Hello everyone,
It's good to be with you again, sharing our lives with all our friends and the world at large. I told my Sunday School class today that writing a blog takes the place of writing in my own personal journal, which is actually a weak attempt at self-righteous rationalization when I am, in fact, not writing in my journal. But due to the fact that this blog will forever be available on the world wide web so long as all of Google's servers don't crash simultaneously or we decide to unplug ourselves digitally in the future due to the dominance of robots and / or artificial intelligence computers taking over the world, I think I'm at least making a dent in the chronicling of our family life. Let's all keep hoping that Google rules the future world rather than robots, and it should all work out just fine.
So, another eventful week in Washington. Daniel lost his second tooth. He officially looks like a jack-o-lantern and we're hoping that he gets his bottom two teeth in before corn on the cob season. Can you imagine trying to eat corn on the cob with no bottom teeth? The cob would just keep spinning endlessly in your hands as the two top teeth consistently pushed it downwards. What a sick, twisted, cruel joke that the human body would play on itself - to instill that incessant craving for sweet, delectable, corny goodness and not have the ability to sate that need. Madness, I say. MADNESS!!!! Then again, I guess we can sever the corn off the cob. But it's the principle of the matter! Man should not live by cut niblets alone.
Madeline gets to be Mommy's little girl this week and gets to be more spoiled (if that's possible) by taking a trip with Mom to Utah. She got to ride on an airplane, which I heard went pretty well except for the last ten minutes where she decided that she had sat buckled up long enough and proceeded to have a tantrum and cause a gigantic scene on the plane. Thanks to fantastic breeding on our part, she doesn't look at all like an al Qaeda operative (plus the fact that she looks like she's 3) and they didn't have to call in the on-board US marshals to take over the situation and wrestle her to the ground. Frankly, I think she would have given them a run for their money.
Kim gets to spend a week taking care of someone else's children as she watches the Kingsford's kids while Taryn has her operation. It will be interesting to see whether Kim comes back saying Michele's kids are a breeze compared to ours or vice versa. I'll let you know what the verdict is when she gets back. I think she's just happy she won't have to do the spring cleaning while she's there. Michele reminds me a lot of Monica on Friends, and I don't think anyone could live up to the standards placed there. We have our own thoughts about spring cleaning at the Welling house. The rule is - if there isn't enough dirt for anything to grow in it yet, we're just helping to keep the dust mites alive. Just one of those "circle of life" kind of things. We're just doing our part.
Everett and Daniel have entered the stage of incessant whining. Their favorite line is: "It's too hard" or "It's too boring". These lines seem to come up anytime their parents ask anything of them, like "can you please go clean your room", or "will you please go brush your teeth", or "will you please find it in your heart to stop whining for 10 minutes so your mother and I can have an intelligent conversation without the constant droning, the fake crying, the flailing of arms, and the annoying running in place that regularly accompanies this incessant boo-hooing that seems to only occur when you're not sleeping, for the love all that is SACRED AND HOLY!" Okay, I've never actually said that last sentence, but I'm pretty sure I'd get the same response. Everett and Daniel are staying with Grandma and Grandpa Borders this weekend, then will be passed back and forth between aunts and uncles until Kim comes home on Friday. I wish them all the best of luck!
That leaves Gabriela and Aaron. We're having a fantastic daddy-daughter week with just the two of us. Friday night, after Kim and kids left, we went to the store and bought snacks, then rented TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for those of you who are acronymistically challenged) and went home and pigged out on junk food. Gabriela got Whoppers (the chocolate kind, not from BK) and I bought the new A&W Rootbeer Float beverages. Note to those of you who are curious - it tastes just like rootbeer that has melted ice cream in it. I really wasn't that impressed, especially for the price of a 4-pack. Gabriela agreed with me. Anyway, Gabriela woke up the next morning and decided to eat the remainder of the Whoppers, then complained about a stomach ache the rest of the morning. While she nursed her stomach (spelled s-t-u-p-i-d-i-t-y), I worked on the yard. In the afternoon we went and bought some flowers and the start of our garden. We now have watermelon, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes, and a sunflower planted and we're hoping that they all grow. We've also got some strawberries that we planted a few weeks back that look amazing. I'm really excited about the garden - I think it will be our first since we've been married. Can you say - slacker? Hopefully something grows and we'll be reaping what we've sown all summer long.
So, that's about it. It took two days to write, but it's done. And that's two weeks in a row. Ha!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Under Promise, Over Deliver
Well, apparently this is becoming more of a monthly post rather than a weekly post. And I can't blame the lack of posts on the lack of good writing material. Have I got some elaborate stories that I could tell involving turkey basters, dry ice, and Philippine immigrants? Technically, no but that's beside the point. What I can tell you is that it's been an event-filled March and April, filled with fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, escape, true love, and miracles. Mostly that's because I finished reading The Princess Bride (S. Morgenstern is a literary genius, just so everyone knows). So, without further adieu, the news.
