Bananas

A while back Suzy was peeling a banana and noticed that Jace seemed interested. She sat down on the floor and fed it to him. Ever since then, whenever Jace sees a banana being peeled, he sits down on the floor to wait for his banana. It's pretty cute.

Oh So Fun

Tonight was a bit on the interesting side. I was trying to activate a replacement Credit Card (verifying lots of minutia from my credit report. Such as where I lived when I was in college 10 years ago), when I heard Suzy yelling for me from the bathroom. Nope, she hadn't fallen in the toilet (this time) (or anytime really. I figured I better put this part in just to make sure we're clear, Suzy has never fallen into the toilet to my knowledge), in fact, she was standing over the tub holding Jace up by his arms.

Our hero of the first part of the bath (Faith) noticed that there was something floating in the tub that did not appear to be one of the usual toys. This was a problem, since Jace was just in the process of lifting one of these "non-toys" out of the water. Presumably to eat it. Just in time, Faith let us know that we had a Code Brown on our hands. Yup, sweet little Jacers had contaminated the tub. With poop.

I went ahead and washed Jace's hands and mine (since I was holding his hands while on the phone with a VERY slow and deliberate credit card agent at this point). It was only after I got off the phone that I realized the full extent of the situation. And that I had been holding onto poopy-boy hands.

Anyway, Suzy used the handy poop spoon that she keeps for just such an occasion (A tradition that started with Faith I believe). Then she sanitized the bathtub with bleach, while we all stood around and watched (and discussed the poisonous qualities of bleach, despite the fact that it looks like water).

Then it was back in the tub! I came and got Jace out after Suzy was done with him, made him a bottle and was trying to put him to bed, when Kate came upstairs and let me know that Faith had started throwing up in the tub. And not just once. Kate later observed that just thinking about it made her not feel so good. I added my Amens to that. She also observed that it had been a very interesting bathing experience that evening.

At least no one peed in the tub. Well, that we know of.

Cornters

I had a companion from my mission who was from Mongolia. He learned some English before he went to the MTC. He was of course taught British English instead of American English, as is most of the world. He would get fairly annoyed with us Americans as we often pronounced our "T" sounds as if it were a "D". Think of the word "Water" for example. We usually say "wawder" Or in the word Mountain when we just sort of leave the T sound out all together.

In pre-school (Grandma's Montessori Pre-school) the girls are taught to say their T sounds properly. This does make it amusing at home, as they will often insert Ts when there don't have to be. Such as cornter instead of corner. Obviously assuming that their poor "Red Neck" parents aren't aware that the T is there.

Zombies

Faith (today) "It's so weird that Zombies have Pink Shirts"

Where does she come up with this? Look carefully at the left hand side at the 37 sec, 58 sec and 1:45sec marks and you'll see a beautiful Zombie in a pink short sleeved shirt with a green long sleeve shirt underneath. Who happens to be Suzy. This was from Halloween.

Oh So Helpful

Jace is at a really fun age. He's does lots of super cute things. He's also at that age where he loves to explore new things. Like opening a box of cereal himself. And emptying it. On the floor. And then eating the cereal. Luckily Monday is "Mopping Monday" so Suzy had just done the floors (not that dirt, or toilets would stop him from partaking).

You'll also notice that the girls are happily stuffing their faces as fast as possible. You'd think they were starving (I will admit this was just before dinner).

You will also notice how pleased Jace looks in picture #1.

Suzy and I were both in the kitchen, mere feet away. He has this special talent. Just after dinner, Suzy and I were in the Kitchen cleaning up when I looked over to see that he'd already emptied out half a box of baby wipes. Among his favorite activities is to wait for one of the girls to leave the downstairs bathroom door open so he can go splash in the toilet (luckily most of the time it's flushed), wait until he is free from direct parent intervention (say, said parent was taking a shower) and empty all the bathroom draws.

On a side note, I also tried an experiment to determine Jace's favorite things. He likes working electronics (aka, IPADs or Touch screen blackberrys) over balls. He likes knives over balls, but working electronics over knives (and other sharp objects).

He just came into the office running with Scissors, which he grabbed out of the dishwasher (Suzy was chasing him down, he barely made it).

FUN!

Keeping Secrets

This evening was somewhat indicative of how well my girls keep secrets. During dinner, (Cooked cabbage, meatballs with vegetables) Kate all of a sudden pops out with "There's apple juice in it". I'm not sure what she's referring to at this point.

Suzy filled me in. Kate had noticed that earlier Suzy was putting in some Apple Cider into the cooking cabbage to sweeten it. Kate had told her that they probably shouldn't tell "daddy" what was in it because then he might not eat it (apparently this "daddy" person is a bit on the picky side, and if he knows there are things in his food that he doesn't like, he may go into dinner with a preconceived notion). Luckily, I don't mind apple flavored cabbage. In fact, I rather liked it.

It being Monday night, apparently Kate had planned a "surprise" lesson. She couldn't help telling me that there was a surprise lesson, but she was doing a surprising good job of keeping the content secret. That is until she engaged in a game of "guess the surprise" with Faith. Who, thanks to numerous helpful hints from Kate surprised Kate by guessing the surprise.

Of course, Faith then immediately proceeded to try and tell me, but luckily I didn't hear. That is until she later kept talking about it and revealed that she would be "Eve" and Kate "Adam". (It was the story of Adam and Eve and the "fruit (symbolized by two apples) in the Garden of Eden. Kate had also drawn a picture to go with it. With a fish and an unspecified animal.)

What can I say except that I hope they're this open when they're teenagers.

Like Brother Like Sister

Jace was sure having fun at dinner tonight. He loves to eat while holding utensils. Unfortunately, he can't use the utensils yet. So he holds the fork/spoon (or Knife if somehow Daddy was allowed into the equation. It was a plastic knife though, from Ikea), in one hand while trying to shove food into his mouth using his other hand.

Tonight was yellow squash lasagna. That's Lasagna that replaces noodles with slices of delicious yellow squash. As Suzy pointed out, noodles absorb liquid, while squash excretes liquid. It was quite liquidish. Jace was having a good ole time with it.

