The Combine Cake

Chase's combine cake. Though it isn't perfect, it was a heck of a lot easier to make than the monster truck/fire truck cake he requested last year.

We Teach Equality Young in This House

While waiting for his bus to come Chase had the following discussion with the dog

Hi Jack.  How are you?
[Chase pets him a few times]
Did you know we have the same face?
We just have different colors of skin.
Mine is . . . um
[Chase pauses to examine his hand]
 . . . kind of yellow, and yours is pink. 

An Interview With Chase on His 5th Birthday

Q: How old are you today?
A: Five

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Yellow

 Q: Whats your favorite food?
A: Pizza

Q: What kind of pizza?
A: Macaroni  (he means pepperoni)


Q:  What do you think about Construction Site Lewis?
A:  I think when I'm an adult I'll miss him . . . and the frogs . . .  and Frankie.  I'll miss them when I go to that place when I'm an adult.


Q: What place are going when you're an adult?
A:  I don't know . . . but I think it's in California.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A:  I want to help Kai at his vet place.

Q: What are you going to do there?
A: I'm going feed his fishes and drive his tractors.


Q: Tell me something interesting about yourself.
A:  Sometimes I get hats and pretend that hats are wheels.

Q: What kind of a cake are you going to have tonight?
A: John Deere Combine.

Q: Why do you like John Deere so much?
A: That's 'cause John Deere farmers feed cows.

Q: What can you do now that you're 5 that you couldn't do when you were 4?
A: Steal lephracaun's hats.  That will be funny.  But they might bite me.

My Budding Artist

I am very excited to announce that Davis has made significant progress in his artistic abilities in the last 24 hours.

When he started out with his little red marker he was limited to scribbling . . .

. . . in my bedroom

. . . and in the bathroom

. . . and on the dryer.

All this practice gave him the ability to draw more complicated things--like people . . .

. . . on the cupboard in the pantry.

Which, not surprisingly, captivated him enough that he tried his hand at modern art  . . .

. . . on the dog.

I'm so proud I'm practically in tears.

Eleven Years of Bliss

Today Michael and I are celebrating eleven years of marital bliss, which is really quite an accomplishment when you consider I'm only twenty-six.

But you know its love when the guy you're dating brings an extra coat because he thinks that you'll forget yours and get cold, when the truth is that you actually chose not to bring it. (Sometimes a woman just has to make sacrifices for the sake of fashion.)

Then, four kids later, you get up in the morning and you're taking those kids to school, and you realize he put a bunch of brand new CDs in the car's CD player the night before, just for you. It's been a pretty good eleven years.

So how is my anniversary going so far? Well . . .

My day started off by reading an email from a friend who told me I am awesome--which is never a bad way to start a day. After taking the kids to school, I threatened to take University Health Care to Small Claims Court over a matter of five dollars. I am pleased to tell you that I can expect a check for those five dollars in my mailbox within three weeks.  To top it off, I just sold a pattern.

I'd say that so far today has been fantastic! Eleven years of marriage, kids at school, selling a pattern, a threatening phone call, five dollars in the mail, and being told I'm awesome all make for a pretty damn good start to the day. Now if I only had a Dr. Pepper . . . .

Bargaining Tactics

Lately all my conversations with Davis have followed this pattern

D:  Where are you going?
Me:  Out with my friends.
D: I'm coming with you?
Me: Nope.  Just me. 
D: And me?
Me:  No.  You're staying home with Daddy.
D: You're staying with Daddy?
Me: No, you're staying with Daddy.  I'm going out.
D: With me?
 . . . .

It goes around and around like this until one of us (me) begins to scream and yank large tufts of hair out of their head. 

Though it was funny when he did it to Madison yesterday.

D:  What are you doing?
M: Vacuuming.
D: I'm helping you?
M: No.  I'm going to do it by myself.
D: With me?
 . . . .

Never a Dull Moment--Even if You're a Fish

Chase thought Frankie might enjoy some quality time with the DS.

The Joker

This is perhaps the only thing scarier than Heath Ledgers rendition of the Joker

Doggie Depression

This is what Construction Site Lewis thinks about wearing the cone of shame.

The only cure to severe doggie depression is a good game of fetch. 

Construction site is very good at fetching the ball.

He still needs to work on returning it.

