the lyon family adventure

Hey World- Our Blog Moved

2011-01-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

If you missed it, last year we moved our blog to http://ok.lyonmania.com - follow us there!

Change of Web Address

2010-05-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

We've moved our blog over to be on http://ok.lyonmania.com.

We hope you'll continue following us over there, when you have time.

Mother's Day

2010-05-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

As her mother's day wish, Missy wanted us to do some work getting our yard, particularly the front flower beds, in ship-shape. It was wonderful. Everyone pitched in to some extent. One thing all the kids helped with was to dig the deep holes for the two rose bushes in front of the garage windows. Here are some pictures since I realize you probably want to see them. We added the roses and the yellow flower in the middle to the area by the garage and Missy planted a ton of small plants in the center, island spot, along with a couple larger purple flowers.

It really was a great time and I think we all enjoyed it. At one point, I had finished the holes for the rose bushes and came over to the island to see what Missy needed me to do next. I was a little snippy that she had just shoveled dirt out onto the cement around the island instead of taking care of it as she dug (like I had). A little later, after I had apologized and we were back to working contentedly,

Missy: I notice you've been taking all that dirt to the back yard. I'm curious- where are you putting it?

Dave: Well, I put one load over on the south end by the bush the rest all in the flat empty space at the other end of the yard.

Missy: Oh.... You mean the spot I pulled all the weeds out of, planted seeds in, and have been watering for weeks?

Awkward pause...

Dave: That's the place.

Missy: So I guess we've both been a little disappointed. Are we even?

Dave: No, I think you've got me beat.

:)

As we started I realized we didn't have a wheelbarrow to cart away all the red Oklahoma dirt-clay we'd be pulling out. We didn't even have an empty bucket. So the best I could do was the container we had all the little yard things in.

Unfortunately, it was big enough that if I filled it up I could barely move it. Tricky. As I scanned the back yard looking for a place to dump the soil, my eyes fell upon this remarkable product of American industry. OK, probably not made in the US, but thought up here?

You may be shaking your head, but it could hardly have worked better. I just sat the container on top of the cart and balanced things as I pushed it along. I was surprised but it held up without a hitch. Kind of puts into perspective how much punishment toddler toys are intended to take.

As I shuttled dirt back and forth I thought about how sometimes we don't feel up to what we have to do, especially in callings. It's as if the Lord were looking for a wheelbarrow and his eyes falls on us, the little shopping cart. We protest- "I'm not up to this!" But he smiles and says "You'll do just fine." We may not think we can pull the load required. But we can. He knows it before he places the load there.

When we were kids, our parents had us memorize some poems including this one (which was my favorite because it involved swords):

This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle's edge,
And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel
That blue blade that the king's son bears, but this
Blunt thing!" he snapped and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.

- Edward Rowland Sill

It's sad that we often think of ourselves as the useless, blunt instrument, ill-equipped to accomplish anything. But the King's Son knows better.

Sorry if I got too philosophical. Manual labor leaves my mind free to contemplate things like that.

Here's a thought: Endowment and Dowry

2010-05-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today I looked up definitions and roots of the word endowment. It can be either the gift or the process by which the gift is given. A couple things that stood out were some synonyms of one definition which stemmed from the idea of it being a talent or personal ability: capacity and qualification. As in who the Lord calls.

I hadn't even connected the words dowry and endowment which share the common latin root which means the wife's portion. Particularly striking when you think of all the times in scripture the Lord compares himself to a bridegroom and Israel/the Church as the bride. Just something to think about.

I Would Vote for Him

2010-05-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

Because I love his website. I know. It's a horrible criteria to use, but his site looks really nice and I love his opening jab at his opponent. Of course I neither live in Salt Lake County nor do I know what he stands for, but as the clerk for the county I would (I think rightly) be most concerned with what he says on the main page- he gets the information together and to who needs it as quickly as possible.

Take a look.

I also agree on the term limits angle. I think people that spend that long in public office (20 years) completely lose touch with the people. I'm to the point that I think I would just vote against any incumbent. Think of the money and time that would be saved if you could only serve for one term in any position. For those that say that the representatives would never have the right contacts to get their constituents anything, I say that you don't understand the way our government is supposed to work.

Father-Daughter Field Trip to Sam Noble Museum

2010-05-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

Nina and I had an awesome time last Thursday. I signed up to be a chaperone for her class, dreading that that would mean several kids to chase after. It turned out it meant I got to go with just Nina!

The museum was interesting, and our picnic lunch was great. The bus ride to and from wasn't even that bad!

Camping! Can you believe it?

2010-04-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Yes! We actually went camping for real last weekend! It was a very easy beginner camping trip to Arcadia Lake only 20 minutes from our house, but it was a big milestone for us. In the past 5 years our tent has never made it out of the living room. The kids were so excited and their enthusiasm was the thing that made the trip great. Dave and I both have memories of camping as a kid- and the experience is much different from the parent side. It is a lot more work. We arrived at our campsite late and even with rushing to get everything set up and ready we were still eating our hot dogs and roasting our marshmallows in the dark. Who knows how many bugs were sticking to our smores as we shoveled them in our mouths?

One thing was the same though, everything sounds creepier at night. As soon as everyone was all snuggled in and the kids were beginning to drift off to sleep. . . Dave and I heard footsteps outside our tent. And then a big CRUNCH. I guess when we cleaned up after our dinner in the dark we missed something- most likely a peanut or chip- and we had some visitors clean up the rest for us. It sure scared me for a while and Dave couldn’t even lay back down for a long time. When we got up in the morning Dave was telling the kids about the animal that we heard eating our leftovers at night and all the kids were guessing what kind of animal it might have been. “Raccoon, squirrel” suggested Grant. “”Skunk, beaver” suggested Nina. “Or a Hippo!” suggested Rachel. Yup, gotta watch out for those wild chip-eating Oklahoman hippos!

Our second wildlife experience occurred when Grant saw a baby lizard on the ground. Everybody gathered around it to see- it actually took a while before any of us realized that it was a plastic toy.

All in all, it was a pretty good experience. Nothing bad happened. Most things went smoothly, what more can you ask for in a camping trip?

Bird Mobile

2010-04-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

Nina and Rachel and I made this cute bird mobile around Easter time. We have really enjoyed our little flock, but I can only handle decorations hanging around for about a month and now it is time for it to go. We wanted to immortalize it on our blog so saying goodbye would be easier, and so we would show off how cute and crafty we are.

Who Do You Think You Are?

