Family Proclamation Week--Days 3 and 4

I think the Family Proclamation Week is having some effect.

There are the telltale nervous tics, the trembling hands, the incoherent babblings, and the cowering in fear and loathing.

The kids, on the other hand, seem unaffected.

Yep, Cindy and I are suffering from the symptoms of Post-(or is that 'Mid-'?) Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Tuesday night: It started off well enough, and ended up well enough, too--it was just that in-between of a couple hours that was unnerving.

Highlight: We got the 3 pinata sections paper-mached together with minimal problems.



Yes, what a happy family are we!

As to what happened after that, I don't recall right now what instigated it (though I have a good guess as to the 'who'), but one of the kids got to spend some quality time in their bedroom, and it was only with great intestinal fortitude that we let the monster--bless their heart--out to watch a movie together.
Amazingly, there was not a single problem during the entire movie. Except, perhaps, for my eyes. Partway thru my eyelids seemed to close on their own accord. I think it was due to the fact that I had been rolling my eyes in agony during the first part of the movie, perhaps the dumbest movie ever made. Nope, not Nacho Libre, nope, not about vampires and the girls they love, and nope, not a Barbie movie. Cindy had been to the dollar store to get crepe paper for the pinata, and she found a DVD for the same price. It was called Super Dave (you may recall this stuntman character from old SNLs). Anyway, a dollar was WAY too much. As Cindy said, at least we now have a GREAT white elephant gift!

And as Cindy as commented, 'Yes, our family seems to get along the best when we are all interacting with the TV rather than each other!'

Well put!

Wednesday: Ahh, this night made last night seem like a picnic!

Over the course of 2 hours, the crepe paper was applied to the pinata. All the kids helped--for at least 3 minutes each--but Ally kept at it (her fingers flew like magic as she spread the glue!), and Erin and Cameron did cut the crepe paper at times....





Then more kids sent to their rooms, dessert privileges were lost, and then while the rest of the family watched The Biggest Loser retrospective show, I fell asleep while reading a book. I woke up just in time to help get kids in bed. Then I fell back asleep again. Cindy will have to fill in the blanks (or the blankety-blanks....or blankety-blankety blanks....)

Crotchety Kids--PART II

Family Proclamation Week: Night 2

Unfortunately, tonight was more of a horror film than a Disney pic.

Kids were in bad moods with bad attitudes (let your imaginations run wild! Sorry, not wild enough!), which put the parents in bad moods, and it devolved steadily from there.
However, there were bits of sunshine peeking thru the dark and fell mists of despondency.
For the first time in 4+ years we updated our 72-hour kits and then Cindy had the great idea of putting them in an easy-to-access location!



And then I opened one of the 3600-calorie energy bars that had gone past the due date, and we all found it still quite edible. Kinda like a lemony cookie without a lot of sugar...(Cindy was the only one who didn't try it. She was chewing gum at the time. She didn't seem too dejected about missing this delectable dainty!)



Then Erin frosted a cake for dessert. At least the kids had a good attitude about this part of the evening!



We parents enjoyed this part too, as the deal was that if they got cake they would then go to their rooms for quiet time the rest of the night (it was only 8 PM).

Of course, it didn't quite work out that way. I had to help Erin study for a Social Studies test she 'remembered' at 7:45 PM, and the kids were less than quiet in their rooms.

Well, today is another day. Will it be good? Will it be bad? Will we survive? Stay tuned?
(At least I take some comfort in the fact that if the kids were ever to decide to leave home (or were kicked out) they would now have easy access to their 72-hour backpacks! Heck, I would probably let them take the tent too!)

Crotchety Kids--PART I

A week ago Saturday, Erin attended a Beehive activity where they learned how to do some basic crocheting.
Erin came home knowing one crochet 'move' (stitch?), and she spent much of the day working on it. By bedtime she had completed a 30-foot length.
Her problem came when she stated that she was going to make one long enough to reach from her bedroom upstairs to the couch in the living room downstairs.
The problem was that she said this in front of Cameron (aka Mr. "I love to compete and WIN!')
Soon he had a crochet implement-thingy (needle?) and a ball of yarn and got busy! For a couple days it was very quiet in the house, as Makenna also joined in the fun.
One day I went down in the basement, and there was Cameron sitting on the loveseat, busily crocheting as he watched TV. Always the inventive one, in order to get just the right amount of tension on the yarn coming from the supply, he had threaded (yarned?) it between a couple toes. (Sadly, I missed getting a picture of this....) He was quite a sight!
I now wonder what he would come up with if Erin got ever got a spinning wheel....he could probably manage to do the same thing just utilizing his body in imaginative ways....
Anyway, Cameron ended up with the longer crocheted length. Once he beat Erin definitively, he pretty much stopped. Erin had already stopped. Makenna had also started, done 10 feet or so, and then stopped.

Family Proclamation Week

Tonight was the first night of our "Family Proclamation Week". Last week for family home evening we planned out several things we wanted to do as a family this week. I won't tell you all the things we planned to do (for fear we don't do them) but will share what we do end up doing.

We each get to take a turn having our favorite dinner. Tonight was my choice, Chicken Alfredo Pizza. While it is not my "favorite" it was what we had and I could use leftovers to make something tasty. That always makes me happy. The kids all helped by rolling the dough, grating cheese, cutting the chicken, setting the table etc. Even Ally helped by putting napkins at every place setting. Before dinner I set some candles on the table so we could eat by candlelight. We did this a few weeks ago and the kids loved it. I loved it too because it seemed like dinner was much more calm and peaceful. Anyway...so as we sat by candlelight I read some paragraphs from the booklet on Families given out by our church. We talked about how families are the most important social group we belong to. We should love and help one another etc... It was nice. Then we ate.

After dinner was the most anticipated activity of probably the whole week.

We are making a Pinata.

Call us crazy but we thought it might be fun.

It will involve several nights and will culminate at the end of the week. The plan is to make it a Snowman Pinata. We will see.

Makenna got to choose a dessert tonight. She wanted Pudding Cake. It is her favorite. She made it with minimal help from me and served everybody.

The evening was a mostly fun one. I am looking forward to the rest of the week and lots of great memories for our family.

Win Some, Lose Some....

So today is the day Erin has been waiting for ever since she was born--it gives validation to her life, and brings a smile to her face (a rather saucy, triumphant smile anyway...

Yes, she is now officially 5'11.5", which puts her a full half-inch above my height.

She is basking--nay, even reveling--in her new-found glory.

During church today she looked over at me, and gestured to her, then to me, then spread her hands vertically to express the concept of 'Yo, Daddy! I am taller.'

I can well imagine what comes next out of her fertile mind--Nicknames.
Perhaps, 'Smallo' or 'Mini-Man' or maybe even 'Little One.' (Sorry Alise--that may now be my nickname too!)

So I lost one.