Faith was in a bit of a "mood" (having just been woken up). However, who can resist the allure of laughter upon seeing young Jace happily banging away at his tray (still covered with lasagna) with one hand and stabbing his cup with fork with the other hand all while covered in sauce. Does the trick every time.

Suzy spent the next half hour going back over her blog with the girls, starting with showing that they were just as messy at that age.

10013

Kate has recently been suffering from Big Sister Syndrome. This is where a younger sibling (in this case one about 2 years and 15 days younger) follows one around to the point where one wishes one were not so blessed with such siblings.

Unfortunately, these feelings that Kate has been experiencing have expressed themselves in quite a negative manner. In fact, Faith has more than once come crying because a certain big sister had been pushing her. Come to find out, Kate was attempting to push Faith out of their room so she could be alone. Faith, never one to give in easily, resists these efforts. We all know what happens when an immovable object is faced with an irresistable force. Actually, upon further reflection, we may not know what happens, but in the case of Kate and Faith, Faith loses.

In an attempt to rectify the situation, we've tried various things. Having the girls hold hands and sing "We are Loving and Kind". I think all that did is sour the girls on that song.

Finally, Suzy had a good idea. Kate wouldn't be allowed to keep Faith from going in her own room, but maybe she could have another place she could go when she wanted to be alone. In order to expedite this process, Suzy suggested that Kate develop a code word that would let Faith know that she wanted to be alone. Suzy had to leave for Young Womens.

Kate soon asked for a pen and paper, and how to spell the word "Please".
A few minutes later she was ready. She then asked for some tape. If you give a girl a pen and paper, she's going to want some tape to tape it up somewhere. In this case, on the guest bedroom door (the location carefully selected for this "aloneness").

Kate had carefully written, "Please ges the pas code". What was the "passcode" (codeword??) that she had selected?
8763941,

I don't think she completely understood the concept.

Now Faith was frustrated since she couldn't remember the "passcode" (even though Kate had so nicely told it to her in it's entirety (Kate had it written down, again, carefully)).

ps (she later changed it to 100 so Faith could remember it. Then I later saw it written down as 10013).

Tonight

We were reading an article in the "Friend" with the girls. After it was over, they had some questions. It went something like this:

Kate, "So, if Jesus wanted to, he could move the whole Earth?"

Suzy, "Yup."

Kate (you can tell she's thinking pretty hard at this point), "So, he would tell it to move and it would just listen to him?"

Suzy, "Yes. Who made the Earth?"

Kate, "Jesus, oh (understanding seems to dawn)."

Faith, "He could destroy the earth. It would go like rrrrrriiiiipppp (as she makes a motion with her hands of the earth's two halves slowly separating.)"

Kate (a bit worried at this point), "Would he do that?"

Suzy, "I think Jesus loves us and wouldn't want to do that."

Kate (in a sort of morbidly excited way), "We wouldn't be on the same half as the Taiwan half, they would be on the other side!"

Slight pause in the conversation.

Kate, "what are we doing tomorrow" (yup, that was the end of that conversation)

Our little olympian

Cute little helpers

Jace is at that fun stage where he wants to do everything the older folks do. This includes such things as turning on the dishwasher, putting away dishes (okay, mostly taking them out of the cupboards he can reach), typing on any available keyboard, sitting in chairs, standing on chairs, falling off chairs, putting things in the trash, taking things out of the trash, eating things taken out of the trash. Yup, all the things we do.
Here's a video of him helping us out with pumpkin carving. As you can see, he's already a big helper! Love that little guy.

New Developments in the Land

It's that exciting time of year. The weather is starting to turn chilly. The corn mazes are in full swing. Haunted houses are starting to appear. Leaves are starting to turn colors and will soon be falling off trees. Teeth are starting to fall out.

Yup, it's fall! A perfect time to concentrate on traditional American Holiday characters. Like the Great pumpkin (Halloween), the Magical Flying Squirrel that guides ships to safety (Columbus Day) and the tooth fairy (Oct 14th, the day Kate's first tooth fell out).

Never satisfied with doing something fun just once, she pulled out her second loose tooth today.

The Tooth fairy visited last night, and Kate ran in this morning to excitedly tell me that she got some loot! We even went and opened her first bank account today in honor of the occasion. The only drawbacks we've discovered so far are that she'll need her sandwiches chopped up really small (her request), and that she now talks with a slight lisp (my observation).

Also, she kept asking hard questions, like "Dad, did you put the money under my pillow."

My response? "How much money did you get? What do you want to do with it?" (that's right, skillful misdirection). She's starting to question the reality of imaginary Characters! I think we'll rent the movie "Tooth Fairy" soon just to reinforce these obviously beneficial delusions.

Anyway, what you've all really been waiting for, a picture:

Other stuff

Kate "I sure like to ride my bike in the Gut" - Gutter

We were talking about where Kate learned to play "ghosts in the graveyard" (basically hide and go seek with a different name). She happily informed us that it was at the grill. I was a bit confused at this, and asked if she meant a restaurant?

She clarified, "No daddy, remember where we had the bouncy house? The GRILL."

Suzy figured it out. It was the BBQ (Neighborhood BBQ).

It's funny what kid's pick up on, and it's fun when they begin using phrases they hear without complete understanding. Of course, who doesn't do that?

Monterey vs. Taiwan

So I had another business trip last week. However, instead of the usual Asian tour, this time it was stateside. In fact, I even traded one of my Asain adventures for a kicking it in Caly. This was for "Bacus" aka, SPIE Photomask (http://spie.org/x6323.xml). It had exciting topics and presentations such as:

Mask blank material optimization impact on leading-edge ArF lithography

193-nm radiation durability study of MoSi binary mask and resulting lithographic performance

MegaSonic cleaning: possible solutions for 22-nm node and beyond

I stayed at the local Marriott, which luckily was offering a discount to all conference attendees (quite convient since there was a direct connection to the conference center via a walking bridge). There were also multiple sessions in the Monterey conf rooms (including our lunch and dinners).

