Puke and Polkanuts

What is it about throwing up that makes me want to update the blog?  It hit Friday night.  I was meeting Carla at the softball game she was subbing in but she had to pull over for Ellie on their way.  Ellie did her thing on the side of the road and I switched vehicles with Carla to take them home.  We had planned on staying to make fun of her a little before took them all home but Ellie changed those plans.  So we got about halfway home and I had to pull over for Walker.  Same deal.  When we got home they both felt a little better but that was short-lived.  They each called Ralph at least 8 more times that night, so much that blood vessels broke in Ellie's face.  Walker was in his bed, woke up, called me frantically, and told me more was coming.  I told him to take the the bucket with him to the bathroom in case he didn't make it.  Well, he grabbed the bucket, ran into the bathroom, set the bucket beside the toilet, and puked in the bucket.  After that Walker and Ellie were like clockwork, every 20 minutes.  They each would run to a bathroom and I just directed traffic, like "NO NO, you're brother's in that one!  Go to the other one!  Hurry!"  Caroline woke up sometime around 10:00 and told me her belly hurt.  I knew what was coming so I took her downstairs and put another bucket beside her.  She tried to use it but was unproductive, "Dad, my frow up won't work."  Well, eventually it worked, but only once, and she hit the bucket like a pro.  Carla had finally gotten home from her softball double-header that had been delayed by a storm for an hour (!) by then, so she took over and I went to bed.  She said things finally settled down by about 2 am.  Saturday, everyone was perfectly fine all day and we thought maybe Anderson and the parents had gotten lucky.  Well, Carla felt lousy for an hour but she was probably more tired than anything else.  After church today we took the little 2 out to lunch and shopping while the big 2 were at gma and gpa's.  After being perfectly fine at church and lunch, Anderson finally started feeling sick at the store.  I took him out to the van and he laid in there until Carla and Caroline came out.  We were on the road for about 90 seconds when I had to pull over for Anderson.  Fortunately, it looks like he had the one-and-done flu like Gracie instead of the twelve times in six hours flu like the other 2.

OK, enough of that, here's some things they've been saying lately.

Caroline, running through the kitchen, stops and laughs:  Haha, I was run-tooting.

Anderson, arguing with me when I told him we were turning Amish so he couldn't watch TV or play WII:  No!  We love God and Jesus!  We're not Amish!

Ellie, just being her inquisitive self:  Mom, why aren't spaghetti noodle tank tops OK to wear to school?

Caroline, showing me something that had dots on it, I forget what:  See, dad?  The one with the Polkanuts on it.

Caroline recently informed us that she doesn't like "Ice Kwispies".

Also we went on two vacations.  Also Steph had three babies.

Quick weekend update

Friday
I picked up a pig (well, pieces of a pig) from the butcher.
We had Kyle and Keely and the girls over for cheeseburgers.
Kyle and Dad and I went to the church to get it ready for the musical.
Kyle and Keely left and then Keely came back and worked on getting ready for Walker's party (see below) with Carla 'till God-knows-when-o'clock.

Saturday
Walker and I had baseball at 8.
Ellie had choir practice from 10 to 1.
Anderson had ice skating at 1ish and Ellie had to miss.  Thankfully, Lisa was able to take him.
I had a leftover cheeseburger for lunch.
Walker had a birthday party at the bowling alley at 2:30.  He had a giant cheeseburger cake that you probably saw pictures of on Carla's Facebook.  Unfortunately, it tasted nothing like cheeseburgers.  Also, there were 12 very loud 8-year-old boys there in a very small room.  They had fun and I had a headache.
Then we went and got cheeseburgers for supper.
Caroline, well, I kind of lost track of her.  I think she was at Grandma's.

Sunday
Getting ready for church, Anderson had socks that were the same color but didn't match otherwise.
Me:  Are you sure those are the socks you want to wear?
Anderson:  Heck yeah!  I don't care if they're mitch-matched on the bottom.

Ellie had her musical and did an excellent job on her solo. 
We went to lunch on the way to a going away party for a coworker of mine.  He's going away.
Then we went to the Grandma and Papa's for supper and fun.

More from Caroline

Caroline:  I frowed up on my shirt!
Carla:  What!?
Caroline:  I frowed up on my shirt!
Carla:  When?
Caroline:  Absolutely.
Carla:  No... when?
Caroline:  Sixty-five.

That one's a mystery.  She hadn't even really frowed up on her shirt.

Ouch, man

Caroline, indignant at Carla for peeling her banana:  Don't take the wrapper off my banana!

