Saturday, JC took the boys shooting with some friends. It was the first time the boys had ever gone, and so, of course, beforehand I was admonishing them to be exactly obedient to whatever their dad told them so they didn't end up shot. Little J kept asking, "Are they real bullets?" To which I would say, "Yes, real bullets from real guns that can really hurt you or kill you."
When they all came back safe and sound, Big J was excitedly telling me about their adventure and how he shot an old microwave and things like that. Little J then pipes in, "And we didn't die!!!!"
Glad to hear it.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
The Misadventures of the Tooth Fairy Part 2
If you didn't hear about misadventure part 1, click here.
Our Tooth Fairy sucks rocks. Seriously. I wish I could fire her, but we have an additional 10 year contract with her.
Yesterday before school, Big J lost his fifth tooth. It had been hanging by a thread forever and a well-meaning Trix finally brought it down. Excitedly, he put his tooth in a Ziploc bag (thank goodness it wasn't that little treasure chest again!) and put it under his pillow.
And until 7:40 this morning, I completely forgot about it.
That is when Big J comes into the kitchen with a forelorn look, holding the Ziploc bag with the tooth still inside.
"The Tooth Fairy didn't come!"
OH. CRAP. CRAP. CRAP. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!
The sad thing is, I had multiple prime opportunities I could have made the switch. Like when he went to sleep in our bed because Little J was bugging him and he couldn't go to sleep (we weren't in there), or before I moved him back from our bed. Or when he was in the playroom for 30 minutes this morning. Or the traditional, when he was asleep....
I lamely reply, "Are you sure?" To which he holds up the bag to show me and goes to sit sadly on the couch.
Think quick. Think quick. Think quick.
While he's sitting there, I pray there is cash in my wallet and nonchalantly pull a dollar out and stick it in my pocket. I tell him, "Let's go up and check, because I know there is a tooth in my baby book and I think sometimes the Tooth Fairy leaves one tooth so that your mom can keep it in your baby book. Maybe this was the time she decided to leave it."
So we go up to his room and I look under his pillow and in his sheets. Then I say, "Maybe you moved around a lot and the money fell down somewhere." So I have him start searching in the black hole that is the crack between his bed and wall while I stealthily put the dollar in the crack between his mattress and headboard.
He looks and looks, and I keep pretending I'm looking, and then I tell him that I'll pull the mattress back so he can look there. And, lo and behold, there was the dollar! The pesky thing had slipped out from under his pillow into the crack there. He was appeased, and I happily took the tooth - since the Tooth Fairy had chosen that one to let me keep.
Our Tooth Fairy sucks rocks. Seriously. I wish I could fire her, but we have an additional 10 year contract with her.
Yesterday before school, Big J lost his fifth tooth. It had been hanging by a thread forever and a well-meaning Trix finally brought it down. Excitedly, he put his tooth in a Ziploc bag (thank goodness it wasn't that little treasure chest again!) and put it under his pillow.
And until 7:40 this morning, I completely forgot about it.
That is when Big J comes into the kitchen with a forelorn look, holding the Ziploc bag with the tooth still inside.
"The Tooth Fairy didn't come!"
OH. CRAP. CRAP. CRAP. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!
The sad thing is, I had multiple prime opportunities I could have made the switch. Like when he went to sleep in our bed because Little J was bugging him and he couldn't go to sleep (we weren't in there), or before I moved him back from our bed. Or when he was in the playroom for 30 minutes this morning. Or the traditional, when he was asleep....
I lamely reply, "Are you sure?" To which he holds up the bag to show me and goes to sit sadly on the couch.
Think quick. Think quick. Think quick.
While he's sitting there, I pray there is cash in my wallet and nonchalantly pull a dollar out and stick it in my pocket. I tell him, "Let's go up and check, because I know there is a tooth in my baby book and I think sometimes the Tooth Fairy leaves one tooth so that your mom can keep it in your baby book. Maybe this was the time she decided to leave it."
So we go up to his room and I look under his pillow and in his sheets. Then I say, "Maybe you moved around a lot and the money fell down somewhere." So I have him start searching in the black hole that is the crack between his bed and wall while I stealthily put the dollar in the crack between his mattress and headboard.
He looks and looks, and I keep pretending I'm looking, and then I tell him that I'll pull the mattress back so he can look there. And, lo and behold, there was the dollar! The pesky thing had slipped out from under his pillow into the crack there. He was appeased, and I happily took the tooth - since the Tooth Fairy had chosen that one to let me keep.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Christmas 2007 Pics
Here are the Christmas pics I promised. We had so many, I just picked a few to represent the various "occasions."
