Follow up on tipping

First, thank you all for piping in on my burning question on tipping pizza drivers.  Seems like the consensus was that tipping the driver is the appropriate thing to do.  I do, however, have one more question.  If the "delivery fee" goes to the franchise (as brought up in a comment), then what is that money being used for?  They've already made a profit on the purchase of a pizza, so does that money go to pay the driver for his gas?  Wear and tear on his car?  Insurance?  Or is the company just pocketing it?  There eventually will come a time when the more money the franchise takes, the less money people will have to buy pizza and tip the driver.  There may even come a time when it's more cost effective to buy a frozen pizza (gasp!).  I'm all for tipping the driver, but I'm just curious where these "fees" are going and what they are being used for.

Anyone?  Anyone?

Too good not to post

The Easter pictures we took just make me happy!  It is such an excellent photo of the two of them, but the video makes the pictures better... 

Egg hunt

Yesterday we got together with our friends and had our own Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  It was so fun! 

The terrain was rough, but the hunting was successful!

Yes, it was a tad windy yesterday.  And today, too, for that matter. 

Abby was so excited about the chocolate that she just popped egg after egg in her mouth, foil and all.  I goofed and never got a whole group picture...let's just say that certain families will be having some hyper kids for the next few days! 

Happy Easter!

I tried getting pictures before church, but for some reason Abby was NOT in the mood.  However after a good visit with her peeps in nursery she was ready for her photo shoot. 

Sproutage!

Yes!  We have them!  Take a peak, if you will...

This was taken April 17.  The kids and I are so excited that our little seeds have sprouted.  William and Abby both have a watering can now, and between the three of us we get our four garden boxes watered. 

And William says...

William just cracks me up!  He says the funniest things sometimes. 

Just yesterday he was on the potty, and I was loading the dishwasher waiting for him to finish up.  He was singing.  Soon he calls me, saying he's done.  I go in to him.

"I was singing, Mom."
"Yeah, and it sounded so nice!"
He looks at me for a second.  Completely stone-faced he says, "That was the poop song."
Okay then.  Good to know. 

And today, after going to the park, we ran to the dollar store to get some of those plastic eggs to fill up for our home Easter egg hunt.  While waiting in a very long line William spots some Creme-filled chocolate eggs and asks if he could get one.  Well seriously, how could I say no to those morsels of deliciousness ?  So he tosses it in the cart.  I pay, and we all leave.  I start the truck up and our conversation goes as follows:

"Can I please have my egg?"
"No, you can't have it because it's in the bag now."
"Well I want it in my tummy now." 

A minute or so goes by.
"Can I please have my egg?"
I try another excuse.
"No, because you have to hunt for it."
He gets incredulous look on his face.  "It's just right there in the bag, Mom."

I just about died laughing!

A couple of things

First, a burning question that I have to ask you, my friends. 

When we were visiting our friends a few weekends ago, a discussion came up as to whether or not one should tip the pizza delivery guy, even if there was a delivery fee.  I said that I have always tipped the driver.  So I pay for the pizza, the delivery fee, plus an additional $2 for tip.  My friend said that the delivery fee should be their tip/additional payment.  I immediately liked that idea, so when I ordered pizza this past weekend I did NOT tip the guy.  It instantly felt weird, but I liked the fact that I saved my $2. 

What say ye?  Tip or no tip?  (And please identify if you've ever had that job in the past.  Your opinion might be slightly biased.)

Moving along...I'm back in the swing of working on "school" with William.  It had been several weeks since we had done anything and he was asking about "doing letters".  A new favorite game of his is Go Fish, and I happen to have a letter version of it.  On each card there is a upper case letter with an adult animal that starts with that letter, and it's match is the lower case letter with baby animal.  I'm just amazed that he knows so much.  I think it's safe to say that he can correctly identify all his letters and their sounds.  While we were reviewing the letters today (before starting the game) the letter "Y" came up.  I asked him for some words that started with "Y".  He immediately came up with "yummy yogurt".  Say what?!?  Where in the world did that come from? 

I should mention that Abby sits with us when we are "doing school".  That girl is no dummy.  I showed William a letter card, and Abby takes one look at it and says, "B"!  Why yes, my dear, that is a "B".  While she's saying "B" she puts her hand to her mouth and pretends to eat.  Our animal motion for "B" is "Bubba Bear", and Bubba grabs some honey and eats it.  (It's part of Zoo Phonics.)  I seriously could not believe she remembered that.  However, whatever William does, she does as well.  I might think she's just goofing off, but I guess not.  When we got to the letter "K" she stands up and starts to kick the air.  Our animal motion for "K" is Kayo Kangaroo, and he kicks.  It's now double the fun when we practice our letters!