Let's see, I'm going to start with the present and work backwards. Kim got a new calling today - she's no longer going to be leading the music in sacrament meeting and flashing me knowing grins as I struggle to contain four children without someone running half-crazed up and down the aisles screaming, shouting, and giggling like a goofy idiot. And when I say someone, I mean me. And what is the new responsibility? MIA Maid advisor. Kim's pretty jazzed since, during our near 11 years of marriage she has always been in the Primary. How will she be able to deal with 14-15 year old girls, of which our ward has about 14-15? It should be interesting to watch.
Kim was brushing Daniel's teeth on Monday and as she was doing so, she noticed that he had 2 loose teeth, which is kind of disconcerting since he's only 4 and won't be 5 for another 4 months. In reviewing his day, Kim recognized that he probably knocked them loose on the neighbors' swing that day. So, after much boo-hooing from Daniel (he tends to freak out and get melodramatic at the drop of a hat) Gabriela informed him that losing teeth equates to money from the tooth fairy. At that point, Daniel recognized the fortuitous circumstances that a loose tooth at this age presented. He lost one tooth on Friday and the tooth fairy brought him a whole dollar. We're hoping that compensates for the big hole in his smile that he's going to have for a little while, although we hope his mouth recognizes the hole and overcompensates with a growth spurt in his periodontal region.
On to Everett and the battle with bowel movements. We're feeding Everett FiberOne bars and fiber-enriched apple juice on a daily basis. It's helping out a little bit, but for some reason I think Everett still likes either the attention from his parents or the exhilerating sensation of poop between his buttocks. It's highly frustrating, to say the least, and we're still trying to figure out the best way to get over this hurdle, which seems to be more like a 3-story building. In the meantime, we'll be plugging away with the daily fiber intake of an entire assisted living facility in the hopes that it will "move" Everett to "get it out" and finally get this problem "wiped out". I think I've run out of puns regarding pooping, so we'll move on to the next child.
Madeline, as opposed to Everett, has taken on the potty-training very well. She's got number 1 down and number 2 has been done successfully in the toilet a few times now, as well. We're extremely proud of her and pleased it has gone this well because, let's face it, if it had been as bad with Madeline as it has with Everett, Kim might have officially resigned as potty-trainer and we would have brought in either professional help or corks. I think corks would have been cheaper, so that would have been my vote. I think it worked out best for everyone.
Kim's taking off on Saturday to go to Salt Lake to help out Michele's family while Taryn has her operation. She'll be gone for about 8 days. We feel that the best thing we can do while she is gone is split up the entire family so everyone misses each other. So the plan is: Kim and Madeline in Salt Lake, Everett and Daniel in Spokane, and Aaron and Gabriela in Richland. Should prove to be an interesting week.
I'll probably have a lot to say next Sunday, since it will just be me and Gabriela through the weekend and all next week. I'm hoping she doesn't expect her hair to get done in ponytails or braids and that she's happy with eating minimally prepared food. I just don't hope I get reported for supplying her with graham crackers and sardines for school lunch. I might need to think that out a little bit better and plan next week with some actual meals.
That's it for the Welling update. Keep posted, though I won't be promising more frequent updates anymore: under promise and over deliver is the new motto for the blog. That being said, if I get anything more in here before Independence Day, you should all feel privileged. Until next time!
Let's see, I'm going to start with the present and work backwards. Kim got a new calling today - she's no longer going to be leading the music in sacrament meeting and flashing me knowing grins as I struggle to contain four children without someone running half-crazed up and down the aisles screaming, shouting, and giggling like a goofy idiot. And when I say someone, I mean me. And what is the new responsibility? MIA Maid advisor. Kim's pretty jazzed since, during our near 11 years of marriage she has always been in the Primary. How will she be able to deal with 14-15 year old girls, of which our ward has about 14-15? It should be interesting to watch.
Kim was brushing Daniel's teeth on Monday and as she was doing so, she noticed that he had 2 loose teeth, which is kind of disconcerting since he's only 4 and won't be 5 for another 4 months. In reviewing his day, Kim recognized that he probably knocked them loose on the neighbors' swing that day. So, after much boo-hooing from Daniel (he tends to freak out and get melodramatic at the drop of a hat) Gabriela informed him that losing teeth equates to money from the tooth fairy. At that point, Daniel recognized the fortuitous circumstances that a loose tooth at this age presented. He lost one tooth on Friday and the tooth fairy brought him a whole dollar. We're hoping that compensates for the big hole in his smile that he's going to have for a little while, although we hope his mouth recognizes the hole and overcompensates with a growth spurt in his periodontal region.
On to Everett and the battle with bowel movements. We're feeding Everett FiberOne bars and fiber-enriched apple juice on a daily basis. It's helping out a little bit, but for some reason I think Everett still likes either the attention from his parents or the exhilerating sensation of poop between his buttocks. It's highly frustrating, to say the least, and we're still trying to figure out the best way to get over this hurdle, which seems to be more like a 3-story building. In the meantime, we'll be plugging away with the daily fiber intake of an entire assisted living facility in the hopes that it will "move" Everett to "get it out" and finally get this problem "wiped out". I think I've run out of puns regarding pooping, so we'll move on to the next child.
