Sunday, September 2, 2007

Syd Hoff

When you are a parent you have to read a lot to your children and it's great. But sometimes you get tired of it and hate it because you can't stand the books you are reading. You avoid the stupid, poorly illustrated or poorly written books, or the lengthy books. They are lame, and your children want to read them over and over and over and you are sick of it!

Well, let me introduce you to one of my favorite children's authors, Syd Hoff. I LOVE HIS BOOKS! They are hilarious. I think he wrote his books to entertain the adult reading to the child. His books are quick reads. They are so delightful. And classic. I don't get tired of them. We read them over and over and over and I'm a mom that enjoys reading to her children. Taylor and McKay love him too.

The case of the chirp and thump

Spencer and I were chatting at the dining room table about two weeks ago. It was about 9pm. The children were all asleep and it was a quiet, relaxing night. Suddenly, we heard this little chirp outside the front door and we heard some object slam into the door. We ignored it. We kept chatting. Well, this chirp and bump kept interrupting our conversations. It sort of sounded like someone was throwing small rocks at our front door so Spencer thinks it is our friends, The Mullens. They love a good prank; they are too much fun. I personally believe it is a baby bird that fell from its nest. Spencer gets a bright idea to open the door to solve the mystery. Bad idea.


He carefully opens the door and looks outside but doesn't see anything so he takes a few steps outside to look for the Mullens then suddenly this gigantic THING comes buzzing into our house. It's the size of a humming bird. It is flying, but it is not good at it. It literally bounces off our walls. I ran into the other room because, well, would you want that thing to touch you, land on you?(By the way I left the baby in the room with the flying thing and Spencer....Spencer made me put this detail in the story)


I was yelling, "Spencer! What is it?!" ,"Spencer, get it out!" , "Spencer, it is ugly"!!


My brave husband grabs a broom and starts swinging at it as if its a baseball and he's at bat. He misses, of course, because this thing is flying everywhere. Finally, he hits it and it falls to the ground and lands on its back. I think now is when I realize it is a locust. At least, I think it was. We push it out the open door and I am saved from the locust. Phew.