If you know Monterey, you know that it's famous for it's aquarium. One of the dinners was at the aquarium after it was closed to the public. They have lots of exhibits talking about how too much fishing is going on in various places, depleting the ocean's fish population. And yes, they did server fish at dinner.

Here are some pictures of a really weird looking fish (it looks even weirder in person). I think it was a sunfish.

Here are some of the seahorses they had on exhibit

Here's a picture of the bay from the pier. If you can believe it, the last day I even walked around some after the conference finished!

Girlites

It's always fun getting a different perspective. Suzy was at some women's celebration deal with Kate last Saturday, so Faith, Jace and I got to spend some quality time together Sat. morning. I had put Jace down for a nap, so it was just Faithers and I. After racking my brain for what to do (we had already colored, eaten and played a game), I came up with a great idea! We'd make paper airplanes and fly them.

Faith was just as excited as I was, even running to get the paper. We worked together until we had 2 beautiful airplanes. I immediately jumped up, and said, "Let's go see how they fly!".

Faith wasn't quite so ready, "Daaaad! We haven't even decorated them yet!". How could I forget the most important part? I called mine "the electric tornado" after completion. Faith's was "Diamond Pearl Rose" after the beautiful flowers and jewels that she drew on hers.

What is one difference between Faith and Kate? Have you ever read those books that say you should always give your kids choices? Kate and Faith were ready for a before bed snack. I was willing to shell out some crackers and cheese. I asked Kate, would you like 4 crackers? Response, "Sure dad."

I asked Faith (knowing she was a bit harder, and thus deciding upon a stratagem), "Would you like 3 or 4 crackers?" Faith's response? 5. This is quite typical of our little negotiator. Although negotiator would imply compromise at some point.

Three Wishes

On occasion, we play a game where we pretend that a genie is giving us three wishes. We were in the car, and I was the genie in this case. We let Kate go first. She was conflicted, since she really wanted two things. A castle, and the ability to fly. Suzy offered to use her wish on flying for the whole family (a very nice thing for her to do, also a common wish for the family).

Kate was able to get her castle, with an elevator. It replaced our house.

What did Faith wish for? A magic flying cactus. That's right, a cactus. We're still not sure why. Maybe so we can having something nice, natural and green to be around while we fly?

If we ever find a real genie, Faith DOES NOT get one of the wishes at this point. We'll keep practicing though.

Kids, Kindergarten and Konversations

Suzy was telling me about a conversation among the kids she transports home from kindergarten.

Kate was telling Abby how she wants to be a Mommy when she grows up.

Abby, "I don't want to be a Mommy, I don't want to feel the pain. I want to be a hairdresser."

Kate, "But then you won't have anyone to be with forever!"

Abby, "Yes I will, the other hairdressers. And I'll have Monday and Friday off. I'll get donuts."

Kyle, "I invited 2 boys in my class and my teacher to go to outer space with me."

What to do

Suzy was talking to Kate in the car about what to do if someone is picking on her, or someone else. First, she asked Kate what she would do if she saw someone being picked on. Kate had a couple of good ideas, her first one was to wait until the "bad guys" weren't looking, then run really fast and get the little girl and run away with her.

Suzy interjected that maybe she should tell them to stop, or if they're bigger kids, to go get a grown up.

Kate then replied, well, then I was just going to teach them about Jesus.

I really hope she doesn't ever get this attitude crushed out of her.

Donnie Mac's

We went to Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine ( http://donniemacgrub.com/) for dinner yesterday evening. The fare was pretty good, I liked their fries, and even their sweet potato fries were somewhat palatable with their "Trash Sauce" (Fry sauce). Unfortunately for Paula, they were out of the "Worse Burger" (an aptly named Veggie burger). They're pretty open and honest about food and such. It was quit the interesting crowd, very "North endish" They even have a "Pedal Pusher" burger which is discounted if you have a human powered vehicle. Anyway, it was a fun experience. The picture below is an old car that has been converted into a booth, Suzy went a previous day, and they got to eat inside the car. They LOVED it.

Never a truer word

We were sitting in the office today while Broccoli was cooking. Suzy said, "You know you're hungry when Broccoli smells good."
Amen to that!

I tell you what, Broccoli is one of the few vegetables that I'll tolerate (maybe even like a little bit), but I must admit, the smell of Broccoli in the air is not one to dream about, unless, as Suzy states, one is HUNG-uh-RY (so hungry you have to use 3 syllables to pronounce it).

Savannah

Suzy and the Fam were on the way back from the Boise Zoo the other day.
Kate pops out with, "I love living here in Boise."
Suzy, "why?"
Kate, "'Cause there aren't any lions here. There's no way I'm living on the Savannah."

Lucky for her there doesn't seem to be much of a chance that I'll be transferred to the Savannah anytime soon.

ps - the Zoo now has an Anteater named Mike.

Some Family Pics

Unfortunate genetics

I think she get's this from me.

Email from Suzy:

"The scene:

I am feeding jace some sweet potatoes, Kate is next to me coloring. Faith sits down next to her and asks if she can color to.

Me: No

Faith: Why not?

Me: Remember how you colored on the couch?

Faith: I won't do it again! I promise! Pleeeeease!

I look over at her, and as she is saying "Pleeeease," she is coloring on the table with a crayon. [insert exasperated sigh here]"

One more Faith inspired email from Suzy

"Faith just knocked down her tower and said, "Rock! Me!"

This puzzled me, and then I remembered that we read a book in which the piggie said, "I rock!"

Why do we have to pick up the mess?

Sometimes it seems our children will only happily clean if there's either:

a) A reward at the end or

b) A wicked stepmother/queen making them clean.

Case in point, this is from an email Suzy sent a couple of days ago

"I'm enforcing a little child labor currently, and Faith just called me "Your Highnesty" :)"

Who's yo' daddy now?

So...Suzy left me alone with the kids, for a full day. Yes, I've done stints of up to 3 or even 4 hours by myself, but never a full day. It's a big moment in a Dad's life when he's ultimately responsible for the health and well being of his children for a whole day. Did they survive? I'm proud to say that they did!

