"Can I wear my socks in the bathtub?" and other Wacky Tricks

So once again I've waited a ridiculously long time to post this so hopefully it is worth the wait!

1. Conversation with Clancy:
(he was eating yogurt)

Clancy: "Mom, what flavor is this?"

Mom: "Strawberry"

Clancy: "Can I borrow the recipe because I want to make this at my new house?"

Mom: "You mean this house?"
Clancy: "No, my other house, it's called the White House"

2. Chloe is learning to act like her Chinese zodiac animal (She was born in the year of the Rat). She flashes this "Rat Girl" smile at anyone who will look.

3. Clancy's aspirations for greatness:

"Mom, one day I want to be a:

Dinosaur

stegosaurus

Leader (about 30 minutes after telling me his other house is the "White House"

Missionary

Mama

Dada

an accounting penguin, tiger, toucan NOT a pirate penguin!

4. Clancy is trying his gymnastics skills out--he does somersaults and headstands!

5. Chloe is walking! Now it is more like a half-run, but in the previous movie, you see some of her first real consistent steps

6. We were watching "Cars" at the point where Lightning McQueen runs out of gas when he is trying to escape town and Clancy asked me what happened

Mom: "He ran out of gas"

Clancy: "Did he forget to go to Costco?"

7. Clancy is READING!

8. Chloe does the actions for "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree"



9. Chloe scrubs her own hands, lathers her own shampoo, folds her arms for prayers (sporadically), and blows on her own food to cool it down

10. Chloe stands on one leg when she is happy about something. She got a new table toy and to show how happy she was, she kept standing on one leg (while holding onto something of course). This picture doesn't show the one leg thing, but it does show the shear joy of being one year old!

11. Chloe is now a little girl, no longer a baby (sniff) since she had her 1st birthday. Her favorite things are purses, shoes, and girly stuff.

12. Clancy is a big boy now since he is a potty-trained three-year-old

(Clancy with his stegosaurus cake)

13. The kids are always riding in "boats" together. We are going to miss this when they're not both small enough to fit!

14. Clancy and Chloe are really into choir for some reason. Clancy starts singing a song and then yells "Everybody, sing with me!" Then after you sing the song way too many times, he says..."Again, faster"....After way too many more times, ..."Again, louder". That is the worst part of choir--practicing. Chloe is content to wave her arm whenever "choir music" or church music is playing. I should get these kids some lessons, they may be the next Osmonds.

15. We brought home some zoo animals!

Chloe guarding the flamingo egg

16. Having facial hair is NO fun!
Ok, maybe a little...

Funny

So lately I've been enjoying the little funny moments that happen. As you can see my world pretty much revolves around Andrew, Clancy, and Chloe and grocery shopping, so there is a definite trend to these funny moments, but I hope you enjoy them!

1. Clancy, who had stripped down to just his new hightop Converse and his diaper in preparation for dinner, put a sticker on his belly and then did a belly dance while breathing heavily. "I'm having a baby" he announced. Too much Discovery Health channel?

2. A guy in his convertible Benz with his arm stretched out hanging onto a shopping cart that he was towing from the Pickering Barn parking lot to the Costco parking lot across the street. I want to think that this was his good deed for the day and not that he is just a wealthy guy

working as a cart fetcher for Costco

3. Clancy's repertoire of songs which includes "Hello Hello" By the Beatles, "You Are So Beautiful to Me", "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel", and of course "Latter-Day Prophets"

4. Chloe grunting and growling really loudly during the quietest part of church and sleeping in her high chair

5. A man was walking away from his Benz in the Fred Meyer parking lot and then, noticing an invisible speck of dirt on his car's tail light, he bent down and with much drama, licked his finger and polished his light. Wow!

6. I often have to give Clancy a run-down of the day's events so that he can mentally prepare himself and one day I gave him the run down as we were driving home from an event "go home, eat lunch, read books, take a rest, go to Costco and get gas with Dada" and he said "No, how about we go to Costco get gas, eat samples, get in our car, go home, eat lunch, read books and then take a rest". I couldn't resist, we had to go to Costco and get samples.

7. Chloe getting high-centered on the toy bin

8. The show "Wipe Out" on ABC. We've only seen it once, but it is just basically people going through challenging obstacle courses that often involve water, dizziness, and a lot of really funny falls. Andrew, Clancy and I laughed our heads off.

9. Chloe tipping her head to the side and batting her eyelids when she wants to charm you

10. Andrew losing his glasses for 24 hours when he swore they were on his bedside table. Luckily he has a good looking back-up pair. We looked everywhere for them and eventually found them in his scripture case.

11. Clancy disappearing for a few minutes and then throwing the door open and shouting "TaDa" with some black snow boots on (These boots are actually a hand-me-down for Chloe, but somehow Clancy squeezed his feet into them). He then proceeded to try on all the shoes which were all really girly. Finally I got him to try on his new Converse and then told him to strike a pose. This was the result.

