Lime Green Halloween

Well, as promised to Grandma-lene who made the kids' amazing costumes this year, it is time for me to post some lovely Halloween pics. Nathan is SuperWhy, of course, with the power to read. And Katie is our little woodland fairy. I made the tutu & provided the tights, Amy gave us the slippers, and the rest is all courtesy of the talents of Grandma.

Here's the back:

And, finally, almost our only shot with SuperWhy wearing his mask (so much for his secret identity):

Brewer's Game

Thanks to the Microbiology Department at MCW (and thanks to Necia Kagie &Jana & Keith Wells who watched the kids), Tyce & I were able to enjoy great seats--much closer than I'd expected--at a Brewer's game September 8th. I don't really have anything insightful to say about it. I enjoyed myself a lot more than I expected to--especially when a foul ball flew right above our heads. I wish we could've gotten a picture of that one!

This was posted at the entrance to all the bottom-level sections, I think. It was funny to pass it, all the same, on the way to our own seats.

Tyce really enjoyed the racing sausages:
I thought it was great that this guy delivered the game ball:

Deranged Pandas & Hitler Koala

Look. Just look. You know I'm right. When I first finished that darn koala, I noticed he just looked a little off. As soon as those eyes were firmly attached, the reason why became painfully obvious. I christened him Adolph--but I don't think that will help his chances of selling at the craft show.(That is not a tuft of black hair atop the koala's head. It comes from the arm of the panda. But now that I look at the picture, I actually wish I'd thought of that.)
Apparently, I have no flair for creating amigurumi.

I firmly believe this is the cuter--or, well, less creepy--of the two pandas, but, let's face it, I wouldn't want to go to bed with that anywhere in my line of vision.

Nathanisms

Lightning = Lightning McQueen (this is used for any context of lightning and is equated with thunder), as in, "Mom, I heard Thunder-Lightning McQueen!"

Nathan, it's your birthday!

Nathan and Katie at the grocery store, helping Mommy get ready for the party:

Because Nathan loves all things Lightning McQueen, I decided to give Nathan's birthday party a car theme. I wanted to make his birthday cake in the shape of a car. Unfortunately, I tried to begin working with the cake a bit too soon (I was trying to seize the moment after putting Nathan & Katie down for a nap) and it broke into 5 pieces as I tried to move it from the pan to the tray I had prepared. So, instead, I decided to make his cake in the form of several cars going around a racetrack. Well, then I had a couple of icing issues so the end result is not exactly very pretty. I decided to name it: Junkyard Racetrack. And I left one small car unfrosted--as if its paint had all worn away--and left it off to the side of the racetrack with 3 mini-oreo wheels scattered around it:

Alas, the "ugly" story doesn't end here. Katie has become quite the climber lately and frequently pushes the chairs around so she can climb on the table. I was doing something in the kitchen to get ready for the party when I realized that I could hear Nathan playing but that Katie was being entirely too quiet. I went into the other room and Katie was on the table. Her handiwork is below:

She seemed quite pleased with herself.

I asked Tyce to set up a racetrack in the backyard with some red crepe paper, and, boy, did he come through. He cut stakes from some extra wood he had in the basement to mark out the edges of the track and left a big space in the middle where we thought the kids could eat their ice cream. What a great guy I have! I had a fuzzy idea of a racetrack game for the party and handed Tyce only a roll of crepe paper (with some vague idea of using rocks, or anything heavy, to weight it down in a circle) and he uses his mad creative & practical skills to create something way better than I imagined.

The game was "Racetrack Treasure Hunt." I sprinkled candy all around the outer circle and Tyce had them line up at a starting line and gave them each a sandwich baggie. I sang "Once there was a Race Car" (which I only came up with after guests started arriving) and, while I was singing, they could race around and collect candy. When I stopped singing, they were supposed to freeze. They didn't get out or anything if they didn't freeze (I wanted it to be non-competitive) but they all did anyway. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Well, I said we thought the kids could eat in the inner circle on the lovely blankets we set out for them. Apparently, they thought the concrete was more inviting:

All in all, it was a fun day and Nathan had a great time (especially opening his presents & playing with his presents!). Happy Birthday, Kiddo!

Nathanisms, pt. II Just Words

• When words have a "z" sound in them, Nathan pronounces them "lizard," more or less. For example, "Mommy where are my lizards?"--referring to scissors. Or "Emily Elizabeth" is "Emily Lizard."
• "muppets" = "muffins" as in "Muffins Take Manhattan" or "Muffins in Space"

Hmm...I thought I had more than that (and I know I do) but I didn't write them down because I thought I could remember. Maybe tomorrow. Here's another cute story:

I had the radio in the kitchen tuned to NPR while I did dishes and wiped counters (etc.) and Nathan was "helping" me. One of the reporters said something that included the word "America." Nathan stopped whatever he was doing at that moment and, in an excited voice, said, "She said 'America'!" Tyce had taught him that we live in America a couple of nights before. Tyce was in the room at that moment so he asked Nathan, "What does 'America' mean?" Nathan thought for a long moment, looked at me, then said, "America means you go to school."