Ellie to Carla, while Walker and Anderson were acting like boys:  Do you think my kids are gonna act like that?
Carla:  Probably
Ellie:  I don't want them to.
Carla:  Yeah, well, I don't want Walker and Anderson to act like that, but they still do.
Ellie:  Do you think I'll do a better job raising them?

Our day in brief, but not in briefs

So far today:
Carla ran at 6:30, got home at 8, and started getting ready for Steph's baby shower.  She's having triplets by the way.  No big deal.
I worked out from 9-11.
I took Ellie to choir at 12.
Carla took Walker to a friend's house at 12:30 so they could take him to soccer @ 2, then went to the baby shower.
I picked up Ellie from choir at 12:40 (80 minutes early) to take her and Anderson to ice skating.
I dropped Ellie off at the baby shower at 2:10 and drove to Walker's soccer game with Anderson.  We of course made our customary post-ice skating stop at DD for coffee and a doughnut for Ander.  He fell asleep in the car for 5 minutes but woke up enough to run around with the other kids at soccer.
After soccer, I took the boys to Cici's for the worst pizza I've ever had.  The kids love it, though, so I was stuck.  We owed it to Anderson and we were right there so I figured I'd get it over with.

So to summarize, Anderson has been to church, ice skating, Dunkin Donuts, soccer, and Cicis.  He wore two pairs of socks and no underwear.

Ellie the mechanic and Tom the Leprechaun

Anderson came in the house yesterday yelling, "Something bad is happening out here!"  I ran out because I thought someone was hurt.  It turns out that he was just telling on himself.  Ellie followed him in holding one of my wrenches and said, "Anderson was using your screwdriver on Caroline's bike and he was screwing one of the nozzles on her training wheels and now her training wheel is all loose!"

Carla, to Caroline:  Tell dad what we did.
Caroline:  Dad, what we did!

Carla, to Caroline:  Ask dad how his day at church was.
Caroline:  Dad, how was church at day was?

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, our house gets invaded by a mischievous leprechaun named Tricky Tom.  Every year we try to catch him but he always seems to evade our traps.  We've trapped his pants a couple of times but he apparently doesn't mind leaving them behind as long as he still has his gold.  Well, last night we were devising our trap and we had this little conversation.
Me:  So, what are we going to do with the leprechaun if we actually catch him?
Ellie:  I . . . don't know.
Anderson:  Cut him in half and eat the ham?
All:  . . .
Me, to Anderson:  You don't actually know what a leprechaun is, do you?
Anderson:  Nope.

So later I set up what I thought would be a good trap.  I leaned the vacuum hose against the sweeper so it was right against the switch.  I showed the kids that if we put the bait (our gold) in the right spot, Tom would step on the switch and get sucked into the hose.  I demonstrated with a plush toy that he'd only go a little way into the hose, not get sucked into the canister.  Everyone thought that was a great idea except for Anderson, who started crying really hard because he thought that might hurt him.  I guess cutting him in half would have been OK, though.  In either case, we had to move on to plan B.  Plan B was a simple snare made of fishing line thrown over our dining room light.  We put gold in the middle of the slip knot and tied the other end to the sweeper, which was tipped slightly.  As successfully demonstrated with the same plush doll, when Tom grabbed for the gold, the sweeper would fall over and the knot would tighten around his ankles and pull him into the air, trapping him for us to interrogate in the morning.  (The kids absolutely cracked up when they saw their stuffed Alvin swinging upside down in the air).  Well, once again we came up empty handed, but we are up one pair of leprechaun pants.  He also left some little treats for the kids and once again turned our milk green.

When I was tucking the kids in we were still talking about what to do with Tom if we caught him.
Ellie:  If we catch him, which one of us gets to hold him?
Me:  Umm, I think he'll run away as soon as we cut him down and try to hold him.
Anderson, very deep in thought:  Maybe we should talk to him before we cut him down.  Leprechauns are magic, though.  I . . . don't think they talk very much.

Walker still says funny stuff now and then

Carla, to me, in Walker's presence:  Walker helped me make those hamburgers.  'Cause he knows that a kitchen isn't just for women, right Walker?
Walker shrugs.
Carla, trying to get Walker to remember something they must have rehearsed:  Riiiight, Walker?  And what are you going to do someday when you're married?
Walker:  Watch TV, I guess.
Carla:  In the kitchen.
Walker:  Yeah, we'll have a TV in the kitchen.

Walker:  Oh, look at that flag!  I love the Italy flag.  The Italy flag is definitely my favorite.