Why do we even buy toys for our kids? Part 2

The First Fall

Well, it finally happened. Micah fell down the stairs. Which is, in and of itself, freaky, but especially freaky on my stairs, which are from 1945 and extremely steep:

Luckily, he finished his tumble on one of the bottom landing stairs, instead of on the hard basement floor:

Do you like my dirty laundry on my stairs? We kind of use the stairs as an unofficial laundry chute. We're neat.

Luckily, Micah was okay. A little shaken, but okay:

Thank goodness. And that scratch on his forehead was from something else. :)

So now it's time to save up for one of those gate thingeys for the top of the stairs:

The Wave

Micah can wave hello and goodbye now. Pretty stinkin' cute:

Bad Souvenir

Ben decided to get the kids these weird cups as souvenirs from the fair:

I'm okay with the cowboy boot cup, because at least it fits in my dishwasher. But the big long one doesn't. I have to wash it by hand. Which means it is a bad souvenir, in my book.

The cowboy boot fits in our cabinet with the other cups, but Dylan's wonky cup gets a prominent place of honor on my kitchen counter:

A truly beautiful thing to have displayed on one's kitchen counter. They should photograph my kitchen for Home and Garden Magazine.

Mok Jaw, Madia!

One of my oldest friends, Lindsay, got married a couple of months ago. She came home a couple of weeks ago and had a little open house at her parents' house to celebrate. Linds grew up in the same ward that I now live in, which is really fun. I used to visit teach her mom, as a matter of fact.

Lindsay's husband is Korean - his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was 12. His name is Mike, and he is really nice.

My dad went on a mission to Korea, and when we were growing up, he taught us a few phrases. "Mok Jaw, Madia!" means "Let's eat!!" "Ka Jaw, Madia!" means "Let's go!!" And "Pabo" means "idiot." Ben always had Koreans in his architecture programs at the U of U and then down in San Diego, and whenever I met one of his Korean classmates, I would say, "Mok Jaw, Madia!" They usually looked at me quizzically, and I laughed and laughed. I think it's really funny. Dad always told me that "Madia" means "exclamation mark," but just a couple of weeks ago, he also told me that you only say "madia" to people below you, or dogs. So it's like saying, "Let's eat, chump!" No wonder those Koreans looked at me in that way! Hahaha!

Lindsay and Mike got married in the D.C. temple, but then they also had a traditional Korean ceremony afterward. Linds and Mike wore all the traditional clothes and the whole she-bang. I guess there's a part where the groom carries the bride's mom around piggy back and stuff. She had a bunch of pictures from her wedding for people to look at:

Tammy and Rick:

Lindsay's mom, Lana, and Sister E.:

When I told my dad the Linds married a Korean, he asked if they had a traditional ceremony, and I told him they did. He asked if Lindsay's brothers and dad hung Mike upside-down and hit his bare feet with sticks. I was like, "Huh??" I guess that's a part of the ceremony. Something about her brothers and dad "punishing" Mike for "taking the bride away." I asked Mike and Linds if they did that part, and Linds was like, "No.... Is that part of the ceremony, Mike?" He smiled shyly and said, "Yeah.... my mom and I decided not to do that part." Linds said, "Thank goodness!"

Lindsay's dad, Jim, talking to a guest at the open house (she's in my ward, but I can't remember her name. She's really nice, though):

Congrats, Linds!

Me, Fair Lady

We went to the fair a few weeks ago. Ohhhhhhhh how I love fair food. That's the main reason I go. For the food. And also for the people-watching. There is always good people-watching at the fair. My wonderful folks paid for all of us to get in, which was extremely generous. Ben and I couldn't go last year because of the expense, and I was so grateful we got to go this year because of my sweet parents.

First we made a beeline for the quilting/crossstitching building. My mom entered a cross stitch that Nat had made for her a few years ago, and we wanted to see if Nat won anything. She didn't, which we thought was a travesty. Check out the detail on that mother:

Such craftsmanship. And such patience.

I ran into Mary L. from my ward (I ran into like ten billion people from my ward that day), and she said that Colette J. from my ward had entered a baby quilt, so I searched and searched for it and finally found it:

Cute, huh? Colette is an amazing quilter. And it looks like she won some kind of award. There was this thing where you vote for your favorite quilt, so I voted for hers. And then I ran into Colette J. at the fair later that day and told her I voted for her quilt. And she acted really embarrassed. I often embarrass people, I think. Anyways.

Then we were all starving and decided to head over to the food section. Aw yeah. On the way there, we were offered some 4H balloons for our kids:

We should have walked the other way. Those dang balloons wapped me on the head every second. Every time a kid was near me (which was all the time) or every time I pushed the stroller (which was also all the time), I got wapped in the head with a balloon.

