Do we have a future Jeopardy winner?

Luke, who is almost 4 (or as he announced today, "two twos is four! I'm going to tell people that I'm almost two twos") is a thinker and a talker. He does his best thinking in the car, and I wish I had a tape recorder to capture all the hilarious brilliance that comes out of his mouth.

Here is a sample from our car ride this afternoon. These questions were asked in rapid succession. As soon as I answered one to his satisfaction, he moved onto the next without even a pause.

"Patrick is a couple."

"Mommy and Daddy have a couple of boys."

"Luke and Patrick have a couple of parents."

"God has lots of Mommies and Daddies."

"When was God...where was God a baby?"

"Is God taller than the Big Chicken?"

"Where is our country?" (He meant flag, the flag wasn't on a flag pole it's usually on)

"Is California way way way way way farther away than a galaxy?"

"Is a galaxy farther away than the bright white star?"

"Why is the dog star Sirius?" (he is learning the difference between serious and Sirius)

"Why does my soul never die?"

"Where is my soul?"

"Why can't I see inside me?"

"If I find lots of money on the ground and give it to Mommy and Daddy, can I fly on an airplane?"

"Why does the brown airplane only have seats for the pilot and the people who work there?"

"Why don't they let people fly on a brown airplane?"

"What does 'house' start with?"

"What does 'Jamaica' start with?"

"What starts with tree? No, not 't', what letter makes 'ch' sound?"

Finally, there was a pause. I looked in the rearview mirror - he was asleep.

A Romp in the Leaves

Luke and Patrick surprised me with a visit first thing this morning (they brought their mommy too). They joined me for a bowl or two of granola, and next thing I knew they were outside on the patio.

Luke felt he needed to sweep all the leaves into a pile. Patrick felt just as urgently that he needed to ride his tricycle right through that pile of newly-swept leaves.In the end, Luke used the big, big backhoe and the "snow shovel" to scoop up the leaf pile and dump load after load into the flower beds. Thank you for all your hard work, Luke!

Daniel's Busy Year

In July Daniel started a new job with PRGX. Don't worry, no one else has heard of them either. They are a profit-discovery firm (in plain English, they look at companies' contracts, see where they're overpaying, and get the money back). Sounds perfect for an accountant, right? Except Daniel is not in the accounting department, he's in HR! They hired him to help with updating a bunch of reporting things while the head of the accounting department makes room for Daniel.

After a month to get settled into his new job, Daniel started an accelerated Masters of Accounting program at KSU to be finished in one year, with classes two or three nights a week. He is thoroughly enjoying being back in an academic setting

The Vacation That Wasn't

The Professor and I were planning and looking forward to a vacation in Florida this week: warm sun, beaches, snorkeling, exploring The Keys, seafood restaurants.

Then a transmission went out, the second one this year. There went the vacation fund! So we planned an alternative vacation, one where we would enjoy the local sights and eateries we hadn't had the chance to get to yet. We began collecting as many Groupon deals, half-off coupons, and "freebies" as we could find, and researching local places of interest. We even put together a vacation binder.

The weekend arrived, and The Professor's two-week-old respiratory virus didn't seem to be improving. Then I got sick with a completely different mystery illness. When we felt better we journeyed out to a couple of quick, local places. And The Professor still sounded bad.

Today, I insisted he see the doctor, who pronounced him sick with pneumonia.

So our vacation has become a stay-at-home hospital with yummy treats of antibiotics. Oh, and Diet Coke - to soothe the fevered brow.