What were the ground rules?

1) I couldn't spend the whole day at my Mom's house (basically pawning the care-taking duties on her).

2) I couldn't give Jace a bath (still not quite trusted to watch the 1yr old in the bath without getting distracted by some type of Multimedia).

3) I had to feed the kids.

4) No using the TV as a babysitter.

So, how did it go? I think it went okay. I did get burned out on "princess, princess, hero, bad guy" and "Mermaid, Mermaid pirate"). Especially after MMP (Mermaid, mermaid, pirate) degenerated into the mermaids getting turned into Fairies. That's where I draw the line.

The girls spun in place until they were dizzy. Again and again and again until they made themselves sick. I pointed out that now they know why I don't like spinning rides, they argued back that they were only sick because they spun in place. If they spin in wider circles, they were sure they wouldn't be sick (citing the Tea Cups and other such rides as evidence).

Kate ate her broccoli and peaches (yes, I steamed broccoli). The kids and I went to Wal-Mart (which I was pretty nervous about but turned out okay), and we only spent from 10:30-noon at my Mom's house. Faith sampled the broccoli and ate her peaches.

Suzy commented to one of the Young women (she was at Young Women's camp for the day) that I was somewhat nervous to watch the kids. She (the YW) was quite confused by that since she's babysat multiple times and thinks my kids are easy. Yeah, I'd like to see you do the whole day anonymous young woman.

The girls had a bath with only a minimal amount of water damage to our home (my excuse was that I was paying attention to Jace, but could still hear them in the bathroom. As long as they kept making noises I was sure they were fine).

So, recap:

3 full meals including 3 types of either fruits or veggies.

A bath for 2/3rds of the children

Multiple games played and books read

No resorting to electronic babysitting.

I'd say I mostly passed (I'll admit that the house wasn't in perfectly steller shape, but hey, my Kids are still around).

Travel Pics

This is Tower 101, the second largest building in the world (next to Dubai). It was the tallest for a while. My Hotel was right next to it.

This was in the Japan Airport, They had a whole setup made out of Origami figures. They were selling Origami as well
Some more Origami figures from the same scene.

Another cool looking building.

They had some really classy bathrooms here.

Here you go...luxury toilets. Luckily, they have regular toilets for us gringos as well.

Flowers in your hair

It's been a lot of fun having a boy. Yes, he's not yet 1yr, but he already loves to throw and catch, play with cars etc. However, the other day there was a little flower on the floor (it was a magnet that fell off the fridge). What does my boy do? He tries to pick it up and put it in his hair. Just like the cute hair accessories that he often sees his sisters with. Despite this lapse, I still have high hopes for the lad and his future basketball prowess.

Milestones. And Alaska

Jace had a special experience yesterday. It was his first time ever standing up and going pee! Yeah for Jace! He had just gone swimming at the Tingey's, and I was cleaning him off in the shower. He was standing, I was holding his one hand and spraying him off with the other. I had just finished, turned off the water when guess who (with quite the surprised look on his face) started to pee? It was Jace (since your choices were Jace or me, I really hope you got that right). We will always remember this special milestone.

Also, Kate has trouble knowing that she's slept. Often, in the mornings she'll tell me that she didn't even sleep at all (she's very serious about it). However, we have visual evidence of such sleeping. The other day, Kate, just out of the blue, say's that she wants to live in Alaska. I can understand, she visited her Cousin Darin there when they used to live in Juneau. It was the perfect time of year, very green and beautiful, with lots of fun stuff to do outside. Wondering which of these reasons she would have for wanting to move there, I asked.
Her reply? "Well, since I don't sleep at night, and the nights are so short there I won't even have to go to bed!" Hmmm...I'll have to make sure she visits during winter so she understands exactly what she's getting into.

Ah, Travel

Well, It's been a "fun" week. I left Boise Sunday at 12:30pm, arrived in Singapore at 2:30am Tuesday morning. Made it to my hotel by about 3:45, asleep by 4. Woke up at 7, got to work about 8. Went to eat with my boss and a nice Japanese restaurant.

Wednesday, had a meeting at 7:30, went to lunch with some of the guys from Singapore at a nice authentic place. I had the mutton curry, wasn't bad. I find it interesting that they don't do refills though. Interesting doesn't mean good. They seem to think that drinking more than 8oz of anything at a time is wasteful.

That night I ordered room service for my first time.

Singapore drives on the left side of the street (they were a British acquisition until just after WWI I believe). Their infrastructure is British as well (weird outlets).

It's incredibly green. Lots of plants. I ate a dragon fruit at breakfast, white with black spots (looks sort of like choc chip ice cream). Everything is very controlled and orderly. The government is really into taxing things. For example, they have an electronic payment system in the car for toll roads. Similar to some places in the US, except that pretty much all roads are toll roads.

My boss, the first time he was driving home, got stuck on a roundabout. He kept taking the wrong exit. He spend $30 before making it home that night.

The prices change depending on traffic. One of the taxi drivers let me know that at rush hour, they really hit you hard, no matter which way you go. Weather? Pretty much 90% humidity and 90 degrees every day. It does cool off slightly at night (maybe to 80 F).

I flew to Taiwan on Wed morning at 7, arrived about noon. Picked up by a local vendor for a company that also has a site in Boise. Went right to the Nanya Fab (I Would have taken a taxi, but apparently this place is in the middle of nowhere and 85.6% of taxi drivers get lost on the way).

I went to eat that night with a different vendor at a very nice "Shanghai" style restaurant. We had somewhere close to 15 different dishes. Some were pretty good (I don't know if I should admit this, but the tofu noodles with Beef were pretty good). Some were not so good. Some I really, really tried hard not to taste as I swallowed whole. Unfortunately the first dish was some type of congealed fat with little specs of meat in it. Of course, I got the honors of first taste! Yeah!

The next day I spent at one of our partner fabs, although I did go to lunch with another group of vendors. We went to a Thai restaurant, most of it was pretty good. The only interesting item was a fish (they looked up the English word, we believe it was a bass). A whole bass, head, tail etc. They very kindly put a piece on my plate, luckily sans head.

