Explaining the pictures

I got the pictures posted, but am having trouble adding text, so I'm doing it in another post. I think most of the pictures are self-explanatory, except for the last one. The picture of Ella at the end is the picture of her Vaseline fiasco. She's not wet, at least from water. She's covered in petroleum jelly, from her head from her waist. Ah, yes, that was a fun day. 

Pictures!

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Lear's Mother's Day antics

How To Humiliate Your Mother On Mother's Day:

1. Make sure your sister is too tired to go to church, so you have to go alone with your mommy while daddy and your afore-mentioned sister stay home.

2. Lull your mommy into a false sense of security by being remarkably good during Sacrament Meeting, sitting quietly by yourself in the front row while your mommy is leading the music.

3. Sing a beautiful song to your mommy during a musical number with all the other children to celebrate Mother's Day.

Note to step #3: Be sure your mommy gets tears in her eyes during the song, because she's so thankful she's your mommy.

4. Start to get restless toward the end of the meeting, in order to manipulate her into suggesting that you come up with her to the stand while she directs the closing hymn.

5. Promise solemnly that you'll be reverent and sit still during the hymn.

6. Keep your promise for about 20 seconds.

7. Run around the stand like a crazy boy on Speed, behind the speaker's seats, the Bishopric's seats, weaving through the choir seats, climbing over rows of seats, and finally trying to sit on your head in the last choir row, all while your mommy's busy waving her arm around to the music.

Note to step #7: Be sure to avoid your mommy's awkward attempts to rein you in while conducting.

8. Allow yourself to be caught after the hymn is over, just in time to sit in your mommy's lap for the prayer.

Note to step #8: Kick your legs wildly during the prayer, just to add that final polishing touch.

You will be rewarded by a mommy who is trying not to break into tears while leading the music, and by the rare sight of her face turning as red as her shirt.

Lear quote of the week: "Maybe when I'm eighteen years old, I'll try some new foods." (In reply to Mommy's question as to when he's going to try something he's never had before, like lasagna.)

Honorable mention: "Lear's my name, and being four is my game."

Special Edition: Lear's first kiss!

Soon after we moved into our house three years ago, another family moved in close by with a little girl just one week younger than him named Elena. We've become really good friends with this family, the Bunkers, who also have an older boy, Jake, and another boy who is two weeks older than Ella, named Kyle. Ever since they met, Lear and Elena have been great buddies. When they saw each other at church, they would chase each other around in circles, giggling.

Recently, Elena has become obsessed with girly stuff like horses and princesses - and marriage. Her mom tells me that she recently asked Lear to marry her, to which he agreed. She later recanted, saying that she would marry her neighbor Alex instead, but we have just learned that Alex's family is moving to St. George, so she's decided to marry Lear again. And then she sealed it with a kiss - twice. Lear says it was and Eskimo kiss, and as I didn't witness any kissing, I'll have to take his word for it.

Special edition Ella quote: On being asked where she got the owie on her forehead, she replied "Cat!" The bump on her temple? "Cat!" The scratch on her leg? "Cat!" How did she get so pretty? "Cat!"

Goose eggs and shattered plans

We were planning to go camping this weekend, and Cory took Friday off so that we could leave as soon as possible and escape to nature. The more we looked at the weather forecast, the worse the weather looked, so we ditched our plans. Cory took the day off anyway, which was good, because I had a Kairo By Night gig that day. While I was gone, Cory and the kids played outside in the yard all morning, then got McDonald's food and took it to a park for a picnic. The kids had more fun with Daddy in one morning than they usually have with me all week, I think. Ella was so excited that she threw a fit when they left the park and refused to get into her car seat, and had another one when they got home because Cory wouldn't let her play in the car. (She was very tired and REALLY needed a nap, but how do you explain that to her?) 

Lear invented a new game this week - I think he even has a name for it, but I can't remember it right now. It involves pulling his sleeping bag over his head so he's covered from head to toe in it, and running around the house while Ella chases him. They really have a lot of fun - Ella and Lear giggle  endlessly while they're doing it. Needless to say, it isn't a very safe game. Lear ran headlong into a wall, after which Cory, who was watching them alone (I was at another rehearsal), tried to get them to stop, but they're both wonderfully stubborn, especially when they're having fun. The next thing Cory heard was a thud-thud-thud-thud: Lear had fallen down the stairs. Luckily he wasn't hurt very badly - a tiny goose egg on his forehead is the only injury we saw. Did he learn his lesson? Absolutely not! The next day, I found them playing the same game - although Lear was a little more cautious, staying in the living room away from the stairs. 

Saturday, Cory and I had a date - the first time we've had a date in quite a while. Cory's mother came to watch the kids, and we left to have a romantic dinner and a movie. We wanted to try the Cheesecake Factory, but it was a zoo, so we drove right past, and went to a nearby Olive Garden - also a zoo. So, we tried a third place, Macaroni Grill (all three are in the same block), but alas, it was also packed. So we decided to go to a Japanese restaurant on the other side of town that we love, thinking that it's not a big chain restaurant, and we've never had to wait to eat there, so it would be good. No such luck: it took us 20 minutes or so to get there, and we found out that without a reservation, it was an hour wait for a table. We ended up eating at Yoshi's Grill, a Japanese fast food place (great tempura-fried sushi rolls there). Then we went to a movie theater to see The Forbidden Kingdom, but the next movie time wasn't for an hour, so we went to another one, but the show was sold out. We ended up going to Lowe's for our date, where we bought a rake and a bag of grass seed to patch the dead spots on our lawn. The moral of our story? Plan ahead, even for a casual date. Duh!

Lear quote of the week: "My goose egg makes my head so big that it's impossible to get my shirt off." (Lear's excuse for not changing out of his pajamas on Thursday morning,)