Trick or Treat 2008

Dada and I have been reading the Alagaesia trilogy by Christopher Paolini. Liam likes to look at the map inside the covers of the books. He pointed to Surda, a southern country in the series, and announced, "This is Ohio where Dada lives."

We bought a new Nikon and this is Carrie supervising Dada as he figures out all the fun buttons.

This is the birthday boy with his latest obsession: markers!

The birthday boy

Happy birthday to Spiderman! Liam turned 3 today. Such a big, fun boy!

Spiderman and Sporticus

At first, she really liked the swim cap I got her so she could be Sporticus. Then she decided she wanted a bandanna instead. So here's Sporticus and Spiderman!

This is our friend Molly. She was a pink, three-eyed monster. Isn't she the cutest?

And this is Liam after his third tootsie pop of the day. He wanted everyone to see his blue lips, tongue, and mustache. Happy Halloween!

Quote Board

Okay everyone, it's that time. The quote board is full. So before I get my pushpins out and stick it up on the basement wall for everyone to enjoy during the Christmas Extravaganza, I thought I'd type them out here for ou far-away friends. For those of you who aren't familiar with this, it began in college w/ my roomies Melissa, Christine, Brenda, and Mary Alice. Anytime anyone said anything funny (or even better, out of context), that quote got scribbled down for posterity. Funny drawings were also allowed. I've upgraded to a few comic strip frames too. Without further ado:

YAYYYYY! YOTSA cookies! -Liam, age 2, spying rack of Oreos in Giant Eagle

Dada: SON OF A BEAN!
Liam, 2 and a half: Son of a bean??? Dat not many any SENSE.

Mama: Liam, need some circle cheese? (colby jack from the deli)
Liam: *nods*
Mama peels one off.
Liam: Dis is oval cheese. Need a circle cheese, Mama!

Mama: Carrie, eat your beans. If we have to tell you again, no dessert.
Dada, deadpans: For the rest of your life.
Carrie: Well THAT'S not true!
Mama & Dada crack up uncontrollably.
Carrie: Are you laughing at me? Are you laughing at what I said?

Carrie, clearing her throat: I fink I'm losing my breaf!

At breakfast:
Liam: Can I need a boo-berry cookie? (NutraGrain fruit bar)
Mama: Yes.
Liam: YAY! Dat's WONderful!

Liam clonks his head under the table (again.)
Dada holds up two fingers and says: how many toes am I holding up?
Liam: *scowling* I two and a half!
Mama: *smirking* He's playing your game!

Mama, tired of being interrupted, stops talking.
Carrie: Why'd you stop your story?
Mama: I'm tired of being interrupted!
Carrie: Go ahead. I'm done erupting.

Carrie: Did you see my cloud of dreaming?

It's dinnertime and Dan Zanes is playing.
Mama: You can turn that off if you want.
Dada: Can I put in some MOOD music?
Mama: Sure.
Dada *rummaging* Where's the Mastadon?
Mama: ACK!

Liam, 2 and a half: I AM STICKOBOY! (after a whole body sticker experience)

Neighbor girl next door to Liam: Yoo hoo! Two and a haaaaalf!

To the kids: NO BOXING!
Dada to Mama:I think I've found another game I want to get.
Mama: Oh yeah?
Dada: "Super Smash Brothers Brawl" *pause* Oughta be good for them...

On the way to preschool, Carrie grabs Mama's glove-less hands in hers (with gloves on): Here. I'll keep you warm since you didn't have the sense to wear your gloves.

Carrie: Please can I be born again, Jesus? I don't wanna be 5 yet. (AFTER she's 5!)

I dunno EDO, Mama! -Liam, 2, answering his own "where" questions.

Liam: Look Mama! A bee-duhl-tuhl-ful box!

Carrie's first attempt at drawing a butterfly: It's looks like a lobster. *pause* I made a lobster!

Carrie: What are you favorite kids?
Dada: Actually, I don't know too many goats.

Carrie, about the Hertz Neverlost system, which we call Missy the Map: Why does she say a-boaching left tohn?

Both kids: Hi Snowmanbutt!

Rice Krispies= Crackle Pops at our house. And Cocoa Puffs are Cocoa Pups to Liam.

Liam saying "fish": seef

Carrie: I'm filled with itches today.

Liam: Mees, Mama, MEES! Mo' Pea-doh bud-doh kix! (PB Cap'n Crunch)

Dada: Oh look, Mama. Here's a reference to Jesus being obedient to his parents.
Mama: Oh really? Jesus was obedient?
Carrie: So was Superman.
Much later, Carrie again: Jesus never broke the law.

Liam doesn't want to get dressed from the waist down.
Mama: Guess you're not going to the bus stop.
Liam: Yes! I go to the bus stop with my penis!

Dada, making the sign onf the cross over the halibut: Dona-nobis done-em!

Mama: I told you once, I told you twice, all season of the year are nice for eating chicken soup with...
Liam: Fries.
(Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak)

Liam, 2: Hi morning! (Instead of Good morning)

Liam: I two and a half sleepy gee-raff! (He was obsessed w/ giraffes there for awhile)

Carrie, making art, to Mama: This one is for Pa Pa and Grandmama so don't get all excited.

Mama finishes fighting w/ Liam over toothbrushing.
Liam: No! Leggo a me! NO! I doot teet! No Mama!
Mama: This had better be worth it!
Dada: What, child rearing?
Mama: YES!

Carrie, 4 and a half: Dear Jesus, I hope I get a different Mama. Amen. I don't think you're a good Mama at all.

Grandmama: Are you tired, Liam?
Liam *indignant*: I'm tired in mine eye!

Eric to Mama during Scrabulous online: You've unleashed the furry!

Liam: I cook-king Fwench toast. DING!

Carrie, verbatim for the ad: It's waaaaaaaaaay better than fast food. It's Wendy's!

Mama: Gonna go brave the elements.
Carrie: What means braving the elephants?

Liam, throwing himself on the floor at age 2: I dead, Dada. I dead.

Mama, eating a Snickerdoodle: This is either my 4th or 5th one.
Dada: That's my woman!
Mama: They're pretty much sugar, fat, and air.
Dada: THAT'S my woman. Sugar and spice and everything nice. Oh wait. You meant the COOKIES!

Carrie: In Spanish, the word for purple is violet.

Carrie: hokey pokey, dootchie cootchie, coconut doh-chee, are you gonna call me Carrie anymore?

Carrie singing: Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea, and when he called the autumn mist which called in aunnalee...

Dada: Well, I have ANTI-special brain power!

Liam, 2 and a half: I found a op-pa-pus pop-cohn!

Carrie: Cars have one antenna. Bugs have two.

Mama, to Liam, who has his shirt most of the way off but stuck on his head: You look like a Pharoah
Liam: I look like a sparrow?

Liam: There. Dat's betto. Nice and meat!

Mama: Liam, didja wash your hands?
Liam: NOOOOOOO!
Mama: Can ya try again, please? Without yelling?
Liam: Yes.

Mama, making s'mores in the microwave: Mmmm! Perfectly squishy!
Dada: But firming up nicely!

Carrie: When will Jesus die on the cross again?
Mama: He did that already.
Carrie: Doesn't that happen in April?

Mama: Dada, didja see how big this boy is? I can't even hug him all. There're appendages everywhere!
Liam: I not an appendages!

Liam, holding up the blue hexigon magnet Sharon made: A blue Scott-i-gon!

And for the funnies: the Baby Blues one has Zoe holding her piggy bank and rolling her eyes as her grandma sticks coins in. It reads: A penny saved is a penny earned (and a sign that our grandparents are hopelessly out of touch)

Sometimes famous people make the quote board:

With kids, the days are long, but the years are short. ~John Leguizamo, in InStyle

People want to know why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy- and I keep it in a jar on my desk. ~Stephen King

Drumsticks and dings

Liam's recently discovered pencils and has decided they make better drumsticks than writing implements. He taps on the table, counter, chairs, papers, pots and pans, basically anything he can get his hands on. We keep confiscating them (I just sharpened them) but he just uses the markers then...

I was teasing Meredith yesterday because she said she saw snowflakes in Columbus. I made some wisecracks about being on the warm pocket of the lake, but guess what? Yesterday afternoon we had hail. It rained a few times, that fine needle rain. Then we heard dings and pings and Carrie said, "what's THAT?!" She couldn't picture what I meant, so I took her into the garage and she got to see hail up close and personal. Of course she decided to eat it and proceeded to gather as many as she could before I herded her back inside...

This little maple tree in our backyard has been so pretty! Sadly, I didn't think to take its picture until after half its leaves got pummeled off =( So sad. Christine has a matching one next door and hers fared a little better than ours did. Sunny and windy again today!

Funnies

Found some more random quotes lying around that I'd scribbled so I wouldn't forget them. The first one is Carrie:

If I was going to spell "mamas," I'd have to do it m-a-m-a-z-z-z-z-z....

And another one has a background story that adds to it. Liam goes grocery shopping with me on a regular basis. We'd stopped at the pharmacy and the pharmacist asked if he could have a sucker. I told her that would be fine, and of course he was thrilled with his grape lollipop. He told everyone he saw that he had a grape lollipop.

That next weekend when we went to the apple orchard we forgot to hit the credit union ahead of time. We drove into Michigan and stopped at the welcome center thinking they'd have an ATM. They didn't, but our brave little Liam approached the lady at the help desk and said, "can I need a grape lollipop, please?" She said she didn't have any grape lollipops but hands him a plastic cup full of Skittles.

