The funniest thing is he was running around the house playing his games and never once stumbled in the shoes. He wears heels better than I do!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Hero
Here is the outfit Spencer had on today. When I saw him I laughed and laughed. I knew I had to capture the moment on film.
Leap Day Invites
Leap Day Dinner Menu
Appetizers
Frog Legs (chicken wings)
Frog Eggs (Tator tots)
Salads
Field Greens Salad (just what it says)
Frog Eye Salad (fresh fruit salad with cool whip, pudding mix, and whole grapes)
Main Course
Frog Sandwiches (burgers with cheese corners sticking out for tongues and grape tomatoes for eyes)
Dessert
Lily Pads (cup cakes with gummy frogs on top)
Beverages
Swamp Water (sprite, lime juice and sherbet)
Crystal Pool Water (plain ice water)
Monday, February 25, 2008
A Rose by Any Other Name. . .
I wanted to make a list of our favorite nicknames for our kids. These are just names that sprang up around our kids and somehow they fit perfectly. I pulled some pictures that fit the names pretty well too.
Super girl
Super Gurg
Lauren Girl
Lauren Princess
Squirmy Girl
.jpg)
Lauren Gurgle
Super Smarty Girl
.JPG)
Spencey(compliments of Aunt Emma; at first I hated it, but it's grown on me)
Spencer Bug
Spencer Doodle
.jpg)
Mr. Spencer
Sponster (Spencer + Monster)
Spence
.jpg)
Spencer Man
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
"Come into my parlor," said the spider to the fly.
I recently played Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess on the Wii for the kids while they were housebound for a couple weeks with terrible head colds. Spencer liked to sit in my lap and help me swing the remotes as I played. When I got to the levels with the giant spiders his hands would tense up on my arms and push me to swing my arms even more wildly, not that I needed the encouragement.
There is one point in the game where you have to fall down a hole and you just know there is a spider waiting for you at the bottom. I jumped down the hole screaming (real life screaming, not just animated Link doing the screaming) and began flailing the remotes before I even hit the bottom. The spider was there and it was armored. I could not kill it! For a good three minutes I tried to kill this thing and I was getting very worried. My arms were getting tired so I knew I could not keep up the frantic swinging motions required to keep the fell arachnid at bay. I was honestly quite terrified for poor Link who was going to get bitten by this huge spider because my puny arms did not have enough stamina to kill the beast. I almost gave the remote to Lauren to swing for a while so I could recover my strength to kill the spider. The thought didn't occur to me that I could just push pause and catch my breath. It was far too real. They really should use the game in therapy for patients with arachnophobia, though I have a feeling a lot of television sets and Wii remotes would be ruined in the process.
Much to Spencer and Lauren's relief, as well as my own, I succeeded in killing the thing, where upon I took a much needed potty break and got my hands to stop shaking.
Needless to say, we do not like spiders at my house. That is why it amuses me that my kids decided to build a spider web in our family room. Here they are the proud web builders. The beads are supposed to be the flies and bugs stuck in the web.
There is one point in the game where you have to fall down a hole and you just know there is a spider waiting for you at the bottom. I jumped down the hole screaming (real life screaming, not just animated Link doing the screaming) and began flailing the remotes before I even hit the bottom. The spider was there and it was armored. I could not kill it! For a good three minutes I tried to kill this thing and I was getting very worried. My arms were getting tired so I knew I could not keep up the frantic swinging motions required to keep the fell arachnid at bay. I was honestly quite terrified for poor Link who was going to get bitten by this huge spider because my puny arms did not have enough stamina to kill the beast. I almost gave the remote to Lauren to swing for a while so I could recover my strength to kill the spider. The thought didn't occur to me that I could just push pause and catch my breath. It was far too real. They really should use the game in therapy for patients with arachnophobia, though I have a feeling a lot of television sets and Wii remotes would be ruined in the process.
Much to Spencer and Lauren's relief, as well as my own, I succeeded in killing the thing, where upon I took a much needed potty break and got my hands to stop shaking.