Madeline, as opposed to Everett, has taken on the potty-training very well. She's got number 1 down and number 2 has been done successfully in the toilet a few times now, as well. We're extremely proud of her and pleased it has gone this well because, let's face it, if it had been as bad with Madeline as it has with Everett, Kim might have officially resigned as potty-trainer and we would have brought in either professional help or corks. I think corks would have been cheaper, so that would have been my vote. I think it worked out best for everyone.
Kim's taking off on Saturday to go to Salt Lake to help out Michele's family while Taryn has her operation. She'll be gone for about 8 days. We feel that the best thing we can do while she is gone is split up the entire family so everyone misses each other. So the plan is: Kim and Madeline in Salt Lake, Everett and Daniel in Spokane, and Aaron and Gabriela in Richland. Should prove to be an interesting week.
I'll probably have a lot to say next Sunday, since it will just be me and Gabriela through the weekend and all next week. I'm hoping she doesn't expect her hair to get done in ponytails or braids and that she's happy with eating minimally prepared food. I just don't hope I get reported for supplying her with graham crackers and sardines for school lunch. I might need to think that out a little bit better and plan next week with some actual meals.
That's it for the Welling update. Keep posted, though I won't be promising more frequent updates anymore: under promise and over deliver is the new motto for the blog. That being said, if I get anything more in here before Independence Day, you should all feel privileged. Until next time!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
A month gone by, and nothing to tell...
Well, so much for New Year's resolutions. We went through the whole month of February without a post. We even had Leap Year on our side. We'll try and get back on track for the month of March. For now, let's catch you all up on the Welling happenings.
The month of February was terribly unexciting and uneventful. We stayed home every weekend and did very little around the house. Makes you wonder where all the time goes and how you can accomplish so little so quickly. Since there's nothing to talk about for happenings, we'll just tell you about each of us.
Gabriela is still in 1st grade and she's still the smartest kid in her class. She turned 7 yesterday and got a call from Grandpa and Grandma Welling in Kazakhstan to wish her a happy birthday. She thought that was really special. We had lots of cake left over from Grandpa Borders' 60th birthday party on Friday. She got about 10 books and read them all today. She's quite a voracious reader.
Everett's potty-training is still going pretty crappy. Literally. Kim has decided to bag the whole thing and move on to Madeline. We're hoping peer pressure gets the best of him and that he'll finally give in once everyone else is out of diapers. Otherwise, we'll just leave it to his missionary companion or loving spouse.
Daniel has started worrying about monsters under his bed, in the closet, under the seat in the car, and anywhere else you can possibly imagine. We've tried to convince him that all his pajamas and his blankets are monster repelling, so they can't get at him. He's not quite buying it though. If anybody has other ideas, let us know.
Madeline has to be the funniest little kid ever. She say the funniest things sometimes, with the funniest facial expressions. We've decided we need to stick her and Jaxon in a room together with a video camera just for the comedy that would most likely ensue. Might be some of the best YouTube yet.
Kim and Aaron are doing great. We're trying to get the house into a decent state before we have people come and stay with us during Uncle Andrew's wedding on March 29th. Hopefully that will work out, but work is pretty crazy so who knows what will happen. We're also headed out of town this weekend to go to Arizona and visit Dave and LeAnne. It will be nice to go where it's warm, but Richland has been in the 60s this week, it's been nice here too.
That's about it. Until next week...
The month of February was terribly unexciting and uneventful. We stayed home every weekend and did very little around the house. Makes you wonder where all the time goes and how you can accomplish so little so quickly. Since there's nothing to talk about for happenings, we'll just tell you about each of us.
Gabriela is still in 1st grade and she's still the smartest kid in her class. She turned 7 yesterday and got a call from Grandpa and Grandma Welling in Kazakhstan to wish her a happy birthday. She thought that was really special. We had lots of cake left over from Grandpa Borders' 60th birthday party on Friday. She got about 10 books and read them all today. She's quite a voracious reader.
Everett's potty-training is still going pretty crappy. Literally. Kim has decided to bag the whole thing and move on to Madeline. We're hoping peer pressure gets the best of him and that he'll finally give in once everyone else is out of diapers. Otherwise, we'll just leave it to his missionary companion or loving spouse.
Daniel has started worrying about monsters under his bed, in the closet, under the seat in the car, and anywhere else you can possibly imagine. We've tried to convince him that all his pajamas and his blankets are monster repelling, so they can't get at him. He's not quite buying it though. If anybody has other ideas, let us know.
Madeline has to be the funniest little kid ever. She say the funniest things sometimes, with the funniest facial expressions. We've decided we need to stick her and Jaxon in a room together with a video camera just for the comedy that would most likely ensue. Might be some of the best YouTube yet.
Kim and Aaron are doing great. We're trying to get the house into a decent state before we have people come and stay with us during Uncle Andrew's wedding on March 29th. Hopefully that will work out, but work is pretty crazy so who knows what will happen. We're also headed out of town this weekend to go to Arizona and visit Dave and LeAnne. It will be nice to go where it's warm, but Richland has been in the 60s this week, it's been nice here too.