I begged off going to dinner that night. At another meeting though (with other another company) they brought us coffee. As I discretely attempted to leave it on the table as we were leaving, they said "Oh, don't forget your coffee!". I gave it to one of the engineering managers who apparently drinks 5-6 cups a day. He was very grateful.

That night, I decided to try to go to Outback, which was pretty close to my hotel. I looked it up online, and walked out. After about 20min, I realized that I didn't have the mapping skills I thought I did, especially in Taiwanese. I finally went back and asked someone at the hotel. It was about a 7 minute walk after that. And guess what, UNLIMITED REFILLS! good thing, cause man, I was sweating like no one else in the restaurant. The lady helping me was pretty much in shock after my 3rd glass of Coke Zero on out.

The Ceaser salad was great! just like the US. The side dish of mashed potatoes was about the size of the scope of butter they give you with the bread in the US. The steak was okay, but not great. I don't think the Taiwanese culture is big on "steak". The steaks were all "thin cut", not really seared on the outside.

Anyway, time to get ready to board the plane (I'm in the Tokoyo airport currently). I'll put some pictures on later.

Asleep, asleep

Ah, bedtime at last. Long day at work, chance to talk to Suzy finally, tell each other about our days. What's that? Oh, Hi Kate and Faith (who had been put to bed at least 5 minutes previously).
Kate, "Faith pinched me."
Suzy, "Really? She must have really long arms." (They sleep in bunk beds)
Kate, "Nooooooo, she doesn't"
Suzy, "How did she pinch you then?"
Kate, "I was in her bed (then in one quick breath) But she was in my bed before"

Okay, we get that issue resolved.

10 seconds later, Kate crying hard -
"I ran into the wall and bit my tongue"

Okay, we get that issue resolved.

30 seconds later, Faith, crying.
"I got this stuck in my hair" [curler]
Suzy, "Why is it wet"?
Faith, "I got it wet"

Don't you love putting the kids to bed? Especially since they let us get so much practice.

Suzy went out, luckily. The faucet upstairs was on full bore. Both girls in bed.

Batting

Faith today while getting ready for church, "My eyelashes are pretty when I flap them."

Socializing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A&feature=player_detailpage

You may have seen this before. This was one smart guy (Milton Friedman) and also great at debate.

Hay, Hey, Hay

Suzy recently bought some Gnocchi (a type of pasta, see picture). They can be made from potatoes, flour etc. Usually we get the potato or white flour based kind. This time, Suzy got whole wheat. She overheard Kate telling Faith that those were the "Hay Kind".

Suzy didn't understand, and asked, "What?"
Kate, "You know, Hay Gnocchis."
Suzy, "you mean, Hey Gnocchis, how's it going? Like when I say Hey Kate, how are you?"
Kate, "Noooo, like Hay, that stuff animals eat."
Suzy, "OHHHH! You mean Wheat!"

I just thought it was funny that she could tell that those Gnocchis were different. But Hay, who doesn't like whole wheat, right?

Traditions

You know those parents that are totally against their kids believing in Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny? We're not those parents. Nothing wrong with that mind you, and Suzy and I probably maintain the illusions for different reasons (I'm assuming we do at least, I think its pretty funny and cute, Suzy probably has a reason that doesn't involve laughing at our kids).

Anyway, Kate and Faith think that their Uncle Kevin is the Easter bunny. Why you may ask? Because he is! At least at the Easter party we usually go to on the Saturday morning before Easter. It's over close to the Tingey's house, and the first year we went Kevin was volunteered to dress up in the Easter bunny costume. He's about 6'4, so he makes a VERY tall Easter bunny. At first Kate (who was 2 and a half at the time I believe) was scared spitless. Then Kevin took off the mask and showed her who he was (She calmed down and liked the Easter bunny from then on). Ever since then Kate has thought that the Easter bunny is Kevin.

Today, Suzy was driving home from Costco with the Kids and an advertisement for Fred Meyer (I store similar to Wal-Mart) came on the radio. It was advertising "All the Easter candy you'll need to fill up those Easter baskets." Kate, that sharp little girl she is, immediately asked Suzy, "But why do they need candy for the Easter baskets, Uncle Kevin is the Easter bunny and he fills the baskets?" (The girls get an Easter basket Easter morning from the "Easter bunny") Suzy, also very sharp (we know where Kate gets it from) calmly replied, "they must be talking about the Easter baskets for the Easter egg hunts, because as you know, we have to bring our own candy filled eggs for those."

As a side note, the Kids do know the real meaning of both Easter and Christmas. Suzy's been doing a "last week" of Jesus's life in the evenings (taking the kids through the triumphal entry, to the Last supper through to the resurrection).

Wives make great birthday presents

Email from Suzy, 'nough said.
So, I was asking Kate this morning if she could think of anything else to get for Uncle Marshall for his birthday, and she said, "Hmmm, I know! A wife!"

I laughed and then asked if he might like to pick one out himself. She then suggested that we bring him a whole bunch of girls and let him pick his favorite. :)

Maybe we could even hold a ball! Balls are great places for picking out wives.

Victorian Movies

Kate was watching some Victorian era movie with Suzy. The end was near and the unlikely couple (he from a good background, her not so much) were finally realizing their romantic dreams. What do I hear (I'm in the office), but a cute little voice chanting "show the wedding part, show the weddig part" over and over.  Ah, to be in a house full of girls.

What not to get your wife for her birthday

[Link] Pumice  Stone:
Product Features

• Smooths Hands, Elbows and Heels  [removes unsightly callouses]
• Removes Grease, ink and Nicotine Stains

Evil meanness

I don't know if you recall the whole bad is good phenomenon that took place in the 80s (as far as I can recall). Not bad things that people are calling good, but good things that people are calling good by calling them bad.  Such, that sweet dance move was so wicked sick bad (aka, mindblowingly good). 

Anyway, on occasion in our household such vernacular surfaces as both Suzy and I grew up in the 80s (okay, so myself a little more than her).

