Mona's Musings

Mona Zabriskie is one of our very closest friends, an adopted grandma to our kids, and an amazing writer. Remember, she created an entire musical "With Mine Own Hand."  (well, Nephi helped with the script, too.) So, she started a blog, recently, called Mona's Gospel Musings in which she writes about a topic every Sunday. And when I say "write", I mean "entertains, expounds, enlightens, and pretty much just makes you really glad you read it. I saw Laura is already following it, and wanted everyone else to have an opportunity to do the same - especially since she's giving a CD of "With Mine Own Hand" to all of her followers this week in celebration of her 50th Birthday! Wow!! I checked, and she won't feel abused if you hurry and become a follower, and therefor get the CD. Especially make sure you read "Who's Body is it, Anyway." Really good.

All Aboard!!

The boys have been fascinated with trains lately. Thomas the Tank Engine, especially, has taken a prominent place in their imaginations, as well as on their bookshelf and in their toy box. Somewhat coincidentally, Grant has been going through another phase of interest in using the potty. He's been accident free for two days in a row. Two "perfect days". Tonight, after spending some time at the Zabriskie's home where the boys watched several short Thomas videos and after successfully using the potty we commented that Grant might be getting potty trained. I got up to get him a special treat for having a perfect day and he followed asking, "Do I get a potty train?"

I guess the potty train is something we all get to ride in our lives. And when our children finally take the ride it is the best treat of all.

I'll take my skies gray, just not my hair...

I have been faithful to the hair hi-lighting for a number of years now. Not because I think it looks great, but because it looks better than the gray that normally streaks through (since starting on my mission, and worsening with every year.) A few weeks ago, I mentioned to my hair dresser that it may be getting beyond what hi-lights can help, and time for the full-on dye job. She ran her fingers through it, and said, "oh- it's not that bad, maybe 35%." Haha...WHAT??  But I'm only 36!  So, dyed it is.  Even though gray hair is a "crown of achievement" as my good friend Mona puts it, I haven't achieved near enough for the amount I have, and would rather fool myself into thinking I'm still really young for just a few more years.  After all, have you seen how young my kids are?  Most Mormon women with kids these ages are just a few years out of high school! And here we have my handsome husband, with the same pure color he's had all his life.  I think it's the same color as Brynie's - he just has more. (But that gap may be narrowing...) I don't believe all that bunk about stress causing it, either.  I'm plenty relaxed, darn it!  And I have plenty of siblings to help prove my theory of being a matter of genetics.  So there.

Our Grown-up Friends

(Cole & Grant): Hey, everyone! Look at our cool new friends! They are the Bishop's conveniently home schooled daughters, who happen to live close enough to ride their bikes over to play with us mid morning, and they are FUUUN.  They are artists:
Here are results of the clay sculpturing class: 
"The Cowboy"  by Ma

"Monkey Business"  by Christy

"Scrambled Eggs"  by Grant
Now, moving onto the "mastering modern cell phones" course.

The Answer You've All Been Waiting For:

Exactly, what are the dimensions of a graham cracker?

Now the Crunchers try....
...and it's 5" x 2½", because daddy could never just give the boys a cracker without the proper amount of either harrassment or "edumacation" (as he calls it.)

30 Something

Now, this is a dad who LOVES being a dad.
And he's extremely good at it.
Happy Birthday to the best husband and dad in the world!!!!

Our Baby Loves Us!

Whew! We finally made it to the rewarding stage of smiling, and Brynie has become a real person to us, and she actually thinks we're fun to look at. Go figure.


Oh - and she had her 2 mo. check-up yesterday, and here are the stats:
weight: 12 lbs 10 oz (90th %ile)
height: 23" (70th %ile)
Another scrawny little Simper.

Constructive Deconstruction

What should you do with a rice cooker that suddenly stops cooking rice? Well, if you've got a toddler with a bit of dexterity and a hankering for some screw removal you have a fun evening activity.

Concentration is a must. Voila! And the fruits of our labors: Just remember to safely discard the old cord, lest your boys try to invent some sort of bug zapper... But if you forget and they accidentally trip a breaker while attempting to electrocute a bug, go easy on 'em, especially if they were careful and used electrical tape. Just a little something I learned from my Dad.

Dear Crunchers: The Advice Column

Dear Crunchers,
Sometimes my bath is too hot. What should I do?
Hot and Bothered

Dear Bothered,
We've had the same problem. You could just add some cold water from the faucet but that's a solution that lacks imagination. We recommend adding ice. It's more efficient than plain cold water and has the added benefit of being ridiculous. Just don't add too much or you may have to cut your bath short, before you have a chance to empty all the bath water out onto the floor.

Icily yours,
The Crunchers

Effective FHE

Following our FHE lesson on being obedient (like when Nephi built a boat):

Me: Cole, what are you going to do since Heavenly Father asks you to be nice to your friends?
Cole (with a teasy smile on his face): I will hit 'em!

Do all boys come with this pre-programmed interest in violence or is he just a born tease? Whichever character flaw it is, I say we just beat it out of him.

Our Trip to See Attle

And where is Attle, you ask? It is the city on the shores of Puget Sound, named after the Suquamish chief and somewhat misunderstood by Cole. We headed north as part of our New Year's celebrations. Of course, that's Bucket Head country and they were gracious hosts. The Pacific Science Center beckoned and we headed out to conquer four ferries, two buses and a herd of wild butterflies.

Okay, here's our first ferry of the day with cousin "Juju". One of the ferries was not working so we had some time to spend waiting for the next one. Cole found out that sticky things tend to stick to things. (Yes, that is a berry flavored fruit snack stuck to the window and yes, he did pull it off and eat it immediately following the taking of this photo.) On the big ferry at last and time for the obligatory family photo. It was hot enough to melt a bronze octopus. Or something to that effect. Once inside the science museum deinonychus and his yellow footed protege ponder their next messy kill. Later, Cole emerges from the south end of a north bound caterpillar ... ... while Grant is still working his way through the giant inflatable intestine. Now they pause to pet a millipede. Time for another caterpillar encounter outside of the ... ... butterfly room! Inspired by the metamorphosis of the lepidoptera Grant tries but only manages hymenoptera formicidae. Fortunately, on the ferry ride home we sat next to a video game which kept the boys blissfully occupied. Mark this day down and thoroughly seized!

Death of a Snowman

Once there was a snowman tall, Tall, TALL! In the rain he melted small small small

Snow Problem

This is what several inches of nice fluffy snow looks like......with Tucker walking on top of it......thanks to a layer of freezing rain...
...which can be pulled off in sheets...
...and thrown like a frisbee.

Sleigh Ride

Well, inflatable kayak ride, anyway. With temperatures well above freezing and rain falling we know the snow won't last long. But there's time enough for a few more runs down the hill in our backyard. Cooperation makes that hike back to the top easier. The trip down is pure joy. Just be sure to hold on to your mitten.

A Christmas Fable

What Cole wanted for Christmas:
What Cole got for Christmas:What we can all learn from this:

• Never look a gift horse in the mouth, unless you need its teeth for some other project.
• Necessity truly is the mother of invention.
• Invention is the mother of destruction.
• The "child-proofness" of anything is limited by inventiveness of the child.
• A key in the hand is worth a set of screwdrivers in the bush.
• Never put off until tomorrow what you can accomplish today if you just improvise a little.
• If you touch an uncovered light switch in the wrong place it can be "really hot" (according to Cole).

High Speed Holiday

Christmas at 16x normal speed:

And at 0x speed: Later we built a snowman. It was perfect Christmas weather with a foot of snow on the ground, more falling and a warm fire inside. And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!