catch up

well here it is, a week past Halloween and we haven't posted any pictures yet. very rude. apologies all around. Lainey had multiple costumes, depending on her mood and the current alignment of the stars, but this one is my favorite, even though she also wore it last year, so it gets a photo. It was even worth spending $20 on another pink dress...just so she could choose to wear this sometimes too. LOVE IT. officially, she called herself a "japanese princess" just in case you should be tempted to mention her "geisha" costume to her and be met with completely blank stares.

Romney was a monkey, frequently mistaken for a mouse. oh well. to see him in action, though, was to know, and I'm talking absolutely without doubt, that he was a monkey. he is a monkey. what can I say? always in motion - this photo is as good as it gets. something about this costume increased his propensity for running around in circles, which is what he is doing in this picture. around and around and around and around.

a few funny moments from the last week include Laine asking about a lifesize cutout of Dave Buhler (mayoral candidate) by the side of the road with a bunch of other signs in what looked like an old fire truck or something. Laine said, "Who is that boy and what is he doing over there?" I told her he was running for mayor and without missing a beat Laine said, "you mean he's driving for mayor?"

Laine also complained to Jim that she was "tired of being so small...I can't do anything. I can't even drive a car." Jim told her he would let her drive the car (what was he thinking?) but she wouldn't go for it. "No," she said. "I'm too small. I can't reach." Apparently the next worst thing about being small is that she also can't sit in the middle seat in the back of the car. She has to sit in her carseat for about another 12 inches of height or so, and probably another 40 pounds, so that should only be about...ten years or so? She still tries, though, and buckles herself in the middle seat at any opportunity. Oh, the trials of a four-year old. at least you can still let loose and play in the leaves, though. that's a good thing.

remembering

warning: taking a little break here from our normal brand of posts (completely trivial) to indulge in a little remembering of my mom.

this picture cracks me up. notice the strained smiles - it makes me wonder if this was the eighth try or something to take this darn picture with squirmy kids goofing around. I relate.

the sisters with mom in Italy, 2003. this was the early summer after my mom's diagnosis and completion of her first round of treatments (hence the hat, covering up the bare head.) my parents and other siblings had just finished touring through europe with my sister's college choir when I joined just the girls for a few more weeks of talking, train rides, good food, beautiful country, and getting walked into the ground by our mom.

mom and dad at alta (the true happiest place on earth).
love those smiles.

"Let us hope that we are all preceded in this world by a love story."
Don Snyder, from Of Time and Memory

the whole fam (dad is taking the picture) in cabo, Jan 2006, just before David left on his misison. our last big family trip all together.

We ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.

Thornton Wilder, from The Bridge of San Luis Rey

love you Mom!

4 yr old gems

our little hurricane is so funny - we've been trying to do better to write down some of her good lines. following are my favorites from the last week:

she had the flu last week, and kept asking me why she was sick. I told her I thought she must just have a little bug in her tummy. She really didn't want to be sick anymore and woke up one morning telling me, "Mom, I think the bug just flew out of my mouth last night!"

we were explaining to her that my new job at church was in the primary instead of in the nursery. she looked at me, a little aghast, and said, "they kicked you out?"

the david wilcox song that says, "we are the sunshine of the land" was playing, and she stopped jim in the middle of singing and said, "DAD. We are NOT the sunshine of the land. That guy is telling a lie! The sunshine is up there!"

and this morning, listening to the Lion King song "Hakuna Matata" where they say, "it's our motto!" "What's a motto?" "Nothing! What's a matta with you?" and Laine asked me what a motto was. I said it was something they believe in and she looked at me sternly and said, "but they should believe in GOD."

Poll results

First I'd like to thank our 3 dedicated readers for taking the time to vote on our recent poll where my wife slandered my good name....or at least suggested that I might somehow be responsible for putting a pink headband on Romney.

Now that I have thanked the 3 of you, let me now say how disappointed I am that you know us so little. Here are the results:
Responsible for putting a pink head band on Romney:
Jim - 6 votes, Laine 4 votes, Romney 4 votes, Tomten 0 votes.

I can't believe you all think this is ME! Are you crazy? I'm doing everything I can to teach him the ways of trucks and trains but no matter what, he still loves wearing princess shoes. I'm not sure who was responsible for the headband...but really either Lainey or Romney could win that one. I just assumed it was Laine. Romney is like this great, living, breathing doll to Lainey.

Responsible for restraining the kids in a boot:
A grandpa - 4 votes, Marie - 4 votes, Tomten - 3 votes, Jim - 2 votes.

Okay - the grand dads were thrown in there just to throw you off. Really, if they had been in the area they probably would have done it and then something else like hanging them upside down on the swing or something. But Marie? How on earth did Marie get the same number of votes as Papa and/or Kingfish? Are you people crazy? Have you met Marie? She is really a very nice, sweet mother. Plus she couldn't even walk with the boot off so how the heck was she going to catch them and tie them up? And the tomtens.......we blame everything in our house on the tomtens. They make messes, steal toys, eat furniture, you name it. About once every other day or so Laine says, "Dad, are the tomtens real or are you just teasing me?" I used to say they were real but then I decided to take this approach,
"yes Laine. I'm teasing you."
"Are you teasing me now, or teasing me that they are real."
"yes, I'm teasing you that they are real."
"dad, I think they are real why are you teasing me?"
"huh?"
"stop teasing me!"
"huh? I'm not teasing you."
"why are you teasing me?"
At this point we are usually both so confused that we both give up sure that we are being duped one way or another. That girl really does not like to be teased. Beware.
In the end - I tied up the kids. Who could blame me? All that velcro and just the right sized cylinder of that boot? I couldn't resist.