Electronic Superhighway

Still not feeling like writing much. Here are some pictures of things I should be writing about...

I went on a field trip with B.A. to the American Art Museum. It was great.

This is just weird.

Tender. G calls B.A. his "ickle-bickle baby." Even I can't replace her in this new position she's acquired.

Grandma came for a visit!

November 2003

I LOVE this picture.

I've been going through all my pictures lately to try and organize and minimize for our upcoming move. It has been so fun. I hope to scan more.

I want to write about how awesome these 3 girls are, and how happy I am that they have each other, but it's not in me today. But I couldn't help sharing the picture anyway.

Anaconda Squeeze

The first of many (I'm sure) photo ops of the boys wrestling.

From the pictures, it might look like Mads has the advantage most of the time. It's not true. G has amazing takedown abilities. Just ask the girls. They've all been thrown down many times.

He can hold his own for sure.

Girls

The girls have been making up plays, and performing them for us. This is a new thing since we moved to DC. I think it came about because of all the space they have in their room to play. Maybe they would have started it anyway, but I think having space and time helped facilitate more imaginative play. So, what they do is take Cinderella, or Hansel and Gretel, or some other well known story, and change it to make it about 10 minutes long. They play all the parts, which means they sometimes play a few different parts. Although, they have used dolls in the plays also. They also make it quite humorous, which I am very proud of.

The most recent play was called "Sleeping Anwen". It followed the story of Sleeping Beauty, very very loosely. B.A. was the king, and prince. Rhon was the witch and the voices of the fairies. The fairies were Barbies hanging with fishing line from a hanger. And Dare was the queen and Anwen. There was also a furry rabbit used to play the baby princess. Some of my favorite quotes were:

"Here! Take my baby, and don't hurt me. Or my crown." - B.A as the king

"Free finger pricking! If you get yourself pricked, you'll have lovely dreams forever. Cause you'll be dead." - Rhon as the witch

When Dare was lying dead as "Sleeping Anwen" the prince (B.A.) came to her, and before he kissed her, he said, "True love's kiss is the most powerful thing in the world." And Anwen (Dare) said, "No! Karate is!" and punched his crown off.

They're awesome.

* The sign was made with their initials. I don't think they wanted to use B.R.A. Plays, so they went with B.A.R.

Boys

I received this email from our Primary President on Sunday night...

Amanda:

I hope G recovers from Primary today.

Our sharing time lesson was about how families are important in God's plan. I chose some kids at random to dress up to represent some different families from the scriptures. G was one of the ones I choose. He went out in the hall willingly enough but soon returned in tears. Apparently, the idea of dressing up was too much for him. Or maybe I didn't give him enough information about what he was going to be asked to do in advance.

I think G remained upset for a few minutes after he came back in to the primary room but hopefully he was over it by the time he got home from church and will want to come back to Primary. Who knew that dressing up could be so traumatic? I assumed that it would be something that the kids would enjoy. You can imagine that tears are NOT the reaction that the Primary president is trying to illicit. The activity went over much better with the senior Primary so maybe it is just a question of age.

Anyway, I hope that G has put it all behind him now and will look forward to Primary next Sunday.

Oh dear. The chances are pretty good that was just being stinky. Someone probably told him to wear something when he wanted to wear something else. He's that way. He doesn't like people telling him what to do. He likes to make his own decisions.

**********

While in the bath this morning, and while he was washing himself, Mads proclaimed, "My penis rocks!"

I suppose it's a good thing, and good to speak the truth if that's how he feels.

Another Trip Downtown

More American history.

I couldn't take pictures of the Star Spangled Banner exhibit, but it was amazing. It was surprisingly emotive, and reverential. I loved it.

Ooo. The castle looks creepy on a cloudy day.

Now, it's a Washington Monument picture with fog and rain.

Eazy Grilla

Mads has a new habit. And before I talk about what it is, I would like to say that I'm not proud of it. I thought it was funny at first, and that is why I took pictures. But now, I do not let him continue this practice. Well, I'll let him if he's not doing it in an embarrassing way.

Mads has recently become obsessed with money. Now, I don't think he really even knows what it means to be obsessed with money. So his desires are pretty innocent. Just so you know. I just think he likes collecting it, and he mentioned being able to buy gum whenever he wanted. He also likes counting it. In fact, he has gotten pretty good at math because of it. And he'll just be able to skip the money section in school altogether. Maybe he'll like being able to start over with rupiah in a couple of months.

I don't want anyone thinking bad about my favorite almost 5 year old in the whole world.

He is also super excited to get the wallet that I bought him off of eBay. The day we get that in the mail will be exciting to say the least.

Here he is searching for money at Target...

When asked how much money he wants, he said, "A thousand, a hundred, a million, and ten."
Nate asked him once why he was always looking for money. He said, "Because I love money!" And he just told me that money was fun.
Me - "Why do you like money so much?"

Mads - "Because they make me rich!"
He does this at any store we go to. It's amazing what that boy can find! For some reason, all the luggage stores we have been to seem to be a perfect place for finding spare change.

