Spring Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of the kids (the ones that they try to guilt you into buying by saying "Your child is only this age once.")

Scanners are a good thing...

Our house is still for sale. It hasn't been quite 3 weeks. We've had about a dozen couples through it, which is good traffic especially for this market. But, no official offers yet. A few have our house number 1 on their list....but they have to sell their homes first. Sigh....

The early bird gets a ...double monkey?

Huh?





Okay, that's a mix of two of Matthew's latest sayings. Let me explain

First, at school, the teachers asked the children to complete the phrase, "The early bird gets the ...."
Matthew's answer:
"Chocolate & vanilla ice cream."
The birds like our house.

Second, we have another incident inspired by Wii. So, Matthew likes Wii sports. A lot. He will play them all and it's funny to watch him. He really gets into it and tries SO hard. One day, he was playing Wii sports and had just finished playing a round of Wii golf when Todd walked in. Todd asked what he was up to, and Matthew responded matter-of-factly the progress of his game:


"Yeah, I got a double-monkey."

It sounds better than bogey I think...

Not to make you think that the girls do nothing, we have a picture courtesy of our very own Bucky dog and Princess Grumpy Pants (PGP - aka Allison). She was being grumpy about something and decided to rest in her closet. And promptly fell asleep. Not one to be left out of any situation involving laziness, Bucky immediately joined in.

WOW!!!

Check out this video - it's amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY


Maybe we could get her to sing about the Fair Tax....

Fair Tax

After yesterday's protests, I realized that rather than be against something why not be FOR something:

www.fairtax.org

Read about it and make your own informed decision. There are two books on it you can check out from the library for free, and the website above if you're not into reading books.

Spring Break 2009

It's Spring Break!!! Yeah! Well, actually, it started a week ago. So, what did we do? We put our house on the market, and promptly ran away.

Well, not really, but we did take a quick trip to Florida. For those shaking your heads in disgust at this, we only live about 6 hours away from Florida so it's not like it's hard to get to!

Our first day, we drove to Jacksonville. It took a little longer than usual for two reasons. First, the powers-that-be (which these days means "total idiots" no matter where you live) decided that the Saturday of Spring Break for most of metro Atlanta (and many locales north that travel through Atlanta) would be an AWESOME day to close half the lanes of traffic on the major interstates for road construction. Add to that impatient drivers, stupid-driver accidents, and the occasional cigarette-ignited brush fire and you have a recipe for multiple-hour delays in sunny weather! Well, we just avoided that whole mess and didn't even get on the freeway until Macon. That is south of Atlanta for those who are not up on their Georgia geography or think that the whole state is comprised of Atlanta and Hazzard County (the latter being a fictional place - sorry to disappoint). The second reason was that our detour route was flooded out. Apparently, a few days earlier, the southern non-drought stricken part of the state got 10 inches of rain in a day (literally). So, most of the creeks had turned into class 5 rapids. But, we got to our destination and showed Amanda the hospital she was born in and where we used to live. Well, we think it was where we used to live because we got a little lost. It turns out that when you lived somewhere 12 years ago it's amazing how you forget where everything is (especially when you've moved 5 times since then).

Our next day, we took a short trip to St. Augustine (the oldest city in America) and to Kennedy Space Center. We didn't see any astronauts, but we did see a lot of cool stuff (specifically, rockets and turtles). We learned that Matthew needs closed captioning. He raised his hand when they asked if anyone needed this...and, on another note, if you DID need closed captioning how would you know to raise your hand when somebody SPOKE this??? And, even more confusing was the fact that it had closed captioning ANYWAY even though nobody really said they needed it. It could be that the meant to say "closed captioning" in another language because we were literally in the minority. We heard French, German, Russian, Yiddish, and Bostonian. Yes, Bostonian. We have this theory that all the tour guides are from some nearby retirement community that is exclusively comprised of people from the Northeast, or of people with a speech disorder that causes them to add an "r" where this isn't one and to not pronounce an "r" where there is (i.e. "We will wartch the shuttle." and "We will paak by the caas.") The space program only uses a small part of the land, so we were also able to see lots of animals (like running turtles, an alligator, lots of birds, and buzzards!) It's a fun trip, and you could easily spend the whole day there. Plus, we got to see a shuttle on the launch pad - so cool......

We spent the next day with Great Grandpa Russell and Great Grandma Ruth. Matthew only tried to steal the golf cart twice and did get to drive it once with dad's help. He only almost threw his sisters off the cart and gave a new meaning to the phrase "lead foot." He also rode on the back of Grandma's mamasan bike (think Japan bike with a basket in the back) and watered a few of the plants in the front yard in his own "unique" way. He fell asleep 10 minutes after we left. It was the first time the kids had met these great grandparents, and we suspect the great grandparents may still be recovering. We also saw an odd sign that I think you'd only see in either central Florida or maybe anywhere in Louisiana (see picture).

