File this under "Yep. He's a Tando"...

Ben is one of those kids that usually wakes up from afternoon naps in tears and cranky, often the result of nightmares. Recently he woke up and was crying again and started with, "I want my mommy." So I went to him to see if I could perk him up. This was our conversation:

Me: What is it, sweetie? Did you have a bad dream again?

Ben: Yes.

Me: What did you dream about?

Ben: I dreamed we went to McDonald's.

Me:  Okaaayyy.... What happened at McDonald's?

Ben: I dreamed that you and Poppa were cheeseburgers, Beth and me were chicken nuggets and Caleb and Jacob were french fries.

Me: And what happened?

Ben: Somebody came and ate us!!! (waaaahhhh!!)

Oh yeah, definitely R's side of the family.

In other news, Beth has lost her first tooth (and the one next to it, about two weeks later). I'd have blogged about it but she lost it around the same time as baby Gabriel was born, so...y'know. She was pretty freaked about actually getting it out but was thrilled afterwards. She actually had it quadruple-bagged and was carrying it around with her everywhere.

R and I had a funny conversation with Beth the other day, too. We were talking about going grey and about how R's blends in to his hair color but mine just pops right out b/c they're silver. Beth showed up behind R, so he turned to her and said, "Beth, does Mommy have any grey hair?" and she said, "No. But she does have lots of shiny ones." Kids. Gotta love 'em. She's also been going to my mom's for sewing lessons. She's working on Christmas presents for her girl cousins. She also made on of the aforementioned bags (it came out really cute).

Jake came up to me yesterday with a look of consternation on his face. He pointed to the calendar and said, "Why did you write "Fall Back" on the calendar??? It's already fall."

I've been going over to my mom's as usual on some Fridays. I've been visiting with my brother a bit more than usual. He's been out of work for a couple of months now (although he's getting higher up on the list of people getting called in for work), so he's not going out with his friends much. He still has Netflix, though, and has been inviting me over to watch movies with him once a month. He tried to get me to watch 1408. I gave it my best shot but couldn't make it past about 20 minutes into the film. I don't think I'll ever think of The Carpenters the same way...We watched something different that I enjoyed so much I'm considering giving it as a gift this Christmas to one of you guys. He also got me to watch Taken a couple of weeks ago. Whoa. Intense movie with nonstop action. In the meantime, I've been reading through my favorite books in anticipation of a final book in a series that comes out next month. I introduced my brother to the first book and have ended up reading them faster than I'd like b/c he's waiting to read it himself (and he has a lot more free time than I do). Anyway, I bought copies of 100 Cupboards and Dandelion Fire last month. I want to read them to the kids but there are too many creepy parts. Nate Wilson just has a way with language. He tells a lot about a character w/ a minimum of verbiage.

Well, I'll run. I didn't get normal errands done this week due to a confluence of circumstances. Which means I gotta make lunch and go to WalMart.

Well, my little girl is growing up! She was invited to her friend Olivia's 6th birthday party for today and that was changed to a sleepover/birthday yesterday evening. I called R and checked with him and he said it was okay. I know the mom and trust her. So, trying to keep my emotions in check, I drove her down to her friend's house with her clothing and gift and dropped her off.

K said she didn't have any trouble getting Beth down for the night. Beth told me when she got home that she "missted" me at bedtime but she "didn't want to miss the movie." Well, don't I feel special. In the morning they went to Cafe du Monde for beignets and then down to the Children's Museum. I haven't been to the CM since I was about 13. K called me when Beth was inside a giant bubble to give me an update for the day. After the museum they went McD's for a Happy Meal lunch (where Beth got two horse Beanie Babies - score!). After that they went to some fancy shmancy place Uptown that sold gourmet cupcakes. Those were about $1.50 each and K thought they'd make super girly individual cakes and would be a special treat since it was only a few girls. Well, the shop also sold gelato, which all the girls said they preferred. K didn't think to look at how much the gelato cost. So the shop girl says, "That will be $33.50" thereby making K's eyes pop out. After the gelato they went to the City Park Stables and each girl had a brief pony ride on Ginger:

Once they were done that they went back to K's house to relax until Wednesday Night Dinner at church. Beth had dinner with her friends (we stayed home and had pizza), went to catechism class (at which point she was definitely getting tired and homesick) and came home.

Wow!

We really missed her. She is sitting in my lap getting all her cuddle time in before bed. Zeke is a bit miffed that she's in his spot but, oh well.

Next weekend: Rock-n-Bowl

My dad finally called me last night around 9:00. He had just gotten home from the hospital. The procedure went fine. He has to take it easy for the next few days (no lifting heavy weights or exerting himself). He will have a follow-up appointment soon. He doesn't know exactly what they ended up doing, except that it wasn't full-blown heart surgery. I guess he'll find out at the follow-up. He'll probably also be put on medication to keep this from happening again (or slowing it). So other than being a bit sore he's doing well. Thanks for the prayer on his behalf. I am certainly much relieved. I was getting antsy by the time he finally called.

Oh, and his kidneys are fine. He saw a urologist last week who said that he had a mild kidney infection. After taking antibiotics the cardiology people said he was good to go (although I think they're kind of stupid for missing something that obvious). So he didn't have to go in Tuesday and flush them. So at least there are no mysteries there.