Classic Utah

On the road today.  Again. Yesterday was all about airplanes.  Today we're in the car.  Well, we're in Brett's car. Exploring in the Explorer I suppose you could say.  Brian says it feels like we are getting the "Behind the Scenes" tour today.  We're traveling from Stansbury Park near Tooele to Cedar City.  Rather than trek back to civilization out and around the mountain we are taking the road less traveled. 

 

The back roads.  It feels so classic Utah to me.  The windshield is smothered in bug guts.  Tunes on the radio.  Nothing as far as the eye can see ahead of you. Mountain range on your left and another on your right.  The open treeless land stretches on and on forever.  No shade.  No water. No relief from the oppressive heat.  We've been on the road for near two hours.  I admit I have been a bit distracted on the computer, but I think I could count on one hand the number of cars we have passed in that time.  Utah highways are a mixed bag.  They bring a feeling of familarity.  They hold a feeling of adventure and strength to be out and on your own.  Then they feel scary if you let your mind wander into the what if zone.

 

My children will never be attached in that way to the long, lonely expanses of desert Utah highways.  I wonder what they will know.  What will be their grounding?  We've lived in three houses since Ben was born and are moving to the fourth before he turns seven.  Truth be told, that's what I want for my family.  Adventure, in a long term form, not just a two week trip somewhere cool.  Culture, to see it all and take what I like while leaving the rest.  Respect, for other places, peoples, things and God's creations.  Change, to add spice to life and teach my children acceptance of those different than themselves.  But how does that translate into their life experience?  What will they call home if home changes from year to year?  Will they be strong and bold enough to make friends everywhere we go?  Will I?

 

Then I ponder my Classic Utah and know that my job as a mother is to create the same home that I know inside their hearts.  To know that our family unit, no matter the walls look like, will be their memories. To create traditions to cement them into something familiar and grand in it's own rite.  For them, it will be a moving home, but that's okay as long as they have permanence in family.

 

PS - We just got onto I-15 and passed a speed limit sign saying we could legally go 80 MPH. Right now, Utah rocks just a little bit extra.

Good Summer Reads

Have you been looking for some good summer reads? Well, Ben has a recommendation for everyone.  After he stowed his luggage under the seat and settled into his chair on the airplane I heard him exclaim with a truely happy heart, "Oh good!! My favorite book is here to read."

 

He proceeded to open up the safety information pamphlet, remove the barf bag and familiarize himself with how many exits there were, where to find his life jacket and other things like that.  The motto in our family is "Safety First" and even if we laugh a little, we're glad he takes it seriously.

Funnies from the Kiddos

Driving in the car on the way to our end of school celebration dinner at Old Country Buffet on Thursday night Maddie was funny and not so funny. We congratulated Ben on being such a big kid and finishing Kindergarten. We talked about how old he was, which made Maddie really mad. She yelled about it not being fair and why Ben got to be the oldest in the family. We told her that Ben was in my tummy, then he had to come out to make room for Maddie, then she had to come out to make room for Jacob in there. Still mad about the situaiton, she yelled, "But I wanted to be FIRST out of your tummy!" with a terribly sour face. Following up on that whole getting out of my tummy to make room thing, she tells me, "It looks like you have a baby in your tummy again mom." Thanks. Anthony, Becca and Lucinda came to dinner with us. Brian had grand plans to make a slushie float for his dessert. He takes Icee stuff, ice cream and soda and mixes it together for what he deems to be the perfect treat. He got the ingredients and returned to the table to create. The ice cream in his bowl came from the soft serve machine and he had pulled the bowl down to make a tall column of ice cream. Anthony's eyes sparkled when he saw it and he proclaimed, "Mr. Brian has the Washington Monument for ice cream!!"

This Just In

It's pink eye. Dang it. I hate pink eye. Takes forever to get rid of. Not because the drops aren't amazingly efficient, the drops work like a charm. It just comes back. My theory is the cross contamination trouble. Dang it. Dang it. Dang it. Now to call our babysitter from last night and tell her to disinfect all the toys he played with at her house. Ugh. Glad they were only there for an hour and most of it was a the dinner table.

