name that show

The kids have been playing a game, inspired by a summer TV show. It is a somewhat modified version, but I think you will be able to guess which one it is.

This is what they do: they put on capes or costumes of some kind, they zip around the house (or "fly") and then they rate each other: "Great job, A! You get a ticket to Vegas!" "Very good, BR, but remember your toes! You get 20 cookies!"

or, my personal favorite: "That was SO good! You get 100 tickets to Vegas!"

Memorial Day Wedding

My cousin Bethany got married on the 29th. It was a beautiful wedding out in the countryside and so much fun.
We took a family photo since we were all gussied up, and it sort of worked out... Actually, I kind of like that cousin P-roc found a way into it and that L. is dominating the foreground. It kind of captures the mood of the whole crazy weekend.



I intend to add more photos of all the folks who came out west for the gathering (my dad's entire family made it, even the kids' great-grandparents!). In the meantime, my brother Garrett has some great shots up of the festivities on his blog, including plenty of action shots of all the kids.

what three-year-old boys do

(subtitle: "maybe-if-I-blog-about-this-it-will-eventually-seem-funny")*

BR has been busy today. He has devoted himself to pinching, punching, kicking and scratching. His sisters, I mean. Oh, and he pulls their hair, too.

When he is not doing those things, he's staying busy with other activities.

During naps and timeouts in his room today, he decorated his bed and the carpeted floor with poo, the walls with Minerin cream (think: the thickest, oilest moisturing cream you can imagine) and stuffed the loo full of toilet paper.


At least he's feeling plenty of remorse:

*(runner-up subtitles included:

• why the house won't be clean and the dishes won't be done when the landlord comes to show it to prospective tenants tomorrow morning
• why dinner will be mac n'cheese tonight, again.
• why nothing is packed for our move yet
• why I googled "boarding-school-for-toddlers" (again. just to double check that such a thing still doesn't exist)

Graduation

It seems like her first day wasn't so long ago... And now, she's a first-grader!

Congratulations, L., we are so proud of you!

Mer, you'll like this one.

Speaking of morbid games the kids play, we have been watching the Discovery Channel's reality show about Everest. As is typical with such shows, the narrator has a deep voice and everything is as dramatic and hyped up as it can be.

I overheard the kids' deep voices the other day as they scaled the staircase:

"The climbers are now 7 million 200 feet up the mountain. Oxygen is running out and they are entering the Death Zone..."
And then one of them collapsed and the others had to resuscitate her.

Oh, we are so proud.

3, 4, 5

In keeping with our tradition here at RandB, that's how old they are right now. (you can click here and here for previous years)


Here are some other numbers:

L., weight: 45 lbs., 46 in.
A., weight: 41 lbs. , 43 in.
BR, weight: 27lbs., 36 in.

Can you pick out the runt of the litter?

Poor BR, he is only in the 15th percentile for weight, compared to A. who is in the 95th! You'd never guess they are only 13 months apart just by looking at them (7 months closer than his sisters to each other).

But it is his wise demeanor that really tips you off, if you just look closely...

sometimes tornadoes bring us good things

like when Kit's layover gets extended to almost two whole days.

we enjoyed every single minute.

especially when she taught us how to play "hideous corpse."

(where each person draws a portion of an animal and then folds the paper so the others can't see what they've done and then hand it over to the next person who must draw another part, and so on.)

we miss you already, Kit.

Work and Play

Someone asked me if the news in this post was really that great. :)
First of all, I should say that I made a mistake in my calculations: it is actually more like 13 days on out of every 28 (as opposed to 21 days on of every 28).

Since it is shiftwork, it is hard to really translate this into "normal" terms. Basically, it is about a 50 hour work week (as compared to 75 to 80 now) for six months of paid work. The six months in India is unpaid. So, yeah, we think that's a pretty good deal!

But once the India thing is over (and all the student loans are taken care of), there will be no reason to work more than 8 shifts a month. Right, Jer? Right?

super powers

L: "Mommy, do we hear with our eyes?"

Me (figuring this was some kind of silly game she wanted to play): "Sure. And we see with our nose, and smell with our ears and..."

L.(looks a little confused): "Well, Mrs. G. says that during storytime we are supposed to hear with our ears, AND our eyes, AND our minds."

Me: "Oh. Right. Yeah."

Then she leaned over and opened her eyes real wide at me: "I can FEEL my eyes listening..."

_________

BR packed up this little basket with some favorite toys for our "field trip." (we were headed to the store.)

"When I become a little toy, I will be so excited to get into this basket!"

the good news keeps rolling in....

First of all: we have all been healthy for over a week!

Second: Daddy got his schedule for this summer. He will be working 15 shifts per month. That is exactly 6 shifts fewer than he works now!! We are so happy we can hardly stand it.

It makes us feel like this and a little like this and definitely like this.

happy mother's day to me

best card:

best bookmark:

best kids!

the last time we went to India...

...was during September-October 2005. That means that L. was 15 months old and A. was -4 months old.

L. enjoyed being the center of attention and playing with her new friends.

usually.

what could be more fun...

...than huge black and white balloons?!?

I especially loved that the brand name for this toy is "The Natural World."

I mean, is there anything more natural than a 7ft-long balloon with zebra stripes?

the Cinco means Treinta y Uno

The kids made their daddy "zombie" birthday cards, inspired by his most recent favorite video game. In the game, the zombies sometimes send notes to announce their imminent arrival and/or nefarious intentions, but (as we all know) they are notoriously bad spellers.

The card from A. I mean, the zombies:



BR's "zombie" card creation:




L. wanted to mimic the zombie's style as closely as possible so she intentionally mis-spelled the message of this card:




No, Daddy was not lucky enough to enjoy a "brain cake" this year, but he did enjoy this lemon poppyseed one with his kiddos (and no zombies):

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

sassy

From a conversation with L. on Sunday, when I was too sick even to sit up on the couch:

"Mommy, what are you doing?"
"I'm curling up into a ball."

She whips out a ball and holds it up so I can see: "You do NOT look like THIS."

funny

A. was swinging from the monkey bars. "Look at me, BR!"
Him: "Wow, Ah-ma-ree! I'm impressed!"

_________

We were running for the bus...

A: "Mommy! I can't run anymore! Too of my legs are hurting!"

snack

In keeping with the recent food theme on this blog...

This smoothie-in-a-wine-glass idea came about thanks to lovely people of Spain.

You are confused? Let me explain: for breakfast, it is not unusual to have your orange juice served in a wine glass if you are at a cafe, cafeteria, or apparently any old place in Spain.

So when it was "merienda" time a couple of days ago, I thought I would carry the idea over for a strawberry-banana-blackberry smoothie. (are you drooling yet? you should be!)

can't help but smile

Today L. adopted a "rolly polly" bug she found in the backyard and named it "Pegasus."


I think we might just bounce back. It seems we're ready to dive right back into hilarity once again.

(burp!)

"What do you say, BR?"

"Thank you!"

"Uh, no. What do you say after you burp?"

"Thanks, Burp!"

it's like bootcamp for India

You do not want to hear the details of our various illnesses over the last two weeks (seriously, you don't). I figure it's practice for our upcoming visit to India, except without the heat and with a washing machine.
But don't think we're not complaining!

We intend to return to the blog world soon, once the sense of humor has been recovered.