Nathanisms, pt. I Incidental

In honor of Nathan's birthday month, I bring to you Nathanisms--a collection of incidents, quotations, & common phrases from the kid himself. And brought to you by me, the recorder of all things Nathan.

• Nathan loves Nephi. He loves singing "Nephi's Courage," reading about Nephi in his picture Book of Mormon, and, best of all, pretending to be Nephi. The best way to be Nephi, for Nathan, is to tell Mommy, "I Nephi. You brothers. Help me build my ship." Then it is Mommy's job to look mad, tell him "no," and then threaten to hurt Nathan-Nephi. Nathan-Nephi then reaches out his hand and says, "shocked!" (This is his favorite part and he sometimes jumps the gun and shocks Mommy-brothers just for saying "no.") Mommy-brothers is then shocked and must look shocked and fall back on the floor. Nathan-Nephi then swings both of his arms as if marching (like they taught him to do in nursery for the chorus of "Nephi's Courage") and says, "Lord provides way; wants me to obey" (more or less with a little slurring of the words). Mommy-brothers then tells Nathan-Nephi, "I see you have the power of the Lord with you. I will help you build your ship." He looks very satisfied and we begin using our fists as hammers on his imaginary ship.

• Once during the winter months, Nathan, Katie & I were inside the giraffe building at the zoo, watching the giraffes lick the walls, when Nathan noticed a group of peacocks outside the glass doors. Having learned from his friends Kolby & Eli how to open the doors using the button (provided for the handicapped and, I think, mothers with strollers), he pushed the button and stood in the doorway calling out to the peacocks, "Cuckoos! Come on, cuckoos!" He was walking closer sideways and holding out his hand (as I do when I'm trying to get him to take my hand and come with me) and I believe he was trying to convince those birds to come inside where it was warm. I managed to convince him to come back in with me without the peacocks, but I just had to laugh at his calling them "cuckoos" and trying to play the mother hen and look out for those cold birds.

• I sometimes have General Conference playing on the computer while I eat breakfast with the kids. This time, I was watching it on byu.tv (instead of just listening to it from the church's website) and Nathan looked at it and said, "That's a church. It's not our church." Since, you know, it definitely looked different than the pulpit in our chapel. He paused for a moment and said, "outside in the church." I loved this description of the large floral arrangements placed around the pulpit in the conference center. Isn't it wonderful the way kids will bring together the things they know & are familiar with (like that the outside is green & sometimes flowery) to describe things that are new or strange (like humongous floral arrangements)?

• We were driving home from a friend's apartment one night when we passed a police car on the side of the road with its lights on. Nathan said, "Look! Police car! It...he..." He paused briefly searching for the right words. "...has fire on his head."

• I gave Nathan a kiss one day and he wiped it off, saying, "No, Mommy. I don't want it with water." He was apparently objecting to a "wet kiss"--although the kiss, I have to defend myself, I don't believe was very wet.
  

• Nathan saw the person who has been mowing our lawn this summer drive up and pull out the lawn mower. The first thing he said (and then repeated over and over) was, "Mom, he doesn't have a shirt on." "Mommy, he's not wearing a shirt. He doesn't have a shirt." The guy who used to mow our lawn wore a shirt. Then Nathan said, "His truck is black. It's not...whi...blu...red anymore." And he was right. The guy who mowed our lawn the last 2 summers drove a red truck and the new guy drove a black truck. Finally, he kept getting upset because he thought the guy was mowing into the bushes. He said, "He's mowing into our bushes. I gotta go stop him." And then Nathan tried to go downstairs to stop him.

• So, Nathan clearly takes offense when guys don't wear their shirts and thinks it's very much his business: one afternoon, Nathan and Katie were on the back deck while I made lunch. Nathan came inside and said, "He's not wearing a shirt." I assumed he was talking about someone he saw outside and was going to say "shh" or something so as not to embarrass me and/or whoever was shirtless when he distracted me by saying, "He said, 'I know.'" So, my kid saw one of our neighbors without a shirt and decided to call out to whoever it was to tell the poor guy about his apparent wardrobe deficiency.
  

• One morning, Tyce was suggesting--not unusually for him--to Nathan that they do something that I had just said they shouldn't. When I said "What?" in my mostly-joking-you're-in-trouble-tone, Nathan responded, "Smile and wave, boys. Just smile and wave" in a very good imitation of the head penguin from the movie Madagascar. I love movie quotes myself so I thought it absolutely wonderful that not only could he imitate the penguin so well but that he could also apply the quote to the right sort of situation.