That's about it. Until next week...
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Lazy week and lazier Sunday
Another week has passed without me even realizing it. The week itself was not all that interesting. However, the weekend has been quite eventful, or uneventful as the case may be. Here's how it all happened.
Monday thru Friday meant work for Aaron. Gabriela got school off on Monday because it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yes, yet another holiday where the rest of the working world (comprising the US) curses all government employees because they get the day off for remembering people. Did any of the postal workers do anything to commemorate Dr. King's life? No, it was probably more centered around staying at home, in their pajamas, and watching all the shows they have been TiVoing for the past two months while cleaning their AK-47s. Sounds like a just system to me. But, I digress.
Anyway, the week went well. Gabriela is still the smartest kid in the class and attending school simply for the access to a social life. And on that note, I found out that Everett is looking like he's a math whiz. The past couple of weeks we have been playing Monopoly quite a bit, both the regular kind and the Star Wars version. The kids love playing it. Well, working with the money and the dice have really paid off. Madeline was rolling the dice today and after she rolled a 4 and 5, without anyone saying anything, Everett told her she needed to move 9 spaces. I was quite impressed with his prowess at simply picking that up. I think we've either got an engineer or CPA on hand. It's very cool.
By the way, the probiotics are not cutting it. We've had some good times and some bad times this week. Good times at the beginning of the week, worse ones around the end. Needless to say, we're throwing away a lot of soiled underwear this week. Darn the clay poop.
Anyhow, Saturday came around with a trip to Costco and then I went to work for the afternoon. When I got finished and drove home at 4 pm, the parking lot was coated in ice. We had freezing rain coming down, and apparently it had ben for a while. I had some fun with the truck and did a few donuts in the parking lot. Tried some drifting, but I think I need some pointers from my bro Ryan before I can really feel accomplished at that. I should probably watch that Tokyo Drift show, but I haven't watched any Fast and Furious movies and I don't want to. I'm just afraid that I'd be able to hear my brain cells collapsing while watching the shows, no offense to anyone who actually has been able to bear them. More power to ya.
So, I saw about 20 cars off on the side of the road on the way home and my regular commute of 7 minutes turned into 30. Seriously, some people have absolutely no clue how to drive with ice and snow. We had an enjoyable evening watching "What about Bob", a classic Bill Murray flick with a little more profanity than I had remembered. I forgot about the Tourette's moment in the movie, so once we muted through that, it was good. The kids liked it a lot too. We were in bed by 9 o'clock and got a call from the Elder's Quorum presidency letting us know that church had been cancelled. Which, I hate to admit, was a big moment of happiness for Kim and I because that meant she didn't have to lead the choir and I didn't have to teach sunday school. That meant pleasant dreams and sleeping in for Sunday morning.
What we didn't expect for Sunday was to find about 2 inches of snow on the ground this morning. And the snow did not let up today until about 8 pm. We've got between 6 to 8 inches on the ground right now and, with the 1/2" of ice covering the roads, I'm wondering if I'll be attending work tomorrow. We're feeling really happy about being snowed in, although I'm wishing we had a snow shovel right now. Might make for getting out of the driveway a bit easier.
So, lazy day at the house, playing games with the kids, Kim doing scrapbooking, etc. Got a phone call from Mom and Dad and chatted with them for a little while. Kim's mom and dad are on their way to Peru to visit friends and will be having lots of fun there where it's summer, rather than winter. The only bad spot to the day was the phone call from Kim's sister Emily to let us know that Pres. Hinckley had passed away. We were very sad to hear it, but we're happy to know that he is with his wife again and that he's surrounded by loved ones and all the people that have passed on that have benefited because of his work here on the Earth with building temples and doing temple work. We've been blessed to have him as our Prophet and he will be greatly missed. We are also blessed to know that the Church will still be in capable hands even though he is gone.
That's it from Richland, Washington. Peace, out.
Monday thru Friday meant work for Aaron. Gabriela got school off on Monday because it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yes, yet another holiday where the rest of the working world (comprising the US) curses all government employees because they get the day off for remembering people. Did any of the postal workers do anything to commemorate Dr. King's life? No, it was probably more centered around staying at home, in their pajamas, and watching all the shows they have been TiVoing for the past two months while cleaning their AK-47s. Sounds like a just system to me. But, I digress.
Anyway, the week went well. Gabriela is still the smartest kid in the class and attending school simply for the access to a social life. And on that note, I found out that Everett is looking like he's a math whiz. The past couple of weeks we have been playing Monopoly quite a bit, both the regular kind and the Star Wars version. The kids love playing it. Well, working with the money and the dice have really paid off. Madeline was rolling the dice today and after she rolled a 4 and 5, without anyone saying anything, Everett told her she needed to move 9 spaces. I was quite impressed with his prowess at simply picking that up. I think we've either got an engineer or CPA on hand. It's very cool.
