Family Manners

Rule #1: Cracker's must be broken by tossing the cracker into the air and then the cracker smashed between two clapping hands.

Rule #2: At every meal, someone must fall off of a chair.

Rule#3: Milk must be bubbled and then drunk with a straw.

Rule #4: More food must be on the outside of our bodies than in.

Rule #5: Before dismissal from the dinner, one must dance around the table five times, and then deposit his or her dinner plate in the sink.

The Dora Car

Bardo loves his Dora car. I can't change his diaper in the same room with the Dora Car. He wiggles away from me (more forcefully then usual). Every day he pulls it down the stairs with him. When he sees it, he makes fire truck noises. If we ever want to have another friend over, I think we might need to get another car, because I don't see Bardo sharing it anytime soon.

Her Tender Heart

The other day, I was spreading ant killer on the lawn. This was before Pippi had been bitten by the fire ants, and she was wondering why I wanted to kill them. "Mom, ants have spirits, too, don't they?"

My School Girl

Victory Blue

College football season is starting very soon. The Warlock spent today painting our black media room Victory Blue. Do you think it's a sign?

Pippi's Hard Lesson

Today while on a bike ride, Pippi found a pile of beautiful sand. She decided to go digging. Before I could stop her, she was covered in fire ants. She was screaming and jumping around as I quickly tried to brush them off her while balancing Bardo on my shoulders. All the way home she wailed and cried, "Why? Why would they bite me?"

But by the time we got home she was fine, and ready for a bath. And she was delighted with my suggestion that she wear her tap dancing gloves to bed to keep from scratching.

Unintentional Testing

I'm finding this move to be much different from our last. When we moved to New Jersey, everybody at church knew our story. This time around, only a few people know, so most people are unprepared with a response. Many are shocked and awed. Some can't say anything. Some respond with horror. Some blessedly just respond with an oh, huh, that's interesting way and then they ask more questions to try to get to know our family.

At first, my tendency was to dodge the whole subject, but then, I decided that I couldn't do it anymore. I'm not ashamed that I lived through the death of my daughter. I experienced these things for a reason, and I will share our story, and I will bear my testimony of how the Lord will support his people. I will acknowledge that death is real. And I won't let others around me pretend that it's not.

I don't mean to test people before we even get to know each other, but if you ask me if I just have two children, there's no way you're not hearing about Stacy. No way.

Whew!

What a week this has been. It started off strong; Monday was good. I tried out our school routine: me getting up early to exercise, Pippi showering in the morning, walking to school, etc. We had so much fun because we played at the tennis courts rather than going to school. I did end up ankle deep in mud when Bardo went into a swamp to chase some ducks, but I still considered Monday a great day.

The rest of the week was spent school shopping, grocery shopping, and ant killer shopping, grrrrrr altogether too much shopping for the kids taste, and mine too. Pippi was excited about getting school clothes, and she comes down in them every morning, saying that she had nothing else to wear. I heartlessly send her back up with a reminder that those clothes are for school. She'd mumble to herself how much she hates being told what to do.

Bardo's cutting his canine teeth. They seem to really be bothering him. He's been fussing in his sleep and being hungry but not eating as much. He found something that he could eat though. Yesterday I was in my room, and I realized I didn't know where Bardo was, and I found him here:I don't store my peaches on the floor, in case your wondering. Bardo had pulled them off the shelf. By the time I finished taking a picture, he was about to bite into his third peach.

"Daaaaad-dee"

For the longest time, we, well, actually mostly The Warlock, have been trying to get Bardo to say Daddy. He's been singing dadadadada in the car for several months now, but The Warlock demands proper pronunciation.

Today The Warlock came home from work, tossed Bardo up in the air of few times to get a laugh, and said, "If you say Daddy I'll give you a cookie." Bardo responded by reaching for me, then staring at the Warlock once in my arms. The whole family started chanting, "Daddy daddy daddy." "Come on Bardo, you can have a cookie if you say Daddy." Bardo just smiled. The Warlock gave up and sat up to the computer to do some "work." Once his back was turned, Bardo said, "Da da." I proclaimed, "He said it. He said it."

Once more the family chanted, "Say it again Bardo. Daddy. Daddy Daddy." Again no response until the Warlock's back is turned. "Dee Daa. Dada." said Bardo. "Come on, that was good, wasn't it?" I asked.

"What? I didn't hear it."

Again, the family chanted...

I explained to Bardo that if he wants a cookie he must say Daddy loud enough so Daddy can hear it. He wiggled from my arms, climbed to the couch, ran on the couch to the end, and said very very clearly, "Daaaaaad-dee."

We all shouted with glee. Bardo screamed with delight and ran back and forth on the couch.


Then, we hopped in the car so we could go get cookies.

Here is Bardo with his chocolate cream cookie beard (and a snotty nose).

