Life from Josh's point of view

This is the first batch of pictures from Josh's new camera (minus the really blurry and just plain black ones). Can I just say that I love not having to buy film ... because he is really enjoying taking this little camera everywhere!

2008 Christmas Memories

Tangerines stain ... who knew?

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! We are finally all ready for Christmas ... you might think that since Christmas Day is tomorrow that it would be a foregone conclusion. Not so, I think this is first time in years that we will actually have a real Christmas. We are not visiting anyone out of state (this week) and we also have all of the decorations up. I always wrap the Sacred Grove picture. I started doing that when I didn't have any decorations because I like how it looks and wrapping paper is pretty inexpensive. This year was no exception and I love the big present over the fireplace. Unfortunately, the scotch tape I used to attach the bow does not like being over the fireplace ... it fell down. Byron, trying to be helpful and get into the spirit of decorating (somthing he despises on principle alone) decided to put it back with something stronger - like super glue - which would have been great, but he put the glue on the front of the bow. Soooo, I need to get a new bow (probably next year). I appreciated the thought though! I have really enjoyed decorating this year, I even strung lights outside (this is a first)! We have decided to add one strand every year ... our little nod to a new tradition. We are also going to try another new tradition, but since it hasn't happened yet, I don't want to jinx it ... I will post pictures tomorrow ...

... as far as the post title goes, our friend Jenny gave us some amazingly delicious tangerines. We all really like tham, but Ginny has a unique way of eating oranges (she is defintely NOT a pulp fan). She will chew up the segment, suck out the juice, and then spit the segment back out. I call her my citrus vampire (I know, ALL of my children will probably need counseling when they grow up, but have you met their parents?????). So anyway, I try to contain and control where and when she gets an orange. This afternoon (while I went out to get a log), she decided to take matters into her own hands. To be honest, I had this one coming because I saw her grabbing for the bowl. I just figured that when she took a bite and got the bitter rind, that would be the end of it. What I didn't take into consideration was that these wonderful (and they are really really really good) tangerines make the phrase "EZ peel" an understatement. One little bite gave her all the juice she could ever have wanted. Oh well, it guess it should be noted that she would rather climb onto the counter for the fruit rather than the belgian chocolate crepes sitting right next to the bowl (I guess she has some of her father in her after all).

Gena-LEAVE!!!!

That is how Josh refers to Ginny who is, I admit, usually looking for ways to get under his skin. She will sit very quietly playing with something and just look up ... sort of tilt her head sideways ... and watch the boys. Inevitably, she will hone in on that one piece of the "game" that will cause the most commotion and head straight for it! Her timing is uncanny! So, while everyone else in the house refers to her as Ginny - even Ben, Josh has her number. What I was wondering was if his pronunciation was in fact an innocent error - maybe he is trying to tell her something? We shall see. As I often say, in my home I have one entering the terrible twos, one comfortably ensconsed in them, and one having a hard time letting go ... you can decide who is who!

Winter Wonderland

Well, we went to bed in California and woke up in Utah! We were expecting some snow, and since we moved "up the hill" for about a 500 ft elevation gain, we were expecting a bit more than usual ... but I don't think I have seen a snowfall this deep here in all the time I have lived here! The kids are excited - to say the least - and are ready to go and play ... once I unearthed the winter coats and such that we have NEVER used.

Josh wanted to know a couple of nights ago if we were going to see Frosty ... I told him that it probably wouldn't snow enough to see Frosty but he assured me that it would - I guess he told me! So, while we didn't see Frosty, we had a great time playing with ... Fred.

Ginny had definite opinions about the snow suit I shoved her in (she hasn't seen the Christmas Story yet ... but she would be a shoe in for the younger brother) and even more decided opinions about the snow. She was of course perfectly happy as long as I was holding her. She was even happier under her blanket next to the fire.

The boys have had a great time this morning (only Robert is still out at this point). Robert and Josh tried for snow angels and Ben wandered around the entire driveway fascinated by his own footprints. The sun has come out a time or two and the trees are starting to drip, but I hear we are supposed to get more snow before Wednesday ... let's hear it for global warming!

Educational funnies

Today has been fun! Robert, Sherri, Timmy and I got together to discuss another of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. We have been having the boys scan each letter and try to come up with as many words that they don't recognize as possible. It has been pretty fun (at least for the moms) because this book was written at the end of World War II in another country and our current language is vastly different. Today's vocabular funny? Timmy's definition for "informal" was "not formal." So far so good, but what does "formal" mean? "Old ... as in Mom's, um, shirt." True enough, Sherri was wearing an older style and very beat up shirt, but you could see he was trying to see how to get around pointing out that he thought that formal meant old ... and that Mom was very formal. It really changed the boys' understanding of the letter when they learned what formal actually meant. As I told Sherri, however, she'll never look at that shirt the same way again! In another vocabulary moment, I was trying to explain the definition for intelligence. Robert had come up with information gathering ... as in "military intelligence" and the letter was looking for the "ability to grasp information" definition. I noticed as I was talking that Timmy had sat back with a glazed expression and was allowing drool to pool at the corner of his lip ... allowing me to point out that a lack of intelligence could be seen in the "drooling idiot" impression that Timmy was portraying. The funny part was that Timmy had stopped listening long before I got to that particular word and was reacting to something that one of the babies was doing - but the timing was perfect! All in all, the boys enjoyed this letter and are looking forward to next week.

Along similar lines, I am supposed to be finishing some annotating for my class on Saturday. I have been reading a great article on universities in the "ancient" world (meaning Rome, etc.) when I came accross a particular quote by Epicharmus about professors during the dark ages. He said, "the one thing that kept professors going was their constitutional inability to shut up whether they had anything to say or not." As I read that, I remembered my mother telling me that I would make a perfect college professor - I used to be flattered!!!

"Favorite" Aunt Brandy needs to be strangled ....

I don't have any pictures of this one, but it HAS to be documented. My sister and her family came to visit last weeked (see the "vomit" post). You have to understand that my kids LOVE Aunt Brandy - and she just plays on that. I generally speaking find it cute and love that they think that she is so cool. I think she's pretty cool too, at least since she grew up and moved out - oh wait, I did that first ... moving on.

This visit, Josh decided that he wanted to go home with Aunt Brandy, who told him that would be fine! She backpedaled when she realized that he was ready to go NOW by telling him that (1) his Mommy would miss him if he were gone so long (to which he replied that Mommy would be happy to see him go and Mommy giggling uncontrollably behind him probably did nothing to dispell that), (2) that his bed would not fit in the "white car" (he assured her that it would fit just fine - Mommy would fit it in), and finally (3) that Santa would not know where to find him at her house. The final argument quieted him - or so we thought.

In Primary on Sunday, he was nearly in tears telling his teachers that he was late and that the white car was depending on him. Every time a car passes in front of our house (which is fairly often since we live on a pretty busy street) he heads for the window and asks if it is the white car yet. We had company for dinner and he was sure that the white car had finally come for him. No fewer that FOUR times today, Josh has come and given me a huge hug and kiss and then informed me that he loved me very much and was going to go in the white car ........

Thinking that this had gone on long enough, I helped Josh to call Aunt Brandy tonight so that she could help him to understand when we could visit again. Did Aunt Brandy help???? Oh no, she told him to pack his clothes and have Mommy put him on an airplane - you can imagine what tomorrow is going to be like. THANK YOU AUNT BRANDY!!!!! It's okay, I don't get mad .... I get even (not sure how, but suggestions are welcome)