Bowling for Strikers!

In case you haven't heard, the Huber Heights teachers went on strike on Friday, and as of now (Monday night) there appears to be no sign of settlement.
Cindy is ready to line them up like tenpins, box their ears and take a ruler to both sides.
The biggest problem is a lack of communication--no one really knows enough to judge which side is causing the problem (or if both are equally to blame). This leads to discontent.
Fortunately Cindy is planning a yard sale for Thursday~Saturday, so it should keep her mind off of the issue.
But then again, every time the kids drive her nuts (approx. 257 times a day) she is reminded of it anew.

Soccer craze (or crazies?)

It has begun.

Today was the first day of soccer games and also team picture day. We were at the park from 8:30 to 1:40.

All 3 kids won their games, but the weather was horrendous. In this case, 'horrendous' means hot and VERY humid!

We are all now at home recuperating in air-conditioned comfort, thank you.

Only 6 more weeks of games to go!

whoopie

Free at last! Free at last!....

....Cindy fervently intoned.


Today was the first day of school for our eldest three kiddies... we've chosen not to think about the impending teacher's strike on Friday....

Vivacious Erin (9)--4th Grade

Handsome Cameron (7)--2nd Grade

and Sweet Poptart Makenna (4--almost 5)--Kindergarten

A Pleasing Conclusion....

Cindy finally mustered the intestinal fortitude to go downstairs to see what Cameron and Erin were doing in the kitchen.

They were cooking a birthday breakfast for her! Erin had gotten out a cookbook and had whipped up some waffle batter from scratch (she had even sprayed the waffle iron with oil!), and Cameron was making scrambled eggs at the stove. (The oven was off (whew!)—he must’ve meant ‘stove.’)



Perhaps even more surprising, they weren't fighting with each other!

I had planned on surprising her with the box of cherry-cheese Danishes that I had placed on the stove before I went to work, but the kids beat my present all to heck!

As Cindy relayed the above to me over the phone, she commented loudly that she hoped that the kids would wash the breakfast dishes too.

Cameron quickly replied, ‘That is the one thing we won't do!’

UPDATE: Erin just called to tell me what they had done. She had been watching Gilligan's Island, and thought, 'Why don't I get up and make breakfast for mom!' She was rightfully proud of her selfless service!

Scary Words on a Birthday Morn

Today is Cindy’s birthday, and at about 8:30 AM Cameron came up and asked a question that would strike dread in the heart of any mother.

“Where is the baking powder at?”

(Now, when Cameron asks this, it takes the anxiety to a whole new level, because he has been begging us to help him make a baking powder-powered bottle rocket.)

She grilled him, and found out that Erin needed it for whatever she was making in the kitchen. It seems that the oven is also involved. So she told him where it was.

Cindy is now afraid to go downstairs.

She called me at work instead.

Physics 101

The kids were in watching Gilligan's Island--the episode where they find clay tablets and Gilligan dreams about being a caveman--and caveman Skipper makes some remark about the earth being flat and people falling off the edge.
Cameron (knowing the earth is round) asked Cindy about what happens to people who live on the 'bottom' of the world, and why they don't fall off. She patiently explained that gravity makes a person feel like they are on top of the earth regardless of where they are, and that for all we kn ow we could really be upside down right now!
Cameron thought a second, and then said, 'We must be upside down when I get headaches!' (I.e., because the blood feels like it has rushed to his head.)
He's always thinking!

Which is sometimes not such a good thing......

Productive Saturdays

A rare post about me!

Last Saturday I spent the majority of the day doing touch-up painting inside the house, then cleaning out the garage. It feels like we have 2-car garage now! I was amazed at how much I was able to rearrange! Cindy was dazzled (dazed?) by the new spaces she can now fill up again! (She is hoping to have a yard sale soon, and our computer room downstairs is already half-full of boxes of unneeded items.)

Then yesterday I did just a bit more painting, then spent a good hour weeding in the garden (aka 'The Jungle').

Now you can see why I don't write about myself much!

There are few who can handle this level of excitement.

Egg in her face?

This week Erin decided to cook scrambled eggs by herself, and has now done it 3 or 4 times.

This is an amazing trend--Makenna making her own sandwiches, Erin cooking her own breakfast, Allyson sleeping through the night, Cameron......well, I'm sure if I thought long and hard about it I could think of something he can do by himself!

In the Dumps

Yesterday after work I went upstairs to find Cindy on the bed holding Allyson on her lap, gazing intently at her.
Then she sighed and said, ‘Allyson does looks like Cameron.’
Trying to console her, I somewhat vigorously responded, ‘She doesn’t look THAT much like Cameron.’
More sighs.