Do You Believe in Jinxes?

Jakey had his 18 month well check last week I think. In true Jakey style, we went in well and while we were there he vomited. It was after I had stripped him down and weighed him. My theory was that this wiggle monster was climbing all over and had just eaten his snack before we went to the office. Then he leaned over the side of the chair in the most akward of ways and pushed his belly way, way in and that's when he lost his cookies (actually it was mango he lost but whatever). The nurse reviewed his file and found not a single thing wrong with him. Developing right on track except his crazy good jumping skills. He's like 6 month early and GOOD at jumping. As she was making her notes in his file she comments, "Wow. I don't show we have ever had this little guy in for a single appointment other than well checks. Is that right?" I confirmed her statement adding that he had a fever once but it never went above 101 degrees and well, lets just say I'm not a first time mother. We're pretty chill around here, so No. He's never been in for a sick visit. Guess where Brian and all three kids are today? The doctor office for sick people on a Saturday morning. I'm pretty sure the nurse jinxed up with her comment about him never being sick. Yesterday when he got up he had eye gunk. Mr. Wiggles wouldn't stop long enough for me to really clean him up. I swiped and swiped as he roamed the house and figured I just never got it clean. About 10am I finally got a completely clean face when he nestled into my arms for a whopping fifteen seconds. Victory. Then he wandered my way again thirty minutes later with a mega hunk of green goop in his eye again. Dang. It was probably leaking all morning like this but I didn't notice. Our little buddy Becca had the same oozing crud last week, so I called her mom. The unofficial diagnosis was a non-contagious something or other related to the ears. The path of least resistance is through the eyeball I guess. Just need an antibiotic and a couple days, but watch for ear infections that often accompany it. EAR INFECTIONS???? NO!! We are going on an airplane in two days. Not a good combination. After my last flight with Jakey I banned him from any form of flying until he was 22 years old. He's bad enough healthy. He better not dare get an ear infection. He'll be a disaster. Plus, it will hurt him. What a rotten thing. So this morning I got up at 6am and went to do stroke and turn judging at the swim meet while Super Dad took care of the kids all morning, made a doctor appointment for Jakey then packed them all up to go into the visit. I just got home at 11am and they were still in the waiting room. Thanks Super Dad for, well, for being Super. You Rock!

Notice Given

At 6:08 this morning it was already painfully obvious to me that we were officially up for the day. Maddie was dressed and they were happily playing in their room. Last night we let them stay up an hour and a half late watching the A-Team on tv as a culmination to our celebration of the end of school. We're cool like that and the A-Team rules. My sister used to have the matchbox car that was the A-Team's black van with the red swoosh painted on the side and I was NOT allowed to play with it. Ever. My children also know the names of the characters of Werewolf and Night Rider. I had hoped that would equate to them being tired and sleeping in this morning. I fell asleep before they did last night. Ben walked by my room to use the bathroom and I had him do some quick math on my fingers. One and a half hours sleep lost last night plus one or more hours of sleep lost this morning equals mandatory nap / quiet book reading in bed time this afternoon. Notice Given. We'll see how the execution goes this afternoon.

Memoirs of a Temporary Tooth

Before I forget all about the weirdness that is having a flipper (my removable front tooth), I need to write my random memories down. Who wouldn't want to forget things like this:

• Jakey: Standing in the lobby at church yesterday Jacob would not stop clawing at my mouth saying "Uh-oh." He was desperately trying to take my tooth out of my mouth and he looked worried about the problem and won't be deterred.
• Talking: The flipper was made just a bit too loose, but I decided to deal with it hoping it would only be a few short months so when I first got it and wasn't used to holding it to the roof of my mouth with my tongue it fell out every time I tried to talk.
• Kiddie Kisses: Moms and Dads typically like to snuggle their little kids in their arms and give them a peck on their squishy little cheeks. Even a gentle kiss pushes the tooth just enough to dislodge it from position so my tooth falls to the bottom of my mouth.
• Good Night Kisses: I wear a night guard to sleep with because I grind my teeth so hard at night that I have actually chipped pieces off of three of my teeth. I've always considered it a less than sexy nighttime accessory. I try to kiss Brian goodnight THEN put it in and roll over to sleep. I never thought I'd prefer it. Now my options are the night guard kiss or a toothless kiss. I won't kiss Brian toothless. I have standards. That's just too weird. All of a sudden the night guard kiss got very appealing.
• Night Time Talks: For a couple days post surgery I was to wear the flipper to sleep so the swelling wouldn't overtake my mouth and make it impossible to fit the flipper in. Then I was supposed to take it out to sleep. With the delicate gum graft I was scared to wear the night guard fearing it would tear the grafts. It didn't take long to realize that without a front tooth I sounded like the kids in the Christmas song "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." When talking to Brian at night I quickly learned what not to say. Words with the letter "s" "v" and "f" are to be avoided at all costs. I learned that I should say, "I liked it." instead of "It's very fun." Of course, by now I've actually learned to compensate and can say those letters lots better toothless.
• Senses Overload: When the weather warms and the sun is shining for the first time after a long winter everyone is antsy to get outside. Most people however have the whole sneezing phenomenon from senses overload when they first hit the sunshine. When I first go outside on a super sunny day, I sneeze. Typically three times. The air rapidly exiting my mouth tends to go up over the flipper from the back side and creates a tooth projectile shooting it out of my mouth if I don't have enough warning or can't cover my mouth with my hand to catch the tooth.
• Nose Blowing: Same thing as the Kiddie Kisses. Pressing even slightly on my upper lip dislodges the tooth.
• Dining in Public: We have had lots of people to the house for dinner since the tooth extraction. I wish I could have captured the looks on peoples faces when over pleasant dinner conversation they first glance and see the black hole when a tooth used to be. Sometimes their eyes pop. Sometimes their brow wrinkles. Sometimes they do a double take. All of them realize instantaneously "Oops. I shouldn't stare" and divert their gaze playing it cool, but dang it's funny to see.
• Dining at Home: I take my tooth out to eat so I don't break that expensive little gem. Even my family does double takes sometimes when they forget about my new look. Maddie is the best. She will notice and giggle and cover her mouth with both hands and tell me I look so silly.
• Bubble Gum: I don't chew often. Ben got a pack of Bubbilicious gum for his birthday in April and he immediately gave it to me. It was tempting but still new to the situation I put it away in the cupboard. I knew it was there and it kept calling to me. After two months, I broke down and gave it a try. Immediate disaster. The gum stuck to the roof of my mouth dislodging the flipper with each chew. Not only that, it would fall and turn just a little bit so that when I bit down again I would chomp on it sideways making the edges jab into my gums and hurting me. I quickly relented and removed the flipper planning to continue enjoying that luscious, juicy gum. It went okay until I did exactly what you are supposed to do with Bubbilicous. Blow big, huge, strong, amazing bubbles. That didn't work at all. Just try the motions with your tongue. You push the gum up against your front teeth and push your tongue through the mass of gum and blow. Problem is, I'm missing one of those two key front teeth. Dang it. I managed two bubbles before calling it quits and tossing the gum in the trash. What a waste of a perfectly great piece of gum.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm grateful for modern medicine that will eventually give me a new tooth. Actually, I'll end up with three of my front four top teeth replaced by the end of this saga. My next appointment is this Friday. They will x-ray to make sure the bone graft took well and has grown natural bone into the matrix of freeze dried human donor bone. If it looks strong and healthy they take the molds for the next stage of my series of surgeries. We schedule it for two weeks later. On that day they will drill out all that new bone I just grew and implant a steel post. In the pictures it looks a bit like something you would see at Home Depot in their nuts and bolts section. The final tooth will literally screw right onto it. I'm crossing my fingers that we're ready to go and the bone is healthy. I've got to get this moving so I can recover and we can be free to leave for Singapore.

Are You Feeling Silly?

Silly Bands aren't new around here. Ben has seen them and liked them for a while now, which surprised me because, well, they are bracelets and bracelets are for girls. Of course silly bands are cool bracelets made of rubber band material in fun shapes that stretch for wear as a bracelet and then return to their original shape after you take them off. That means there are endless possibilities and we will never be able to have one of each kind or complete the set or anything. There is no end to silly bands. Lucky us.

