1/7/08

Monday

Breakfast: oat bran hot cereal
Lunch: mac and cheese for boys (again), Grape Nuts for me (again)
Dinner: spaghetti carbonara

I have a few random thoughts to write about this evening.

Our colds are mostly gone already.

Dion made some delectable chocolate chip oatmeal cookies last night. I'm lucky to be married to a man of many talents.

Lately, boiling chicken breasts is my favorite way to prepare them for casseroles - as opposed to cooking them in a skillet before or after they are diced. It's fairly fast and very easy, you don't have to handle it raw very much, it stays moist and it's easy to shred when it's done.

I was trying to teach Jenna how to do some handclaps the other night. The only one I could remember was "Down by the banks of the hanky panky, where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky. . ." I'd like to learn/re-learn some more, because both Jenna and I had fun doing that. I tried looking some up on the web, but as I browsed I noticed that many of them are just weird.

School today was: another history chapter about the first writing, math - fractions, grammar - direct objects, cursive - writing another thank you letter to his Primary teachers from last year.

Here is one of my favorite ways to top vanilla ice cream: granola, coconut, chocolate chips and, if it's available, strawberries. . .and maybe carmel and/or chocolate sauce. . .and maybe some whipped cream.

When I read Green Eggs and Ham to Randy the other night he asked me again about the grouchy guy being called Joe. He hesitated for a minute and said, "Joe is on Blue's Clues." So, I said we could call him something else. "What about Mac?" A pause, "Mac is on Dragon Tales." Finally, I suggested Stanley, and that seems OK for now. Does Randy watch too much TV?

Randy wasn't interested in eating his chicken broccoli casserole the other night. So, after awhile, Dion asked Jenna to help him with it. She has such a sweet way with Randy. She heaved him into his chair at the table and then was feeding him bites of it. You could tell he didn't love it, but he did eat most of it. It was very cute.

I need to get cracking on Christmas thank you notes.

Corey and I started listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on CD today, but I honestly don't know how we'll ever manage to finish it before it's due.

For Randy we practiced being still and reverent today. I told him he could have chocolate chips if he could sit still and quietly on the couch for 2 minutes until the timer rang. I explained that being reverent meant not wiggling and using a soft voice. Well, that didn't work so well. He was flopping back and forth and giggling. So, I told him he didn't get chocolate chips, but he could try again if he wanted. This time I sat him in a kid-sized blue plastic chair. I told him he had to stay sitting on his bottom and only use a whisper. That time it worked. I kept reminding and encouraging him about every 5 seconds in my own whispering voice, though, but I still think that counts. I hope to do a similar exercise each day with him and maybe over time we'll see some improvement.

Tonight we had Family Home Evening. A few months ago I came up with the idea of doing a "Manners Minute." Each week we take turns - one of us explains some type of etiquette - meal time behavior, how to answer the phone and take a message, how to introduce people to each other, etc. Tonight it was Dion's turn. First, he managed to get us all very quiet. I thought he was starting a who-can-be-quiet-the-longest type contest. I didn't know where he was going with it. We're all listening very intensely and he says in a nearly inaudible whisper, "Now, listen to my. . .COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!" He yelled it out LOUD and we all jumped a mile. I could NOT stop cracking up! What was his point, you ask? Well, Corey has developed this odd habit of yelling, usually when he's excited about something, but not always, sometimes it's just out of the blue, "EE-EI-EE-EI-O." Dion was demonstrating how yelling is not the appropriate way to use your voice in the house. He explained how annoying it is if you're trying to have a conversation with someone else or watch TV or just go about your business to have someone shrieking in the background. So, that spiced up our night.

All righty, I guess that's it for tonight.