By the way, the probiotics are not cutting it. We've had some good times and some bad times this week. Good times at the beginning of the week, worse ones around the end. Needless to say, we're throwing away a lot of soiled underwear this week. Darn the clay poop.
Anyhow, Saturday came around with a trip to Costco and then I went to work for the afternoon. When I got finished and drove home at 4 pm, the parking lot was coated in ice. We had freezing rain coming down, and apparently it had ben for a while. I had some fun with the truck and did a few donuts in the parking lot. Tried some drifting, but I think I need some pointers from my bro Ryan before I can really feel accomplished at that. I should probably watch that Tokyo Drift show, but I haven't watched any Fast and Furious movies and I don't want to. I'm just afraid that I'd be able to hear my brain cells collapsing while watching the shows, no offense to anyone who actually has been able to bear them. More power to ya.
So, I saw about 20 cars off on the side of the road on the way home and my regular commute of 7 minutes turned into 30. Seriously, some people have absolutely no clue how to drive with ice and snow. We had an enjoyable evening watching "What about Bob", a classic Bill Murray flick with a little more profanity than I had remembered. I forgot about the Tourette's moment in the movie, so once we muted through that, it was good. The kids liked it a lot too. We were in bed by 9 o'clock and got a call from the Elder's Quorum presidency letting us know that church had been cancelled. Which, I hate to admit, was a big moment of happiness for Kim and I because that meant she didn't have to lead the choir and I didn't have to teach sunday school. That meant pleasant dreams and sleeping in for Sunday morning.
What we didn't expect for Sunday was to find about 2 inches of snow on the ground this morning. And the snow did not let up today until about 8 pm. We've got between 6 to 8 inches on the ground right now and, with the 1/2" of ice covering the roads, I'm wondering if I'll be attending work tomorrow. We're feeling really happy about being snowed in, although I'm wishing we had a snow shovel right now. Might make for getting out of the driveway a bit easier.
So, lazy day at the house, playing games with the kids, Kim doing scrapbooking, etc. Got a phone call from Mom and Dad and chatted with them for a little while. Kim's mom and dad are on their way to Peru to visit friends and will be having lots of fun there where it's summer, rather than winter. The only bad spot to the day was the phone call from Kim's sister Emily to let us know that Pres. Hinckley had passed away. We were very sad to hear it, but we're happy to know that he is with his wife again and that he's surrounded by loved ones and all the people that have passed on that have benefited because of his work here on the Earth with building temples and doing temple work. We've been blessed to have him as our Prophet and he will be greatly missed. We are also blessed to know that the Church will still be in capable hands even though he is gone.
That's it from Richland, Washington. Peace, out.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Did I really spend my Sunday evening writing this?
Well everyone, yet another week has passed and the Welling family remains alive and kicking. Here's the update for the previous week.
Um...uh...
Okay, nothing happened to us last week. Let's be honest here: our life is pretty mundane and ever-so-uneventful. Oh, we might have the occasional happenstance of unordinary when Aaron has to fly out of town for work and leaves Kim with the kids as she tries to cope with being a single parent for a few days. I forgot that happened this week. Okay, here comes the elaboration.
Wednesday Aaron left for Moline, Illinois to conduct a workshop with a client. He did a very nice job and made it home in one piece on Friday evening. While in Moline, he got to stop at the John Deere gift shop and bought his kids souvenirs: toy tractors for Everett and Daniel, a plush pig wearing a John Deere T-shirt for Madeline, and a T-shirt for Gabriela that says "I Love John Deere" with a tractor on it. She put it on immediately right after she got it. What a great kid.
Oh, here's another exciting front. Everett is still not potty-trained. Okay, that's really not the exciting part. The exciting part is our attempt at helping him become potty-trained. Now, I would like to warn the squeamish that the next paragraph may not be the most enjoyable or even most appropriate to read, especially if the details of fecal matter are not something you're particularly interested in, but unfortunately the state of our children's fecal matter is one of the most memorable things to happen this week, so I'm writing about it. Interesting? Doubtful. Stupid? Probably. Revolting? Most definitely. So skip it if you can't handle it. Don't say I didn't warn you.
So, Everett is still working on the potty training. He's got #1 down, although he still has some accidents which revolve around excuses like: "somebody was in the bathroom", or "I was too tired to get up" or "My pants were cold and I wanted to warm them up". Nevertheless, he can do #1. It's #2 that is causing the problems. The biggest reason for this is that Everett has what Kim likes to call "the clay poop". Now most of you might be asking, What is the clay poop? I'm now asking Kim to dictate while I type. She knows best anyways, since I absolutely refuse to change Everett's diaper anymore because, let's face it, I'm a pansy when it comes to changing poop diapers and I start to get the dry heaves when they smell really bad. These are Kim's words: "The 'clay poop' is poop that sticks to your bum and does not come off, so you have to shake your bum to get the poop to come off. That's the stuff that comes off. The rest of it just sticks there and won't come off. I can't believe you're writing this, Aaron." Her words, not mine. Anyhow, since the feces are fickle and most uncooperative, Kim's mom's dietitian's advice (can we get more convoluted) was to add probiotics to Everett's diet. The addition of the probiotics is supposed to balance Everett's bowels and make normally formed turds that should be easier to defecate and not linger from stickiness. We're hopeful that this will be the case and that we will turn a big corner in the potty-training. I'm sure you're all very excited to keep abreast on this front, so we'll you updated on how everything comes out.
