Couple of "Funnies"

I came across a tiny post-it note where I had jotted down a few Lane-isms one day a few months ago. I thought they were still cute, so I wanted to share 'em...

"That's too conflicated for babies." = Something too hard for a baby to do.

"Did cowboys ride camels before they had horses?"

"Maybe this is the road McQueen built the first time!" = A rough road downtown near the BJCC. (In case you've been living under a rock for several years...Doing his community service, Lightning McQueen, from the Disney movie "Cars", paved the road through Radiator Springs too quickly. Since it was very rough and bumpy, McQueen had to dig it up and start over before he could go on to California to win the Piston Cup.)

and finally...

"Dad, do you want a smirl?" = You know, the chocolate & marshmallowy goodness sandwiched between two crispy graham crackers...a smirl!

Aye, Chihuahua!

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but I had to get this down before I forgot to do it. This is an excerpt from a conversation sparked by some dog stickers this morning.

Lane: "I want to get a chihuahua, and I want it to be a boy. I want him to be a boy so I can name him 'Chucky'."

Me: "Chucky the Chihuahua?"

Lane: "No, not that. Not that kind of a name. I'm going to name him 'Chucky Barnes'."

Me: "Chucky Barnes? Why's that?"

Lane: "Cause that's just a good kind of name for a chihuahua. Chucky. Chucky Barnes."

...blah...blah...blah...I mention I'd get a girl chihuahua and name her "Chintzy". Lane liked that, but he still would name a boy "Chucky"....

Lane: "I like the name 'Chucky' because it's short and snappy!"

OK. So, when and where did he learn to talk like an 80-year old?

It's Snowing!!!

Here's the view from our computer. This webcam is a fun thing to have! I'm sure I'll have more snowy fun to post later today. Lane just said he wants to go outside and have a snowball fight! And, he said:

"I see a snowman! It's wearing an Alabama hat." (Must be our neighbors across the street.)

"Hey, I know! When we go outside, we can make a snow cake!" (He's talking about cotton candy.)

"We can have a real snowball fight. The kind you have outside, not inside." (With big white pom-pom balls)

Anyhow, this says I can see fun coming! See ya later!

Everybody Matters

Yes, it's true. I've been accused of talking too much. I know it. You know it.

I'm not really sure how it happened, but I have developed a different type of talking "thing" in the last...I don't know...20 or 25 years. I've gotten some interesting responses from dinner and shopping companions because of it. I'm not even trying to get attention with it, but I get it anyway. It's just such a natural habit that I don't even realize I'm doing it.

Basically, when I go out in public, I am overly conscious of all the other people who are out there, too. I'm not talking about all the other people who went out in public the way I did...to get some laundry supplies, to grab a quick meal on-the-run, to make a pit stop with the boys because it "cannot wait!", to make a transaction at the bank, or on a really special day, actually sit down in a restaurant for a quiet meal with a friend or my sweet husband.

The people I notice most are those who are tallying my purchase, taking my crazed food order, re-stocking and straightening the store shelves, holding a door open for me and my entourage, changing the garbage can liners in the restroom, sweeping the food court floor at the mall, counting the number of items I'm allowed to carry into the fitting room, filling and re-filling my sweet tea and salsa, standing guard at the door in case we decide to steal something, pushing around a cleaning cart and wearing those lovely protective gloves to keep off the gross stuff. I'm only one of the many that these people are serving.

Have you seen THOSE people? I hope so.

Just where did these people come from? And what are they thinking? The nerve!

A little common courtesy, please. I am constantly aware of the unconscionable rudeness and mistreatment that I see every time I am in a public place. Even at church. No, I'm not talking about the ones in service positions. I'm talking about us, the patrons of all these places in our bubble of the creme de la creme. Uh, oh. I may get some nasty-grams because of this. Maybe you've suddenly decided I'm talking too much again.