You'll be happy to know that we took the cone off Sunday and he is a much happier dog. Hopefully we'll be able to remove the bandage and staples soon.

I suspect the problem has less to do with listening and more do to with talking

Kai:  Sometimes at lunch I don't even get to play very much because I'm still eating when the second bell rings and I have to go in when the third bell rings.  And I'm the only one sitting there!  All the other second graders are done way before me.

Me: Maybe you should talk less and eat more.  Then you'd be done when the other second graders are done.

Kai:  How is that even possible?  It isn't like I have earmuffs to block out conversations!

A Dash of Imagination

Madison went on a skiing field trip last week.  I'm not a fan of skiing and was convinced she'd come home injured-- if she came home at all.  So I tried to bribe her to stay home and told her instead I'd take her to lunch and a movie instead.  She wasn't swayed.  Even though she looks just like me she's got some Michael in her.  I would never pass up lunch and a movie for skiing.  In fact the only thing I'd rather do than lunch and a movie is dinner and a movie.

I am fully aware that I'm not the fun parent.  When Madison was in kindergarten she told me that she thought I was probably like Whistler's mother and if Whistler were to paint his dad he'd probably use fun vibrant colors like Degas used.  At the time I was trying to teach her to appreciate art.  As the boys came into their own, teaching art appreciation quickly dropped off the list of things I felt I needed to do.

However, every once in a while I try to surprise the kids and do something completely crazy, super fun, and imaginative.  Like the other day Kai and his bear, Black Bear Black, were sitting at the counter so instead of just giving the boy a bowl of chips I decided I'd get a small bowl for Black Bear Black too. 

It wasn't like I was expecting a Mormon Ad moment but I certainly wasn't expecting this . . . .

The Boy:  Um mom . . . why did you give Black Bear Black chips?  You know he isn't real, right? I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with these chips.  Really, what am I supposed to do with these chips?

Work Work Work

The title of this post may surprise you because in general I don't really do a lot of work.

Before you go off and tell me that being a mother is work you should know that I am specifically talking about the kind of work that makes money. I realize that I do dishes and laundry and sweep the kitchen floor. Speaking of which, what is the point of having a dog if he doesn't eat scraps off the kitchen floor? Isn't that one of the perks of having a dog? Having to sweep the floor less?

Back to working . . . my pattern is actually selling. I'm no millionaire, I'm not even making a monetary contribution to the household. But every few days I make a sale and I love it. Heindselmans (the local yarn shop) even agreed to try to sell my pattern. Though I think he did so because Davis is so darn cute you can't say no to him.
The fact that little Davis is alive today after removing the needles from my enterlac scarf yesterday shows exactly how cute he is.

Do you know what I love best about selling my pattern?  Now I don't have to feel guilty about spending all my time knitting.  Because now I'm not knitting, I'm working.  So at the end of the day when there are still dishes in the sink I can say, "Well I did have a lot of work to do today.  I'll have to see if I can get some time-off and get those dishes washed tomorrow."  Truth be told, lately I just haven't been able to get that time-off.  My work hours have been grueling.

To make it all seem more official I started a knitting blog called Visual Anarchy Knits.  If you don't knit you won't find it even remotely interesting.  In fact, if you do knit you might not find it remotely interesting.

And now for something completely unrelated . . .  what am I supposed to say to a two-year-old who when I tell him he needs get in his own bed, looks up at me with big huge brown eyes and says, "but Mommy, I just want to snuggle with you."?

Yeah. I'm in BIG trouble.

Quite the Production

I have decided that having a dog is like having a baby.  You know it's going to be a lot of work but you never really know what exactly you're getting yourself into. 

Right now Construction Site Lewis is doing great.  He is finally starting to act like himself again.  But there were a few bad days last week.  I'd rather not go into a lot of detail but I will tell you a few things I learned about taking care of a dog who is recovering from surgery. 


1.  Do not un-pinch a pinched drainage tube.
2.  If a pinched drainage tube becomes un-pinched quickly move the dog away from all carpeted areas.
3.  4-year-olds do not like blood.
4.  4-year-olds do not know the difference between the home phone and the cell phone.
5.  4-year-olds do not know the difference between wet wipes and cleaning rags.
6.  Really good friends let you borrow their carpet cleaner even when they know what you're cleaning with it.
7.  When all else fails large amounts of oxiclean will remove large amounts of blood from from your carpet.