I came home from Blimpies having purchased some sandwiches for the family (Suzy had some young women's thing going on and thus had not the time to make dinner as she usually does).  I grabbed a few of their cookies. Upon seeing such, Suzy said "Oh, you're evil!" Earlier she had mentioned that they make a "mean" sub sandwich.  Our poor confused daughter Kate piped up at this point, "DAD'S NOT EVIL"! and "Why did you call the sandwich mean?"

Needless to say, we attempted to 80-ize our child's understanding.

Sunshine

We were at a "fancy" restaurant (Cafe Ole). It is a nice little Mexican restaurant near the mall. It has a fountain on the inside, with lots of money in it. As Kate calls it, a wishing fountain.  Suzy gave the girls pennies to throw in.  Faith adroitly threw hers in the middle tier (there were three tiers).
Suzy, "What did you wish for"
Faith (with an uh oh look): "I forgot a wish.*pause* The sun was in my eyes."
Its good to know she's already practicing up for those rare times when she doesn't make the catch, or misses the shot.
ps - the fountain is on the inside of the restaurant, and the sun had set.

Gen Conf

Today's General Conference, or as a friend of mine said, TV Church.  Suzy did a great job of making things special.  She printed off some paper puppets of the Apostles, the girls colored them (except Suzy did a few as well).  Here's Elder Cook. Kate and Faith would swap them out depending on who was speaking. It was pretty cute. It lasted for about the first session on Saturday, but I was more than happy with that.

Service with a smile

Suzy calls me in the morning and puts the phone on speaker for family prayer. Faith was praying and the reception isn't always the best while on speaker. There was one statement in the prayer I wasn't quite sure of. I asked Suzy about it. Faith had said, "Bless Kate not to eat cause she licked her food during the prayer". Hmmm...someone still hasn't "caught the vision" that closing one's eyes during the prayer helps with concentration.

A few minutes ago I got a phone call from the fam. It was Faith again, very excitedly telling me about something. At first I couldn't understand, but after asking her how she did it (whateve it was), and she happily explained that she got out the jam and the bread and spread it (me assuming she'd made herself a sandwich), I congratulated her. At which point Suzy got on the phone and gave me "the rest of the story".

Faith had made Suzy, all by herself (while Suzy was otherwise occupied) a roll spread with butter and jam. After proudly showing Suzy the roll, she exclaimed, "That been some service!".

Everyone's favorite subject

From Suzy: "I had boiled some eggs while the kids were at preschool for lunch today. When we all walked in the house, Kate sniffed and said, "Hmmm, something smells like poo poo, but it smells kinda good."

A conversation between Suzy and Kate:
"Mommy can you come help me, I can't get a poopoo out. It's just stuck in my bum."

Sure enough, there was some kind of stringy thing (too much fiber is our theory), that was 5 inches long.

When Suzy showed it to her, she said in an exasperated tone, "I Shouda known!".

Mer

As I sit listening to the Kate and Faith playing together, I hear an interesting phenomenon. Faith seems to be the leader for most of the play (she'll tell Kate what to say, Kate will say it etc.) However that's fairly standard, although on occasion Kate has been heard to wonder aloud, "Faith, why do you always tell ME what to say?". Despite this wondering, Kate doesn't seem to protest too much as she continues to follow along.

The interesting phenomenon involves the word "Mer". I'm pretty sure that the English language doesn't have such a word. At least not one that means "I'm about to say something which you will then repeat back to me word for word".

Much of the playing will go like this:

Faith, "Mer, please hand me that dress"
Kate, "Please hand me that dress."
Faith, "Oh here you go. Mer this dress is magic."
Kate, "This dress is magic"

And so on. I'm not sure they realize what's going on, or that there's a new word in the English vernacular that I'm pretty sure wasn't there until last week.

Suzy and I just both tried it out, but it must only work when Faith is saying it. That, or Faith's new word/language is tonal.

Hijinks

So...the leprechaun got away. The kids were very sad. Apparently he "chewed" his way through the box (we know this because he wasn't in the box, and there was a hole in it).  All the coins were gone and luckily he didn't take the fairy (to the girls surprise). Kate has been telling me how she's going to use a plastic box next time so he won't escape.

He was very mischievous.  All the cupboards were open, there was fruit randomly placed around the floor.  Luckily, leprechauns leave recompense.  In this case, chocolate gold coins. The girls were much more reconciled to the situation after discovering his largess.

Music Man

Suzy took Kate to see the play "Music Man" last night. Kate thought it was an okay experience  (apparently they sang pretty quickly and it was a bit hard to follow).

I asked her about the play, she was pretty non-committal in her responses.  Suzy was helping by prompting her. In one instance she asked her, "So Kate...were there only grown-ups in the play?" 

Kate, "Oh no, there were lots of people. Mommies, Daddies, Kids, Librarians".

Good Hair Day

An email from Suzy:
I have to tell you, I was just in the bathroom blow drying my hair, a rare occurrence. Kate asked, "Are we going somewhere or something?"
me: "No, why?"
Kate: "Cuz you're doing your hair."
Then, after I finished and flipped my hair back down, Faith said, "Wow! You look like a new mommy, but the same mommy!"
hee hee :)

Me: Personally, her hair always looks good, whether she does it or goes au naturale

Tis the luck O' the Irish!

The girls had quite the eventful day today. They built a leprechaun trap. Now, as everyone knows, those leprechauns are quite shifty folks. You have to get up pretty early in the morning if you want to catch yourself a leprechaun. You can see that the girls have carefully thought this one through. As enticements they have appealed to all the leprechaun temptations. Chocolate, money and even a cute fairy just their size. As the leprechaun removes the money from the cup, BWAMO! the box will fall right down and trap him! Ingenious! I'm sure they'll have one in the morning.

