More from the mouth of Anderson

I thought it might be fun to make this into a guessing game. I'll post the answers in a few days.

1. If Anderson wants to give you a "catch up" what occupation is he pretending to be?
2. What famous movie star is "Lipen Naqueen?"
3. If Anderson says "chinx" to you what do you have to do?
4. What is a "chicken-munk?"

We'll just do those 4 for now. On one final note, I was making Christmas candy while Ellie and Walker were at school the other day. Anderson kept sneaking out to the kitchen and coming right up next to me (and the candy cooling on the counter) saying in his sweetest voice, "Mommy, I looooove chocolate. I need some lickens." :) In case you got any of that candy, don't worry, he didn't get any "lickens."

Anderson quick hitters

Anderson was splashing in the bathtub last night and Carla said something like, "wow, those are big splashes." Anderson said "I use my buscles."

Also, he and Ellie sometimes get in a clothes basket with wooden spoons and pretend like they're rowing a boat. Well, tonight, Anderson sat on his big dump truck and rowed it with a teaspoon for a while. He didn't get too far.

Anderson's Big Turkey Birthday

Me: Anderson, you're a big two year old now!
Anderson: It's my big turkey birthday! Gobble Gobble!
What did he have for his birthday breakfast? Lellow keggs and tancakes, of course.
What did he get for presents? Trucks. Lots and lots of trucks. Also . . . Croup. He and Ellie both.

I was giving Caroline her pacifier and she was just sort of crying around it and Ellie said "you have to rub it in, Dad." Then she said, "You know," and wiggled her hand back and forth. It worked, wiggling it. I just would have never considered it "rubbing it in."

Headaches, clean up, and prayers

Monday night I came home from class with a migrane. Carla had no sympathy, though, 'cause she had one, too. We both sat/slept on the couch for nearly an hour while the kids did whatever kids do with no parental supervision. So here's what they did:
Walker made a bed for himself on the floor and fell asleep. Sweet, no problems there.
Ellie dumped out all her dress up clothes all over her room and walked on them like a path while singing a song that she made up as she went. You know, sort of 4-year-old-white-girl free style rapping. A little mess but no major problem.
Anderson, Anderson, Anderson. He came down the steps and woke me up by proudly announcing, "I washed the potty!" Uh-oh. I picked him up and realized that he was soaking wet, head to toe. It turns out that he cleaned the toilet with toilet paper and toilet water. Big mess there. Oh well, no blood or anything so I can't complain too much.

Anderson's been really talkative lately and really animated, too. His latest favorites are "Lellow Keggs" for breakfast and his "Lellow Tot" to suck on when he goes to bed. He also puts his arms out/back like a jet and yells "Zoom!" whenever he runs somewhere. He says prayers all by himself before he eats now, too: "Je-SUS! Hank you for. AMEN!" He also loves his little sister "Canowine" who, on her 1 month checkup weighs 10 lbs even. I think now we have a chubs and a chubette.

The other night I put Walker to bed and after prayers I said "Have good dreams, I love you." He said "Be careful going down the steps, I love you, too."

New apple terminology

Ellie was super excited for me to take her to the "apple patch" which I did on Thursday. The lady there let us walk through the orchard and pick one apple. They don't usually let anyone pick apples but when Ellie and I came in, she couldn't refuse my super cute face. Anyway, we walked through and we found a tree with one apple left on it so Ellie thought it was there just for her. That's the one she picked and it turned out to be really really good. When we went back into the store to buy our apple and about 25 or 30 pounds of already picked apples, Ellie asked me if we could also buy "some of that apple punch".

Multi-purpose tubs

You know those cheap pink plastic tubs that they send home with your baby from the hospital? We've used those in the past as puke buckets (by the way, a quick message to The Office: Not Cool!) for the kids when they're sick. Well, Carla filled one w/ water and was washing off Caroline today and Ellie got this offended look on her face and said, "That's my sick jar!"

Other than that, we're just not sleeping much. Turns out, Caroline's fussy time is from about 11pm to 2am. Fortunately, Letterman's been pretty funny lately and I haven't had to endure much Carson Daly.

