Jeremy's Clarification

Now, hold on, everyone. Let me, Jeremy, be clear about this. I openly admit that Twilight was better than most girl movies. I admit that there were exciting moments. In fact, I admit that I liked it.

However, let it be known that in I did make gagging motions and say "bleh!" more than once, including the absurd 30 second sequences of she looks at him, he looks at her, she looks at him, he looks at her...ugh...they almost lost me. Then some violence took place, or a car chase ensued, and I was relieved of my impulse to vomit.

It was genuinely okay. I wouldn't have admitted it in public, but since it's out there, I give it a qualified stamp of man-approval, so long as a man viewing the film is on a date, preferably a double date so that he can exchange exasperated glances with the other dude in your date party.

I give it as my opinion that so long as a man watches this film with a girl with whom he is romantically involved, he only loses a man card if he likes it more than 70% as much as the girl he is with.

Hot Cereal

The whole clan was eating Dee's Hot Cereal the other morning, and Victor wanted in on the action. Grandma put Victor on her lap and gave him a big bite of cereal. He promptly froze, then opened his mouth so as not to swallow the nasty stuff. And he remorsefully said, "That's not for me."

Way to go, Victor. I don't like it, either.

Twi-what???

Guess who just saw Twilight--

Jeremy did!

Guess who really liked Twilight--

Jeremy did!

Family Photos

Today we assembled our large family group for a photograph. Picture this: twelve adults, two photographers, and seven children--six of them crying--all in a small basement studio. We arranged ourselves in front of the backdrop and the six crying children quieted. Then the one non-crying child decided that photos were oppressive and difficult, and started crying.

What did we do? We gave him a lollipop.

I'm sure the pictures will turn out beautifully.

Zeke's First Birthday

Zeke celebrated his first birthday on Christmas Eve. We had a great party. First, we ate a turkey dinner. Then we had cake--yellow with chocolate frosting. It had to be chocolate because a front-loader was on top of the cake "pushing" a load of "dirt and rocks" (aka frosting and Skittles). It was a pretty cute cake, although pretty standard little-boy fare.

Zeke received a train for his birthday. It is a lot bigger in real life than it looked on Amazon.com. And for some unknown reason, the sound has to be ON for the train to go forward. Maybe Jeremy can cut the sound wire. The trian was the source of some envy. Everyone (read: Victor) wanted to play with it.

Zeke throughly enjoyed his party. Great-grandma and Great-grandpa were there along with a whole cadre of aunts and uncles and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa M. Even his twin cousins stayed up specially to celebrate with him.

By way of a record, Zeke can do the following things at age 1:

Stand up
Walk
Clap (he did this for the first time on his birthday)
Eat an apple (not just slices--a whole apple)
Unwrap gifts
Drink from a cup or a straw
Make a sound like Cookie Monster when he's hungry
Bop up and down to music
Play peek-a-boo (he loves this game)
Turn the pages of a book
Drag a comb through his hair
Point to things he wants to look at or touch
Point to his bed when he's sleepy
Put things on his head
Pull off his socks, bib, and hat
Tear paper

Winter Wonderland--of trucks

It's been snowing steadily since we arrived, and the weather has proved a boon for driving in the car. You see, snow brings with it the appearance of vehicles equipped to deal with and remove snow, and Victor looooooooves to look at them.

A snowplow! A little snowplow! A big snowplow!

A tractor! A dump truck! A four-wheeler!

It turns driving from dull to delightful. From tedious to terrific. From insane to interesting. It's downright educational.

Helpful Travel Tip

If you are travelling to an airport and you are running late, please consider that being stopped by the police for speeding will erase any gains you planned to make from speeding.

Even if the officer writes the ticket for 54 in a 45 instead of 60 in a 45, you will still lose those minutes.

Just a tip.

An Academic Exercise

Today, as a purely academic exercise, I decided to decorate Christmas Cookies. It was academic because my friend has been teaching me the basics of cake decorating, and this was my big chance to show that I can make decorator frosting.

Or, as it turns out, I can't. It wasn't smooth enough, but that's okay. It was just an academic exercise, and I can try again on Zeke's birthday cake at the end of the month.

The cookies were a recipie from another friend, and they were fabulous. Just fabulous!

Here are some pictures of what I made. Again, this was just for educational purposes.

Ouch!

I read that in general, boys do not feel pain as keenly as girls. In support of this proposition, I offer the following anecdotal evidence.

We have a little fan that runs on 2 AA batteries. You know the kind--it is usually for sale with a spritzer bottle at Disneyland in August.

Victor has been intrigued by this fan for a long time. By intrigued, I mean he likes to turn it on and then stick his finger or tongue through the plastic guards and into the fan blades.

Ouch! Would you do that? I wouldn't.

But wait, there's more. Zeke likes to do the exact same thing. He has, for months, loved to find the fan (which Victor has left on) and stick his finger or tongue through the gap in the slats.

Ouch! But they both love it.

Cookie Trouble

I have a problem.

My chocolate chip cookies are NOT working. I have been making this recipe for years, but recently, it is not working.

Instead of delicious, not-too-puffy, moist cookies with a good consistency and not too many chips, my cookies look like a bunch of cookie batter melted on top of a pile of chocolate chips.

My oven is the right temperature. I don't melt or over-beat the butter. My eggs are the right size. Today I even tried using half butter and half butter-flavored Crisco. Jeremy suspects my baking soda has failed in some way. Perhaps I need to add extra flour.

If there is a professional home economics teacher out there, I would welcome her suggestions.

Magic Word

Overheard as I watched the news:

Victor: I want some milk.

Jeremy: What's the word you use when you want something?

Victor: "BING!"

Barney

Victor likes Barney.

Actually, he kind of loves Barney.

When Barney sings the "you're special" song, Victor comes running up to me yelling, "I'm special!!!"

When Barney sing the love song, Victor runs to me, wherever I am in the house, for his great big hug and kiss from me to you.

Admittedly, Barney has his faults. For example, he thinks all people can be winners all the time. Since that's just not true, I have explained to Victor that sometimes you lose, and that's okay.

Other than that, I can't think of a good reason to deny Victor his Barney. Plus, it's cute when he sings the love song.

A Hygienic Child

Yesterday Victor wandered into my room with his toothbrush in his mouth.

I asked him what he was doing. He said,

"Sometimes I like to brush my teeth."

Promised Land

We like to go to the Science Center a couple of times a week. One of the main attractions is a great big ship, complete with flags and wheel. Victor likes to run onto it and spin the wheel. Zeke and I usually wait alongside until Victor calls out,

"Mom! Come aboard, Mom!"

I asked him where we were going. He's been watching a lot of Peter Pan lately, so I thought he'd say "We're off to Neverland!" Nope. He said:

"To the promised land!"

I guess he's been watching Living Scriptures, too.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Many thanks to Aunt Keeta and Uncle Mike for their hospitality. Considering the presence of six little children, of whom Victor was the oldest by almost 2 years, it was a remarkably calm holiday.

Victor spent most of his time playing with a little blue semi and sliding Dog down the banister.



Zeke whiled away the hours eating turkey and stuffing. Seriously--he must have been half-starved.

We all had a delightful time meeting recently-born relatives. Being an aunt is fun! It's also terrific to be a first-cousin-once-removed.

Thanksgiving Pictures . . .

are now posted on Jer's Super Fun Family Extravaganza.

He's Home!

You can all stop worrying about our lost fire truck. I found him. He's home safe with his friends.