Touristy Behavior in Healdsburg

On Thursday the kids and I decided to clear out of the house. A few factors played into this decision. First, it was Ian's first day of winter break and I'd told him we could go to McDonalds. I knew we'd need a good long walk after that. Second, a mouse had been spotted in the house and it's still on the loose creating much havoc in my brain. Clearing out of the house was the only thing that would calm my nerves. So off we went on a nice long walk being tourists through Healdsburg. Here are some pics of our adventures:

I wish I were a scrapbooker...

I really wish I were. I'm so bad at it that I can't even prefill the scrapbook that Justine gave me. It's lame I know, and I'm jealous of my artsy sisters who scrapbook, sew and do all sorts of crafty things. I asked my mom the other day why I somehow got skipped on the sewing lessons. She said she didn't know - that it was probably because I didn't show any interest. But she said she'd be happy to show me now. And I said, *no that's okay, I probably wouldn't be very good at it*. And she looked at me like *i think we've had this conversation before*.

So the point of this post is that I've got all these cute pictures of the kids that I took at the beach and I've been meaning to do a collage of sorts and do something fun with them. They've been sitting in my snapfish cart for quite awhile (along with the photos that need to go in my scrapbook, ahem) and unless I post them here, no one is ever going to see these cute pictures.

Cause I can almost guarantee that they will be sitting in the snapfish cart next year and not hanging on the wall in some sort of asthetically pleasing array. Go to my sisters house if you want to see that. Come to mine if you'd like to see some bare walls and unfinished projects.

*Candy* Beans

It's been a while since I've written anything. It's probably a reflection of how interesting life has been lately; not much to write. But now that I've settled into my new job doing piles of paperwork for 8 hours a day, 3 days a week, I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of interesting things to report....

On Thursday I let Ian walk to the *little store* which is just a few footsteps away from the end of our court. He does have to cross the street, but we've done a lot of practice sessions getting across safely.

I needed a can of kidney beans for dinner (made Taco Salad for the first time in years...and who would have thought that I would still be unable to make it in a 4 person family size, but am only able to make it in the largest bowl I have!!) so I sent Ian to the store with $2.50 and a list. He wanted to buy some candy for himself and Anya so he brought $2. I also gave him my phone and off he went (feeling old and important and very proud of himself).

He came back with kidney beans and some candy necklaces. I asked him if he found the kidney beans himself or if he had to ask the lady for help. Here he is with his story:
*When I went in the lady asked if I needed help finding anything and I told her *kidney beans* and she went over and picked up some jelly beans and said *are these the kind of candy beans you're looking for?* and I said *no KIDNEY beans* and she still didn't understand me so I showed her the list and then she laughed and got them for me.*

We laughed for a while and then he was off eating candy and giving some to Anya. We had to have a little math lesson because he seemed to have conveniently forgot that he needed to give me back my change which didn't include paying for his candy as he had to use his own money for that. He reluctantly parted with my change of $1.31 although he tried to convince me that some sort of delivery fee should be paid to him. Ummm, no.

Ian the Writer & Illustrator

Ian and Anya use a lot of paper. There is a lot of drawing, story writing and paper airplanes that get made around here. I really try to be attentive when they show me their drawings, but apparently I'm on auto pilot and say *Good Job* repeatedly (anyways, that's what Ian's teacher told me during parent/teacher conference and everyone laughed at me the other day when Anya broke something and was showing it to me and I wasn't paying a bit of attention and said *Good Job*)
But sometimes, I come across a story or picture that really gives me a chuckle and I'm glad they showed it to me. This is Ian's *Grumpy* story.













I think it must be a recreation of another story he's read. I can't imagine he's ever been given underwear as a present and he's actually happy when he has to read books all day. Then again, he is grumpy when forced to eat dinner so maybe this is an original!
(the picture with all the swirly stuff says *I am Grumpy when there is smoke*.)

Being a Parent is Gross...

I never thought that the three sentences that I'd repeat the most would be gross. I thought they might be "I love you" or "Thank You" or something sweet and simple like that. When you become a parent you realize the three sentences you are going to say more than any other throughout your whole life are: *Did you wipe your butt?*, *Did you flush the toilet?* and *Did you wash your hands?*.
You'd think that if you poop every day of your life and your mom asks you that every single time, you'd start wiping, flushing and washing. I cannot tell you how many times I've gone into the bathroom and found that the mysterious random pooper has come back into my house, pooped and not flushed (and more than likely not wiped). The kids always looked mystified like *Did I poop? I can't remember if I did or not?* It's usually the kid who has that look on their face that is the culprit.
Well, yesterday there was no question as to what kid it was. I looked in the toilet and saw something weird floating on top of the other floaters. I kept looking at it *What IS that?* and then it registered. Aha! Anya's Dora ring that she'd just gotten this weekend while at the Fox/Cook House. I called her down to look:



At least I knew she had wiped!
I have another picture of me getting the ring out, but for your viewing enjoyment I have decided not to post those pictures. I can guarantee you that the devices used to get the ring out have been disposed of and that the ring soaked in a vat of bleach for a long time. Why did I go to great measures to get the ring out? Well, Anya really likes that ring and said *she wants to wear it every day of her life*. Besides that, the last time we had sewer problems, Zack was out of town and the culprit was one teeny tiny Clorox wipe. I can't risk another poop in the shower incident with Zack gone.
I told you, being a parent is gross.

Shall we go to the Laughing Tree?

The other day Anya told Zack, "Dad, you need to hold my bag. I'm too beautiful to hold my bag" Oh yes, she did.

It's time to take her to the Laughing Tree.

I'm not even sure how to explain the Laughing Tree. It's going to sound so weird and cruel that some of you may be disturbed. When we were young, while camping or possibly on a hike, we would take turns standing in front of a tree and it was free game for your family to tease you about whatever they wanted. Were you the one who had just lost your two front teeth and were worried that you looked goofy? Don't worry, you DO look goofy and all your brothers and sisters were going to tell you HOW goofy you looked. Were you growing out of your pants and wondering if they were a little too short? Wonder no more!

To be honest, I don't think any of us were cruel. It was more good natured teasing than being mean. And Mom and Dad made sure it stayed in the banter stage rather than the battering stage.

I've been looking through some old photos though and WOW, I found this picture and we did indeed have some ammo we could have used against each other. Look at this group of goofy looking kids:



And I've got to rustle up some photos of Mikey & Trin. They're missing from this pic, but Mikey was Roly Poly Barfing Baby and Trin was Orangutan Grouchy Baby so don't think they are exempt from the goofiness.

Want to come hang out at the Laughing Tree with us?

Happenings of the day...

Just a couple of quick pics...
Ian lost his 2nd tooth last night at bookstudy. Zack couldn't take the sight of the tooth hanging by a thread any longer and marched Ian upstairs and yanked the tooth out. Ian was quite excited that he can go back to eating burritos and sandwiches.



By the way, he's doing chores to earn money for a skateboard. He has cleaned the playroom, his bedroom, helped Anya clean her bedroom, raked leaves in the front yard, picked up the spiky things that fall off the tree in the front yard, folded a pile of socks & dusted the living room. And earned $4.50. Even I feel a little bad about that and think he might need to get a raise for the next couple of chores.

Anya has been getting a letter of the day. Today was *F*. She's been doing very well with her *school work*.



And we didn't realize that Mikey stars in the *Warning Examples for Our Day* drama video: