after a long day

when all the work is done for the day, and we have had the last lath,

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Then we pull out the trunks and play dress up

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The favorite mother and the glow worm even like to get gussyed up

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then the silly sisters sail away

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and the glow worm sings....

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its a long trip alone,

What a singing glow worm sings

While coloring with a variety of colors the glow worm will suddenly burst into song with gusto singing, “There’s so many colors in the rainbow. There’s so many colors in the…rainbow (because she can’t remember the rest of the words). There’s so many colors in the rainbow…” and on she sings indefinitely, but as happy as a lark with her crayons.
(the real song goes, “There’s so many colors in the rainbow! There’s so many colors in the morning sun! There’s so many colors in the flower’s and I see every one!”)

And while eating a peanut butter sandwich she sings, “peanut, peanut butter, stinks to my nose.” And after swiping her nose with her peanut buttery finger she continues, “peanut peanut butter, stinks to my cheek” and on she goes until her whole little face is as sticky as her song.
(The real song goes, “Peanut peanut butter, sticks to your nose like no other. Peanut peanut butter, sticks to your nose. But Jesus sticks with you, even closer still. He’s closer than a brother, he’s closer than peanut butter.”)

And we credit it all to the favorite singing family, who was kind enough to teach us these songs while the mosquitoes sang harmony.

Gone Camping

We got a rather late start as usual for our camping trip. We forgot our food, but we managed to survive on the candy bars we found along the way. Our late start pushed us behind sunset so we stopped at GG’s house for some brownies before trudging on. Also, we forgot all but one flash light, and the clouds made it difficult for the stars to shine thoroughly. But we had a glow worm along and a heroic, attractive, one eyed mutt of dauntless courage….unless it rains, then he gets rather put out like a tiny flame.

After hiking indefinitely, we arrived at our camp site at around ten pm. The site was littered with all sorts of obstacles that were in need of being removed. The youngest child was set to work at pre tenting the site, mostly because she was the first to arrive at the site in the dark. By the time the middle child tumbled down the hill with the glow worm, the youngest child had unrolled the tent on a relatively flat surface while I watched. The glow worm proved herself a worthy camper by holding the one flashlight on the tent and out of the silly sisters eyes.

The tent was a worthy tent, a fact we were not sure about before we set it up for the second time. The first time we set it up was in an Amish field with the help of many little hands. This time, in the dark, went just as smoothly as the little glow managed to appear to be everywhere at once and accomplished the feat of being five little angles. According to the youngest child, you just throw the tent up into the air and it self assembles…the middle child will assure everyone that she put it together before the youngest child threw it up in the air. The favorite mother had showed a strong aversion to any stakes being pounded into the ground, and there was a large scarcity of trees around, so we had to improvise a little.

All our extra clothes and other useless items were left at home, but we did have sleeping bags, teddy bears and books along to make our bedtime as painless as possible. The sleeping bags were placed conveniently on the floor of the tent and the youngest child refrained from putting the bugs I know she carry’s in her pocket into the sleeping bags of the others. She does at times show great strength in self denial.

As everyone settled into their beds, and after the oldest child had kissed everyone good night, the glow worm called for a story, and the eloquent middle child made up a complex story of a none talking horse that left the glow worm and the youngest child wide eyed and beyond all hope of ever sleeping again in this lifetime. But camping is camping, and no one wants to be the last one awake, and so a race to be the first one asleep was held. The glow worm, after being alarmed by all the strange noises generally inspired by camping, was the winner of the sleep race.

And as the middle child and the youngest child tossed and turned on the hard ground, they wished it hadn’t been quite so flat a site,

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they wished it wasn’t quite so smooth

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they wished everything wasn't so easy

They wished their camp site was outside.

But they awoke the next morning to the sound of rain and for the first time they were very greatful to be in a nice dry tent in the favorite mothers house.

A special thanks to the one eyed mutt for contributing to this story