Florida! Day 1!

We woke up this morning at 3:40, picked Beth and Keren up at 4:10, and Juanito drove us to the airport for our 6:00 flight. To Florida! Where it is warm and humid and supposedly sunny (though it totally rained all day today)! Goodbye to sub-zero temperatures and chapped lips!

We arrived here at about 9:00, got settled in, and then waited for my parents, who arrived at about noon. YAY!!! We hung out at Beth's parents' condo, ate lunch, talked and talked, and then eventually headed out to "Gaylord Hotel," which is the biggest, most insane hotel i've ever been in. It has alligators and turtles and millions of plants and flowers - so it ended up being kind of the perfect place to go with my parents, who love plants and flowers.

It's so great to see my parents again. And so great to just relax. And SO great to be warm enough.

On the eve of leaving my family for 6 days

The kids had no school today, and Juanito took off from work, so we had the whole day to play (and pack and clean) before i leave tomorrow. I really, really love my family.

Except that ... when Keren and Beth came over for pizza-movie night tonight, Keren asked them all what they were going to do while i was gone, and Zane's answer was, "Blow up the house."

"WHAT?!" i said. "But...i have lots of pictures and stuff that i'd be sad to lose!"

And Zane was all, "Oh. Well, first we'd take everything OUT of the house and then we'd blow it up."

"But!" i said, "It's cold outside! Where would you sleep?"

"Well, first we'd move and take all of our stuff to our new house and then blow up this house. That way you could never find us."

Me: "WHAT?!?!"

Zane: "It was Daddy's idea."

So maybe they're not going to miss me TOO much.

Interview Thursday

Tell me the 5 best things about you.
Houston: I'm friendly. I'm creative. I'm good at making friends. I'm not picky about anything. And i do well in school.
Katrina: I'm good at art. I'm cute. I'm nice. I like animals. I don't yell at my brothers a lot.
Zane: I'm funny, I like to snuggle a lot. I like to play a lot. I like to explore around in the forest. And i love science.

What 3 famous people would you like to invite for a dinner party?
Houston: J.K. Rowling, Rick Riorden, and Shakespeare.
Katrina: J.K. Rowling, Emma Watson, and Annabel (from Percy Jackson).
Zane: Barack Obama, Harry Potter, and U2. (Does U2 count as one?)

What was your favorite toy when you were younger? What is your favorite toy now?
Houston: When i was younger, my favorite toy was probably Katrina. Now my favorite toy is either Legos or my camera.
Katrina: Baby was. Pencils and paper are now.
Zane: Simon was and still is.

What do you think heaven is like?
Houston: You can't die, and basically it looks exactly like Earth, and it's all good, so you can do anything you want and survive...like jumping off a building. Because if that would happen, i would love to jump off buildings and stuff. And you don't have to sleep either. And there's no night.
Katrina: Sparkly, shiny, and bright. And awesome. You'll be able to jump off cliffs and not die. You'll be able to wish for anything. People say that the streets are made of gold, but i don't know if i believe them or not.
Zane: If you ask God to come to you, He will and he will give you something like a teddy bear if you want. Or maybe God will tell you your future. That would be cool.

What do you think makes a kid popular? Are you popular?
Houston: If you want to be popular at our school, you basically do all of the things that are fashionable - y'know..."Hip" - and know all the popular things, and talk about all the popular things, and that's all you talk about to the other popular kids and that's all you talk about. I don't think i'm really popular in that way, but i do have a lot of friends, and that's what i think should be considered popular - being friendly and having friends.
Katrina: People like them. They start doing awesome stuff. Boom, they're popular. I'm not popular. Well, i guess i am kind of. I'm not like, popular popular, but lots of people know me and like me a lot.
Zane: Being fun, nice, and hilarious. And having a ton of Pokemon. That's how you become cool in my class. I'm kind of popular. Everyone likes my jokes.

What would you do if you were invisible for a day?
Houston: Not go to school. (At this point, Houston tried to convince me that he should also be able to teleport or be invincible.) I'd probably just stand in someone's room and make noise and say, "I can see you!" to confuse them. And then i would pick some random person up who has no idea what was going on. Maybe i would pick up a child that was walking down the street with their parents so that they would just randomly "fly." That would be funny. Maybe i would go to a place where they make Doctor Who and just watch them and think, "Oh! This is going to be the next episode." It would be really weird seeing it without the aliens.
Katrina: I would sneak over to my friends' houses and yell "boo" and scare them. And i'd also go to the theater and watch movies and not have to pay for the ticket. I would pick things up and walk around with them, and it would look like things are just floating.
Zane: Go in the girl's bathroom in my school to see what it's like. I would maybe pick up Emma and bring her outside so it would look like she was floating or flying around. I would maybe pick up a lot of stuff and carry it around. And maybe carry Houston or Katrina around.... Pretty much carry things around. I would not do my homework. Or maybe put all my homework in the trash and then say that i didn't have it.

What question should i ask you?
Houston: "What is one piece of technology that you would most want to actually exist (and be accessible to everyone)?" - Teleporters.
Katrina: "If you could be one character from a book, who would you be?" - Ginny Weasley (from Harry Potter). Because Hermione gets turned into a cat and also has to do stuff and probably gets really, really hurt and also gets petrified. And Ginny is awesome.
Zane: "If you could have the strength to lift anything in the world, what would you lift up?" - I would lift up the house and bring it around and move it to somewhere that's super-warm in the summer and has snow in the winter but isn't that cold. If that place even exists.

Special Snowflakes

A while back, i let each of the kids make a CD with whatever songs they chose. Zane's kind of cracks me up, because it's such a random assortment. For example, it goes from The Dixie Chicks to Lady Gaga to the theme song from "The Love Boat." I guess he's got a well-rounded mix.