On the up side, Cameron has been on an origami kick for a couple weeks, and can whip out cranes and other birdlife. One day I had the bad idea of showing him some of the miniature ones I had saved from my mission days.

Needless to say, that put him on a new mission--to out-mini me! Well, today during church he made a pretty small one, so tonight I displayed my masterpieces again next to his:



(Ahem....Mine are on the LEFT....)

I helpfully commented that he had made a fine mommy-crane that nicely complemented my newborn cranes.

Speaking of media influences....

Before our recent trip to the Smoky Mountains, we bought a DS game for the kids that contains about 20 different little game (TouchMaster2).

Sadly, at the time we didn't realize how addicting it could be!

Yes, Cindy will play one of the games (DICE KING) for hours! (And the kids like to play it too....when they get a chance.)

And now look who is playing some of the games!



Oh, the humanity!



Just don't ask Cindy who beat her DICE KING high score yesterday by approximately a factor of 2!

Angels singing off key.....

That's what a missionary said a number of years ago, referring to our kids when they were being rather obnoxious at the dinner table.

Cindy and I chuckle about that missionary from time to time--we're sure he knows better now!

Anyway, here are some of the latest from the kids:

1. Kenner pulled out a card that read, 'What do you like best about your Mom?' She loudly answered, 'She has a big nose!' She then chortled uncontrollably.

Knowing that she loves her dad, I asked sweetly, "What do you like best about your DAD?"
She pig-snorted as she adroitly replied, 'You have a big belly that jiggles like jelly!'

2. Cameron was telling me something about something, and I gave a small chuckle. Erin was watching and commented, 'When Dad tries not to laugh he always rubs the hair on the back of his head!' A second later she added, 'Such hair as there is, anyway.'

I never exaggerate....much.....

I posted a couple things about Ally recently, but the proof is in the pudding!

For your viewing pleasure:

1. Ally the Horse 'ripping bark off trees with her whinny.'

TURN UP THE SOUND--if you dare.....(And just know that she is somewhat camera-shy, so she wasn't nearly as loud as she can be....)



2. Ally singing Taylor Swift's "White Horse" (Again, she is not belting it out like she usually does, but you'll get the idea.....)

Guess that Movie!

Having a Clearplay DVD player (one that allows you to edit out the bad language, scenes, etc.) is certainly an aid to education!

Of course, some educators do not consider rote memorization to be actual learning, but I beg to differ.

I finally watched a movie that Cindy had bought for me a year or 2 ago, and since we have the 'Filthy Filter' I watched it with Cameron in the room.

Having since watched it a couple more times, Cameron now has some of the lines down pat!

"I feel happy! I feel happy!"

"It's merely a flesh wound!"

"You and your stupid English kaaaaaniggits!"

"She turned me into a newt!"

"But what also floats in water?"
"Bread!"
"Apples!"
"Very small rocks!"

"If she weighs the same as a duck then......she's a witch!!!!"


And yes, his favorite scene was the duel between King Arthur and the Black Knight!
However, it is not very family-friendly, so I present his 2nd-favorite scene (no bad language, no other objectionable content)

......BURN HER! BURN HER!



Yes, I think I will regret this education of Cameron in the long run.....

Since Christmas music is already on the radio....

Twas 6 weeks before Christmas,
And here in the house,
Some young'uns were readying
For bed though they groused.

Kenner was reading
A story with care,
Rapt in attention
Was Ally's sweet stare.....



When what to my wondering
Eye did appear?
But an ad hoc boutique
And our Camerina dear!



With hair gussied up
In Pippi-ish locks,
He even posed for us
With an 'Uncle Rico* shot!'
(*Napoleon Dynamite inside joke....)



And after the fun
We welcomed Duran-Duran,
Or maybe Bryan Adams?
Or was it just a madam?



And I heard someone say
As they fled out of sight,
Thar's just sum'tin not right
About the Floyd house tonite!

Great insight!

This is a conversation I just had with Allyson.

Allly (whimpering): Mom, I just hit my head.

Me: Oh no! I bet it hurts.

Ally (whimpering): I hit it on the back of the couch. It hurts very bad.

Me: Where is it?

*Ally jumps off my lap while I am trying to kiss the terrible owie. Apparently she has a great idea.

Ally (with a sly smile on her face): Maybe some of my Halloween candy will make it better?

Me (thinking she is a genius): I am sure it will.

It did.

Horse Sense

When I was in elementary school—primarily in the 1st~4th grades—there was this girl who was batty about horses. She talked about horses, drew pictures of horses, and if I remember correctly, even had a horse-themed lunchbox! And while me and my friends were out playing war, me leading my squad in action against the nefarious enemy led by a boy I called ‘Squinty-Eyes,’ killing each other in dramatic fashion with our trusty forefingers, this girl and her group of friends (fillies?) would be prancing around the playground like horses, making whinnying sounds, pawing in the dirt, and otherwise looking silly. As this was pre-Monty Python and the Holy Grail, all they were missing was Patsy to go behind them banging coconuts together to make hoof noises.
But I digress…..
Naturally, Joyce and I didn’t get along too well either. I’m not sure why, as it is not as if our fingers could kill their imaginary horses, though we often tried to drill their pretty (or so I imagine) ponies between the eyes as they blithely pranced through our kill zones. Had I been more clever at the time, I could have made some witty comment, like, ‘Oh, poor horsey! It looks like it’s getting a bad case of lead poisoning! BANG BANG! Haha!’ But as clever was an adjective that was rarely used when referring to me, I am sure I just crassly yelled out, ‘BANG! Your horse is D-E-A-D! Hahahahahahahhahahahahaha!’
And I will add that a decade later I happened to be back in that town, and what did I espy in the newspaper? A picture of Joyce, sitting pertly on a horse, basking in the limelight as Walla Walla’s newly crowned rodeo queen! Which just goes to show you that even crazy people can sometimes succeed in reaching their dreams!

So anyway, I told you the above to help you understand the below…..

You see, Ally makes Joyce appear positively sane by comparison.
Ally has been on this horse kick (no pun intended) for at least a month now. And it’s only getting worse. There is this cartoon on TV called Horseland, and, sadly, Cindy has been able to get DVDs of it from the library. And I ask you, how many times can a little girl watch the same DVD without tiring of it? Answer: I’ll let you know—at this time I only know that 20 times is not enough. (It only takes 2 showing to drive a Daddy to thoughts of self-immolation…)
She also goes around on all fours as much as possible.
And she has developed a whinny that can rip bark off of trees.
Fortunately, she is a house-trained. When she walks up to me with her legs assuming the ‘I gotta go to the bathroom real bad’ position and asks for assistance, once I try to hurry to the bathroom before the dam breaks, she then plops down on her hands and knees and s-l-o-w-l-y canters towards the bathroom, as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. Good taste prohibits me from mentioning the similarities between her and horses found in their respective bathroom behaviors. Let’s just say that when we were in the Smoky Mountains and she was on a horse carriage ride and the horse did both a #1 and #2 literally right before her eyes, she was enthralled. Way TOO enthralled! And she had Cindy take a ton of pictures of all the horsies in their stalls.


It’s amazing how long a blog post can be when one is sitting the backseat of a car during a business trip with nothing better to do!

I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale.....

When I got home yesterday, Cindy was busy making cinnamon rolls, and she mentioned that she had put in a Taylor Swift CD but that the CD wasn’t playing. She ran off to the store soon thereafter, and I messed with the CD player and got it working again. The result of this was that Taylor Swift music was playing when Erin walked into the room.

“Ahh,” she said, fluttering her eyes and flashing a mischievous grin, “Daddy’s in love with Taylor Swift! Just wait until I tell Mom!! It will devastate her!”

I sighed, and gently corrected her, ‘In your own little fairy tale mind!’

She retorted, “In your fairy tale she is Goldilocks!”

Yep, sometimes she comes up with some good ones!

As an aside, Allyson loves TS, and especially ‘White Horse.’ She often sits in front of the CD player and plays it over and over again, singing along as well as she can.

And hey, truth be known, I sometimes listen to her CDs at work while I’m working on a long translation.

If you're happy and you know it.....

Good Mood Gig from SAM-e\



My friend, Kate, over at the clean plate club, needs help. She is trying to win the job of blog writer at the Good Mood Gig Talent Search. Please click on the above link and vote for her. Then go check out her blog to see her two adorable kids, the yummy food she cooks and the super cute crafts she makes. But VOTE first....then again tomorrow...then again the next day....until October 31st.. Thanks.

Be wary....very wary

6 months ago I purchased a book at the Library Book Sale. Library book sales are great because you can get books "cheap". Paperbacks are usually 50 cents and hardbacks $1. We take our carry-on suitcases and load them up with books for us and the kids. Louis and I look forward to going every time they have one. Last April, at the sale, I picked out
"The Emancipator's Wife" A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln.
I started it about 1 month ago. While it was interesting it took some time to "develop" the story and it wasn't until almost page 200 that Mr. Lincoln and Mary Todd actually met. From then on it has been much more interesting.
Well...yesterday evening I pulled out my book to spend some time immersed in the life of Mr. Lincoln and Mary. Although it was only 9:30 and I wanted to continue to read I didn't. This is the page I stopped on.

WHY DID I STOP HERE YOU'RE WONDERING......

BECAUSE THIS WAS THE NEXT PAGE

This entire section of the book....pages 243 -274...are in the book twice. I wouldn't mind so much if only the pages 323-355 were in the book once! That's right. I am completely missing 32 pages of my book. No wonder the library was selling it.
Today there is another library book sale. I won't be going. I will instead write a letter to the publisher to see if I can somehow get the 32 pages I need.

A Useful Household Fact

Useful Household Fact:
Towels wrapped around one’s head (hair) just slide off when the hair is still thickly slathered with silky conditioner.

Scope of Application:
The above handy hint is for the benefit of housewives who are found in a situation where the house water supply is suddenly cut off right after they have generously massaged copious amounts of conditioner into their rich luxuriant hair while taking a shower.

Real-Life Examples:
This morning. At our house. It appears that the water was only off for a minute or so, but Cindy didn’t find that out until she had called me and then called a neighbor.
She provided the above useful household fact when she called me back to say that the water was back on.
She told me, paused slightly, and then continued, ‘Not that it would apply in your case, of course....’

POSTNOTE: On a related note, as I was giving myself a haircut on the patio on Saturday, Kenner stuck her head out the door and loudly opined, ‘A haircut? That is the LAST thing you should be doing! You need to get MORE hair, not CUT it!’

A Sister's Intercession

A number of weeks ago, some of you may have espied Cameron at church, wearing--of all things--a suit, a tie, and a white shirt. (A pristine hand-me-down from my sister's son's wardrobe.)

He looked really spiffy!

Later during the block meeting Cindy told me that she had tried to get Cameron to wear the suit and a white shirt, but that her charms had been de-spellified, and that it was only through the auspices of Erin that he finally did it. Erin, she explained, had somehow begged, pleaded, and cajoled, and had finally got him to buy into the idea.

It was later that day that I found that it was just the opposite.
Erin had 'bought into' the idea, resorting to a bribe of $10 bucks to get him even wear the scratchy-on-his-soft-neck white shirt.

Cameron's money-loving heart was touched by this sisterly sacrifice. However, he has not worn it since, as there have been no further offers tendered.

Two little gifts from heaven.....

Nope, not twins.
Hate to dash your hopes!

One night last week Cameron tutored Makenna in how to play soccer better. He showed her how to kick hard at a goal and how to follow up on her kicks. The whole time he was nice to her and a perfect gentleman.

That was Gift #1.

Kenner had a game on Saturday, and though she begged Cameron to come watch her so he could see if his one-on-one coaching reaped any dividends. He didn't want to, so I stayed home to work on my backyard "Big Rocks Around A New Big Flowerbed Project," but 20 minutes later he came out complaining that he was bored, so I cajoled him into coming with me to catch the second half of Kenner's game.

When we got there, Kenner was playing goalie.

She saw me, grinned hugely, and waved, saying, 'Guess what Dad! I scored 4 goals!'

I guess she got confused and thought she was bowling!?

That was Gift #2, which was a direct result of Gift #1.

Of course, I would love to relate that Cam and Kenner have maintained this close relationship of mutual respect and love since then, but as in most things in life, what I would like and what is reality rarely converge.

Good grief food???

So yesterday I was telling Cindy that due to my lack of exercise, I would probably keel over with a heart attack sometime soon.

She absorbed this, and then commented, 'Well, all that would do would give me a ton of insurance money that I would end up spending on 'grief food!'

Yep, she's always focusing on the negative! =)

Another Milestone

This past Saturday was a special day in our family. Makenna, was baptized.

She was so excited and happy. She is a genuinely happy girl and brightens our home with her laughter, giggles and smiles. We are so proud of her.

We were fortunate to have family here for the occasion. My brother, Mike, and nephew, Josh, flew in from WA. Now it would be nice to say they came specifically for Makenna's baptism but that would not be true. It just happened to be a coincidence. You see....he is OSU alumni and therefore eligible to win tickets to a game through a lottery (follow that...?). He won and was assigned to Saturday's big game. (By the way...OSU lost in the last 2 minutes of the game. Bummer.) They are big fans...notice the jerseys?

Here we are hanging out after the baptism with our great family.

Just try to get Josh and Cameron to give a "normal" smile to the camera. Impossible!

Allyson hugging on Hunter, her second cousin. I think she has watched too many princess movies. Flash forward 11 years to Stake dances...I think we are in trouble!

We were also able to celebrate Mike's birthday.

It was a great weekend.

Black-Bottom Coconut Bars

This is my first time doing the Cookie Carnival. I like baking so this seems like a match made in heaven.