2010-04-22T06:52:00.001-07:00

I don't watch much TV. I don't think there's much I'm missing, and I'm busy enough as it is. But one show I do watch and have really enjoyed is "Who Do You Think You Are?" about celebrities looking into their family history. Particularly eye-opening/though-provoking were the episodes featuring Emmett Smith (Slavery) and Lisa Kudrow (Holocaust). A couple of the celebrities come across almost stereotypically- Missy and I would roll our eyes sometimes. But on the whole, it was interesting how normal they are. We particularly liked how Lisa Kudrow was really nervous about calling someone.

The last two episodes of the season are this Friday and next Friday, so take a look.

If you've missed the others, you can watch them free on Hulu.

April Fools Day 2010

2010-04-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

A few April Fools events worthy of mention:

1)The "elementary school" called Grant in the morning and asked if he could be the substitute teacher for his class that day. It says a lot about Grant's opinion of himself that he agreed with no questions asked. I broke the news to him that it was a joke after he had already written out a schedule of what he was going to teach all day (I think he added a few extra recesses). He was a bit relieved, but also disappointed because I had told him that substitute teachers usually got paid. Funny thing- his teacher actually WAS absent!

2) Nina tricked Dave into believing that his new Droid cell phone had been delivered, when all it really was was a box with R2-D2 and C3-PO in it.

3) Grant got a lunch box full of baby food- including baby formula in his water bottle.

4) We had a crazy mixed up dinner- some of the menu included fried humming bird eggs, fried ostrich eggs, jello-ed drinks and cookies that looked a whole lot like fish sticks.

Easter

2010-04-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

My girls and I had a visit with the Easter Bunny at the mall. Funny thing- the Easter Bunny is deaf! We were chatting with him for a while and the girls started signing to him and he signed back. It turns out that he knows sign language pretty well. He actually must be pretty good at lipreading because he understood us perfectly, but would reply in sign. So I guess it just means maybe he just can't speak. Well, after all, he is a bunny. . . who also lives in a giant teapot. Some parts of how we celebrate Easter just don't make much sense.
Here are my sweet Easter Chicks. They were not happy to have to pose for pictures when they wanted to start inhaling their Easter candy.

Sure, she may look all sweet and innocent, but our Meg is also known as the Destroyer of Pansies. Aren't Pansies edible flowers? I hope so. But the Destroyer of Pansies does not care if something is edible or not before she tries to eat it. Her other favorite things to nibble are bits of carpet, various strings and hairballs. Yum.

Are You Mad?

2010-04-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

I saw this somewhere online some time ago (I didn't read it but just clipped the image to write about it later- it's from Newsweek). Just the headlines say a lot about our society. Call me crazy.

Fill Out Your Census Form and Send It!

2010-04-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

For those of you that have not received or followed through with your 2010 Census Form, I am begging you to take care of that today. A report last night said only about 50% of households have sent them back. If you send it, it costs taxpayers 42 cents. If you don't they must be law knock on your door, so then you're costing taxpayers about $60.

Saving tax money aside, recently I've been spending a lot of time doing genealogy and leaning heavily on the federal census. It is an amazing resource. I hope your descendants won't need a census record to know who you are, but you never know...

Catch-up

2010-03-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera from the last few months, so here are a few random pics and brief explanations. I am having difficulty aligning the picture to it's caption, so you will just have to match them up yourself.

Nina and I made these mini-cupcakes for her Kindergarten class when I came to teach the Meet the Masters Art lesson on Goya. The kids drew self portraits of themselves and then got to have a Goya or Boya cupcake.

We celebrated Dave Day on Feb 28 this year. Rachel and Dave have the same birthday in June, and Dave does not like sharing, so he gets his own special day on a different day of the year. Mysterious finger prints kept appearing in this years Dave Day cake. (Rachel was the guilty one!)

My two little princesses and I went out on a Girls Movie Night to see the Princess and the Frog together. The movie was OK- but none of us were very impressed by it. Too much frog, not enough princess.

The grand finale of our Valentines Day celebration was a modified chocolate fondue dessert. Rachel got a dessert and a facial treatment all in one.

The medieval fair - part 2

2010-03-30T19:23:00.001-07:00

As Grant already wrote, we went to the Medieval Fair last weekend and except for the bitter cold, rain and whipping wind, we had a great time. When we left our house the weather was pretty nice- as an afterthought we grabbed sweaters for everyone just in case. When we arrived at the fair an hour later it was raining and a cold front had moved in. Forget sweaters, we should have brought our winter coats!

How could we miss an opportunity to dress up? The kids put together their costumes the day before. Dave indulged the kids and allowed them to do this, but absolutely forbid me from even suggesting that we dress up. Dave has a very high personal geek tolerance- but even he has his limits. After going to the fair and seeing the general type of adult who does this, I think I agree with him.
Does this dress look familiar to anyone? Nina is wearing our traditional Bachelorette Makeover party dress. With a few alterations it makes a great Medieval Girl dress. Smile Fair Lady, you look great!
Rachel was our Jester. She played her part well.
Grant would have really loved to dress as a wizard type Merlin guy, but we already had the knight costume.
It was so cold that I thought Meg would be warmer if I held her close to me in the front carrier rather than in her stroller. I then wrapped her blankie around her and tried to button my sweater around that. So that is what it would look like if I was 16 months pregnant. And the tree lady is pretty cool too.
With the stroller empty the girls took turns huddling in it for warmth. Rachel makes a really cute Jack-in-the-stroller.

The medieval fair

2010-03-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to well.... just read the title ! Nina and Rachel got a book and I got a wand with a real quartz on it! We saw some real sword fighting! But sadly , IT WAS FREEEEEEEZING AND SUPER WINDY! We ate funnel cake! Have more questions ? COMMENT!

FREE CONTRY!!!!!!!!

2010-03-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

I decided to blog about a kids freedom. Well first of gdvchn cbjh HEY RACHEL STOPCCCCC RRRRRRRRRRRR DON'T MESS UP HEY TURN1` ` qsd off the yooowwww nowwwwww stopbbbbbbbbb hey I'm trzn AAAAAAAARRRRRRR! I'llHaaaaave to calloooooo you back later!!111111!111!!11dfgjyvhybcbbhgf P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.PP.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. look for Free country,phew Rachel ls asleep

My Tofu Quest

2010-03-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

I have a difficult time cooking meals for my family. Firstly, there are not many non-dessert foods I know of that my kids actually like (Grant is convinced that he is a dessertatarian). Secondly, if I do find a meal they like and make it for them, they stop liking it. Thirdly, I admit I am not a particularly skillful, creative, or even careful chef. (It's hard to spend much effort on something that is destined for the trash can anyway.)

