I swear I am not stupid, but...

...I could not get this fantastically great picture of Jonah's first Thanksgiving to attach upright. So, I gave up. But here are the numerous attachments to show that I tried... a lot!






Here is Gracie, foraging for jell-o salad where ever she can find it. This plate happened to belong to Great Grandma.
Sammy was really confused with the whole "somebody is trying to feed me" thing. Yeah, being fed is not really his thing. Thanks for trying Great Grandma.

It took him a while, but Jonah finally finished his dinner. Not a big fan of stuffing or ham, but devoured the mashed potatoes and ate a lot of pie. He even said that Thanksgiving was his favorite day in America.

Gracie, still eating other people's food. That is my pilgrim hat she is eating. It's weird, the girl will not touch her own food, but seems to find satisfaction in taking food from others. I cannot remember a thanksgiving where the weather was so nice that we could go out and play.
Thank you great grandma for making us all laugh...err...I mean...for teaching Emma how to use a baton.
The day after Thanksgiving is the day we break out the Christmas decorations.






Every day after Thanksgiving, for the last 6 or 7 years, our good friend Keyla also comes to visit. I met Keyla as a missionary years ago and her mom and brother moved here a couple of years ago. Here is a picture of Keyla's mom, Olga. Olga is going in for surgery this week to remove a tumor from her face and we are praying for all to go well. We love it when Keyla's family comes for several reasons:
1-They help with the Christmas decorations that Shelly and I hate to do (last year they put the lights on the tree).
2-Keyla's little brother Ramsis is a computer whiz who is able to get our computer running again in spite of our efforts to destroy it. He does remind me of the computer tech guy from Saturday Night Live that Jimmy Fallon used to play (he says a lot of computer things that I don't understand, but I just nod my head as if I do).
3-We always learn something new from Keyla's family. For instance, they asked where our cat went. We told them that the cat went crazy and kept attacking Sammy, so we had to find her a new home. They told us that all cats are racist. Well, I didn't know that.
Let's try one more time with this photo....
...Nope.

We don't like to use our blog to express controversial views but...

...if you went to Twilight, at a time you usually sleep, you are a nerd and need some serious help. If you decorated clothing or dressed up in anyway for said movie, you are beyond help.

Okay, controversial views are over, let's get to this week in review:

Last week for movie night we had our first split vote. Jonah and Gracie wanted Kung Fu Panda, while Emma and Hudson wanted Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We decided to rent both and watch one on Thursday night and the other on Friday night. Thursday night we started to watch Star Wars but it never really held anyones attention, the kids were into it for maybe 20 minutes (about how long the popcorn lasts) before they were doing other things. Friday was a different story, the kids loved Kung Fu Panda. In fact, (here comes a bad parent confession) they watched it another 2 times on Saturday before we took it back. When we did take the movies back the kids started apologising to Star Wars for never finishing Star Wars and watching Kung Fu Panda 3 times. Jonah asked me if Star Wars was sad because we liked Kung Fu Panda more. My personal reason for liking Kung Fu Panda so much? Gracie has been going around the house saying "Ska-Doosh!" all week.


For Shelly's birthday last week, the kids helped decorate her cake with marshmallow candy people. Emma made a really cute one with taffy hair. Jonah made a Kung Fu Panda with a piece of taffy as his "big belly". Gracie ate marshmallows the whole time and put some that were leftover on a sucker stick. Hudson spent a lot of time making his as real as he could. He put two arms and two legs on his and a "bum" made out of green taffy. He insisted that his candy man was naked and needed to make it anatomically correct, but luckily I was able to convince him that the laffy taffy wrapper was the clothes. Emma was worried that her's was naked so she covered hers with bubble gum clothes. By the end, the candy people were really sticky and gross and never actually made it to the cake.
For reflections this year the kids did art projects. Jonah made a diorama of dinosaurs eating and drinking. Emma made salt dough flowers and a vase. They had a lot of fun doing these projects and they even got trophies at the school.