Please, please, please take an extra 4 seconds out of your trip to the Huge-orama store to look the person working at the check-out line in the eye and say SOMETHING to them. Tell them "hello" before they say it to you (You know they HAVE to say it to you. It's part of their job. If they didn't say "Hi! How are you today?", chances are you would think they were pretty darn rude & have a bad attitude about their job. Ironic?). Actually look at their face and find their eyes. They're located just above the nose and sometimes are hidden behind a pair of glasses. If you find them & speak pleasantly to this person, I'll bet you'll find some teeth located just below that same nose. That's called a smile!!!!!!

Here's what happened to me. In high school, I worked for a local department store. I now firmly believe every teen needs to have a job in a retail or restaurant environment (or other service-type job). It put me on the flip side of being out in public at the most opportune time. To some degree, I still suffered from a sense of entitlement as a teen (and still have to watch it at times), but I know that job opened my eyes to a whole new perspective. I was the one treated rudely. I got the brunt of frustration from customers who had a bad day. I had to clean up the fitting room that was trashed with clothes off their hangers, paper & chewed gum on the floor and handprints on the mirrors. I got to clean up little-girl pee-pee on the sales floor at another retail job...then re-hang (seriously) about 20 different clothing items the mom left all over the fitting room...at closing time (I think she bought one item. I'm not bitter.). I was even *gasp* ignored! But, God is good and has brought me full-circle.

I've learned that I'm not the only one who notices these people in service positions. My children notice them, too. It's almost like the kids seek them out so they can say "hello!" They don't really seek them, but they DO notice and speak to them. We also smile and speak to people sitting alone, people on elevators and just...people. With all the many flaws and failures in my life, I'm glad this isn't one of them. (NOTE: We also talk about when it is and is not appropriate to speak to strangers, so no nasty grams for that!)

Acknowledging people is the first active step in living like you believe everybody matters! Maybe you believe it, maybe not, but you should because God does.

God believed that you matter enough for His only Son, Jesus Christ, to make a trip to our earth for the sole purpose of dying as a sacrifice to pay for your sins. Your sins are booking you a one-way ticket to a place where God never visits and where your eternity is waaaaaay worse than any service or hard labor job you can even imagine...with complete darkness and seperation from God. But, Jesus paid the price for your sins. All you have to do is accept his payment as His gift to you and make him the Lord of your life. It's that easy...for anybody.

The Ballroom

I have fond memories of playing the board game "Clue". It's always been one of my favorites. So, when I found a one-player version at the toystore, I was very excited. Now...what was I thinking?

Well, I finally decided to get it out in hopes of openning it to play. I've been waiting for the "right" time to give it a try. Lane beat me to it. This is nothing new to me. He notices EVERYTHING, so he saw the box on the counter, even hidden under some other books.

So, here we go. I'm getting it all out, & he's playing it before it's even out of the box. It has clue cards that have the whole mystery described on one side and the answers on the other side. This is more of a logic puzzle game that's based on the original board game and is rated for ages 10+. I really didn't question if he'd be able to at least sort out some of the clue details and follow along with the mystery, but I knew he couldn't read all the cards by himself yet. Well...he can't read the cards, but he's ALL into it! Loving the whole thing.

Then, the phone rang. My friend, Jenny, and I can have a conversation that may last for 45 minutes but only 20 of that is true conversation. Between our collective 4 boys, we have issues...but, I digress. Jenny knows Lane very well, so she said I had to remember to tell this story, just to let other folks know how things are day to day around here.

I had told him we were only playing through two mystery cards, and we did. Once I was on the phone/distracted he went on for the next round. Since I wanted to have at least a little adult conversation, I was willing to give him his own turn. Dumb me. I, and Jenny, end up working through this one, too. So, here's what Jenny wants you to know...