We were hardly home at all today. The kids got home from school and we almost immediately headed back out to go to parent-teacher conferences. All of our kids are wonderful, precious, special snowflakes who are doing wonderfully, of course.

Joking aside, all three kids' teachers mentioned how very nice our kids are. They all behave beautifully and well within the range of normal for their ages, and after years of struggling with trying to figure out how to make a certain oldest child behave properly in school, it's wonderful to get such glowing reports.

Our tradition is that after conferences, we go to Wendy's for dinner, and from there we went straight on to Zumba, which lasts until bedtime. 

It's a wrap!

As i was doing Katrina's hair wrap, i said, "Aw! I want a hair wrap too!" and Juanito was all, "I could do that for you!" So yesterday he sat and wrapped my hair all cute and i was happy, and Beth was all, "I want one too! Can you do mine?!" I was going to, except Juanito is clearly much better at it than i am - he does all cute things and takes the time to make it really, really tight and whatnot - so tonight we watched 2 episodes of Downton Abbey while Juanito wrapped up Beth's hair. (She used a much thinner floss than i did, so hers took longer. It'll probably stay in much better, though.)

And they're cute! Yay! (Of course, we look like we're in a clique, but ... whatever.)

Watching Downton Abbey was perfect for tonight, because i was SO GROUCHY by the time Beth got here. I was partly grouchy because there wasn't anything particularly important that made me grouchy, so i shouldn't have been nearly as cranky as i was. It was just a series of little annoyances:

I was going to make spaghetti for dinner, except when i grabbed the boxes out of the cupboard, i realized that they were both half empty, which meant that there wasn't really enough for everyone. I dumped those into the pot anyhow, and then rooted around in case there was a box hiding...and there was! Success! I opened it and dumped it into the pot...and then realized that it was all gross with little dead moths and stuff, so i had to throw away ALL of the spaghetti. Grrr.

So then i started making waffles. I added the first few ingredients, and then grabbed the baking powder...which had about 1/2 teaspoon's worth left in it. Not nearly enough. So no waffles for us tonight. (Luckily i was still on dry ingredients, so we can use it tomorrow.) At that point i gave up in frustration and declared that everyone was going to have to fend for themselves. Cereal and sandwiches and ramen noodles it was!

Emma somehow escaped from our backyard - twice - and ran over to the next-door neighbor's yard, where they have a giant bowl of dog food frozen in a solid block, left over from before their dog died in November. As far as Emma was concerned, it was like a delicious dog-food popsicle.

The kids and i were all sitting in the family room while i was reading the final book of the Willow Falls series to them, and Emma walked to the center of the room and threw up a prodigious amount. Zane immediately ran out of the room. Houston started gagging and gagging until i ordered him out of the room. Katrina sat there and stared in fascination.

That was the end. It was close enough to bedtime that i gave up for the night and sent them all off to bed. Goodnight. Let me sit and fume quietly. I am finished.

On the bright side, i know what we're having for dinner tomorrow!  

Happy birthday, Juanito

Dear Juanito,

It's crazy to think that i've known you for nearly 25 years now - since you were 18 (which, ohmygosh, i just realized is only 5 and a half years older than Houston is now). So...well over half your life. I knew you when you were a slightly unsure-of-yourself teenager. I think that "unsure-of-yourself" is not a term that could be even remotely applied to you today.

I think that you are the most insanely self-confident person i know. You think that you are incredibly cool and good-looking and great at nearly everything...and you're generally totally right. You ARE cool and good-looking and great at nearly everything. I cannot understand your self-confidence, and it sometimes makes me laugh when you tell me stories about how awesome you are, but i love that about you. And i love that your self-confidence is totally rubbing off on our kids so that they're pretty sure that they're really awesome too.

I think that nearly every hobby you had when we were dating has fallen by the wayside to be overtaken by new hobbies/obsessions. Computers, your scooter, and Zumba have taken the place of sewing, making up songs, and art, and i fully expect that in another 20 years, there will be an entirely new set of things that you love. Whatever it is, it'll become a full-on obsession, i have no doubt. You don't do hobbies half-heartedly. You are filled with a passion and joy, and even if i don't care about scooters or Zumba or whatever, i have to admit that yours is the best and coolest.

You love "Hello Kitty." What kind of 43-year-old man is that obsessed with a kitty that's totally marketed for little girls? And yet, you somehow manage to make people think that that's fun rather than totally odd. You wear a million bracelets on your wrists...to cover your "weak, skinny wrists." Nobody ever seems to notice that that's such a teenaged-girl thing to do. You're a 43-year-old white man with dreadlocks, which is completely not normal. You're kind of weird, is what i'm trying to say. And nobody cares at all, because you're also the kindest, most loving, most giving man i know. You're open and funny and accepting of people the way they are.

I love you! Happy birthday! 

Sunday with friends

Beth, Keren, and Stephanie came over after church today for dinner, small group, and birthday cake. We had chicken tikka, naan, and lentil stew for dinner - a massive undertaking that used most of us to make all the food. And in the end, it was delicious and we had lots of left-overs. Yay!

Juanito made his own cake, a giant cake made from 2 boxes of cake mix (chocolate and caramel), the filling from eclair dessert, and homemade chocolate frosting. He cut the cakes up to make a checkered pattern inside the cake. It was pretty impressive. And delicious.

The kids just love having our friends over. They like to show off their stuff - Katrina showed her new hermit crab to everyone, Houston showed his movies, and Zane showed off his favorite toys. I think that my kids are way, way more comfortable with adults than i ever was. (I'm STILL not entirely comfortable with "adults" sometimes. Anyone older or in a position of authority makes me nervous!)