What's Under My Living Room Chair?

Sam loves to take the camera and take lots of pictures of random, every day things. Think of him like a 16th century Dutch painter. For some reason, there's a series that if titled, would be "Under the Living Room Chair". The next time I need a battery, I'll know where to look.

Merry Christmas, Conrad!

Merry Christmas, Conrad. Your own personal mini-me!

[Here's the background ... Every year for Christmas, my family rotates names for Christmas. (We have 8 kids in our family so it makes things much simpler.) This year, as part of Conrad's present, we gave Eric a mohawk. OK, I have to admit that it was a little unplanned ... our clipper was charging in an accessible location ... Eric started it, and I finished it; hence the comb-over, which Conrad has been calling the CoMo. And just the day before I had been at Costco chatting with this lady in (a very long) line. I was telling her something, I can't remember what, and she said, "Just wait until he cuts his own hair."]

Food! Feeding my family drives me nuts!

This is a vent-post. I love cooking, but I really detest cooking for my children. This is because a) they prefer plain chicken to delicious things like Avocado Mango Chicken, and b) even when they do like it, they only eat a bite or two. I end up throwing most of what I make away. Eric is just learning to express himself pretty well, and today came up with, "Mommy, this pasta is really good." And then ate one bite of chicken, two bites of pasta and a cooked carrot cube--you know, the kind from the mixed vegetable bag. Oh, and one section of a Clementine.

And gone are the days when Mikey indiscriminately stuffed whatever he could get his hands on into his face. Now Mikey, less than a year old, is becoming a very picky eater. And he has the manners of a monkey (typical of toddlers/pre-toddlers). When he doesn't like something, or when he's done, or just when the feeling hits him, he flings whatever food is on his tray onto the floor. And somehow he makes a circle around his highchair on the floor. Tonight he spit out the chicken that I thought I had managed to sneak into his mouth and tossed it on the floor. Here he is showing off his new eating apparatus (ie his teeth).

What's the difference between a walrus and an otter?

Sam's preschool is a co-op. That means that I get to go and hang out with them 6 or 7 times a year. This last time, Sam happened to also get the show and tell bag. They put something in the bag and then they answer questions and sometimes give hints so that the other kids can guess what it is.

So he told me that he wanted to take his walrus (one of the dozens of stuffed animals we have). This one has been in a closet for a while now and he's just taken it out and it's become the favorite for the time being. So I prepared him on the way to school ... Where do Walruses live? In the north pole, etc.

So here he is giving clues. The kids try to guess. He says it lives in the north pole. One girl asks, "Is it a crocodile?" They are more and more stumped and finally he says that it has big teeth. Well, two big teeth. OK, says Miss Audine (his fabulous teacher), is it a walrus? YES! says Sam, and pulls it out the bag.

Miss Audine looks at it and says, "I think it's an otter." Sam doesn't know what to say for a few seconds and then says, "Well, his name is Mr. Walrus." If you click on the picture, it will blow it up and you will see the looks on their faces. It's pretty funny.

That's what kind of mom I am. The kind of mom that lets her kids go to school without any socks (because all 150 socks are in pile to be matched) and doesn't notice that her child is taking an otter to school instead of a walrus. Oh, and by the way, we don't have and never have had a walrus, and I saw the otter many times the weekend before. I just don't notice minor details like that. Ah well. We do have a lot of fun together. :)

Harry Potter

I am a big Harry Potter fan. I've read all the books at least twice. I love the books because they have so much depth--character development, themes of life, death, prejudice, friendship, fear, love, loyalty. The last time I went to the movies was a year and a half ago, to see Harry Potter 6. And tonight I went to see the first half of Harry Potter 7 at the Henry Ford IMAX. I thought they did a much better job of showing the personal struggles this time, maybe because it is split into two. And I'm really glad it is.

How to Eat a Pepper

Eric is the king of carbs. I have a hard time getting him to eat meat, eggs, etc., but he loves anything carby. Including vegetables. I remember the first time we went to McDonalds and he was upset because I hadn't given him some lettuce from my salad.

One day, I meant to cut up some pepper strips for dinner, but forgot the pepper on the counter. (As you can see from the picture, and it's a large pepper, much bigger than the palm of my hand.) I came accross it later and it looked like this, with bites taken from every angle.

Conference Weekend

Isn't it great to be able to watch General Conference in your living room? It makes things so much simpler.

This afternoon, Sam was excited as we went on a website, to see a picture of the prophet. We printed out some flashcards that someone had done of the prophet and 12 apostles. Later, we were talking and I said to Sam, "Do you know I love you?"
Sam: Yes.
Me: Do you know that I love you a lot?
Sam: No
Me: Why not?
Sam: Because sometimes you yell at me.
Me: Well, sometimes I get frustrated and unfortunately, I'm not perfect.
Sam: Well I have an idea. Maybe every morning when you wake up you could look at one of those pictures of those prophets and that would remind you not to yell.

While I was putting the baby to bed, Sam wanted to play Wii. He wanted me to play with him and I told him that I would if I got the baby to bed soon enough. When I came downstairs, he said, "Oh, now I have to change it from three players to four players." I said that there were only two of us. He said, "Two of us and the two missionary dogs." Two of his beanie babies, the pig and the snake, were the "missionary dogs" and they got to have their turns too. When their turn came, he would "help" them make their shots. The snake had to use his nose, Sam explained, because he did have arms or fingers.



When I bought a whole bunch of like-new beanie babies at a mom2mom sale years ago for $1 each, I had no idea how many hours of fun they would bring us.