12. Chloe's reaction to people eating ice cream without offering her any.

13. Us having a room dedicated entirely to fort building. There is one really large room in the house we live in that has three big couches with a lot of cushions and not much else. It is Clancy's dream come true. So far we've constructed rockets, planes, trains, and of course, the Tower of Babel.

14. Andrew putting me in charge of handling bee removal. Honestly, does he not know that "I am afraid of things that bite and sting"?

15. Clancy telling his uncle Jacob to wait at the bottom of the stairs. "I need a little space, I need some PIE VUS EE" he says.

16. We found this candle when we were moving in and Clancy was excited about it. We told him that when he is 5 we will put it on his birthday cake. We left it at that and then a few minutes later Clancy brought it to me and said that it was broken. Strangely enough, the break marks were exactly the same size and shape as Clancy's teeth. Maybe we should save it for his 5th, 15th, 25th etc. birthday cake!
17. Clancy helped us move in. He had breaks and wasn't worked too hard, and he does own pants, but you can't tell that from this picture!

The Amazing Lazarus

Lazarus looking pretty droopy, though this isn't the worst that he's been

Lazarus just a few hours later after a good long drink

So this is our plant, the amazing Lazarus. He dies pretty much daily, to the point that one day I was about to throw him away. I gave him some water instead and he perked right back up. This is the plant for me, since I frequently forget to water our houseguests. I recommend this type of plant for adoption by my fellow plant-killers (he is a primrose). I encourage you to not neglect your plants like I have.

I guess I will need to work on developing the watering habit before I am charged with caring for Andrew's dad's bonsais that he has had for 10+years. I don't know if they are amazing like Lazarus.

Not gone, just stumped

I have said previously that I have a continuous blog post running through my head but no time to type it up, but not this time.  Over this last month I have stolen a few moments in which to update the blog but everytime my post lacks inspiration and cohesiveness so it gets filed away in the drafts never to be read.  Maybe when I get my inspiration back I'll become a famous blogger and years after I've written the final blog post those drafts will be released as a "forgotten unfinished post attributed to none other than..."  Ok, I serious doubt that, but it worked for Picasso and Mozart, right?

In the interest of not having the most stagnant blog on the blogosphere and in hopes that someone will keep following this blog, I'll just throw some really random photos and stories out there.  In the meantime, send some inspiration my way!

Clancy doing his gardening

Clancy's delivery of my Mother's Day Gift from him....(notice the LavaLava).  The gift was thank you notes with Riesen inside of Easter eggs in a basket.

Clancy and Chloe after church on Chloe's 6 month birthday

Does anyone recognize this tree?  It has beautiful large white flowers and fuzzy leaves.  The buds are large and fuzzy before the flowers pop out.  I think I want to plant this kind of tree.

Chloe's new trick

Chloe's version of "India Dance"

A Closer Look

Every year scores of Washingtonians make the pilgrimage to the Skagit Tulip Festival, and this year we joined the throng. Though the fields were full of color, none of it came from tulips. A cold spring delayed the blooming of the tulips, but the daffodils were out in full force. From a distance the fields seemed like they were covered in white or yellow tarps, and the distinct beauty of each individual flower couldn't be appreciated, but when viewed up close, each flower had its own look.

Andrew, being the photography hobbyist that he is, took the time to search for the perfect flowers and the perfect camera settings with which to capture the awesome scene.

The kids thought the flowers were pretty cool too, the only trouble was keeping Clancy from picking one, since he's learned the value of giving flowers to girls at an early age. FYI: Chloe was smiling, if there was a question.

We ventured into La Conner to watch the mid-afternoon parade (always a favorite with me) and found a really cute and quaint downtown. Andrew loved the jazz band playing in a public square, and I loved the shops, galleries and cafes. Clancy loved the dogs, firetrucks, and of course the candy being hurled at him from the paraders. Chloe was just happy to be held. La Conner is definitely a perfect retirement town (if anyone is looking). There Clancy found his match ...(pointing at himself and the fire hydrant), "look, we're the same!"

After driving all around the Mount Vernon/La Conner area, we found our favorite field and returned several times to get "just one more" shot. Finally, when our camera's memory card was full and the batteries drained, we called it a day and headed home.

On the way out of town, we saw this field of white. Much to the farmer's displeasure, the white in this field was not due to daffodils, but to birds eating his seeds. When the birds flew off, the ground was no longer green but a barren, seedless brown.

The rising of the birds was like a huge tidal wave, and the sound was incredible. I have never heard such a chorus of cawing and cooing. When we saw the massive flock heading our way, we scrambled to shut the sunroof and windows so we wouldn't get nailed with "bird splat" and grabbed Andrew's phone to catch the craziness of the moment. After the birds circled around and landed in the neighboring field, we left La Conner for good, feeling sorry for the farmers, but grateful for what we had witnessed.