Our wonderful family sit-down dinners that we have almost every night often involve screams of "I hate this", "yuck", "do I have to eat it?" and "how many bites" which is followed by "go to time out" and "you'll sit there until you eat it all." Add a little crying, a lot of whining, and even some vegetables flying and I am sure you get the idea. (And they say family dinners lead to better nutrition and family bonding?) But through it all Dave is my ROCK. No matter what I serve, no matter how badly I cook it, he is my champion. He eats it all, being the good example to the kids and telling me how great the meal was. He has a firm rule that no one says yuck or is disrespectful to his wife at dinner time. He has eaten tons of blue cabbage, pea soup, broccoli soup, spaghetti squash and zucchini- all foods that are not his favorites, all with a smile.

All until the day I put tofu in the stir-fry.

Apparently that was the line, and I crossed it. The kids wouldn't touch it. Dave only ate a few bites and even cracked tofu jokes the whole time. It was kinda like this (that's a tofu turkey they are eating in the clip). For some reason he has a very strongly held (and unreasonable!) prejudice against tofu. And that is when I resolved that I would not rest until I could make a tofu dish that every one, especially Dave would love!!! And I would keep trying and trying until they did! Wahahaha!

So far in my quest I have made two things that have proved acceptable. The first is a chocolate pudding- it calls for blending 1 cup of melted chocolate chips (how can you go wrong with that?) with a package of silken tofu adding a little milk and almond extract and viola! My family is eating tofu!! And loving it! The other is Tofu Parmigiana. It had a 60% approval rating. Dave really liked it and everyone ate it. Only Nina needed coercion. Anyway, so that's my new quest. Anyone have any great tofu recipes?

English 101 by Rachel

2010-03-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

Rachel is the type of gal who doesn't like to be told anything, but likes to figure things out herself, and then teach others. Lately she has been explaining to me her take on some common English words. Here is a sample of a few "Rach-a-nitions" that were too funny to forget.

Safety pins- "Mom, I know why we use safety pins. It's so that we won't be scared. Safety pins protect us from monsters."

Pineapple-"Mom, do you know how to make a pineapple? You get a pie and put an apple in it and mix it up and put it in the oven and then you have a pineapple."

Butler- "Mom, I know what a butler is. A butler is a ler who brings you butts."

D.A.V.I.D. G.R.A.N.T. L.Y.O.N. pt3

2010-02-28T06:22:00.000-08:00

L.ion

Y.????????????????

O.utstanding

N.ot non-mischef-like

Thats all!

Dave Day

2010-02-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

A few days ago mom said that because dad's birthday was the same as Rachel's dad would draw a date to celebrate as ''Dave Day'' [today].

Will you be mine?

2010-02-21T18:02:00.000-08:00

I let Grant and Nina chose a design (from familyfun.com) and make all their valentines for their classes this year. They were very cute, but certainly more expensive and time consuming than the normal class valentines that you can buy at the grocery store. Will we do this next year? Maybe not.
Get it? "BEE"Mine?
A robot invasion on our kitchen table!
The robots were pretty fun to make because we assembled them factory style. I cut them out and attached the arms, Grant wrote on the back, Nina added the feet, and Rachel put on the eyes. Of course all the factory employees demanded breaks every few minutes to eat the spare parts.

A Cute Meg

2010-02-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

Isn't she lovely?

Dino-Diorama

2010-02-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

The second graders have been studying Dinosaurs for the last few weeks and Grant got the assignment to create a dinosaur diorama. The assignment specifically stated that the project was supposed to be child generated. . . but that turned out to be much more difficult for me than I expected. How much help is too much? How much is too little? Do I provide all the materials and then say get to it? Do I sit next to him and do it with him? Do I make

my own diorama and then tell him to make one exactly like mine? The main problem was that this assignment seemed like a lot of fun to me, but Grant had zero interest in it. Grant is a creative little tyke, but not very detail oriented- he uses more of the slip-slap-slop method to his art projects- and that is when he is interested in them. My fingers were just ITCHING to make my own adjustments to his project. I couldn't help but suggesting things like don't you think it would be great to add some shells? how about painting clouds in the sky? or wouldn't it be neat to have bubbles coming out of his mouth. . . . etc. etc. It was driving me crazy and I finally had to pass on the diorama parent facilitator job to Dave. In the end I think they did a great job- even without my help.

This is Grant's Plesiosaur- who he named Pleo. He wrote in his report "I think plesiosaurs are cool because The Loch Ness Monster could be a plesiosaur. What do you think?"

Grant is a Born Tycoon

2010-02-09T18:48:00.001-08:00

I just finished a round of monopoly with Grant (does anyone ever finish a game of monopoly?) and we bagged up our stuff to continue a different day. Grant is a creative player. In the forty minutes we played

he tried to sell me a ride to any square between his railroads for $5
he tried to build a hotel on the free parking to make it 'Cost Parking'
he tried to pay the bank in advance for a property he wanted
and failing that, he tried to give me the money so that if I landed on it I would be contractually obligated to hand it over

I'm worried that this means he'll grow up to work for a health insurance firm. Hopefully he's just creative.

D.A.V.I.D. G.R.A.NT. L.Y.O.N. pt2

2010-02-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

G.reat

R.unning amazing

A.mazing

N.ever non-michif making

T.oo perfect

D.A.V.I.D. G.R.A.NT. L.Y.O.N. pt1

2010-01-31T09:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a poem about........

D.uke

A.some!

V.aliant

I.nstinct perfect

D.estructive !

The Things I have Gone Through by Nina

2010-01-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

this thing is the first thing i remember since i was born i didn't know how to crawl and i didn't know how to roll. a few months later i knew how to crawl walk and roll. Thats all I remember. I have suffered through an older brother. But he is sometimes a little...whatever. Sometimes he sticks things on my body- that was hard to go through. I hurt my knee once. Sometimes my shoes fall apart- that's hard for me to get through. It is hard for me to eat my dinner when I am told to eat vegetables I do not like, like beets.

Mother Goose is Loose Day

2010-01-24T19:41:00.000-08:00

Kindergarten had their Mother Goose is Loose day last week, where the kids came dressed as a nursery rhyme character and prepared to recite their rhyme. Nina was very excited to be the Queen of Hearts. We even made some "tarts" out of salt clay that we baked, painted and then she carried them around on a tray as her prop. Rachel of course likes to do everything that Nina gets to do, so we had a homeschool version of Mother Goose Day and she became Little Bo Peep. Meg was a natural for Little Miss Muffet. And there was one rhyme that just suited me perfectly. . .

M.E.G.A.N.

2010-01-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

I decided to write a poem about megan.

M.egan is the best.

E.verybody in my family loves her.

G.reat things happen to her.

A.lways will we love her.

N.ever will we hate her.

Megan :smart!

2010-01-10T06:59:00.000-08:00

I think Megen is the smartest baby who ever lived . she is smart because she,she, Oh, it's almost impassible to explain.....