• Nathan and I were talking and I asked him if he knew that I loved him. He responded, "Jesus made me." I answered, "yes, He did." Then I asked Nathan if he knew that Jesus made it so that we could all live together forever. He didn't answer so I said, "That's why we have to be nice to each other so that we want to be together forever." Nathan said, "Yes...Jesus made me." Feeling like I wasn't quite getting through with my little teaching moment, I simply said, "Thank you, Jesus." Nathan quickly answered, "He's not here." I said, "You're right. He's not in this room right now, but did you know that he can always hear us?" Thinking about this only for a second, Nathan leaned down and peered into the ventilation grate and said, "Jesus? You in there?"

Daniel and the Lion's Den

Happy Birthday, Grandma!!

Case File: How Our Family Camera Bit the Dust

Suspect: Nathan K--, 2 yrs. old
Possible Accomplice: Tyce K--, 26 yrs. old

Known facts: the family camera--Canon PowerShot A510--was in full working order the last time it was handled by Faith K--, mother of suspect. Camera had been previously dropped in Mantua Reservoir, fished out, then subsequently dropped in sand at the beach of said reservoir. Mrs. K-- admits full responsibility for dropping the camera in the sand and for leaving it in the cup pocket of folding camp chair, which led to its being accidentally shaken into the reservoir. However, she vehemently asserts that the camera had been "aired out" and had been fully functional for a week before the incident in question--that is, before the lens ceased from closing, remaining perpetually extended and open like an empty, staring eye, and before the fatal error "E18" forever blackened the brightness of its LCD.

Incriminating Evidence: The following photographs were extracted from the memory card pulled from the camera immediately following the discovery of the fatal error. According to the testimony of Mr. Tyce K--, the suspect Nathan K--, with still functional camera in hand, walked into his grandparents' backyard to "take pictures of the dogs." The pictures tell the rest of the story, for which there are no witnesses:

To the investigating team, this picture seems surprisingly well framed for the work of a 2 yr. old.

This is more like what we expected.

Several shots of the ground, leading as the picture below indicates, to the dog's pen--Nathan's alleged destination.

Suspect appears to be getting a little bit too close to the dogs while holding the camera in question.

Too close. WAY TOO CLOSE!
This appears to be the inside of a dog's--to be specific, Yodel's--mouth

Suspect appears to have backed away from the animal enclosure:

only to proceed up the ladder to the playhouse above said enclosure:

Notice the small, hobbit-like feet in the right picture, not unlike those known to be found on the end of the legs of the suspect.

Last photo. It's a long way down.

Conclusion: From the known facts, the testimony of Mr. Tyce K--, and the photographic corroboration, it seems clear that Nathan K-- was the last person in possession of the working A510 and very, very likely the cause of its demise. However some aspects of this case are still troubling. To wit, why was a 2 yr. old freely & knowingly entrusted with sensitive equipment--like the said A510--by his father, who knew the character and habits of the very active 2 yr. old, when the 2 yr. old in question declared, even before going out the door, his intention to go near the dogs--dangerous in itself to a camera--and, hence, their potentially hazardous surroundings? If the 2 yr. old vehemently wished to take pictures of the dogs, why did his father not then supervise? Or did he? It is known that Mr. Tyce K-- had expressed a strong desire to buy a new camera when he found out about the A510's unfortunate incident at the beach, that he had been researching new cameras from the moment he heard of said incident, and that he actually sounded disappointed when he learned that the trusty A510 would pull through after all. Perhaps the incidents leading up to the fatal error that morning were not so much accidental as orchestrated. Perhaps. Conveniently for Mr. K--, there is no conclusive evidence to substantiate this speculation. However, Mr. Tyce K-- is now the owner of a Canon Powershot A720 IS and he seems to be very happy about this.

My Personal Geek Fest

(Featured, clockwise from upper left: Oliver DeMill, Jessie Harrison, Janice Johnson, Faith Kearl, Tyce Kearl, Captain Picard, Matthew Shepherd, Michael Bradshaw, Stephanie Bradshaw, Luke Shepherd)

"Space: the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."
Yes, I do still have that memorized from when Star Trek: The Next Generation was still on television--which was, bytheway, way back in 1994 when it had its final season and when I was still in elementary school (6th grade). It remains one of my all-time favorites. So, when my parents had a Star Trek Murder Mystery Party, I was understandably jealous and only appeased by the promise that someday I could host one, too. When said parents loaned their precious copy of the game to someone (they conveniently can't remember who) and never got it back, I was understandably distraught. Years and years later when I was in college and with the pain still felt fresh in my mind, I was recounting my continuing grief over this injustice to a friend who mentioned that his family just happened to have a copy! My younger brother Matt (the fabulous Commander Riker standing next to Picard in the above photo), who loves the show as much I do, was then on his mission. Then I moved to Wisconsin before he got back. To make a long story longer, I did NOT want to be the person who just never gave the game back so I got my friend's cell phone number before I left Utah with plans to have the party on some vacation home. 3 years later, my plans (my hopes & dreams) finally came to fruition. Here is the result:

In other words: absolute and total geeky fun! So, it's true, I am totally wearing the wrong color to be Ensign Ro. I should be in red. But my Mom made the costume for her own party back in the day and she was Dr. Crusher. What can you do? I mean, other than just wear the wrong color. (I'm also wearing my special Bajoran earring on the wrong ear--oops.)

