I don't suppose anyone actually reads this, but Ned made it through surgery fine and is home and feeling better.
A few quick stories:
Sammy loves the Magic Tree House stories where Jack and Annie travel to different places and times in a magic tree house. Charlotte wants to be just like Sammy and asked us to read one. This one was about dinosaurs. The main characters meet a pteranadon, and Annie decides to call it Henry. Charlie announces, "I think the dinosaur's name is Pteranadon, not Henry."

Peter was talking to Sammy the other day and was talking to her about what the word biology meant. He told her that Dad was a biology professor. She was surprised and said she didn't know he was a professor. Peter asked her what she thought he did, and she responded, "I just thought he was really smart!" :)

Sammy gets to be in the Festival of the Horse parade this Friday! Her girl scout troop will be walking in it. We'll take pics!

Charlotte has recently become enamored with our little scarecrow "Skippy". She will go out on the porch and talk to "her" (because it has long hair) for 5 or 10 minutes. The other night she brought it in, gave it a bath, put it to bed and walked around the house telling us all to be very quiet. Then when it was time for dinner, she insisted on washing Skippy's hands too. (We insisted this be done in the play kitchen, not the bathroom sink). Skippy spent dinner at her feet. (Under the table). The whole thing was adorable.

A turn for the worse

Ned has apparently returned to the hospital. They have confirmed gall stones and an infection of some kind. They are uncertain as to exactly where the gall stone is, so that could be problematic. He is to have surgery tomorrow (Friday) morning. I think Mom and/or Dad are going up to help out. Please keep him and his ladies in your prayers.

The wisdom of Charlie Dot

Charlotte has had some real winners with Peter lately:

Me: I can't even fool Charlie anymore! Charlie Dot: That's 'cuz I'm too fast for you!

Charlotte (out of nowhere): "If someone takes your car, you call the policeman and they try to find your car, and then if they don't you call your 'surance and they give you a little money to get a new car with" Me: "That's right. Did you talk with someone about this?" Charlotte: "No. I just made it up."

And for the moment when you wish you didn't have to keep the smile off your face:
Charlotte didn't eat more than about a bite of dinner on a night I made cookies to send to Emily. They were still warm and the smell filled the house. Charlotte, of course, protested that she desperately wanted them, but did not want to eat her dinner. She was quite adamant and upset. Her reasoning was simple:
"I want them in my tummy now because they taste good!"

Labor Day Weekend

Once upon a time, we used to host a labor day weekend gathering in Columbus. Before anyone had kids the trip wasn't as bad and we had places to put people. We haven't done this in a while, but as some of you know, we invited people down this past weekend. We seemed to have forgotten that while inviting guests encourages us to clean the house, it also invites problems. Yes it rained, but that was the least of our problems. Before that, I left my phone at Kroger. When I went to get it, the person who had picked it up (and taken it home) called our house and Peter went out to get the phone. So when guests were calling with last minute questions Mom was answering the phone with "well, they're not here right now." But even that was a minor glitch. Before all this, I was at church (We do Labor Day on Sunday so people can travel on Monday), and Peter called on the cell (which I had yet to lose), to tell me to hurry home because Ned, my brother who was visiting with his wife and kids, had gone to the emergency room, leaving Peter in charge of 4 girls, with very few instructions for two of them!
Now I should say here that Ned is home from the hospital, and feeling much better. In fact we've packed his family in the care and they should be home soon as I write this. Apparently he became suddenly ill with nausea and (pardon me) vomiting. So he went to the hospital, where the non-medical patient and family diagnosed him with gall bladder issues, possibly gall stones. The people with the MD's gave him morphine, barium, and a CT scan, and then didn't come up with a firm diagnosis. In the mean time the two year old he left with us was understandably distressed, but that was the extent of the "understandability". She has started talking, but as anyone with kids know, two year olds are often difficult to understand! Let's add to it that this two year old is bilingual, and doesn't always pick English when you ask her what she want to drink! (Thank goodness her sister Ishani was there to translate!) But the girls were very well behaved and did quite well. Shreyasi, Ned's wife, came home for a while which helped considerably.
Eventually (that is, five minutes after it started raining) our guests started to arrive. We promised them enough food, but somehow we only had burgers and fruit salad (which one of them brought) on our plates. We forgot to cut the water melon, or cook the baked beans, or make the vegetables, or set out the dessert. I don't make a very good host. Eventually my dad came back from the hospital and I offered to cook him a burger. I put a couple more on the grill. Then I told Emily, "I tend to get distracted, so if it seems like a long time since I've checked on those, go ahead and flip them." Of course, I forgot about them, and so did Em who went inside. While chatting with some of our guests 20 minutes later, it suddenly dawned on me... that I'd need to get some new burgers on the grill.
But everyone (at least politely) said they had a good time and we enjoyed ourselves. Ned came home and crashed, but his girls we happy to see him. It seems to invite disaster, but we may ask everyone back next year!