Getting Started

We planted one of our garden boxes this past Friday.  I had such high hopes that it would be a fun, family event, but it was so doggone windy out that it was pretty much a miserable experience.  The plan was to plant at least two boxes, but even John finally gave up on the planting and joined us inside. 

Abby got to wear her winter coat for the first time.  She had the cutest double chin sticking out!  She wanted to help with the garden so bad, but was so cold and windblown that she was actually asking to go inside.

We prepped the boxes by watering them.  After being gone a week they were bone dry.

William did a lot of the actual planting and covering up of the seeds.  Eventually though, it just started taking too long, so John finished up.

I will have to update this post with what exactly we planted in this particular box (I can't find the grid) but I do know there are carrots, onions, artichokes, tomatoes (we'll have a trellis behind this box) and...?  Sorry!  It was truly cold out.  My brain just might have frozen.

Brrr!  That wind was just pure nasty.  I do have to say, though, that the cold snap was short lived (I don't think it got under freezing, so we should still be okay) and the weather has been nice since.  I'm hoping to get another box planted this weekend, along with my herb box (planning on mint, cilantro, oregano, basil, and chives.  They will be planted in the long, skinny box. 

Here's to hoping we have some sprouts in the next week or so!

Back again!

We are home again after a great "vacation" up north.  It wasn't exactly a vacation for John, since he had to be in class most of the time, but it was a super fun time for me and the kids.  I felt that I simply got to enjoy them this past week, without the distractions of everyday housework.  Not to mention that breakfast, lunch, and dinner were completely taken care of for the week...that part was great!

I bought William a new puzzle, just for the hotel.  He actually found it at home, before we got to the hotel and begged to put it together, but I resisted.  He was thrilled for a new puzzle to do once we finally got to the hotel.  Let's just say it was a matter of minutes before he had it mastered.  Shoot!  Must get more difficult puzzles.  This kid is a whiz at them.

The first day I took the kids to a large outlet/regular mall.  They had every store one could think of - from Nieman Marcus to Sprockets to Zales Outlet.  It was fun wandering around window shopping.

The second day I took them to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo.  What a great place for young kids!  Not sure I'd bring kids much older than 6, but it was perfect for our two.  I got William to pose on this capybara...then he suddenly realized it was quite hot.  Opps! 

I will admit...I was shocked he wanted to ride the Frog Hopper.  But he ran up and climbed right in.  I got some funny video of him riding it - not a single smile or acknowledgment of fun, but afterward he couldn't stop talking about how great it was.  Since there was no line, the operator asked if the kids wanted to ride again...the other three kids immediately said "yes", but William did opt to get off.  One ride was good enough!

Next came the firetruck ride.  Abby insisted on riding right next to "Wee-um", so I managed to squeeze them both in.  The operator just raised his eyebrows and shook his head! 

Then came "Danny's Dragon", a train ride.  Again, you can't tell by the picture, but both kids really liked this ride. 

We spent a considerable amount of time on this stationary firetruck.  It was just so fun watching them pretend play!

Somewhere in the course of the day we also rode a carousel and a ladybug ride, spent time at the mini zoo, rode twisty slides at the play area, watched a puppet show, and walked across rope bridges. 

I think, however, that William's favorite part of the day was the petting zoo.  I was able to find several quarters, so I got him several handfuls of goat food.  He marched right up to those fairly aggressive goats and let them eat right out of his hand.  Since I was afraid that he'd get trampled, I did go in with him, so unfortunately I don't have any great pictures.

Once John was finished with his class we took off and visited the Intel museum.  It was quite interesting...I guess.  Of course I had heard of the company, but I really wasn't sure what they did to further humanity and make our lives better...however, now I know!  (If you aren't sure either, please take the time to google them.)

We also were able to spend the weekend visiting our good friends.  They graciously hosted us for the weekend, and took us to the Bay Area Discovery Center, which was a huge hit with the kids. 

Monkey see, monkey do!  She actually made it through this tunnel. 

I think this was one of William's favorite areas.  That's Zoe, grabbing her hard hat...you never know when debris might go flying!

And lastly, here's William and Will, making their way through a felled tree truck.  ("Fallen" tree trunk?)

Much thanks to our friends for having us at their place!  We had so much fun and can't wait to see you all again!

We made it home safe and sound.  No puke on the return trip.  Ah yes...Abby initiated us with the joys of "puke in the car".  That was something that we hadn't experienced yet as parents, and well...we can do without that.  Aside from that, though, the trip was so fun!