Isaac saw this kitten through the glass door in the kitchen and asked if he could pet it.  I told him it wasn’t a good idea since we didn’t know the cat.  He told me that he wanted to name the cat Eustace.  I said ok.  He asked "now I pet the cat?  Because now I know the cat."  The cat looked friendly.  It was rubbing up against the glass and was not frothing at the mouth, so I let him go outside to pet the cat.  He said "Mom, lets show that cat how I ride my bike."    Since we had to leave soon I dissuaded him from that idea and we went inside.  His next comment was "that cat is cold, we should use my map book to take the cat to it’s home"  (his map book is a small Rand McNally road map of each of the United States).

Here’s an unrelated question from a few moments later:  "Mom, is a hospital a kind of dentist?"  This comment is way out in left field, we hadn’t been talking about hospitals or dentists.

The kids got a letter from their cousin today.  Isaac was excited to write back.  Here is what he said and the responses from his sisters:

Dear Joshua-

I want to tell you about everything that we do. Like when we made a sugar mess today. We were spilling it. Mom was not happy.

I like big boy legos. I maybe would like different little blocks. I like to help my mother. I want to write all the things we do, me and Charlotte. . . play with big boy legos. . and playing with the building set. . .and um watching Nicole and. . um doing everything that I do.

I want to write about I can come there. I can’t get out the door without my mother. I can’t put the big boy legos on the floor.

I want you to write all that tigers do. They do. . Killing things, and eating the things that they killed, and kill things for dinners, and wake up in the nighttime and eat kids when they are naughty in the night and how they do everything that they do. How they get on trains is by scratching and breaking them. Tigers swim in water. Kids can’t be awake in the night. No letting Joshua go out of his bed in the night and his mom will look at this letter and not let her kid not to, not let her kid not to do that.

Lets tell them the mommy and daddy part about you guys. Tell them about when mom and dad got married and how Nicole looks at everything and how Nicole touches the floor sitting like that and how she plays with the toys on that and how she does everything and how she bees nice to Zebras and nice to Zebras like that. The Nicole part is talking about how babies do and the Nicole part is how much babies do.

I want to do how our family does. Tell how much we do. Tell them that I say what time will it be the last day. Our family does um, our family says different kinds of words. And like to not get sick and fat, but I want candy. And I like to put my fingers like this way right between my buttons (on his computer).

I like to drink water. Now the milk part. That we drink milk at every dinner time. That’s the whole milk part. Then we get out of the milk part. When you’re all finished typing it you will close the milk part.

From,

Isaac

Nicole says: “ahhh”. . .drool. . .. squeal. . .smile. . .”grrrr”

Mom: Charlotte do you want to write a letter to Joshua?

Charlotte: I have to close all of them

Mom: Do you want to write a letter

Charlotte: I will close the window like that.

First of all, I don’t know if Zach’s blog post really counts as being tagged and considering that his being tagged is questionable, I figure I can pick and choose the questions I want to answer and since I’ve enjoyed some of the other tagged posts I’ve read I stole some questions from them:

This post was too long so you’ll have to click to read more!

4 jobs I’ve had

1. Taught school (in a Jr. High Special Ed)
2. Worked as a Communication Disorder Specialist (in an Elementary school)
3. Worked at eBay
4. "Captain" for BYU Catering (Zach still teases me about napkin folding)

4 TV shows (that I will admit to liking)

1. The Office
2. Lost (have you ever noticed that you sound retarded trying to explain what happened on an episode of Lost?)
3. Seinfeld
4. 24 (although either the last season wasn’t as good, or I just hate watching a season when I actually have to wait a week between each show–I watched the first seasons on DVD)

4 favorite foods is so mood based that I refuse to answer this one.  I can tell you that in my first trimester of pregnancy I always like juice drinks and veggie sandwiches.  In my last trimester I always want red meat, beyond that my faves can change from day to day.

4 Favorite restaurants

1. Carrabas
2. Happy Sumo (it took Zach years to convince me to try sushi and turns out I actually really like it)
3. Cafe Rio or Costa Vida (their pork salad tastes the same and that’s what I like)
4. Taco Bell (maybe I just can’t think of anything else right now, but for a late night treat on a Friday or Saturday night one of us sometimes sneaks away after the kids are in bed and we watch a show and I eat a cruchwrap supreme and smile)

Places to visit, I can’t really write this in a list.  My first choices are always to see my family (especially my dear mother in Ohio).  If I ever satiated on that I might want to go somewhere exciting, but not too hot.

I also don’t want to answer movies.  I can be ultra critical of movies at times, yet I’ll watch dumb movies and enjoy them.

4 most important things (that I can think of at the moment)

1. Family (I could cop out like Zach and list them, then be done)
2. God (I know, maybe this should be first, but I’m just not that good)
3. A perfectly organized house (I really should stop worrying about this, with three kids I may drive myself insane)
4. Food including chocolate (need I say more)

8 things that happened yesterday (in the order that my brain works) (link to where the next several questions came from)

1. held a baby
2. watched BYU win
3. changed diapers
4. had dessert with my new fantastic neighbors
5. discussed the details of a blind date I’m plotting for

Heidi

6. spent time with my incredible in-laws
7. hugged my kids
8. fed the baby multiple times

8 things on my wish list (once again in the order that my brain works)

1. a roomba and a scuba
2. something that will do my laundry for me (I actually used to enjoy folding laundry because it was an excuse to watch a show, but now I have way too much of it)
3. a finished basement (with guest bedroom)
4. my mom living nearby
5. to be able to eat out whenever I want and be able to afford it
6. Krista to live close to me for the rest of her natural life
7. my in-laws to continue to live close
8. to have a nice figure without eating right or exercising

Ok, I do wish for other long term things like for my kids to always stay close to me and to the gospel and for my hubby and I to be eternally in love and never argue but my brain thought of those other things first so that’s what I typed.

8 things I look forward to (in the order that my brain works)

1. continuing to watch my kids learn and grow
2. not changing diapers everyday
3. seeing my kids have their own kids (after temple marriages, ideally)
4. spending time with my mom
5. going on a mission with my husband
6. having my house paid off and all debts paid
7. a snack (I’m starting to feel hungry)
8. one-on-one time with my kids (thanks to a wonderful mother-in-law that watches the other kids so that I can do this regularly)

6 Quirky things about myself (I really enjoyed the ones I read)

1. I can’t stand the way wool feels.  It gives me the chills.  I don’t even like to touch Zach’s wool blankets.
2. If I wear long sleeves on anything but a coat, I always roll up (or bunch up) my sleeves.  I’m generally comfortable when other people are cold and hot when other people are comfortable so whenever I wear something long sleeved, I always have the sleeves rolled up within an hour of putting it on.  Sometimes I’ll unroll the sleeves multiple times in an attempt to wear them the intended way, but it never lasts.
3. I have to wear socks all the time (except the shower, I’m not nuts).  I think my feet feel really dry without socks on.  It feels like the carpet pulls all of the moisture out and If I’m outside, I fret about stepping on rocks if my feet are bare (we had to cross our driveway to get to the yard back in Ohio and I think this is somehow related).
4. I am addicted to lotion.  I keep multiple bottles in my house and have to use it throughout the day and especially when I fold laundry or after I get my hands wet.  If I’m somewhere and I feel the need to have lotion and don’t have it I keep my hands in fists as much as possible and try to figure out where I can find lotion.
5. I sort.  I don’t know how else to title this.  When I eat M&Ms I sort them first or make sure there’s as close to an even number of each color as possible while I eat them.  When I put the children’s colored cups away after they’re washed I put them in color patterns, I’ll even intersperse newly washed ones with the ones already in the cupboard to make the pattern look better.  If I build with the kids, I try to use only one color of blocks at the time in a symmetrical design.
6. I can’t stand to be hot.  When I’m too hot I think about it constantly and can’t get it out of my mind.  I even fret about being hot or situations where I might be too hot.

The following people can consider themselves tagged:

1. Heidi  (another idea for your NaBloPoMo)
2. Barbara (because I don’t call you enough and it might give me some good ideas for your Christmas present, I know it doesn’t really fit with your blog theme)
3. Bethani (because I don’t know you as well as I should)

(Since I cherry-picked what I wanted to answer, those who have been tagged can do the same)

OK, I’ll jump on the meme.  I’m the mystery blog reader Laresa referenced, I suppose.

4 Jobs I’ve had

• I worked for Superdell at Totally Awesome Computers (true story)
• I worked for eBay in the glory days
• I planted trees for one long hot summer
• I made pizzas in my dad’s pizza restaurant

4 TV Shows

• Top Gear
• The Office
• The Shield
• Home Movies

4 Favorite Foods

• Sushi
• Souvlaki
• Hamburgers
• Baja Gorditas

4 Places to Visit

• Hong Kong
• Concordia
• Tsaparang and Mt. Kailash
• St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida)

4 Movies I Will Admit I Like

• Unforgiven
• Starship Troopers (I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t care)
• Three Amigos
• Rushmore

4 Favorite US Cities (as of today)

• New York
• Seattle
• Knoxville (TN)
• Monticello (UT)

4 Most Important Things

• Kathleen
• Isaac
• Charlotte
• Nicole

I choose to tag no one, but I invite Kathleen to make a list.

On election day we walked in the house after voting and Isaac announced with great concern that "the naughty don’t want Obama to vote." We’re not Obama supporters and we haven’t really been talking politics much around the kids (that I can think of) or listening to much political stuff so I was surprised by the comment.  The next day at the library he pulled a book off the shelf about Kwanzaa, when I asked if he wanted a book on Christmas, he said "no" and insisted we check out the Kwanzaa one.  Are these unrelated? Or has Obama somehow gotten his message to the white 4-year olds from Utah demographic.

Here’s an unrelated but amusing election day quote from Isaac:

I let Isaac and Charlotte help me vote by pushing the correct buttons.  The sticker lady gave me extra stickers for Isaac and Charlotte.  After giving him his sticker, Isaac said "Nicole can’t vote because she would spit up on her sticker?"

Charlotte has become more independent in her prayers lately.  Instead of just repeating the same phrases over or waiting for help, she has started adding new ones.  Here are a few favorites from this week:  "Bless us to have good dreams.  Bless us to have another good dream."  "Bless that all my dreams will work."

Last week Isaac said "Thank the that I’m not worried that I’ll never see my aunt Krista again."

There are probably more amusing lines, but I can’t currently think of anymore from recent prayers.

"What it is:  Pseudostrabismus (soo-doh-strah-BIS-mus) refers to eyes that appear to point in different directions, but actually do not."

My mother pointed out to me that in some pictures it looked like one of Nicole’s eyes was turning in.  I asked the pediatrician about this and after examining her eyes for several minutes he determined that she has pseudoesotropia (essentially that nothing is wrong and it’s more of a visual illusion created by her facial structures.)

"In pseudoesotropia, the eyes appear to be crossed but are actually straight. This common condition in infants and young children is generally due to the infant’s facial structures. The wide bridge of the nose and small folds of eyelid skin on the nasal side of the eye contribute to this appearance by covering the "white" of the eye. This especially becomes apparent when the infant looks to the right or the left. As the infant’s facial structures mature, this appearance of crossing will improve and often disappear."

Click here for the source for the above quotations

We invited our good friends the Kelsons over for family night.  The lesson was on how  Jesus taught us to be kind and love others.  I shared a story during the lesson about Jesus healing a blind man.  The lesson ended with a paper puzzle covering a picture of Jesus.  The kids were required to pick up a puzzle piece and tell one way they can be kind.  The responses were not what I expected.  Here are the ones I remember:

"not hitting"

"not punching or kicking"

"not poking"

"not making someone blind" by Isaac.  I tried to get him to come up with something you can do instead of something that you can avoid doing by saying "what if a friend was coming over?  Can you think of one thing you could do to be kind to your friend?"  His response:  "not make my friend blind."

Not exactly what I planned to teach about kindness, but an interesting view of the 4-year-old-mind.

Yes, I know I’m behind, but better late then never right.  We had a busy day but it was fun.  I do have a picture of all three of my kids in their costumes, but I don’t think I look very good in it so I refuse to post it here.  We started the day at preschool group then we came home for lunch and naps.  Aunt Krista and baby Paul came over and joined us in a tour of Zach’s office (they always over decorate).  After collecting candy there we came home and changed then headed out to dinner at Tucanos with extended family.  When we finished eating all the meat we could, we came home and the kids changed into PJs and handed out candy before going to bed.

So I went to vote this morning, and I kid you not, the songs that came up random while I voted were as follows:

• "The Same Old Song" by The Four Tops
• "Beat It" by Michael Jackson
• "Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin
• "Careless Love" sung by Harry Connick Jr.
• "Fascination Street" by The Cure

I think there’s a deeper meaning in this.  The Candidate of Change isn’t change at all, but more Carter-esque nonsense.  It’s "the same old song", if you will.  I’m pretty sick of Chris Cannon, so "Beat It".  "Moby Dick" has some sort of fruitless quest or something going on.  "Careless Love" applies to the dimmer conservatives who are under Obama’s spell, and "Fascination Street" to the Democrats.  I think.

So, my votes.  Mostly Republicans, one write-in, one Democrat, one Constitution party, "No" on retaining all judges (force of habit; one unfair ticket, and you can all get re-appointed). 

The write-in may require some explanation.  We had the choice for our governor of John Huntsman, who is a grade-A RINO, Superdell (I’m a former employee, and can verify that he’s insane), and a Democrat promising free health care for everyone.  My choice?

I wrote in "Thomas S. Monson".

It’s a little hard to read, but Zach found this sign on the Urinal at the local Iceberg.  Ironically, instead of referring patrons to the nearby toilet, this sign suggests they use the sink.

This is what the sky looked like this morning.  When Isaac saw the sky he said "Mom, I can see Africa. . .Lets watch for the penguins."

Another one of those books I stumbled on and bought, and I’m glad I did.  Even though the events occurred more than 40 years ago, it’s still the same fight being fought, with nearly all the same players (except the USSR, and perhaps Iraq, barring any foolishness after the election.  Russia still has a role to play in the Middle East, though; technology to Iran?).  It’s the same impotent UN, the same dead-end Arabs, and the same dithering from the US government. 

I think most of us are familiar with the strategic victory of the Israelis, with their lightning pre-emptive strike on Egypt’s air power.  What’s amazing are some of the diplomatic details.  When it became clear Israel was going to smash the united Arab nations, the Israeli goal was to seize as much territory as possible before the UN forced a cease-fire.  Early in the conflict, the US government presented a cease-fire plan to the UN security council, and the Israelis, for diplomatic reasons, pretended to be pleased with the plan (while hoping that they would have a few more days to consolidate their gains).  Nasser, on the other hand, in desperate need of a cease-fire, was forced (somewhat due to his own propaganda - "We’re in Tel Aviv!") to reject the cease-fire.  The result was more time to secure the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Sinai peninsula. 

Anyway, I found the book very readable and actually very balanced.  Nasser and Amer are given equal time with Eshkol and Dayan.  I would recommend it to anyone interested in a better understanding of the situation in the Middle East.

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East

Time for another book review.  I’m not sure how I stumbled on this particular book, but it’s a very interesting look at the film industry.  It’s a quick read, in an engaging style, and has some great thoughts about the nature of drama and what’s wrong with movies in America.  Mamet describes the process of storytelling succinctly: "Once upon a time, and then one day, and just when everything was going so well, when just at the last minute, and they all lived happily ever after.  Period." 

For a guy like me who isn’t necessarily into movies, it’s a look at the interactions between producers, writers, directors, actors, and the guys doing the grunt work on the sets. 

The book also helped me crystallize what makes a good film.  I’m notoriously picky about what I like, and wind up keeping my opinions to myself.  I’ve been told I don’t make much sense in the movies I don’t like (example: Forrest Gump) and the movies I do like (example: Starship Troopers).  Well, I know what I like, and now I know a little better why I like what I like. 

Anyway, great read.  Pick it up using the link below.

Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business (Vintage)

I don’t think my words will give the experience full effect, but they’re all I’ve got so here goes. 

Perhaps we should have taken him to the church ahead of time so he could discover all the workings of the folding seat before the program started, but who knows if we could have ever satiated his interest in this particular type of seat.  He sat in one of those chairs where the seat automatically closes when  you stand up and he wiggled and played with the seat for most of the program.  He was so distracted by the seat that I couldn’t make eye-contact with him to tell him not to play with it. 

The best part of the program came when they started playing the intro to his favorite primary song "I love to see the temple" he looked and me and said in a  surprisingly loud voice "Mom, it’s my favorite song!"  then he proceeded to yell the words of the song as loud as he possibly could.  I laughed so hard that I cried and everyone I looked at was laughing too.  He yelled so loud, that you could hear him clearly above all the other children’s voices.  For the rest of the songs I only heard him yell an occasional word because he only knew parts of the other songs.  He yelled most of the first verse of "I am a child of God," but he didn’t yell that one as loud.