Horse Sense (and Scents....)

On Monday the kids got a taste of their heritage—some real horse-riding! And they liked it so much they did it twice! (Or maybe three times—I had to leave early for a dumb videoconference with Japan.)





Allyson wouldn't get within 3 feet of one. She made me hold her and if I approached a horse she scrambled over my shoulder in the opposite direction like a cockroach from roach spray, and spouted some nonsense about 'No! No horsey! No! No!'

Erin now says she wants to own a ranch when she grows up and have lots of horses. Kenner wants a horse. Cameron just smiles quietly to himself.

Our own Paris Hilton...

....with better looks, wider shoulder straps, less creepiness, more brains, less cosmetic surgery, and less money....

(Hat-tip to the Drudge Report for the Paris photo.)

Dam Frogs (Frogs be dammed?) (Frogs dammed for all eternity?)

Cindy just called (at 11:20 AM) and told me that the kids were all out front in their pajamas ‘playing with their frogs.’ (They found 2 last night, and built little box homes (prisons?) for them.) The kids are looking for grasshoppers and other delicacies.
As we were talking, I heard Kenner and Erin saying they had found another one. Cameron chimed in to say they found it at the little brick and wood dam he had built in the neighboring lot.

Cindy then commented to me, ‘That frog is probably now saying, ‘I’ve been dammed!’’

(We get a lot of mileage out of the homonym 'dam'!)

Yes, the excitement that goes on at our house is just awe-inspiring.

A Bedtime Story....

At approx. 10:45 last night, as all four kids were finally settled in their beds, I heard a gentle call from Erin’s room.

“Dad? Dad?”

I walked in and sat down on the edge of her bed, and said to her, ‘What’s up? Do you need to have a daddy-daughter talk?”

She smiled embarrassingly before handing me a set of still-warm earrings and pointing to the location on her bookcase where she wanted them placed.

At least she did ask for a goodnight hug afterwards--though she didn’t bother to sit up--so I guess she does know how to show at least some affection to her servants.

Yeah, yeah, as old as dirt.....I know, I know.....

As Kenner and I were driving to WalMart to buy her a new bike (a birthday present that is one month early due to the implosion of her existing bike--which it too small for her anyway...), Elton John's song 'Bennie[sp?] and the Jets' came on the radio.

I said to Kenner, 'Kenner, I was just a little bit older than you when this song came out!'

She said saucily, 'It must be really REALLY old!'

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And guess who we saw at WalMart? Brad Christiansen[sp?] and family (4 kids now)--they have moved back to the area for another 5~7 years while he gets his Ph.D. (They are currently living in base housing.)

A Lawyer perhaps?

This morning I was at Louis' work trading cars with him. His car had been sitting in the hot sun for several hours and when I put Allyson in her car seat this was the conversation

Allyson--- "Daddy's blue car."

Me---"Yes this is Daddy's blue car."

Allyson---"Blue car hot!"

Me---"Yes. Daddy's blue car is hot."

Allyson---"NO IT"S NOT!"

Okay then....I guess it's not. Whatever.....

Summer firsts....

There are new things going on at our house this summer.....

1. Cameron will now take off his shirt in public and when he is swimming.
2. Popsicle rationing is a thing of the past--Cindy has bought a ton of those cheapy long and clear popsicles, and doles them out freely--batting nary an eye (see below about the tic in her eye, though....)--to the kids and the kids in the entire neighborhood.
3. Allyson, thinking a Democrat must be president because of all the popsicles she has been given at no cost to her (as far as she knows), now asks for them as soon as she wakes us. (Right after asking if Daddy is home, of course.) Sadly, the answer to both is usually 'No.' (Clarification: It is always 'No' to the popsicle question.)
4. The kids spend their days outside playing with friends instead of inside watching TV or playing on the computer.

I'll try to think of more later....?

UPDATE: At 10 PM tonight, just a couple minutes after I had already told Allyson it was bedtime, she looked right into my eyes, and said in all seriousness, 'I want pink popsicle!' Her look of expectation was so precious that, well, what could I do?

'No popsicle. No way, no way! It's BEDTIME' I cooed to her.

She was rather depressed!

The week in pictures.....

An impromptu s'mores party with the neighbors


In the vicinity of the missing letterbox (near John Bryan Park)


The kids on the BIG slide


Cameron getting his Tarzan fix:


Walking along the gorge near John Bryan Park.


Five of the Seven Dwarves: Fishy, Monkey, Cheeky, Tonguey, and Silky


At Young's Dairy/Petting Zoo

Yes, we are certifiably nuts....

