Hope everyone had a great Easter! It tends to be an emotional day for me - suffice it to say that I am grateful for the Savior and His sacrifice. We had ham and funeral potatoes for dinner, Easter baskets (straw hats this year) with lots of chocolate and small toys, and enjoyed church (most of it, but I'm trying to decide how much of that negative experience I want to share - tease, tease).
Since I conked out immediately after dinner and slept till almost 9 PM, I was, of course, wide awake in the early morning hours. Watching TV while trying to fall asleep, I happened to catch The Learning Channel's series about the Duggar Family of Arkansas. Michelle and Jim-Bob are the parents of 16 children, including two sets of twins, and they are AMAZING. Watching them was a humbling experience. What kind of slacker am I with my paltry five children?
The first of the two hour-long programs focused on the birth of their 16th child, a little girl named Johanna Faith. Every member of that family looked forward to her birth. Living in the ultra-liberal Pacific Northwest, I've had my share of comments from zero-populationers who can't imagine why I would want more than one or two offspring, so Michelle's attitude was so refreshing: "Saying you have too many children is like saying you have too many flowers."
Yeah. Take that.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Saturday, April 15, 2006
No Husbands Were Harmed in the Making of This Evening
Oh, the fun that ensued during our second monthly Kidnap Club meeting last night. Started in March when an innocent Italian dinner snowballed into an unprecedented evening of mayhem, the tradition continued with a Hawaiian-themed dinner, followed by – the horror! – more kidnappings of local women.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Tuesday's Top Five
Top 5 things I like putting on Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
"DIJON Ketchups! Mmmmm!”
5. Extra cheese
4. Salsa
3. Mustard and ketchup (sadly, not Dijon yet)
2. Salt and pepper
1. BARBECUE SAUCE
"DIJON Ketchups! Mmmmm!”
5. Extra cheese
4. Salsa
3. Mustard and ketchup (sadly, not Dijon yet)
2. Salt and pepper
1. BARBECUE SAUCE
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Sports Stats & Movie News
Harrison’s new soccer team, the Green Dragons, won their game, and he scored one of the three goals. He almost had more but the shots, although good, didn’t quite make it. The final score was 3-1. The game started late because the padlock on the goals was rusted shut and required bolt-cutters - it was the first time the goals had been used since last fall and they’re locked to each other so they can’t be stolen. Hubby remarked that winning the game was a good thing because the parents seemed to like him better afterward (he had doubts as to their confidence in him).
Carter’s game also started a touch late: after figuring out what field they were playing on, they finally commenced. The ref blew the whistle and both teams took off, trying to kick the ball in the same direction. Carter ultimately made a goal for the other team, the only goal that team scored in the game. Carter was so happy with himself that all Hubby said was, “OK, next time you need to kick the ball the OTHER way!”
So next time, Carter got in there, took the ball away from both teams – shoving best friend and teammate Nathan to the ground in the process – and scored ANOTHER goal, this time for his own team. Hubby, guest-coaching with Nathan’s mom Dawn, tried a series of combinations of players to try to slow down the scoring, but nothing worked… the final score was too many-1. Our team annihilated the completely-inexperienced-four-year-olds opposing team, which was unfortunate because many of the other team’s kids were crying at the end of the game. Awwww!
The new movie coming out in August, Snakes on a Plane, in the vein of so-bad-they’re-good movies (like UHF or Grease 2 and more recently, “The Grudge”), promises laughter, but not on purpose. The premise of the movie is pretty easy to guess... Suffice it to say that Hubby would not be getting on this plane for a million dang dollars.
In other movie news, the HubbyWifey family eagerly awaits seeing Nacho Libre, a Jared Hess-written-and-directed story about a Mexican wrestler (Jack Black, whom we loved in Orange County and School of Rock). Jared Hess co-wrote and directed the new Princess Bride of quotable movies, Napoleon Dynamite. We have no idea what the movie is about and really don’t care – it had us at “Jared Hess and Jack Black.”
Speaking of Napoleon – call us lowbrow, but we’re also dying to see The Benchwarmers, starring David Spade, Rob Schneider and Napoleon himself, Jon Heder, who is NOT dead. I watched part of a Comedy Central special about this movie and had to turn it off, I was laughing so hard – I didn’t want to ruin my future movie-going experience. See you at the movies! And if after reading this, you have a hankering to experience the glories that are UHF and Grease 2, you can read all about them at Fast-Rewind.com, an awesome 80s movie site.