Saturday was exciting for us because, after 8 months of living in our new home, Aaron finally dedicated some time to do some of the home improvement things that he has been successfully neglecting. We would like to report that the trim and the final shelf have been added to the bathroom closet. We are hoping to paint the inside and put on the baseboard next week and then add actual closet doors. Amazing, I know. Once this project has been completed, we will be focusing on the kitchen pantry and then the laundry closet. Given past dedication, we will probably have all that finished in the next 12 years.
Since it is becoming standard fare for the blog, I'll give a movie review. We borrowed a video from our friends this week: The Illusionist. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this movie at all, because it came out the same time as The Prestige and I couldn't imagine how it could even possibly compare with The Prestige because that movie just plain rocked. I loved it! And it had David Bowie in it, which was extra cool. Can't you totally see David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, and Christian Bale singing the soundtrack from Newsies during the breaks? Boy, would I have loved being a fly on that wall. Anyway, I was quite surprised that I liked the Illusionist. It was a good plot line and although I had some of the ending figured out before the end, I didn't have it all figured out, which is always an added benefit for me. My only problem was everybody and their accents. It takes place in Austria, but none of the actors really talked to each other beforehand as to what kind of accents they should use. I couldn't tell if they were supposed to have a German, English, or Swahili accent. That kind of annoyed me. But other than that, good show. PG-13 because of some gratuitous sensuality which we happily skipped over.
Last, but certainly not least, we got a call this morning before church. I looked at the caller ID and it said wellingra, which I knew could only mean one thing: Mom and Dad had figured out how to use Skype and were calling us from Kazakhstan. I talked to Mom for about 15 minutes and they said they were doing well, that the weather was just at -1 degrees today and, if it stayed that warm, they were going to try and get out of their apartment to see a little more of Astana. She said that it had taken them forever to figure out how to use their laptop and hook it up to their DSL connection. I reminded Mom it had only been 3 weeks and, considering their age and lack of tech-savvy that I thought they were doing a bang-up job between the two of them. They get to go to Sofia, Bulgaria in April for a humanitarian conference. I told Mom I was very jealous and that by the time they come home, they'll probably have more European stamps in their passports than I do. I'm very jealous and excited for them.
I believe that's it for the week. Keep it really real.
Um...uh...
Okay, nothing happened to us last week. Let's be honest here: our life is pretty mundane and ever-so-uneventful. Oh, we might have the occasional happenstance of unordinary when Aaron has to fly out of town for work and leaves Kim with the kids as she tries to cope with being a single parent for a few days. I forgot that happened this week. Okay, here comes the elaboration.
Wednesday Aaron left for Moline, Illinois to conduct a workshop with a client. He did a very nice job and made it home in one piece on Friday evening. While in Moline, he got to stop at the John Deere gift shop and bought his kids souvenirs: toy tractors for Everett and Daniel, a plush pig wearing a John Deere T-shirt for Madeline, and a T-shirt for Gabriela that says "I Love John Deere" with a tractor on it. She put it on immediately right after she got it. What a great kid.
Oh, here's another exciting front. Everett is still not potty-trained. Okay, that's really not the exciting part. The exciting part is our attempt at helping him become potty-trained. Now, I would like to warn the squeamish that the next paragraph may not be the most enjoyable or even most appropriate to read, especially if the details of fecal matter are not something you're particularly interested in, but unfortunately the state of our children's fecal matter is one of the most memorable things to happen this week, so I'm writing about it. Interesting? Doubtful. Stupid? Probably. Revolting? Most definitely. So skip it if you can't handle it. Don't say I didn't warn you.
So, Everett is still working on the potty training. He's got #1 down, although he still has some accidents which revolve around excuses like: "somebody was in the bathroom", or "I was too tired to get up" or "My pants were cold and I wanted to warm them up". Nevertheless, he can do #1. It's #2 that is causing the problems. The biggest reason for this is that Everett has what Kim likes to call "the clay poop". Now most of you might be asking, What is the clay poop? I'm now asking Kim to dictate while I type. She knows best anyways, since I absolutely refuse to change Everett's diaper anymore because, let's face it, I'm a pansy when it comes to changing poop diapers and I start to get the dry heaves when they smell really bad. These are Kim's words: "The 'clay poop' is poop that sticks to your bum and does not come off, so you have to shake your bum to get the poop to come off. That's the stuff that comes off. The rest of it just sticks there and won't come off. I can't believe you're writing this, Aaron." Her words, not mine. Anyhow, since the feces are fickle and most uncooperative, Kim's mom's dietitian's advice (can we get more convoluted) was to add probiotics to Everett's diet. The addition of the probiotics is supposed to balance Everett's bowels and make normally formed turds that should be easier to defecate and not linger from stickiness. We're hopeful that this will be the case and that we will turn a big corner in the potty-training. I'm sure you're all very excited to keep abreast on this front, so we'll you updated on how everything comes out.