They were just watching the replay on the buckeye's game to decide whether or not Pryor threw as he was being sacked. It looked like he threw to one of the announcers who termed it, "a little flickage".

Homecoming Day!

We will soon be headed home from the hospital, so the frequent postings and updates on Facebook are sure to end since we do not have internet at home. Until the next update, we'd like to thank everyone for their prayers for our family and for the showering of visits, cards, food and gifts. We are so blessed! Caroline is doing absolutely great, and we can't wait to introduce her to the kids today. Kurt is going to take video, so look for that soon! We'll also post some more pictures. Until then, pray for sleep :) (for us, not you!)

Here she is!

Caroline Grace

We are now a family of three boys and three girls! Caroline Grace is our chubbiest and shortest baby. She has a bruised nose, lip, and cheek from her speedy entrance into the world. Dr. Chitra managed to get one glove on to deliver her, but we are very thankful that she was here! I am super excited to tell Ellie that she has a sister!

Time of Birth: 11:00 p.m.
Weight: 7 lbs. 11 oz. (She beat W. by one ounce.)
Height: 18.25 inches

She has lots of dark hair and a good set of lungs. We are so very blessed to have her as a part of our family!

Speaking of erupting

Ellie asked me the other day if "veecanoes" are real.

Let's see, what else is new? Walker's very proud of his first ever loose tooth. I'm sure he'll be telling you about it soon if he hasn't already.

Anderson blasted his head on a tree yesterday. Every time we go to a soccer game, he loves to just run for a while then fall down on his stomach. Yesterday, he got a little too close to the tree before he fell. Oh, well. First (or second or third) of many concussions.

Also, we should have a new kid in a few hours or so . . . stay tuned.

Miss Jane

E: (riding in the car on the way to church) Mom, my brain's turned on all the time!

E: You're ERUPTING me! (Her favorite thing to say when someone, usually Walker, is interrupting her.)

Interview- September 27, 2009

Fav. Color: pink and purple

Fav. TV Show: Diego & Dora

Fav. Food: Ham

Fav. Place to Visit: Addie's House

What do you want to be for Halloween?: Snow White Princess

What do you want to be when you grow up?: Artist

Fav. thing to do with mommy: Shopping!

Fav. thing to do with daddy: Go to restaurants on dates

Fav. thing to do with grandma Kandel: Go to McDonald's

Fav. thing to do with grandma Lewis: Go feed the duckies and play at the park

I had more questions, but she wanted to go outside and play. What kind of mom would I be if I made my 3 year-old stay inside and sit on the computer when she could be outside playing!

"CRAP-PA"

Anderson loves his "crap-pa" (Grandpa Kandel), and we all crack up hysterically, especially Aunt Keely" when Anderson yells out Grandpa's name in excitement. Uncle Kyle is just happy that he isn't the only one who was gifted with a great nickname. (Walker used to call him "Kaa-Kaa".) Crap-pa does all kinds of fun things with Anderson. As of late his favorites have been eating fresh peaches and riding on the big tractor.

In other news, Ellie is just loving pre-school. She has grown up so much in these last few months. I'm sure she'll seem even bigger when the baby comes. Her favorite thing about preschool is playing in the "log cavin" outside in the play area. She also started gymnastics and looks stinkin' cute in her leotard. Pictures coming soon!

Walker is also thriving in school. He loves it more than I expected, and his teacher has had lots of good things to say about him :) His favorite thing about school is playing "Wipe Out" with his buddy Caleb at recess. He is also playing soccer this year. He is a great defender, and has scored two goals so far this year.

All-in-all, things are going great! We are very blessed.

More questions from Walker

Walker: What's stronger, a hurricane, a tropical storm, or a tornado?
Me: I guess a tornado's the strongest because it can destroy your house. I think a hurricane can just tear off the roof.
Walker: Then what's stronger, a hurricane or a dinosaur?
Me: Umm, a hurricane, I guess.
Walker: Well, they can both tear off your roof. What's a dinosaur faucet anyway?

