Baby Zilla

The boys love having their sister around when they play trains.

Or not.

"But Ma! I just have to pull it off the track, like this!"

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

[Campers speaks.]

"Oh, Zig. I'm sorry for hurting you. Will you forgive me? Let's hug and make up."

And then let me jerk you around a little bit just to show you how sorry I really am!

The love. Caught on camera.

It was a beautiful moment.

Timed Prayer

As we sat down for a meal, Campers was holding onto a kitchen time as if his Very Life depended upon it. Then we prayed, according to his direction.

He's like that you know. Bossy. Administrative. Got-It-All-Planned-Out.

Well, there's nothing like looking across the table at a mirror image of myself, yessirreee.

But here was his plan: Every person had to pray, and he would time our prayers.

As you can see, we are Very Spiritual Kind Of Folk.

The letters below represent our names and the times are listed below (in seconds).

Ziggy: 5 seconds.
Ma: 21 seconds. (I had a great deal of fun draaaawwwwing out my prayer.)
Pa: 15 seconds.
Campers: 2 seconds. (Let's hope God's ears were in fast-forward mode that day.)

Campers proclaimed the winner after we all were done.

He said that *he* was the winner as he prayed in the shortest amount of time.

We have GOALS around here folks! And we plan to attain them!

But Campers did give the Ma the honorary first place award for praying the longest.

Sad to say, but I reveled in my win. Me and my Very Humble self.

Sleeping Beauty

Those Second-Borns, They Get Away With Murder, That They Do

Mmmm-hmmm. Playing in the curtains.

He was so pumped-up-excited to show me how they spin.

And you see the paper on the window? That's Optimus Prime. He's been saying "Hi" to the neighbors for about a month now.

And I Dare Not Take Him Down.

These kids, they know how to run a household, that they do.

Well, While I'm Down Here

Might as well have a snack.

A Mighty Fortress Is Our Couch

Oh, these boys. Here they are again, stuffed up onto one cushion of the couch, presumably barricading themselves from the Evil Guys on Cyberchase.

Cuckoo For Cookies

We've been slicing...

And tasting...

For what?

Ma and Pa's First-Ever, Cuckoo For Cookies Open House. We've been makin' and bakin' cookies for a couple of weeks now, all for the much-anticipated event where we will have People From The Neighborhood Into Our Home.

Crazy, I know.

I mean, knowing the neighbors and all that. The eighteen gazillion cookies are almost all made; now all we need are some Social Skills.

Someone asked if they could bring something to the party. I thought, "Yeah. Bring a Clone of myself to do the chatting while the Real Me hides in the closet."

But enough about that.

Here are the kids, getting ready to head out with Ma and Pa to deliver the invitations 'round town.

Stay tuned for more late-breaking earth-shattering news about the actual event.

And I included this picture just for laughs. The hat plus the goofy face just did me in.

Might Want To Turn The Thermostat Past 50

They crack me up, these kids.

During the two nano-seconds a year I let them watch TV,

[I HOPE YOU CATCH THE DRIPPING SARCASM IN THAT PHRASE]

they choose to sit all smooshed up next to each other, bundled up in blankets.

Course, Zig has his Batman shirt on, with the "Superman" cape over top.

I might-a-oughta think about cranking the heat up a bit. Maybe they're just cold and too frozen to move.

I like to think that they just love each other.

It's a great world I live in, this Motherhood Fantasy.

The Things Parents Say, Volume 1

Ma: "Go ahead, Zig. You can play with the block of Styrofoam. Just keep it over the bin."

(A short time later...)

Pa: "Your mother is insane."

Who Needs A Cookie...

Just give me my flask.

Vanilla extract, in case you're wondering.

Susie has this "thing" with the spice drawer, dragging everything out and flinging the bottles across the kitchen.

Makes me wanna reach for the flask myself.

We've Got Class, Yes We Do

Oh, Sister. Lookin' gooooood in her pj's.

Perhaps This Will Make You Laugh

No one is squashier than the Zig.

Blondie Alert

I completely forget that when I take two pale-faced blondie boys into the Asian market with me that we might, just might stick out a little bit.

And since we had the attention of half the Asian population in the city anyway, we decided to impress them all with our our Vast Knowledge and Grasp of the Chinese language.

"Xie-Xie," ("Shay Shay," thank you) the boys told the checkout gal after she handed them each some Christmas chocolate.

See, I just knew we were meant to be linguists.

But the boys had a great time at the meat counter, checking out the big pack-o-chicken-feet, pig feet, pig tongue, AND pig ears.

I tried IN VAIN to gross them out.

No dice.

But Zig DID gross everyone else out with his "Look, Mom! WORMS!!" proclamation. (Pointing to the ground meat, in case you were wondering.)

But then again, the Chinese DO eat every part of the animal but the squeal.

And that they just passed on to Susie.

Oh, I like to kid.

Christmas Calendars

By now the Grandparents have all received their gifts, so I'll entertain the rest of y'all with what we gave them for Christmas.

I think my cleverness and generosity will astound you to no end.

So you might want to be firmly seated while reading this post.

Here it is.

A 2008 calendar.

I KNOW!!!

I am SO ORIGINAL!!!

Here are the pics, month by month, including the front and back covers.

In Case You Might Have Any Illusion That I Cleaned My House Before Christmas

And no, those toys in the background are NOT Christmas gifts.

Only the one in the middle is new.



They don't call me Becky Homecky, for a reason, folks.

Really, they don't.

Just keepin' it real.

Leader Of The Pack

Campers, with his new Trimet map.

Only OUR son would enjoy getting such a thing in his stocking.

Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime! We felt the pull of the Christmas machine and HAD TO HAVE Optimus Prime!!!

And here the Campers is directing traffic, giving instructions, and just generally being "in charge."

Good grief, I have no idea where he gets these traits from.

And with his "erector set," which he reallyreallyreally wanted.

Christmas With The Squish Squash Squeezer

Guess Ma has the Batman Fetish too.

And Zig is really Getting Into the stockings.

Blocks!

Weapons! (Otherwise known as punching balloons.)

Baby's First Christmas

[Sister Susie speaks.]

"Oh, I have GOT to get me some of this present-opening action."

"Yes! I am such a natural!"

"Awwww, I even got a fuzzy bear. I will love him and hug him and call him 'Brownie.'"

"And little lacing beads to stick on my fingies!"

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Or as I like to say, "UUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!"