Christmas Outfits

2010-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

In the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Church this morning we took some pics of the kids in the Christmas outfits Grandma sent. Since Church was cancelled because of snow conditions last Sunday this was their first chance to wear them.

Unfortunately I (Dave) was sick today (have been since Sat morning) so I didn't join them at Church. I home to convalesce and Meg kept me company.

T-Rex Cafe

2010-01-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

We again visited the T-Rex Cafe and it was lots of fun, perhaps not 9.99 hamburger fun but fun nonetheless. I think the kids did love the ambience although the Mayan in Sandy, UT is still my favorite for that.

Luckily the triceratops looking over our shoulder is an herbivore (I think).

The Mountain

2010-01-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

We went out one of the days we were visiting Grammy and Gramps in Kansas and found this rather large hill to slide down on. As snow sleds with kids go this was a pretty major hill. Both Missy and I realized after about a foot of climbing that our shoes were not intended for this- thank yous to those helpful bystanders that also pointed that out for us. We barely made it up- just well packed, slick slopes. Luckily my brother Joe was going up and down with the kids while we tried to get up. And then Missy and I went down in a sled together and it was awesome! Stark terror pressed into a small bit of time can be like that.

If there's one thing I learned it's that winter sports wouldn't be so popular without ski lifts.

Good Advice

2009-12-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

Gotta be careful when you throw away the Christmas wrappings that you don't toss out important instructions, gift cards, small toys, or babies.

10 things about our Christmas this year

2009-12-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

1- My favorite family christmas activity this year was visiting the Midwest City Holiday Lights Spectacular. It was a drive through display set up in a city park decorated with millions of lights. Due to traffic, you had to drive through it at a crawl, but amazingly after 45 minutes my kids were still not bored of it. I loved the flashing lights that were set to music on their special radio channel, the Santa riding on the Loch Ness monster, and the forest of lighted deer, but my very favorite and most amazing part was that my kids all got along!!! They were happy! Singing together! Being nice! Wow! Definitely one of those times you wish you could bottle up to keep forever!

2- For Christmas this year we got a blizzard. In the spirit of giving, we decided to share our snow with the rest of the city. The snow started coming down on the morning of Christmas Eve and continued all day. The wind was whipping around like crazy out there and even managed to find a crack in our skylight and start snowing into our living room. Luckily most of our errands were done, because if we had saved things to do at the last moment, it would have been too late. We just hunkered down and enjoyed the snow. I read that in the last 106 years, there have only been 6 white Christmases in Oklahoma City. Inconvenient, yes. But what perfect timing.

3- As usual, we stuffed ourselves with home made lovin' fresh from the oven. Gingerbread houses, the Lyon family traditional cake that looks like I log that I always feel like an idiot saying the name for some reason, and cookies, cookies, cookies (we volunteered to make the treats for both Nina and Grant's school parties). As usual, I made a bunch of treats to give to neighbors and friends, Chocolate chip pumpkin bread, and most of them were eaten by us or just did not get delivered.

4- We had a great Christmas morning together. The kids actually managed to stay asleep until at least 7:30 am this year- a record I think. There was lots of oooing and ahhhing and even dances of joy. Everyone was happy with what they got and excited about what they gave. Minimal fighting and impatience. What more can you ask for?

5- On Christmas Eve I was reaching out of bed to get Meg for a 5 am feeding and OUCH! My back! I felt like a senior citizen hobbling around all day- when I could move enough to hobble. Dave was so kind and took care of everything, and two days later I feel almost back to normal again, but much older somehow.

6- Due to the snow our Christmas plans were thrown all up in the air. We had been looking forward to driving to Kansas to visit Grammy and Gramps and all the rest of the Lyons the day after Christmas. The terrible road conditions cancelled that (or hopefully just postponed it?). I read that there are only 14 snow plows in all of Oklahoma City!

7- Speaking of things being thrown up, the kids have all gotten sick. We got some unique symptoms this year. Along with vomiting, coughs and sniffles, we also have red, blood shot goopy crusty eyes, and mysterious mouth sores and ear aches. Rachel even threw up all over Nina's new Leapster game thing that she got for Christmas-ugg. I am hoping that we have seen the worst of it and are all on our way back to health soon.

8- We visited the Christkindel Markt in Tulsa again this year at the beginning of the month. Honestly, we had fun last year, but, in my opinion, not enough fun to do it again. In the name of Tradition, Dave insisted we go this year.

9- Ladies Dancing (can't think of anything else- it's getting late)

10-Rachel asked today when we could have Christmas again. I guess it was a hit.

SNOW!

2009-12-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

This Christmas eve I had so much snow! It was waist deep! I.... I... I .....Oh forget it !

what I want for christmas by Nina

2009-12-20T14:20:00.001-08:00

a bike and a helmut, a computer, princess things, a pretty dress, pretty shoes, two balloons (one a boy and one a girl), a special cup with a christmas tree on it, a wallet, some doll house sized christmas decorations, that's all.

The incredible liking of Harry Potter

2009-12-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

You might of not Known but I have become obsessed with harry potter books. I have already read books 1-5.Post for questions.

A Visit From St. Nick

2009-12-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

Guess who stopped by our house to visit? Apparently he hadn't received our letters in the mail this year and decided he had better drop by and ask us what we wanted for Christmas before it got too late in the month. What personal service! IT WAS quite a surprise! Santa in OUR HOME! It was Meg's first introduction to the big man and we got to TEACH hER about the way things work. Even Rachel who describes herself as "shy of Santa" felt perfectly at ease with him in our home and felt no hesitation to hop onto his knee and whisper in his ear. Lucky for the kids, he was in a bit of a hurry and did not have time to check if their rooms were clean, but said he would be sending the elves to follow up on that while they were sleeping. THe Only thing we were left asking was why He used the frOnt door instead of coming down the chimney?

Nina gets a library card!

2009-12-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

Nina got her very own library card this week! Our family tradition is that each child has to wait until they are old enough to read before they can get their own card. Lately Nina's reading has been improving by leaps and bounds. Some of the first books she checked out with her own card were Elephant Has a Bird on His Head, Green Eggs and Ham, and Go Dogs Go. I think she is even surprising herself at what she can read on her own when we find books that are at her level. As she is reading she will just stop and yell " I love reading!" or " I can read, I can read!" Today at the library I saw Nina with at least 25 Dr. Suess books in her basket, she did have to put most of them back, but her enthusiasm is great! Go, Nina, Go!

Laundry Time

2009-12-14T11:06:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you have got a busy morning, 10 loads of laundry waiting, and a baby that needs some attention?

