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.......