You see, Allyson at first resembled Cindy’s baby pictures, and also has glimmerings of red hair on her head, so Cindy was at last feeling that there was some prospect of a kid not looking like a Louis clone.

(Truthfully, Makenna looks nothing like me, but on the flip side, she doesn’t look anything like Cindy either, so in the game of likenesses, I have been ahead 2-0-1, and she has been eager to pare my lead away.)

Then last week my Mom emailed to say that in the recent pictures Allyson seemed to resemble Cameron (I never had the guts!), and Cindy has obviously been mulling this.

And mulling and mulling and mulling.

And mulling.

I’ll buy some peanut butter swirl ice cream for her tonight….

But really, memories play funny tricks on us, and looking at Cameron’s baby pictures afresh, I think there is less resemblance than I thought!
See, she doesn't have his weiner lips!

Getting on Allyson's Good Side!

Makenna has learned the trick for getting big smiles out of Allyson—talking sweetly to her in a high-pitched/falsetto voice from about a foot away.

In terms of results, it sure beats the heck out of Erin’s method of getting up close and trying to suck her brains out of the side of her skull with a kiss or playfully playing patty-cake with her head.

Or, for that matter, of Cameron’s method of getting an inch away from her nose (or closer) and making lots of loud guttural shouts.

Just Say No to Drugs

Lest Makenna becomes too prideful, let me say that she did NOT like the prescribed anti-infection medicine for her cut (see last week’s entry) even though it was grape flavored. I never really had to get involved with this, but Cindy had to hold her down—once with Erin’s help--and force some of it into her squealing mouth.
(This was after trying to cajole her for extended lengths of time with candy and other treats, and even having her talk on the phone with her cousin Kelsey who just happened to be taking the same yucky stuff).

Makenna the Chef

I was watching the 3 younger ones last evening, and when both Cameron and Makenna said that they wanted sandwiches for dinner I got up to go make them.
Cameron (who is 7) merely placed his order--‘PB-jam--and went to play on the computer.
However, Makenna (who is almost 5) quickly ran ahead of me into the kitchen, grabbed lunchmeat and cheese out of the frig, got 2 pieces of bread and neatly cut off the crusts, piled on her usual 3 slices of meat and the piece of cheese, and began chomping.
Cameron had to wait a bit longer, as I was sorta dazed for a minute or two.
Finally, a child who actively seeks to be independent!
PS: Cindy later told me that Makenna had done the same thing at lunchtime! Atta girl!

Potty-Mouth Potties II

Not having learned his lesson (boy is that a surprise!) [can you hear the sarcasm cascading down the walls??] Cameron said some other quite inappropriate things to Erin again today as they were leaving the Y, so when they got home Cindy marched Cameron upstairs and had him clean the master bedroom toilet, sink, and mirrors.
As he whiningly finished his tasks, he loudly proclaimed, ‘That's it! I'm not doing any more crap in your room!’
Cindy took written note of this and is planning to repeat this back on him some time in the future.
The near future.
And repeatedly.

Potty-Mouth Potties

With summer vacation winding down, Cindy decided to be a sweet mother and drive the kids 30 minutes to a fun park to play. Sometime during the play Cameron got mad at Erin and began yelling a true cuss-word at her. Erin replied with another real one (though she said it ‘sotto voce’ and Cindy didn’t know it until Cameron tattled and Erin confessed).
As soon as they arrived home, Cindy marched the 2 perpetrators inside and they were each given a toilet to clean.
As Cindy put it, ‘If you use potty mouth, you’re going to clean potties!’
They didn’t enjoy it much!
We parents enjoyed it immensely!

Timewaster

This is an addicting little game that has Cameron and Erin entranced. The object is to pop the bubbles, but it is harder than it looks!

http://www.miniclip.com/games/bubble-trouble/en/

Don't blame us if you get hooked!

Floyd Shuttle Service....

Today was a day we have been anxiously awaiting. Erin wanted to stay home alone while Cindy took Makenna and Cameron to swim lessons!

And she did!!

And on a related note, tonight we had to shuttle the 3 kids between their soccer practices at 3 different fields at staggered times. My task involved taking Cameron, then leaving him at practice to drop off Erin, and then leave her at practice to return to pick up Cameron and then return to pick up Erin. Cindy was in charge of taking Makenna and watching the babe.

Fortunately, Makenna's team was still having practice at Cameron's field, so though I did the above I didn't have to take Cameron back with me when I picked up Erin.