Can we say choking hazard?!

Anyway, the kids call them (brace yourselves) S & S's. Well, makes sense. M & M's, why not S & S's? Hehe!

I was going to say "that's all for now," but I just remembered part of why Grandma Barb and Pap are here this weekend. I've been getting Glamour magazine lately and it has various liquor ads. Carrie pointed to a Patron Tequila ad and said, "hey, we have that downstairs, don't we?" Right then I decided the very next home improvement project would be getting a door onto our furnace room where we have our wine and where we will be putting the liquor for the Christmas party. If you've read previous posts you know that we are hobbit-ish housekeepers, so yes, our "bar" is still out from last year. I really shouldn't be admitting to things like this in a public forum, perhaps...

Good thing

It's a good thing the Lord's mercies are new every morning. I was just told, "I hate you" by the resident five-year-old because I wouldn't let her wear her brother's hat to school all day. Methinks it's gonna be one of those days...

Wet and wild

We were on our way to the bus stop this morning when we spotted a city employee flushing a fire hydrant down the street. Carrie was amazed at the water and it was a good moment to explain how the fire trucks hook their hoses up to it when there's a fire and all that. The worker drove his truck down one of the dead ends in our neighborhood as some of the other kids were coming to the bus. He flushed that one too. The kids caught on and start looking around for the next one. Sure enough, it's right across the street from the bus stop! They're talking about why he's doing it and how they think it's because frost will mess up the water inside (we've had frost the past two nights and it is chilly at the bus stop in the morning!), etc. Well, the bus is on the main street by now and is waiting its turn to turn left and enter the neighborhood. As it starts to turn in, the worker opens the bus stop hydrant. The kids are just gleeful as they watch it gush across the street and head for the drain beside them. The bus pulls up, naturally Carrie is the last to get on. She is the smallest and youngest kid at this stop. The water is coming on the street straight for her and she has to get from the sidewalk, over the curb, over the water, and onto the bus. I yell, "go Carrie go!" and she starts chicken hopping around. So I grab her and practically toss her across the water to get to the bus. I wish someone had had a video camera so they could capture not only her frantic attempt to get across, but the bus driver's bellylaugh as he watches the whole thing. She is so tiny and the water is so fast and he's such a cool guy... it made my whole morning. And as I went back home I told the worker, "you totally made their morning!" and he laughed too. Too bad it wasn't in the summertime when they could have all really played in it...

Oak Openings

On Sunday we went to Oak Openings, a state park not too far from here. It was our first time there and it's a pretty big place. We had to get a map and ask for directions and of course there was a bike race happening that weekend so there were people everywhere. Triskal got to come too, and I lost count of how many men came up to see her. "Wow, is that a Newfoundland!?" She was in heaven. So were the kids. They take after me- sand is their element. Hehe. Anyway, we had a nice hike through the woods to get to the sand dunes so we saw loads of pretty leaves. It was a cool day, but the walking made us warm enough. And then it was really nice in the dunes because they open up so we had lots of sunshine. Here's the crew having their pre-sand snack...

And Triskal looks like she's thinking, "okay, great. Here's the sand. Where's the water? WHERE IS THE WATER!? There is sand. Where is the water? Isn't there supposed to be water where there is sand? I'm dyin' over here! GIMME THE WATER!"

More sand dune pictures. It's a really cool place!

We forgot to take Flat Stanley to the park, but he was there in spirit. Does that count? =D

Oopsie. Loaded this one upside down. It looked like a dead thing, but it had these tiny blossoms on them. Like flowers Morticia would grow. Very Halloweeny! No idea what they are...

Body art

Despite being told 4000x a day to only draw "ON PAPER", this kid decided to give himself some body art. With no mirror.

Having the family over for breakfast

I put some family & friend pictures on the table at breakfast. Liam held an open discussion forum and also gave some speeches. Hehe!

Erie Orchards. Again.

Hehehe. It is so gorgeous this weekend. We couldn't resist going back to Erie Orchards to pick more apples. We picked a bushel. Uh, yeah. We're going to attempt to make pies. And we'll eat a bunch. Liam was eating every time I turned around...

Anyway, this is the kind of day it's been. If you look super closely, you can see Dada. And if your vision is exceptional, you can see the beautiful moon shining pretty close to right above him!

I picked this one and started giggling. Doesn't it look like she has hair? Bangs, even? It tickled the kids, this apple lady. All she needs is a little button face! =)

She insisted I take a picture of the bees so you all could see them. *shrug*

Liam on the ladder

Cutouts and conversation

We were driving somewhere in Pepe the Pilot (yes, that is the real name of our car), and as usual I was singing along with the radio.
Liam: No singing, Mama.
Me: But it's such a good song!
Carrie: Go ahead, Mama.
Me: It's Madonna.
Carrie: I know.
Me: !

And cutouts with Liam in them: