"I said that corn!"

Colin created a new car game after our move to Indiana: if a field of corn comes into sight, the first person to yell "Corn!" wins. Since there are approximately a million fields of corn within 5 miles of our house, this can be quite a loud game. Then, because apparently there are not enough corn fields to keep us all occupied, we added yelling "Soybeans!" if we passed a field of soybeans. This roughly doubled the amusement because soybean and corn crops basically alternate throughout the area.

We had even more fun when Colin started saying " I said that corn [soybeans]!!" if someone tried to claim the same field after him. Then we all started yelling "I said that corn [soybeans]!" and Colin would say "I hate that!" and so on.

Sadly, harvest time has come and most of the corn and soybean fields have been cut down. No matter, we've just adjusted the game so we yell "Cut down corn!" instead. Good times.

Well, they might be there in spirit.

We're in the process of moving from San Mateo, California, back to Indianapolis, Indiana.  We've had to say goodbye to many dear friends, and perhaps the most difficult goodbye was to our friends, the Fox family.  After we met them, we sent our kids to the same school their kids went to, attended their church and even moved into their neighborhood.  When their twin girls were born almost two years ago, we started having dinner together every Saturday night.   After a tearful goodbye, the kids were asking if we would see the Foxes again.  I said that I was sure we would and that the Foxes would be part of our lives forever.  I might have misjudged my audience because Colin got very excited and said:  "Ooh, even at breakfast?" 

Not a quote from any of my kids, but I can't resist sharing...

At church last week, a 4 year old boy raised his hand at the end of the Bible story and when he was called upon, he excitedly told everyone that it was his mom's birthday and that they gave her a razor scooter as a gift.  It wasn't really related to the Bible story, but the story teller encouraged him to say more and asked "can you think of anything else you could do or say to make your mom happy on her birthday?"  Children threw out ideas like giving her a hug or saying "I love you" but the boy said - "I could tell her 'I think you're losing weight.' "

Classic.

and the winner of the gross out contest is.... Colin

Bella came home from school this week and was very excited to show me the treasure she found on the playground.  She gleefully reached into her pocket and pulled out... someone's retainer.  Yes, it was sparkly blue so she can be forgiven for being drawn to the fanciness, but it was also pretty gross.  Poor Bella was not happy when I told her what I thought of her treasure and told her to wash her hands and not touch it any more.  I think she cried for an hour.  (We did return the retainer, in a plastic baggie, to school the next day.)

Unamused as I was by Bella's treasure hunting, Colin easily beat her out for most disgusting antics the very next day.  Fiona had a 5:30 pm softball game, so dinner was a trip to McDonald's.  When I finished ordering, I looked down to see Colin carefully running his tongue back and forth over the front of the McDonald's counter.  I cannot even imagine how many hundreds of (unclean) hands have touched the counter he was so happily licking.  The kid must have a super immune system because he hasn't keeled over yet.

You don't wanna know... well, we don't want to tell you

Discovery Channel is airing a new show called "Life" that is similar to the "Planet Earth" series.  We've recorded a few of them to watch with the kids and yesterday we watched one about fish.  We watched a lovely sequence with two sea dragons dancing together in the water and as the sun went down, the voiceover (Oprah Winfrey, no less) said:  "Their dance was soon lost in darkness, but we all know what happened next."  To which Fiona responded:  "What?  What happened next?"

Jeremiah and I sat silently waiting for the moment to pass and for Fiona to forget the question.  For once, this approach basically worked and we moved on to the next scene without further discussion.

I can't wait until she's 16!

As often happens while we drive, my kids were questioning my driving decisions and peppering me with somewhat related questions.

For example, the light turns green but I don't immediately push the gas pedal. 

Colin asks: the light is green, why aren't you going? 

Me: There is a car in front of us and if I go before he moves, then I'll run into him.  That would be bad.

C: Then we'd bang his car up (making crunching and crashing noises)

Much discussion follows regarding how bad it would be to get in an accident and "break" our car, including discussion of which car it would be worse to break, etc.  I mention that this is one reason that you have to be older to drive and why you need to practice driving before you can drive on your own.

Fiona responds: I know how to drive.  Stop, stop, vroom, vroom, AAAARRRGGH! (various screaming noises).

Nice.

Twenty Questions with Colin

C: I've got one.

Me: Is it an animal?

C: No.

Me:  Is it a place?

C: No.

F: Is it a fun place? (Aside: Colin thinks that a  place and a fun place are different)

C: Yes

B: Is it the train museum?  (Colin's choice on two previous games of 20 questions that day)

C: No

Me: Is it far away?

C: Yes, you take 5 planes to get there.

F: What?  You don't take 5 planes to get anywhere.

Me: Is it Indiana?

C: No.  You only take 2 planes to get there.  (This is true, by the way.)

Me, F, B list several other places to which Colin repeatedly says no.

C:  It's muffins!!

Um, maybe he doesn't quite get the concept?

Not particularly amusing, but quite true

I had to wake Fiona up the other night to brush her teeth.  This is extremely unusual.  Fiona never wants to go to bed.  But, on this day, she had a very long and exciting day with friends and was tired out.  The following short conversion ensued:

F: (Yawning)  But, I'm never tired.

B: No, I'm always tired.  You're always hungry.