Monday is my laundry day. After especially dirty weeks the washer and dryer will be humming from 7 am to 6 pm. I am VERY grateful for my washer and dryer. If I had to wash our clothes by hand my children would just be wearing dirty pillow cases most of the time. However, washing and drying is just part of the job. The clothes never seem to sort themselves and jump into the drawers on their own. (You are right- I forgot to mention fold and iron- I stopped caring about folding and ironing right after Grant was born) When Grant becomes that inventor that he wants to be when he grows up I'll commission him to invent a sort-and-folderator. In the mean time, hopefully my own kids will be able to help me with the job soon.

As you can see, I'm starting training Meg while she is still young. I think I waited too long with the older kids, I must have missed their impressionable laundry development months. I'm hoping with a few more months of intensive training I can leave all the laundry to her.

Rachel's Photoshoot

2009-12-06T19:13:00.000-08:00

Her nursery leader needed some help on a photography class project...

My ''half'' thumb

2009-11-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

A very sad thing happened . I cut my thumb with a can of referred beans. AND IT SLICED HALF MY THUMB OFF! I screamed 'I HATE BLOOD!! They held on to my thumb tight , it was still stinging. when they took it off I screamed again ! for it was terrible ! about at 8:00 they said I should go to the hospital ops, I turned that white so just put that,

oh never mind it's hospital so anyway I said ''what!'' mom said'' at the very least you'll get stitches'' ''I'm

still not coming '' ''You'll get ice cream'' ''I'm coming!,I'm coming! '' s o we went and the doc said You'll get stitches. for the second time I said W H A T ! so I got 6 shots and 4 stitches. I will never forget this moment off pain.

Okie-Dokey Daddy Day

2009-11-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

Okie-Dokey Artichokey!

Today was kindergarten Okie-Dokey Daddy Day.

Nina has been counting down the days to this for weeks. She got all dolled up in her best

cowgirl duds and got to bring her favorite cowpoke (that would be Dave) to school with her. They looked mighty spiffy. I must add that I am proud of Ninas western fringed vest that I made for her. I just cut the sleeves off of a too-small and rarely-worn jeans jacket, added some fringe and viola, or I should say, yee haw, a cow girl vest to get excited about! They also were the only cowkid/cowdad pair to have matching large handmade aluminum foil belt buckles. That Dave wore his with a smile is a tribute to how much he loves his daughter!

At the event Dave was serenaded by wonderful cowboy songs, they hokey pokied together, had a barrel race, ate some cowboy grub (biscuits and gravy) played cowboy games and generally had a rootin-tootin good time. For the barrel race the Dads were the horses and the kids were the riders. The kids had picked names for their horses (Dads) and made name tags. Dave was lucky, he got a cool name, Flash! He said he felt very sorry for the less fortunate Dads who had to wear name tags with Cupcake or Cookie written on them. When the Dads were all worn out a real horse even came to take their place.

Rachel asked what kind of games cowboys might play and I said that they might have lassoing or shooting competitions. However, Rachel thought I said tooting competitions, and for the next ten minutes there was a whole lot of giggling going on as we imagined those rude cowboys with their tooting competitions. I guess that is why Dads were invited today and the Moms had to stay at home.

A Calendar Photo

2009-11-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

This year in the Fife family calendar we had May and November and I got to do May. What I came up with has nothing to do with May but oh well. Nor could I think of a decent caption- I wanted something like 'It Came From Dimension X!'

Dad and Grant's Walk-a-thon Outing

2009-11-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Every month I try to take the kids out and do something special with each one, one on one. Last month, Grant and I's outing was to explore the area around Lake Hefner, a huge, local man-made lake to the northwest of Oklahoma City. There's all kinds of boating on the lake, a scale lighthouse, etc. And a walking, running, biking path around the whole lake. We just went on part of it- Missy dropped us off and we started down the trail intending to meet up with her and the kids at a playground a little ways a way.

We walked forever and saw some neat things. We fed the ducks, went on a kind of fishing dock floating in the middle of an inlet, and had lots of fun being together. I think we walked about three kilometers. As we neared the end, Grant broke into a run so I of course had to too.

I had lots of fun and can't wait for this month's outing- we're going to learn about electricity. I'll let Grant tell how it goes.

Guess what Grant brought for Show and Tell. . .

2009-11-08T20:17:00.001-08:00

We figured if his classmates could bring their puppies and other various pets when it was their turn for show and tell, Grant could surely bring his little sister.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins are all heavy with candy- check. Fingers, hair and clothes all sticky- check. Stomaches are feeling a bit sick-check check check. (Grant actually vomited after gorging on candy at our ward party last night) Looks like Halloween is taken care of for this year!

Grant made a great ninja- a natural poser. Nina was a lovely bride. (Don't ask me who it is that she wants to marry, I promised I would not tell.) Rachel saw Nina's costume and wanted to be a bride too, but I thought two brides were just too many. So we convinced Rachel to be a butterfly. Eventually her costume evolved from a butterfly to a fairy to a butterfly fairy princess, complete with magic wand. A costume is always better if you have a long stick to hit people with! Meg was just cute being herself.

Any one have any advice on how to get rid of the kids halloween candy fast?

H1N1

2009-10-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Swine flu makes me angry. OK, that's not accurate. I am frustrated by such different messages we're getting. We just had a baby a couple months ago and in her 1 week appointment the doctor told us all to get the seasonal flu shot but actively discouraged us from getting the H1N1 vaccine. She said the symptoms can be so mild, that she couldn't say if we'd already had it, and if so, taking the vaccine could be worse for us. Fine, we thought. We went in for a checkup for us parents and the doctor railed against the media for their misplaced emphasis on swine flu, saying that they just wanted something for the news headlines. Great! No worries then.

A couple weeks ago, everyone but the baby and I (we think) took turns having a fever. Mild symptoms. We didn't get it checked or anything, so we're not sure but it's likely that it was H1N1. But of course we don't know.

And yet, the media continues the furor. Doctors are trotted out saying yes, go get it. (This is between stories of how there are no doses available). They're not our doctors! Why should I believe them over the doctor I pay to take care of my family? Or should I only listen to medical advice on the news?

The school claims they will be offering free vaccinations soon if parents want them. (To which I say- how did you get any doses if there are riots outside these places when they run out in 10 minutes? I think our principal has been out of town raiding clinics for doses.) I don't know. Of course I don't want our kids to suffer. What are you doing about H1N1?

Frontier City Photos!

2009-10-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

The kids had free tickets from their summer reading program and we got two more at half price online and headed for Oklahoma City's biggest amusement park. It was a cool day but very nice and we were there for about 5 hours(!). Nina, Grant, and Mom braved the Steel Lasso. Dad is a chicken and had enough of risking his children's lives after the Prairie Schooner (you can see me in the brown sweater on that ride- I'm clutching Nina and Rachel and watching Grant leave the seat every time we reached the top of the swing). For about half the time, it was literally walk up to the ride and get on- yes!!