On the way to the food area, Jake was upset about something - I'm not sure what - and Nat bent down to talk to him. I'm not sure what he said at this moment, but I love that look on Nat's face. I think it is a really precious picture:

Dylan and Sadie wanted cotton candy, and I was really reluctant to get it for them. They always say they want cotton candy and then they never eat it. Plus, it's so sticky. But we let them get some, and they actually ate the whole thing:

I think cotton candy is gross. Dylan offered some to me several times, but I wasn't interested. I was saving myself for the Bread Barn:

I know the lady who kind of runs the Bread Barn, and Ben works with the lady's son-in-law, so when we went up to say hi, she gave all of us free pieces of bread with that lovely raspberry honey-butter on it, aaaaand free drinks! How generous! I tried to take her picture, but she kept dodging my camera, which is why Ben is alone in the picture above.

I had the nastiest Navajo Taco for lunch that day. I regret it. The people used some stupid flat bread at the bottom of the taco instead of lovely fry bread. Blah. I wanted to get myself a deep fried oreo, as well, but I was too full. Bummer. I really like those. I know they sound gross, but dang. You should try it.

Then we stopped in the animal barns. I love looking at the animals. Ben took this picture of Nat - I have no clue what she was making that face about, but it makes me laugh:

I get really embarrassed when Ben takes pictures of me. I'm just not very photogenic, and I feel weird having a camera on me all the time. When I saw him aiming at me, I just kind of smiled uncomfortably:

Ben says it's a "smirk." I smirk? Am I a smirker???

Then we went to the petting zoo, and my mom fell in love with this little basset hound that was for sale:

She had a basset hound growing up whom she loved. She almost bought a basset hound at the fair last year, and she has talked all year about how cute the dog was. She almost got this one, too, but decided against it. I love how the dog was just loving on her. Poor thing.

Then we headed over to the rides. While Dad waited in line to get some tickets, there was loud music playing, and Mom and Jake started having a dance-off:

Mom would dance, then put her hands on her hips while Jake took a turn, and then he would stand with his hands on his hips when it was Mom's turn. It was so cute.

Jake can bust a move:

Nat signed him up for hip-hop classes, which I think is such a great idea. He is disappointed that they haven't taught him how to "pop" yet, but I figure they will in due time.

The kids rode the carousel, and I didn't realize that Dylan chose one of the dumb stationary benches. I think he thought the benches would go up and down or something. His confused look as he's going by is so funny:

Like, "Wait a minute... I thought this was supposed to do something!"

We took the kids to this dragon ride, and I have never laughed so hard in my life. Brock was petrified:

Every time they came near the ride attendant, he would scream, "Help me! Help me! Stop the ride!!!!":

We laughed and laughed. He is so cute.

The kids rode this airplane ride. Troy needed an adult with him, and Dad reluctantly went. He gets really motion sick:

He was making a barfing face in the above picture. My sentiments exactly. I can't ride very many rides; I get really nauseated.

Ben rode the ride with Sadie and couldn't get his long legs in properly:

My favorite thing about the airplane ride were the illustrations on it:

All I have to say is, what the crap??? Who on earth did they have airbrush these images? A three-year-old? What is that weird thing on his face in the top picture? Does he have thyroid disease in the bottom picture?? (My neck looked like that when I had thyroid disease and didn't know it.) The weirdest pictures ever.

Sadie's name got drawn in this drawing thing, and she won a free all-day ride pass, worth $30. Since we knew we wouldn't be going back to the fair, Ben scalped the pass for $20. We spent it all on more food! Hahaha!!


We had a blast. It was very, very hot and humid, but at least we had some cloud cover. I was exhausted by the time it ended, but happy and full of yummy apple dumplings and limeade.

Here are some slides:

Thanks again, Mom and Dad! We had so much fun!!

Teen Titans!

So me and my kids are huge fans of Cartoon Network. We don't really like any of the other kids' networks. Cartoon Network, all the way. I have to admit I love the shows as much as the kids do. Often, when the kids are in bed and I'm looking for something to watch, I'm tempted to turn on Cartoon Network. Seriously.

There's this show on Cartoon Network that's called Teen Titans, and it's a total anime show:

It's about these teenagers who have special powers and work together to fight evil, blah blah blah. My favorite thing is the opening sequence song. You can tell it's a bunch of Japanese people trying to sing English words, and they don't know what they're singing: "Wahn dere's danguh, you know who to callllll... Teen Titon! From deir towah dey can see it allllll... Teen Titon!" It's a crackup.

