Friday, January 29, 2010

It's Culture Day! Hee Haw!


Here's the deal...

Paige sat down the other day and made a list of possible days (remember 'C Day'?). The list included a Crazy Hair Day and a Backwards Day and a Movie Day and an Outside Day and about fifteen more. One of the days was "Culture Day".

My people don't have school today or Monday -- it's a 4-day weekend. Sarah was supposed to have a play date but it got cancelled because of an unfortunate case of strep throat. So ... I declared today to be CULTURE DAY.

We bundled ourselves up, hopped in the car and took off for the Detroit Institute of Arts. Around here people just call it the DIA. On our way we stopped at Michael's and bought three little sketch books and some pencils. My artists were ready to go!


I took my camera but never took it out of the bag. Instead, I used my phone. I love having a camera in my phone (I should say that I love having a camera in a phone for which I know how to get the pictures off of the phone and onto my computer ... but that takes too long!). Granted, the pictures look like they were taken with a phone but, really, I kind of like the grainy look of them.


Click THIS LINK to see the rest of our pictures!

Shark Boy

Nate has two loose teeth.
Today he asked me to feel them and, when I did, I found something new....


I have no idea how Shark Boy didn't notice this extra tooth on his own!
Don't you think his tongue might have bumped into it once or twice during the day??

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Oh Me ... Oh My ... Oh, Sam Johnson!



Riley couldn't catch himself a REAL cat so he took out his frustration on poor poor Sam Johnson!!!!!!!!!! It was the worst day ever for my poor little lady.

We came home from school yesterday to find Sam on the floor with an eyeball and a nose missing! It was awful. Tragic. Very very sad. So ... today I took him to the Doll Hospital (we really do have one) to get an estimate on having him repaired.

Can you believe that they wanted to charge me FIFTY BUCKS to replace the eye and nose (using OUR eye and nose)?!?! OR ... even better ... they would clean him, re-stuff him, and fix his parts for a measly SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!!

Sam only cost $12 to begin with.
I realize that we all love him very much and all, but, seriously.
I couldn't do it.

So, I went to Michael's craft store and bought some supplies. I fashioned him a little pirate-style eye patch out of foam and an elastic band and had him all set for when Paige got home from school.

She was actually pretty pleased with my handy work and now I think we may be able to avoid any additional surgeries (and the fees associated with).


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Paigie's Black Eye


Paigie got a junior-sized black eye.

Our first of the new year.

Nate poked her with a straw.


She also fell in gym class and got a big bump/bruise on her chin and knee.


She also crawled around so fast on the carpet that she got a blister on her knee.
And then she popped it.

She also managed to cut her hand.

She also came home from school one day last week to tell us (proudly)
that she won the award for the most boo boos of 2010.

2010!!


It's only January and she's taken the crown.

We are so proud.
So very proud.
Contigo? Contigo!

I bought these bottles for ... well ... for whatever I need a water bottle for.

I LOVE THEM!

If you don't have these bottles you should run out and buy some.

I got them at Costco.

I've thrown away all of the other water bottles in our house
and replaced them with LOTS of these.

No leaking.
No spilling.
Great for the kids.
In the car.
In a lunch box.
On a bike ride.
On a walk.
In the living room.
Anywhere that you prefer NOT to spill your tasty beverage.

Contigo.
Blue!?!

Sarah did a "science experiment" the other day.
I'm not sure what her goal was, but she managed to dye her hands BLUE.
It lasted for almost a week.


Cat Pictures

I haven't posted many cat pictures.
Here are a few shots ...
in case you were wondering what the little fellas have been up to .........................

Playdate Leftovers

We had a few boys over for a playdate last week.
When they left I found this in my fruit bowl.....

Sunday, January 17, 2010

C Day Update....


We made it through C Day with only a few mishaps....

1. Nate corrected me early in the day when he found me CHATTING with the mommies at the bus stop. I had a difficult time removing this particular C from the lineup!

2. While we didn't have a problem avoiding Chicken, Cheese, and Chips, we had a very impossible time avoiding CHEWING.

3. When time ran out on having take-out for dinner we bent the rules a bit and BOILED noodles (rather than ... say ... COOKING them).

Otherwise, we'd like to declare our very first C Day a blazing success!!

Since C Day I frequently find myself trying to discourage my people from having another Letter Day.
It comes up at least once a day ...
"Momma? What if we picked a W Day??"
I try my best to change the subject and run the other way!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

It's C Day!
(but we dare not Celebrate...)


When the kids came home from school yesterday, Sarah told me that there would be no CHOIR practice today. Then Paige told me that CATECHISM was also cancelled.

