Lavender the Ferret

I guess it would be stating the obvious to say that we got a ferret. This is after 2 plus years of reading about pets that might be good for my dog/cat allergic daughter. I am a dog/horse person. I know nothing about rodents, pot-bellied pigs, weasels, goats, birds, etc.

So if you feel so inclined to pray for us....say that our new weaselish animal will not electrocute herself/our house by chewing wires....or maybe for Lucy to not develop an allergy so her heart does not get broken AGAIN, that would be much appreciated.

So far we like our new pet. The kids are a little skittish, cause they know she nips. But she is hysterical. At first I was afraid that the jumping side to side, clicking, hissing, chasing and hair bristling meant she either hated us or had distemper. Turns out lots of new ferret owners think this. It's her way of being happy. Hmmm....who knew?
Can you tell who likes her the most??? Actually, Stephen does. (weird - since he said "I don't want a weasel" when I first broached this option) But Clyde comes in a close second. He loves her soooooo much. Even better than the Wii!!!

I find it ironic that we have named a creature which is notorious for stinking after an herb that is notorious for aromatherapy and perfume qualities. Oh well. That's what happens when you allow your kids to name the new family pet. Stephen and I were voting for "Stinker".

We read that containers filled half-way with rice make a good digging toy. Don't worry, we didn't trap her in there. There are two holes in the lid.
And there she is, poking her head out of one. So there you go....our new pet, Lavender. Hope this turns out to be a pleasant adventure.

Acolyte in Training :)

So, I am Presbyterian.

This is not really an important thing in my book (the important part being that I love Jesus), but it's important to this blog, because ...well, Presbyterians don't have acolytes.

Occasionally we don't go to our own church on Sundays. My Dad is a retired minister who occasionally is still called upon to fill in for other pastors. My kids are very used to big churches, like ours, as well as teensy churches, like most of the ones out where my Dad preaches.

My oldest, Lucy, has been inducted into the acolyte club on previous trips to these country churches. However, Clyde, has never been invited.....till today. Stephen and I weren't sure how we felt about this. I mean....fire. And Clyde. Um....well. You see, there are a lot of old people in this church who might not be able to escape quickly.

Well, WE weren't exactly asked what we thought. Clyde was escorted to the rear and given his acolyte...thingy. I rushed back there and explained to him what to do if the flame got really big and smokey. I told him to walk slowly or the flame might go out.

See, Lucy's first experience doing this was fresh in my brain. Her flame went out 2 times! She was embarrassed. I wasn't sure how Clyde would handle embarrassment.

So the music starts...it's out of my hands. I'm sitting near the front. Clyde starts walking from the back. Very. Very. Very .............SLOWLY! I mean bridesmaids everywhere would have been impressed with his slow, steady, um....walk? down the aisle.

I'm hearing chuckles from the amused elderly ladies. They mention how cute he is. The pianist is patiently playing the 4th or 5th verse and he's halfway down the aisle.

I thought I was imagining his flame getting smaller and smaller. Nope. It really was NOT my imagination.

My normally exuberant boy finally arrives to the front of the sanctuary. He tries to light the first candle. nope. tries again. nope. tries again and again.

The flame goes out.

A man meets me in the middle of the aisle to pass the lighter to me. I carry the lighter to the front of the church and struggle to light it. It lights. I light Clyde's wick and scurry to my seat. He proceeds to perform the slowest lighting of two candles imaginable.

He finishes. He turns around. THE ENTIRE CONGREGATION CLAPS! I am not joking. This has never happened before. Are they clapping cause he was cute? or cause he's finally done?

Then I remember. He has to go back up there after the sermon.

Superheros and Silly String

If you ever want to have a superhero party, this is a fun way to do it! Stephen and I literally moved EVERYTHING out of the basement! All toys were gone. We wanted the open space, cause we knew hero battles would soon ensue.

We had giant, inflatable Batman mallets blown up and ready for each guest.

Then of course, Clyde and I made these cupcakes. The action figures doubled as his b-day present from Mom and Dad. I hope you can tell that Silver Surfer is hovering over the cupcakes! A flying superhero only requires tape and thread, but the boys were very impressed. :)

So, I was really bummed that I didn't have time to set up games...but no worries! These superheros don't need games! They literally fought (and with good attitudes, I might add!) FOREVER! They wrestled and clobbered and wrestled and clobbered.
I managed to find all masks and round up the boys for a pic around the birthday boy and cake!
In walks Stephen (aka Super-Villain), with a black shirt and black hood over his head. He has an evil cackle and dangerous threats. He then drops purple balloon-bombs all over the kitchen. The pre-warned boys rushed to pop the "bombs". They then saw the villain try to grab the cupcakes. Poor Stephen was tackled and pelted by 5 hyper boys. Iris and one of the boys were terrified of the Villain and did NOT participate in this event. Actually, Iris was crying. :(

The boys (and Iris) then inhaled the cup cakes and moved downstairs to open presents. But right after the first present was open, Super-Villain returned to steal presents. In my infinite wisdom, I gave each boy a can of silly string! I am so smart, I know! So after they soaked Stephen in silly string they then covered the entire basement floor with it!
This enormous mess was, of course, followed by more wrestling...
.... more clobbering
They did this for a VERY long time! They never tired of it. No one got seriously injured! When it appeared that we were pushing our luck with that, we moved the boys upstairs to watch the Fantastic Four cartoon.

When Lucy returned from a weekend getaway at Grandma's, she was very relieved to find all of her belongings intact.

Even though it was a messy, loud, assault-on-the-senses kind of day, I'm thrilled we did it. And Clyde is too!

All of my laundry IS CLEAN!!

Just had to tell everyone as this only happens once in a blue moon. It's all put away too!!!!

Clyde 6-year-old Birthday Dinner in pictures :)

So, there is an annual tradition of Mom and Paul taking each of our children out to the restaurant of his/her choice for their birthday. This starts whenever a particular child is old enough to ask why they've never had a birthday dinner.

This year Clyde chose Ichiban... it is his very favorite. He calls it the "Fire Restaurant". My girls hate it. After dinner to this hated/loved eating establishment we went to Mom's to open presents.

I apologize in advance for selecting way to many pictures!

Iris was very UNimpressed with the antics and most assuredly, the fire. This is right before she started sobbing....you won't see any pics of Lucy, she had to be taken out by Auntie Sherry.

The fire, the chef balancing an egg over his head, the insane chopping up of veggies! He loves it all!

"Momma, I love these mushrooms!"

"Momma, these onions are SO good!"
"Wow! This cabbage is great!"
This boy loves ANYTHING as long as it's Japanese food.

He unconsciously pounds his fist to the beat of our rendition of "Happy Birthday".

Nothing says "I love you" like a long coveted mechanical grabber!
You never know when you might need it in the superhero business.

"Sherry! You got me a Spiderman suit, cause my old one tore up!"
Yes, folks....you always need an updated, intact Spiderman suit...what would happen if disaster caught you unprepared?!

He opened his SHARK book from us. Only a book about dangerous or gruesome animals can keep this boy's attention.

Clyde displaying his new slinky from Iris

Nina and Papa got him a Wii game with *gasp* SILVER SURFER in it!!

Iris examines Clyde's new SHARK book, yelling, "Clyde! Clyde! Come look.... at all the BLOOD!!!!" Enthusiastically, Clyde obliges,"That is SO awesome!!"

Digit Decor

Sooo...I have felt irrational nervousness about my first post. For some reason, I keep thinking I have to wait for something very important to happen before I can write my first post. So, just to spite myself, I'm going to write about something very trivial. Fingernails. I've never understood the obsession that many have with their nails. I try every once in a while to paint mine...but my nails stay short and I chew them alot. Whenever I'm around a lot of people with manicured, well painted and bejeweled nails, I feel a little self-conscious. But the real mystery to me lately is this... I always figured that all the ladies out there who LOVE well manicured nails had mothers who nurtured this trait. You can imagine my surprise when my own two daughters REALLY wanted manicure-ish related articles for Christmas. I thought...okay, why not. So.... Lucy got a konad nail kit and Iris got some jewels for her itty-bitty baby nails. I'm posting some pictures of the finished product. For those of you not familiar with konad...you paint your nails with regular polish, paint special polish into a stenciled design, scrape off the excess paint, lift the wet polish image out of the stencil with a flat rubber stamp and then stamp it onto your nail. If you think this sounds complicated, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. It is BEYOND complicated! It is a nightmare. I literally screamed out loud once...right in front of darling Lucy. Iris's nails were pretty easy. Does this mean I'm going to be doing nails alot?? Just wondering. And where did they get this great desire to have their nails done all the time? It's not from their friends, and it certainly did not come from me!