We were able to hang out with Aunt Rosie and Uncle Keith. We swam in their pool and enjoyed the blackout that kept us from watching Michigan State get their butts kicked. Rosie was thwarted in her attempt to watch "Dancing with the Stars" - which seriously upset Keith (ha!) We also had fun with little Maggie, the killer dachsund. What a cool little dog (no offense to our Bucky, but she was so cute and able to jump onto your lap without permanently injuring any vital body parts).

Our drive back consisted of lots of wind, lots of orange trees, and a stop at Gatorland. We stopped there once many years ago, and it really hasn't changed even a little bit. They still had a "gator feeding" time complete with Bubba and Cooter wearing half-buttoned oversized overalls and acting as though they had the combined IQ of a kumquat. We thought about going to a few of the big Orlando theme parks, but figured that we had better ways to burn through $500. Seriously, there's not much economic trouble in Florida despite what we see on the news....

We got back and have finished all the laundry and settled into the fun routine of having to be ready to vacate our house at a moment's notice (and maybe vacate and have the people not show up). So fun, but that is real estate in hell (which means trying to sell anywhere right now). The kids go back to school Monday so the regular routine starts again all too soon.

So, that's what we've been up to for the last few weeks. We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter (or, Passover). Keep your fingers crossed that we can sell our house with no problems (and no crazy people, other than Kelly, involved).

More pictures of Alaina

Here are a few more pictures of our new niece Alaina (and her older brother Chase and older sister Ella).

What do parents discuss at a teacher conference?

So, Matthew has his preschool teacher conference today (yes, they really do have conferences for preschool). I told him that his teacher and I were going to talk about him today.
I asked him,
"Matthew, what do you think we will talk about in your conference?"
Matthew responds,
"Hamsters."
I said,
"I think we will talk about whether you behave. If you are a good boy or a bad boy, and we'll talk about what you are learning."
He said,
"No, you talk about hamsters."

Hmmmmm, I wonder if this should worry me.....

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

We have a new cousin!!!

Welcome to the world Miss Alaina Marion Ball :)

8lbs 9 oz

21.5 inches long

described as "a carbon copy of older sister Ella"

Alaina and mom Tarra are reportedly doing well and are healthy and happy.





Matthew was so happy to learn of his new cousin. He was, however, quite disappointed (to the point of tears) when he learned she was not at our house for him to meet in person.

Camping....with 14 second grade girls

Yes, you read that correctly. What did I do this weekend? I and three other brave moms took 14 (yes, fourteen, outnumbering us by more than 3-to-1) girls camping. Did we have the fantastic 70-degree sunny weather that we had last weekend? Uhhh, not quite. We did get a lot of drizzle, wind, and rain. It didn't snow, nobody was stepped on by a horse (that happened to a girl in Julia's friend's cabin), and nobody fell down a flight of stairs (that happened in Amanda's cabin). A girl in Julia's cabin did actually have to leave early to get stitches when she fell running on slippery wood, and that story was spread in detail to everyone (getting more devastating with each telling). We had smores, did crafts, did a scavenger hunt, got wet a few times, and had a pretty good time. We were supposed to do canoeing, but the weather was not good enough. Some kids did archery and horseback riding. Some kids just got really muddy (but I think that was intended in many cases). There is even a pool there! Okay, it's only open in the summer but how cool is that? Some kids wondered if they could bring their families back. So, that's a good sign that they liked it I think. They didn't even seem to be concerned when I answered that probably only the girls in the family could come!!! Who needs boys, right?

Meanwhile, Matthew and dad had what was probably their first male-only weekend ever. Dad took Matthew out for a fun lunch and then took him to a candy store. They also did a bunch of stuff around the house. They had fun I think....

Cookies and snow

It finally snowed again in Georgia! I can hear all you up north laughing at us (and secretly hating us for not having to deal with it more often!) But, for all the hype on the news, it was pretty uneventful. We still have a tiny bit on the ground, but the roads are fine. I think it's the parents here who are disappointed more than the kids that school won't be cancelled (I didn't expect it to be - but there were some I spoke with who were convinced that this meant a 3-day weekend!) I don't have pictures because our camera finally died. It lasted 7 years. That's an amazing amount of time for something to remain functional, let alone intact, in our house.

So, the snow was the big story. The other story is THE GIRL SCOUT COOKIES ARE FINALLY HERE! Yeah! And, we have almost all of them already delivered. I have a few orders still in my kitchen waiting to be picked up, but our girls' boxes are all delivered or soon to be delivered. I picked up 79 cases of cookies with Matthew on Saturday morning in the pouring rain. As we were quickly loading the cases, he just had this incredulous look on his face watching the cases stack up all around him. He said, "Wow mom! This is a lot of cookies." Then, he said, "This is TOO many cookies mom. You'll get a tummy ache." Awwwww....he's worried about me getting fat too! Although, I have a feeling that what he really meant was that I could not possibly eat them all by myself and would have to SHARE them with someone like (for example) a 5-year old little boy. And, yes, he still considers himself a "little" boy.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

More quotes...

First up, we have Julia. Julia was home today with a 104.5 fever. When asked how she felt, she casually responded, "Fine!" Only Julia would feel fine with a high fever.
Anyway, a few days ago she was reading something. She asked me the following question:

"Mom, what is 'Teddy' short for? Is it 'Tedsworth?'"

"No, Teddy is short for Theodore." I was also told that it was not correct that my nickname came out of Kathryn. Apparently, it "doesn't make sense". Anyone who knows me knows that I seldom make a great deal of sense, so it really does fit.

Next up, we have (of course) Matthew. When putting him to bed the other night, I saw his little stuffed rhinoceros which he calls "Rhino". So, I asked, "Ohh, here's Rhino. Is Rhino your friend?" He looks at me with THAT look (the one that says, "Really? Do you really have any functioning brain cells left? It's amazing that you can even put your shoes on the right feet.") and says, "No, mom. This is my sleeping toy. Rhino is my favorite sleeping toy."

Overheard ...

Amanda asked to make popcorn after finishing her dinner. I said yes (I must have hit my head falling off the chair or inhaled way too many paint fumes). So, she popped it up and was getting the usual accompanying drink, napkins, and bowl. Allison came over and was eyeing the popcorn. I overheard the following exchange:

Allison: "Ummmmmm." (visibly drooling contemplating a handful of popcorn)
Amanda: "Ohhhhh, no. Don't even think about it. And, it's not because I'll kill you. It's because it's hot."

There was some sharing in the end. No deaths or serious burns were reported.

More 5-year old viewpoints

The girls really do live in the house too, but the stuff they say sometimes borders on more exasperating than funny. It used to be funny, but now it's really not. So, we are left at the mercy of Matthew for a lot of our material. Here are two of his latest views on comments or situations...

First, we have an incident where Matthew was being a bit of a clown (which is pretty much most of the time he is awake). So, I said to him, "You're a funny guy aren't you?!?" To which he responded angrily, "I'm NOT a funny GUY! I'm a funny BOY!" And you know he is already, at 5, wondering how long he will have to put up with his parents being idiots.

Our second incident comes at the expense of both Bucky and Matthew. Bucky is close behind Matthew as the source of most of our entertainment. Bucky was actively pursuing a squirrel. He thinks he will someday catch one. We mostly laugh a whole lot watching him try to miss the trees, fence, and the occasional child as he tears after the seemingly taunting critters. We were joking around and said, "Attack, Bucky!" Matthew turns and looks at us (with hands on hips) and says quite seriously, "He CAN'T! He doesn't have arms, only legs!" I guess to a 5 year old, hands are really required for an attack.

Have a great Tuesday :)

Polite Refusals

In Matthew's school today, they were asking the children what their favorite vegetable was. There was corn, peas, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and a few other odds and ends. The children were not asked WHICH they liked, they were asked to name a vegetable they liked. So, they listed the vegetables and the names of the children who chose that particular vegetable. Then, at the bottom of the list, there is one last category. And, it's not a vegetable. It simply says, "No Thank You." Apparently, when asked what his favorite vegetable was, Matthew calmly and adamantly replied:

"NO THANK YOU!"

The Littlest Linskey is 5!!!

Yes, it's official, the boy has actually made it to 5 years old. We didn't think he'd make it this far, but he proved us wrong.

He was awakened by his sisters who serenaded him with "Happy Birthday". He seemed to jump right out of bed (perhaps because his sisters did this before brushing their teeth?) Then, we brought out the balloons. We always get mylar balloons from the Dollar store...and they last a few weeks (unless Bucky gets them). His favorite was a "Love Monkey" balloon. I guess that's the benefit to having a birthday not too far away from Valentine's Day. He had a great day at school, and overall had a really fun birthday.

It's just hard to believe that it's been 5 years since Matthew made his early appearance...where did the time go? Hopefully, the next 5 are as fun (and include fewer hospital visits and/or stays!)

Good quote and article

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

- Margaret Thatcher


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123388703203755361.html

How to...what???

Okay, I have another lesson learned. And, of course, Matthew was the instructor.