Needless to say, we do not like spiders at my house. That is why it amuses me that my kids decided to build a spider web in our family room. Here they are the proud web builders. The beads are supposed to be the flies and bugs stuck in the web.
And here they are the somewhat scared web prisoners. I was pretending to be a spider coming for them and I think Spence took me a little too seriously. I guess I'm lucky he didn't get too scared and whack me with his sword.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day
I wanted to send out Valentine's to everyone in the family since Lauren can now write her name. Unfortunately, there are a lot of you and she got tired of practicing her name before we even began addressing cards. I compromised and together we drew a picture and she signed it herself. Enjoy the day of love and remember we in California love you, our family and friends.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Death and Taxes
Ah yes, the two constants in the universe. I just finished up our tax return tonight. Thank heavens we did not have to file in two different states like last year. Still, California does have a few quirks in their tax code that require strange computations such as the Use Tax and the California adjustments from the federal tax code. Let me tell you, Illinois taxes were far less complicated.
I like doing taxes, at least at the start. I sometimes think I should have been an accountant because I like budgeting and allocating funds and filling out tax forms. One summer I interned at the local hospital in the accounting department helping them prepare for a 3 year audit and 5 year sales tax audit. I realized something very important that summer; I only like budgeting my money and filing my tax stuff. I would loathe having to figure out someone else's taxes.
There are three phases or emotional/mental states of preparing your taxes. Phase 1 is the excitement of having all the W-2's and 1099's in order ready to crunch the numbers and see what comes out in the end. This phase does not last long. In fact the minute you open the booklets and right in your name and social security number you have entered Phase 2.
Phase 2 is marked by frustration, confusion, anger, and repeated questioning of the competency of tax code framers. Honestly the numbers are added and subtracted and multiply by arbitrary percentages so many times that by the end I have no idea what I'm looking at until the line says, "this is your tax". It would make me feel better to have a note in the instructions saying, "you just multiplied the difference of your gross income and your standardized deductions by 15% because 15% is the favorite number of the current governor's wife of New Mexico." At least I'd know where 15% came from.
The tax preparer enters Phase 3 when the documents are stapled together, whether or not they have been signed. Stapling indicates the arithmetic has been reviewed thrice, the order of forms has been checked thrice, and copies have been made in triplicate. This final phase can be upgraded from fun, at the prospect of not having to undergo such arduously inefficient paper work for another year, to excitement at the prospect of a refund. Conversely, it can also be downgraded to livid grumbling at the post office if a check is included with the paper work.
Enjoy your tax season!
I like doing taxes, at least at the start. I sometimes think I should have been an accountant because I like budgeting and allocating funds and filling out tax forms. One summer I interned at the local hospital in the accounting department helping them prepare for a 3 year audit and 5 year sales tax audit. I realized something very important that summer; I only like budgeting my money and filing my tax stuff. I would loathe having to figure out someone else's taxes.
There are three phases or emotional/mental states of preparing your taxes. Phase 1 is the excitement of having all the W-2's and 1099's in order ready to crunch the numbers and see what comes out in the end. This phase does not last long. In fact the minute you open the booklets and right in your name and social security number you have entered Phase 2.
Phase 2 is marked by frustration, confusion, anger, and repeated questioning of the competency of tax code framers. Honestly the numbers are added and subtracted and multiply by arbitrary percentages so many times that by the end I have no idea what I'm looking at until the line says, "this is your tax". It would make me feel better to have a note in the instructions saying, "you just multiplied the difference of your gross income and your standardized deductions by 15% because 15% is the favorite number of the current governor's wife of New Mexico." At least I'd know where 15% came from.
The tax preparer enters Phase 3 when the documents are stapled together, whether or not they have been signed. Stapling indicates the arithmetic has been reviewed thrice, the order of forms has been checked thrice, and copies have been made in triplicate. This final phase can be upgraded from fun, at the prospect of not having to undergo such arduously inefficient paper work for another year, to excitement at the prospect of a refund. Conversely, it can also be downgraded to livid grumbling at the post office if a check is included with the paper work.
Enjoy your tax season!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
