Mini boy

Ben shrunk for a short time. I'm so glad that we got pictures of it or else probably no one would believe us.

Cause she likes to hug...

Kitty hugger:
Bowl hugger:

I hope I've learned a thing or two since then

I like corn Chex cereal. I even like all the generic brands of it. Once when I was 10 or 11, I was eating a generic brand - let's call them corn squares - and I came across a good sized beetle in my partially eaten bowl. Dead, covered in corn dust. Did I show my parents or send a letter to the company who made them? No. You don't even want to know what I did. But I'll tell you. I dumped the rest of my bowl down the sink and filled myself a new bowl - from the same box -and ate away happily.

Ew.

What we learn from this story: 10 - 11 year olds are not very wise.

Another time, I was probably 10 or 11 again, I was supposed to mow the lawn. I got the mower ready, started it up, and headed onto the grass going over a big pile of hose. As I was on top of the hose, I realized, hmm, I probably shouldn't be on top of the hose. So I backed off and as I did hose went flying everywhere. My step-dad could not understand how I didn't realize that you don't push the mower over hoses.

What we learn from this story: 10 - 11 year olds don't have much common sense. If you need something done that requires common sense - don't ask someone of this age to do it.

Maybe I was just a rare slow-brained child. Maybe others of you would never do the things I did. If there are such thing as smart 10 year olds, then I sure hope my kids have a little more intelligence than I did.

By the way, I still eat corn Chex. But I have to throw out any pieces that I find in my bowl that have any black on them even if it is just a piece that got a little to close to the heat. You just never know.

Randomness

Ben, seen here with his Christmas underwear, (his favorite gift) has started basketball again. At his first practice, he got a bloody nose from getting hit with the ball. We're hoping it's not a sign of what's to come throughout the season.

I heard Addie saying over and over:

I'm a mama. I'm a mama.

Then I saw that she was wearing my shoes. Pretty cute thing for a mama to hear.

I went ice skating with Elli a few nights ago and I almost lost control of my bladder. We were laughing so hard. It was Ellis first time skating and I hadn't been since forever (10 years?). I was laughing so hard with (and a little at) her trying to stay up and me trying to hold her up. It was fun. Everyone should go ice skating.

Addie was looking through the pictures on my camera (how does she know how to do that? I don't know but she can turn it on and search through pictures) and came across these ones of her and Elli eating olives. Then she turned to me and said:

Mom, I want ovlers.

Embarrassing moment in which I wanted to disappear

Brian's friend has a cousin who lives in our neighborhood. I have seen their name on several other blog lists. I have looked at his wife's blog and a few times shown Brian. "This is the cousin of so-and-so." She is a good photographer and her pictures are fun to look at.

Anyway, we were at the park this past summer. This other couple happened to be there with their kids. I pretended not to know who they were since we've never met and she has no idea who I am. I am sitting on a park bench near the other girl who is swinging her child. Brian recognizes the guy and goes over to talk to him. They talk about the person they know in common. Then I hear Brian saying, "Yeah, my wife reads your wife's blog all the time. "

Melt away into the wood chips

The guy says, "Who does?"

Brian: "My wife" and points at me with the finger of death. They both look at me.

Cease to exist

Here I am. Right near someone who doesn't know me and my husband outs me. OUTS ME! (Let's just clear it up right now that I don't read it "ALL THE TIME" either. "Occasionally" is the word.) I sound like an obsessed stalker. I just sit quietly and hope that the other girl didn't hear that too. But I'm pretty sure she hears it. She's not too far from me. I try and think of a way to talk to her and explain myself.

Finally I have my lines worked out and I look over and a neighbor of the girl has just arrived and they are now talking. I can't interrupt a friendly conversation with my crazy confession. After a while of waiting, it's time to leave. Time to slink away like the shadow I wish I was. We leave as fast as my short legs can carry me. Hopefully I will never see them again but, being in the same neighborhood, it's bound to happen. Maybe I can explain myself then.

On the way home I tell Brian, "Please never again tell someone that I read their blog "ALL THE TIME". He just doesn't know. He doesn't read any blogs. He doesn't even read my blog. He doesn't know the rules. "I can tell someone that I read their blog. But you cannot tell them when I am sitting there pretending that I have never seen them before in my life."

Christmas kitten

Meet Bumble - the Abominable Snow Monster. I guess actually he's more likeable than abominable. And he's more of a little angel than a monster. And he doesn't really like snow all that much. So I guess, meet Bumble - the likeable little angel that loves to be warm.
He's our new little Christmas kitten. He was given to me by my nicest-ever sister Sinika.

He's such a sweet little guy. If we leave the room he meows cause he's lonely.

And if we ever can't find him, he's usually taking one of his little cat-naps in the pantry or underneath something or sometimes right in plain sight but we just don't see him cause he looks like a little toy.

My vacuum sucks...