We Made the Cake this Time

2009-10-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago we celebrated Missy's birthday with a cake made by the rest of the family for her. At her request we made a recipe from a magazine called German Chocolate Torte. It's three layers of thin brownies with delicious topping layered with whipped cream between and on the sides. Yummy! And so many helpers! We had to make a second batch of whipped cream to accommodate the tastes!

We love mommy, yessiree!

Nina's Adventure (by nina)

2009-10-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

frontier city is the best. have you been there? there are tons of fun rides. there are tons of fast ri des. my favorite is the Steel Lasso (you can see it in the photo on this page).

Dad will post our photos later.

Notice anything different?

2009-10-22T14:52:00.001-07:00

at the patch

2009-10-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

We took our little pumpkins to the patch last weekend. Unfortunately they did not except trade-ins. When did pumpkins get so expensive? It would seem logical that buying pumpkins directly from the patch would be less expensive than getting them at the store, I mean, you cut out the middle man, right? Wrong. I guess we pay extra for that straight from the farm freshness. We even went out of our way to find a no frills pumpkin patch- no petting zoo, no hay rides, no corn mazes. Lets just add pumpkins to the list of all the other vegetables I buy for my kids that they don't eat.

The things I like by Nina

2009-10-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

i love nims island. being a sister is fun. i love my family. i have a bunkbed. i love my parents. i love jelly. i can somersault. i can play with meggie. i will be good. does anybody know me?? do i know you? do you know how old i am?

Thanks Kohler

2009-09-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

When we bought our house in Oklahoma it came with a nice kitchen faucet. I'm not that into faucets myself but it was nice- brushed metal. It has two spray patterns and the end can be pulled out and has a hose that stays connected. Recently a little rubber covering over the spray pattern button came off and so I started looking online for tips on fixing it. One thing I found out is that this faucet costs about $800. Wow. So I really don't want to be broken. Because I will never be able to replace it.

A few days ago I called Kohler's number to see how to fix it, since I couldn't get it back in. They asked a few questions then told me they were Fedexing a new faucet head out to me. I asked how much that would cost and they happily said it has a lifetime warranty and that everything was done at no cost. Wow- I guess they factor in parts into the initial price. :)

So it came today and I was worried about putting it on since it has the hose and everything. And I am no plumber. But included was an extremely easy list of instructions that amount to: hold the hose to keep it from slipping away and unscrew the old head. Screw on the new one. All done.

Wow.

Me and Mag by Grant

2009-09-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

A few days after she was born I held Maggie for the fourth time. This time once even while standing. She was heavy for a 7 pound baby. I was nervous. She was cute. At the time I write this she is almost 3 weeks old. I like being a big big big brother. Because I know I am well, the oldest. I like how amazing it is that she already has brown hair and is already smiling. Here are some of the pictures.
Maggie and me standing
Me and Maggie hugging.

My Favorite Pictures of Meg

2009-09-12T17:22:00.001-07:00

Avatar Legos

2009-09-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't know and missed it, Avatar: the Last Airbender is one of the best animated shows ever. We did not watch it on TV or anything. I think when I saw references to it I just ignored it and didn't give it another thought. Back when I bought anything on iTunes (coming up on a year), Avatar was one of the first 'kid' shows available. We got a few and they were fun. Then the video rental store down the street has free kids movies you can borrow and some were Avatar. I had no reason to say no and saw bits and snatches that made me realize that while it was a cartoon, it had a very developed storyline. There were silly things and lots of fun, but there was a real plot here with complex characters. Luckily, even Missy liked it! She will deny that of course. So we had fun watching it together as a family, all of us laughing and saying the intro voiceover with Katara. It was great. By the beginning of the third season on DVD we were all on the edge of our seats. We'd watch one and the kids would say 'just one more?' and we would cave. We got to the last DVD and couldn't find it to rent anywhere so we bought it. You should see it. Watch it in order.

Anyway, the other day Grant came up with some truly great Avatar figures he created out of Legos. They're awesome!

A few random pictures

2009-09-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Before Megan was born I had a few people ask if I wanted a baby shower. Unfortunately I've got that whole party phobia thing going and had to refuse. Also, as baby girl #3, we pretty much have everything we need. However, the day before I went into the hospital we had a stream of visitors all day long bearing gifts. By the end of the day the kids we really getting into seeing what would appear on our doorstep next. Was it an organized non-shower baby shower? Or just a whole lotta really nice people who had the same idea at the same time? I may never know. But I did feel really loved and impressed by the generosity and kindness of the great people of our ward.
Everybody love Grandma!
Just another nose picking photo.

Home From the Hospital

2009-08-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

After a measly 26 hours of life, Megan was discharged from the hospital and we came down. Yes, it was a short stay, but everything was fine and they gave us the option (which was also cheaper!)

She's Here

2009-08-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for your prayers- Megan Cherie Lyon was born at 3:25 this afternoon in Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. She's beautiful, weighs 7.5 lbs. and everyone is doing well.

At Last- A New Family Film

2009-08-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got the editing/post-production work done on our latest family film. For Rachel's 3rd birthday party we had a princess and the pea theme (you probably saw the cake photos) and we shot footage for a family movie. After a long time deciding on the score and doing some tricky edits, it's finished at last:

Thank You Brad Wright!

2009-08-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Yes- Stargate is my favorite TV show (although I will not be sticking around for Stargate Universe for reasons I may detail some other time). And I was excited to be able to finally see the first episode of the show. Not the movie 'Stargate' but the first episode of 'Stargate SG-1'. Originally the show was made for Showtime which apparently wanted a more adult show, and a consequence is that the first episode of Stargate SG-1 is rated 'R'. That's right- the movie released in theaters was PG-13 and the pilot movie/episode for the TV show was 'R'. And the consequence of that is that I've never seen it since I have standards about that kind of thing.

Why did I finally see it? The makers of Stargate wanted to go back and glitz it up and offer it as a standalone movie on DVD. They re-recorded some voice parts, enhanced the effects, did a lot of re-editing, and yes- they dropped the key things that had made it rated 'R'! Impossible you say? No! They wanted and fought to make a show that was family friendly (although I still wouldn't let kids watch it myself) and now with the opportunity to do it 'right' part of that meant editing out the bad parts.

Thank you Brad Wright and the whole Stargate team!

Grant's 7th Birthday

2009-07-27T13:04:00.001-07:00

As of July 23, Grant is now 7 years old. He says he can definitely see that his muscles are bigger and he feels much smarter.

