09 JAN 26

Kids are pouring bowls of Froot Loops before math that morning... Yali's snake already out exploring the terrain under Yali's watchful hand...

Math is sort of rolling along... until Yali's answer to every problem becomes “Noah's Ark”...

And by the time he starts drawing “toes with toe fungus” on his math sheet... and the dog is snacking on acorns that came from some unknown location... big bro emerges to stir the pot to practical cheers from his siblings...

These efforts end with the box of Froot Loops exploding down the basement stairs into a volcano of colored rings... “HAHAHAHAHA!”...

As the dog hustles to her technicolor feast... the step ladder also comes rocketing down the stairs behind her... “HAHAHAHAHA!” // “Boys!”

Situations calm just before lunch... the most evidence of mischief is Cheese lying on Puck's bed with one of Puck's old t-shirts tied around his neck like a cape... tail thrashing in annoyance...

Post-lunch is mostly kids smashing in and out of the kitchen door cartoon screaming cat hissing rock music and grabbing loads of tortillas and peanut butter...

Somehow it's evening and all three kids are crashed back on my bed while Puck administers color blind tests to the younger ones...

About an hour later I'm back in Pevely where the nieces have piñata-ed scraps of colored paper all over their art station in a frenzy of inspiration... the oldest of the artists is sitting on the couch watching an episode of vintage “Arthur” explaining to her aunts the she intends to name her one-day dog “Basket”...

And after the crew has been gathered for glasses of ginger ale and Mario Cart... Sally opens the local paper to read about recent crimes... “Why is it always hatchet and machete crimes down here? Today's is a hatchet”...