Then and Now

4 years ago:

Today:

Sammy turned 4 on Friday.  To celebrate we took the kids bowling and then had a big party at our house.  Sam enjoyed all his new toys.  Seth and I did, too, the next morning when the kids were so busy playing with them that they let us sleep in until we woke up at 10:00!

 

Seth turns 30 this week so we combined his birthday party with Sam's.  His cake sure made a lot of light!

 



"Mommy, do I have a little uterus?"

This was asked by Sammy after I explained to the kids exactly where the baby was and how s/he was being kept safe inside of me (prompted by the question of why the baby did not need a separate seat belt from me). I told them that a uterus is something all girls have, including Elena, at which time Sam asked if he had one.

Luckily he's still young enough not to be offended if Seth and I burst out laughing when he asks a question.  It was really a very valid question, but it sounded hilarious.

Later that day, Elena asked my mom if she "still had her uterus." I guess she has noticed that women past a certain age no longer have children. We very briefly explained that while some women do need to have theirs removed, most women continue to have a uterus their whole life.

So ladies, I would like to apologize in advance if either of my children happen to ask you about the state of any of your reproductive organs.

Repeat

There must be something about that chair.

Happy Halloween and All Saints Day

St. Edward's school started the tradition last year of having a Saints Costume Contest for All Saints Day.  It's a great way for the kids to learn about and look up to people who have lived good and holy lives as opposed to all the crappy role models TV provides for us.

Elena chose St. Bernadette of Lourdes.  We had a fun time making her costume and she won 3rd place in her class. 

I was hoping she would want to be St. Bernadette for Trick-or-Treating as well.  Not only because it would have saved me the trouble of putting together 2 costumes, but also because she looked so sweet. But Elena had other plans. 

At the last minute she ditched her ideas of being either the planet Earth or a skunk (again) when the neighbors gave her a pair of vampire teeth.  So while most girls her age were dressing up as fairies and princesses, we got to dress our child up as an undead bloodsucker. She assured us, though, that she was a nice vampire who would never suck the blood of a human. And no, she has not read or seen Twilight; she came up with that on her own.

Sam decided to be a dragon, which worked out perfectly because his cousin Alex was a dragon last year and still had the costume. He had a great time chasing people around pretending to blow fire.

The kids went trick-or-treating with their friends, Ana and Toby, again and a great time was had by all. Including Seth, who had fun carving pumpkins with the kids.

(Don't) Tickle Me Sammy

Once again, most of Seth's family was home for deer hunting opener.  Our exchange student, Charlotte, even went out with Seth.  She was able to see lots of deer and she really enjoyed herself.  The only part she didn't like so much was watching them slit the throat of a deer that our nephew had shot. Still, she said she would do it again so it must not have been too bad.  Unfortunately they got up super early and I didn't think to remind Seth to get a picture of Charlotte in all her hunting clothes.

In the evening, we all gathered for a big meal as usual.  There were juice boxes galore, and we didn't really monitor how many the kids were drinking.  (After asking the kids later, Sam was pretty sure he had 3 and Elena had 5.) While we were still oblivious to their excessive juice intake, Craig was holding Sam and Seth started tickling him.  Sam was laughing his head off, but I guess Seth overdid it a little because all of a sudden, Sam puked on Craig. Craig handled it pretty well. He said it smelled like Juicy Fruit.

Sorry our kid threw up on you, Craig.  Consider it payback for making fun of Seth on his First Communion:

Baby Bump

I figured it was about time to get a picture of the baby's progress. Sorry the lighting is so terrible, but you get the idea. This baby continues to be our most active one yet.  The kids love it when they can feel and see the baby moving through my tummy.  3 more months until we meet him or her!

How do you like your eggs?

Now that we have a fresh supply of eggs coming in every day from our chickens, we have been eating them more frequently so I've gotten to know everyone's egg preferences pretty well. Apparently, there was a study done recently which claims that the way people eat their eggs reveals their personality.  Here were some of the findings:

• People who like poached eggs are more likely to be outgoing and happy. They are also more likely to by female, have 2 children and no more than 1 sibling. 
• Those who like fried eggs are more often young and male. They are also more likely to be members of the skilled working class.
• Scrambled egg eaters are often guarded, have managerial positions, own their own homes and have no children.
• Boiled egg eaters are usually disorganized and impulsive.
• Omelet eaters are often self-disciplined and tend to have tidy homes.

My first impression was that this is a bunch of baloney, but just for fun, I checked for accuracy in my own family. Here were my findings:

• Elena - Bingo. Boiled egg eater.  Impulsive.  Has a strong aversion to organization.
• Sam - Loves fried eggs ("Yolk eggs" as he calls them). They got the young and male part right.
• Seth- Usually eats fried eggs.  Pretty accurate overall.
• Me - Apparently I'm a man.

Well, 3 out of 4 isn't bad. I also checked this with Seth's boss last night, who prefers scrambled eggs.  While he is in a managerial position, he laughed pretty hard at the 'no kids' part: he has 8 children.

Reader participation time! Leave us a comment letting us know how accurate this is for you.

 As promised, here is Elena in her new glasses.  This picture was taken on farmer day at Kindergarten in case you're wondering about the outfit. Elena's at a great age for glasses - she's big enough to take care of them and young enough to be excited about them.  The day she got them, she put them on, looked at Seth and me with a big smile and said, "I'm so happy!!!!"

 

Seth and Craig had a successful hunting trip in Wyoming - both of them got a large buck.  Here's a picture of Seth and his "envelope" as Sam calls it.

 

And here's a great picture that Craig took with our camera.  Looks like our camera's not the reason we don't get a lot of great pictures - it's the person behind it...

 

If you call our house....

Sammy has been taking on the role of receptionist here, racing to answer the phone anytime it rings. And that suits me fine because he can usually get there before the answering machine picks up, unlike me. He's very good at small talk, which the callers sometime appreciate and sometimes do not.  And he will generally continue until I prompt him to hand me the phone. Here's a sample of a conversation he had when answering the phone yesterday:

Sam: Hi.

Other person: Is your mom or dad there?

Sam: My mom is the only one here, and she is reading us books.  My dad's not here because he shot a buck today and he will be coming home tomorrow.

Me: Sam, give me the phone.

Sam: My mom will be coming right up, okay? (He usually says that to the caller before passing the phone off)

Did I mention that he was wearing vampire teeth throughout this entire conversation?  I'm pretty sure the caller didn't understand half of what he said.

In other news, Seth went antelope hunting with his brother in Wyoming this weekend and they both got bucks.  I sure hope the kids like antelope jerky.

Coming up next - Elena's new glasses. I would have posted something sooner, but Seth has the camera and I want to include a picture.

Elena's latest project

This is the wall next to Elena's bed.

 It started when Elena brought home a few school pictures of her classmates. Then she found the box full of past xmas card photos. And she's still not done.

 

 At this rate, we won't need to bother repainting her room.