What's His REAL Name?

"MIKE!! It on a wall!" screamed Rose, jumping and pointing. Woodjie came over to look at whatever "Mike" is. I'm in the middle of bagging poopie diapers (ugh), rounding up dirty laundry and reallllly looking forward to washing my hands. With soap. You just can't stop in the middle of a job like that. It would be too hard to get back into, you see...

"Ee MIKE!" Woodjie starts to scream. They both start hopping about and screaming. "Mike! Momma, Mike! MIKE! Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike! MIIIIKE! IT ON A WALLLLL!! WOOK!"

I'm thinking, great, they're naming spiders and I'm way too busy to kill them at the present moment. Bleh... poopies tossed into garage trash, clothes thrown next to washer two floors down, run upstairs and ahhhh water time. And grab a shoe.

"OK, where's this 'Mike?'"

"WOOK!" Woodjie points to a little green scratch on the brown wall. "MIKE!"

Siiigh. "His name is MARK, Woodjie. There is a Mark on the wall."

"Ee MIKE. Wight dere," Woodjie insisted. Well, ok. I have trouble remembering names, too. I guess he's Mike now.

Sunday Selections

I thought about NOT posting this, but then... how could I NOT share this happy occasion with my bloggy friends? Do you see how happy these little fellows are? They've been presented with their very OWN Polish pottery. Elf very nearly launched into orbit from giddiness; he has his very own mug with handpainted stars. And Emperor has his very own apple baker, which is now on display in the middle of our homeschooling/ dining room table. For more Sunday Selections, see Kim's blog.

Here You Go. I'll Share.

Dad also had to take the girl away from the little pile of Cheerios he left out for Woodjie because she was starting to look like a chipmunk.

Birthday Cake.

Girls are always sweet and demure. They eat their food neatly and pleasantly without mwwam *snort* mmm sounds or food-throwing. Elf and Emperor were given a box of cake mix, a dozen eggs, vegetable oil and a measuring cup and told to make the cake themselves. All I did was put it in the oven. D gave them a grade of only a B plus because the cake did not have an interesting shape. Rectangles, apparently, are not interesting enough. I think to get an A, the cake had to be multi-tiered and decorated in italic frosting script. We'll just take the B. :]

The Secret Santa.

And now, on a lighter note for a change...

My husband pulled me aside while I was folding laundry. You know about what Patrick is doing at school, right? The "Secret Santa?" Um, no. But it looks like all the children have had their names exchanged in some sort of "Secret Santa" drawing. You're supposed to give small, inexpensive gifts to your secret pal all week. That's fine. Whatever.

But do you know what he's giving? he asks. And he told me. Now I kinda think Patrick has been taking the idea of "small, inexpensive gifts" to a new level.

You know, he has already started a business of picking up dropped pencils throughout the school and selling them for a dime each to forgetful students. He trash-can dives at the end of the last school day of the year and picks up about 500 notebooks halfway-used. Halfway broken binders, bent up and frazzled at the edges. Well, you get the idea. He's kind of the walking junk man at the school and people I suppose feel sorry for him and buy used pencils from the boy. He made somewhere between $20 and $25 all told through the course of the year by doing this, though.

Anyway... suffice to say Patrick is a little socially not-so-adept. He actually is on some YouTube video other kids shot of him, and the comments all over about how nerdy he is, how silly...

Poor guy, but at least it's not nekkid pics in the gym or anything. Not that that would be possible because the child will not let anyone see his legs. He wraps himself in a towel while undressing IN THE SHOWERS. OK, he's eccentric. I mean, *really* eccentric. No one can touch his plates or breathe near him eccentric.

But the "Secret Santa" gifts. Do you know what he's giving?

Specially selected halfway used pencils he's found on the floor all year. Broken erasers. AH! But the big present finale is coming up soon... Patrick has found some very worn bendy snowmen he received from his Secret Santa two years ago to give. Yes, he has. The wires are probably sticking out in a couple of places and the paint is very nearly gone on most of the edges.

Now he's hurt that I've taken him aside and criticised his gifts. Aargh. But the poor girl. And his "Secret Santa" has been giving him cheap gifts, but at least relevant. You know, seasonal snowman keychain kind of things.

D has begun work on a leather bracelet with Patrick to present to this girl later. I sure hope she likes it, and it makes up for um, his previous gift-giving efforts. Oh, boy, I hope they get this done on time.

All He Wants For Christmas...

Well, he wants a lot of stuff. But isn't he cute???

Happy Birthday, Woodjie!

Woodjie is two years old today. Look what he can say now!

G's Wrestling Photo.

OK, so it's a picture OF a picture, and the bottom half is cut off because it has "SCHOOL NAME" emblazoned on the left leg. And the white sparkly stuff is my flash going off. But leave a comment and tell G he's lookin' good! He just joined the team and is 5 ft 10 and a whopping 130 pounds.

Sleepover!!

I don't know how he did it, but Elf actually dragged his mattress almost all the way down two sets of stairs. Since D had to work ALL night Friday, it was time for a sleepover. All five of the boys ate pizza and popcorn and stayed up watching videos. The house is totally trashed, but I was able to wrap a couple Christmas presents for the children and catch up on some friends' blogs.

The Food Groups.

This dish is one of the few Tupperware things I bought new years ago. This dish was new when Elf was a baby. I can't imagine ever relegating it to "storage;" it's just that useful and handy. Sure, it separates baby food, but even I could see myself eating from it on occasion. Since I'm a fatty, it would help with portion control, too. Can you see that all the important food groups are represented in this meal for Woodjie? (Guess what we just got finished studying in science?) Woodjie's food is on a towel because I took several pictures for a laminated book for him, and it needed a white background.

Ladybugs!

If you eat prepackaged foods at all, you may want to try the Healthy Choice portable kind that steams the rice. I found it AWFUL. I won't buy it again. But the container is the PERFECT size for ladybug-catching. It has nice BIG holes on top, but not quite so big that your ladybugs can escape. Freak your children out as they watch the ladybugs poke their faces out of the holes in a vain attempt to escape. Blush as you attempt to explain why the nice ladybug is giving her friend a piggyback ride. Yes, Elf, I think you're right... they really DO like each other. We also looked online and found out that ladybugs eat aphids and are good for roses. That's where we'll let them go when we're done with the entertainment.

Patrick Playing in the Orchestra.

A short video snippet of Patrick playing in the orchestra last night. You can see him next to "Sarah Palin" on the cello.

Woodjie Dancing

Woodjie (J) loves Veggie Tales. You can tell he really wants to sing along with the song as well. His favourite guy seems to be Bob the Tomato.

TV Watchin' Outfit.

Diaper. Shirt. Shrek ears. Note the happy stim because Bob the Tomato is on. Bob is our friend. "TV" is one of the few signs J still does. It's really just a sideways "V," but you'd better catch on fast. And break out the Cheerios because this monster is hungry.

HAIR MAGGOTS

We have ourselves an infestation. Wanna come over and share a comb?

Outside Day

The boys are playing with rice and chalk. The rice in a container, with things inside to find and scoop the rice with, is supposed to provide "sensory input" for J. As you can imagine, it also tracks all over my house. I've tried to contain the mess outside and shake the children out when we come inside, but it gets inside diapers and EVERYWHERE. It's a lot of fun, though. Even the bigger boys had a lot of fun scooping this stuff up and pretending the rice is "dubloons."

Trip to PetSmart.

One of the pics the boys took at PetSmart. They've written a few updates on their blogs and would probably love a few visits and comments.

Emperor.

OK, we love him, but he's weird. He told me today he'd like to marry a chicken so that his children could hatch out of eggs because that would be SO COOL. Um, you can't do that. "Well, show me where it says so in the BIBLE, Mom!" (so I did) "That just proves you can't have SEX with a chicken, but not that you can't marry one or have babies with it." Yep, I've been put in my place by Mr. Logical there for sure. I won't even relate what he said when I mentioned what a "eunoch" is. This is a family blog.

Look at Me!

Me, Size 8

Obviously this is not a recent picture. But I'm hiding my face because I'm "too fat" to have my photo taken. See how little Elf is? He was in preschool at the time. He still loves me just the same and will still hold my hand in public. I get hugs, too. He draws the line at being smooched and called "Elfie McMelfie" in front of all his friends, though.