Though I knew Ben wanted to buy some we hadn't made it to the store and he wasn't overly insistent. Then he went to Connor's birthday party at Pump It Up and his gift bag had three silly bands inside. He was elated and we were now solidly in the silly band camp. Within two days he broke one of them by stretching it really, really far. Tears were shed. Before I could get to the store with his cash in hand, they discovered Aimee. She is their supplier. She stalks the stores searching for cool new packages of fun shapes that Ben would like or Maddie will go nuts over. They have letters, numbers, kitchen utensils, cars, princesses, fairies, jewelry shapes and more. Some are even glow in the dark. We had Aimee watch the kids for us last night when we went to hear Representative Rob Bishop of the US Congress speak at the Temple Visitor Center. She brought a whole grocery bag of silly bands to "trade" with the kids. Ben reported back this morning that "I didn't actually have to trade any with Aimee. She just gave me lots more so they go almost to my elbows." Yeah. They love her and apparently, we love silly bands.

Food for Thought

Some things make me nuts. Raw meat is one of them. Everyone knows you must cook meat to the proper temperature to avoid getting violently ill. I dutifully hand wash the knife and cutting board I cut up raw chicken with and try to avoid cross contamination when I touch raw meat by washing my hands before I move on to the next task. This brings up my question of the day - At what point in the cooking cycle does the meat become cooked enough? Assume you have your raw chicken thaw on a plate in the fridge. You use tongs to pick them up and put it on the skillet or grill. Now it's time to check how the cooking is going. What do you use? The raw tongs? Get new ones? Chicken needs more time on that side. Checking the second time which tongs are you using? Give it two more minutes. Time to flip them over. Which tongs? Do you have to keep track of which side of the tongs stays on the cooked side and which side is allowed to touch the raw side? Now we cook the other side, but one side is raw, one side is cooked. Which tongs? Check it. Check it. Check it again. Chicken is grilled to prefection. How many sets of tongs have you now gone through? Do you get a brand new set to use to remove it from the grill? Just a question. It is about as frusterating as trying to wash my hair. The directions say, "Wash. Rinse. Repeat."

Angie's Certificate

Today Angie told me that she is really good at one thing. Therefore, I thought she should get a certificate. Here it is:

************************************************************

This certificate of Competence is hereby presented to

Angela Sue "Cutie Pie" Robinson Zufelt

for her amazing ability to

Make Kids Cry

Congratulations on achieving this superior level of performance.

We look forward to many great accomplishments in the future.

************************************************************

Where did all you people come from?

An hour late from traffic at noon on a thursday. What?! There is a sad little girl waiting for me to pick her up for a play date singing "Where is maddie?"

Kids Bowl Free

This is the third year I have participated in the Kids Bowl Free program offered by AMF Lanes.  Check it out at www.kidsbowlfree.com All you have to do is register your kids and they send you one coupon link a week.  Each kid can bowl two games free every single day the entire summer.  Now when I say it's the third year I've participated, you should know to interpret the word "participated" very loosely.  This is the third year I have signed up to get the coupons.  Yesterday was the first time in three years I actually printed out the coupons and went to the bowling alley and well, you know, BOWLED with my kids.

Conclusions:

• This program rocks!!  The kids had a blast and want to go again today!
• It really was free except for shoe rental.  Now that I know I can handle three kids in a bowling alley, I'll just go buy "bowling shoes" and save the rental fee for them and me.  Apparently I don't have to get fancy shoes for them, they just need a dedicated clean pair so there is not dirt on the bottoms to scratch up the lane.  Simple enough, any pair will do.
• Two full games might be a little too long since they had to enterain themselves by running up and down the carpeted area in the corner to keep from fighting with each other for the last seven frames.
• Maddie has to use the bathroom before we leave. (She went there, insisted she had to lock the door so I couldn't come in, missed and peed on her pants, screamed for me to come in and help her, I refused to get on the ground and wiggle under the door, told her to get off the toilet and open the door, twenty minutes later we come out of the bathroom, wet pants and tears on her face, now permanent grumpy scowl on mine.)
• Jakey can dance!  He loves the music.  He loves the fan blowing out air on the ball return.  He super LOVES to push the red call button so the attendant has to walk down and check on us.  The sweet guy brought down a beverage lid and taped it over the red button to try to save his sanity and make it so the kids would notice the button anymore.
• A great time to go bowling is when everyone else is still in school.  Most the time there was only one other mom with two kids in the neighboring lane.  When I was taking my turn Jacob snuck to their snack table and climbed up to see what they had.  There was a single soda cup.  Jakey leaned and leaned closer and closer until I nabbed him from the table.  No harm done, or so I thought.  Five minutes later the little seven year old boy came over to me holding the soda and started yelling at me, "THIS IS SODA!!!  OKAY?!?! IT'S OUR SODA!!"  Dude.  Take a chill pill.  What the heck do I care? My kid didn't even touch you or it.  Chill out.
• Don't go bowling on the same day as a camp meeting.  I physically juggled Jacob for over two hours in the morning wearing my patience thin.  Then two and a half hours in the afternoon at the bowling alley?   My back is really, really sore this morning.
• This time I skipped the camera not knowing how hard this bowling thing was going to be with three kids.  Next time I think I have enough hands to bring a camera.
• NEVER and I really mean NEVER EVER go without Lucinda, Anthony and Becca. I couldn't have done it without Lucinda holding Jacob so I could bowl and help the little girls with their turns.  She bowls in a league, so she is master of those dang ancient machines and putting names in a computer from the ice age.  The kids loved having their best friends with us to play together.

Prayers - Growing, Learning, Changing

We're changing in the prayer department around here. Jakey - The beginning of last week, just a few days past his magic 18 month mark, Jakey began to fold his arms for prayer. It makes my heart melt. We say "oracion" (spanish for prayer) and he grins ear to ear and folds his arms across his chest, hands sticking up and out on either side with his dimple showing deeply. Maddie Mae - IF she makes her prayer any more complicated than, "Heavenly Father, thank you to bless the food, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen," she NEVER forgets to include a blessing for Claudia and Aimee. The one at dinner last night was particularly unique and funny. Brian and I had to stifle audible laughs. "Thank you to bless Claudia and Aimee. Bless them to not get eat up by monsters so they can be safe today and not get eated up today." Ben - Several months ago he moved into a private stage with his prayers. He no longer wants to do personal prayers with us. That's fine. I do know he's praying though because he tells me when and why he prays for me. It makes me happy to see his growing faith and understanding of God.

The Water Cup That Wanted More

I was sitting on our back porch the other day when I happened to notice something that made me smile. I was sitting on the deck pushing anyone and everyone in the swing and happened to be facing the house. I noticed how clean and nice the neighbor's backyard light cover was and how dingy, old and gross ours was looking. For a half a second, I considered taking it off and cleaning it when I realized that could only lead to problems. You see when I was in college I lived in an apartment that we affectionately called Melrose Place. It was so named in honor of that old night time soap opera show in the 1990s that came on right after Beverly Hills 90210. (Mom - just to clarify, I NEVER watched that show. I know you outlawed it in our home and of course I would never disobey. Of course I never, ever watched it sitting two feet back from the tv set so at the first sound of your feet coming up the stairs I could change the channel. Nope. I've never actually seen it...but...umm....yeah...I've just heard of it.) At Melrose Place we have a more or less open door policy for walking into each other's apartments (at least the living room and kitchen areas). There were plenty of practical jokes and it was a real good time. Sometime before I moved into the apartment someone had taken off the light cover to replace a lightbulb at the front door and never replaced it. Our light was bare and all the other apartments had the clear glass cylinder shaped cover. The apartment was the sort of college place where when you wanted to move out you just had to find your own replacement and you could leave. That meant there were a lot of accumulated items that just stayed there because they had been abandoned or forgotten. Most of our dishes were in this category and not a single one of them matched another. One day when we had guests, someone commented how weird their cup was. It had a funky sort of lip at the top. Then everyone had to look at it and think about it and eventually, through the course of conversation, we realized it wasn't a cup at all. We had been using a light cover for at least a year as a cup. When we all stopped laughing, we washed it up and returned it to it's rightful place. Brian never lets me forget it though. Maybe it was him that figured it out. He was probably totally grossed out. Hey, at least we washed it.

Cable and Crabbing

We don't have cable.  Usually when I do a latenight babysitting swap my hosts have cable.  It's sort of a treat for me.  My question is that with a zillion shows to choose from, why do I always end up watching those darn crabbing shows like "Deadliest Catch"?  The danger at sea just fascinates me and it's almost like I think if I watch it then I'm helping the guys and thus they will be safer.

Ants

Overheard in the bathroom this morning. Maddie: Mom, there are ants in the bathroom! Ben runs in to inspect: Maddie, stop. Ben yells up the stairs to me: Mom, I don't think we should kill ants anymore. Remember the Ten Commandments from God? We aren't supposed to kill anything. Later that day they see another ant near the front door and inspect together. Maddie: I wonder why God made so many ants in the world. Ben: Cause they need a lot. God made lots of animals for the earth. Maddie: Mom? I think God made enough ants that they are going to destroy the world. Ben still claims he doesn't like any ants unless they are in an ant farm (they have done one the last three weeks at school), but apparently he isn't going to kill them anymore by command from God.

Chainsaw

Ben wants to show everyone, especially the grandparents how he made his own chainsaw to help him pretend to be a firefighter. The one question he has is why a fireman would use a chainsaw since it adds heat to the air and a fireman is trying to stop the heat so the fire goes out.

Tour of Duty

Hey family - do these faces look familiar??

What if I gave you some hints? Baker, Purcell, Anderson (Zeke), Goldman,

McKay, Johnson, Ruiz, Taylor and Horn

Just wanted my family to know that they should all be extremely jealous of me today. This morning I volunteered at Ben's school. (Side note - he has been real upset that the kids lately have been telling him he is a liar. He told them he's magic and his dad is magic. They don't believe him. I got to tell them the truth about Ben and his dad today. Those kids were eating out of my hands this morning as I described different tricks Ben and dad can do. Now I'm crossing my fingers we have no more tears about mean kids calling him a liar.) A neighbor stopped me on my way out and asked if I could help her with math. Then the babysitter (Wonder Woman Lucinda) said I could do errands or whatever and come late to get the kids after bus pickup. That gave me an extra hour. So I came home to do a little math with my buddy, but she was at school when I got home. Now the part that will make my family wish they were in my living room with me. I'm paying bills and stuff for my "free time" but the up side is that I have Tour of Duty playing. I got a Netflix subscription for my birthday last year and ordered the entire first season on DVD. It's awesome. Nostalgic. Tour of Duty was the best show growing up. It stopped my family in its tracks and we all watched together. It was on Tuesday nights. I remember when my mom helped with the youth at the church on Tuesday nights and had to miss it. That may be what put us over the edge into getting an old hand me down VCR from my grandparents. (My kids won't ever know what a VCR is!!) The most important duty we had those nights was to make sure we hit record at the right time so Mom could watch when she got home. More important than homework or anything. Then we'd watch the same night, even though it meant we went to bed late on a school night. Tour of Duty is probably also what made me fall in love with war movies. I'll take a good, quality war movie any day over all other types of films. Don't you wish you were watching Tour of Duty with me right now?? If you were here, I might even let you pay my bills.

Can you guess what stage jakey is in?

I did NOT teach him the finger wave. He thought that up all by himself.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

Anthony Cracks Me Up

We have some totally delightful neighbors.  Lucinda, Anthony and Becca (oh yeah, and Scott - husbands are always at work and get forgotten).  We spend a lot of time together and swap babysitting and trade off bus stop pickup from the kindergarten drop off.  Anthony is Ben's very best friend in the entire world.  Lucinda told me once that when she asks Anthony if he wants a playdate he will immediately say yes and ask when he can go to Bens/have Ben come to his house.  I'd say the feeling is the same from Ben.  They have tunnel vision, the two best friends.

 

Today Ben and Anthony were playing at our house and discussing which days they might have to miss swim practice because of t-ball and soccer practice.  One of them suggested that if it rained that would be another reason to miss some of their practices when I heard the following.

 

Ben: "Yeah, 'cuz if it rains then the sand on your t-ball place will be mud."

Anthony: "Maybe, but really if it rains then the grass will grow and they have to keep the grass at a certain tall."

 

Yes.  I'm sure they cancel practices regularly because of a serious phobia of growing grass. 

 

In other news, Anthony told me today that his mom got a new computer and wanted to check if I had the same kind as her.  While he inspected mine he absent mindedly said, "I think my mom got a new computer because she got so tired of me asking her if I can play games on hers."  It's even twice that funny too, because if I understand things from mom correctly, Anthony didn't exactly inherit the old computer, dad took it to work.

 

We all love Anthony around here.  He's a funny kid and always nice to Maddie and Jacob.

You Know You're A Good Cook When...

you ask your kids what they want for lunch, offering the suggestion of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Maddie replies, "No. I want the kind of sandwich that has all the grease all over inside of it." By probing, I learned she wanted grilled cheese sandwich, but still makes you feel just a little bit bad if that's how your cooking is described.

Center Piece

We went last night to the late night party. It was fun. The kids did okay.
Jacob was a wild man with the dancing and everyone there enjoyed watching
his moves all night. Eventually he found the drinking fountain in the hall
complete with a stool to help him get up. Lovely. I really loved the
centerpieces made of fruit. The kids loved it too and ate every piece of
fruit at our table.

They got in bed at 10:15 pm. Way too late. And the two big kids were up at
6:30 this morning. Can you say mandatory naptime today??

I Can't That Night, I'm Washing My Hair

We're supposed to go to a family party tonight. It starts at 7:30 pm. That's bedtime. I'm doing what I can to set the kids up for success, but I don't know how this will go over in the end. I've been considering changing our plans and claiming that I have to wash my hair tonight. My other out is that I can't miss the National Spelling Bee on TV tonight. Really it is. And you wouldn't want to miss that. Do they broadcast the National Spelling Bee anywhere else? I don't ever remember that anywhere else. Maybe it's a DC thing. I'm hoping tonight works out and is loads of fun, but I'm bringing extra binkies just in case.

Will Power

Meetings tonight. On the drive home after 9pm I was thinking to myself. Telling myself that if I was serious about losing the muffin top, I had better quit eating candy bars and chocolate muffins. I was resigned upon my arrival to eating an orange if anything at all. Thirty minutes later, Brian got some ice cream. Tempting, but I was strong. I don't need that. Then he sat down next to me and turned on the computer to watch a show we missed this week. Crunch. That soft, beatiful chocolate ice cream had crunchy things in it. I couldn't resist. "What is the crunchy stuff in that ice cream?" "Peanut butter cups," came the reply. All hope was lost. Now, I'm eating ice cream next to my sweetheart. I'll have oranges tomorrow.

Using Your Imagination Outdoors

It's been a long, long, long day. Usually is, when I have an overwhelming amount of computer work to do and the kids are in my care. There is never a moment that they don't need something or just need to be within two feet of me and loud, loud, loud. I was grumpy. Finally I got Jacob down for a much needed nap. Maddie set up with a little show in an attempt to trick her into a nap. Ben and Anthony figured out how to have fun in the back yard. They tied a rope around our Clifford the dog backyard swing and one kid would pull it up as high as they could get it to go in the air while the other kid squirted Clifford with a water gun. They squealed and giggled like crazy for nearly an hour when I finally noticed they had found some new fun. Somehow they caught on to the fact that when the outside unit for the air conditioner goes on the fan blows really, really hard. They put their faces above the fan to make their hair go wild, sang songs into it to hear their funny voices and found one lone pile of autumn leaves tucked behind the unit to throw up in the air currents and watch the leaves go wild every which way in the air. It brightened my day to see their complete and total joy. They are really, truly good boys and I'm glad Ben has found such a great friend.