Speaking of Johnny...

What a little techy our five year old boy is. It is funny, and a bit freaky how much he takes after his name-sake in that area. I never knew John as a little boy, but I bet he and Johnny would have been great friends had they grown up together. I love to look at these pictures of Johnny with his cousins on the Loveless side.




He has so many cousins that share the same interests and I can tell that he idolizes the older boys that know so much.







I thought John's mom and siblings might appreciate this last picture. It is of Johnny counting to 100 feet on John's big tape measure,

Our own little Amateur (or immature) photographer

We have discovered Johnny's hidden talent, he is a great photographer. I can't believe that we still let him use our camera after he "accidentally" hit Hannah on the head with our point-and-shoot and broke the lens. Now we are taking all of our pictures with our video camera. Johnny has really gotten the hang of it, and can get some pretty cute expressions out of Lucy. By experience I can relate to Lucy in having Amateur photographers. Being the youngest of 11 children, my parents really didn't have a lot of time to take pictures of me either. Most of my childhood pictures were taken by my older brothers and sisters and have a big finger blocking half of the picture or are quite out of focus. I have to say that in comparison Johnny has done a wonderful job and I am sure Lucy will be pleased.

Cicada, what an awesome bug!

I am not sure how common these bugs are here in Utah, I didn't even know what they were called until last week. Basically they look like a leaf with legs. We came home from school one day last week to find it climbing up our garage door so we decided to keep it for a few days. Hannah gave it a nice cozy jar with the name tag "George" taped to it. She became quite attached to the little guy and had a hard time letting him go. We will miss you George!

Would you like a little dessert with that Cajun Seasoning?

We like Cajun Seasoning in our house, a lot. John served his mission in Mississippi where there was a lot of Cajun cooking. While he was there he discovered Tony Chachere's seasoning-- that was 13 years ago. Luckily around the time we got married, 8 years ago, they started selling it in the West. We always keep a supply on hand because it is just plain delicious on french fries, chicken, and vegetables...but as Maddie discovered the other night, it really doesn't go well with desserts. While I was away at Zumba Class, John gave each of the kids a piece of "Magic Bar" (A delicious dessert recipe given to us by Sarah Smith). The next thing he knew Maddie started crying "it hurts, it hurts" He turned around to see that Maddie had tried to add a little more magic to her magic bar. It was a classic case of two rights making a wrong. Poor kid!

Zumba what?

I try to steer clear of the workouts that require any sort of civilized movement to music because I tend to look a little silly. When my friend Marcia asked me to come with her to a free class of Zumba I was a little apprehensive. Part of the reason is because Marcia is from Brazil, and has told me in the past that Americans don't know how to move their hips. Well, I am one of those Americans that doesn't know how to move her hips. Needless to say, we went and it was SUPER fun with really catchy music. Yes I did look silly, but with a little coaxing I discovered that I can move my hips in more than one direction! I can't wait to try it again.

A Bit Nit Picky

Is it too early in our relationship to tell you that I am a nit picky mom? Not by
choice, mostly because it is a requirement of having school age children. Those of you who know me know that I am not overly concerned with keeping an immaculate house or yard. My kids find a lot of joy in getting dirty, and I am not one to interrupt the fun--but having little buggies in the hair is where I draw the line. Yesterday one of our neighbors came over and told us that her children, who had come over to play earlier in the week, had head lice. She was very embarrassed, but deserves a medal of honor for telling us. Needless to say that as soon as I picked Hannah and Johnny up from school we did a thorough head check with a fine tooth comb. Luckily, no little bugs, or evidence of bugs, were found. Needless to say, we will be doing bi-weekly checks for the rest of the season, and "Little Miss Flyaway Hair" will be wearing tight braids until this passes.
This is not our first scare with head lice, two years ago there was a little outbreak in the school. Being the paranoid mother I am, I picked up some combs and solution while at the store. I never actually had to use them, but I find that the combs come in very handy for other purposes. I have used them many times to comb the sand out of fine toddler hair. They also work incredibly well for getting paint out of hair. I just slather the painted strand with conditioner, let it sit for a minute and carefully comb it out. It works like a charm.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the sequel

John's sister, Vera, and I were joking tonight that John is like Mr. Potts on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. John, my genius husband, is always working on a project. Recently it has been converting Vera's little red Geo, which he purchased from her for a dollar, to an electric car. The part of the video where he is in the engine compartment is the best part, he is actually moving the car by turning the transmission with a cordless electric drill. Pretty impressive...I can't wait to see it fly!

Hand-me-down Patty Cake

I don't usually get sentimental about hand-me-downs, but this is one that got me. Maddie was recently sifting through our stuffed animal bin in the toy closet and latched on to my old doll, Patty Cake. She is the only toy that I have saved from my childhood, my mom made her for me when I was about 4 years old. She has little Velcro circles on her hands that make them stick together, a little hand embroidered face and yellow yarn hair. I remember shortly after my mom gave her to me for Christmas I took a pair of scissors to her hair. I have always felt a little guilty every time I look at her because of that. It is funny to see the resemblance between my Maddie and Pattie Cake, and I am a little embarrassed to say that I cut Maddie's hair myself too.