Today is Dad's birthday! I get to see him in 16 days.

Happy birthday, Dad! I love you!

Apparently yesterday at the park, after running behind some bushes, Will ran up to our friend and said, "There was a regular dog over there." She asked what he meant by "regular" and he rolled his eyes at her and said, "Well, it's not a wolf."

Duh.

***

This morning there was a cartoon on about camping. The children had this conversation:

Signa- When we go camping, I'm sleeping in the tent with Daddy.
Will- NO! I WANT TO SLEEP IN THE TENT WITH DADDY!
Signa- No, you get to stay with Momma.
Will- NO! I WANT TO GO CAMPING WITH DADDY, TOO!

And then he tried to punch her.

So I told them both that just for that, we are now not going fictional camping.

So there.

According to Signa, I go to work every day because I hate vacuuming. While it is true (I do ever so much hate vacuuming), I do not desert my family for 8 hours a day (plus driving time) just to avoid that dreaded machine and make Marc do it all.

No, Signa. You are very wrong.

I go to work for hours every week to avoid LAUNDRY. Which is a lot worse than the vacuum.

For a few weeks now, on and off, I’ve been obsessing over my grandmother’s grandparents. All I knew was their names: John T. Shelton and Laura E. Wilkinson. I knew where they were born and where they lived from census records, but that didn’t tell a good story. What happened to them?

Nana’s dad “left home at a young age”. He was “quiet and reserved and didn’t talk much.” So Nana knew nothing of his life before her. I’d search and get clues, but nothing that drew a line or a picture. Just snippets to confuse me or piece them in a place where they shouldn’t be or with children they shouldn’t have.

But I learned that in 1860 they were in Allen County, Indiana. And then I found a huge history of the Wilkinson family listing Laura, going back generations. So there is part of Laura’s history, but she is listed with the last name of Morton in her mother’s obituary. So searching for a marriage between a Laura Shelton and anyone named Morton found me an 1872 marriage between a Laura Wilkinson and a Thomas Moron. From there, I found census records (with my great grandfather’s brother listed – with a name like Costa, it’s an easy conclusion…).

So I always wondered what happened to John Shelton. He must have died sometime between the 1870 census where he was in Quincy, IL and 1872 when his wife (under her maiden name) remarried. Quincy was the go-to point for the Civil War soldiers. Was he there for that? He’s listed as a carpenter in the census and in the city directory, though. Why were they in Quincy? What happened shortly after?

So for 2 weeks I’ve been looking through everything I can find listing deaths in IL or IN for John T. Shelton. Nothing.

But today I found their divorce notice in the Fort Wayne Sentinal. Laura E. Shelton vs. John T. Shelton. 21 Aug 1872. She married Mr. Morton just a few months later and they had 2 children together.

I also found this.

And these are her parents.

RIP Great, Great Grandma Laura E. Wilkinson Shelton Morton. I’m so glad I know you a little better now. I wish you could tell me about your first husband John, but I’m glad to have at least this.

So far...

William was doing something really annoying yesterday. I can’t remember what, but as he walked by, I swatted him on the butt and reminded him what he was supposed to be doing. About 2 minutes later, I hear him sobbing in the living room. Before I could even get in there, he says, “Momma, you gave me something to cry ABOUT.”

Smart kid.

All is well in the Mascot household. Busy, though. Can’t see to catch our breath these days.

I’ve been working on genealogy a lot again lately and it’s taking up my spare time. I subscribed to Ancestry.com and Sheri and I have been enabling each other in it, so instead of cleaning, working, exercising... we do genealogy. But at least we are now related, so I can now officially call her family!

In other news, William is potty trained now (except for that never-to-be-spoken-of-again time on the couch last week when he was very involved in his Batman game). He’s doing a great job with it and enjoys telling me how he’s big now because “I go pee pee on the potty, that’s why!”

He also doesn’t say today, but instead substitutes the biblical, “ON THIS DAY”. So instead of saying, “I know you said that I wasn’t old enough to chew gum, but today I am ready,” we get, “Yes, but ON THIS DAY I can chew gum.”

Last weekend we went to see Beethoven’s Wig. It’s a group of singers for kids who put words to classical music. Some are silly (like about Beethoven’s Big Wig), but most tell a story about the music, the musician or something about the time. We all loved it and are vowing to see more live theater.

Although we also love movies, having seen and loved Alice in Wonderland. I have a particular fondness for the story, since Dad read it to me when I was little. And then to have Tim Burton, my favorite movie guy ever, make it. Well, it was just perfect and exactly how Alice in Wonderland should look. The kids loved it and now are planning which characters to be for Halloween (we had to talk Will out of being the White Queen- now he’s either the Cheshire Cat or the guy with the eye patch). Signa is, of course, the Red Queen.

The kids also woke up one day and decided to plan a party for their stuffed hamsters (called Zhu Zhu Pets). They made invitations, games and when I got home from work, I made a cake. The party for Mr. Squiggles and Batman was very fun.

I also had a Pampered Chef party a couple weeks ago and it was so fun to see my friends all in one place. Of course there many close friends missing, but YVONNE was there! Yvonne and I were friends when we were 8-12 or so. We were inseparable, living across the street from each other. We had a club house in her back yard and did the gong show, Charlie’s Angels, detective work, and had our own club that we called the Black Panthers (because, really, what a cool name for a club!). We had some very prime years together and it was so fun to see her again. I can’t figure out how she can look exactly like she did when she was 12, but she does. She has grown daughters who are beautiful, just like her.

I guess that’s it for today. I’ll try to write more tomorrow. Should be a relaxing Saturday, YAY!

We were watching a movie the other night for Movie Night and I mentioned that Marc and I saw it in the theater when it came out.

Will: Who took care of me and Signa? Gwamma?
Us: Will, you weren't born yet.
Will: (after some contemplating) Did you miss me?

I was noticing yesterday that William is now to the funny sayings stage and Signa is mostly out of it. She now surprises us in the SMART things she says more so than the funny. She notices things differently that I do. Like I will notice something in a movie looks weird, but SHE notices that there are no contact shadows (and she even knows they are called contact shadows). I did find a pices of paper yesterday, though, that she made. It's about a 1/2 inch tall and about 5 inches wide and across it is written, "No, Will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" with explanation points running the full 5 inches. I still don't really know why, but I imagine that pretty much sums up life at the Mascots:

No, Will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!