Good Manners

Anderson, our little bully, who pulls hair and pushes other little kids down, has the best manners of any 20 month old I know. At least we did something right. He says "please" and "thank you" for everything and even says "your welcome" when someone thanks him. This week he started asking for a napkin at every meal. If we forget to give him one, he says, "Mommy, I messy. Kapin, please." The first time, it took me a minute to figure out what a "kapin" was, but when I did, he was delighted to wipe his hands and face. I guess his cleanliness is supposed to cancel out his rottenness!

Phone message from Walker

Daddy, it's walker.
Umm . . . Please go to Grandma's and pick up the stuff that Mom forgot.
Thank you.
At Grandma Lewis's.
Love you very much, Amen . . .
[Laughing at himself] Bye!

No Power

We had no power this morning - the only morning this week that I had to get up at 5:00 a.m., of course. Kurt packed his clothes and stuff and went to his mom's to shower, iron, have coffee, etc. I packed my stuff and all the kids' stuff, and we headed to my mom's at 6 am. When I went up to get Anderson, it was pitch black. I picked him, he stirred briefly, and laid his head back down. When we were in the kitchen, headed to the door, he lifted his head up, looked at me, and said with a surprised voice, "Oh, hello, mommy!" I'm not sure who he thought I was prior to that, but it was pretty funny to hear the cute expression in his voice.

Walker was super excited about no power. Wouldn't it be nice to be 5 again!

Everything to the power of 2

These 2 things happened to me in the same week:
The old Grand Cherokee turned over 222,222.2 miles.
I was reading the paper and eating watermelon and when I was done with the paper, I counted the rinds - 22.
Also, Emmit Smith was a good running back.

Me, after watching Anderson do the squat-grunt: Whatchya doing, Anderson?
Anderson: I poop.
That's a twosey.

Guessing Game

Ellie, while shopping with Carla: Mommy, I see Daddy's favorite movie!
Carla: What movie?
Ellie: You know, the yellow people!

See if you can guess what movie she meant.

The origin of the Tot

Anderson's our first pacifier baby. Every time I see him with it in his mouth, I grab it and say "Give me that!" just to be mean. Well, he must have thought it was called a "that" because he calls it his "tot". That's why you might hear Carla and I asking each other if we have a tot when Anderson gets tired. Hmm, how about some other Anderson words . . . He calls peanut butter "bubbo", he calls shoes "bye-byes", and he'll repeat anything Ellie tells him to say. He's also very polite. He says please, thank you, you're welcome, all the time. Lately when we give him something he's been saying "Thank you I welcome."

The other night Carla told me to hurry up because "it's getting later by the minute."

So much for the tweets

Well, I thought we'd have wifi . . . we didn't even have cell phone service. I guess we succeeded in getting away. Let's see . . . what did we do . . .
COSI - I believe that stands for the Columbus Science Institute or something. The kids had a good time there. Ellie's favorite part of the whole "veecation" ("I'm really enjoying our veecation, dad") was a little playground inside COSI with a mini house inside with running water and everything. Walker got to pull himself up on a pulley system. He and Ellie raced to the top, about 3.5 feet off the ground.
Columbus Zoo - The highlight there was seeing the baby elephant. The kids had to do a lot of walking there but held up pretty well for the most part. Oh, by the way, no matter what zoo you go to (3 now for us) the penguin exhibit smells awful.
From there to our "cavin" (Ellie, again). Beautiful place but I was a little worried when we showed up b/c there was a cat laying on the porch like it owned the place. I told the owners about the girls' allergies and they took care of it - it's a big place . . . a cat could have an accident and no one would ever know. The next morning we went hiking, or as much as you can hike carrying a 19 month old who just wants DOWN! We went to Concle's hollow, old man's cave, and Cedar falls. All were nice, very short hikes in cool weather. The only problem was that the waterfalls were all dried up. We'll have to go back in the spring. Well, those were the highlights, aside from Carla's birthday surprise this morning (just ask her). I'll post pictures when we get them off the camera. Wait, can you post pictures on this thing?

Vacation Tweets - Part 1

I'll try to do this Twitter style. I've never been on twitter or seen a tweet but here's my guess at how they go:

We're leaving on vacation tomorrow. Got a call confirming our reservations for the cabin. Got an email DENYING our reservations. The email won, they double booked. Spent 3 hours looking for a new cabin and finally found one. Haven't started packing yet . . .