Everything is Cuter in the Media Room

You might think Pippi took this picture. You would be wrong. I've got pictures of this in several angles. I also did not take this picture.


I don't usually do this, but I cannot resist writing about the Warlock this time. His excitement this week has been that of a little boy at Christmas, reminding me that men are just grown up little boys. And boy do they love their toys. Okay...I think I've made my cliche quota for the year.

"Silly Witch, you've got to come look at this..." is the phrase I've heard at least 5 times a day since the Warlock set up our new media room this week. I've run up the stairs. "Look, doesn't Spongebob Squarepants look awesome in HD?" "Golf is so much better with the surround sound..." "I love the subwoofer." "The best channel is Discovery. They've got some great stuff on here." "The best thing of all is the XBOX. Check this out." "You should have seen Bardo. He got so excited when he saw the TV. It's the biggest TV he's ever seen. He just sat on my lap and watched Spongebob...""Bardo is so cute right now. He's dancing to Guitar Hero. Hurry you've got to see this; Bardo is more important then the dishes....I knew you would like it once it was all set up!"

The media room is fun. But the most fun is seeing the Warlock get so excited.

And getting the packing peanuts out of my house? You know it was real, real, real fun.

Pippi and the Art Contest

This afternoon Pippi and I were perusing the Lands End Kids catalog looking for clothes. We discovered that there was an art contest. So Pippi whipped up this lovely picture:


As you can see, this is a picture of Santa sitting on the window sill the night before Christmas. She requested that I take a picture of her picture and post it on my blog before sending it off to Wisconsin. I informed Pippi if she won the contest she'd get a $500 gift certificate to Lands End. She said, "I want a little ring. Is a little ring one of the prizes?"

I've been tagged

Jobs I've had:

1) Babysitter -when I was a kid. I didn't like it very much mostly because every time I babysat I broke something.
2)Painter-for dear old Mom and Dad-I spilled paint down the stairs.
3)Various other jobs Mom and Dad gave me so I would have money to buy new clothes for school: cleaning out storage rooms, cupboards, yard work, etc.
4)Cashier at Rock Hand Hardware (3 summers in between school years going to BYU)
5)Custodian at the Marriot Center and the then, Cougar Stadium
6)Cafeteria worker at the Cannon Center
7)Proofreader for Independent Study
8)Wife and Mom-my most relentless, yet fulfilling job yet.

Movies I can watch over and over:

1) Pride and Prejudice (A&E or modern version with Ms. Knightly)
2) The Mask of Zorro
3) The Count of Monte Cristo
4) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
5) Singin' in the Rain
6) White Christmas
7) Sound of Music

Books I Can Read Over and Over

1) Till We Have Faces
2) Charlotte's Web
3) The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
4) My Antonia
5) The Little House in the Big Woods
6) Huck Finn

Places I have lived

1)Montana City, MT
2)Provo, UT
3)Las Vegas, NV
4)New York City--Morningside Heights
5)Japan (Maebara)
6)Wallsburg, UT
7)Metuchen, NJ
8)Houston, TX

Places I want to visit:

1)Lebanon (I know this is weird, but I have friends from there, and they told me that you can go to the beach and snow skiing in one day. I really want them to have peace so they can return to the land they love and so I can go visit them!)
2)Montana--You can take a girl out of Montana...
3)Hawaii
4)Japan (the rural part)
5)Jeruselem
6)London
7)Italy
8)Egypt
9)India
10)All the Church history sites

Places I have visited:

1)Disneyland
2)Tokyo, Japan with Disneyland included
3)Jamaica
4)Mexico
5)Boise and Idaho Falls, ID
6)Yellowstone Park
7)Glacier Park

The Shows I Watch

1)The Office
2)Heroes
3)Bones
4)Good Eats
5)What Not to Wear
6)The Magic School Bus

Foods I like:

1) Chocolate Chip Cookie, too--especially these
2) Steak-medium rare
3) Shrimp
4) Yogurt
5) Tomatoes
6) I'll eat just about anything and enjoy it but I need variety

I'd rather be:

1)Hiking
2)Exercising
3)at the Beach
4)jumping on a trampoline
5)at the library
6)sleeping
7)doing laundry, and I'm not kidding. 2 weeks without a washer and a dryer is enough to make anyone go crazy

Websites I visit daily:

1)blogs
2)email
3)Menus4moms.com (almost daily, lately)

People I'm tagging: No one. I guess I'll be "it" forever.

Our OWN Backyard

Pippi Should Help with Dinner Every Night

You really just never know what your kids will like...

The Last New Jersey Pictures

The Warlock's recruiter tried to make us fat by sending us a box full of cookies that were almost the size of Pippi's face.



Here's Bardo "helping" with the packing.


These are pictures of Bardo entertaining himself (and me).

These are pictures of Pippi spackling on our last packing day.