Uuuugh! Why can I not figure this thing out!

Well, I'm not sure why my last post was all strangely spaced. Perhaps, I truly did lose brain cells watching some sort of animated D&D movie the other night. Actually, I can't really blame it on that, I really don't get how to work this blogspot stuff. Have patience, some day I will get it. Meanwhile, more verbal gems. Christian's been going through a Rugrats/Wild Thornberry's stage. I don't know if you all remember those cartoons. Either, again lost brain cells are to blame or they are in actuality, entertaining. I kinda like them, especially, Tim Curry as Nigel Thornberry. So, Christian started saying "Rubbish" lately and then the other day I heard him saying "smashing". Nigel is rubbing off on him. It makes me smile.

A weekend of verbal gems

Overheard as I am getting ready:

Christian: "Jack, this is not a party it's my bedroom" followed by "Hold still, Jack, I'm looking for lint in your belly button." (For the record, I have NEVER looked for lint in my children's belly buttons, so I have no idea where that came from.)

Shortly after, I could hear some crying and fighting (turns out, despite a house full of blankets there is only one desirable one) and then Christian is full on crying, not just a whiny half cry. This is the exchange:

Christian: "Jack hurt me so bad."

Me: "Well, how did he hurt you?"

Christian: "He hurt me SOOOO bad?"

Me: "Okay, but how? Did he hit you?"

Christian: "Yes and he pushed me and I hit the wood (his bed)."

Me: "Jack, stop hitting."

Christian: "Are you going to spank him or anything? Cause that's what I had in mind."

Me: "It is, huh? Well you know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking 2 little boys in bed in time out".

Christian, as he walks away: "Okay, I'll go lay down but no Jack in my room, that is my deepest thought...yeah, my deepest thought, no Jack in my room."

I'm not really sure if I want to admit my deepest thoughts at this point.

Later that day, we had gone to Wal-Mart. On the way, Jack fell asleep and since Shelley was with us she offered to stay in the van with him. After several times telling Christian, as he is getting out, to be quiet and not wake Jack I finally say "Christian, what part of be quiet do you not understand? (I'm a terrible mom, whatever)" His reply, "The part where you don't make any noise". Well, I did ask.

That was Friday, cut to Sunday. It's ward conference and the Stake Primary is teaching sharing time. Christian is always pretty willing to share but today that kid could not be quiet. He kept interrupting the president, giving her the 411 on what she was talking about and how he didn't bring his scripture reading chart because he didn't do it and sundry other embarrassing revelations. But the clincher came as she was finishing one part of her presentation and said thank you to the children for being participatory (directed to Christian and a couple of other kids who felt an overwhelming compulsion to share) and my 5 year-old Napoleon Dynamite-in-training says "I'm kind of an expert".

Oh, the cherry on top of the weekend of verbal gems.

A note about pictures: Jack in green hat made by Aunt Carylee (wouldn't take off for 3 days), also apparently making a train (that kid's got trains on the brain!) out of a roll and beets. The newest member (actually adopted in October) of the fam, Yoshi. On the way back from a trip to AZ. If you look closely you will see that Christian's nails are blue, Cynthia has 2 girls, her sister has 3 girls, he was lucky to make it out with only nails painted.

I stink!

Wow, I can't believe how bad I stink at blogging. But, to quote John Mayer "I'm a new man, I've got a new cologne, you wouldn't know me with your eyes closed". I am reformed (yeah, right, reformed like a lion going vegan!) and vow to do better. So...okay, I have nothing to say really...but I promise more witty, pithy entries in the future (let's hope near).

Boogers

Before I forget, I gotta write this for posterity. On Saturday, we had our ward Christmas party. Since we've been here, its always been a breakfast but that's not really important. We were sitting waiting for it to start, surrounded by people at our and surrounding tables. Unconcerned, Christian picked his nose and was about to get a little extra protein in his diet when Dennis caught him and wiped it on a napkin. Christian, aghast at the injustice of being deprived of a tasty treat loudly declared "No, me lo-o-o-ve boogers"! It was totally classic moment.

Fond Hearts

You know what they say about absence...your heart has been longing for this post, right? Or maybe absence just makes you lose interest, altogether. Whatever, its been so long and so much has happened that it will take me forever to catch up. To increase the possibility of disinterest, I have no pictures handy to upload. Oh well. We're cute, have no doubt. Well, at least three of are. The other one is perpetually in baggy clothes covered with smeared food and snot all topped off with frizzy hair and I'm not talkin' about Jack here. Anyway, our kitchen is 99.9% done (pics to come). Christian started school. Christian, Jack and, I think, I had swine flu. In general, it wasn't quite the devastating experience I thought it would be. I was underwhelmed by its patheticness. I would rather have swine flu than the kind of sick where stuff is coming out of both ends (sometimes simultaneously) any day! Sorry to gross you out, but the grossed out deserve company. Thanks for joining my party! All this has one exception-the cough. It was tenacious and lasted F-O-R-E-V-E-R. I think just in the past four or five days has the coughs finally subsided. Christian got sick Halloween day. That helps you understand how long that darn cough lasted. Here's hoping I have reformed and will get better at consistently writing. Don't hold your breath, though.

Watching the Children and the Garden Grow

Ahh, the heady ambrosia of summer. I just love it! I love how Christian smells like little boy sweat every day even when he has had a bath. I love that we can all go around shoeless. I love that every day holds the prospect of adventure (rarely realized thanks to Jack, but still...). I realized that Christian's summer will be over in three weeks so I decided that at the very certain expense of a filthy home we have to enjoy the last few days of summer. The dinosaur museum was supposed to be 2 bucks today so I thought we'd try it. Well, I should have known that every other thrifty Mormon mommy had the same idea. It's Utah, sheesh! The line wound all around the building. I decided thrifty possibly bordered on stupid so we went to the Aquarium instead. Christian loved the display with the touchable stingrays and fish. The stingrays even kinda crawled up the side and flapped their wings (fins?...whatever) and splashed you. The squeals of pure and complete joy that followed from Christian were the best.

I've also included a picture of the tomatoes that ate my back yard. I really can't figure out what made them grow like this, maybe the steer manure. But its just like the old movie "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". I think that's a real movie...

By the way, I can't claim the title line but I won't attribute it since the politcal backlash could be annoying, at best.

The Best Moment

Today, I left Christian and Jack with Nat (highly recommended babysitter) while I went to Ikea with Elliot. Christian realized I was leaving and said "miss you" to me. It was the best moment of my day, maybe week, maybe year. It's that more wonderful because every word out of Christian's mouth is very nearly a miracle.