Opening presents at our house, before we went to Texas. This is the only "opening presents" picture I will post, because I think after a while they all start to look the same.
Doesn't he make a pretty-looking girl?
On Christmas Eve, we visited a live nativity. Big J liked the camels.
Little J liked the donkey. Hmmmm....
Little Man didn't like the animals....
As is tradition, we re-enacted the Christmas Story. It never lacks the ad-lib.
The Three Wise Men?
My angel... 
And then we opened presents.
Christmas Day. Santa toys:
And then we opened presents.Christmas Day. Santa toys:
This is as close to a group pic as I got.
Mom and Dad, The Innkeepers - literally. There were 17 people under one roof at one point!!
Other ways we entertained ourselves while we were there:
Notice the new do? Guitar Hero brought out the inner rock star in Big J.
Everyone wants to be a star!
Even Little Man...
Boys and their toys. Protecting the homefront.
Taj and Liv. They entertained themselves.
We also played many rousing games of Apples to Apples (very fun), and my sister and I had a couple of Girls Nights. One night she and I went and got appetizers and hung out and talked, and another night, my niece Isabel came with us and we got our nails and toes done.
Overall, it was loud and hectic, but it was a fun time. The boys especially had a blast. I still feel like we are in the post-holiday fuzz right now, still trying to get back on track.
Overall, it was loud and hectic, but it was a fun time. The boys especially had a blast. I still feel like we are in the post-holiday fuzz right now, still trying to get back on track.
Happy New Year Everyone! Make 2008 Great!
Amen.
By Doug Robinson
Deseret Morning News
Published: January 8, 2008
I missed the memo that said it's A-OK to make disparaging and often erroneous statements about Mormons.
Apparently, they are fair game.
Sure, these are hypersensitive times, when name-calling or perceived bias against any group will get you the Don Imus treatment, but you get a free shot with Mormons. You can say what you want about them with impunity.
If you denigrate a racial group, you're racist.
If you denigrate women, you're sexist.
If you denigrate Mormons, you're hip.
No one would openly suggest that you shouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton because a woman can't lead the country, especially an ornery one.
Nobody would dare say that you shouldn't vote for Barack Hussein Obama because he's black, or of Muslim descent, or because he has a name that sounds like a terrorist. One Clinton worker even apologized for alluding to Obama's use of drugs as a youth, so apparently it's wrong to disparage former drug users, too.
But nobody is shy about saying you shouldn't vote for Romney simply because he's a Mormon. It doesn't even register on the PC-O-Meter.
Just like that, 6 million Americans have been virtually disqualified from running for president. They've been rendered second-class citizens. They're foreigners living in America. They face a glass ceiling.
How un-American is that?
It would be one thing if most of those who oppose Romney did so because they disagreed with his politics or character. But Romney is one of the few candidates who has no character issues, a "squeaky clean" man who has a distinguished record of accomplishments, success and service, with no divorces, no affairs, no scandal. The only thing opponents can say about him is that he belongs to a church they don't understand.
A Harvard law professor called Romney the most qualified of all the candidates and "the perfect candidate for this moment in time." But there is his Mormonism, he noted.
Even the self-styled PC chief of police, Al Sharpton, once jumped in on the action, saying, "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways."
Mormons don't believe in God?
For his penance, all Sharpton had to do was endure a family home evening in Utah.
It's open season on Mormons. A few days ago, Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard stated on ESPN and in the newspaper that part of the reason fired coach Cam Cameron failed was because he got stuck with a Mormon quarterback — not a rookie quarterback (which he is) but a Mormon quarterback."
And you'll have a hard time finding a leader anywhere in sports who was as unlucky this year as Cameron," Le Batard said, noting that because of injuries, Cameron was forced to play "a United Nations huddle of a Mormon quarterback, Mexican receiver, Samoan fullback and some guy named Lekekekkkkerkker."
Now Mormons are foreigners?
Ignorance makes no difference. You can say Mormons have four wives or that they aren't Christian, and no one cares.
Imagine the uproar if Le Batard had written that the Dolphins suffered because they had to play a black quarterback for part of the season? Or a Catholic?
The Salt Lake Tribune has had a field day for more than a week since learning that Mike Leavitt and some of his like-minded cohorts met early in the morning to discuss Mormon theology and governance while he was Utah's governor. What if it had been a Bible study?
