Toddy the blind cat took a car ride to be part of Grandpa's annual Christmas card picture and ended up with an extended stay in the family vehicle. The reason: G. locked Toddy - and my keys - in the minivan.

The original photo op, which included Grandpa, the girls, Toddy and Grandpa's hot rods (view photo), went off without a hitch (as you know, Toddy has plenty of modeling practice).

But the trouble began when I asked G. to put our furry family member in the van so we could get a few pictures without him.

The second we were done, G. ran back to the van to check on Toddy.

I told her to leave the cat alone for a minute and come into the house to look at the photos.

She ignored me.

I called to her again but she continued to hug Toddy in the car and ignore me.

Then I yelled at her to get her butt in the house. She finally listened (Why must I be forced to yell? I honestly don't like to.) and took it upon herself to lock the car.

Apparently protecting Toddy from the evils of Grandpa's driveway - located in a nice, quite neighborhood - trumped her common sense.

The real kicker was that she opened the driver's side door to engage the automatic car locks. My keys were in plain view on the driver's seat. I left them there because I didn't have a pocket to carry them in while taking photos and didn't think we'd be staying long anyway.

But really, it's a mystery as complex as the building of the pyramids if you asked G. why she didn't see those keys, let alone what possessed her to lock the doors in the first place.

Then the realization hit me that my spare key to the van was in my wallet, which was in the backpack that was also now locked in the van.

After a short rant about putting on our "thinking caps" that I directed at G. (I am hardly a paragon of motherhood), I went inside the house to resume downloading the photos I had taken earlier to cool off.

And don't think I escaped comments for my role in this debacle. Several times Grandpa reminded me on the importance of a hide-a-key and leaving a window cracked open.

Thanks for the timely advice Dad.

But in the spirit of trying to help the girls, Grandpa took them back out to the driveway to try to jimmy the lock.

It didn't work.

I called Fino at work to explain the situation and after some snickering on both our parts, he agreed with me that it wasn't a dire emergency and that Toddy would be OK to wait a couple of hours until he could get to Grandpa's with his set of keys (it wasn't overly hot or cold out so at least that was running in our favor).

Because really, how was I going to explain to someone at AAA that my blind cat was locked in the family minivan at Grandpa's house?

I went outside a little while later to check on the crew trying to rescue Toddy and found Grandpa trying to stick a wire through the window, G. in tears and L. writing in the layer of dust on the van.

Everyone has their own special way of dealing with a crisis.

We left the van a while later to return home with the promise from Grandpa to check periodically on Toddy.

Fino arrived a couple of hours later in Grandpa's driveway to find Toddy curled up on the van's driver seat. He unlocked the door and drove Toddy home.

Toddy received a heart-felt homecoming from the girls who went running into the driveway as soon as Fino pulled into it.

I lectured G. that she was banned from ever locking the car door again. Afterward she reminded me that it wasn't nice that I laughed about Toddy's situation. Now that things were resolved I calmly reminded her that she was darn lucky her mom had a good sense of humor.

As I was looking through some old pictures to find a photo of one of our bird houses for my last entry (which I never did find), I came across a ton of Toddy (the blind cat) photos. He is after all, a very important member of our family.

Like the girls, he gets dressed-up for various holidays (like Halloween and Christmas ), and is often recruited to help out with chores.

But no, there is so much more to Toddy's life than that...

There are the various creatures from the yard he is expected to entertain.

The fashion modeling he's expected to pose for regularly.

The assistance he offers Fino and I while we're working on the computer.

The protection he provides for the third step. Apparently it is important to protect it from whoever runs up and down the stairs during the day since it is the highest traffic area in the house.

But I think his favorite time of day is when the girls are sleeping.

He does need some beauty sleep after his busy days.

Yesterday's story about bird feeders offered some great tips about using backyard bird feeders. Although we have several bird houses (and bat boxes) in our backyard, we don't always maintain feeders during the winter. It seems the kids like the painting and decorating of the bird houses more than keeping feeders stocked with food every week.

Never at a loss for new ideas to do things, L. (with Fino's help) came up with a solution for relieving the pain of pricking herself with the needle she was using to sew a doll dress.

Apparently the duct tape worked great but later she was looking for help to remove it. Just FYI if you try this at home ... the tape goes on a whole lot easier than it comes off.

The girls and I were on the job last night at the Pirates game taking pictures for Seen Team.

The girls took a break from their Seen Team duties (it's harder work than you think walking through all the stands) and found a cat's cradle loop in my backpack (yeah, I carry random stuff but sometimes it really does come in handy) so they kept themselves entertained while I continued to take pictures. And I have to say I was amused to see that my girls weren't the only ones playing with yarn in the stands.

At one point during the game the glass around the ice was knocked out towards the fans in the first row. From our seats it looked as though a young fan's foot/leg was injured by the glass as it fell to the ground. Just one more reason why I don't care for sitting too close to the ice.

Part of our "job" on the Seen Team at the Pirates' games this season is to choose a "Fan of the Night." We went through all the photos we had looking for the most enthusiastic fan(s) (these kids were great) then went down to the Civic Center's video control center to meet the Pirates' staff to download it for the scoreboard. The girls thought their brief behind-the-scenes visit was pretty cool.

We're helping the Seen Team with the Fan of the Night promotion for eight more games (although Seen will be at more than that throughout the season). Look out for us (and get there early, we take photos BEFORE the action on the ice begins) and show some team spirit. Maybe we'll pick you to be the next Fan of the Night.

Seen Team Fan of the Night games with the Almeida family:
Sun., Dec. 17 | Sun., Dec. 31
Wed., Jan. 17 | Fri., Jan. 26
Sun., Feb. 25
Sat., March 10 | Fri., March 23
Sun., April 15

Fan of the Night games with other Team members:
Fri., Dec. 15
Sat., Jan. 13
Sat., Feb. 3
Wed., March 7
Sat., April 14

L.'s birthday party request: a flower pinata.