Yes, we have holes in our heads.....

Mere trifles

Cindy has been experimenting with the traditional 'trifle' dessert.

Traditional trifle consists of repeated layers of angel food cake, Cool Whip, vanilla pudding, and pieces of fruits of your choice in a big glass bowl. It is a light and refreshing dessert.

However, the latest Taste of Home magazine had a recipe that caught the attention of both Cindy and me as we flipped through it--"Chocolate Trifle." It consisted of repeated layers of choco cake, Cool Whip, chocolate pudding, and crushed toffee.

We had a chance to try it out 2 weeks ago, and to 'take it up a notch' we did half cake and half brownies. The brownies were supremo, but both Cindy and I felt that it was still missing a little 'kick,' so it was back to the laboratory (i.e., www.Allrecipes. com).

It was there that Cindy found an idea for choco-peanut butter trifle. So she used just brownies, choco-PB pudding made using sweetened condensed milk and Cool Whip, and plain Cool Whip topped with chopped-up PB cups.

This sounded like the perfect combination, but when we ate it we discovered that it had a bit too much punch--Erin said it was too rich, Cameron said it was too 'creamy,' and Makenna only ate a little bit of it. I concurred with Erin, and even Cindy admitted it was a bit too rich.

So, though it pains me to relate this, I thoroughly chastised Cindy and told her that she needed to do better! And additionally, that no matter how many times it took that she had to keep at it until she got it just right!

We'll keep you updated!

Further excursions into language

Cindy has taught Makenna a new--and extremely useful--word.
It is 'ginormous.' As in, 'I want a ginormous helping of dessert!'

As an avid student of the English language, Iwas not too pleased at this linguistic hedonism. Now she will stop using the word I had previously taught her for 'big.'

That would be "Hugeymongous."

The gluteus maximus of gullibility?

Last night Cameron was complaining that his leg was hurting, so Cindy adroitly said, 'Maybe it's a sugar cramp--that's what you get when you eat too many treats!'
The poor kid took her seriously.
So tonight when his leg (more precisely, where his leg and rear join) hurt, he confusedly exclaimed, 'Mom, my leg hurts even though I didn't eat a lot of sweets today!'

Cindy has asked that I not disabuse him of this misconception.

As a sidenote, when he showed me his hurt spot, I took it as a teaching opportunity:
'Cameron, that is your gluteus maximus muscle. "Gluteus" means "Butt," and "Maximus" means "big." Everyone has them. Ergo, everyone has big butts! Butt muscles, that is...."
He was suitably impressed with my command of English language history.
I can easily visualize him walking up to some cute little girl and saying, "Hey cutie, nice big butt!.....I mean, big butt muscles!"

Erin on her innuendo-finding toes....

Tonight Cindy and I played a nice game of Phase 10. Cameron was my partner and Erin was Cindy's partner, but though they enjoyed the game and learned the basics, it ended up where whenever Cindy or I would get a Phase that we would then get the kid's attention and have them put them down.
Anyway, both of the kids were passing the time by taking the Phase 10 list cards and inserting them between the leaves in the table. We told them to stop, and I mentioned that there was a lot of food particles in there.
At this point Cindy chimed in with what we now know to be ill-considered--albeit innocent--choice of words:, 'Yeah, there's a lot of crap in those cracks.'
About a second later, Erin got a big grin and exclaimed, 'Mom! Do you mean there is a lot of crap in our cracks?' and pointed to her butt-cheeks. Cameron then got on the bandwagon--he stood up on the chair and pointed his scrawny butt towards us, and while pointing at it, chanted, 'There's crap in my crack!' a number of times.
Genteel we are not.

PS: Cameron and I won.

PPS: Handily.

Pyromania 201

Cameron, like many boys his age, is seven.

Additionally, he loves to play with fire.

Every time I fire up the grill he magically appears by my side, trying to throw in leaves and other yard waste for me to roast.
Additionally, he loves to spray out the big flames that erupt on said grill (because the flames flare up even more before they go out).
He even loves to light candles, throwing in the unburned ends of matches to make it more spectacular.
His dream of dreams is to have a big bag of fireworks and a box of matches, with no parents nearby.

Well, today he accidentally found another way to start a fire. He put a Wendy’s cheeseburger in the microwave to warm it up, but it still had the foil wrapper on it. Fortunately Cindy was nearby when the sparking began, but the wrapper was on fire when she pulled it out.

I am sure that this knowledge has given him pause for thought.

I can see the wheels turning right now!

