A Lesson in Class Distinction

We were at the wedding of our beloved cousin, Nick, this weekend. At the reception, we had a sit-down lunch in a ballroom. The wedding party was seated on the stage. Scoochy looked up with a questioning face at the wall of tables above our heads. (We were seated right next to the stage. So close in fact, we couldn't see the faces of the wedding party, only the tablecloths draping down.)

Scoochy: Mom, why are they sitting up there?

Me: Well, sweetie, those are the important people. We're just the peons.

Scoochy was thoughtful for a moment. Suddenly you could see a horrible thought had dawned on her. Her face went from pensive to horror-stricken.

Scoochy: You mean they're going to "pee on" us?!

It took me a second to realize why she would even say that. Of course, we all erupted in laughter and Scoochy, being a sensitive soul, had to have it explained that we weren't laughing at her. Once we told her what "peon" meant, she thought it was hilarious as well and insisted that we tell everyone what happened.

Lesson learned: be careful what words you choose when the very imaginative listener doesn't know the definition.

Everybody loves Trento!

Our buddy, Trenton, comes to visit and everytime the kids are soooo excited. We took some pics last time he came, but of course, getting five people (when four are kids) to all look at the camera and smile is a bit impossible. Especially at bedtime. Oh well.

Started out good. Wait! Dodge has decided to be underhanded and cross his eyes. And where's Tank?

Here he is! Tank in his usual, "Don't take my picture!" mood.

Finally, everyone at least in the picture. Never can make promises that they'll all be smiling, or even looking at the camera, but at least they're there.

It Snowed! It Snowed! It Snowed!

Where we live, we get snow one day every winter. If we're lucky. We've been super-lucky this year. So far it has snowed at least three days on our little postage-stamp yard. Of course, all three times it was gone before noon and it didn't stick on any of the cement or asphalt once the sun was shining, but it snowed nonetheless.

And what do you do when it snows? Well, by golly, you make a snowman. Even if you have to roll that darn ball of snow over every patch of available snow to get enough.

The kiddos originally set out to make a snowman, but then when it came time for the eyes and arms and everything, they decided it was a snow-elk. An snow-elk?! Well, I can't complain, I'm the one who is always urging them to use their imaginations. For a larger image, click on the picture below. You'll see the antlers and if you look closely, the snout.

The elusive snow-elk

Who can resist tasting the snow?

Teamwork!

Scoochy was the most dedicated snowball roller. She chased every patch of snow to grow the base from that little ball in her hands.

Dodge finished the base when it grew too cumbersome for Scoochy.

A moment of Tank's snow dance.

We're awfully prepared for snow, aren't we?

Snowmen aren't pretty when you're scraping every bit of snow you can. But I promise, we did not complain.

It's time for another video!

We went on a walk the other day and I brought my camera. I was messing with the continuous shooting option and took some action sequences. Of course I had to make a movie, but then the Windows Movie Maker had all these cool options. So, naturally I had to keep fiddling until I came up with the video below. I can't help myself. I take something fairly simple and have to make it as complicated as possible. Plus, you get to hear a snippet from one of my most favoritist bands, The Housemartins. Unfortunately, Princess Cutie Pops didn't participate in any of these daring stunts.

Taking after her Nana*

Scoochy has a new passion. She's an avid cook, aspiring artist, and now has turned to sewing. I just asked her how many sewing books she checked out from the library and she replied, "Not that many, maybe six." I love that she thinks six books isn't that many.

She ripped a hole in one of her favorite pairs of jeans recently. Coincidentally, in one of the books are instructions on how to turn a pair of jeans into a skirt. She jumped right on it and with a little help from Mom, chugged out her first self-made piece of clothing.

First, the front:
Now, the back:
Bravo! Scoochy.

*Nana, Scoochy's maternal grandmother, is an excellent seamstress.

S'mores in the winter!

Grandma Teri gave the kids a hot chocolate/smores gift set for Christmas. The hot chocolate went fast, but I was a little more reluctant to break into the smores. But then I realized I could cheat. I got the kids together, we assembled the little treats and popped them into the microwave. Horrible, isn't it? Oh well. It puffed the marshmallows, softened the chocolate and warmed the graham cracker. Scoochy and Dodge downed theirs so fast I didn't even have a chance to snap a photo. Princess Cutie Pops and Tank, on the other hand, know how to take their time. Theirs isn't the cleanest way to eat them, but I'm sure it's the funnest.

Tank sucked down the chocolate and marshmallow. Now he's working through the graham crackers.

Fascinated by how his fingers stick together when he tries to pull them apart.

She's got chocolate all over her face and she's still beautiful.

Homemade sushi night

We had a little sushi night, yesterday. It was delicious! Princess Cutie Pops seems to have gotten the hang of chopsticks. Her ability to grab an entire piece of sushi is pretty impresseive.Tank held the chopsticks at times, but pretty much just stuffed his face with his bare hands. I'm all for the "whatever works" approach.Here is Scoochy, full of pride. She just made her own roll with no help from mom! (Well, I did slice it up for her, but that's it!)