Clarification

TWO THINGS:

1.: Although it looks like Erik can walk in the last picture I posted, he actually can't. He can stand up by himself indefinitely and has great balance, but he just won't take that first step. It's just a matter of time before he starts walking. He has a walker that he pushes all over the house. I'll have to post of video of that sometime.

2.: While I was listening to that paranormal talk radio show I was considering who I might believe if they told me some outlandish story about a U.F.O. or alien sighting. I told Kent that there was a whopping two, maybe three, people who I would believe if they claimed they had a sighting: my best friend, Kim, and my father-in-law, Steve. The third maybe, you ask? That would have to be my mother-in-law, Linda... until she posted her comment. I guess the list is back to a solid two. Sorry, Linda :)

Mommy's Little Helper

Erik:

"Look how helpful I am, mommy! I'll even unroll the toilet paper for you so you don't have to. And then I'll slobber all over it. And then wipe it all over the floor so it's rendered totally useless."

"Hey, those are some fat feet. Whose muffin-top feet are those?"

Taylor:

"Hey, mom! Take a picture of my silly face! Oh, wait. Hold on. Let me go get the remote... Okay, there! Take a picture! Let me see!"

Already he knows the unparalleled power of the T.V. remote.

"They're shape-shifters."

On Thursday nights there is a dance class that I go to that's about 20 minutes away. It's after the boys go to bed, so by the time I'm driving home, it's about 9:00. Since I drive Kent's car the radio is on AM, so it's either sports or boring talk radio. While I might not hate watching sports (especially hockey; you can always count on flying fists and blood), I can't stand listening to them on the radio. So talk radio it is.

Lucky me! On Thursday nights there is a talk show about aliens and paranormal stuff. I was quite enlightened. I believe that if I die now, I will know all that I ever needed to know. Since I'm in a generous mood, let me share my bountiful harvest of knowledge:

1. "They're shape-shifters." According to our resident expert, Whitley Strieber, auther of Communion, they take many forms, whether it be "amphibious, reptilian, or any other form." Better keep an eye on what you thought was your pet turtle.
2. There are apparently 26 "races" of aliens. Not quite sure how they differ, but I figure that the next time I'm at a baby shower and someone just happens to be wondering how many different races of aliens there are, I'll know.
3. All aliens will harm humans. There are no benevolent ones. Kind of makes you wonder why they took pity on those backcountry rednecks who they dumped in a field naked, cold, hungry, and surrounded by empty beer bottles.
4. Being from somewere other than this planet doesn't excuse their lack of ethics. One of the callers insisted that there had to be some nice aliens because he was abducted at the age of 9 and it wasn't a horrifying experience at all. It was actually enjoyable (no, he did not go into detail about what went on). Strieber insisted that just proved his theory about all aliens being hostile. "You were abducted when you were a child! Everyone on this planet knows that kidnapping is wrong!" Hmm... They must have missed the memo that Earth sent out over the Galacticon Gamma Ray Wire Telegram System concerning the abduction of young earthlings.

I wonder why they never abduct college graduates.

So there you have it. Next time you're at a dinner party and there's that uncomfortable, awkward silence when you're frantically searching for something hilarious or interesting to say that doesn't involve the bodily functions of your children, pass on this little tidbit.

Loser

Though I am loathe to admit it, I LOVE reality T.V. There's nothing like sitting on the couch, legs propped up, and making fun of those wonderful citizens of America. Tonight marks the premiere of one of our favorite shows: The Biggest Loser. It's a great show. I like it because it's not just about a bunch of people making fools of themselves for money. It addresses a very real problem in our society- obesity. The show gives a lot of people the opportunity, who might not have otherwise done it, to lose weight and change themselves.

So to kick off the new season, I decided to make a healthy dessert. Peach cobbler. I figure it's better than the usual brownies and ice cream. After all, it has fruit, right? So while we watch people who are morbidly obese produce sweat, blood, and tears, we are stuffing our faces with peach cobbler and ice cream. Let's not count calories.

Biggest Loser, here we come!

Crack This

This last week all of the womenfolk (Carlie, Beth, Nana D, me, and the girl cousins) went to go see the Nutcracker while all of the menfolk watched the boys. It was great! It was the first time I had seen the Nutcracker performed (no, Casa Grande's stirring rendition of the ballet does not count). I will say I was a little disappointed that they decided the Sugarplum Fairy was an optional character. Clara danced to the song, but it was still beautiful. It made me miss being able to devote more time to taking dance.

Getting there was easy... until we realized we had made 3 circles and still hadn't seen the building. "Oh, wait,wrong address. It's on a different street." We'll leave the navigator anonymous. We'll just say she has long, black hair and her name rhymes with, "Harlie." But we still got there :) However, the traffic was horrendous afterwards- it took us 2 hours to get from the parking garage to the freeway. It should have taken us about five. I'm sure I've knocked off at least 5 years of life from everyone that was in the car. I'm not the nicest driver, and it made it even more lively since the roads were covered in ice. Good times!

While we were there, Kent and Grandpa Hills (Chris and Chad joined later after work) watched the boys. Kent took Brody, Zane, Taylor, and Braden sledding down the street. They had a ton of fun, and Brody got some serious speed on the hill. I had tried to go down the same hill, but I was too much of a sissy to not drag my feet to slow me down. Here's a video of all 4 boys giving it a go.

And this picture was just too funny not to post. Doesn't he look a little tipsy?

I'm Dreaming...

...of a white Christmas. And I might just get one this year.

It's been snowing a ton here lately. It's awesome! I've always figured that if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow. That way you have something to do. But it doesn't bode well for drivers. I can't count how many cars I have seen stuck on the side of the road. Salt is apparently too harsh on the environment, so, thanks to tree-huggin' granolas, they don't salt the roads here. So to spare our lovely environment, we are forced to drive on perilous roads with white knuckles going 10 miles an hour while people are sliding all over the place. Good stuff.

The first day it snowed we made some ice cream (or should it be snow cream?). I had never heard of it, but it was actually quite yummy- milk, sugar, vanilla, and some snow! Taylor wanted chocolate, so then we tried it with chocolate syrup.

So with snow comes sledding. Kent hooked up our little saucer sled to the bike and pulled Taylor all over the neighborhood. He loved it.

On a different note, Erik had his 9 month appointment this past week. He's getting a little scrawny. He dropped in both weight and height percentile, but seeing as he's happy and still growing anyway, I figure he's fine.

He's also standing up by himself quite a bit now. He's taken a step or two, so we'll see how long it takes him to actually start walking.

We Really Are Alive

Okay, so it's been about a month since I did a post. We went to Utah and California for Thanksgiving since Kent was working at the Children's Hospital in Seattle. Anyway, I'm too lazy to play catch-up with posts, so I'm just starting over. So Happy late Thanksgiving.

Here's a little something to kick off the holidays (okay, so Christmas is in 8 days, but whatever). All four of us worked really hard at perfecting our sweet moves. And this is actually really close to what Kent looks like when he dances.

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