So, Matthew has been known to enjoy his "special time" on the floor. He is hit or miss with doing it, but today decided to do it when we had guests over. He has no problem with this. And, when I said to him (stupidly), "Why do you do that?" He answered, "Huh? (with a look of 'why is someone interrupting me!') Ohh! Like this!" and proceeded to SHOW me, demonstrating how to use particular body parts in excruciating detail, trying to get ME on the floor to try it, wondering why I was just such a boring mom NOT to try it, how to do this peculiar little thing on the floor. Being that I was so stupid and uncooperative, he even stood up and showed me how to do it standing up. Yeah, why did I even ask? Did I think I'd get an answer that made sense? No, but I also didn't expect a play-by-play demonstration of the exact technique. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's the reverse of Julia's butt-crunching (which, in itself, is a whole different peculiar habit that anyone who's known Julia knows she's done since she could clench muscle...but although not a common grade-school activity it is, in fact, an incredibly effective buns-of-steel exercise...go rent the video if you don't believe me).

So, the lesson is:
Lesson #432
Don't ask why they have a strange/odd/peculiar little habit and expect a logical answer (or any answer at all). Don't be surprised if they try to get you to join in the fun. If it's not breaking the law, and improves muscle tone, why not just let them do it? Eventually, they'll grow out of it. Right?

Dad gets older

We celebrated Todd's birthday this weekend. Bucky surprised him with...a hickory nut. Actually, this was a surprise because we didn't think there were actually any left. He must have saved it for the special occasion. He did get a few other odds and ends, but really enjoyed Amanda inviting 3 friends over for a sleepover. Nothing says "Happy Birthday Dad!" more than screaming and giggling girls and the blaring soundtrack to High School Musical.

Matthew surprised mom by upending the birthday cake she'd made the day before. I always make the cakes ahead of time. I didn't tell him or show it to him - I think he just found it. When I make the cake, I use a big tupperware bowl that as the cover and the lid as the cake plate. So, it's upside down when you see it. Matthew apparently believes that anything upside down needs to be turned right-side up. SO, that is what he did. The cake was actually okay - the candles were driven about 4 inches into it, but other than that it was good. I guess that could be a new rule too:

#431 - Keep all 4-year old boys away from birthday cakes. If they don't flip them upside down or drop them, they will "take a peek" at it and take enough "tastes" that by the time you actually get around to eating the cake you'll have to re-frost it (if it's still intact).

Matthew's birthday is in a few weeks. I told him he was going to be turning 5. He said he wanted to remain 4. I asked why, and he said, "Because I just do!" I reminded him that he couldn't have a birthday cake if he didnt' turn 5. He then decided it would be okay to turn 5.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHY!!!

Happy Birthday to our great aunt Cathy in Philadelphia. We wish it would be a warmer day for your birthday (78 degrees would be great!) But, 18 is what it is there now. It's only 60 degrees off. Think warm thoughts...

If you know Cathy, wish her a happy birthday. I think she's 27 this year.

Have a great one :)

Ohh Where, ohh where, could the remote control be????

It's been a few months since we had a good lesson. Today, we learned another one.

Lesson Number 430:

NEVER LET A 4-YEAR OLD MAINTAIN POSSESSION OF ANY REMOTE CONTROL EVER. YOU MAY NEVER SEE IT AGAIN OR FIND IT 12 YEARS LATER IN THE BOTTOM OF A SUITCASE OR ENCASED IN SHOE POLISH OR BURIED IN THE MUD OF THE BACKYARD.

So, we watched a little tv this morning. It was tuned to HGTV. That's okay on Sunday morning. But, when Sunday afternoon rolls around it is a LAW that it be tuned to a station carrying a football game. Especially, a playoff game. Otherwise, husbands fixing torn apart bathrooms have to run up and down the stairs to check the score. Are we really that lazy that we can't just turn the channel on the television manually? No. But, we have a good reason for why we can't do this: It lacks that capability. Seriously, you actually NEED the remote to change the channel. That's the one downside to this tv. So, Todd assumes that I have lost it. This is often true, but not always. I often maintain my innocence until it turns up in my pocket or hand. But, today, we knew that Matthew had been playing in our room. He must have taken it. We looked in all the obvious places (under the bed, in the covers, in the bathroom, in the refrigerator, etc.). Then, we looked in not-so-obvious places (in Bucky's kennel, in the garbage, in the car, in the neighbor's tree, in the attic, etc.). We couldn't find it. Matthew said he "put it in the box". Well, that narrows it down only a little because anyone who's ever been here knows we have boxes EVERYWHERE. So, after about 3 hours of searching off and on, we found it. The girls had looked in my dresser. There was a "box" for sunglasses. Matthew had indicated to them that that was where it was. It wasn't. The brilliant search party neglected to realize that there were TWO sunglass boxes. Next to each other. In plain view. They only checked one. They even put the empty one back next to the one that mom discovered 2 hours later containing the remote. So, we learned another lesson - get a better search party next time. The pictures above show Matthew's hiding place, his smiling mug with the evidence, and the reason why the others were searching (they couldn't play Wii again until we found it).