Kate and Suzy went to go see the Music Man this evening. I asked Kate if she was excited. Her response?
"Well, sort of, but I'm REALLY excited for my wish"
Me (sort of puzzled at this point), "What wish?"
Kate (in that exasperated tone of one who thinks you should know what they're talking about), "The wish you get when you catch a leprechaun of course!"
Kate continued on, "I can sleep in it."
Me (confused, again), "Huh?"
Suzy clarifies, "She means the wish, whatever it is, she can sleep in it."
Me, "Oh! Is it a magic castle?"
Kate, "No, just a regular castle that people can sleep in. Like me."

I'm not sure what Faith wants. She said something about a boat that hits the leprechaun in the head. I just decided to leave it at that.


[Click on the picture to make it larger]

Model This

Suzy was showing me some weird outfits on the 'puter today. That reminded me of a thought I'd had about clothing designers. It always seems to me that they mostly design really weird or ugly looking clothes. I hope I don't offend anyone who really likes "haute couture" (as Fancy Nancy would say, a fancy way of saying fancy).

Anyway, back to my somewhat original point. I was thinking that the only reason someone would purchase such an item (besides pure status symbol) is to say, "Even though this outfit is hideous, I still look okay in it, therefore, I must be absolutely beautiful in regular non-hideous clothes." That, or, "these clothes are so ugly, I'm going to look great in comparison."

I often wonder if the clothing designers get together and over a game of truth or dare come up with their outfits just to see what they can get people to wear.

Here are some Real models modeling truly cute outfits.

Faith's Boredom

Faith love's to change clothes. I don't know how many times a day she does this but I know in the evenings when I return home I'll witness 2 or 3 changes in that short amount of time.  Her latest excuse?
"My shirt/pants/whateverelse was bored"

She often attributes human feelings to inanimate objects when she wants something to occur. We were getting ready to play the "Tinkerbell" game (it's an actual game in a box, not a fanciful imagining type game as you would think from the title).  Kate and Faith were arguing over how the game should be set up (where the yellow vs. pink flowers and butterflies should be. Yes, it's my kind of game for sure). Faith's compelling argument? "Not the game want to be set up dat way".  I think she was also trying to confuse her opponent by mixing around the sentence structure.

Did it work? Unfortunately for Faith, it did not. Kate stayed resolute and pulled out the trump card of, "Well, you know, this is MY game." (read that sentence in a somewhat snotty, older sister know-it-all tone of voice and you'll about have the gist of it).

Herbie!!!

The Library is such a great resource. Not for the intellectual knowledge gained by reading good books (or those really boring books people like to call "Classics"), but because of the free movies.  Suzy recently rented two Herbie movies (if you remember, Herbie is a 1963 VW Bug who is alive somehow, that part is never explained).  The movie I got to watch with the fam was "Herbie Fully Loaded".  It's probably pretty typical Herbie (probably since I really can't remember watching any others, although I'm sure I did in my growing up years).  Herbie is about to get scrapped, is saved and given to a girl who loves to race cars but doesn't anymore (the Great Lindsay Lohan).  Of course, Herbie has other ideas and ends up beating the reigning Nascar champion. Despite the blatant impossibilities (heck, it's a car that acts like a person, what do I care if NASCAR has a bunch of strict rules about the type of car that can race in their races...), It was quite the exciting movie. Lots of race scenes with Herbie almost destroyed a few times, etc.

Why do I bring up this random movie night? Because of Kate. It is such a treat watching a movie with her. Especially one as gripping and intense as "Herbie Fully Loaded."  At one point, we had to stop the movie because she was full on crying (Herbie had been entered into a demolition derby and looked to be in dire straits).  After much reassurance that they wouldn't make a movie about Herbie just to see him destroyed, we were able to continue.

The final race scene has Herbie do his signature "drive on a wall to avoid some other cars" trick. Kate was about as wide eyed as you can get on that scene (Faith...stoically sucking her thumb). 

Afterward, Kate was asked what her fav part was. Her response? Not the exciting race scenes, not the budding romance between "Maggie" and "Kevin"...
It was the final scene where Herbie drives off side by side with a very stylish yellow VW Beetle. 

I love my girls. And they are girls through and through.

Turtle companion

Suzy was telling me about the lesson she's teaching this Sunday.  "Preparing to become an eternal companion".  Kate, who was setting in the room with us, "What? A new turtle companion? what's a turtle companion?"

This reminds me of a song from my youth, "Love one another".  There's one line in it, By this shall man know that  ye are my disciples..."

Well, growing up, I always thought it said "By this shalmando".  I was trying to figure out what I was thinking it could mean, but for the life of me I can't think of what I thought it was.

Suzy thought it said "by this shalmenno".  I'm guessing this song confused whole generations of kids growing up.  "If I could only get a shalmenno I could be a disciple!!!"

Apostles

The Sunday School lesson is about Christ calling the Apostles. Suzy was talking about it to the Kids on the way home and asked them if they knew any Apostles names.
Kate, "Peter?"
Faith, "Unco Marso?" (Uncle Marshall)

Stealin' the chairs, Stealin' the chairs...

I stole a chair. Yes, I admit it. It's an awersome chair, and I love it!

My Chair at work broke last week. I've been living with it for a while (the back Pad fell off, but I could hold it together as long as I was leaning back, but would have to re-adjust it every time I leaned forward). 

Finally, I put the chair out in the hall for repairs (I don't know how it happens, but if you leave broken chairs out in the hall, they magically disappear. Occasionally they return fixed).  I have serious doubts about the repairability of my chair.  I've been living with a non-adjustable chair for the past couple of days (it also has no rollers).  Can you believe the trials I go through here at work?

Anyway, last night I decided that enough was enough. This morning, (I come in a bit early usually, so there are few people around) I went on a mission. I checked a couple of conference rooms, to no avail. They were stuffed with inferior chairs.  Finally, I was walking by one of the cubical areas, and noticed a Cubical with no computer, no name tag, but a Dang nice chair.  I furtively looked around, and saw no one.  So, I did it. I took the chair. As I traveled down the hallway pushing this wonderful, adjustable chair on rollers I carefully kept my expression set at "annoyed scowl" to discourage questions, or even looks. Luckily I only saw one other person during my heist, he quickly looked away and towards the ground when he saw my intimidating expression.  You never know what a man with a chair will do if you corner him. 