To be continued . . .

Wanted: Early 2000's Honda Odyssey

I haven't been posting much lately because I'm using my lunches to research minivans. No luck so far. Let me know if you see an Odyssey around . . .

Carla helping Walker say his prayers: Don't forget to ask Jesus to bring Daddy home safe.
Walker: And please bring Daddy home safe. Amen. . . . Or, maybe he'll just die.
Carla: Walker! Don't say that! Don't you know that that means you'll never see Daddy again?
Walker: Yeah.
Carla: Then don't say that!
Walker, with a dismissive shrug: OK.

Walker praying before bed: And thank you Jesus for making everything. Amen. Well, not everything. Jesus didn't make Kleenexes or boxes, or cars, or beds . . . That would be a really hard job, making Kleenexes - A bunch of guys stuffing cut up paper in a box.

Ellie, showing off her 2-piece swim suit: I'm wearing my Zucchini!

There's a Backyardigan named Pablo. Ellie calls him "Plabo." There's also a Backyardigan named Uniqua. Ellie calls her "Yooneekwa", which is the correct pronunciation, I just think it's a weird name.

Anderson calls Kyle "Kiyoo" (I think) and he calls Keely "Key". Last night we met at their house for dinner and when I walked in Anderson yelled, "Daddy, Key, Kiyoo!" I thought he wanted to show Kyle my keys. Then he walked around and smacked Murphy a lot. Ellie, Walker, and I went fishing for about 30 minutes with zero bites. Usually that's not a big deal but it was pretty rough on them, being kids. It might as well have been 3 hours. Oh, after they were done I fished for 3 hours.

Anderson also calls Andrea "Deedeebobby" or "Bobbydeedee", whatever he feels like at the time.

Anderson Speak

Anderson loves Dora. Every morning when he wakes up he says, "Wa-Wa Pack-Pack," which translates to "Watch Back-Pack." We usually have to distract him with breakfast so he doesn't throw a big fit about not getting to watch TV the second he comes downstairs. When he does watch Dora, he is totally entranced, which usually allows me to get a quick shower! Here is his Dora vocabulary. If you're not familiar with the characters from the show, I've included their real names and type of animal. It's very entertaining and cute to to wactch him read all of Ellie's Dora books, too.

"Pack-Pack" - Dora (She carries a purple backpack, so that's what Anderson calls her.)
"Boop" - Boots - monkey
"Coo-coo" - Tico - squirrel
"Pap" - Map (a talking map from Dora's backpack)
"Blah" - Isa - Iguanna (He won't even attemp to say this name correctly!)
"Doh-doh" - Diego - Dora's animal rescuer cousin

Baseball Update

Walker's in his baseball glory days. He gets to play two games a week and, lately, we've been playing a lot at the Lewis house. He's certainly one of the more aggressive boys on the field in pee wee. Or pre-pee wee, actually (underhand coach pitch with aluminum bats and the soft baseballs - better than big bat like I was expecting). Anyway, Carla and I have both had to talk to him about not diving in front of other players to make the play. It's hard to tell him not to be aggressive, though, 'cause I don't want him standing out there letting balls roll by him either.

Last Sunday night in a family game, Walker took pretty wicked line drive off the leg from Aunt Andrea when he was playing 1st base. The next inning she hit another line drive right at him but he caught it for an out - sweet revenge. It basically drilled him in the stomach and he wrapped his arms around it.

Ellie's somewhat less interested in her games, so far as I can tell. She says she's having fun and does like to hit but doesn't pay any attention in the field. She tries to fill the ball up with dirt before throwing it back in - just for fun, I guess.

Anderson's probably just wondering why he has to sit outside in his stroller for an hour 4 nights a week. At least there's always snacks for him.

Walker's first four wheeler (wreck)

First, Ellie, asking for help with the bathroom scale: Do you wanna go see how high I am in your bedroom on that thing where you weigh your body on?