After a 2-year hiatus, the 3 kids are again all playing soccer again.

Sigh.

Practices started this week.

Sigh. Sigh. [I.e., double-sigh].

Cameron and Erin both needed new cleats, socks, and soccer balls.

Whimper.

Let me see if I can get this straight.
Erin on Tuesday night;
Kenner on Wednesday night;
Cameron and Erin on Thursday night;
Cameron on Friday night;
And Kenner on Saturday morning.

[Insert lung-collapsing sigh here.]

On the flip side, as I have been the parent in attendance every time so far, I have almost finished reading Jonah Goldberg's fine tome 'Liberal Fascism.' (No, it's not an oxymoron like the term 'Conservative Fascism' would be.)

Tic talk

In the last month (or maybe it's been longer--I'm just a guy and I don't keep good track of such things. Case in point: I mentioned to my Mom on the phone yesterday that Cindy hadn't really suffered too badly from allergies this year. Standing nearby, Cindy shot me a look that ricocheted off my watch and poked me in the eye and then wryly and dryly commented (I don't know how she was able to comment 'dryly' as her tone was dripping with mild perturbation) "Two months! Two SOLID months of sinus misery! Why do you think I bought a gross of tissue boxes, sinus medicine, and 3 more bottles of that ACF stuff?" But I digress....)

Let me try again....

In the last month[??], Cindy has suffered from a twitchy right eye. It doesn't happen every single minute[?]. As a matter of [possible] fact, it only occurs occasionally. We have not yet ascertained the root trigger of this malady, but there seems to be some sort of causal relationship between the onset of the symptoms and the close proximity of kids and stress [now I am being redundant!]

Accordingly, maybe it should be labeled a 'nervous tic.'

It seems to be mildly annoying to her, and I just wink back at her.

Hot Buns

Yesterday I took the afternoon off and we all went to John Bryan Park to letterbox (a partial flop because the letterbox wasn't there but there was a nifty covered bridge), to have a hotdog picnic (a flavorful success), to hike along the river (a great success), and to eat Young’s Dairy ice cream and pet their animals (both rousing successes!)

More on the above later, I’m sure.....

Anyway, as we emerged from the trees at the end of our hike, I felt someone’s hand grabbing my right bun. Looking over to see if Cindy was engaged in some rather out-of-character PDA, I instead found myself looking at the top of Kenner’s mop of hair.

‘Umm, Kenner,’ I said, ‘You can stop grabbing my butt now.’

She looked up at me and exclaimed, ‘I’m not grabbing your butt! I’m feeling your wallet!’

Pondering that reply for a second, I then dared asked, ‘Uh-huh....And why are you feeling my wallet?’

“Because I like it!” she sang out gaily.

I plan to tell this to any future suitors....it should scare them away nicely!

The stars have since fallen from the skies....

Just an update to the previous post.

Cindy called me at work the next morning to tell me that the cooperative spirit that permeated the house that day was merely a fluke. She then went into great detail about what each child was doing that day in an attempt to drive their dear mother crazy and thereby make their own day miserable.

Sometimes it's good to be at work!

all the stars lined up!

The kids have been out of school for about 6 1/2 weeks now (but who's counting?) Most of the time I feel like the days fly by in a blur. Nothing really ever get done. The laundry hampers are filled almost before I have them emptied. The house is constantly a mess. We go through 150 Popsicles a day and still (or so it seems) they can't get enough. Friends, sprinklers, free movies, bowling, bike riding, sleep-overs, a trip to the zoo and still "I'm bored" is one of the most common phrases around here!
Today it seems as though we are living in a fantasy world. I decided that instead of complaining about the kids never helping with the mess in the house I should be more pro-active. A year or so ago I had a great chore system that worked great...for a while. Then it lost its power. It has now been resurrected. The kids all had chores to do before watching TV, sitting at the computer, talking on the phone, or playing with friends. This included getting dressed (Erin hated that stipulation!), brushing teeth, and combing hair. I am just amazed at the difference in our home today.
These are some of the things that have gotten done today.

1/2 bath cleaned
full bath cleaned
family room cleaned
walls scrubbed
basement picked up and vacuumed
beds made in all bedrooms,
all bedrooms cleaned
3 loads of laundry washed and dried
trip to the store
dinner made for a friend
babysitting for a friend

Now it may seem the miracle is the "getting done" of all these things, but to me the real miracle is that all these things got done without fighting. Can you believe it? Makenna helped Cameron scrub the toilet because she wanted to. She and Cameron read their scripture together. They helped each other pick up in their rooms and enjoyed playing together.
This makes for a super-happy mom! I even had time to do some reading this afternoon. Ahhhhh...the stars were in alignment today!