I am basically the only one in my family who likes coconut. Louis may like it....I'm not sure. Either way though, I will be eating way too many of these delicious treats. I made them this morning and already have eaten 4! It is only 2:30 in the afternoon. I am in trouble.

If you want to try them here is the recipe.

The first day of school....

The kids had a nice, easy first day of school yesterday.
Cindy, on the other hand, was up at 6 AM with Erin (her bus comes by at 7 AM), got the other 2 kids ready (Cameron, who woke up at 7:30, was pretty miffed that we didn’t wake him up early so he could play on the computer), and then she spent 7+ hours basically cleaning the house from top to bottom and also canning 11 quarts of tomatoes. (Ally and her neighbor friend shuttled back and forth between their respective houses during much of this time.)
Things really picked up in the afternoon:
At 3:15 Erin called to say she had forgotten her volleyball practice clothes, so Cindy had to wait for the younger kids to get home (Ally was napping) so she could take her clothes.
I got home at 4:15 and hurriedly put together another batch of salsa (Cindy had scalded, skinned, and chopped up the tomatoes earlier that day.)
Cindy left at 5:20 to pick up Erin from practice.
At 5:50 I took Kenner to a soccer game, where I spent most of the game watching Ally and the same friend (the coach’s daughter) play. Kenner’s team won.
At 6:20 Cindy took Erin had an open house/orientation at the JH.
After the game I finished hot-water bathing Cindy’s tomatoes and pressure-cooking the salsa, cleaning up the kitchen as I went.
Cindy and Erin got home at 8:30, and Cindy enjoyed some leftover chocolate birthday cake and ice cream as her only dinner.
We got the younger kids bathed and into bed, then Cindy spent over an hour helping Erin organize all her binders, folders, notebooks, pencils, pens, and other learning paraphernalia.
I finished cleaning up the kitchen, brought all the bikes and scooters into the garage, pulled the Prizm into the garage, swept the kitchen floor, and then went upstairs to fold some laundry that Cindy had found time to do earlier in the day.
We both collapsed at about 10:30.
And it starts again today.......

An ‘80s Moment

With the demise of Michael Jackson, Cameron was introduced to Weird Al and his Michael Jackson spoofs at a relative's house. I must admit that I was an enabler after that, helping all the kids access the YouTube videos. Anyway that was awhile ago.

So this morning Cindy is in the computer room with Ally, who was in a rather daffy mood.
Out of the blue, Ally pokes her butt out at Cindy and shakes it, singing, ‘My butt is wide...’ (I guess she hasn’t memorized the rest of the lyrics--thank goodness for small miracles!)
(To understand the context, go to YouTube and search for “Weird Al Fat” to see his spoof of MJ’s ‘Bad.’ In terms of pop culture, it is a work of genius--esp. if you’ve seen MJ’s original (also on YouTube).)

As an aside, both Ally and Makenna still spontaneously break out singing, ‘Like a Surgeon.....making a cut for the very first time.’ (Another Weird Al spoof of a Madonna song--which explains his poses towards the end of the video....)

The kids all like his song‘I Won on Ebay' too.

DISCLAIMER: Please view responsibly. The Floyd Family shall be held blameless for any psychological damage resulting from the viewing of such videos (though they are clean) or for children singing the songs in improper venues, such as 'Don't you call me pudgy, portly or stout, let me tell you once again, who's fat!'

Name that smell!

The hot and humid summer days and nights finally arrived 10 days ago, and it has finally spurred the tomatoes in the garden to start turning red in usable quantities.
On Wednesday night, I made a big batch of salsa for canning, and Cindy took the rest of the tomatoes and filled 6 quart jars.

All the kids love to eat my salsa, and I thought they would be overjoyed, but once again they have wronged me, grinding me under their heels. (Isn’t there a scripture warning kids about the evils of doing just that?)

As Cindy related, ‘I was upstairs with Kenner and Ally and they asked, ‘What is that smell?’ I told them that it was the smell of Daddy’s salsa. Sweet Allyson, who is only three, retorted, ‘Nuh-uh! It’s a fart!’

Personally, I’ve never smelled any variety of such emanations (including those invidious SBDs) that smelled like a delicious combination of fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, and green & jalapeno peppers, but then again....

Them Floyds (and Direct Relations....)

At my sister's house last night we played a number of parlor games.

One of them was quite simple--a person walked out of the room, changed something about their appearance, then walked back in a everyone tried to guess what was different. My sister put her dress on inside-out for this game, and left if that way the rest of the night.

Another game was Psychiatrist, where someone is selected to leave the room, then everyone else decides on some rule for how to answer questions, then the person comes back in and asks questions to different people until they figure out the rule. For example, When it was Makenna's turn to leave the room, the 'rule' was that all answers had to start with an animal noise. Another 'rule' was that the answer had to start with the first letter of your own first name.

Anyway, I told you that to tell you this:

During 1 round, the rule was that when we were answering a question we had to do whatever my nephew Ben was doing at the time. He started off easy--he would scratch his head, or swing his arms around, or make kissing faces--and then really got into the groove of things.

And when it was Cindy's turn he took his shirt off and sat there bare-chested. Cindy of course had the presence of mind to not mimic him that time--though no one but the questioner wouldn've seen anything anyway through the veil of tears wrought by hysterical laughter.

Literally speaking????

I was making a double batch of brownies this morning and instead of putting them in 2 9x13 pans I thought it would fit in my large 11x15 jelly roll pan. During the cooking process they started to raise far enough above the rim of the pan to roll over the edge and then fall onto the bottom of the oven resulting in a somewhat smokey and stinky kitchen. (Darn it...I had just cleaned the oven a few weeks ago too!)
The neighbor girl walked home with Allyson and upon entering the kitchen said, "It smells bad in here."

"Yes." I replied, "I am burning something in my oven. Rats!"

"WHY?"

Then figuring it was easier to show than explain that my pan was too small and the food was falling off the edges I took her to the oven to see for herself. I opened the oven door and she looked inside.

"That's not Rats!" she said.

I couldn't disagree with her. Good thing I didn't say, "Bummer!"

Fatherly Compassion

In one of her last rushed preparations for camp last night, Erin decided that she needed to shave her legs.

A couple minutes later I heard her yelling out to me.

Walking in, I see her sitting on the edge of the bathtub (suitably clothed, of course) with her feet in about 6 inches of still-rising water, a razor in one hand, a bloody washcloth in the other.

Looking to where she was focusing her energies, I saw a narrow stream of blood cascading from the side of her knee, where she had evidently nicked herself pretty good.

Always the loving father, I remained calm and gave her the following instructions:

‘TURN THAT WATER OFF! THAT IS WAY TOO MUCH WATER FOR JUST SHAVING YOUR LEGS!!!’

After she turned the water off, I proceeded to get her a piece of tissue paper and explain how it would help stop the bleeding and aid in the coagulation process.

For some strange reason, Cindy burst out laughing when Erin explained the above unfolding of events to her.

I can only assume that Cindy is still somewhat lacking in the compassion department.

Summer Vacation Cabin Fever?

A couple days ago Cindy was walking by Erin’s room, when she noticed Erin making a sign on a piece of paper.

Looking over her shoulder, she read, ‘Monkey is in labor. Please do not disturb.’’

Puzzled about its meaning, she looked into Erin’s room.

She saw the following scene:

Erin’s big monkey was lying on the bed dressed in a frumpy dress that looked somewhat like a maternity gown, and her other monkey was at its side, holding its hand.

Cindy chuckled in quiet amusement as Erin proceeded to tape the sign on her door.

An hour later Cindy and Erin went off to run a couple errands, and Cindy asked her, “Oh, so you left your monkey alone in labor?”

“Not at all,” she replied in a professional tone, “I put some quiet music on to help her relax.”

Later on in the day, Cindy asked her how the monkey was doing.

Erin replied brightly, “She’s still pushing. She’s still pushing.”

Some time later Cindy heard Erin upstairs screaming wildly.

Wondering if she had hurt herself, Cindy asked her what the problem was.

Erin yelled out, “It’s a boy! It’s a boy!”

POSTSCRIPT: Later in the day Cindy saw Erin’s sign again. Sometime during the day she had added the following:

“Progress: [Daddy] Bear passed out. Sponge-Bob passed out.”

I hope Erin's camp teaches ladylike etiquette...

Sweet Erin was in the kitchen when she came up with what she thought was a wonderful idea!

"I know!" she gushed, "I should try to freeze my spit!"
She promptly began hawking into a cup.

Fortunately I was nearby, and between my gagging I was able to put a stop to that idea.

Frozen spit?

There is no way I would allow her to do that--at least not until she filled her mouth with something to flavor it first, like Hershey's syrup, Oreos, etc.

Songs from the heart!

Allyson has turned into our little singer. Any moment she will start singing. She like "The Wheels on the Bus", "Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama, my first word.", "Jingle Bells", and "Old McDonald". All of these have their own rendition, in fact, the Mama song is one Makenna sang at a school program and is actually supposed to be "have you heard" instead of "my first word". My favorite song she sings is "I am a Child of God". This is her way of singing it.

"Teach me.
Guide me.
You walk me by my street"

Puts a smile on your face every time.

On another singing note. Since Michael Jackson died the kids have started enjoying his songs more and more. Of course since we are not really Michael Jackson fans we like the weird Al versions. Now Makenna walks around singing , "Fat! Fat!" and Cameron and Erin prefer the, "Like a Surgeon" while striking some strange pose with one arm pointing up and the other down with their legs split.

An Extended Hiatus

Well, things have been extremely busy recently, and the blog has suffered. Will it continue to suffer? Only time will tell.

In the past month a lot has occurred:
1. School has ended
2. Erin and Kenner have joined the swim team
3. The basement has been carpeted and is now mostly finished (?)
4. My mom came out for a visit
5. We have 2 new sets of neighbors--across the street and to our right, and we'll have the ones to our left next week
6. I had to change the van brakes
7. Erin has taken a liking to mowing the lawn
8. Cameron attended Cub Scout Camp

and lots of other unremembered stuff.....

Anyway, I'll try to do better....

All Hail, King of Condiments

There are so many things to love Ally for:

She loves to snuggle;
She is (mostly) potty-trained both day and night;
She is truly penitent after being punished;
She loves her Dad (and sometimes deigns to show some affection towards her Mom);
She is usually very happy;
She docilely agrees to take naps and go to bed;

But of course the thing I love the most is her love for mayonnaise sandwiches.
She loves them for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner! And for a between-meal snack too!

May her lips never meet that foul, festering effluvium from Heck known as Miracle Whip!

Ticked Pink!

A couple weeks ago Cindy went into the bathroom to help Ally, and I can only assume that she stopped to adjust her hair in the mirror.
Anyway, the next thing I hear is a frantic, “Louis Louis LOUIS!!!”
She then rushed out to where I was, bowed her head down, pointed at it, and continued, “Is this a tick? Is this a TICK? IS THIS A TICK?”
Sure enough, just above her forehead hairline there was a cute little brown thing with legs that was securely attached to her scalp.

I tried to calm her down, jovially commenting, ‘Well, you sure are lucky that it’s not engorged yet, so it couldn’t have been there for too long!’

Then I ran.

For the tweezers (and maybe for my life?)

Fortunately, I was able to pull it out rather easily.

As I said to her, ‘And all these things shall be for thy experience....’

Fortunately I was far enough away by then to escape being cut in two by her light-saber eyes.

Mary Poppins Would Be Aghast!

It became clear last week that in her treks around the neighborhood and the surrounding hills and fields that Kenner had come into contact with some poison ivy. She developed a couple red streaks near her right eye and on her eyelid, and the doctor said to bring her in because it was in such a sensitive area.
She was given a prescription for some liquid, which the doctor warned would not taste too pleasant. However, he explained, she could wash it down each time with a spoonful of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup.
Kenner, who, when she doesn’t want to comply with a request, has nearly perfected her repertoire of whinings, groanings, and gruntings to the level of performance art (admittedly a low bar), has never been so eager--make that ecstatic--to take her medicine.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that we were out of chocolate syrup and had to substitute a spoonful of rich, creamy hot fudge topping (served cold in order to get a bigger glob on the spoon).
[Photo to follow later]

Apt Analogy

Cindy called me at work today.

I could tell she was in the middle of cleaning, as she asked me where she could put certain items of mine that had somehow ended up downstairs. (I can't imagine how!?)

I, being stupid beyond my years, commented, 'You're really tearing things up!'

After a moment of silence, she replied, "No, this is what I do every single day."

Certainly with no urging from me she continued, 'Do you remember when I said that everything I do around the house would be like you working all day on a translation and then your manager walking by and hitting the Delete button and then saying, 'Please do it all over again' e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e d-a-y?'

Yes, I got the picture. And, amazingly enough, I DID remember when she had previously made such a comment!

And now I am recording it here for posterity so that I don't forget it ever again!

Hopefully, anyway.....

What housing slump?

In the past month about 10 lots have sold in our neighborhood. We now have a house across the street (it just got sheet-rocked), a house to the right of us (framed but not sheet-rocked), and two lots on the left of us all staked out to be dug.

Sigh.

We were hoping to have a small neighborhood for a lot longer! (At the neighborhood party we had in late March (a goodbye party for 'Mr. Joe' as he was deploying) we had45 out of the 47 neighbors attend--and the 2 that couldn't make it still brought a dessert over!)

Fortunately, if they develop the next section it will be on the other side of the neighboorhood--not behind us--so we should have a couple more years of living on the "edge of civilization."

But I will add that the dumpster diving at the worksites has yielded some nice treasures!

Zippidee Zoo da!