Saturday was exciting for us because, after 8 months of living in our new home, Aaron finally dedicated some time to do some of the home improvement things that he has been successfully neglecting. We would like to report that the trim and the final shelf have been added to the bathroom closet. We are hoping to paint the inside and put on the baseboard next week and then add actual closet doors. Amazing, I know. Once this project has been completed, we will be focusing on the kitchen pantry and then the laundry closet. Given past dedication, we will probably have all that finished in the next 12 years.
Since it is becoming standard fare for the blog, I'll give a movie review. We borrowed a video from our friends this week: The Illusionist. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this movie at all, because it came out the same time as The Prestige and I couldn't imagine how it could even possibly compare with The Prestige because that movie just plain rocked. I loved it! And it had David Bowie in it, which was extra cool. Can't you totally see David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, and Christian Bale singing the soundtrack from Newsies during the breaks? Boy, would I have loved being a fly on that wall. Anyway, I was quite surprised that I liked the Illusionist. It was a good plot line and although I had some of the ending figured out before the end, I didn't have it all figured out, which is always an added benefit for me. My only problem was everybody and their accents. It takes place in Austria, but none of the actors really talked to each other beforehand as to what kind of accents they should use. I couldn't tell if they were supposed to have a German, English, or Swahili accent. That kind of annoyed me. But other than that, good show. PG-13 because of some gratuitous sensuality which we happily skipped over.
Last, but certainly not least, we got a call this morning before church. I looked at the caller ID and it said wellingra, which I knew could only mean one thing: Mom and Dad had figured out how to use Skype and were calling us from Kazakhstan. I talked to Mom for about 15 minutes and they said they were doing well, that the weather was just at -1 degrees today and, if it stayed that warm, they were going to try and get out of their apartment to see a little more of Astana. She said that it had taken them forever to figure out how to use their laptop and hook it up to their DSL connection. I reminded Mom it had only been 3 weeks and, considering their age and lack of tech-savvy that I thought they were doing a bang-up job between the two of them. They get to go to Sofia, Bulgaria in April for a humanitarian conference. I told Mom I was very jealous and that by the time they come home, they'll probably have more European stamps in their passports than I do. I'm very jealous and excited for them.
I believe that's it for the week. Keep it really real.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
American Gladiators and Dehydrated Water
So, the second week of January is behind us. It started out with me getting a fabulous promotion at work which will definitely help in getting us out of the big gaping hole we like to call "Debt" and in taking our kids off of eating Top Ramen and ketchup packets. We had been rotating between ketchup and hot sauce until Taco Bell banned us from their stores in Washington State. Didn't think it would be economical to drive over the state line just for free hot sauce packets, so we're happy for the added income.
Gabriela went back to school and we have started to see Kim's sanity returning after a long holiday hiatus. That is, Gabriela had a holiday hiatus, not Kim's sanity. She's been sane the whole time, although there was that one instance when we received calls from the neighbors in the middle of night because Kim was trick-or-treating in her bathrobe. However, I've got her convinced that it was just a bad dream from the baklava she had eaten the night before, so I'd appreciate it if none of you mentioned it to her. Thanks!
Madeline is having an issue attending Sunbeams at church. Of course, I can't really blame her. If someone told me that I had to give up a 2 hour block that consisted of playing with toys, napping, assembling puzzles, playing games, making stuff with clay, and eating goldfish crackers and Cookie Crisp cereal, all to go sit on hard chairs and listen to somebody talk for those same two hours, I probably wouldn't feel all that hot about it either. Actually, I'm starting to take her side. It's a good thing Sunbeams aren't smart enough to unionize. We could have the same thing on our hands that the Writer's Guild of America is giving to the media. Hey, maybe we can just give the WGA goldfish crackers and Cookie Crisp with some extra Play-Doh and that problem could go away. Then we could get back to some decent television again.
Speaking of decent television, have you seen American Gladiators? I cannot believe that this show is back on television. And I'm definitely blaming this one on the WGA. When we can't get decent writing, we get throwback shows from the early 90s where we get to watch "athletes" that have so much human growth hormone running through their veins that they are automatic candidates for the baseball hall of fame. My favorite moment was watching "Titan" a 250 pound man whose pecs crush walnuts pick up and toss this 150 pound weakling down a giant foam pyramid. This is what they're trying to pass off as entertainment. And unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it except ignore TV entirely and devote our lives to YouTube. Actually, some of the stuff I've seen on YouTube is much funnier than the drivel on TV lately. Did you ever get to see "Chocolate Rain"? I haven't laughed that hard in the longest time. Check it out when you get a minute. It's a laugh riot.
So we rented Stardust this weekend. Now that was a great movie! Totally reminded me of Princess Bride, but much better special effects and a great cast. I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It's got the great adventure element to it, the comedy, and a good love story to boot. Definitely not for those aged 12 and under, as there are some scary elements to the movie.