Lane looked at each room and decided that the "dead body" couldn't be in this one or that one because "the dead body wouldn't fit in there. He's too long to lay in that floor." Spacial relationship skills here? Logical process of elimination? He tried not to be too perplexed when I said, "But, maybe the dead body was draped over that chair or that table over there. Or, maybe they stuffed him in that cabinet. How do we know? The clue card doesn't tell us." Yeah, Jenny thought that was shockingly funny, too. So, we're placing all the different characters where they need to go, sort-of, and no one is supposed to be in the ballroom. Lane can't figure out where the ballroom is. He's looking...looking... I showed him the ballroom. He doesn't know WHY that's the ballroom. "What happened to all the balls? That can't be the ballroom. Oh, did they just take all the balls out, and it's kind-of like a gym?" I reassured him that there were no balls in the mystery and that this was a ballroom like the one on the Cinderella movie. After that I reminded him that Cinderella went to a ball which is the same as a dance. "Oh yeah. Well, they COULD play with balls in the ballroom, too. It's big like a gym." I guess that's the same reasoning he used when he thought the dead body should be found in there. It IS big enough for a dead body.

Yes, this is only a sample of daily life in a house full of knotheads.

Froggies Get a Remodel

I am completely fascinated by these 1-inch wonders! I decided to move our pet tree frogs to a new location - the family room. After adding a "waterfall" (a water filter) and sprucing their place up a bit, I really wanted to be able to spend more time with the little guys (or girls - hard to know). I'm still working on the full waterfall effect, but for now, it's not too shabby for a frog house. :) Hope you like the pix.

Christmas 2008

I thought it'd be fun to post the favorite Christmas gift that each of us received this year. We all got many nice things, but these are some faves...

Lane's fave:
"U Command WALL-E"
Reed's faves:

Andrea's fave:
The New ESV Study Bible
Brad's fave:
Sweater reads "Hi! My name is BRAD"

Our family had a very nice Christmas. Due to scheduling conflicts, we weren't able to see all of our relatives this year, and we missed them. Sometimes things just don't work out, and you have to do what's best for your own immediate family (i.e. the kids). I had several dissappointments of my own because of my delusions of grandure. I really thought I had cut back enough on what I wanted to accomplish this Christmas, but I guess I was wrong. I still plan to finish the family trees I am drawing, so those will get where they're going at some point. The other biggie is Christmas cards. I was able to give some out to family that I saw, but all our friends, and some relatives, didn't get one. I have given thought to sending out a Happy New Year card or something. The boys' school pictures came back in time to distribute, but there was a problem with some of the prints. So, some folks got pics, some folks didn't. It's just the usual ridiculousness of my life. Enough of the depressing!

Punkin' Patch

Lane had his first school field trip this year. We went to a local pumpkin patch. He enjoyed the petting farm a lot. He made buddies with a goat. Later he and his friends found a sweet fawn to talk to. The funniest thing I saw, though, was the rooster with a blonde mullet! These are some pix from the big day.

A Bit Late, but Here's Halloween Stuff...

For Halloween, Lane wanted to be a robot. He and I made a trip to Home Depot for robot supplies. He was super proud of how awesome his costume turned out because he helped make it. I must say, he was a big hit at our church Trunk-or-Treat. So many people said that it was a very creative and great costume. Lane just beamed with pride, and I was so happy for him! His friend, Sean Patrick, is in this pic with Lane.

Reed dressed as a friendly ghost for Halloween. I'm suddenly big on cutting t-shirts to make other things/clothes. This was about as easy as dressing him in a white sheet, but he could see where he was going - a big plus for a little ghost! I had always wanted to be a ghost for Halloween, but the person in charge of making me a costume couldn't get past the part about not being able to see where I was going. So, alas, I was always a witch. Is anyone suprised? I thought not.

Reed's big thing at Trunk-or-Treat was the lollipops. Every trunk he visited that gave him a sucker, he thought he needed to open it immediately and eat it. I do mean EVERY time. We were picking up slobbery lollipops all night. Guess that tells you who the real SUCKERS were! Reed's friend, Chase, is in this pic with him. He was a very cute Robin Hood.