Thankless tasks!

Yesterday after swimming at the Y, we took the whole family to the bargain theater to see a flick called 'Nim's Island.'

Aside: We had told the kids we would take them to the 3-D version of "Journey to the Canter of the Earth," but when Cindy went beforehand to buy tickets and found that there was no matinee price and that it would thus cost the family $50 to see it, she snorted in derision and walked back out.

And not to be the movie critic (okay, okay, yes, I admit that I do love to be the movie critic, right Alise and Kira?), though this movie had a lot of potential and also Jodie Foster (did she owe someone a favor?), it was just mildly entertaining. The kids liked it well-enough though.

Anyway, I held Ally on and off at first, and during the off times Kenner kept begging to sit on my lap. I ably fended her off, reminding her that Ally would not be a happy camper if she saw Kenner on her marked territory.

However, Ally later fell asleep on Cindy's lap and, precocious child that she is, Kenner brought that to my attention, so I had to resignedly acquiesce.

Soon thereafter, as she was sitting comfortably on her 'Lazy-Dad' theater seat, Kenner felt the need to comment, 'Dad, you have bad breath!'

No, she didn't get off either--she just kept on watchin'!

Thanks a lot Cameron!

Cameron was playing around on Miniclips.com and found a cool application--and right away he began asking for a picture of Ally's face.

I found this one for him:



A couple minutes later (admittedly with a little help from me...), she looked like this....
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(The scary thing is that we have seen kids who look like this 24/7!)

Thanks a lot Louis!

I must have gullible written across my forehead! Last night I was "tucking" Erin in bed and she asked me to push on her back. This is almost a nightly ordeal. She sprawled out on the floor and as I started to loosen up her back by massaging it etc. After a couple of minutes of this I tried pushing on it. Up her back I went. Nothing. A little more massaging and then I tried again. Up her back I went. Nothing.
"Erin, I am just not getting anything tonight." I said.
"I know," She said (Laughing hysterically). "Dad already did my back!"

What a STINKER!

Sweet Allyson

Allyson has a couple of new phrases. I think they are related to being 2. This was the conversation this morning when I got her out of bed.



Allyson: Is Daddy home?

Me: No. Daddy is at work.

Allyson: NO HE ISN'T!

Me: Yes. Daddy is at work.

Allyson: NO HE ISN'T!!

Me: Yes he is.

Allyson: NO HE ISN'T!

Me: Yes he is.

Allyson: NO HE ISN'T!



And so it goes.



Her other phrases are things such as...



"I don't want it."

"I don't like it."

"NO NIGH-NIGH!"

"I don't like you. You are mean." (This one we can blame on the older kids.)



Of course with a smile like this she can get away with it.

Have I created a monster??

Late last night I helped Erin get started on a free online beginning Japanese course (Mango Languages). In no time at all she was saying “Hello, how are you?” in perfectly pronounced Japanese.

A mere 30 minutes later she had already turned it into performance art (i.e., she was hamming it up big-time!)

She took the phrase ‘O-namae wa?’ (‘What is your name?’) and, reminiscent of a sick mynah bird who has watched too many Chinese B-movies, repeatedly squawked out a throaty ‘O-namae waaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?’

Ditto with any other phrase with a ‘wa’ at the end.

Konnichi waaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....
Anata waaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....

She was having a grand old time.

I then drilled her on the Japanese for 'What is this?' (Nan desu ka?)

She then started pointing at Cindy (who was oblivious to it all as she read her book) and making strange faces and saying 'Nan desu ka? Nan desu ka?' The obvious nuance (?) was 'What is this thing lying on the bed?'

However, it was 11:15 PM, and we finally shooed her out and to bed.

O-yasumi nasai!

More Back-Popping Excitement....

This afternoon Cindy again said that phrase so dear to my heart: "I think I need you to push my back!"

I cracked my knuckles and cackled with glee!

Now, since Cindy tends to tense up when I push (something about it hurting....), I have recently resorted to doing it unexpectedly while I am innocently 'loosening up her back.'

It started off very promising--I got one good crack with just minimal pressure during the loosening process. Then I continued loosening up her back and then PUSHED. One crack. I PUSHED again. A couple small cracks.

'I think that's good enough!' she gasped, but I kept on loosening, and then PUSHED again after she had foolishly relaxed. A BIG pop.

