The Funny Papers

When I was little, I used to go to my grandparents' house all the time.  We'd play all day with Grandma, go for drives with them, sit on the "hump" in the car, and play in the woods with some kid dishes Grandma had.  We had so much fun growing up close to Grandma and Grandpa.  They lived 1/4-1/2 mile away from us, and since my dad farmed with Grandpa Dean, we were always over there.  It was so fun having them so close.

My grandpa was a great guy who was always laughing.  He always had funny sayings to go with what he was talking about, and he was always ready with his camera or the video camera - he didn't want to miss a thing.  Anytime we left their house, he'd say to us, "See you in the funny papers."

I also remember going for drives with him and Grandma all over the county - especially the county museum, where they were very involved.  He'd always sing to us when we drove somewhere.  Recently, I've started singing two of them to my kids.  They are:

I see the moon,
the moon sees me,
down through the leaves of the old oak tree.
Please let the light that shines on me,
shine on the ones I love.

and

You are my sunshine,
my only sunshine.
You make me happy,
when skies are gray.
You'll never know, dear,
how much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.

(Grandma is really happy to hear that I'm singing these songs to my kids......she seems to think it'll make my kids turn into more musical people if they're sung to more often.....after all, she sung to her kids.......and they're great singers.....haha. just kidding.  She's funny, though.)

I think it's time to start "funny papers" for my own kids. 

Last Saturday, we went to the Eagle's in Hallock for a spaghetti benefit supper.  The place was packed, wall to wall.  Hundreds of people came that night to visit, eat, and support the man the benefit was held for.  My kids were starving, as usual.  We quickly got them their plate of spaghetti and garlic toast, and they gobbled it all up.  Then, I got them each a bar to eat for dessert. 

They love bars. 

I think they get it from me.

By the time we were ready to  go home, each child had eaten three or four bars.  And, they ran around the crowded place multiple times.  I was running into people trying to keep up with them, afraid they'd maybe sneak through the door and get outside, or get lost (although it'd be hard).  I'd be trying to have a conversation with someone, and one of them would take off.  It's really hard to have conversations these days without that happening.  Anyway, two hours after we'd come for supper, the kids were pretty tired, and we decided to head home.

Nikki called me yesterday to tell me a couple stories about my kids from Saturday night. 

She said after we'd left to go home, two men who'd been sitting across the aisle from us came over to her and Mom and said they'd been watching the kids running around all night.  They'd seen Clarence one time (when Matt and I were off visiting someone) by himself, walk over to the bar (dessert) table, and stand there looking at his hundreds of options.  He stared for a couple minutes, then turned around and kept walking away.  A minute l ater, he came back.  He stared longingly at the bars again.  Then, out of nowhere, he turned around, grabbed Rick Clow's (a very random person) bar off his plate, took a bite, and set it back down.  Rick Clow didn't know this was happening, either. 

I wonder if it was a delicious bar and there weren't any left? 

Or was it just so tempting? 

Or do we teach him to eat off other peoples' plates? 

Just kidding.

Seriously, though, who knows what was going through his mind.  I nearly peed my pants, though, while she was telling me all about Clarence and the bar he took a bite from.

Do you think Rick Clow noticed? 

Adina sat by Nikki and Mom a lot of the night.  She loved sitting smiling at them, saying "hi", and eating bars.  She loves bars.  She's a lot like me.  She was sitting at the table eating a yummy brownie and thoroughly enjoying it.  My Uncle Jeff came up behind her (she didn't know it, though), put his arm around her head and held a carrot bar in front of her face.

Adina leaned forward and took a huge bite of the frosting.

Then she started eating her brownie again.

She never once turned around and looked at Uncle Jeff.  She didn't try to take another bite of the carrot bar.  She just ate that delicious bite of frosting and went back to her chocolatey brownie.  Good one, Adina!


See you in the funny papers!