funnies

Sam came home from his chess club award ceremony with a bright green ribbon waving in his hand. The girls and I gathered around him to admire his ribbon and hear his take on the award ceremony. Teresa took the ribbon and studied it for a minute as she deciphered what was written on it. Her eyes widened into shocked circles and an incredulous look flitted across her face. She looked up at me with her eyebrows scrunched together and glanced over her shoulder to make sure Sam was not within earshot. Then she whispered indignantly, "How mean! They shouldn't bother giving out ribbons if they're going give him one that says "HORRIBLE"." (Honorable...it said honorable mention.)

I was running the Spring book fair at my kid's elementary school and had been to the bank to get money to have in the registers at the start of the fair. The money was in small bills and rolls upon rolls of change. I dumped it all out onto the kitchen table and began rummaging around in the kitchen cabinets for a container to put it all in. Katie wandered in and stared at the big pile of wrapped coins on the table. She turned to me and asked in a matter of fact little voice, "Mumma, Why are there so many tampons on the kitchen table?"

The other morning, bookfair morning, I needed the kids to get up super early so I could get to the school and put last minute details in place, like put all those tampons into the registers. Under normal circumstances Sam is not an easy person to wake up in the morning. He groans and stretches and hides under the covers. I knew it wasn't going to be easy and was prepared for the worst. I crept into his room and sat down on his bed. I rufflled his hair and gently called, "Sam...Sam...it's time to get up." A smile spread across his face and he opened his eyes. Before I had time to faint in shock he looked at me and said, "Alright, But I've got to get back to the pineapple fish." And he closed his eyes and rolled over. I chuckled and shook his shoulder again and without opening his eyes Sam murmured, "tell Yoshi I said Hi." I giggled a little bit more and decided I'd give him a little bit more time to finish dreaming.