Nobody seems to mind when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says his religion "defines me." Or when Obama says his church guides "my own values and my own beliefs."
People worry that Romney will take his orders from his church leaders. They don't worry that Obama will take orders from his church, whose "10-point vision" includes two references to its "non-negotiable commitment to Africa," with no mention of America. Oh, and the church statement begins by noting on the Trinity United Church of Christ Web site, "We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black."
It's a different set of rules for some out there. You can print newspaper cartoons disparaging Mormons. You can harass their families as they walk to their biannual conference with all sorts of foul language. When someone commits a crime, you can note the criminal's religion, but only if he's Mormon. You can make them a one-liner on Leno. Good luck reconciling all this with the paranoid political correctness that's so in vogue.
Meanwhile, the most politically correct presidential election field ever assembled — a woman, a black, a Mormon, a Baptist, etc. — has gone politically incorrect, but only when it comes to you know who.
Deseret Morning News
Published: January 8, 2008
I missed the memo that said it's A-OK to make disparaging and often erroneous statements about Mormons.
Apparently, they are fair game.
Sure, these are hypersensitive times, when name-calling or perceived bias against any group will get you the Don Imus treatment, but you get a free shot with Mormons. You can say what you want about them with impunity.
If you denigrate a racial group, you're racist.
If you denigrate women, you're sexist.
If you denigrate Mormons, you're hip.
No one would openly suggest that you shouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton because a woman can't lead the country, especially an ornery one.
Nobody would dare say that you shouldn't vote for Barack Hussein Obama because he's black, or of Muslim descent, or because he has a name that sounds like a terrorist. One Clinton worker even apologized for alluding to Obama's use of drugs as a youth, so apparently it's wrong to disparage former drug users, too.
But nobody is shy about saying you shouldn't vote for Romney simply because he's a Mormon. It doesn't even register on the PC-O-Meter.
Just like that, 6 million Americans have been virtually disqualified from running for president. They've been rendered second-class citizens. They're foreigners living in America. They face a glass ceiling.
How un-American is that?
It would be one thing if most of those who oppose Romney did so because they disagreed with his politics or character. But Romney is one of the few candidates who has no character issues, a "squeaky clean" man who has a distinguished record of accomplishments, success and service, with no divorces, no affairs, no scandal. The only thing opponents can say about him is that he belongs to a church they don't understand.
A Harvard law professor called Romney the most qualified of all the candidates and "the perfect candidate for this moment in time." But there is his Mormonism, he noted.
Even the self-styled PC chief of police, Al Sharpton, once jumped in on the action, saying, "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways."
Mormons don't believe in God?
For his penance, all Sharpton had to do was endure a family home evening in Utah.
It's open season on Mormons. A few days ago, Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard stated on ESPN and in the newspaper that part of the reason fired coach Cam Cameron failed was because he got stuck with a Mormon quarterback — not a rookie quarterback (which he is) but a Mormon quarterback."
And you'll have a hard time finding a leader anywhere in sports who was as unlucky this year as Cameron," Le Batard said, noting that because of injuries, Cameron was forced to play "a United Nations huddle of a Mormon quarterback, Mexican receiver, Samoan fullback and some guy named Lekekekkkkerkker."
Now Mormons are foreigners?
Ignorance makes no difference. You can say Mormons have four wives or that they aren't Christian, and no one cares.
Imagine the uproar if Le Batard had written that the Dolphins suffered because they had to play a black quarterback for part of the season? Or a Catholic?
The Salt Lake Tribune has had a field day for more than a week since learning that Mike Leavitt and some of his like-minded cohorts met early in the morning to discuss Mormon theology and governance while he was Utah's governor. What if it had been a Bible study?
Nobody seems to mind when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says his religion "defines me." Or when Obama says his church guides "my own values and my own beliefs."
People worry that Romney will take his orders from his church leaders. They don't worry that Obama will take orders from his church, whose "10-point vision" includes two references to its "non-negotiable commitment to Africa," with no mention of America. Oh, and the church statement begins by noting on the Trinity United Church of Christ Web site, "We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black."
It's a different set of rules for some out there. You can print newspaper cartoons disparaging Mormons. You can harass their families as they walk to their biannual conference with all sorts of foul language. When someone commits a crime, you can note the criminal's religion, but only if he's Mormon. You can make them a one-liner on Leno. Good luck reconciling all this with the paranoid political correctness that's so in vogue.