For his birthday this year Grant wanted a Lego party. For some reason my children don't believe you can have a

birthday without having a theme to it. Back in

the old days all birthday parties had the same theme: birthday. Somehow we managed to age just fine. But, as long as they do not choose something repulsive like Hannah Montana or Sponge Bob, I suppose a birthday theme is alright by me, and even kinda fun. We all had a lot of legoey fun with this one. Dave bought a big tub of assorted Legos on ebay and dumped them all out on the kitchen table and most of the party was spent just building. We also had a lovely Lego cake. As gifts Grant of course got Legos: he bought himself a Lego Indiana Jones set with birthday money from Grandma (he has been saving his chore money for this set for over 6 months, which would be impressive if his grand savings total was more than about $5. With the birthday money, his money and a toysrus

coupon, he came home from the store one happy boy) a guest gave him a Star Wars Lego set, he got a

Lego Star Wars Shirt, some awesome Lego Star Wars mini-

figures, and 3 special mini-figs customized to

look like Grant Nina and Rachel.

To be honest, Grant really scores on his birthday. What's his secret? Dave. All those toys that Dave has always wanted but feels silly buying for himself he ends up getting f

or Grant. Luckily their tastes are still at the same age level. As I have told Grant before, being the only boy has a lot of advantages.

In honor of Grants birthday (of course), a new Lego store was opened at a local mall. They had the Grand Opening the day after Grant's birthday. Grant and Dave were there and got to help build a life sized Lego Aretoo Detoo with a master Lego builder. Unfortunately, hundreds of other people were also there, and the lines of people ready to throw down huge sums of money for those little colored bricks were quite long. A bad day to return extra Lego party favors, as Dave found out.

It is now 4 days later and the cake is almost all eaten, but I know I will be picking up Legos for many many years to come. Happy Birthday Grant, We love you!!

Out in Utah This Week

2009-07-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

I'll be going out to Utah for a couple of days for some fun-filled all-day business meetings. :) Experience has taught me not to expect time to go around visiting but I'll be at the Fowlers' house on Monday night and my sister Jessica's on Tuesday.

4 of july!

2009-07-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

yesterday was the 4th of course. and it was assume!I got to shake boba fett's hand and the fireworks was so cool! what happened to you on july 4th? tell me on your comment.

A Taste of What's to Come

2009-06-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

We're still not finished with festivities, but I wanted to show you the awesome cake Missy made (she was up very late last night- I get scolded for working at night but she always does her cakes at night- hmmm).

It's just a family party with a 'Princess and the Pea' theme. We've shot a home movie of the story with costumes, too, which we'll try to edit together tomorrow.

Summer Vacation

2009-06-21T15:49:00.001-07:00

All last week we visited my (Dave's) parents in Lansing, Kansas and had a great time. My brothers Daniel and Joseph were there as well as my sister Mary. We swam, took the kids bowling for the first time, Missy and I saw Star Trek, had breakfast at Pullman Place and a lot of fun things around the house like piano lessons with Grammy. The big deal of course, was our adventure last Friday at Union Station in Kansas City.

For some reason, no cameras of any kind are permitted(!) but if you want to get an idea of what was there visit http://narnia.unionstation.org and it shows you a video. It was neat to see some of the props and costumes up close.

But in addition to our tickets we got in free to Science City. Nothing short of Disneyland could be funner for kids. Seriously, seemingly endless fun with five adults trying to keep up with three children racing from area to area.

Grant's Talk

2009-06-13T04:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of week's ago in Primary, Grant was assigned to give a talk on baptism and how it blesses our family. In preparing it, we watched pieces of 'On Our Way Home' that has the boy in a family that's getting baptized who thinks about his little sister who has died. And we read the scripture about Nicodemus' conversation with the Savior about being born again. I explained the symbolism too, of dying, being buried in the ground, and being resurrected. Grant seemed to really latch onto that.

We wrote out his talk and then Missy cleaned it up with a little pictorial reminder of each line even though Grant's a great reader. In sacrament meeting he asked me to show him the scripture we had read. I did and perhaps having an idea what would happen, I bookmarked it.

Grant started into his talk, but when he got to the place we wrote down that Jesus said we must be born again he stopped and said "I'm going to read you a scripture" and read the appropriate verses like a pro and made a statement about when we get baptized our sins die. Then right back into the 'planned' talk. Bro. Dobson in the bishopric leaned over to me and asked if that was planned and I grinned and shook my head.

Everyone was very impressed. I am grateful to be able to see moments like that of obvious growth in our children.

No news is good news

2009-06-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hey look- here is an old picture of me!

I just got my haircut today- it now looks a lot like it did when I got it cut last time when this photo was taken. I just happen to be lucky enough to visit teach an awesome hairstylist- Leah Francis. Up until now I have always put off and dreaded getting my haircut. Now although I still put it off due to general laziness, I no longer dread it. She does a great job.

Thanks Leah!

red earth festival/grant's story

2009-06-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

I can not believe it! First I see real lily pads! Second I met a fox reporter who asks me questions! Third after the parade was over a police officer comes over to me and tickles so much I am scared! Forth I am on tv! And I'M FAMOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Red Earth Festival

2009-06-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that Missy is the best mom ever. She has hit the summer running with educational activities every day. The kids have been learning about globes, maps, etc. the past few days. Last night she said she was going to take the kids to a parade today downtown. I blinked and said "By yourself?"

She did and they had a good time. So good it was on the news. Now, there must not have been too much footage since they used Grant saying that he was dragged there against his will. As someone who is around Missy all the time I will say that the person that appears before Grant in the video bares only a passing resemblance to my lovely wife. Seriously- it doesn't look like her. She was not excited to be on the news.

Nina's Birthday

2009-06-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Look at the wonderful cake Missy made! The cool things on top were handcrafted by Missy from marzipan (except the little candle-cake).

Oh, and here are some pictures from the party...

2009-05-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I watched Race to witch mountain. Scary but cool. There was alien kids. And to find out more leave it on your comment. Take it away dad!

tooth fariy

2009-05-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

I have ANOTHER lose tooth after THREE lost teeth and learned about the tooth fairy . want to hear some? ask on your comment.

Nina's Graduation

2009-05-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

This week Nina passed a momentous milestone in her life- she finally graduated from Pre-Kindergarten! It has been a grueling year of hard work for her. She had to get her hair combed every day. She had to carry a backpack half as big as she was all the way to the car, and back, in sun, rain, hail, and even a few scattered snowflakes. She spent hour upon hour cutting, pasting, coloring, listening to stories, singing and playing. And that's not even counting all the after school hours put in at all the birthday parties of fellow classmates. And she loved every minute of it.

The graduation ceremony itself was very lovely, except for Dave constantly quoting under his breath the line from the Incredibles,* which he claims did not refer in any way to our current situation, however. Nina did a wonderful job singing in the program. She was right in the front and performed with gusto.

