Netflix and the 80's

Thanks to Netflix, I have been hearing things coming from my children that I haven't heard in over 25 years. Sayings like, "I have the POWER!" and "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, GADGET!" have been generously bandied about in our home causing me to reminisce and remember when saturday mornings where the greatest time of the week and the ultimate exercise in bladder control. Thank you Netflix

GUMMED!

Two nights ago, one of the kids, Bennett I think, had a big wad of gum he was chewing on before bed. Remembering from my childhood when I was about his age and fell asleep with gum in my hair and having my mom rub generous amounts of peanut butter in my hair to get it out, I made him spit it out. He was throwing a fit about it so I told him he could continue chewing on it tomorrow if he went to bed without any further complaints, which he did. I set the gum on the desk by my bed and went to sleep.

In the dark hours of the morning, I awoke feeling my arm hairs pulled out of my skin as I shifted in bed. Half dead, I felt around trying to figure who or what was sticking me to the sheets and all up and down my arm were little strings of gum wrapped like a web to my skin and the bed. Laying next to me was Miles our soon to be 2 yr. old. who was pulling the wad of gum out of his mouth and dropping strings of masticated Juicy Fruit all over the bed. I had to reach into his mouth and pull out the gum and then begin rolling all the gum strings back into their mother gumball. As I showered for the day, I kept finding little rogue gumlettes all over my body. At breakfast we had a stern lecture on the new "No Gum...Ever" policy ratified into law earlier that morning by the parental majority, but what sealed the deal was Amanda brushing her hair out and finding the offending wad snuggly nestled in her locks. Pressed for time trying to get Dad to work and Porter to Scout Camp, she took one for the team and forwent the more laborious peanut-butter method for the quick and effective, cut-your-hair-out-method and got us all to work on time. Rigorous screening procedures have been put into effect to apprehend any and all children with said contraband to ensure that no more hair is lost.

It's Friday I'm In LOVE...

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com
Casey and I spent way too long looking through the photos on this sight and laughing till we cried. Oh. My. Gosh. Way too funny. The best parts are the captions. People are so funny.

I love funny moments like last saturday when Casey and Porter went to Walmart for their 'daddy son date' and while shopping made friends with a Peruvian couple who invited us to their grandsons birthday the following day. Ok, let me go into a little more detail. Porter wore a Peruvian soccer jersey that Jeff and Peggy had gotten him from their mission and as they were walking the toy aisle this man started talking to them and told them he was from Peru. His wife came up and they had a long conversation during which time the grandson and Porter played together. As the conversation was wrapping up Casey said "We'll have to have you guys over for a cookout sometime" and they said "Oh, we're having a cookout tomorrow for our grandsons birthday. You guys should come." Casey did give them fair warning that there are 7 of us, but the insisted we should all come, so we did. Weird! We showed up and there was a ton of their family there and us (the token gringo strangers). Everyone was like "This is the guy uncle tio met at the Wal-Mart". It was so strange but they were super friendly and nice and the kids had a great time playing together. Oh, and we ate cow heart and fish cooked by lemon juice (NO FIRE involved).

As if that Walmart trip wasn't eventful enough as Porter and Casey were leaving Casey walked up to the van and opened the trunk to find a stroller he didn't recognize. He was a little confused until he looked up front and saw a lady in a burkah sitting in the passenger seat. He suddenly realized he was in the wrong car. He said "I'm so sorry, this is the wrong car." and walked away. As they walked away Porter said "Dad that was so embarrassing!"

Wha'd you say?

I was trying to explain to Bennett why we shouldn't kiss people outside of our family and I said "It's ok to kiss mommy and daddy but kissing other girls is YUCK." He raised his eyebrows and with a puzzled expression said "I DON'T THINK SO."

Ender cried out in his sleep and Bennett said "Mom, Ender had a dream, a scary dream that somebody was eating him.

Bennett: Is spiderman real?
Me: No he's imaginary.
B: Why is he imaginary? I wanted Jesus to send him here. Why did Jesus send him to comics and not here?

The missionaries were telling the kids that they shouldn't start fires without adult supervision. Maya got a shocked look on her face and accusingly said "YOU MEAN YOU GUYS CAN LOOK THOUGH WALLS?".

As we left the gym it was super sunny outside and Bennett instinctivly squinted one eye closed, then he said ""Hey, I should be a pirate because I my eye can't see."

Casey-"Those bathroom books are not nearly long enough".

Me "Bennett did you have fun playing with Bella?"
Bennett "Yeah"
Maya "Bennett got a little kiss from Bella."
Me "Bennett, did Bella give you a little kiss?"
Bennett "Yeah, and I even closed my eyes."
Me "Why did you close your eyes?"
Bennett "Because she told me to!"

Maya-"Everybody I know has a sister or a dog forcept me."

As Casey was laying in bed trying to get a little extra sleep Bennett came in the room and crept up along side the bed. There was a pillow by the bed and right as he stepped on the pillow Casey tooted and Bennett said "hey Dad, this pillow sounds like a duck!"

Maya woke up and told us she had had a dream that she was the host of Americas Funniest Home Videos, and she introduced the clips by saying "In races...Mom's always win".

A few weeks ago the kids had wear read day, and pay a dollar to wear a hat day. As I was giving the kids their bath tonight Maya said "Wear red and pay a dollar to wear a hat day was fun. Guess what, Maddie wore a CHEESE hat. It looked like a piece of cheese, and I pretended to be a mouse."

Porter and Miles were playing together when Miles suddenly tried to bite Porters toe. Porter said "Ooww, I hope you don't do that on your mission".

Bennett had a piece of gum in his mouth and he broke it in half and gave half of it to Miles. I said Bennett that was so nice that you shared with Miles, and he said "Yeah, it's spicey and minty".