Accents

Those who know me know that I can really do accents. Okay, one accent. In fact, all of my accents morph into one particular accent, Irish Pirate.  I'll start off with a nice English brogue, or southern twang, but within a few lines my left eye starts to squint, my pointer finger starts to curl into a hook like shape, and out it comes, complete with Aaaargh maties and aye-ayes. 

Why do I tell you this? Because I think my poor children inherited my skill (or lack there of) with accents.  Suzy can do some Amazing Accents, especially Scottish, you'd think since they're girls they'd get some of Suzy's good skills instead of my warped ones. 

Yesterday the girls were being very fancy at dinner, and as you know, to be fancy one must speak with an English accent. I couldn't quite figure out what accent they were using, but it was definitely not British, and it wasn't American.  At least it wasn't Irish Pirate.  Accents can really raise (or lower) a girls attractiveness, and I don't want to have to pay out a big dowry to get some mediocre fellows to take my girl's hands in marriage because they go around with squinty eyes, hook like fingers speaking like Captain Ahab.

Leggings, Dresses and Leotards. A post about Faith.

Faith is extremely particular about what she wears.  Yesterday, she got up from her nap wearing her new pink leotard (the girls are now in a dance/gymnastics class).  We wanted to go out, and thus wanted her to wear something more appropriate, with sleeves and pants.

She of course wasn't too pleased, but after a bit of convincing acquiesced. I let her pick out some pants and a shirt. She always insists on "leggings" which are basically anything that's not jeans.  She picked some out, along with a purple shirt. 

She immediately started to get sad.  I ask her what's wrong. Well, it turns out the pants weren't like leggings, but were like jeans, and she wanted a shirt without "dees tings" .  "These things" turned out to be sleeves.  Keep in mind that it's about 30°F outside at this point. 

As a compromise, she decides to take off those clothes and instead wear a dress. It was very nice, the battle then proceeded to what to wear on her legs/feet.  I told her either socks or tights. Faith is decidedly against socks, and thus choose tights. She didn't want tights with strips (texture), only plain tights. The only pair I could find had a hole in it (on the toe), which of course she couldn't in good conscience agree to.

It may sound like this is taking a long time, that's because it did.

Finally she was ready, and she looked very nice (she finally relented and wore tights with stripes).

This determination, and refusal to bow down in the face of opposition (opposition in this case being me) has the potential to serve her very well in life. 

After we came home last night, Faith and Kate went upstairs to play. Within minutes, Faith was again in her precious pink leotard.

The Free Place - a post about Kate.

We recently drove down to Utah to visit Suzy's old roommate Monique and her husband Jacob.  As we were getting on the interstate, Kate pipes up with, "I recognize this! It's the Free Place! ". 

After about half an hour on the "freeplace", the "are we there yet?" questions started. She was especially fond of, "we've been driving FOREVER."  Although, I must admit that the kids were great going both ways.

Jacob and Monique run a house for troubled girls, ages 8-13 or so.  We met three of the girls, and they were very nice, especially to Kate and Faith.

As we were leaving, Kate started to get VERY emotional.  We asked her what was wrong, and she told us, "I'm sad because I didn't get to know my friends very long."  She has such a sensitive heart.

Yesterday, she was very service oriented. She likes to call it "surprises".  She cleaned up the shoes in the laundryroom and mentioned she wanted to do more. So Suzy lamented (to the air) that she wished someone would take the sheets off the bed so she could wash them.  Sure enough, a few minutes later Kate was done. (side note, she makes the bed WAY better than I do. I came in a few days ago, and the bed looked great, as if Suzy had done it (although our pillows were in each others spots). I asked her about that, and she told me Kate did it). ps - Suzy agrees that Kate makes the bed way better than I do.

Also, while Suzy was on the phone with her mom yesterday, Kate made her a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich.  It's her new thing.  You can recognize a "Kate Made" sandwich by the inch thick peanut butter. That stuff is hard to spread. 

Veggies

Conversation I overheard as Suzy was putting dinner on the table.
Kate, "Mom, why did God make vegetables taste so yucky"
Suzy, "I don't think they are, I think they're tasty." (This is the woman who would make herself a pot of squash soup in college and eat it for a week, with a side of beets).
Kate, "Well, I don't. I only like all fruits, except for Oranges."
Suzy, "Lots of people like vegetables, maybe the problem is your tastes and not the vegetables."
Kate, "Weellllll, I don't think so."

The girls Shay

Kate has a good friend name Shae.

I just got home, and told Faith that her hair looked cute (she had put in a headband).  She kindly informed me, "I not Faith, I da girlShay".  She said her name a few more times, and each time, it came out as one word "girlShay".  Just to make sure I realized she was still a girl, but named Shay.

How to answer a Telephone

Suzy was in the shower when Kate came into the bathroom.  As Kate came in, Suzy heard this, "Oh, sorry, she's in the shower."

Kate had kindly answered Suzy's cell phone! At that point, Suzy shut off the shower, so of course Kate brightly informs the person on the other end, "Oh wait, she just turned off the shower, here she is."

Luckily, this potentially embarrassing situation was made somewhat less so in that it was Sister Olsen (in Young Women's with Suzy).  

Needless to say, Kate learned a bit more about Telephone etiquette.

Faith

From Suzy:

Favorite Faith Frases :)  (I needed a good alliteration)

"I need my privaseat"

"Peery Please?"

"Can I have some drinkabut yogurt?"

Like Mother Like Daughter

We recently cut Faith's hair in an attempt to control the massive knots she creates as she twirls her hair. This habit is usually performed while she's tired and simultaneously sucking her thumb.  She basically creates a giant dreadlock, sometimes she gets her finger stuck in her hair and needs help to extract it.  Her hair is now quite short, just past her ears or so.  Suzy had a similar haircut growing up.

The other day, Suzy was helping Faith in the bathroom and mentioned that she looked just like her at her age.  Faith's response?
"NOOOOOooooOOOOOoooOOOOOOOOOO".