She had an absolutely wonderful teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, who had put up with Grant in her Kindergarten class last year. Ever notice how the kindergarten and pre-k teachers are either super young or very old? I think they each only work about 5 years, but the job causes severe premature aging. Those that work any longer than 5 years usually turn to dust.

We loved celebrating Nina for an evening. She is such a smart, funny and amazing little squirt!

Go class of 2022!

* "They keep inventing new ways to celebrate mediocrity. . . "

Nina reminds me of Christina sometimes

2009-05-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

(Christina my sister that is)

gogh by grant

2009-05-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

You see scientists have found van goghs relatives one liked fruit and was named:mango.Ha ha! to see more jokes ask on your comment.

Edible Van Gogh

2009-05-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

This week I got to teach another art lesson to Grant's 1st grade class. They have a really fun "Meet the Masters" program where parents come in and teach about an artist and then lead the class in an art project of a similar style. I had originally volunteered to to teach one lesson this year on Andy Warhol in March and wouldn't you know it, the day I came to class Grant was home sick. We were both disappointed- see blog entry for March. However, they just happened to need one more volunteer for the year and we decided to give it another try and hope that Grant stays healthy this time. I was assigned to teach about Vincent VanGogh and the class made drawings that very very loosely resembled 'Starry Starry Night'. Quite a few of them looked more like drawings of tornados or just collections of fingerprints- and then there was Grant's drawing which he renamed 'Snowy Snowy Night' and added Santa Claus and the 8 tiny reindeer. Why this experience was blog-worthy was because I couldn't resist showing off the masterpiece of a treat I made for the lesson: A cupcake and frosting reproduction of the painting. I have to explain that Laynie gave me a really cute cupcake decorating book for Christmas last year which included instructions for making a tray of cupcakes into a reproduction of 'Starry Starry Night'. At the time I first saw it I thought, Wow that's cool- but how often do you come across the situation where Van Gogh in cupcakes is just the perfect thing? Well, this last week the situation presented itself and I had no choice but to attempt making those cupcakes. I knew if I didn't try I would regret it forever. The hardest part I thought was getting the frosting the right colors, but the rest was not too bad. It was actually a huge ego boost for me. Grant watched me frost the cupcakes and kept saying over and over again- "Mom, you're awesome!" The kids in his class also thought I was amazing and I am sure if given the choice between my cupcakes and the actual original artwork worth who knows how many millions of dollars, they all would have gone for the cupcakes. Impressive sugary treats are a very effective way to gain praise and admiration. They also made a big mess and turned all the kids teeth blue.

L-E-G-O! by grant

2009-05-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

I am saving my money to get a 100$ Lego indiana jones set!

Webkinz by grant

2009-05-17T05:58:00.000-07:00

Web vs webkinz I just can't diside. put your vote for/in your comment.

The Art of Sarcasm

2009-05-12T19:10:00.001-07:00

Some people don't like sarcasm. But there's an even more sinister part of the population that doesn't get sarcasm. On my mission, I learned that most Ecuatorianos don't get sarcasm- at least when they're dealing with gringos. On one memorable occasion, after explaining the promise of the Book of Mormon I asked what they were going to do with the book- just to make sure the commitment would be kept. The family just looked at me blankly. "Are you going to eat it?" I joked. They looked at each other and grinned and the mother said kindly "Spanish is hard for you isn't it?".

It is with great pleasure that I can report what we think is Grant's first intentional insertion of a sarcastic comment in an average conversation. For years I have worried that what is likely the chief sign of Lyonhood would not be passed on to succeeding generations. And since sarcasm is something I love to use around the kids (Missy has said before that as I lose patience with them, I get more and more sarcastic), whether directly or as asides they just don't follow, I really want more people to appreciate my wit!

To be honest, none of us can remember what it was- like all the best sarcastic comments, it was perfect for the situation, yet impossible to recall in its entirety. Anyway- yay Grant!

Coolest Model Ever

2009-05-12T19:09:00.001-07:00

We're going to have to make some sugar cube castles this summer- take a look at this (not made with sugar cubes)

B-L-O-G! by grant

2009-05-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

Every sunday mom lets me:blog!

New Calling

2009-05-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today I was called, sustained, and set apart as the ward Executive Secretary in a brand new bishopric. Our new bishop, Bishop Huff had been trying to sell their house and downsize since all their kids are out of the house. But they were impressed that they needed to stay and shortly afterwards I understand, he was called to be the bishop (about a month ago). He has been serving as stake executive secretary. I think he was in the Air Force for awhile (stationed in Greenland!), left the service here and now works at the FAA. I think that's right.

Bro. Pratt, his first counselor, was the man we called when we were trying to get a feel for the area. We just called a number we found on a ward website for the area. He gave us some good info and sounded nice. They've lived here quite a while but are from Utah and California. Boundaries had changed since the site was updated so we moved into his ward and he's been a great friend. They have kids in primary and young men's and a daughter in college I think. He has been serving as our temple service coordinator (every month we have a session where we stay and clean the temple afterwards).

Bro. Dobson, the second counselor, is our home teacher and is a wonderful man. He lived and worked in Wyoming on his ranch and in the oil business and had retired in the home they had built themselves when he and his wife felt strongly they needed to move somewhere. He looked at some jobs in the oil industry and when they looked at the Oklahoma option felt strongly that they should come here. They've been here for about a year longer than we have and he has been serving as the Ward Mission Leader.

And I'm the executive secretary. As we were set apart, I thought about how the Lord had brought this group of men together from many places to serve in one corner of his vineyard. It's like that for each of us even if He didn't have to make such dramatic changes to get us there. We're called to serve where He needs us.

New Missing Tooth

2009-05-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

After a lot of wriggling, one of Grant's front teeth finally came out.

WII!

2009-04-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T04:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-02T05:45:00.000-07:00

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'

2009-04-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

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?

throwuping by grant

2009-03-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

On March 12 2009 I threwup. It was the first day I ever did. Sad me because my mom was doing meet the masters at school and even worse they got to have Pop Tarts! so I Grant had to wait for a hour and a half for mom to come home! and only 1 Pop Tart . Por por me. and on March 14th I threwup again ! I hope you liked this because I MADE IT RIGHT AFTER THAT! hay right was one of my spelling words!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-19T13:03:00.001-08:00

A big part of this year's Valentine's Day was to brew some interesting love potions. Just about anything was an acceptable ingredient. Nina's strategy was to include lots of sweet things. Grant's, interestingly, involved lemon juice and hot sauce. Apparently the idea is that it knocks you silly so you have no conscious thought anymore. Having tried a tiny, tiny bit I will say that it sure wakes you up.

Our Shelter

2009-02-19T13:02:00.001-08:00

This is where we go when the tornado warnings come.

wii by grant

2009-02-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

I love the Wii. I have a new game for the Wii named mario party 8 . I always play it with dad.