Yesterday we went to the dry pack cannery and attempted to replenish some of our food storage that has probably become dust because we have had it for so long. We got a bunch of carrots, potatoes, milk, flour, sugar, hot cocoa, apple slices, and black beans. I joked with Kim that the only thing we were missing was dehydrated water. But, in all actuality, there have got to be a few suckers out there that would be dumb enough to buy dehydrated water. It would take quite the marketer, but imagine the tag line:
Double the output of the water in your storage by buying Wondrous Duplicating Dehydrated Water. This colorless, tasteless, odorless, and weightless additive, when added to water can increase the level of your water, simply by sprinkling the invisible powder over a half full container. After 10 years of containment, your stored water will double.
And in fine print:
Please be aware that this process does not happen overnight. Water will need to be in a non-transparent container and cannot come in contact with any air during the 10 year period. Any exposure to sunlight or air during that time will make the product null and void.
And, of course, by the time everybody gets to see if this stuff actually works, you're long gone, living the high-life on some South American beach. Of course, you would have cheated a lot of unsuspecting, naive, over-trusting people and you'd probably feel really guilty, not to mention go straight to Hell later on. Wow, I'm glad I talked myself out of that one in the blog here. I almost gave up that promotion.
Gabriela went back to school and we have started to see Kim's sanity returning after a long holiday hiatus. That is, Gabriela had a holiday hiatus, not Kim's sanity. She's been sane the whole time, although there was that one instance when we received calls from the neighbors in the middle of night because Kim was trick-or-treating in her bathrobe. However, I've got her convinced that it was just a bad dream from the baklava she had eaten the night before, so I'd appreciate it if none of you mentioned it to her. Thanks!
Madeline is having an issue attending Sunbeams at church. Of course, I can't really blame her. If someone told me that I had to give up a 2 hour block that consisted of playing with toys, napping, assembling puzzles, playing games, making stuff with clay, and eating goldfish crackers and Cookie Crisp cereal, all to go sit on hard chairs and listen to somebody talk for those same two hours, I probably wouldn't feel all that hot about it either. Actually, I'm starting to take her side. It's a good thing Sunbeams aren't smart enough to unionize. We could have the same thing on our hands that the Writer's Guild of America is giving to the media. Hey, maybe we can just give the WGA goldfish crackers and Cookie Crisp with some extra Play-Doh and that problem could go away. Then we could get back to some decent television again.
Speaking of decent television, have you seen American Gladiators? I cannot believe that this show is back on television. And I'm definitely blaming this one on the WGA. When we can't get decent writing, we get throwback shows from the early 90s where we get to watch "athletes" that have so much human growth hormone running through their veins that they are automatic candidates for the baseball hall of fame. My favorite moment was watching "Titan" a 250 pound man whose pecs crush walnuts pick up and toss this 150 pound weakling down a giant foam pyramid. This is what they're trying to pass off as entertainment. And unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it except ignore TV entirely and devote our lives to YouTube. Actually, some of the stuff I've seen on YouTube is much funnier than the drivel on TV lately. Did you ever get to see "Chocolate Rain"? I haven't laughed that hard in the longest time. Check it out when you get a minute. It's a laugh riot.
So we rented Stardust this weekend. Now that was a great movie! Totally reminded me of Princess Bride, but much better special effects and a great cast. I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It's got the great adventure element to it, the comedy, and a good love story to boot. Definitely not for those aged 12 and under, as there are some scary elements to the movie.
Yesterday we went to the dry pack cannery and attempted to replenish some of our food storage that has probably become dust because we have had it for so long. We got a bunch of carrots, potatoes, milk, flour, sugar, hot cocoa, apple slices, and black beans. I joked with Kim that the only thing we were missing was dehydrated water. But, in all actuality, there have got to be a few suckers out there that would be dumb enough to buy dehydrated water. It would take quite the marketer, but imagine the tag line:
Double the output of the water in your storage by buying Wondrous Duplicating Dehydrated Water. This colorless, tasteless, odorless, and weightless additive, when added to water can increase the level of your water, simply by sprinkling the invisible powder over a half full container. After 10 years of containment, your stored water will double.
And in fine print:
Please be aware that this process does not happen overnight. Water will need to be in a non-transparent container and cannot come in contact with any air during the 10 year period. Any exposure to sunlight or air during that time will make the product null and void.
And, of course, by the time everybody gets to see if this stuff actually works, you're long gone, living the high-life on some South American beach. Of course, you would have cheated a lot of unsuspecting, naive, over-trusting people and you'd probably feel really guilty, not to mention go straight to Hell later on. Wow, I'm glad I talked myself out of that one in the blog here. I almost gave up that promotion.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Sledding Fun - January 1, 2008
Aaron didn't crash & burn everytime...those are just the moments that were captured on film!
There goes Everett down the hill!
Gabriela and Daniel down together.
Madeline sat on a stump and ate snow the entire time!
This is how Daniel spent most of his time sledding ... maybe that is why he was so adventurous!
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