Mr. Gilly

There's a great children's book called, "Trashy Town."  It was one of the picture books included in a set of 100 different books on CD that I bought years ago.

Mr. Gilly is the garbage collector in Trashy Town and he has an important job to do -- pick it up, smash it down, drive around the Trashy Town.

Ella loves the book!  Part of it is that the clever art work is paired with clever music as Mr. Gilly goes bouncing along down the road, with a pair of mice on top of the hood of his trash compactor.  The mice are the narrators of the story.

Monday is trash day in some parts of Canton, and on our way to Ella's school we see all of the full cans out by the street.  Then we watch for Mr. Gilly all the way to school, and sometimes we do see him -- or one of the many different trash trucks.

When we do see one of the trash trucks, Ella gets so excited.  And we say the little rhyme -- pick it up, smash it down, drive around the trashy town.

Drew was surprised to learn that there is a trash truck that stops at Ella's school.  Actually, I think he thought that the REAL Mr. Gilly was going to Ella's school.  It doesn't matter to Ella if it is Kimble or Republic or something else.  She just likes trash trucks.

After we watched Mr. Gilly, we watched another cute book, "Say Goodnight to a Dinosaur."  Pretty soon, the sounds from this book brought Drew over and he took a spot on the couch.  As a little boy turned into a dinosaur, I heard him mumble, "How did he do that?"  He's still at the age when his imagination and reality haven't necessarily collided yet.  Isn't it great?

But yesterday brought some good news, some excitement.  A few months ago, I nominated Mark, Dani, Drew, and Ella to be one of the featured families at the 2015 Winter Walk for the Epilepsy Association out of Cleveland.  The whole family has been attending Epilepsy Association events for years, but especially the winter walk.  I don't know how they do it, but whatever date Epilepsy Association picks, the weather is absolutely horrible.  One year we couldn't even get out of our driveway to attend, but other than that, we've gone every time.  The event is MC'd by Tracy McCool and Bill Martin and this year they are having it only at the Strongsville mall, rather than also in a Cleveland area  eastern suburb.

Yesterday, we found out that the Tarles are going to be one of two featured families this year!!  I'm really happy for them and it will help make the winter just a little bit brighter this year.  We'll make sure that one of our vehicles is at the top of the driveway so we can get out, no matter what!

Ella loves the winter walk, but especially she loves spending time with her cousins and the whole family.  Here are the folks who attend:  Mark, Dani, Ella, Drew, Grandma Sue, Grandpa Phil, Uncle Dave, Aunt Megan and their three children, Uncle Greg, Aunt Joanne and their Lauren, Grandma Karen and Grandpa Eric -- and maybe this year a few more friends will join the parade.  It is that kind of event, and there are lots of smiles to go around.

Have a great day and watch out for Mr. Gilly!!