Finishing off strong with this:
Carter’s game also started a touch late: after figuring out what field they were playing on, they finally commenced. The ref blew the whistle and both teams took off, trying to kick the ball in the same direction. Carter ultimately made a goal for the other team, the only goal that team scored in the game. Carter was so happy with himself that all Hubby said was, “OK, next time you need to kick the ball the OTHER way!”
So next time, Carter got in there, took the ball away from both teams – shoving best friend and teammate Nathan to the ground in the process – and scored ANOTHER goal, this time for his own team. Hubby, guest-coaching with Nathan’s mom Dawn, tried a series of combinations of players to try to slow down the scoring, but nothing worked… the final score was too many-1. Our team annihilated the completely-inexperienced-four-year-olds opposing team, which was unfortunate because many of the other team’s kids were crying at the end of the game. Awwww!
The new movie coming out in August, Snakes on a Plane, in the vein of so-bad-they’re-good movies (like UHF or Grease 2 and more recently, “The Grudge”), promises laughter, but not on purpose. The premise of the movie is pretty easy to guess... Suffice it to say that Hubby would not be getting on this plane for a million dang dollars.
In other movie news, the HubbyWifey family eagerly awaits seeing Nacho Libre, a Jared Hess-written-and-directed story about a Mexican wrestler (Jack Black, whom we loved in Orange County and School of Rock). Jared Hess co-wrote and directed the new Princess Bride of quotable movies, Napoleon Dynamite. We have no idea what the movie is about and really don’t care – it had us at “Jared Hess and Jack Black.”
Speaking of Napoleon – call us lowbrow, but we’re also dying to see The Benchwarmers, starring David Spade, Rob Schneider and Napoleon himself, Jon Heder, who is NOT dead. I watched part of a Comedy Central special about this movie and had to turn it off, I was laughing so hard – I didn’t want to ruin my future movie-going experience. See you at the movies! And if after reading this, you have a hankering to experience the glories that are UHF and Grease 2, you can read all about them at Fast-Rewind.com, an awesome 80s movie site.
Finishing off strong with this:
| You Are Jan Brady |
 Brainy and a little introverted, you tend to think life is a lot worse than it actually is. And while you may think you're a little goofy looking, most people consider you to be a major babe. |
Saturday, April 8, 2006
The Happy Day
We have really great days every so often, but today was a real keeper. First we had the boys’ soccer games, which were fun for the participants; then, having promised the kids we’d go swimming if their pigsty-resembling bedrooms were cleaned, we went to the new Firstenberg Center swimming pool. Let me tell you, if you live in this area and haven’t gone swimming there yet, you are MISSING OUT. That place is fun! It’s become my new favorite indoor swimming pool (Brigham City, Utah’s city pool being my outdoor favorite – this doesn’t take into account water parks like Lagoon’s).
This pool features a huge waterslide, guaranteed to make grown men squeal like little girls; an oval-shaped current area, which you can float along in one of their provided inner-tubes; a kids’ area, shallow, with toys; lots of underwater benches; and a regular lap swimming area. We all LOVED it. Rosalind, this being her first time, did the typical "our kid" thing: clutch Mommy and cry at first; stop crying; start smiling; start kicking and splashing; thoroughly enjoy herself; cry when it’s time to leave. Her favorite spot was in the corner of one of these underwater benches – she sat there and grinned and kicked her little feet under the water and had the most awesome time. We recommend it.
After wearing ourselves out at the pool, we dinnered and jammied the kids, and took off on a date. There were no complaints from the kids because they’d had such a great time at the pool – and were practically comatose as well. We went and stuffed ourselves at Hometown Buffet. Hubby’s desire to eat there surprised me, since he’s never been much of a buffet guy, but he was willing (as I always am). The food was, you know, buffet food.
Afterward, we spent a few minutes at Target, looking at DVDs and talking to our ward friend Brittany Thu..., who will be off to BYU-Idaho next month. Alas, the first season of Arrested Development isn’t on sale yet.
Then Winco, for some necessary groceries; and then Barnes & Noble. By this time it was 9:45 and it was only open for 15 more minutes, but that didn’t matter. I found the book I want to get, Body For Life. Of course, this being Barnes & Noble, the book cost $50,000, so I’ll wait until I can check it out at the library or get it in paperback. Hubby, stuffed, followed me around, always a good sport.