I then asked her to push my back. After she managed to raise herself from the floor, she loosened me up for a couple minutes, then pushed up and down my back a number of times.

"Nothing," she said.

"That makes sense," I replied, "As my back hadn't been hurting in the first place!"

"You are a brat!" she laughed. "A real turd!"

Then she commented that her neck still hurt.

I quickly offered to try once again.

I began loosening her back, and stopped to massage her neck. Then, in a brilliant flash of inspiration, I got a nice hold on her pretty nape and quickly twisted my wrist.

According to Cindy, I got about 14 cracks in that split second.

I really should take up chiropractic!

A 4th of July Fraidy-Cat

We went to Vandalia's fireworks display (on July 3rd), and Ally quickly decided she didn't like the sound or the view, and this is how she spent the first 10 minutes or so.....I took care of her ears, she took care of her peepers:



Later on we got her to look at some of them--she liked looking for ones that looked like 'Spiders! Spiders!' to her.

(The best part of the Vandalia fireworks is that we can park close to the entrance, watch the fireworks, pack up quickly, and be home in 10 minutes.)

The family that cracks backs together....

Tonight after a hard evening of playing in the yard (and me working in the yard), we had a back-cracking party. Kenner, Cameron, and Erin had backs that popped like Jiffy-Pop. Cindy's back didn't crack at all.

But then when every one of the kids eagerly volunteered to push my back (Allyson was jumping up and down in excitement!), the pushing and shoving and name-calling began, and the kids were unceremoniously herded to bed.

Mine really needs pushed (I dug out a ton of dirt from under the trampoline and moved that good dirt to our new raspberry planter).

As a matter of fact, that sounds so good I think I'll go have Cindy give it a try right now!

Ahh, the joy of a back popping--especially when the crack can be felt all the way up at the upper neck!

(Cindy has turned into quite the pro! Just one more reason to love her!)

Napoleon strikes again

Erin has used her new digital camera to do a lot of goofy things--take pictures of pictures in her Hannah Montana magazine, do a photo shoot with Makenna, take a cubic butt-ton (see Jer, you did teach us something!) of pictures of Allyson, but the kicker was when she coaxed Cameron to pose like Uncle Rico did for his glamour shot in Napoleon Dynamite.

Here is Cameron....


Then she had me give it a try....



But after a long search, I found Uncle Rico's pose in all its glory (I had to take a screenshot from a YouTube video....)



We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

Update: Of course, Erin is still a photographer in training, and didn't coach us as Deb ably coached Uncle Rico, with, "Okay, hold still right there. Now, just imagine you're weightless, in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by tiny little seahorses."

Toothless grin

Speaking of Kenner, last night I pulled out her remaining loose front tooth. (Photo to follow shortly, I'm sure....)

Cindy had brought her by work at lunchtime for me to give it a try, but it was still pretty firmly entrenched, so at 10 PM last night she came in to have me give it another tug, and that time it was a success.



At 2 AM (or was it 4 AM??), Kenner came into our room to inform us that the tooth fairy had left $1.50 in quarters in the tooth fairy pillow.

She then walked down the hall and Cindy heard what sounded like Kenner telling Erin.

"She's waking up Erin!" she exclaimed, and leaped out of bed and galloped down the hallway.

Full of concern, I did the only logical thing and went back to sleep.

Singing the Blues

As I ferried Kenner to a friend’s house yesterday, as I am wont to do, I started singing along with a song on the radio.

From the passenger seat I soon heard the well-worn comment, ‘Dad, I hate it when you sing.’(Even Allyson will yell out, 'Stop it!' whenever I start singing.')

Trying to find out what part of my singing didn’t appeal to her, I asked her one of those probing questions that daddies often utilize.

‘And why is that?’

With a big smile and in a conversational tone--as if she were elucidating something for the benefit of someone not quite firing on all cylinders—she replied, ‘Because you sing terrible.’

I tried another parry, ‘Oh, I don’t know. When I sing, I sing just like a pretty bird.’

Pondering this for at least 0.006 seconds, she then retorted, ‘Then birds sing terrible.’

Who can argue with that logic?

Prescient

As stated in the previous blog, we have now officially had a cookout and eatout on the patio.

And as presciently foreseen in an earlier post, on Friday morning Cindy looked out to see a skunk moseying around in the middle of our back yard.

Cameron suggested that I shoot it, and when I mentioned that it would stink up the backyard for weeks, he then suggested that we buy enough tomato sauce to cover the entire backyard, as that would get rid of the smell.

I decided to let the skunk move on and find other uses for our tomato-based food storage....