This is my weekly picture of Sammy sitting in a chair covered with food.

WARNING!

WARNING! The following post has some references to "farts." If you are offended by this, please do not read this blog. You are, however, allowed to view the cute pictures (there are no farts pictured).


This is our lovely Gracie. She really has become her own person this year. She is stubborn (both good and bad) and she has a certain spunk (both good and bad) that we haven't seen in our other children. She has us laughing everyday, but it was this week that she made her Dad proud.

Shelly likes to sing to the kids when she puts them to bed. Gracie's favorite nap time song of late is "Little Bunny Foo Foo." You know the one where the bunny scoops up the field mice and bites off their heads, then the fairy comes and turns said bunny into a goon. Well, one day last week Gracie did not want to take a nap (we call this a normal day) and she turned her back to Shelly to show her displeasure while Shelly was singing to her. Well, when Shelly got to the Good Fairy giving Foo Foo one more chance or she would turn him into a..... Here, right as Shelly was going to say Goon, Gracie totally farted, and it was a big one too. So instead of saying goon, Shelly said "...turn you into a...(insert Gracie's fart)...fart bum!" This had Gracie giggling, but with her stubbornness, she still would not turn to Shelly. So, Shelly sang the next verse and when she got to the same point in the next verse, Gracie totally farted again! I cannot believe that I have a daughter who can time her farts. I'm sure that I have had prouder moments as a parent, I just can't think of what they are right now.


Sammy's first haircut. He was seriously so happy. He was laughing and clapping the whole time (except when he ate his hair). It reminds me of this conversation game we have where you get to choose between two things. One of the cards says:
Would you rather...Eat a sand sandwich or eat a hair sandwich?
Personally, I'd go for the sand sandwich.
Hudson has been pushed physically by Jonah in their competitions. Everything is a competition with these two. Hudson finally got his against the wall handstand. So Jonah upped the ante to...


...crawling in the air. Good luck Hudson.

I don't know where to write about this, or how to segue into it, but Hudson has this thing (he's been doing it as long as I remember) where he likes to wear his socks on his hands. He does it off and on, but when it's on he wears the hand socks for a few hours during the day for a few days. Those Moms sure do pass some weird stuff down in their genes.

Dear Grammy,
Thanks for making the fantastic mashed potatoes.
Love,
Sammy

P.S. Thanks Grandpa for scooping them onto the table in front of me. Look at this beautiful woman. Wouldn't you give her whatever she wants for her birthday? What do you want babe?
A new watch?
Some new towels that we can't use for the bathroom?
A night on the town?

What's that? You want some time off? A break from the kids?
Sure babe whatever you want.

Now, here's the dilemma. How do I, as a husband, get my wife to ask for the new watch instead of a break? Wait, I know that there is no way to do that. Let me rephrase the question. How do I, as a husband, give my wife what she wants without the difficulty and headaches that her desires would bring?

I found the answer:

My Brother Chuck

Uncle Chuck came into town last week. The kids love him and he loves the kids. He didn't plan it this way, but Shelly was displaced for a few days in a few areas:

Shelly's job #1-Jungle Gym
Job #2-Dinner. Chuck made a fantastic Lasagna that we all devoured. Thanks again!


Job#3-Bedtime. Chuck let each child pick their own bedtime story and read them to all of of them.
Thanks again Uncle Chuck! The kids still ask about him everyday and wonder why he can't live at our house forever (and Shelly's wondering the same thing).
We also went over to see the puppies at Nana and Papa's house. They are getting so big, and the kids love them so much. Shelly, I have a confession. I totally threw you under the bus. While we where there the kids were so cute and kept asking if we could have one of the puppies. I told them that I wanted one too, but that YOU are the one that won't allow it. Sorry Babe, they were just being so cute.

Well, unfortunately Chuck had to go home. I still wanted you to have some time off. And considering that Gracie and the kids didn't kill or permanently hurt any of the puppies, I let them take care of Sammy while you were gone Friday night.
Goodnight SammyHappy Birthday Babe!