More Tales from the Claw Machine . . .

Friday night we went out to eat with some friends of ours at a restaurant that, much to our dismay, happened to have a claw machine - tucked away by the bathrooms - that we were previously completely unaware of. Had we been aware of it, we probably would have avoided the place. :) When our friend mentioned he saw a claw machine by the bathrooms, our little addict grabbed his brother and his buddy and went dancing through the tables to conquer it. Mission: his 16th claw machine animal. Now, the interesting thing about this particular claw machine encounter is that Jack and Noah's buddy had NEVER experienced a claw machine. As they excitedly yelled out instructions to him, I stood by, feeling horrified that we were influencing an innocent child to take a step down the path of no return - a claw machine addiction. And sure enough, wouldn't you know, the little guy managed to get one out! We couldn't believe it. By the end of the evening, all 3 boys had a new stuffed animal under their arm - they each managed to get one. Mission accomplished.

Now I just hope and pray this doesn't become an obsession for him like it has for Jack. We would be responsible and I would feel awful! It sure was fun watching the 3 of them, though - they were all pretty cute.

Other accomplishments last week -

• Mark bought himself a car, got a heck of a deal, so we were really happy with the outcome. He's like a kid with a new toy and isn't real excited about sharing with his wife. Hmm, a good example for the kids? I think not. :)
• We got the school shopping DONE - all in one day, too yet! It was a torturous process picking out backpacks and lunch boxes, though - Jack is Mr. Decisive and had this all figured out inside of 5 minutes . . . . Noah, on the other hand, about lost his mind trying to decide. Took him 20-30 minutes, no joke. Jack was ready to strangle him by the time we were done.
• Noah developed a new phrase - tried it out on Daddy the first time, telling him to "keep his shorts on" when Mark was trying to hurry him along. WAY funny, we were just rolling.
• Both Jack and Noah got individual "alone" nights at Grandma and Grandpa's, which is great for all of us. They both got some fishing in, some 4-wheeling and some general taking advantage of Grandma and Grandpa . . . . :)

This week we'll be at the pool as much as possible!! Our days are numbered!! Friday we have our home visit from Jack and Noah's first grade teacher, so we're anxious to learn more about her - she's new this year. And we finally get to go camping again this weekend, we're so excited. We haven't been out as much as we'd like this year, so we're going to try and squeeze a few weekends in this fall. Where did this summer go?