OK, now the four wheeler. Two Sundays ago, I told Walker I was going to give him a surprise for being brave while I plucked about 50 splinters out of his hand that he got from playing with a poking stick back by the fire pit. I was thinking I'd get him a basketball game for the computer but everyone else thought I meant the 4 wheeler. Well, I figured that would work but I had to get it running first. I didn't get a chance to work on it until the next Sunday which meant we had to put up with him asking about it over and over again for an entire week. When the time finally came to give it to him, I asked him what he thought it might be. The only clue I had given him was that it was an outside surprise. His response: "A new baseball game! No, a new hockey stick! . . . No, new balloons!!!" I'm still confused about that last one.

He was very excited when he found out what it really was. Carla put his helmet on him and I went over how to work the throttle and the brakes (though I failed to mention that you should let off the throttle when braking. We had to go over that one later after he nearly ran into me). After that, he was off to the races. He rode around the perimeter of the yard and around the house over and over again. We have a couple very small hills toward the back of the yard that he was "jumping" over. We could hear him from clear up by the swing set yelling "WOOO!" every time he hit one. He definitely got the hang of it very quick. Or so we thought.

After about a half hour of watching him ride, I got mine out and followed him around some. On our second or third lap around the house, he suddenly decided to cut through the middle of the back yard where he, of course, hit a hill, lost control, ran into some pretty big rocks, flipped over the handlebars, and the four wheeler landed on top of him. Fortunately, I was right behind him and had the bike off of him in seconds. He was a little banged up, bruised his leg, but that was about it. He didn't get burned or anything. I was afraid that he'd never want to ride again 'cause he was pretty shaken up at first. Fortunately, he was begging me the next day to get it back out. We couldn't get it out then but I got it out for him last night. He jumped on and drove right into a bush. Oh well, I'm sure he's willing to put in the "work" to enhance his navigational capabilities.

Carlita se afeita

Carla came out of the bathroom with her face still covered in face wash yesterday. Ellie said, "Mom, why are you shaving?" Yeah, El, she was shaving her cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead.

I was driving Walker to baseball practice yesterday and we had the following conversation.
Walker: Dad, sometimes Spanish talkers say 'Papa'.
Me: Spanish tacos?
Walker: No, Spanish talkers. . . . Maybe I should have said 'humans'.
Me: Spanish humans?
Walker: Or . . . 'people'. Yeah.

Speaking of Spanish humans, Dora taught Anderson how to say "Parada". I'm so glad my family can Hablar Espanol. Thanks, Jack Jefferson!

18 days and 3 flus later . . .

We're back. Ellie, Anderson, then Walker (again, although very mild) have all had the flu since our last post. Fortunately, none of them were of the avian, swine, or super type.

Ellie says you have to be careful with nail polish remover because "it has mosquitoes in it." She meant chemicals.

Anderson says really short sentences now like, "Cookie bye-bye", which means he doesn't want a cookie, "More ball . . . happy", which means he wants the ball back because he's having fun, and "Hi, Turtle", which means "Hi, Turtle."

Walker says things like "I heard it's supposed to rain today, by the way" which basically just means that he's getting a little too old to accidentally say funny things.

Congratulations to Tim and Jen - the latest from Sunday School to add to the future nursery overcrowding problem. Welcome baby Silas.

Birthday blahs

We had Walker's birthday party on Sunday afternoon, which was good for a 2 reasons. First, it was a really nice day so he got to play with his new outside toys, including a remote controlled truck big enough that Anderson can ride. Second, Monday night he woke up with the stomach flu and spent Tuesday (his actual birthday) laying on the couch getting better. At least he was able to play with his new hot wheels, listen to his MP3 player, etc. instead of being totally bored. By the afternoon, he was even playing with his hyper jump game. Tuesday evening, by which time I was feeling pretty miserable, he was even feeling good enough to go to Bob Evan's for supper, which he had been looking forward to for some time. He must have really had his appetite back by then because when we got there, he said, "We should have gone to one of those automatic restaurants like McDonald's or Chic-fil-a where they give you the food right away." And today, Carla feels sick. Hopefully she won't pass it to someone else . . .

