Ben's First Haircut

Click this link to see a slideshow of Ben's first haircut today. His hair was so bad. Hmm, I think it was the past 5 months we kept saying, "We've got to get his hair cut!" Well, now we got a round to it, and here's the proof. Ashley cut Ben's hair. He sat like such a big boy, and got to squirt the water bottle, hold a comb, play with toys, and hold the clipper. Just like my last haircut!

We are the ant colony!

Here is a video of Rachel's Girl Scout Camp presentation last summer, where her troop gave a cute little play.

Welcome to the family, Jackson

Jeremy: I have a new imaginary friend. His name is Jackson. He wants to live with us.
Us: Why does Jackson want to live with us?
Jeremy: He's a wild boy. He didn't want to live with his parents because they make yucky food.
Us: Oh, well I think we have enough room in the house for him. But what about Jack? Won't you get Jack and Jackson confused?
Jeremy: No.
-----
Later...
Us: Jeremy, tell Grandma and Grandpa why Jackson is living with us.
Jeremy: His parents died.
Us: Oh, I thought they made yucky food.
Jeremy: Yes, and then they died.

Please pass the Mapkin...

Jeremy: "Dad, would you please pass the mapkin."
Rachel: "No, Jeremy, it's Napkin. Nnn."
Me: "It's OK, Rachel, we understand what he means."
So, I threw together a picture of what I thought a mapkin might look like...

Today is Opposin Day!

Another Jeremyism. He comes home one day and says to Lisa, "Today is Opposin Day! I hate you!" and grins. Rachel has to correct him: "No, Jeremy, it's 'Opposite Day.'" To which he says, "Opposin Day!"

We are playing the Kepah Game!

After their cousin Evan's Bris last night, the kids got ahold of the bag of Kippot. They were strewn all around the house - and they danced and sang "We are playing the Kepah Game!"

Hello, Daddy!

I'm Miss Glamor! (At least, those are the words that popped into my head as the most beautiful daughter came upstairs this evening.)

I hate Fun and Joy

Jeremy comes home on the bus and says, "I like dots. And SweeTarts. But, I hate Fun and Joys." Of course, this is something he realized this Halloween. That's OK, plenty of people like Fun and Joy!!

Don't eat Superman!

You know how sometimes you have to work to get your kids to eat? Well, for some reason I hit upon this one day. The food on a utensil became a character. It first started out with Thomas characters - Thomas, Percy, James, Henry (that one's fun), Sir Topham Hatt, etc. Well, since the kids love Superman so much, I did one edition with the Justice League. Ben latched onto it, and his favorite is Superman (see video).

Da d'daaa!

This is kind of like a "ta da!" Benjamin (he turns 2 this October) now says "Da d'daa!" every time he sees Superman. He raises his hands in the air when he says this. For some reason the kids love Superman. We bought Jeremy a costume at Costco, and he was sooo thrilled to se it!

Jack's Sister

We just found out - Jeremy's imaginary friend Jack (you remember him?) has a sister. Her name is Rachel. Well, apparently it is her birthday today. Thought I'd let you know.

Knock Knock...

Jeremy is a whiz at Knock Knock jokes! I could probably start another blog on it. Wait, I will! Imerman Knock Knock.

Spiders.com

A couple of years ago, we set up one of those big play structures from Costco. Later that summer, we noticed that a spider had made its home in the corner of some beams. I called Rachel and Jeremy over (Ben wasn't born yet), and showed them the pretty sizeable critter waiting patiently for its next meal. I did not recognize the little bugger, so I said something like
"I wonder what kind of spider it is." Quick as a whip, Rachel says, "You can just go to Spiders.com and find out." From the mouths of babes! So, we hopped on the computer, typed in Spiders.com, and what do you think we found? Domain name or server not found. Bummer. It was a good idea!

Poppy Seed World

What, you might ask, is Poppy Seed World, and how can we go there? Well, when Rachel was 2, we took her to the Little Caesar's version of Chuck E. Cheese's - Caesarland. It was great - lots of stuff to climb on, games to play, and pizza. It was a frequent meeting place for Lisa's Mom 'n' Tot group. One day, Rachel asked if we could go to Poppy Seed World. "Poppy Seed World?" we asked, at a total loss. She meant Caesarland, and was very upset that we couldn't figure it out -- until we drove by it. Unfortunately it recently closed down, perhaps they should have changed their name?

Jack, Pal, and Guys

Did I mention that Jeremy has quite an imagination? He has this imaginary friend. Actually, at different points in the past year, he has had one friend or another, but some time around last November (2005), they finally settled down into the group they are now.

There's Jack. That's his main friend. Jack is not real (Jeremy will tell you this), but Jeremy has out-loud coversations with him all the time. In fact, sometimes they have fights, then make up. Oh, and Jeremy also answers himself as Jack.

Then, there's Pal. I think Pal is the "older" friend, he's been around longer. Jeremy has some conversations with him, but I think he likes Jack better.

The Guys are this nebulous group of "others." I think they are extras he has hired into his little play world. They usually accompany Pal (I think so he doesn't feel so lonely, because Jeremy favors Jack). So, it's usually either Jack, or Pal and Guys. Sometimes, it's all of them (imagine how they all fit in our van on the trip to Disney World!).

Now, (follow me here) (deep breath) Jack has an imaginary friend named Jeremy. That's Imaginary Jeremy. He has another imaginary friend named Julia (see the post on Julia), but this is Imaginary Julia. Jack, Imaginary Jeremy, and Imaginary Julia are good friends. But again, Jeremy's best pal is Jack...

Julia

OK, the year is 2005-2006. Jeremy is in preschool (at the ripe old age of 4). Aunty Marla is about to get married, and --- oh, who's Julia? Well, let's let Jeremy explain: "She's my girlfriend. I'm going to marry her." See, Julia's this girl in his class. Jeremy talks about Julia all the time, and we found out later from her parents, Julia talks about Jeremy all the time. What!?!? OK, time to call my mom, and let her know she has another wedding to plan!

White eggs

For many years, I thought my family loved scrambled eggs. I tried "Egg with a hole in the middle" (which is a bread with a hole, and egg in the middle ;), soft-boiled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, etc. (egc.?) Last March, while travelling to Disney World, we ate breakfast at a Cracker Barrel. Lisa ordered eggs over easy. Boy, was I surprised when she said she loved those, not scrambled.

"Why didn't you make them before?"

"I don't know how to flip them without breaking them."

"Oh, well I can do that!"

When we got home, Jeremy wanted "white eggs" - every day - for months! Hence, another family term.

Banana in a wrapper

One of Jeremy's famous terms, of course, this is what he used to call a banana with the peel on.

Chop Chop!

(Click here to view movie.)
The other day, I'm putting dinner on the table. As I put the smoothie cups out, Benjamin (Mr. Smoothie) starts screaming for his, and clapping his hands (he does that when he wants something). I say, "Hold on a minute! Boy, Ben must think he is a prince, to clap his hands and get what he wants. He thinks he can just say 'Chop! Chop!' and get what he wants." Ben then says "Chop! Chop!" I think, with a Herculean effort, I avoided spraying the food from my mouth over the table. [Ben will be 2 this Halloween.] Needless to say, he got his smoothie.

Cow Poop Farm

After much research (see here), we determined that we wanted to try feeding our family raw milk from a reputable source. The one we heard most about in our area was Chuck Oliver, and as we knew people who were his customers, we chose to further our journey into healthy food with his historic farm. Now, this is north of Lapeer, Michigan, which is a good 1 1/2 hour drive from our house. That makes a good 3 hour round trip. On our second trip out there, it came out that our daughter, Rachel, did not like the smell. Jeremy, who was 2 at the time, had not yet learned to talk (he had delayed speech). While explaining to Rachel why a dairy farm had a particular aroma, Jeremy picked up on the explanation. He said "Cow Poop." Boy, did we have a laugh -- the first 10 times. The next hour and a half it was getting old. This new learned phrase lasted over a year, and to this day, we still out of habit say "it's time to go to the Cow Poop farm!"