What Do the Kids Do When the Parents Are Out of Town?

Well, we've kept busy, that's for sure. Our parents went to Washington D.C. for a long weekend, so we're holding down the fort. They'll be back this afternoon. Other than ordinary things like making sure everyone is fed and clothed, we've played outside, gone to the church choir concert, gone out to eat, and put the Christmas lights up on the house. It was fun, and we even remembered to test the strings of lights before we put them up this year. It turned out very nicely, if I do say so myself: We also had a fascinating activity last night: making torches!! John helped everyone wire old rags to ends of sticks. They even had to trek down to Lowe's to get more wire! I think it's noteworthy that this project was thought up and carried out during the day while I was at work. Hmmmm. That evening, we soaked the rags with Coleman fuel and set them ablaze. It was very exciting. They hadn't made a torch for me (go figure), so I was the designated photographer. For those of you who may be on the verge of heart failure, be assured that we had a pail of water nearby. We also had a preparatory speech about not setting each other on fire or standing too close to the bushes. (Laura's not as close to the bush as it looks, by the way.)