My lovely sister and me. She was Deanna (notice the low-but-thankfully-not-as-low-as-Deanna-used-to-wear v-neck)

Star Trek was a family affair around my house. It was the only show we were allowed to watch on Sunday because we watched it all together. Below, from left to right, my sister Janice, Me, the bottom half of Captain Picard, my brother Luke, & my brother Matt.

Not pictured but not to be forgotten: the lovely Natalie Jones (nee Nudd), played the part of the charming Dr. Crusher and attended the party with her understanding husband, Ryan--who was a good sport as a nameless crewman and who certainly made less jokes at our expense than my husband. Tyce, bytheway, wants it to be known that he is not to be included in our geekiness. He only came, I suppose, because he had nothing better to do and to gather more fuel to make fun of us at the next family party--or wherever else he can get a laugh. Also, thanks to the Bradshaws for joining us and they--well Stephanie at least--should probably also be excluded when tallying up the geek factor.

P.S. I have now returned the game to its original owner. Please join me in a sigh of relief.

Still No Time

Well, I've been kind of busy lately working on a slideshow for Kenzie's reception, so I haven't had a chance to blog for a while. Actually, today is no exception but I wanted to post a video and a couple photos of the kids to give grandparents a preview of the cuteness that is coming their way:


If you couldn't quite tell what he was saying, this one begins with Nathan explaining how the birds are going to fly to his hand and ends with typical Katie.

The cute photos:


And to conclude and just for fun--a spotted child, a sleeping baby, and a man wearing a girlie sock:

Another Nathan Anecdote

A week or so ago, Nathan was quite thirsty and began drinking very noisily from the cup of water I handed him. After taking the first couple of gulps, he paused, looked at me, and said, "What was that?" Then, as if to clarify, he said, "glub, glub, glub." After thinking for a brief moment, he confidently answered himself, "fishy," and continued drinking, apparently satisfied with that external explanation for his own loud swallowing. So, this is how myths are born.

And, of course, a few cute pics:

Nathan's Yarn Doggy & Sun Hand

I was crocheting one day while Katie was sleeping (the only time when crocheting is remotely possible), and to keep Nathan happy I gave him his own bit of scrap yarn and one of my extra hooks. To my surprise, he did not start poking in and out of the yarn with the hook (as he usually does under such circumstances); instead, he started walking around holding one end of the yarn and dragging the rest of it in a clump behind him. He started calling, "Come on, doggy" and leading the "doggy" to the kitchen to get some "cereal"--which is what he believes dogs eat. Now, if the yarn is put away, he sometimes asks, "Where Nathan's doggy?" and thus a new friend/toy is born.

Another fun story: One day, I was in the kitchen with the kids. Nathan was playing with the magnets on the fridge and I wasn’t paying too much attention to him because I was feeding Katie. I heard him saying things like, “train” and “sun” and then he kept repeating “sun” for a while, but I’m not too sure how long or if he said anything else because I was focused on Katie and I was just happy that he was playing by himself so well (that is, without destroying anything). Suddenly, he got really excited and started saying, “Hand! Hand, Mommy, hand!” He was kind of insistent this time and kept repeating himself, so I looked over. He had arranged some of our rectangular word magnets around one of our large circular magnets so that it did indeed look like a hand—all of the words were sticking out lengthwise on one side of the magnet and there was around, but not necessarily exactly, five of them:

He put his hand up to it and then wanted me to put my hand up to it. As I looked at it, I realized that he had probably been trying to make a sun moments before and he often makes "trains" out of the rectangular words. That would be why he was so surprised and excited about the hand: he wasn’t expecting it. I was really impressed that, in the first place, he recognized that he could try to arrange rectangles and a circle into the shape of the sun and, in the second place, that he recognized a second object while he was making the first. Of course when we color, I’m the only one actually drawing shapes. He just draws lines. So, I really appreciated being able to see that he does recognize shapes (beyond just naming them off when Mommy points to them on the paper) and that he could put 2 and 2 together that way. It is just so wonderful to watch his mind develop and to see his excitement. These moments and the moments when he runs to give me a hug and tell me he loves me...Well, what can I say? It's cheesy, but these moments are my life's greatest treasures.