically

when I took the pictures just now.

I'm home alone.....

Tyler started it off
and it went around the table in the opposite direction.

'the pretty girl killed a man'

'She was once a sweet girl, but she became a murderer'

It's probably safe to say

that
at least for a time,
(when little ones can be occupied with something else...)
Apples to Apples
has been
replaced.