It's almost backyard cookout time!!

Today was finally the big day.....
After 6 hours digging it out a week ago Saturday, then another 4 hours (from 8:30 to 11:30 PM) last Friday night filling it back in with gravel, this arrived.....



20 minutes later it looked like this....



Our own little angel (Concrete Angel??--click on the song on our playlist at the bottom of this page...if it is working today....) watched amusedly as Daddo played in the big mudpie....



and the final rendition looked like this....



I am really going to enjoy removing the grill and picnic table from the garage! Of course, then I'll have to spend a couple more hours rearranging everything in the garage!

Sigh....

Looting from Erin's Blog....From Mullet to Muted: Allyson's first haircut

Today Allyson got her first haircut. At first i didn't want her to get her hair cut because it was so cute!! Even though i was only like an inch and a half shorter:0. Here is a picture of her before

and after.

Our daughter named who???

The music leader in Primary stopped me after church on Sunday to tell me that during singing time she had said, 'I need one of the girls to volunteer' to do something (I don't remember...(remember, I'm a Dad!))and a sweet little voice called out,
'Camerina is here!'

Cameron (a.k.a. 'Silent Cam') has finally decided to contribute verbally in his class.

We are both pleased and very worried! =)

(Mom update--- This was only muttered under his breath and he was not aware that it could be heard by anyone other than his friend he was trying to get a laugh out of. He is still 'Silent Cam'.)
(Daddo Update: Wouldn't you know it--it certainly did sound out of character...)

Oingo-Boingo

Trying to get into the good graces of my kids (or was it just an attempt to clear out a corner of the basement??), yesterday evening I assembled the trampoline.




I completed it at about 10 PM, and the 3 kids still awake jumped on it for a good 10 minutes before we shoo-ed them to bed.

They spent a lot of quality time on it today too....(that's a neighborhood kid, not Camerino, in the background.)

Allyson loves to be on it, as long as she is being held and her feet don't touch. Tonight, from her lofty perch she would slap me on the shoulder and repeatedly command, "Higher! Higher!)

Let the fights, injuries, and crying begin!

The Artful Dodger

Well, Cindy took my usual laurels away from me, being the only one in the family who never got sick.

Sickening, to say the least!

On the flip side, she didn't get to spend a day lounging in bed, then the bathroom, then the bed, then the bathroom, then the bed, then the bathroom.....either.

Anyway, we are all in good spirits and looking forward to the 4th.

Nope, not the last.

Cameron has been up doing both toilet tricks.

Then Kenner woke up saying her 'hair itches.' Cindy checked it out, and I didn't hear any gnashing of teeth, so hopefully things are OK.

Cindy commented that she was looking forward tomorrow to getting what everyone else has had--something about liking to spend all day in bed!

A final one for tonight! (?)

Erin got hold of the digital camera and took a lot of pictures of her and the other 2 girls.

I can only assume that this was a 'tough' photo she was planning to put on her blog.



It might be more aptly named, her 'stubborn look.'

Caned

Our good neighbor (our BEST neighbor) from our old house and daughter came over on Saturday to see the new house, and though it took awhile, Allyson finally warmed up and had a great old time with his cane.

Frogs, mice, spiders and bugs....

Cindy noted below the episode of the spade-bludgeoned mice and the gassed mouse, but that is not all the kids have been playing with.

Cameron and a fried found an old pile of side and were able to somehow catch a wolf spider--it was about as big as my thumb! It was quickly gassed.

The kids have also found a ton of little 1" frogs. Then on Friday when Steve and Ammon came over, they found a big toad, and great fun was had by all. (Except perhaps for the toad, though he was eventually released on his own cognizance a couple hours later.





What's next? A skunk? (And who will be gassing whom?)

You may ask, why is Louis (usually a zombie by 10 PM) still awake?

Answer: In the late afternoon I came down with the same case of Diabolical Dib-Dabs and Pharoah's Revenge that had kept Erin home from church today, so in between exciting episodes (and reruns....ooh, unfortunate turn of a phrase, that...) I fitfully napped. So now I am wide awake (but not, as you might think from reading these posts, hopped up on anything) and sick of being in bed.