Basketball, decorative towels, and new words

I turned the radio on for Walker the other night when he went to bed so he could listen to the basketball game.
Announcer: . . . sinks the shot. That makes it 62-56 . . .
Walker: Huh, sounds like the third quarter.

First thing when I came home one night this week from work, Ellie met me in the kitchen and showed me the new towels hanging from the handle on the oven. She said, "Daddy, you can't dry your hands on these towels. They're decorations. They're only to look at. I like the flowers and the bees. So don't dry your hands on them. Only look at them." Sigh . . . just like mommy.

Anderson's talking up a storm, now. Ask him if he's happy and he'll either say "Happy" or shake his head and say "hmmm mmm". Ask him what he likes to watch on TV and he'll say "Georgie" (curious george) and his favorite breakfast food is a "nannie" (banana).

Oh, happy birthday, Dad.

No news is old news

I've been notified that, while posting a pregnancy ticker suffices to get the point across that we're expecting another baby, it lacks a satisfactory level of detail. So, here's what we know:

• The baby's due October 15
• Carla's starting to feel a little bit better - she seems to be through the worst of the morning sickness - but she's still very tired
• An early ultrasound (b/c dates were in question) confirms that the baby has a head and a heart
• By next October ('10), Carla will have been either pregnant or nursing for 6 out of 7 years. She's a trooper.

Walker, right before bed: When was God born?

Me: Well, this is kind of hard to understand but God was never born. He's always been here and he'll always be here.

Walker: Then when did the days start - like Sunday, Monday, Tuesday . . . ?

Me: Oh, I guess God started the days when he made the world, before he even made people.

Walker: Then how old is Adam?

Me: Hmm . . . I don't know, buddy.

Walker: Was he born?

Me: No, God made him out of dirt like you can make things out of play-dough.

Walker: Oh, yeah, I know. And God made Eve out of Adam's . . . shoulder?

Me: Close. He made her out of Adam's rib.

Walker: Does Jesus have any kids?

Me: No.

Walker: Why not?

Me: Because he never got married.

Walker: Why didn't he get married.

Me: Because God sent him here to save us, not to get married and have kids. Now you need to turn off your brain and go to sleep.

Walker, laughing: I can't turn off my brain.

I think he's right.

Ellie's new favorite snack: "Greasy Pieces"

Anderson's a cow

Carla, Walker and Ellie were playing the "states game" the other day where you have to know something about the states to move your game piece around on the board. Ellie's question was, Name three states that start with "New". Ellie's response: "New York, New Jersey, New Vada."

Ellie wanted apple juice at snack time yesterday but she'd already had enough so I told her she could only have water.
Ellie: I don't like water.
Walker: Yeah, well, it's good for your knuckles so you're having it!

Also, if Anderson moos at you, he just wants more food. We taught him how to say "more" but it comes out of his mouth like "moo." Better than him just screaming until he gets more food, though. Oh, if you haven't heard him say cookie, yet, treat yourself to it. It's very cute. Be prepared to actually give him a cookie, though, or he'll be mighty upset.

Ellie and I took him in for his 15 month check up last Friday. He's doing really well, 22.5 lbs and short (I forget exactly how tall, but not very). While we were waiting for the nurse to come back with his shots, Ellie asked me if they were "going to be loud shots", meaning is Anderson going to scream. I told her he'd probably cry for a few minutes and she immediately covered her ears. No nurse in sight or anything.

Another Clue

It's a very affectionate chocolate.

Also (this isn't a clue), Ellie has asthma and/or major allergies, just like her mommy did. Carla took her in yesterday and they did a chest x-ray and some other things. She'll be on an inhaler for a while. We'll take her back in a couple months to see what's working and what's not, then every 6 months after that, I think. We'll see how it goes. She's healthy otherwise, though.

Walker and Anderson are also fine, nothing new to report there. Anderson's finally getting good at telling us who people are when he sees pictures of them. He looks so proud of himself when he gets it right and we praise him. He's a very cute kid, in my opinion.

What Dreams Are Made Of . . .

The other day, W & E were playing when E accidentally made W slip and fall. He was trying to shake it off, but I could tell he really hurt something. The conversation went a little something like this.