We went to CVS the other day in search of some Valentine's Day candy. (Don't judge me.) And B.A. just asked me if laying flat in the isle, looking under the shelves, counts as an 'embarrassing way'. Oh dear. I didn't see him doing that.

Colonial Day

So, in fourth grade, there is a big event called Colonial Day. All the kids pick a colonial era job, and research the heck out of it. Then they come in costume to school and put on a presentation for all the visitors. B.A. was a potter.

It was really great. I loved how all the kids were so enthusiastic about their trade, and they did such a good job on their presentations. I love when school is fun and educational! B.A. had a great time.
We walked because I thought parking would be difficult. I didn't realize we would have been better off wearing ice skates. Oh well, we made it without any cracked skulls. (Rhon was home from school because she was sick.)

For Two, Please

We spent most of January and into February sick. It was sucky. Each of us got sick at least once. It would be a lot easier if we all just got it at the same time, but unfortunately that's not how it usually works. It wasn't too bad, it could have been much worse. It just seemed to last a long time. There was also a lot of napping, and skipping meals. And you know if Dare takes a nap, she is not feeling good. So when I saw her asleep with G, I just had to take a picture. I think they have a special bond. They like just being together. They are so much alike it is wacky. I keep waiting to find a difference in personality, but the older they get, the more alike they become.

Passports

When we are all together in a place that doesn't see many big families, we are a spectacle, to say the least. When we went downtown to get our passports, I was expecting to get stared at, gawked at, etc. I was right to be prepared. All those things happened, and more...

Big white hallway. Looks like a hospital.

We had to get our pictures taken first. I wish I would have gotten more of my own pictures to document the occasion, but I was mostly thinking about how to get out of there as quickly and painlessly as possible. Getting my camera out might have complicated that plan. We got our pictures taken right away, and then we had to wait on them to be printed. We had to wait in a little room, with about 30 chairs crammed in it. About 20 of the chairs were occupied. We found a section that had a few chairs together and sat down, and got out the books.

I have to say that I was proud of my kids that day. They behaved perfectly. With the help of gum, they were content to sit and read while we waited.

When the pictures were done, we had to go to a new room to apply for the passports. There was no line here, but I guess processing 14 forms takes a bit of time. We waited in this room...

No, B.A. does not read with her book that close to her face. She is hiding. I had no idea that would start so soon. : (

The kids were great here too. Luckily there was way more space, and way less people. The wait was much longer, and it was lunchtime. I brought plenty of snacks, but it was pretty clear that they didn't want you eating in that room. We just brought out more gum, and did some pushups!

We were in and out of there in just over 2 hours. I think it was a miracle.

Then a couple weeks later...

What an exciting time for us! This is really happening!

Take It To Main

We tried to take our own passport photos. It didn't work out so well. Aside from lighting issues, we had to deal with difficult children. Or should I say one difficult child in particular. Here are 6 of the 473 pictures we took of G. And his commentary to go with them...

"No way I'm going to smile like you asked."

"In fact, I'm going to act grumpy."

"I'm not even going to look at you."

"Okay, I'll look, but only with one eye."

"I'm looking. Try to put this one on my passport, Suckas!"

"Watch. I'll smile. But you still won't be able to use it. Ha ha!"

Constitution Avenue

This was a few weeks ago. And I didn't get many pictures. And the ones I got are not great. But we went to the National Museum of American History. It was so COOL! We spent about 2 hours there, and we only saw about a third of the museum. So this is NMAH Part One. (I thought I may as well start using acronyms for everything. Cause that's what they do here in DC.)

It was a great time. I could do without all the questions from the kids, like, "Were TVs invented when you were a kid?" Or, "Do you remember WWI?" But then, of course, we walk by an old time station wagon with wood paneling, and I tell the kids how we had a car like that when I was a kid. It's probably confusing. I'll let it slide. This time.

Family is Forever

My beautiful, awesome, fun, amazing, cool, adventurous, happy family.

At the DC Temple.

While the Christmas lights, and the nativities from all around the world were out.

One of the nativites from Indonesia.

On The Range

So there is another tree downtown in front of the Capitol. This one, I thought, was nicer. It had a better shape. It was from Wyoming, so all the ornaments were Wyoming-ish, which is to say it had horses and cowboys all over it. It's impressive that people can even decorate a tree that big.

We also checked out the Botanical Garden again. We all love that place.

The Washington Monument.

The real Washington Monument.

Yes, I'm going to take a picture of this monument from all different locations. I'm not tired of it.

The Capitol.

The real Capitol.

The kids had tons of fun running around in the grassy area in front of the Capitol. Admittedly, they were acting a little on the crazy side, but they don't have a yard! I was just happy with the awesome weather.

ps - G gives the Washington Monument a different name every time he sees it. It usually involves the word 'castle'. I've heard Jefferson's Castle, Lincoln Monument Castle, and Washington's Castle. Now he calls it, "Washington Monument and Jefferson's Castle." Oh, also he calls himself Chester, and makes everyone else call him that too. Random.

Draw 2

Playing Uno with Dare.