...and I can't believe it. We got it for our wedding 9 years ago and it still sucks things up. It's just a cheap little Eureka. A few years ago the hose didn't work and we tried everything to figure out why it didn't suck but we never could figure it out. ("Everything" meaning we stuck a straightened hanger all the way through the hose and where the hose goes into the main part and found nothing blocking the way.) So we just assumed that we couldn't use the hose anymore. But then one day the hose started working again. And it is still sucking away (along with the main sucking part). I never thought it would last this long. Maybe it doesn't pick up all the microscopic little things that the fancier vacuums do but it picks up every visible thing and leaves those nice little just-vacuumed lines on the carpet. We have been thinking about getting a new vacuum lately but how can you throw away a perfectly good vacuum that still sucks? I thought for sure it would die sooner than this so that we would just have to get a new one.

Christmas time is here

It's finally here. All this snow has finally made it feel like Christmas. I have my favorite Christmas music ready for you (or me) to listen. What? You didn't see my song list? It's right there in front of your eyeballs. It's a short list. (I apologize in advance if you're not a Sarah McLaughlin fan. There's a lot of her in there. I like pretty voices to sing my Christmas songs. Especially the pretty voice of Chris Martin.)
We've got our tree up.

Treats have been made.

Gingerbread house decorated.

And letters to Santa have been written. (Or at least started.) Elli's is just about the cutest thing ever. Uh, I think Santa can manage that request.

Don't let Ben's short list fool you. He just got tired of writing. This is only 3 items on his 50-item list. He still wants to add a D-Rex (which I thought was the same thing as a Wowee Rex but he has told me they are different and he wants them both) and a DSi and many other items that each cost over $100 each. Sorry buddy, I don't think you've been THAT good this past year. Hopefully after getting one memorable gift he'll forget most of the other things he is asking for. Ben doesn't really see the point of writing letters to Santa since last year he didn't and he told me, "I don't need to write letters to Santa cause he still knows everything that I want!"

Let's just get it out in the open that I don't LOVE to clean up messes

The other day Ben was throwing away what was left of his waffle with peaches and powdered sugar on them.

Ben (exuberantly): I put my waffle in the garbage... but it didn't stay in the garbage!

(The garbage was a little full alright! It fills up quickly.)

Me: *groan* Get a napkin and pick up the big things and I'll get the rest.

Ben (after a pause) (also exuberantly): Now the peach went under the door!

Me: *double groan* OKAY! Just LEAVE it! I'll come and clean it!

Yay. What a fun activity for me. You just never know when you're going to get to clean the underside of a door.

Some old people are just so darn adorable

Yesterday I saw the cutest old man checking out an old-west themed book at the library. He was probably in his 80s, he had on a cowboy hat and boots. He flung the book down on the desk acting all tough and said, "I need to check out this here book." And I couldn't help but smile as I pictured him in his rocking chair with an afghan on his lap reading about the wild ol' west.

I didn't know old people read books.

Just kidding of course. I know they can still read. I just haven't come in contact with any who read for pleasure. Maybe the real reason is that I am not in contact with hardly any people over 70 and I don't know what anyone older than that is like since all my grandparents have been deceased most of my life. (Except for one who spoke a different language.)

Writer's block

I got nothin.

The end.

Speak n spell

I've always been a pretty good speller. Not really spelling bee good though. My one experience with a big deal spelling bee was in 9th grade and I was out in the first round with the word: "kernel" - I spelled k-e-r-n-e-l. But what I should have done was asked them to use it in a sentence because the word was "colonel". I got the one trick word. I did know how to spell colonel too but that's just not the word I thought of when I heard "kur-nl".

So I have been shocked and disappointed in myself because lately I have been writing things phonetically. Like:

wonce

union (for onion)

hoo (for who - what?! - yes... I really did)

tirn (for turn - could go either way)

What is going on in my brain? I then have to erase or scribble out the word while shaking my saddened head. These spelling errors usually happen when I write by hand. Maybe I'm just lazy when it comes to hand writing things.

Hallowe'en '09

A few days before Halloween we had soup bowls for dinner. Here we are digging out pumpkin bread bowls

Here is a young boy, mad about what's for dinner (potato broccoli cheese soup) - a look I'm very familiar with.

Posing - but still whining about having to eat the soup.

I thought it was delicious.

Trunk or treat

Wondering if she should dress as Alice in Wonderland on the real Halloween

Cute little bee nephew, Lincoln, at my mom's house the day before Halloween.

Nephews Elliott and Ollie, and Elli

Baby Lincoln -or- Blincoln as Addie calls him.

Sunset

On Halloween night - Addie practicing at her own house.

Off for the real deal trick or treating.

Addie had to tell a whole paragraph at each house we went to: Trick-a-treat! Asbsbjba bucket! Jibberjabber candy! My wings! Thanks! You welcome! See you later!

Ben had to say several times: Elli's in my way! She keeps stopping right in front of me! I can't even walk! My hands are cold! (even though I told him to wear gloves)

Elli: I can't go up to the door! There's too many people! I can't move! My hands are cold! (oops, I did NOT tell her to wear gloves)

Elli eating a yummy scone, Addie eating the first of 3 suckers for the night.

And finally home!

Happy Halloween!

My original idea - and the idea that hundreds of other people have too

This was a fun photo shoot with Elli. Except not so fun waiting for the "I". Seriously, who HAS to lean against the "I" for 20 minutes? What are they waiting for? People? Maybe. And maybe I didn't realize until later that there were 2 "I"s and I could have taken two different poses at one "I".