Cute baby contest photo winner!?

Here is Allyson at her cutest, which, we must admit, is pretty darn cute!

A little mishap....

At 6:10 PM, Kenner stepped on a small piece of glass on the floor which cut into her heel and got lodged under the skin. She began screaming and there was a fair amount of blood, so I took care of the bleeding first. She finally calmed down but she wouldn't let me dig around for the glass, so we ended up taking her to the local Urgent Care facility for the extraction.

Just to let you know how alert she was between her sobs, as I picked her up to carry her to the van she was already sobbingly calling out the seat next to Allyson--she was obviously leveraging her wounded status for as much gain as possible!

2 hours later it was out and she was fine. (She didn't like the novocaine shot, though!) For being such a good trooper, I told her we would get her some 'yucky ice cream.' She shot back, 'I don't want yucky ice cream! I want yummy ice cream!'

I blame Dora the Explorer...

I have invented a new Spanish phrase, mostly by accident, of course. It just sort of popped out.
Still, it is useful, and I could see it becoming a handy phrase in many otherwise awkward adult situations.
For example, if asked the following, I would tend to find this new phrase especially apt:

1. So, how would you like to watch the kids for a couple hours tonight?
2. Would you like a nice big helping of cherry pie?
3. Hey buddy, can you spare 50 cents for coffee?

In each and every instance, this phrase works wonderfully.

The first word (particle?) is the masculine 'El.' The second is the simple negative 'No.'

Say it out loud--but not necessarily around the kids....you'll like it!?

UPDATE: It could also perhaps be considered Cockney?

Guppies

Today was a momentous day for Cameron--it was his first swimming lesson. Both he and Makenna are in the same class at the Y, and thankfully they both enjoyed it thoroughly!
Their instructor was a girl, so I guess that she wasn't as handsome to Makenna as Uncle Ryan is in her eyes!

At lunchtime I joined the 3 older kids for an hour at the pool, and Cameron was showing me how he could swim underwater for about 15 feet (which is really good considering he uses one hand to both keep his nose plugged and scrunch up his mouth to keep any water out!), and swim on his back 15 yards or so.

Makenna was also swimming on her back wonderfully and quite ably on her dog paddle, and except for the time when Erin dunked her had a great time!

That's the spirit!

Erin was being a bit balky tonight about clearing the table, and as she sat in a chair obviously luxuriating in a pity party of one, from the other room Cameron sang out, 'Erin, keep the sunny side on your face, Erin! Keep the sunny side on your face!'
It didn't help nearly as much as setting the timer for 5 minutes and informing Erin that she either did it now or she would be doing it--along with one of the other kitchen cleanup jobs--for a whole week!
And no, I have no faith that this will be any more efficacious if used when Cameron is having one of his tantrums.

No faith at all.....

Like some marriages????

The past 2 nights Erin has slept with Makenna in Kenner's queen-size bed with nary a problem. Both girls fell asleep quickly and slept soundly.
Tonight, however, it was Cameron's night to sleep in her bed, and it unfolded like many a sad marriage tale. I'll let you figure out the parallels!

First they fluffed their pillows and situated themselves. They then both agreed that it was hot and they needed the ceiling fan on. A couple minutes later they were cold and they turned it down to low.
Next, Cameron rolled over to her and said, 'Makenna--let's snuggle!' They hugged each other platonically for a couple seconds, then Cameron said, 'Snuggling makes me hot!' and rolled away. Makenna echoed his sentiments.

The honeymoon was definitely over.

Cameron then asked for his boombox to listen to his usual 'Scripture Scouts' CD. After positioning this in the empty crib, they both settled down again.
50 minutes later I went upstairs and found them arguing--Cameron was complaining that she was stealing all the covers and was lunging in for the attack. I pulled him away and at my urging he gladly picked up his pillows and marched into his own room as Makenna cried disconsolately into her pillows.

Cameron was asleep in less than 4 minutes, but Makenna calmed down only after I tickled her back and told her how proud I was of her swimming! As usual, when I tried to give her a goodnight kiss she violently turned her head away and said, 'No kisses tonight!'

One from the Mommo.....The smell of mutiny!

We had planned on going to a park Thursday that has water fountains for the kids to run through. We have been there before and the kids had a great time. Well...we had some problems (talking back, sassiness, disrespect, etc etc.) that morning and ended up not going. Instead the kids worked all day long. No computer, No TV, no friends. It was great! At one point Erin kept asking me, "After I do THIS will I be done?" When I told her no she ranted and went up to Cameron's room. Makenna came down a few minutes later and I asked what the kids were doing, "They are in Cameron's room talking about how to tell you NO!" I had a good laugh about that.