UPDATE:
12:59 AM.
I am at the computer.
I hear a commotion upstairs.
I hear the sound of running feet.
I hear Cindy telling Cameron to RUN to the bathroom.
I hear strangely wet sounds.
I try running up the stairs, but I get dizzy.
I saunter (stagger?) instead.
I find a trail of brown throwup down the hallway.
And a big clump right by his door.
It continued into the bathroom and around the toilet.
Wow, that kid has a spew range, bless his heart!
I had to sit down, and commenced cleaning up in the bathroom.
Cindy worked on the carpet.
I then joined her.
I find that they had chocolate muffins with (for?) dinner.
Upset stomachs--the gift that keeps on giving!
Cindy is now spraying every door handle in the house down with Lysol.
Cindy's parting comment: "Now I know why pioneers had wooden floors! And why people are going back to them!"
My advice to Cameron:
1) Remember the trash can in your room!
2) If you feel the urge to fluff (i.e., emit flatulence), DON'T!! Go sit on the toilet first!!

Erin is also suffering from too much sleep, and is now watching a movie.

Kids say the darndest things....

Kenner at the beginning of church today, without any preamble:

"I wish you would have named Cameron 'Jesus,' then he would have been born good!'

Postnote: He was an angel in sacrament meeting today! Kenner? Not so much....but not too bad either.

Green....make that ORANGE....Eyes

As you may have noticed, when you come to our blogsite now, there is an auto-playlist of music that I like (Cindy will be adding to it shortly, I would assume...)

Coldplay's first big album (Rush of Blood to the Head) had the song 'Green Eyes,' and it is perhaps my favorite one on the entire album. (Okay, okay, after 4 kids, I must admit that the song 'Fix You' on their second big album (X&Y) has also had its charm....)

But I digress....

Cindy, as you know and as she'll never admit, has orange tiger eyes, and every time I listen to this song at work, I substitute the word 'orange' for 'green' in my mind and smile quietly to myself as I softly sing along, nodding my head in total disagreement.

The lyrics can be read right here.

BandAids? We don't need no stinkin' BandAids!

For a couple weeks Erin, and then Kenner, and now even Ally(!!) have taking to singing a recent song that they like. I didn't listen to the lyrics too closely at first, and assumed they were singing 'Keep feelin', keep keep feeling love...' but then I heard it on the radio and was surprised to find out that the real lyrics to the chorus were:

'Keep bleedin', keep keep bleedin' love...
Keep bleedin', keep keep bleedin' love...
Keep bleedin', keep keep bleedin' love...'

Filled with my usual empathy, I confirmed with Erin that my old ears were hearing right, and then made the comment (to no one in particular), 'This is Kenner's theme song!

I have chronicled in these pages the bumps, bruises, scratches of Kenner that lead to the effusion of blood (or at least something that may possibly, perhaps leave a slightly reddened tinge) on her legs, knees, elbows, back, face, and most everywhere else.

It's not that she's a klutz, per se....

Well, actually, it IS because she is such a klutz, bless her heart.*

Here is the song. (You will have to hit the stop button on our main songlist at the bottom of this page and then click on the POP-OUT PLAYER button to start it. The chorus starts somewhere after the first verse or two. (Yes, yes, I always try to provide helpful info to our dear readers...)

Speaking of BandAids, we go through about a gross of them every week. Even Ally now asks for them when she gets a boo-boo. And thus, in recent weeks the kids have learned more about my childhood than they have ever wanted--how I probably was given one or two BandAids my entire childhood career and I turned out just fine. (That's usually the point where they surreptitiously exchange looks and lightly clear their throats.

*POSTNOTE: About 6 years ago we were out in Jackson Hole at the BarS Ranch(or something like that) cowboy dinner show, and the bass player had a couple hilarious comedy routines. The one I remember best is how down South you can say anything disparaging, such as "Billy Joe Jim-Bob is a stealin' murderin' bank robber" or "Cletus is jest a useless good-fer-nothin'," but if you add a folksy '..., bless his heart' at the end it is perfectly fine in polite company.

Rub a Dub Dub

Cameron had been playing outside with his friends Friday night and this is what was left in my bathtub.

Letterboxing

We have been trying our hand at "letterboxing" this summer. Friday was our second time and the kids just love it. For those that don't know...letterboxing is when you find a hidden cache using the clues you can find here.
Some of the clues are more difficult and require hiking, compass reading, etc....We have not done any of those yet but I am interested in some compass reading after being at cub scout camp and learning a little about how to read and use them. Anyway, this photo is of where we found one of our "treasures". We went to a cemetery in Troy, OH and followed the "clues" to get to this huge tree. We had to pull out some huge mushrooms that were disguising the big hole in the base of the tree and inside was the box. None of us wanted to put our hand inside to pull out the box so we used sticks to get the box out.





(Daddo: It looks like they had ham for lunch!?)
Usually there is a stamp inside (rubber type) from the family that hid it. You make the stamp in your book and then put your family stamp in their book. WE don't have a stamp yet but that is a project for another day.