FYI: My kids aren't in catechism classes ... but Holly is and it's very important for us to keep track of Holly.

(There she is!)

They very quickly realized that 'choir' and 'catechism' start with the letter C ... and this spurned an entire afternoon of planning for our day of NO Cs.

Today there will be no:

Choir
Catechism
Cheese
Chatting
Cars
Cleaning
Candy
Cake
Cantaloupe
Crafts
Chicken
..and the list goes on...

Unfortunately, the Cooking thing in combination with the Chicken thing has put a damper on my dinner plans. We have decided that we MUST order out. Now the debate is on about what to order. We can't have pizza because it has CHEESE on it. Sarah wants Arby's. The rest of us are pulling for Thai food.
(I bet there is strength in numbers!)

You can not imagine the amount of time that has been spent in my house over the past 18 hours ... thinking about C words ... and planning for future 'Special Letter' days.

Just imagine the possibilities!
No Wii on W Day.
No Kisses on K Day.
No Hot Dogs on H Day.

The only rule we have so far is that we should never choose to have an F, B, S, P, or N Day ... because we do not know what we would do with Frank, Becky, Sarah, Paige, or Nate on those days.



Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Gamers

A while ago, Frank bought a couple of game panels for the kids. They are basically the dashboard part of a standup video game machine like you would find in an arcade.

He hooked them up to the TV and the kids can now play all the old school games ... Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Mario Brothers, Ninja Turtles, etc. It's great fun for them. You can see the concentration on their little faces in the photo:

Rules by Paige

A few months ago in a Girl Scout meeting we talked about setting ground rules. We came up with a list of rules that we will follow in our meetings. (Some examples: One person talks at a time. No stealing snacks from your neighbor. Keep your hands to yourself.)

Paigie loved this idea. She came home and posted a list of rules on her bedroom wall. I finally got around to taking a picture. I'll write a translation below ... she wrote it all by herself and the spelling isn't always obvious..........


1. No running.
2. No messing up the house.
3. No torturing the cats. (I love 'churchuring')
4. No taking stuff off the walls.
5. No turning lights. (off, I guess)
6. No taking stuff when you're not supposed to. (aspsto = supposed to)
That's the rules.

I Saw You in the Hospital


Paige's birthday was a few weeks ago.
On her birthday she decorated her whiteboard with a note to me and Frank:


It's true. We did meet in a hospital. We did say 'Wow!'

...And then I'll Take Over the World...........

I found Truman hanging out in the playroom like this:


He thinks he's a Power Ranger!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy ZOLO!!

Has anyone else noticed that 2010 looks like the word Zolo?


Cassette Tapes


When my parents came to visit last week my dad brought me an old cassette to listen to.

The kids were so excited to listen to it ... until we realized that we might not have a cassette player in the house.

Finally, we found that the CD player in Sarah's room has one attached. She grabbed the tape and ran to her room. About ten minutes later, Paigie returned with the cassette in her hand. She said, "We don't know how this works. It doesn't fit. Should we take it out of this box? How is this supposed to work??"

I had to laugh.

Let's take a moment to think about all of the kinds of technology that my kids have never seen.......

They have never lived in a house without Tivo.
They do not know what a VHS tape is.
They, apparently, don't know what a cassette is.
They have never seen a record.
They don't know a world without email, internet, or high-speed wireless connections.
They've never had a car without a DVD player.
They were astonished when I pulled out a corded phone recently.
They've never NOT had a cordless phone.
They don't understand how we didn't have cell phones when I was a kid.
And, how could I forget digital photography????

Happy New Year!

Samantha, Judy & Charles

Did I ever write about the time that I convinced the kids that their real names are Samantha, Judy & Charles?

We were in St. Louis and I can't remember why I did it. I told them that I had to finally tell them the truth and that Daddy and I had been using fake names for them for their entire lives. No one believed me but they started asking lots of questions:

What were their real names? Samantha, Judy, and Charles.

Why have I been calling them Sarah, Paige, and Nate? Those are their middle names.

Why didn't we tell them before? We thought they were too young and that we'd confuse them.

How do we spell our names? I told them. They learned quickly.

It went on and on until, to my surprise, they finally believed me! It was crazy.

I DID eventually tell them the truth (obviously). If I remember correctly, I came clean about it within the hour. But they really love the idea of having different names.

I'd forgotten about the whole name thing until yesterday. Nate asked me what his real name is -- he couldn't remember. I told him that it was Charles. He smiled. Paige piped up that she wished her real name really was Judy. She loves that name. Judy. Judy. Judy.

Samantha, Judy, Charles and I wish you a very happy New Year!