"Can't we skip the pinata this year honey?"

"No, I have one every year. I really want my pinata."

"Can I get the kind with string instead of the hit kind?" (Those pull string pinatas were a masterful invention and likely designed by someone whose kid was whacked with a swinging stick. We bought them when the kids were preschoolers and I wouldn't buy any other kind until a few years ago.)

"No, I don't want those baby characters (i.e., Barbie, Bratz, SpongeBob, Dora, etc.) on my pinata. I like the hit kind."

I hated to admit she was right about the selection being pretty limited with that type.

"Please mom, I want a flower pinata that I can hit for my birthday."

So off I went to the party store to pick out the most flimsy pinata I could find in hopes that maybe this year the thing would actually break.

Then I asked Fino to find the heavy pinata stick he made a few years back. He had hoped the small log might break that year's pinata. It didn't work but the wrist string feature he added made it safer for the hardest hitting kids to keep control of the thing. We've never had a flying stick since.

The first round ...

And the third round came and went ...

Then after some aggressive coaxing (i.e., Fino ripping it apart with his hands), everything finally fell out.

Well, at least this year Fino didn't have to pull out the power tools like he did a few years ago with G.'s pinata.

G. wanted to introduce her friend to letterboxing so I took the girls out on Wednesday - the only dry day this entire week - to find some boxes.

I have been hoping that this game might teach my 10-year-old better organizational skills but I'm not sure that's working out as well as I'd hoped.

The game seems so simple -- stamp your log book with the box's stamp then stamp your stamp into the box's log book. But man, when a couple of kids get together, one of which is a bit organizationally-challenged, extra time is needed to do the stamp exchange. And more often than not, I have to take charge afterwards to help re-organize everyone's stuff again. Yesterday was no exception.

Ever since our first find I've made sure we take the box a distance away from its hiding spot in case a muggle (non-player) walks by while we're exchanging stamp impressions. It usually takes us 10-15 minutes to do the exchange and then re-hide the box.

At least with the boxes we hid at the library, the kids can sit down at a table and spread everything out. G. likes those boxes a lot (which probably has something to do with the fact that she helped make them) and usually suggests her friends new to the game try them first.

Muggles are less of a problem at the library since the librarians monitor our boxes (a few of them are letterboxers themselves) so they aren't pilfered.

Since my family all loves apples, and the kids love using our apple peeler, we've been on a pie-making kick. As it turns out, the human Almeida family members aren't the only ones who love the fruit.

Yeah, our chickens also eat egg shells. According to Fino, it actually makes the eggs they lay in the future stronger. I try really hard not to think about the whole concept though, it makes me a little queazy.

It was a glorious day yesterday and our friends invited us to do some 4-wheeling with them.

Never having been 4-wheeling before, the kids and I hadn't exactly prepared for the mud. Of course I should have realized it would get messy since it rained so much the day before. L. especially can't resist splashing in a good puddle so she and her friend drove through every one they could find on the trail. A 4-wheeler makes a much bigger splash than a pair of boots.

With a single hour to spare, the girls and I strapped on our rollerblades and went for a quick trail ride around Deering Oaks Park yesterday.

I made sure we had our rollerblades and safety gear but failed to notice G. had worn a skirt when we got in the car yesterday to head to Portland. But, she said rollerblading in a long skirt was, "no big deal." She did manage just fine although reported that the knee pads weren't so comfortable on her bare skin. It turned out that the hardest part for all of us was dodging all the twigs and leaves on the ground. I guess the fall is a tricky time of year to enjoy this sport.

We had to check out the water fountain now that it is up and running again. Everytime we drove past Deering Oaks this past year the girls had to watch the progress of the fountain work and see if the duck house was returned. They continue to be saddened that it has not.

And even though we live in a rural area and see deer, wild turkeys and other wildlife in our own backyard, the kids still get a thrill from the squirrels in the park.

Of course the girls always want to feed them but it's a little tricky. Seagulls move quickly when they spot a stray piece of cookie being tossed to their furry counterparts.

"Where did those seagulls come from Mommy? They are so fast!"

Like most families, our weekly schedule of activities (mostly kid-related) often take over our lives completely, leaving little time for anything else. So our outdoor adventures have been few and far between these past few weeks.

But the kids have been talking about the fact that there are several things they'd like to do before the snow starts flying, which include Disc golf and inline skating. So our plan is to make time to have some unscheduled fun in the next week or two.

Of course we are looking forward to skiing this year and hoping for more snow than last year. And now that G. is a fifth grader, she is eligible for a WinterKids Passport. The discounts aren't as big as they have been in past years, but every little bit helps.

After a quick search on YouTube to track down a video clip for a friend, I ran across some old Schoolhouse Rock cartoons. You know, the ones they played on Saturday mornings in the late-70s and early-80s that were supposed to teach kids a particular concept between the cartoons.

As I sat at my computer laughing and reliving a bit of my childhood, the kids drifted over to the computer to watch them with me. I think they enjoyed them almost as much as I did.

My favorite was, and continues to be, Interplanet Janet. Of course Janet's song might need some revamping with the addition of a newly identified planet last year and the controversy about Pluto. But since the song is so catchy, L. learned all the words to it after watching it a few times.

Here are some of the others I found:

Rufus Sasparilla
Interjections!
Constitution Bill
Lolly's Adverbs
Conjunction Junction
Interplanet Janet

L. said "Lolly" and "Janet" were her favorites; G., who loves learning about space, particularly constellations, voted for "Janet."

What's your favorite?