Of Mice and Men? (Boys)

Yesterday Cameron had a friend over and while they were also playing with Bryce, the neighbor boy, they discovered 3 mice in our egress window well. It is not the first time we have found a mouse in the well (Louis used the shovel to let it climb out that time). The boys thought they could do the same.

Fast forward 15-20 minutes later....

I am sitting with my visiting teachers in the family room and look outside to see them put something in the Cool Whip container that had been laying around from the bug collection they were working on the day before. (Whew...long sentence.) Cameron throws a couple of doused cotton balls in and the lid was clamped down. Suspiciously I inquired about what was in the container.

"We caught a mouse!" they said. "It's alive!"
I asked, "Where are the other ones?"
"Oh, they died. They are still in the window well. One of them got a bloody nose and we don't know what happened to the other one."


HMMMMMM..... I thought. More like bludgeoned nose and I can tell exactly what happened to the other one. As for the one that was caught "alive"....that condition doesn't last for long when you are confined in an airtight container with fingernail polish remover-doused cotton balls to breathe.

Hobo's aren't all that bad!

Tonight Cameron wanted to have a fire. Actually it is more like this afternoon Cameron wanted to have a fire. It started around 3:00 when Cameron came inside and informed me that he and his friend had prepared the fire pit with kindling and wood. It was now ready to go. I then informed him that it would have to wait.
Eventually we got around to it and this time Cameron wanted Hobo dinners (I am sure that is so not politically correct but.....oh well!) I tried to talk him out of it because all of my Hobo dinner memories are of charcoal cooked in foil and going to bed hungry! He was insistent.




I must say....I am a pretty good Hobo dinner cooker. These were the best I have ever had. The kids loved them (Erin and Cameron anyway....Makenna is not a meat eater and was eating at a friends house and Allyson was saving room for the S'mores.)

Erins blog

Some of you may be interested to know that Erin now has a blog of her own. She is quite excited about it and it looks like she will be posting often....If you want to check it out click here.

Ready? Aim! Fire!!

After attending his second year of Cub Scout camp Cameron has once again gotten the hankerin' for some shootin'. He earned his patch for bb shooting at the camp by getting enough hits on the target to add up to 35. He was pretty excited. I am excited too that this year it is easier to let him shoot when it is an empty field behind out house.

Things to do on a nice day

This is what Louis spent his day Saturday doing. We have a great friend who works with concrete and is helping us out with a patio. The weather was great for digging which was nice since he had to dig it down about 6 inches. Can you say "sore back"?

I of course helped out as much as I could. I took the kids swimming at the pool. It was a nice day for that too. :) Aren't I thoughtful?

To know me is to love me....??

Allyson has been suffering (since shortly after birth?) with a bad case of 'Daddy's Girl.'

For example, I have been going to work early and getting off early for a couple years now (my own choice--it's amazing how much work I can get done when there are few interruptions!), and so the weekends are Ally's favorite because when she gets up her fave Daddo is home.

According to Cindy, every morning when they go in to get her, her first words--accompanied by an expectant air of great anticipation--are, 'Daddy home? Daddy home?'

If the answer is yes, she beams. If the answer is no, her smile disappears, replaced with an air of dogged resignation.

I should add that 3-day weekends really mess with her mind!

Firebugs

As Cindy was running helter-skelter trying to get ready for her book club soirée, (see the previous post) Cameron was looking yearningly off into the distant waiting for his dear old daddo to come home from work.

The simple reason being that he wanted to make a fire out back while his friend was there and Cindy, being too busy to supervise it, had told him to wait.

When I did arrive home, Cameron informed me that they had already wadded up a bunch of paper and gathered some firewood.

They got such a good fire in the end, that we all cooked hotdogs and then made s'mores. This also helped Cindy out, as the mess was kept to a minimum both inside and out.





(I was waiting for the egg rolls and Chinese cabbage salad leftovers from the party, so I restrained my urge to chomp down on a dog.)

Cameron's friend won the eating contest easily--5 hotdogs on 2 hamburger buns and at least 2 (maybe 3?) s'mores. Allyson also ate 2 hotdogs--uncooked, with ketchup squirts on every bite!

Wives say the darndest things....

Cindy called me at work yesterday and her first utterance was, “So, have you ever seen a chicken running around after its head has been cut off?”

Assuming that one of our more curious-minded kids had asked her about this phenomenon, I replied in the affirmative, that yes, I had seen a headless chicken run down the alley when we butchered some behind our house in Walla Walla as a kid.