Meanwhile, the most politically correct presidential election field ever assembled — a woman, a black, a Mormon, a Baptist, etc. — has gone politically incorrect, but only when it comes to you know who.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Walking Infomercial
Little J is our own private infomercial. Big J use to do this, too, but has outgrown it for the most part. Little J will always come to me SO excited about whatever new space-saver, cake decorating kit, magic repair putty, etc., he saw on TV. He'll describe in great detail what it is and why I should get it. He'll always start out by saying, "Mama, you need to get this...."
Today he was telling me about a safety program for kids online. I was like, "That sounds really cool, but I don't think we need it." To which he replied,
Today he was telling me about a safety program for kids online. I was like, "That sounds really cool, but I don't think we need it." To which he replied,
"But, Mama, it's fun and engaging!"
Friday, January 4, 2008
See Spot run.
The boys have been asking me why they don't have a pet. I guess they are getting to the age where they notice things like that. The long and short of it is that I don't want something else to take care of. I tell them that when they show me they can take care of the things they already have (i.e. keep their playroom clean) then I will think about getting them a pet.
Tonight Little J brought the subject up again and we had the above-described conversation again. I asked him, however, what kind of pet he was wanting, thinking he would say a dog or a cat. The following conversation took place:
Me: What kind of pet are you thinking you want?
Little J: A bird.
Me (surprised): A bird?! Really?
Little J: Yeah... Or a gorilla.
Tonight Little J brought the subject up again and we had the above-described conversation again. I asked him, however, what kind of pet he was wanting, thinking he would say a dog or a cat. The following conversation took place:
Me: What kind of pet are you thinking you want?
Little J: A bird.
Me (surprised): A bird?! Really?
Little J: Yeah... Or a gorilla.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Soapbox
I know everyone is holding their breath for Christmas pictures ;-) which I will put up sooner or later, but I am posting about something else right now because it is on my mind. I am waaaaaaayyyyyy behind in watching movies, so tonight was the first time we (meaning JC and I) watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End or whatever it is called. The only Pirates movie I really liked was the first one, but that isn't really the point. I liked this one better than the second one. But that isn't the point either.
After watching this movie, I am wondering why on earth this series, this movie in particular, was so heavily marketed to children. Maybe to some I may seem super anal about what my kids watch, but this movie is NOT a children's movie. Besides the fact that it has a PG-13 rating (for a reason), it has no "child" themes and is so violent. The only reason it does not have an R rating is because in all the violence there is no actual blood and gore and there really isn't any language. I mean, seriously, it starts off with multiple people being hanged and their dead bodies being piled onto a wagon and just goes from there. The majority of this for-ev-er long movie is killing. And not just "oh I'm a pirate that swings a sword around that happens to hit a few people" killing. I thought this one had lots more up-close-and-personal violence.
Anyway, I'm kind of on a soapbox here, but why on earth did they make Happy Meal toys for this movie?? Who gets Happy Meals? Small children. Children whose age range is not even in the ratings category the movie is given. I just think it is entirely inappropriate.
Now if your kids watched this movie, don't be offended I said this and write me some comment about it, because that is why each parent can decide which movies and shows their own kids can watch, and which they cannot. For my kids, they will not be seeing this anytime soon.
Ok, I'm done.
After watching this movie, I am wondering why on earth this series, this movie in particular, was so heavily marketed to children. Maybe to some I may seem super anal about what my kids watch, but this movie is NOT a children's movie. Besides the fact that it has a PG-13 rating (for a reason), it has no "child" themes and is so violent. The only reason it does not have an R rating is because in all the violence there is no actual blood and gore and there really isn't any language. I mean, seriously, it starts off with multiple people being hanged and their dead bodies being piled onto a wagon and just goes from there. The majority of this for-ev-er long movie is killing. And not just "oh I'm a pirate that swings a sword around that happens to hit a few people" killing. I thought this one had lots more up-close-and-personal violence.
Anyway, I'm kind of on a soapbox here, but why on earth did they make Happy Meal toys for this movie?? Who gets Happy Meals? Small children. Children whose age range is not even in the ratings category the movie is given. I just think it is entirely inappropriate.
Now if your kids watched this movie, don't be offended I said this and write me some comment about it, because that is why each parent can decide which movies and shows their own kids can watch, and which they cannot. For my kids, they will not be seeing this anytime soon.
Ok, I'm done.
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