Impending doom.....

Allyson has now gone 5 days without a poopie diaper. Her potent fluffs just about knock you over! However, it doesn't seem to be causing her too much discomfort, so we will give her a couple more days.

Personally, I think that midday tomorrow would be just about right, so Cindy can call me at work and tell me all about it!

Applied CTR

Friday night Erin was invited to a sleepover, and an hour later Cindy got a call from the mother--she had rented a PG13 movie for the girls to watch, then Erin had asked her what the rating was, and hearing it was PG13 she told them that she wasn't allowed to watch movies with that rating.
I guess they ended up watching something on the Disney channel instead.
Yes, we are proud of Erin for standing firm for what she has been taught!
(I guess we need to caution parents beforehand now!)

'Cussing' ABC's, with some D's, F's, and S's to boot!

Our kids excel at many things, but their true genius lies in their exceedingly fine tattle-telling.

A month or two ago Erin ran in and breathlessly announced, 'Cameron said the F-word!' Cindy started hyperventilating until she realized that he had said 'freakin'' as in 'freakin' idiot.' Still not a good word, mind you, but much less traumatic to a parent.

So for the benefit of those of you who may visit our family some day, I am providing a quick reference guide of taboo words.

The 'S-Word': Stupid
The 'D-Word': Dummy
The 'R-Word': Retard
The 'P-Word': Cameron's favorite word when in the height of anger, it is the anatomically correct word for an inculator, ding-a-ling, or whatever other euphemism you might care to use.

I am sure that this list will have future additions.....

Jungle survival, etc.

Last night it was my turn to read to Cameron, and he picked a book about animals. One of the pages was about jungle birds, like parrots and toucans. The text told about how parrots use their beaks to break nuts open, and how the toucan's beak is made out of the same material as our fingernails. Cameron commented that such a beak must not be very strong because he could bend his own fingernails, but I corrected him and said it was probably a lot thicker and thus a lot stronger.
'So,' he effortlessly extrapolated, 'If we were in a jungle we could cut off the head of a toucan to crack nuts to eat!'
I digested this for a second, then kindly reminded him we had hands and could therefore use rocks to open nuts.
He seemed a bit disappointed.

Fishing, Part III

So, about the time we were leaving, Cameron casually asked, 'So Dad, how many did you catch?'

You know, there's nothing worse than going fishing with a kid who can both count and has a mind like a steel trap. (In Cameron's case the trap teeth are also tipped with curare poison.)

For example, I again regaled him with the story about the time I caught a bunch of crappie off a dock on the Snake River. 'I must've caught 30!' I reminisced.
'Last time you said you must've caught 15 that time. and by the way, I believe that you caught them using a red and white jig.'
'15, 30, what's the difference--there were a lot of fish!'

Still, there are some advantages to having a child angler that is counting age. Cameron baits his own hook, and most of the time he can unhook the fish too, which means that I can spend more time fishing!

And by the way, it was one. A medium-sized bass. Don't worry about remembering this, as Cameron will definitely be able to remind you!

Fishing, Part II

On Saturday morning (8-5-06), I woke up Cameron at 7:20 and we got ready and went out for some early fishing at the company pond. Though Cameron is a wonderful caster, he prefers to fish right along shore and catch the bluegills using hotdogs for bait. He caught a couple bluegills, then about 20 minutes later I heard a big shout and turned to find him fighting with a bigger fish, and I helped him pull out a 1 lb+ largemouth.
In the next 10 minutes he repeated this trick 3 more times. I know for a fact that #3 and #4 were the same fish, and I highly suspect that all of the first 4 were in actuality just one dumb, nay, imbecilic bass who couldn't stand to see bluegills getting a nice hotdog appetizer.
During the next hour he caught 2 more bass along with a number of bluegill (some of which he snagged with a bare hook), and he also had his line cut twice by what was either a large carp or catfish (there are a couple 3~4 ft carp in the pond).
We fished for over 2 hours, with Cameron going through an entire pack of hotdogs before he was ready to leave.
A nice father-son experience!

Fishing, Part I

At the company cookout a week ago Friday, they had the usual fishing contest. I made about 4 casts and came up with a nice 2.5 lb largemouth that was 17.25 inches. It was in first place up until the last couple minutes, when one of the bait-using ladies caught a catfish that was 23 inches. Length is the only judgment criteria, so once again the crown was stolen!
Now, I told you this before I go on to the next entry.......