Ramblings, Musings, and Weird Stuff

Greetings to all you visitors across the fruited plains! (Fruity plains if you're in San Francisco).

Gosh where to start...The kids are running around the house doing "tidy army," which is a cleverly disguised game in which the kids get to put on rollerblades and zip around the house putting stuff away. This is a good time to wear shoes and stay out of the way. We've also managed to inherit another cat. She was rescued from the dump and she's great. Her name is Gracie. And she's already chasing Jack around the house.

In Alex news, the weirdo with a penchant for strangeness has once again proved beyond all doubt that he needs to stop watching Monty Python. Let me explain. Each night Neisha or I take turns reading the scriptures with him. Neish or I will read a few verses and then he gets to. Well, Alex has decided that it is his life's goal to never read the scriptures in a normal voice. The other night he decided it was Chinese day and when he read he pronounced all the 'L's as 'R's. So we read about the Rord and Arma and I nearly started crying with laughter when he belted out in his biggest 7 year old Chinese voice, "Behord Thus sayeth the Rord God of Israer!" We've also enjoyed opera style where he sings the verses like a princess, slo-mo style, and the always popular Power Ranger style in which every few words are emphasized with a genuine Power Ranger pose.

In Parker's corner we find a rat named Mack who has really captured his heart. A rat is not something we usually equate with affection but Mack is not an ordinary rat. He rides on Parker's shoulder and really enjoys burrowing under his shirt until just his eyes and nose poke out. Anyway, Parker really loves him. Recently we told him that he had to put Mack back in his cage and go to bed. A few minutes later Neish went in to sing him a song and found Parker hiding under his covers just sobbing uncontrollably. She sat down next to him and after several minutes was able to get him to stop crying and settle down. She asked what had made him so sad. "Well," he said, "I put Mack back in his cage and when I shut the door he just put his down and walked back into his little house like he was really sad that I did that to him." Precious.

Marcus is still on stupid patrol and manages to hear from anywhere in the house when someone says that "S" word. He also had aquired the incredible talent of climibing up the shelves in the pantry to eat chips. 7 feet up the shelves. At age 3. Going to need to keep a leash on that one.

And of course Josh keeps busy with soccer, home schooling, trumpet, piano, video games, and listening to every adventure book known to man on his ipod.

Well, the superbowl is almost on, I don't care, and we're having steaks tonight!

Welcome Mack!

Another year has come and gone. And boy what a ride it was! It felt like our family crossed the finish line in a tangle of legs, nerf guns, sand and cat food but we finished. As my New Year's resolution I vow to write in this blog more often than someone else does. That should do it.

Christmas was a blast. The kids got some great toys and then went to St. George for the week so I got to play with them. Among many things, Josh got a remote controlled spy car with a video camera on it and let me tell you, there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of chasing the cat around the house from the comfort of my own bed. Gotta get me one of them! That or else find reasons to ground Josh from using it. Daily. Parker got an iClops, a really sweet microscope that projects whatever you're looking at on to a small digital screen. I looked at the stain on my levis to see what it was made out of (I still don't know but it could be paint), I looked at the stuff on the bathroom counter and now I'm not going in there anymore, and I looked at a whole bunch of other stuff. And let me say for the record that cats don't like to be subjected to microscopes! PJ also got a remote controlled helicopter and seems as how I broke mine I got to use his. Having Dad privileges is great.

We had one addition to the zoo this year (no Neish didn't have a baby). The newest member of our family is a rat. He's small, he's white, he loves to watch TV, and Parker named him Mack. Which kind of goes with the whole pet naming theme. We have a cat named Jack. Life is good. You might be wondering, "Wait a sec. You just said you have a cat. and you bought a rat? Are you nuts?"

The answer is as complex as time itself. So yes, we are nuts. The other day Parker had Mack in his lap watching TV and Jack was just sitting nearby, totally still except for the occasional twitch of the tail. I know what he was thinking. Jack was thinking "Happy Meal. To go, please." Needless to say we're careful. I was thinking about getting a dog. Hmmm...

In other news I was cleaning out our garage and found my old box of high school stuff. What a riot! I still had the year books complete with pictures that would make the Fashion Police's Hall of Fame list, my trumpet awards, ceremonial mug and I even found a video from 1988 of the Bonneville High School band! I have to say it was a lot of fun watching my carefree life, acting the fool and not having a clue about what amazing adventures lie ahead.