We came home to only two awake children, and the house was still picked up because they hadn’t been able to move. Friends, I believe we’ve stumbled across something here… on Saturdays, you take the kids swimming before dinner, you feed them, you throw them in front of a DVD, you leave, you come home, everything’s happy and everyone’s clean. Ahhhh.
This pool features a huge waterslide, guaranteed to make grown men squeal like little girls; an oval-shaped current area, which you can float along in one of their provided inner-tubes; a kids’ area, shallow, with toys; lots of underwater benches; and a regular lap swimming area. We all LOVED it. Rosalind, this being her first time, did the typical "our kid" thing: clutch Mommy and cry at first; stop crying; start smiling; start kicking and splashing; thoroughly enjoy herself; cry when it’s time to leave. Her favorite spot was in the corner of one of these underwater benches – she sat there and grinned and kicked her little feet under the water and had the most awesome time. We recommend it.
After wearing ourselves out at the pool, we dinnered and jammied the kids, and took off on a date. There were no complaints from the kids because they’d had such a great time at the pool – and were practically comatose as well. We went and stuffed ourselves at Hometown Buffet. Hubby’s desire to eat there surprised me, since he’s never been much of a buffet guy, but he was willing (as I always am). The food was, you know, buffet food.
Afterward, we spent a few minutes at Target, looking at DVDs and talking to our ward friend Brittany Thu..., who will be off to BYU-Idaho next month. Alas, the first season of Arrested Development isn’t on sale yet.
Then Winco, for some necessary groceries; and then Barnes & Noble. By this time it was 9:45 and it was only open for 15 more minutes, but that didn’t matter. I found the book I want to get, Body For Life. Of course, this being Barnes & Noble, the book cost $50,000, so I’ll wait until I can check it out at the library or get it in paperback. Hubby, stuffed, followed me around, always a good sport.
We came home to only two awake children, and the house was still picked up because they hadn’t been able to move. Friends, I believe we’ve stumbled across something here… on Saturdays, you take the kids swimming before dinner, you feed them, you throw them in front of a DVD, you leave, you come home, everything’s happy and everyone’s clean. Ahhhh.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Mood Ring Trauma: Do we need a ring for this?
6-year-old Harrison has a cute little mood ring he wears on his right pointer finger. He got it from the gift shop at Multnomah Falls last year. It's a cool ring - a silver band with the "mood liquid" set in the band, going all the way around. I wouldn't mind having one!
Sunday we had a scary moment when he couldn't find it. We had been on a nice, long post-General Conference feast walk, when suddenly, it was missing! For a moment we panicked, knowing there was NO WAY we were going to find it - until it was discovered safe on his left hand.
Last night he came into my room, completely alarmed, and said, “Mommy, my mood ring is broken!”
“Uh oh, what happened to it?”
“I don’t know, but [voice is now an octave higher] now it’s broken and I DON'T KNOW WHAT MOOD I'M IN! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”
Sunday we had a scary moment when he couldn't find it. We had been on a nice, long post-General Conference feast walk, when suddenly, it was missing! For a moment we panicked, knowing there was NO WAY we were going to find it - until it was discovered safe on his left hand.
Last night he came into my room, completely alarmed, and said, “Mommy, my mood ring is broken!”
“Uh oh, what happened to it?”
“I don’t know, but [voice is now an octave higher] now it’s broken and I DON'T KNOW WHAT MOOD I'M IN! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”
Sunday, April 2, 2006
Nephi: Not a Whiny Girly-Man
Funny little moment as we were watching General Conference this morning: Sister Anne C. Pingree, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, recounted the story of Nephi’s obedience when called upon to build a ship: “Whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools…?”
I said to my family, “I’m glad the Lord asked Nephi and not me to build a ship. I probably would have said [in a high-pitched whiny girly voice]: ‘A SHIP? I DON’T KNOW HOW TO BUILD A SHIIIIP!’”
Bella: “Well, Mommy, Nephi was a man, so he probably wouldn’t whine like that.”
Me: “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve known some pretty whiny men.”
Hubby, in a high-pitched whiny girly voice: “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”
I said to my family, “I’m glad the Lord asked Nephi and not me to build a ship. I probably would have said [in a high-pitched whiny girly voice]: ‘A SHIP? I DON’T KNOW HOW TO BUILD A SHIIIIP!’”
Bella: “Well, Mommy, Nephi was a man, so he probably wouldn’t whine like that.”
Me: “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve known some pretty whiny men.”
Hubby, in a high-pitched whiny girly voice: “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”
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