“Good.” she replied. “Now keep that mental image and think of me, for I am that chicken.”

Yes, on this day she had friends over for each of the 3 older kids, spent 3 hours in the van doing errands, cleaned the house, and then in the evening she hosted a book club meeting that required quite a bit of prep time in the kitchen. And I am sure that she did many other things as well, which, if you were to ask her, could be related to you in minute detail.

Multitasking beauty, thy name is Cindy.

We always wondered what made Kenner tick!

WARNING: THIS BLOG ENTRY IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR THOSE WHO ARE EASILY PRONE TO NAUSEA, VOMITING, OR MENTAL IMAGES BEING SEARED INTO THEIR MINDS LIKE A HOT BRANDING IRON ON RAW LIVER.

ANY FURTHER VIEWING OF THIS BLOG ENTRY IS TAKEN UNDER YOUR OWN RECOGNITION OF THE RISKS INVOLVED, AND THE OWNERS OF THIS BLOG BEAR NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY INJURY, MENTAL OR PHYSICAL (E.G., AS YOU TRY TO RUN TO THE NEAREST BARF BAG).

So anyway, as I was downstairs I heard Cindy yelling out for me from the upstairs. I could tell from the thinly veiled frantic tone that it was a 'I found a big spider' or 'I found a big moth' notification.

I trotted up the stairs and found her in the kids' bathroom, where she had been brushing Kenner's hair.

Her lips frozen in a rictus of terror, she pointed to the top of Kenner's head, and said, 'LOOKATTHAT!!!'

What I saw was this....



....a tick who had obviously been having a good feast. (This is the little rascal after removal. It is about 1/2" long (wide??). Though a hungry tick is small and as hard as flint, a well-fed tick is soft and rubbery and looks like it has swallowed an inflatable raft and then pulled the inflation cord.)

I got onto the Internet to find the best way to remove it, then found the tweezers and did the dirty deed. (As soon as I started, Cindy dashed out of the room....At the time I wondered if it was just envy that was making her so green....)

Kenner was a champ as I carefully extracted it along with a nice little chunk of her scalp, and only began crying when we applied some antiseptic.

We are keeping it in a bag ("PUT IT OUT IN THE GARAGE WHERE I CAN’T SEE IT!!" Cindy said...) just in case Kenner comes down with a rash or fever, etc.

On the bright side, at least it wasn't lice!
(Then again, Makenna is now saying that her scalp is itchy....)

The finished product

This is the pillow Cameron made for his teacher for her end-of-the-year gift. He did all the embroidery and I helped with the sewing. He would not tell me what she said about it when he gave it to her, but I am sure she loved it.

DADDO Comment: Could this non-divulged conversation between Cameron and his teacher be considered a variant form of 'pillow-talk'?

Way to go Erin!

About 1 week ago we got a "secret letter" in the mail from Erin's 5th grade teachers.
She was one of 26 students in all of the 5th grade selected to receive a Presidential Academic award. We were there yesterday when it was presented. We are super proud of her. She does not always like school and can become discouraged easily when she is "not getting it." She worked very hard this year and studied hard to get her good grades. She definitely deserved this award. Way to go Erin!

Maybe I need my eyes checked?

I picked up the kids from their last day of school yesterday and after we had been home for only about 5 minutes it was really, really quiet....and this is what I saw....




Ahhhhhhh..........I keep hoping it was not a mirage. If this is a sign of things to come we will have a great summer!

DADDO Comment: Of course, it didn't hurt that it was 90 stinkin' degrees outside with super-high humidity, and thus there was no one who wanted to step outside! That and the fact that they all want to rack up hours in the Summer Reading Program so that they can get the usual prizes.

Connor Prairie

About 1 month ago Cameron's SOAR (gifted program) class took a family trip to IN. We also went on the visit to Connor Prairie. It consists of a number of recreated communities from the early and late 1800s. We had a great time visiting the Indian village, the school house, the pottery shop, blacksmiths, etc., etc. Cameron and Erin both did the tomahawk throw, but neither got it to stick in the log (though Erin hit it smack in the middle).
What made it more unique than other places we have visited like this were the "characters." Everybody who 'worked' in the villages were dressed up in period clothing and also acted a part. They spoke as if they lived in the 1800s and had real lives in the community.
The best part was that we all got along!!! The kids were lots of fun and we enjoyed being together.
DADDO Comment: It goes without saying that the kids loved staying in a hotel with a swimming pool and a large variety of foods in the free breakfast buffet.