Our Rock Show

I'm taking a break from colds, sinus infections, ear infections, teething, lots of cavities, and lots of responsibilities to post some pictures from a month ago.(Wanna play a fun game? See if you can match each malady to the person in my family to whom it belongs.) No worries, we're actually doing great, especially since I figured a way to get these pictures onto my computer, even with my cord still lost. Ya-hoo!

Josh started his music career mostly on the harmonica. He was 20 months old when he got it, and I'd find him sitting around the house wailing away on the thing, like this picture where he is sitting on a bucket in the laundry room. Every now and then he'll get it out and play it in the back yard, just as a side thing while he plays on the swing set.

Josh has begun to show promise as a drummer. I made some drums for him out of oatmeal containers, and he walks around the house singing and drumming away. The thing that's awesome about it is that the "songs" he sings sound like he's really rockin' out, but he drums like he's got a set of bongos. Gary said, "It's like Rock N' Roll Bongos . . . you'll probably be famous for this some day." In the picture below he's not posing, I just caught him when he was really into his work. For a while there he was really into singing into a microphone. The picture below shows him using his microphone, but I wanted him to use something different. I tried to teach him that proper children use large kitchen utensils as microphones, but this has been a tough transition for him since he'd already decided those are all ball-bats.

Here we see his percussion repertoire expanding. He is using a marker to bang on the cupboards, with the occasional tap on the pot above for a cymbal-like effect. He was REALLY into the song he was singing, as you can tell by the expression on his face.

And Noah has the coolest contribution of all to the rock show that's being prepared at our house. I was changing his diaper in the middle of the night in the dark, (yeah, I know, I was really rolling the dice on that one) and all of the sudden the diaper and the sheets around it started sparkling with little spots of light firing off one after another. Incredible static show! It's happened to me twice now, but I don't know how to tell you to replicate the experiment, besides that it probably helps to live in the desert, and, I don't know, drag your feet on the carpet all the way to the crib?

So, I think there are still a couple of bugs to work out, but when the show is all ready to go, my kids will probably invite you, charge you your pocket change for the privilege of watching, then make you a part of a special number in the end. At least if they run their shows anything like their mother did when she was young . . .(Don't worry, they'll dump the money out of the jar and give it back to you.)

40 Seconds On The Air

I was on the radio today! I was listening to the Doug Wright Show while getting ready for the day, and the subject was substitute teachers. (There was a bad problem with one around here recently, thus the discussion.) I had an opinion about the topic, but was too scared to call. Then Doug said it was too bad the teachers were all teaching and unavailable for comment, so if there were any teachers listening, please call in. I thought, "Hey, that's me, better call . . ." And before I knew what I was doing, I was chattin' it up on the air.

If you want to listen, go to Doug Wright Show for November 11, 2008, 3rd hour. (Yes, I was getting ready for the day during the 3rd hour of the show.) When you get the file up, scroll to 41:32, and there I am. CLICK HERE TO FIND IT.

I actually only said a little of what I planned to say, since I was mostly answering his questions. If you feel the need to be enlightened more on the topic let me know, and I can expand this post. It was actually not scary like I thought, so I might dare call in on a topic that's not so easy to talk about next time. Well on my way to changing the world now . . . :)

No More Bare Walls

My friend recently started a photography business and took some pictures of our family. I think she did a fantastic job, so I'm posting about a million of them. How else are grandmas supposed to see them? The friend who took these pictures has a website, if you're interested. It's kelibphotography.blogspot.com. I also have to give a shout-out to another friend who has started a photography business. Her website can be found at meaganjensenphotography.blogspot.com. So, now all your photography needs are fulfilled, so you can look at these kids, which I find to be cute, but I'm just their mom. No more bare walls around here!

How We Rocked the Vote (Literally)

Wow, I got really sick of the lengthiness of this election. I didn't realize quite how much, until I posted an image to the left that said, "Decision 2008" and showed an elephant battling a donkey. I couldn't stand to look at it, even for a moment in the corner. Now instead here's this sticker to add color, although my sticker was actually red and stuck to my stomach because of Josh. No pics of that, sorry.



Anyway, I was really excited to cast my ballot and say goodbye to all of the polls and the pundits. My kids and I showed up at the local elementary school roughly mid-nap-they-weren't-taking, and got in line. There were some kids who looked like 5th graders playing dodge ball in the gym right there, so Josh hung out bashfully at the door watching. I'm positive he was thinking they would invite him to play if he stood there long enough. In his world, everyone wants to play ball with him. Noah was in his carseat, on the floor next to me as we waited.



All of the sudden, the woman in front of me finished signing in, and backed away from the registration table. She took one step too many, and didn't notice Noah and his seat. She not only tripped over him, but knocked him over and got tangled in his carseat. Noah did a couple of rolls in his seat (including being completely upside-down at one point), and the poor woman ended up landing hard on the floor several feet away from where she started falling. Noah started screaming because he was scared, although totally fine because he was strapped into his seat. The woman was trying not to cry because she has bad hips and couldn't stand up after the fall, plus she was really worried that she had harmed a baby. I tried to assure her she didn't and inquire after her health, but I didn't know what to say really because so many people were watching and I felt that somehow it was my fault. It was VERY awkward.



Then, I hurriedly cast my votes (or Josh did, I was able to keep him with me by letting him press the buttons), and got out of there. I had no idea the election would be trying to the very end, but I still have lots of candy to eat, so no worries. All I want to say in this forum about who I voted for/the results, is that I felt good that I had tried my best to do my homework on the different races. I could have done better, of course, but I am now much better than in 2000, when I excitedly punched my vote for president then said, "What the heck? There's other stuff on this ballot?"

Are You Ready for a Throwdown?

My mom called and issued the challenge four weeks ago, after inventing several flavored-syrups. November 1, a waffle throwdown, her house. Gary and I have made many a Bobby Flay-inspired dish, but never in competition. Then my mom made a meat loaf for us after Noah was born, and in doing so found out that Gary had been on a quest for the perfect meat loaf, so she declared a meatloaf throwdown with Gary. There was no winner, only a couple of wonderful meat loafs.

So, to make the waffle throwdown more official, I invited someone to be our blind-taste-testing judge. My sister Cindy upped the ante by declaring that she would prove once and for all that no one can really tell the difference between Bisquick and from-scratch. (My family, except Cindy, are all a bunch of from-scratch snobs, including myself.) Here is Gary, my mom, Cindy, and her husband Nate, all feverishly cooking for the throwdown.

My mom made some chocolate waffles, which I thought were good, but were not popular with her. Gary and I made banana waffles, which were declared to be quite good by everyone, but not good with the many-flavored syrups. The most popular? Cindy's Bisquick with fresh blueberries. I say it was the fresh blueberries, but she did gain quite a bit of ground with her point.

Oh, and we never did utilize our blind-taste-tester, because I was yapping her ear off. It was my friend Christina whom I have no picture of, which is too bad because she has adorable twin girls you would like to see. But it was so good to see her, and that was actually a main-er point than the waffles, so, the final judgement goes to these three pictured below.

Their verdict? Everyone wins with waffles. (Although they are pictured eating the Bisquick . . .)

Dinos, Monkeys, and Spiders, Oh, My!

Due to the waffle throw-down (I'll explain next), we spent Halloween at my parents' house and trick-or-treated with cousins. Here's Noah in his monkey get-up, which I think he looks very cute in, even if I had to cut the bottom of it apart due to the fact that my 5-month-old does not fit into a costume marked 0-9 months. Have to throw in a picture of cousin Sophie, the cutest little spider in Idaho.

Here are my boys. Josh was very excited to be dressed up in his dinosaur costume (he roared on demand all night long), very excited to be with his cousins, and very excited to be getting tons of candy. So why don't I have any pictures of him smiling on Halloween night? Because the elastic in his costume-head was scrunching his face, and he couldn't smile for long enough to capture it. He wanted to wear it, though, so just trust me, this is the picture of a very excited boy.

My little dino with his cousin Anakin (Tate). Cousin Ninja (Braden) was also trick-or-treating with us, but he was too excited to get going to waste any time posing for a picture. Josh and Tate held hands for most of the night. I was trying to hold hands with Josh to protect him, but he felt cooler holding hands with Tate.

At the first house Gary and I realized what Josh had brought with him. Probably a good idea, what with the dangers of trick-or-treating these days . . .

After one street my little monkey fell completely asleep, so he spent the rest of the time watching TV with grandpa. I didn't get to show him off anymore, but he seemed okay with it.Adorable kids out on a beautiful fall night getting tons of treats - gotta love it. After a while the kids got tired of it, and at first I didn't believe it because there were still so many possible houses to visit. My sister Cindy and I were thinking like 10 year olds again - "If we only got this one more street with the houses close together, the candy haul would be huge!" But, they were tired, and probably knew that since grandpa's house was their last stop, the candy total would not suffer. (My dad's pieces-of-candy to trick-or-treaters ratio was roughly 100 to 1). So, after a 17-year hiatus from trick-or-treating, I find it to still be quite the great idea.