Basic Rules For The Syndicate

Mr. C. speaking : I have decided to set some  basic rules for the Syndicate. So here they are:
1. Give no info to the F.B.I whatsoever.
2.I am your master.

See?! I only need 2 whole rules!
Sadly this post has no punchline.

It's MY blog now!

Mr C. Speaking: I have a feeling that my "Muscle" will have to at least cripple nearly 100 percent of you Secret Life Of Johnston fans.
Yes, I know that I am only 8 years old but I have taken over the blog and the USA's criminal underworld I will allow you to know my present top mobsters. "Muscle": Kimball & Weston.
Wild Woman: Grace.
Dopes: Mom & Dad (Becky & Allen. They are not really mobsters.)
If you use this info against me than I will have my "Muscle" kill you.
And I will have to get new top mobsters. (Maybe not new Dopes though.)

Harry Potter Camping

As a final hurrah before the kids started school, we decided to go camping at Zions National Park. Of course, the day we were leaving, we discovered our planned camp ground was part of a flash flood area. We ended up cancelling our camping reservation and staying at a hotel. (I know, no comments from the peanut gallery about this being the "Becky" camping style anyway.)

As a family, we determined we were camping in a "Harry Potter tent." On the inside, it looked like a hotel room, but on the outside, it was just our old, green tent. Unfortunately, this really confused Grace who spent the trip asking to go swimming at our hotel tent.

All in all, an excellent camp out: showers, beds, and the great outdoors.

Even short car rides can be an adventure

While I was driving Weston to his first play date with a classmate, Kimball and Cooper started snapping at each other. Weston, sitting in the far back, spoke up in a soothing voice: “Kimball and Cooper, I am going to my first play date in my new school, and I need you to be on your best behavior in the car.”

It worked pretty well, and the older brothers calmed down. However, Kimball realized he might get into trouble and have to do chores or some other form of penitence at home. He pre-empted any punishment by offering to take me out and buy me something with his essay award money. (Kimball won first place in a school writing contest, winning $30).

Cooper immediately told him, “Mom can’t be bought with just thirty dollars . . . you’d need at least a couple hundred.”

Cooper's St. Patrick's Day Story

Cooper wrote a little story for St. Patty's Day, enjoy:

I don't know why, but a leprechaun pinched me! And I was wearing green! "Why did you pinch me?" I asked. He replied simply: "I'm color blind laddie!"

"Then why do you pinch people if you don't know if they're wearing green?!" He shrugged. Then I got an idea! "Why don't we be friends" I suggested. "Outstanding idea, laddie!" he cried. So from that very day we were friends!

THE END.

Snail Incident

On Friday after school, Weston burst into the house, obviously very excited. Cradled in his hand was a live snail that he carried all the way home from school. He carefully handed this to me, saying, "Oh, Mom, I got you a late Christmas present."

Trying not to cringe at his slimey offering, I took it and set it on a tissue. Weston skipped off happily to play with Grace, Cooper, and Kimball.

Not five minutes later, Weston ran into the room, crying and begging for me to destroy the snail. Somehow his older brothers convinced him that he is now scared of snails. He kept worrying about their "poisonous slime" and their "slime parachutes" that let them attack your head.

Grace and Weston spent the next half an hour running around the house screaming that snails were coming after them.

As much as I tried to convince them that they could both outrun the snails, they just didn't believe me.

Ah, the power of older brothers.

Benefits of Freedom

Me: "Weston and Grace, knock it off. You can't pick your noses."

Weston: (looking at me innocently with his finger jammed high up one nostril) "Yes, we can, Mom. It's a free country."