WII!

One day wii went to  family vidio  and I  picked Indiana J ones  the vidio  game and got soooper      god at it

Sunday is Interview Day

I am not that great a dad, but one thing I am proud of is that I do interviews with my kids every week. By that I mean that every Sunday afternoon, each of our kids has a sit down interview with dad in his office. If you're thinking it's a good idea, I got it from my Dad who had interviews with us too, but maybe not every week? I can't remember. Anyway, I can guess that as kids get older, they may be less excited about the idea. At their current ages, they love it and are excited about it.

Typically we start with a prayer in which I express my appreciation for them in our family. We talk about how well they did chores and based on that they get a percentage of their dollar-a-week allowance. We put their tithing in a separate envelope and then the rest goes into their piggy banks.

This year, we're memorizing articles of faith- one a month so I don't know if we'll do 13. :) If in their interview they're able to say the current one we're working on, they get a mini Hershey bar (those really tiny ones). And they then get to redo an old one they know for a second bar. They can only get two, even though Grant tries to convince me every week that I said they can get more (it's not true- don't believe him). They do astonishingly well- even Rachel.







We also talk about their goal for the week, but we're suffering from not being able to remember to work on it during the week. And although I've been forgetting lately, we're also supposed to schedule our one-on-one outing for the month where they get to choose something fun for us to go do together.

If I'm not in the mood to remind them of interviews, they remind me- they love it.

Fun Shows

We recently saw Journey to the Center of the Earth, Bolt, and Bedtime Stories which I recommend as lots of fun. Journey might be a little intense for little kids but was very clean. You do have to willingly ignore your own disbelief.

Bedtime Stories was different. Lots of fun for everyone. I will be the first to say that Adam Sandler has never starred in a movie I've enjoyed. But I really enjoyed this one. And, based on the trailers they've seen, the kids gave it a chance too. Even Rachel was pretty quiet the whole time. It's like a mix of a romance, a comedy, yet told in a way that kids can enjoy.

And Bolt was just awesome.

Playing Catch-up

I've been really bad about posting for at least a month- sorry! I've posted more photos to flickr. I had a fun trip to Utah in early March, although I didn't get to see old ward people like I wanted to. We had a visit from Grammy and Gramps and Joe, and then Laynie came to visit over spring break. Nina has a new short haircut thanks to Mom. And when it was time to take treats to Nina's pre-K class, she and Missy made the coolest homemade sushi ever- rice krispy treats wrapped in fruit rollups.





Our Easter was lots of fun. The Easter bunny dashed through while Missy and the kids were shopping- Dad didn't hear a thing, but all the carrots in the house had been eaten! We also made a pinata which was fun. Missy came through with cute little Sweetie birds made from Twinkies, orange slice candy sitting in a coconut-white chocolate nest (yum!).

soccer frIend foes by grant

one[1]day at a soccer game I was chosen the leader and ges Wat MY AT SCHOOL FRIEND WAS ON THE OTHER TEAM AND HE WAS THERE       LEADER AND hay that's all.anyway let's get back to the storey so I triked him into             talking to me and ges wat we won for the frist time  ever the score was 5 two 2                                                                                                                                                                  t          t                                                                                                                                                                  i          i                                                                                                                                                                  g         g                                                                                                                                                                 e         e                                                                                                                                                                  r          r                                                                                                                                              sarks[me]           s [Xack]  [it's preformed as ZACK]

Balance of Power Becomes More Unbalanced

It's a girl! 

Nina and Rachel were ecstatic that they were going to have an additional member to the girl team.  Dave had stoically told me before the ultrasound that he would love the new baby even if he was a girl.  I have a soft spot in my heart for girls and am quickly becoming delighted by having another one.  But there is no way else to say it, Grant is disappointed.  Very Disappointed.  Nina knew it was a girl before she left for her afternoon pre-K class, but Grant was still in the dark.  I tried to wait outside Nina's classroom after school to catch her before she spilled the beans in a very abrupt way to Grant.  I told her very clearly that she was NOT to tell Grant it was a girl or anything about the baby because Dad was going to talk with him man to man when we got home.  So what did she decide to say the very first second we saw Grant in the hall? "It's a booo"then I put my hand over her mouth, but it was too late.  Poor Grant.  Dave broke the news to him as soon as we got home.  I was listening outside the door.  It was silent for at least 45 minutes.  When they finally came out Grant was very somber and sad looking.  Sigh.  Good thing he has another 6 months to get accustomed to the idea.  

New Baby by Grant

Today Mom is going to find out what the baby will be.  We hope it will be a boy because then there will be 3 girls and 3 boys.  And I will have a wii-mate. And wii play the Wii.  I will teach him to walk and to talk.  Too bad only Mom can see what it is first.  So cross your fingers for a baby boy!

Just April Foolin'

Why is it that April Fools Jokes are always much funnier before you pull them?  In my imagination they always end up like that $10,000 winning America's Funniest Video video- the shock, the good humored laughing, the priceless memories.  My plans seem fool proof . . . the day before.  In reality they usually end up with noncompliance, suspicion, crying, grouching and sour faces. Come on, where is your sense of humor family? It's not like I am a mean prankster either.  I strictly avoid anything embarrassing, destructive or messy- I would be the one who would have to clean it up anyway.   So this year I made the best April Fool's day dinner ever- meatloaf cupcakes with pastel colored mashed potato "frosting".  They looked scrumptious.  But when dinner came, not even Dave would even taste them.  And with his example the kids, who usually inhale anything remotely resembling sugar, would not get close to them.  There goes my Kodak moment! (Yes, I also made a "dirt" cake that was actually real dirt instead of crushed oreos, but I didn't serve that on anyone's plate and ask them to eat it. Come on, I wouldn't really expect anyone to eat anything disgusting!)  To be honest though, it takes a bit of coaxing to get my kids to eat normal looking meatloaf and potatoes, and I knew that.   But I secretly hoped that this joke might be just so amazing, so funny that they would just be tickled all over gobble them down (keep dreaming!)  Instead I got the usual: crying and whining about how many bites they have to take.   I guess next year I'll have to stick with Dave's advice, sweets that look gross instead of "gross" that looks sweet.

Of course that was not the only joke that occurred at our house on this first day of April.  Grant got plastic play food in his lunch bag instead of the real stuff, Dave was handed a permission slip to sign for a first grade field trip to outer space tomorrow, Nina brought "sushi" to her class for snack time, the car mysteriously broke down on the way to the ice cream shop, Rachel filled her pants full of stinky brown stuff and pretended it wasn't there, no wait, she does that trick everyday.  Anyway, I'll leave it up to the rest of my family to rebut my comments or brag about their own tricks.  And now I have a year to analyze my failures and successes and plan for next April first.  I'll think of something really good next year.  Come on, how hard can it be to trick a 6 year old, 4 year old, 2 year old and a 33 year old?