How Could We Say "NO"?

The dreaded happened.

Something terrible sneaked up on us as parents.

Our youngest, Todd, has been quietly saving his money.  His weekly allowances started to really add up.

However, in the midst of our chaotic life with each of us adjusting to life in this country, state and town, we didn't bother to ask the obvious question...

"Todd,  what are planning to do with all that money you have saved?"

One day, Todd just announced that he was going to buy a hamster.

The horror struck deep in my heart.

What?!?  You want what?

He made it clear.  All these months he has been carefully saving his money for one thing:  a hamster.

Not only that, he's been waiting patiently for the new PetSmart store to open in Marion.

Not only that, he had big plans to buy his new hamsters -- strike that -- his TWO new hamsters during the grand opening event at the PetSmart store in town.

How could we say NO?  (And, believe me, we wanted to!)

So, October 26th, during the grand opening event for the new PetSmart store in Marion, Indiana, we went to the new store with Todd.

Todd carried the $80 he had saved.

He picked out just the hamsters he wanted.

He picked out just the cage that he wanted.

He selected just the right food.

It was all his to do, because it was HIS money.

Before we knew it, we were walking out of the store with two new little critters to add to our home.

Can you believe it?!?

So, once again, I am eating my words.  I do distinctly remember saying I would NEVER in my life have a hamster in my home!

Oh well.... maybe some of my other "I will never" statements will actually remain true!  I can hope, right?

The Simple Stuff of Life

There are things you just don't get to do while living in the urban sprawl of a place like Paris.

This is one of those things.

What a gorgeous sight to see our tree turning colors, and then drop it's leaves -- right before our eyes and right before our house!

Raking!  I can't say we've missed it (thankfully we only have one reasonable sized tree in our yard).  But, really,  it is wonderful to jump in a pile of leaves again!  Everyone got in on the fun.

Here's another thing you just don't get to do living in an apartment in Paris:

DIG in dirt!!!

Ryan has been asking for a while to dig.  We need to start over with the landscaping around our patio, so we just let him 'have at it'.

Before long, we had all the kids in the neighborhood digging too!

They loved it.  They came back several times, and in a few days most of the stuff we needed to dig out was gone!  Yeah!

And, here's another thing you just don't do as a 7 year old in Paris.
 

Our neighbors got another toy - a kid-sized Razor scooter.  Check out Todd's moves!

After I took these photos, I told him he was NOT allowed to ride in the street anymore!  Only sidewalks for this boy and the scooter.

It is just a joy to revisit those simple things in life once again.  Raking, digging, riding in wide open spaces.

Ahhh....  Isn't Fall fun!?!

(Oh...and by the way.  We found out that we live in a neighborhood where scads of people come to trick-or-treat.  There were cars (and golf carts) bumper to bumper inching through our neighborhood for hours last night.  Eye-yi-yi!!!  We had WELL over 100 kids at the door.  Who would have guessed!)