A Little of This, a Little of That ...

My 6-year-old daughter Neva has always had quite an interest in cooking. She’s helped in making dinner a few times and has made muffins with Mommy since she was a toddler. But her favourite recipes are the ones she invents herself.

I always make a point of trying each of her concoctions. Most have been bearable and some, like the lemon juice with water and a spritz of lime, were actually quite refreshing.

The other day, Neva was preparing her list of ingredients naming them as she set them out. A bit a sugar, some milk, so far so good. But when she added the lemon juice I had to draw the line. The curdled and lumpy liquid seemed to have taken on a life of its own.

It may have made a good science experiment, we could have kept it and named it George. But alas, the nameless mass would meet its end slithering down the drain.

Happy sweeping,

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com

Cereal Mystery ...

With three kids in the house there are few things that are predictable. Surprisingly when it comes to breakfast Neva, Milo and Willa, without fail, are eager to have a bowl of Rice Krispies. They love it. I don't.

The other night I was browsing through our bookshelf to find something to read to get my mind off the hectic day that was just winding down. I took my time and finally
decided on a good mystery.

I called to my wife Kathleen, "I'm going to read some Agatha Christie."

From the other room, my 3-year-old son Milo piped up with, "But Daddy, you don't like Rice Krispies!"

Happy sweeping,

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com

Musical Hoops ...

I took my 3-year-old son Milo to a birthday party a few weeks back. It was held at a gymnastics club and boy did those kids have fun! Sending Milo into the gym was like letting a fox loose in a chicken pen. He ran wildly in circles, stopping briefly at every play station to take a quick look, only to run off in the other direction to find something new. Clearly, listening to the two girls who were trying to run the class was not high on his priority list.

The game was "Musical Hoops". Like Musical Chairs, the kids were to run around while the music played and then stand inside a hula hoop when it stopped. Before the teachers started explaining the rules, the kids were instructed to sit on the purple line painted on the floor. But Milo couldn't contain himself and was constantly being called after to go sit back down. He would sit on the purple line for all of two seconds before he was scampering off again.

So the music started and off they went -- finally something Milo wanted to do! And when the music stopped, all the kids ran to the hula hoops as instructed. All but Milo. He sat on the purple line!

Happy sweeping,

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com