So Sadie got some stretch pants from my mom for her birthday, and one day she put them on, and she goes, "I look just like a Teen Titan!":

I thought that was pretty cute.

Forgetful Jones

Um, so I am really, really forgetful. When I was a little girl, my mom called me Forgetful Jones, the character from Sesame Street:

But I'm starting to think that Ben might actually be more forgetful than I am.

A few weeks ago, Ben went grocery shopping. He took his calculator with him, as usual, but when he got to the store, he couldn't find it anywhere. So he sighed and added up our groceries with a pen on the back of the grocery list I had made him. I found his calculator three days later:

Where did I find it? On the top of our car, where he had put it when he was putting Micah in his car seat before his shopping trip, three days before:

I can't believe it stayed put for so long! We drove clear to Heise and back!! I had gone to Albertson's in it (to pick up a prescription), and the driveway in and out of Alby's is very deep and jostling. All of us get flung around inside the car when we enter and leave the parking lot. But that calculator stayed put. And it got rained on. So now the calculator is broken, obviously!

A few days ago, Ben swept in the kitten closet. The next day, I needed to sweep my bathroom, and I couldn't find the dustpan anywhere! The broom was where it usually is, but no dustpan. I called Ben, and he swore up and down that he put it next to the broom, where it belongs. I was like, whatever. It will turn up soon.

I often have to put my garbage can up on the counter in the kitchen, because Micah is now into digging in the garbage (My favorite phase. Not.):

One day, the garbage can tipped over, spilling garbage all over the kitchen floor. I sighed and started cleaning up the mess, and there was the dustpan. It had been thrown in the garbage, than covered up with other garbage that people had thrown in without looking. It had been deep in there! Ben had absentmindedly thrown the dustpan away. And yes, I know that picture of my dustpan is gross. I do need to clean it.

I made a Mexican meal about a week ago, and I was planning on having us eat it again, as leftovers, but the next night, I couldn't find some of the bowls of stuff needed for the meal. I guessed that Ben had taken the food with him to eat for lunch and didn't think anything else of it. Then, last Friday night, I was making dinner again, and I planned to heat up some eggrolls in the oven. I preheated the oven, and when I opened it to put the eggrolls in, this is what I saw:

Ben had heated up some Mexican food in the oven a few days earlier, dished up his meal, then absentmindedly put it back in the oven instead of into the fridge. And it sat there clear until I found it.

And yes, I need to clean my oven, too.

We really are quite the pair. Between the two of us, it's a wonder we can even function. :)

Singing Sadie

There is a primary song called "Families Can Be Together Forever," and begins with these two lines:

I have a family here on earth,

They are so good to me...

Sadie has somehow twisted the song so that it says,

I am a girl on earth,

Dylan is a boy on earth,

Mommy is a girl on earth...

And so on and so forth, naming everyone in our family. And she's changed the tune, too, so that it sounds like the theme song to Bambi. I wanted to video tape her singing the song, but then she got shy and kind of forgot how it goes. But it's still cute:

Happy Buhfcake, Evewyone!!

My title is a direct quote from Sadie, on her birthday. She went around wishing everyone a Happy Birthcake, much like people say at the Christmas season to each other - "Merry Christmas!" So cute.

One of the decorative rocks on the tables at my cousin's wedding (which my kids stole) had four candles on it, which I thought apt for Sadie's birthday:

Opening her presents:

Do you see how she's sitting in the above picture? Micah's therapists are always after her to stop sitting like that. They call it "the W." Because the legs make a W when kids sit like that. I guess it's really bad for your knees. She always, always, always sits like that. I try to tell her to sit differently when I catch it, but I'm obviously not able to monitor her every second. The therapists say that kids who sit like that a lot do it because it creates a large "base." Kids who have weak tone in their torsos often sit like that, because it feels the most stable of all sitting positions. Interesting, huh?

Sadie got a couple of My Little Ponies, and Brock was having fun with one of them:

He was making a beanie baby ride the My Little Pony. He is so funny.

Ever since Sadie had a doughnut on Pioneer Day, she had been insisting on having a "doughnut cake" for her birthday, with pink frosting. So we ordered some doughnuts, with pink frosting, from a local bakery, and stacked them into a cakelike shape, kind of. Here she is, with her pink doughnut "cake," singing, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you..." with the rest of us:

My mom had some leftover huckleberry ice cream from her ward ice cream social that she brought over, so we had huckleberry ice cream with our doughnuts. Here she is, feeding Micah some ice cream:

Slides:

Happy Birthday, my Sadie Lady! You bring so much joy to our lives!!