Dinnertime

I've always heard how important it is to have dinner together with your family. I'm not sure who to cite here, probably church leaders, Reader's Digest or public service announcements, but I have discovered that our most memorable moments as a family seem to come when eating dinner together.

For instance...

Annie just told us tonight at dinner that her butt (I've taught her to say bum) had a crack in it and she needs to go to the doctor.

Jake has discussed at length our insurance. He's concerned with who our carrier is (it's USAA if anyone cares). Should he go with Progressive who is cheaper or State Farm who has more customers? It is a true dilemma for a 9 year old. And obvious that he watches too much TV. If I had to choose based on commercials, I'd go with Flo at Progressive. She cracks me up.

Last night at dinner we were talking about the recent kidnapping in the area. We discussed stranger danger and what to do. Hannah told us that if someone tried to take her she would "Handcuff his feet and handcuff his arms, put jelly on his head, then lemonade and then let Bodgie eat him." Jeremy was recording the conversation so that is a direct quote. It's a little extreme, and not at all what we told her to do. Hopefully if the situation ever comes (heaven forbid it will) she will follow our advice, not her own ideas. (Which reminds me - Last year Alex and I had a friend of hers stage a kidnapping in the neighborhood. He pulled up and asked the kids if they wanted to help him look for his dog. Hannah, Annie and Maddix almost got in the car with him. It made me sick and broke my heart. Luckily, the older kids in the neighborhood had better sense and wouldn't let them get in the car)

Abby just told us this evening that there is a new girl on the bus named Kaylee. She told the family that Jake likes her. He obviously, very adamantly disagreed. Then Abby told us she can tell he likes her because he tries to act cool around her. How does he try to act cool? He acts like he has a baby in his tummy by using his soccer ball. He laughed, denied it and then turned beet red. Oh, nine year old crushes.

Speaking of "cool", I have learned that cool does not mean awesome or rad as I used to. Really it means - Constipated, Overweighted, Out of style, Loser. I thank Ty Chesley for that one, but it surfaces every night at dinner. We now have to be careful and call everyone awesome or neat just to avoid any further discussions on what COOL really means. (See above with the new girl Kaylee. It seems Jake really was acting "cool".)

I love dinnertime. It's the best time of the day for me. (Then, immediately after that is when I hit the wall). Always a surprise and always a treat.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Yesterday was a full day.

The Bad:

• I got fingernail polish on my favorite pair of jeans, and I only have two pairs - ugh.
• Hannah lifted up my shirt and told me I have a cute baby in my tummy - I'm not even pregnant. Time to go to the gym!

The Ugly:

• Back in December, I got a freckle removed on my back that looked suspicious. It turned out to have atypical cells (I'm my daddy's girl for sure) so yesterday I had to get more removed and now I have 7 stitches on my back and I'm not supposed to get it wet for another 24 hours. I'm heading to bootcamp now (see the "bad") and will then be stinky for the rest of the day.

The Good:

• I vacuumed, mopped and swept my entire house
• I got Hannah registered for half day kindergarten
• I registered me for Spanish 101 at Rio Salado and I picked up my books - muy bien!
• This is the doozy - I got an email from Cheramie Rahaim Hawkins, my old roommate from UNO and best friend. She told me that she's going to the temple in March when they come here for spring break and then she and her husband and son are going to be sealed a few days later. I cried as I read the email. I'm so happy for her. To any of my family reading this, she invited all to come to support her, the date is not set in stone yet! Cheramie was my best friend all through college and a few weeks after I left she got baptized. Fast forward 12 years and many ups and down - she married a guy, Cory Hawkins, from my singles ward 1 1/2 years ago that I introduced to her back at UNO, she now has a darling little boy Kai and is reactivitated and ready to go to the temple! I'm so happy for her I can hardly stand it.
• 

Hide 'N' Seek

I remember playing hide and go seek a lot as a kid. We'd play it outside or inside during the day or night. I remember vividly playing with ALL the lights off inside and really being freaked out (mainly scared of scorpions and black widows). I remember playing when I was younger with my older siblings and Kelli and Mike and then when I was a bit older with Jodi, my little bros and the growing neighborhood. I also remember a saying when you were done counting that went, "Apples, peaches, pumpkin pie whoever's not ready holler I" I think that's how it went cause that's how I remember it.

A few weeks ago for our FHE game, we were playing hide n seek. I was "it" and finished counting so I hollered out that good ol' phrase, then went on my way finding the fam. Well a few rounds later, Jeremy was "it" with Annie and when he finished counting he called out - "Apples and peaches at the county fair, if you're not ready, we don't care!" Then he took off looking for us. It wasn't hard to find Hannah and me because Hannah was rolling laughing harder than I've ever heard her at Jeremy's little rhyme he made up.

That poem has become legendary in our home. I think Jeremy needs to get it published because it is recited at least 10 times a day. Jeremy's coolness has catapulted to the highest level imaginable in the kids' eyes because of that silly little poem. In fact, they'd nominate him for stand up comedy because they think he's the funniest human being ever now. He can be a dud the rest of his life but it wouldn't matter because he is at least a "one hit (poem) wonder".

Tonight as dinner was winding down, all the kids took turns with their own dramatic interpretation of the poem. Jake's included his famous jerky dancing moves that are a cross between a touchdown celebration and Beyonce dry heaving. Abby and Hannah's included actions and moves from dance class - Abby's a bit more hip, Hannah's more on the dramatic side - "Whoever is not ready, we do n-o-o-o-t care". Annie just copied the others. I even decided to get in on the fun and did my own cheer with a split jump.

Jeremy seems to think the kids get their oddness from me. I mean, really, he's the one who made up the wacky poem that inspired all the moves and dances in the first place.

(Yes, I crimped the girls' hair for church today - they looked awesome)

Terrificle and Extraordinary

(Hannah's new bday outfit)

Yesterday Hannah turned 5! She is a little obsessed with "Ramona and Beezus," to say the least. She quotes entire scenes from the movie and it is stinkin' cute. I'm a little tired of the flick, but not tired of Hannah quoting it. Two of our favorite words from the movie are terrificle and extraordinary. Hannah is truly terrificle and without a doubt extraordinary.

She had a wonderful birthday. She got just what she asked for, clothes and money. Yes - she's 5 not 15. We threw in a new Barbie just to keep her young.

She had a great party in St. Johns. The other thing she asked for was a trip to SJ so Grandma Platt could make her a cake. She didn't disappoint with a darling Strawberry Shortcake cake. It was a fun weekend with nice weather and still snow on the ground. Hannah, and all the other kids for that fact, totally wore themselves out. Hannah was the worst though. She even opted to go to sleep instead of having her party. That was at 6:30 and she slept through the night. She had been waiting for months for this party and so I was shocked she wanted to sleep. We had to postpone the fiesta until Sunday afternoon.

(Jeremy got a cake too - his truck - since his bday is tomorrow)

Five years later, I'm still full of joy with the miracle of you. I'm glad you came to our family. Happy Birthday to an EXTRAORDINARY girl! I love you, Hannah!

More Hannah-isms

Do you remember when Hannah saw her first naked little boy, and she said, "Look, Mom, he has a tail!"? Well, last night at our second Goodman girls party at Jim and Diane's house, Aunt Diane busted out a doll she got her grandkids for Christmas. It was a little boy doll in just a diaper and very lifelike. Under the diaper it had little uncircumcised boy parts. Hannah took a look, so we asked her if he had a tail and she answered, "No, I broke it off." Oh crud! We cracked up, but upon further review, his parts were all still there. I was getting very nervous there for a while.

On another note... Tonight after dinner, Hannah got Jeremy's coat, put it on backwards with the hood over her face and sat there hiding. We couldn't find her, she was so still until we saw little feet sticking out from under the jacket. She giggled a little bit to let us know she was awake, but before long, she was sound asleep. She stayed in that position for a couple of hours. She woke up happy and refreshed (she' s probably still awake in her bed) What a goofball. I love her silliness!

Merry New Year

"Merry New Year!" "In this country we say, 'Happy New Year'" (That's from Trading Places) We had a very merry New Year. We woke up on Friday (New Year's Eve) and decided that our kids were finally healthy enough to take a snow trip. Jeremy had been off the whole week and was pretty bored with his time off. Shoot, we all were a little stir crazy. So we gathered every single long sleeve, beanie, mitten, boot, jacket, scarf... we could find. You name it, we packed it (except our sled, which would come back later to bite us in the bootay) and we headed up to Prescott. The kids loved looking at all the snow. It was still quite fresh and so pretty. We walked around the town square and looked at all the little shops. Then it was off to find a sled, which evidently did not exist in that lovely little town. We decided that Jeremy's irrigation raft would have to do. It did. That is until I decided to use it and I popped it. I stuck my foot right through the front of it. My bad. But the kids had a great time, well at least Jake and Abby did. Annie was absolutely miserable. I went so far as to make her put on snow pants, boots, a warm jacket, mittens and a beanie. She couldn't move. She was kinda like that kid in Christmas Story that is so bundled up he can't bend his arms. Hannah just got cold after a little while. We must be slow learners because we go through this with all of our kids, assuming they will like the snow but it never happens if they're under the age of 5. Anyway, the hill was perfect for sledding. It was perfectly steep, had bumps and wasn't too long for the walking back up part.

After sledding and thawing out, we filled up on hot chocolate at a gas station. Good stuff. Then it was time to head home.

Annie fell asleep in the car after all the tormenting in the snow - that's her happy meal toy in her mouth.

We got almost home and decided to head Julie's way to our annual party / get together. ( I took no pictures of this wonderful night - crud!) Usually we are the only ones who show, but this year the Ricedorff's graced us with their presence as well as TT and Kyley's friends and Julie's friends. It was of course a great time watching Loren's fireworks and the Christmas tree bonfire that lights up the night. We were home and had the kids in bed in time for Jeremy and I to have our New Year's kiss. We kissed in front of Jake and started right before the clock chimed 12:00. We told him we were kissing for two years straight. He thought it was pretty amazing.

We spent Saturday recovering from Friday (I've never quite embraced the day of New Years as much as a holiday, more of a vegging/recovering/football day)