Well, with thousands of birds overhead, we were a prime target, and our car was "bird splat"-ted on, so we headed to our local Brown Bear Car Wash, where the workers dress like missionaries and the parking lot is surrounded with brown bear statues. After an exciting, 7-minute power washing (Clancy's first carwash experience), our car was returned to its sparkling state (which it achieves very rarely) but with a lot of hubcap paint missing. Oh well, at least we still have four hubcaps...for now!

All in all, the Tulip Festival was a hit. We hope you all join us next April when the fields are full of flowers and the birds are in flight.

Four

Today we celebrate 4 years of marriage, and wedded bliss. With all that has happened and changed in the last 4 years, it seems like we've already lived through half of an eternity, but I'm still looking forward to the other half. I love you Andrew!

Here is an awesome original song that our friend and my former mission companion Cim Carr wrote for us four years ago:

Wedding Song

(sung to the Tunes of "Another Saturday Night" and the Aquabats "Skateboard Song")

Another Saturday night the week after the wedding

It's half past midnight, but there's no more curfew.

All week long they've been getting surprises,

Oh, what they both wish they knew.

They'll share a bank account and a bed and a bathroom

When they have kids they'll share a big mini van

When Laura speaks Cantonese out loud while she's sleeping

her new roommate will understand.

Oh, Oh, she'll change her last name and get a new ID

They'll watch old re-runs of 3's Company

When he cooks her breakfast

He'll know how she likes her eggs

When he can't find his razor

It's cause she's using it on her legs

Oh how they'll love their life in matrimony

In their new world filled with surprising fun

No more secrets No flirting Just marriage

For our new couple Mr. and Mrs. Wan.

When Laura met his parents she felt kinda nervous

and had to show them both that she was the best

After all of their interrogation

She passed the lie detector test.

For Andrew the story was a little bit different

He won her family just by honking his nose

And after all those months of patiently waiting

They were glad he finally proposed.

Oh, Oh, they'll buy a new house

And Start a new family

Their kids will look like Cindy Brady and Bruce Lee

He's never had a sister

So he'll have to learn about PMS

And when she asks

You should never say she looks fat in her dress

How they'll love their life in matrimony

In their new world filled with surprising fun

No more secrets No flirting Just marriage

For our new couple Mr. and Mrs. Wan

Their relationship has been defined

They both knew it from the start

Now they'll have to lock their heart

Till the end, end, end of time.

They'll never have to worry about being alone

'Cause Philippina's like to call him on the phones

he'll read Martha Stewart Living

He'll read the Wall Street Journal

They'll be so glad they found their companion eternal.

How they'll love their life in matrimony

In their new world filled with surprising fun

No more secrets No flirting Just marriage

For our new couple Mr. and Mrs. Wan

A Reminder

The other day I had a bit of a revealing experience as I was sitting in my car waiting in a crowd for a chance to fill up my gas tank at Costco. For some reason, as I was looking around at my fellow Costco patrons, the thought came to me that everyone has their own set of hidden trials, challenges, weaknesses, and hurts along with talents, gifts, joys, etc. I was reminded about how important it is to treat everyone gently and carefully. You never know how your interactions with people will affect them for good or bad.

That same evening, I saw a report on the NBC Nightly news about Susan Boyle, a contestant on "Britain's Got Talent". I was as amazed and shocked as was everyone else that saw the video. It just reminded me that we can never judge a person's worth or validity based on appearances or personality. Even if Susan didn't have an amazing voice, she would still be a valuable and interesting person. Everyone has a gift.

For those of you that haven't seen the video of Susan's audition, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Skills (read Skeels)!

Like Napolean Dynamite Clancy and Chloe have some pretty rad skills. Instead of num-chuk skills and cake-baking skills, they have:

1. Dismantling skills (a.k.a. Jenga skills)



2. Domination Skills (this picture tells it all)

3. Food Appreciation Skills


4. Crowd-pleasing skills

This plus a host of other really fascinating skills... As you can tell, I'm the proud parent. Noone ever told me how entertaining having children can be. I love these kids, they make me laugh!

Conversations with the kids

Chloe admiring the hippos Clancy with a gargantuan Orangutan

So the kids have been buzzing with life lately. Clancy can't stop talking about our trip to Utah, nursery, storytime, chinese, and the zoo. During breaks in the conversation during dinner, he often says, "Let's talk about...giraffes...they have long necks..." We've started trying to teach him animal names and transportation vehicles in Chinese, so he now asks what almost everything is in Chinese. Sometimes he will mutter some incomprehensible gibberish and then explain that it is Chinese. No wonder I didn't understand!

Chloe is starting to try conversation too. Usually her conversations include bubbles and drool along with smiles, laughs, and sounds something like "a-goo". Almost everytime I ask her "what do you want to say, Chloe?" she takes the cue and starts blabbering.