The Neighbours Kids

So yesterday to great fanfare and trumpets and such, we had our first real snow fall. I shoveled when I got home but soon enough it was piled again and I heard a gentle tap at the door. Well, more like a thudding bang but not a lot of force behind it - sounded like a kid. Two kids. Neighbours kids, well known for a gentlemanly brand of mischief. They were bored and wanted to shovel my walk for free. Not being a mum at this time myself, I wasn't really sure what to do with them - so I invited them in for hot chocolate and chatter, and gave them a chess set. They brought their dog in with them and we all hung out in the hall talking about child topics and such. I'm not very good at talking about kid stuff, and my valiant efforts to seriously engage my young guests were rewarded with peels of laughter. I mistakenly thought we were on dangerous ground at one point when one of them identified a neighbour as "you know, that man who's always taking pictures of us" which set off aooga sirens in my head that woke up angry and violent parts of my brain. Turns out "always" in kid speak means "each Halloween when we're in costume so mom can have a picture". Whew. But the cat was non too pleased about the wet and smelly dog in HER house. Once they were gone, she staged several protests, and I've had to change my socks. But at least I know she's feeling better if she's angry...