C - You gonna live?
W - Yeah. (slightly wincing)
C - That's good!
W - (in one big breath)Yeah, that IS good 'cuz I'm not married yet & I wanna get married when I get big. What happens when a person falls and dies if they're not married?
C - (totally trying not to laugh yet think of a satisfying "Walker answer" all at the same time) They just never get married, buddy.
W - (without skipping a beat) Well, Jesus could make them come alive again . . . . (thinking briefly) . . . or the girl could just marry another boy. ( I guess he was assuming that it was the boy who died.)

SERIOUSLY, what almost-five-year-old is looking forward to marriage? Shouldn't five-year-olds be thinking about sports, junk food, TV, toys and all the other stuff kids enjoy? I guess I'm glad that Walker has starting planning for his future at such a young age. During our next conversation, he'll probably tell me he's invested in a great mutual fund! He never ceases to amaze me.

P.S. I had to change the size & color so you would know it was me posting. I think this is only the 2nd or 3rd time I've ever posted. I usually make Kurt retell the stories because he can add his wittiness, but this time, I couldn't resist!

P.P.S Kurt told me to give you a hint regarding the above candy riddle. It's chocolate, so start guessing.

A few quick notes and a guessing game

Ellie cut her hair but that's old news now. She had it in a pony tail, found some scissors, and cut it. Off. Carla had to take her to the hair dresser to get it fixed up. It's now short and cute but it didn't happen the way we would have liked. Carla kept the pony tail, I guess for a scrap book. I'll bet it's 8 - 10" long.

Walker grabbed one of my harmonicas the other day and started playing around on it. After a while, I heard this beautiful bluesy note come out. I figured it was a fluke but took a shot and said, "Hey, Walker, you just bent a note. That means you can play the blues! Can you do it again?" Well, he could and he did and now he can bend a note at will. Very cool. I'll teach him overblows later and, with any luck, he'll hit the blues circuit big one day and be a multi-thousandaire!

See if you can guess this one. I couldn't.
Ellie came home Saturday after being out with mom and Walker.
Ellie: Dad, I have a secret for you.
Me: Oh, what is it, El?
Ellie: We had candy at the store.
Me: Wow, how did you get that?
Ellie: The lady gave it to us.
Me: Oh, you mean samples? Like you had a little piece?
Ellie: Wayl (or however you spell her little hillbilly-eye-rolling 'well'), we had the hook ones with the big bums.
Your job: Name that Candy.

Basketball is life. Mexico, apparently, is not.

This won't be exact because Carla didn't write anything down but, to the best of my memory of her memory, here goes . . .
Ellie, to Walker: What is "dead"?
Walker: Just . . . lay on the ground and you don't do anything.
Ellie: Do we die?
Walker: No. People in Ohio don't die. It's a nice place to live. You know where a good place to die is, though? Mexico. Because it's really hot in Mexico and people get all sweaty and they just die. Because they turn in to a big bag of sweat.

I took Walker to the library the other night for a surprise because he had been such a good boy that day (actually we had been planning on taking him regardless but it just worked out). A bunch of guys from the high school basketball team were there to read the kids books. After the books, the library lady opened the floor - to a bunch of shy three-and-four-year-olds - for questions to the team. When no one asked any, she started asking some of her own, which she had written down. It became very obvious that she was not well-versed in basketball-speak and the next 15 minutes were very painful. After that, she said that there were some basketball shirts to give away and the backs the shirts said "The 6th sense". She's apparently more of a movie fan than a basketball fan. Well, Walker ended up getting a shirt because he knew Anderson Varejao had wild hair on the Cavs. When we got home . . .
Walker: I thought I was going to have to give the lady money for my shirt.
Me: Huh?
Walker: 6 cents.

Also, while we were there, I read a kids' book about Lebron James when he was growing up to avoid being embarrassed for the library lady. It was one of those maybe 1st grade reading level books that has some words bolded and then definitions at the bottom... remember those? This one defined words like "Championship", "Media", etc. Well, one of the bolded words was "Brotha". At the bottom of the page - Bru-thu: A very close friend. Now I keep singing to myself like Mr. Rogers, "Won't you be, my brotha?"