The Harwards were visiting, and as we were sitting in church Bennett was hovering around baby Ella. She started waking up, and he looked up at Sarah and said "She just loves me so much. I know, maybe I should feed here with these" (while lifting up his shirt and pointing to his little nipples).

As Hannah was saying family prayer, we were all listening quietly when Bennett, who had wanted to say the prayer, suddenly blurted out "Hanny, you're a doof." (Don't feel too sorry for Hanny, she's the one who taught Benny the word 'doof').

The Primary did a special party for the kids that are turning eight this year, so we stayed after church and learned about baptism and scouting. The scout leader told the boys they would be in the wolf den. After the program Maya said "I wish I could be in the wolf den". Casey told her it was not a REAL wolf den, and she said "Oh, I thought there would be baby wolves." Casey and I started laughing and she said "What? I love baby wolves."

Casey walked past Bennett and tousled his hair. When he touched his head he shocked him and I said "Bennett did he zap you?" Bennett said "No, I zapped him with my super hair."

We were getting ready for church, and Bennett and I were talking about how he was going to get to go to primary. He said "uuuggg, it's the boringest thing I ever saw".

In church Bennett's primary teacher asked the kids what their favorite songs were and Bennett said "I just like Holy Diver".

When we put Bennett to bed he's been coming upstairs and saying "I forgot how to sleep!"

Bennett threw a piece of a brick at Porter and Porter said "Hey, why'd you throw a brick at me?" and Bennett replied "It's not a brick, it's a rock".

It's Friday I'm In LOVE...

with this baby. He's is rolling over! I just can't believe it. He seems way too little to be acting so big. Porter was the first one to see him roll and I didn't believe it at first, but then I saw it myself. I guess I should be a little more trusting:)

We've been loving the music of Josh Ritter. Some of my favorites are 'Girl In The War' 'Folk Bloodbath' and 'Lillian Egypt'. I'm a sucker for folksy songs that tell a story. If you're interested you can download them on Legal Sounds for 10 cents a piece. Well worth it!

I love date night, even when the evening is so chaotic I want to call it off at the last minute. We had the missionaries over for dinner and quickly rushed them out the door and welcomed our babysitter in. Then we couldn't find the remote to the TV (we had rented the movie Rango for the kids to watch with the babysitter), so they had to watch the movie in our room (which was so dirty I had to swear the babysitter to secrecy). We had the bishops daughter watch the kids and she was amazing. I'm just sad she's leaving for school next week (hopefully her younger sister will be up to the challenge). Date night was fun. We watched Harry Potter in 3-D (I'm sure we'll have fun 3-D glasses pictures to follow). I still haven't seen the first part of the movie, but the second part was great. A good ending (if endings can be good).

I love our new traditions of counting the UPS trucks on the way to the gym. The kids love it and it makes the trip much more fun. The gym is only about 2 miles away but we pass the UPS dispatch place on the way so we see TONS! Our record so far is 68 one way (yeah, that's a lot).

I {heart} a clean van!

Last summer when I went to my grandma's funeral I was riding though the cemetery looking at the gravestone when my brother James said "I know what your headstone is going to say" I was excited to hear what he would say, I've always though James kind of liked me and I thought it was going to be something like "Here lies Amanda the best sister of all time" which would have been pretty cool since Sarah was in the car too. But instead he said "Here lies Amanda, owner of the worlds dirtiest van". Yeah, that was a slap in the face, but it's all too true. I've always admired those people who can keep their cars looking clean and new, but when you pack 5 munchkins around it's hard to build up the courage look in the back seat better yet to actually clean it! This weekend Casey and the kids braved the heat and filth, and cleaned out the van. I puttered around the house and made them "nada pina coladas" for their efforts, and I'm proud to say the van is still as clean today (Monday) as it was when they finished (Saturday). (hopefully I'll still be able to say that next week)

It's Friday I'm In LOVE...

I'm in love with Jeni's "Sweet Corn and Black Raspberry Ice cream". I broke down and bought the book (Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home) after trying the "Salty Carmel" at a friends house, then I scoured Craigslist until I found, and purchased a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (with two freezer bowls - this could be dangerous!). Then we had a blast spending the fourth of July cooking up several different flavors. It was love at first bite when I tried the "Sweet Corn and Black Raspberry"! I can't get enough.

Through our health insurance we get free membership to certain area gyms, so we joined last week and I've started going to zumba again. They even have child care! I'm not sure I like it as much as I liked my old zumba instructor in Spokane, but it's fun, and hopefully I'll get better (and burn off some of that ice cream).

I already commented on this earlier, but I am absolutely loving my old pictures. This is a picture of Maya as a baby (she looks like Ender). I hate that I can't remember this at all. It just makes me want to scream! How could I forget? Anyway I'm grateful for the pictures since my brain is obviously unreliable.

Family of Pipers

Who says we're not talented. Thanks to Amanda for the impromptu Elmer video.

The Scioto Mile

Caseys company has been working on a project to revamp the columbus river front. There was a big grand opening this week, so we loaded up the hooligans and headed down town (even though Casey wasn't actually involved in the project). It was pretty fun (after all the long speeches and "thank you's") they cut the ribbon on the splash pad and the kids had a blast playing in the water. We had such a good time we decided to go back two days later and enjoy it again. These pictures are from our second trip (I forgot the camera our first time, along with changes of clothing).


Miles was mostly afraid of the water and spent his time wandering up to strangers and trying to hug them. Ender spent his time chilling in the stroller, it was a bit warm but every now and then the wind would shift and he'd get a nice misting from the fountain.

Porter and Maya each got hurt. Porter skinned his knee and Maya was spinning around a pole and smacked right into another pole head first. She's got quite the bruise on her forehead now.


Check this picture out. Every single person is totally cheesing it up. Love it!