Two week ago Friday was stellar weather and it was spring break for the kids, so I took half a day off and we all went to the Cincinnati zoo!

Unfortunately, so did all the denizens of Southern Ohio--I ended up dropping the fam off near the main gate and then driving around for a half-hour until I found an empty space on a sidestreet (and not a nice sidestreet either....)

Ally was really excited, and just as she hoped for, she got to see everything that Penelope saw in the 'Penelope Goes to the Zoo' story I made up years ago for Cameron or Kenner. Yep, elephants (elephant poop plays a leading role in the story), giraffes, lions, pretty birdies, and--the perennial favorite--the monkeys with the red butts! (Japanese monkeys.)

Photos.....

Here we are looking at the flamingoes...(use your imagination!)



(You will notice that Cameron is smiling and Kenner is not....I bet a psychologist could deduce a lot from this photo! And, though it looks like I am a translated being (that's a laugh!), it is just a smudged lens.)

And Erin even got to ride the choo-choo train, one of her lifelong goals. (Yeah, and it's $3 per head for about a 4-minute ride--I would have been happy to have made Erin wait much longer!)



Just before we left we got this photo:



Anyway, we had a good day--and we did not make the mistake of trying to stop at IKEA on the way home like we did last year--that was a FIASCO!

Bad influences at school....

Schools can be hotbeds of verminous influences on our children, and it is especially insidious when it is something that is sponsored and sanctioned by the school.

If it were only cruelty to animals (such as cats, especially) that would have been more stomachable, but NOOOOoooooooooooooo, it school-sanctioned cruelty to the most vulnerable in society. Yes, I am speaking of cruelty to vegetables!

Over a month ago his school had an assembly, where the world-record playing card long-distance throwing champ (an Ohio native) came to the school to amaze and amuse. He deftly threw the cards and sliced through carrots, cukes, watermelon slices, and who knows what else.

It was an epiphany for Cameron.

He watched the guy on a number of YouTube videos to get the throwing method down, and then began going through a bag of carrots, a bunch of celery, and whatever veggie he could find.

And I must admit that he is pretty good!



But like any addiction--he just can't get enough of it! Though it has been a long time, cards are still whizzing around our house at all hours of the day and night, and it is really pitiful to see him begging to be taken to DollarTree to get a 2-deck pack.

All I can say is that I am glad he has now found a use for his Pokemon cards.

Anyway, here he is in action....

Big Threesies

Ally celebrated the big 3 birthday last week.



In my family as a kid, if you wanted Mom to make you a cake you had to do extra chores that day (none of this namby-pamby 'Oh sunshine of my life, this is your special day and you can do whatever you want because you are so special!')

To bypass this requirement, by age 12 I was proficient at making my own cake from scratch. It was usually a 12-egg angel food cake (cake mixes were for those sorry wimps in other households who couldn't cook--or at least had more money!)

Though Cindy came from the above-scorned 'wimpy' family culture and has kindly yet firmly lifted me up by the neck and told me that things are going to remain their way on birthdays, obviously Ally wasn't taking any chances and was at least learning the ropes just in case the policy were to ever change....

What the heck!?

That, in a nutshell, is Ally's new catchphrase--usually said with a grin and a wave of her hand.

As in last Thursday when Cindy told her, 'You need to get dressed because you are going to M's house to play!'

'I get to go to M's house?'

'Yes!'

'I get to go again?...[Big grin].......What the heck!'

Through a pyro child's eyes

Last Saturday Cameron and I made our first fishing trip trek of the season to the company pond.

I caught a lot of small bass, and he caught a lot of bluegill.

Anyway, on the way there I pointed to some blooming trees, exclaiming that I sure liked those dogwood trees with their purplish blossoms.

He looked at them, and then commented, 'Yeah. And I bet they'd burn good too!'

All I got wasn't just a dumb T-shirt!

It's been about a month since Cindy went on a cruise with my sister and her 2 boys,



(cruise ships are famous for sumptuous feasts, and there was obviously a full cargo of HAM).

Anyway, in a round of email correspondence with a Japanese gent at the parent company I mentioned that my wife was on a cruise without me (for some reason people found that amusing), and he wrote back, 'Gee--I hope she at least gets you a T-shirt!'

Well, Cindy actually brought home THREE things for me!
1. A burnt orange-colored Cozumel T-shirt
2. A Royal Caribbean hat (though my nephew got it for free and gave it to her because they didn't want it....I guess that still counts?)

and to top it all off...

Number 3: A promise to let me peel the dead skin off her sun-burned calves once the skin really started loosening up!

Well, I didn't get any huge swaths of skin, but I did get enough big ones off to gross her out!

She had an enjoyable week, as did I.
She did fun things at pretty places....



And I rototilled a garden spot, worked on the basement bathroom, and bribed the kids with a possible trip to CiCi's Pizza if they acted at least semi-human for the week.

Silver Linings

Ally is incorrigibly optimistic.

Take yesterday, for example.

Case in Point 1:
As we drive into town there is a pasture that usually has a horse wandering around, and she looks forward to seeing it with great anticipation. Well, yesterday the horse wasn’t to be seen.
I said, ‘Oh, that’s too bad! The horse must be in the barn.’
‘Yes,’ she replied, then added with a tone of blissful satisfaction, ‘But I can see its poop on the grass!’

Case in Point 2:
Two nights ago I got all the kids in bed, and then Ally said that she had to go potty. She gave me a big cheesy grin as she said it.
By this time she was in her diaper and one-piece jimmies, so I sighed and trudged with her into the bathroom.
After laboriously extricating her from her nightwear and diaper, she sat on the toilet with this giant grin on her face. It was directed right at me!
She obviously thought I was ecstatic at the chance of getting to spend this quality daddy-daughter time with her.

Case in Point 3:
After doing #2’s in the toilet this past week, on a number of occasions she has hopped off the toilet and excitedly exclaimed, ‘That’s a big one!’
And then she has exclaimed, ‘Oooh! Let me smell it!’ and then lowered her head to get a good whiff!

Ahh, Life

So here we are in the basement, thanks to a tornado warning.

We are right on the edge of the possible area right now, so we are watching the weather on the TV.

Cindy, of course, is heading down past Atlanta by now, and there are also supposed to be severe thunderstorms thatta way.

Gotta love it!

UPDATE: No tornadoes hit ground it seems, and none came near us either.

Mr. Manners

Dear Mr. Manners,

HELP MEEEEEEEE!!!!

I am writing this under the covers of our bed--it is after midnight--and I am petrified! I don’t know who else to turn to, so as a desperate mother I am pleading for your help!!!!

You see, I have been reading a lot about ‘sleeper’ domestic terrorist cells and also about ‘dirty bombs’ and I have just now connected all the dots!

I THINK THERE MAY BE A SLEEPER DOMESTIC TERRORIST CELL MAKING DIRTY BOMBS IN MY OWN HOUSE!

And there’s proof!!

This morning I found a room of one of the other persons in my house like this!!



And another room was like this....



and this!!



And the worst was like THIS!!!



Based on my limited reading, I also know that ‘dirty bombs’ usually spread radioactive particles, so even if I am not killed today, I fear for my long-term health as well!

Fervently,

Terrorized in Tipp
PS: Do you have a Geiger counter I could borrow?


____________________________


Dear Tippsy,

First. let me gently--but firmly--assuage your fears. Based on the photos you so kindly provided, I can declare conclusively that the denizens of these bedrooms are not terrorists.

Terrifying, perhaps? Yes. Terrorists? Nope.

Second, this is not the result of a ‘dirty bomb’ filled with radioactive materials that can cause death and destruction, but rather the handiwork of a ‘pigsty grenade’ However, gentle irrational reader, do not run for cover, as this grenade is merely in the mind and not of the shrapnel-producing variety. (Let me hasten to add, that it is ‘in the mind’ in only a metaphoric sense, so please refrain from calling the neighborhood brain surgeon for some extraction surgery.)

Third, such detonation damage is fully preventable. Just like brushing teeth, a daily habit of picking up rooms and making beds can ameliorate such conditions.

One good preventative might be to sack up the mess and make it unavailable to the occupants for a week.

Another might be to post photos on the Internet for all their friends to see. (No need to thank me!)

So please, enjoy some care-free sleep!

Sincerely,

Mr. Manners

Vocabulary Building

A nursery tale (courtesy of Sis. Williams):

I guess Ally was running around the nursery room and Sis. Williams asked her to stop running.

Ally kept on running.

When asked again to stop running, Ally replied brightly, 'I'm not running, I'm jogging!'

Tasks for this week will now include teaching Ally other words to use to alternately describe what is ascribed to her, such as 'trotting,' 'loping,' 'sashaying,' and perhaps 'fast-moseying.'

She will make a fine lawyer some day!

Pioneer Trekkies

As I was driving some youth and a leader to the Columbus temple on Saturday, the leader and I got on the topic of long driving trips with kids.

We each exchanged our most vivid war stories (VHS and DVD players were always the Medal of Honor-winning heroes), and then, in a fit of brilliance, I made the following comment:

'Cindy and I have considered driving out to Utah and back a number of times. Then we pick ourselves up off the floor from laughing so hard. Yep, if we were to ever to do that we would be emulating the pioneers of old in the trek to Utah--we would be burying a child every couple hundred miles!'

Okay, okay------maybe 'twisted brilliance' would have been a more apt description. And I probably chuckled harder than the leader did--but then again, I know my kids and the PQ* of both parental units.

*Patience Quotient

A Fond Welcome

Yesterday I took off an hour early from work to go home and work on the basement.

I quietly walked in from the garage to the kitchen, hoping to surprise Cindy. I saw her back as she was busily working at the stove.

I said, ‘Hi!’ and she slowly turned around to face me.

Her face and eyes were all red, with large tears were dripping down her cheeks--she had obviously been sobbing big-time--and she immediately put her hand up to stop me from talking and simply stated, ‘I can’t be around you right now!’ and then after a slight pause, asked, ‘Where are you going to be?’

Remaining mute, I pointed down towards the basement, and then she went on, ‘I can’t be in the same room as you right now.’

She then proceeded to quickly march out the garage door.

When I looked out 20 minutes later she was sitting in the passenger seat of the van, her face still red and her eyes heavy with tears.

She gave me a slight smile, and then leaned forward slightly as she continued to listen intently to the final chapter of the audio-book* on her I-Pod.

Obviously, thoughts of hearing my condescendingly good-natured chortles at her emotional state that would most assuredly be wafting in around her earbuds would not have been conducive to her enjoyment[?] of the denouement.

*The Book Thief

All she needs is a big dog named Hercules!

Cindy was looking for a book tonight, and she had the bright idea of looking under Erin's bed.

As she later told Erin, 'I became violently ill, and after hypergagging I staggered downstairs to get a rabies shot before any animal that might have burrowed into all that junk jumped out and bit me!'

She said some other witty things too, but alas, I can't remember them....

Erin jest smiled on in her trademarked serene complacence regarding all things related to the nouveau-junkyard decorating she has perfected in her room.

(Feel free to guess at the movie reference in the title....though it may take you Forever, FOR-E-VER, FOR-E-VER to guess it....)

Ostrich Obeisance

I would like to say that Ally is unsullied by her siblings' behavior, but nay, twould be a lie!

As I was getting ready to put Ally to bed, she said, 'I want to say my prayers!'

'Ahh,' I thought, 'She IS still a sweet angel!'

I put her down and she immediately dropped to her knees, then immediately followed this by putting her head down on the floor, and by mid-prayer she was laid out fully prone on the floor, arms akimbo. (It brought back memories of a chapter in Les Miserables that described how nuns in the convent prayed before the altar....)

Needless to say, if you are ever at our house at family prayer time, you will think that you somehow ended up on an ostrich farm--the kids have their heads on the floor and their patooties up in the air.

I guess Cindy and I could interpret this as them kowtowing to us in abject obeisance, but hey, we aren't that deluded!

Maybe it has something to do with gravity. their heads are sure swelled up enough--at least in their own little whacked-out minds!

Anyway, I look forward to the day that Erin gets to give a prayer during sacrament meeting--hopefully the mike will poke her in the forehead before she can lay her head down on the podium!

A Fruitless Morning....

It is now my lunch hour, and what am I doing? I am at my desk working with a phone glued to my ear (which makes typing this a wee bit more difficult...)

The other end is mostly silent, punctuated at times by screams. No, it is not 1-800-MASOCHISM, it is Ally.

Cindy started potty-training her a week ago Friday, with stellar results. At least in the No. 1 category. In the other category, her streak has been more spotty. (Or should I say, her potty has been more streaked? Her streak has been more potty?')

Anyway, at Ally's bleating request this is the second time I have been coaching her by phone. Being in a cubicle farm, I try to do so unobtrusively.

Much as I would like to belt out my patented sideline (side-bowl?) chant of 'Poop It Out! Poop It Out! WAAAAAAY OUT!' , I refrain, as co-workers would look at me even more strangely.

So I am left uttering merely vague phrases, such as 'C'mon Ally, you can do it!' and 'C'mon! You're a big girl!'

But it is to no avail today--she just screams back at me, 'NO I CAN'T!' and 'NO I'M NOT!'

Last Friday went much better--I spent a good 30 minutes cajoling, coaching, and cheerleading, and in the end it exited her end.

She will either have a diaper on soon (as an eruption is very imminent), or she will succeed.

It looks like we will all have to wait and see!

Luck of the Irish ahead!

Today was a rather cloudy, gloomy day--until about 7:20 PM, when it began clearing out and resulted in this:



We were looking at it through our back window, but our good neighbors across the street also saw it and took all these photos.

I put two of them together to give you an even better perspective.



My side of the family is supposedly from Ireland, so maybe this will lead to good luck--at the very least we will devour our usual corned beef and cabbage stew with even greater gusto on the upcoming St. Patrick's Day!

Counterfeit Genius

As a follow-up to Cindy's previous post, tonight I showed Erin how to do a load of laundry.

When they were done, I had her pull out the jeans and sweatjacket she wanted to wear tomorrow. When I turned around, I noticed that she had hung her jeans over the laundry room door--right over the top of a pair of already dried pants. And since our bedroom door was the closest, she had draped her sweatjacket over it.

Seeing another teaching moment, I told Erin to take them down and drape them over the chairs in the dining room and then place the chairs near the heat vents.

She rolled her eyes, so I took the opportunity to take the jeans and her jacket, walk over to the stairs, and drop them down to the first floor.

She didn't like that so much, but I had other things to do, so I walked back into the bedroom.

Awhile later I could hear Erin out in the hallway--it sounded like she was writing something.

When Cindy got back from Choco-Chicks (I hear it was quite the feast! And why isn't there a Wings Kings or a Hot-Subby Hubby or Crunch Chumps group?), I went down to greet her, and I found a number of notes lying around on the floor around Erin's wet clothes.

There was the usual, 'Please come to my room when you get home' note, but my favorite was the following:

"Cindy,
Please hang these clothes up for Erin.
Preferably on chairs in the kitchen.
They need to dry.
Thanks,
Lou"

Erin finally did come down and hang them up--it was another way to stay up later!

Ownership

Last night Erin came home from basketball practice at 9:15 or so. Having had a long day and needing my quiet time I directed her to bed. Nearly 30 minutes later she still was not in bed and wanting to sit downstairs for a while. This was our conversation:

Me: "No Erin. I really want you to go to bed. It is almost 10:00 and you will be tired in the morning. You will also be mad because you have not done your laundry and won't have anything to wear."

Erin: "That is your job."

Me: "I am not going to do your laundry if you don't take care of your clothes."

Erin: "Ummmm......who bought the clothes?"

Me: "I did."

Erin: (While pointing to her head [where her brain should be]) "U Huh! Thas Right! It's all up here."

As she walked away I chuckled imagining her going to school in the morning wearing only the clothes that belonged to her, because she bought them herself. She would undoubtedly be very cold!

Meatball Sandwiches

Thanks go to my friend Jill for inspiring me to make these sandwiches for dinner. They were so good. I used my own recipe for bread and I found a Subway Marinara sauce online in a google search. We mixed it with some spaghetti sauce added some cheese and it was so good.

Cameron's eyes lit up when I told him what we were having for dinner because he LOVES and always asks for Meatball sandwiches from Subway. He was not disappointed.

Derbster

Cameron participated in the Pinewood Derby on Wednesday, and came out somewhere in the upper middle of the entrants.

(His design was created by his creative (go figure!) cousin, but the manufacturing was left in my less than capable hands.)



And no, that is not a guardian angel on Cam's left shoulder--it is merely the kid in the papoose.

Another reason why getting a dog would be superfluous.....

She was LICKING(!!) the bread dough residue in the mixing bowl.....



Messily shoving a cupcake into her mouth (after first biting all the frosting off)....



Notice the LICK MARKS in the applesauce.....

'Nuf said!

Husbands, some things are best left unsaid....

The bed was covered with unfolded, freshly laundered clothes.

Being ever the helpful hubby, I began folding some of the articles.

Seeing a pair of blue jeans, I grabbed them and at the same time casually soliloquied, 'Hmm, I wonder whose these are?' **see Cindy's version below**

I looked at the brand mark that is above the right butt-cheek, and continued, 'Ahh, these are mine.'

Cindy just about went through the roof. She grabbed them out of my hands, opened them up, showed me the big butt, and said, 'Did you somehow think they were MINE!!!?!!!!?!!!!!!!!!!?' She continued to chit-chat, bantering on in a non-linear fashion about a number of subjects--something about clothes-blind husbands, how good heaven is, that I was less than forthright (I believe that 'unbelievable' was the term she used), that it was fortuitous that there was an extra empty bed in the girls' room, etc., etc.

My protests that I had made that comment just as I had just grabbed them--i.e., when they were still just a clump of sizeless blue denim--fell on deaf ears.

Now I know why Hamlet was pondering suicide when he chose to soliloquy!

**NOTE**
Not quite how it happened. Having a load of clothes on the bed ready to fold, Louis began helping. As he picked up a pair of jeans and shook them out he said, "Are these yours or mine?"
EXCUSE ME! Is that a question you need to ask? Because if it is, then the diet I am on is completely inadequate. I would like to see him wearing a pair of my jeans.

Hmmmm?????


Sorry...I got lost in the thought of it. Let me wipe the tears from my eyes.

I think he will THINK the next time he helps me fold the laundry. No. He will not be getting out of it because of this. In fact...maybe he should be the chief laundy folder for a while....at least until it is obvious...without question as to who the clothes belong to.

Chug-a-Lug

Today was a tiring/vexing day at the Floyd house. All the kids appeared to be eagerly jostling each other for first place in the Oscar category 'Let's get Mom and Dad really mad!'

The Oscar for 'Best Male Mouthiness" goes to Cameron.

The Oscar for 'Best Female in a White Whine Sauce (or saucy whine?)' goes to Makenna.

The Oscar for 'Best Re-Creation of 'Unkempt Room with a View'' goes to Erin.

And the Oscar for 'Best Parroting of a Siblings' Script' goes to Allyson!

I'm sure that Mom and Dad would have also won awards in various categories, but they were never nominated by their peers.

Otherwise we might've made a clean sweep in the following categories:
"Best Cinemetography of a Tantrum"
"Best Imitation of the Incredible Hulk"
"Best Remake of 'Stalag 17'"

To illustrate the above, at 3:15 this afternoon Cindy strode into the kitchen, grabbed an unopened 1-lb bag of Christmas M&Ms, ripped off a corner, put said corner in her mouth while raising the bag above her head, and let gravity do the rest.

To show my empathy, I held out my hand and received a generous handful.

(As Cindy later explained, she was just 'putting into practice' what she learned today in RS about the wonderful properties of chocolate.)

(To 'Lilola's' daughter: Are you still sure you want us to live next door? It might make you appreciate your family even more, but the soundproofing that would be required would probably be cost-prohibitive....We are currently blessed with empty lots on either side.)

Time Marches On

Well, it looks like Ally is weaning herself from being a Daddy's girl.

Yep, I will soon just be "Ol' Whojiwhatsit" to our last child as well.

She now prefers to have Cindy put on her shoes, change her diapers, put her to bed, give her snuggles, and all that jazz.

But being the new center of attention is all roses for Cindy.

She called me at work today at 2:50 to ask when I would be coming home.

When I said, 'Soon' she sounded relieved, saying, 'I'm getting worn out entertaining Ally!'