Jeep calamaties

Well, that rattle under the hood was more than just a new noise. I started the jeep to go home last Wed. night and immediately snapped the serpentine belt. Turned out one of the idler pulleys was shot (like, the bearing was completely gone - all I found when I got it home was some shards of metal and 1 ball). Thanks to Brad and Krystal for letting me borrow the Tahoe for a few days and thanks especially to Bob for coming to get my jeep and tow it home. Pretty easy fix over all. And very cheap. $25 for a pulley and $20 for the belt. I'll keep resuscitating it as long as I still have friends/family with extra vehicles and big trucks for hauling it home.

Carla heard Walker whimpering in his sleep the other night.
Carla: Walker, what's wrong?
Walker: When can I wash my hands?
Carla: why do you need to wash your hands?
Walker: Because I touched a poisonous mushroom!
Carla: No, you're fine.
Walker: But I think I took a bite of it, too.
Carla: No, you didn't, buddy, you were just having a dream.
Walker: But Brad and Krystal were there . . .
Then back to sleep.

Ellie and Carla having a car-ride conversation:
Ellie: When do we go to the hospital where people make the babies?
Carla: Only when it's time for Mommy to have a baby or to go visit someone?
Ellie: How can you have a baby?
Carla: You mean like how did you get born?
Ellie: yeah
Carla: Well, I went to the hospital and the doctor helped get you out of my belly.
Ellie: How?
Carla: He just did.
Ellie: Well, who helped make Anderson?

Weather calamaties

Carla was worried that the Jeep and I were going to die on the way home last night because it's recently developed a new rattle under the hood and because it was so cold so she told the kids say an extra prayer for me to get home safe.
Walker, during his prayers: . . . And please bring Daddy home safe, And please bring Daddy home safe, And please bring Daddy home safe, And please bring Daddy home safe, And please bring Daddy home safe.
Carla: Why did you say that so many times? Jesus could hear you the first time you said it.
Walker: But Mom, you told me to say it "extra."

Last Friday when the high school basketball game got cancelled due to the 3/4" of snow on the ground, I had to break the bad news to Walker.
Walker, walking ('cause that's his thing. It's what he does) over to the TV: That's OK. What channel is the Cavs game on?
Me: Oh, sorry, buddy. The Cavs aren't on our TV tonight.
Walker: This is just the worst day ever!
I took him to my mom and dad's house to watch the game. It started at 8. He fell asleep at 8:25.

Oh, also, a while ago, just after the elections, in fact, we asked Ellie if she knew who the new president was going to be. Her answer: "Yeah. Baracko."
You know - Baracko Bama.

Be careful where you buy your corn meal

Carla goes through Little House on the Prairie kicks once in a while where she'll start reading all the books or, as is the current case, watching all the shows from season 1, which she has on DVD. So, we've all been watching it a lot lately, on acounta' we only got the one TV. In last night's episode, the little town near which the little house on the prairie resides is hit with a little plague of Typhus (yet another Oregon Trail disease we thankfully avoided).

Walker: How do you get Typnus? Can people still get Typnus? Did the rats have Typnus? Can I meet Dr. Baker? Can we go see the real little house on the prairie some day?
Carla gave that one a very enthusiastic Yes.

He also got really mad every time we had to fast-forward it because he didn't want to miss anything. I guess he's a big fan. After the plague episode it was time for the kids to go to bed so they could have plague nightmares. About a half hour later, after we thought everyone was asleep, Walker called down the steps: Hey! What are you guys watching down there? And it better not be Little House on the Prairie!

I took Walker and Ellie out to breakfast individually at Thompson's over break so I could get some 1-on-1 time with them and so I could eat ham and eggs and way too much coffee for breakfast twice in one week. Well, I took Walker first and he raved about the ham when he got home. When it was Ellie's turn to go, Carla asked her what she wanted.
Ellie: Ham and . . . Tacos.

She got pancakes. I ordered her 2 because I didn't know how big they'd be. They were bigger than a dinner plate. She ate half of one and some of my ham. And no tacos.