Emmie's New Cat

Emmie got a new robotic Furreal cat from her grandma. She named it Krsdl (Crystal) after Frosty the Snowman's wife. Nonni assured her this cat would not do naughty things. When she woke up on Christmas morning it seems she had left us a surprise in the hall. Emmie was visibly flummoxed!

Santa Was Here!

Santa's elves played a prank on him and took pictures of him while he was delivering gifts. Then they stuck the pictures in the kids' stockings way down at the bottom so he wouldn't know they had done it. A few funny things, we noticed Clay was back up in his bed even though he was having a slumber party in Emmie's room that night. Emmie thought it was silly that Santa would bother to move Clay just so he could check on him in his own bed and not only that but change his pajamas first then bother to put him back and change him again. Clay thought it was pretty neat that he didn't remember any of it. He must have been dead asleep. I thought maybe he came in earlier in the week to check on them but that was obviously not the case Mom! The kids had it all figured out.

They were surprised Santa would go into the fridge. Then they realized we forgot to put out any snacks. They felt pretty bad about that. He ate all the rest of the split pea soup. Emmie was a little annoyed since she loves it so much. I told her it was OK because he did rinse out the container and put it in the sink. Emmie also thought it was pretty amazing how much Santa resembles Scott. Scott was working a 24 hour shift so there's his alibi. The one thing they thought was so funny was Santa getting stuck in the cat door. He probably won't try to come in that way again.Thanks for the pictures Santa's Elves! The kids are both relieved they were good enough this year. They kept their rooms clean the whole month of December. What an amazing accomplishment!

Emmie's Sign

Santa gave Emmie a hanging whiteboard for her room. She immediately put it to use. Unfortunately she hung it by her door to control who is allowed to enter her room and who is not. Clay was bugging her this day. He is usually on the no entry list. Currently I'm not allowed in her room. Atleast she is practicing her spelling and handwriting skills.

We're Back!

The New Laptop! Welcome to the 21st Century

Our old laptop lost its light on the screen. We had no idea that could happen. I had to back up all our photos for the last 2 years onto an external hard drive without being able to really see anything. If I had bright sunlight right on the screen I could faintly see the desktop but not the mouse. It was a bit like trying to use a computer with cataracts in the dark. I am sure we lost lots of pictures and videos. For some reason not all the transfers were successful. I found quite a few empty folders on the external hard drive. I am trying not to think about it.

I would really like to go back and recapture the month of November and the first bit of December. We went to Monterey right before Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. I better just stay current until I have some extra time to go back and sort through the pictures now that they aren't so easy to get to. I tried to download them all onto the new computer but I couldn't get them organised into anything other than one super giant folder of 8300 pictures and videos. I have been curious to know how many we had. That's about twice what I thought, a bit ridiculous for sure. I would like to get them all uploaded to a photo printing site to get hard copies made. It was taking so long I had to quit. Too bad I couldn't have finished before this happened.

I am really looking forward to publishing more of life around here now that the hubbub of Christmas is past. Unfortunately, the laundry is ceiling high and I can't even find the kitchen counter.

The Minnick Family Christmas Photo

Bubble Mania

The kids loved the bath in the big tub the other night and begged for another. Scott got it ready for them and then washed their hair. I went to check on them and found this winter-wonder-land. When I gave them a bath the other night I turned on the jets for them and everything seemed fine. But when Scott did the same the tub was piled in bubbles. In fact, 24 hours later and the tub is STILL covered in bubbles. He said he only used enough shampoo to wash their hair and nothing else. Anyway, I think we were able to get a Christmas card picture for this year. I'm not putting that one on the blog, it's too good.

Swimmin' Time

This is just to tease the kids 10 years from now! I'm not sure what the deal with the water-wings is. Clay calls them his butter-wings. I guess it makes it feel more like swimming. They were doing the back float and the tummy float that they learned from swim lessons this summer.

Caught in the Candy Cupboard

Emmie was missing for awhile and I went to find her so she could help us carry some things to the basement. I found her in the laundry room eating Mini M&Ms. She would barely pause long enough to tell me what had happened as she stuffed them in her mouth. The kids stack the clean laundry baskets up and use them to climb up on the counter next to the laundry sink. It drives me crazy! I store all the candy high up in a cupboard to try and control the kids from eating it all the time. After Emmie had gotten what she wanted this time she jumped off the counter and hooked her belt loop on the drawer pull. She was just tall enough to reach the floor but not tall enough to unhook her pants. I asked her to tell me what happened and she sort of spit it out in between M&Ms. She wailed, "Can somebody help me?!?" So I suggested we get Scott. She nodded yes then thought about it and said, "No! Dad will be angry!" I went to get Dad of course because it was too funny to just let her go. She could only walk as far as the drawer would pull out. I even took a video to torture her further. I actually sent it into AFV. So I'm not supposed to post it here, besides it would show how truly disorganized and messy I am. That would be pretty great, however, if it made it on the show mess or no mess. I'll let everyone know if anything happens with it. I think the best part of being a parent is laughing at your kids' expense.

Hmmmm! How did that get there?

We all piled in Scott's monster truck to go pick up grass seed. As we were driving down the road we noticed something funny, other than the footprints all over the windshield. There were 2 pieces of Halloween candy on the hood. Clay crawls in the bed and up over the cab to slide down the windshield. It's just about the biggest truck you can get without modifying it so that makes it all the more fun to use it as a jungle gym. The candy blew off somewhere on American Flat road. And dang! That was one of my favorite chocolates too! Now is that not just the most redneck story or what?

New Sheets!

Is there anything more wonderful than getting new sheets? Maybe new socks. The kids picked out their own sheets and we hurried and washed them so they'd be ready for the next day. Emmie and Clay talked about them all night and reminded me all the next day to put them on. When I did, around 3:00, they hurried and put on pajamas and crawled into bed. It was such an exciting thing to get new sheets.

Working on Getting to Heaven

The kids were inside and driving me crazy so I told them to go out. They wouldn't budge. So I gave them a choice 1. Go out and play or 2. Help clean the playroom. Easy Choice! They took off like a shot and went to the playground. Today I asked them if they wanted to help me and they both screamed, "Run! Mom's coming!" I'm glad when they go out but I would like them to help. "Help Mom" has become code for "Quick, run to the playground!"

Today Emmie and Clay were out by the playground and I overheard Clay say he wanted to go to see Jesus. Emmie was telling him to stand on one end of a ramp so she could put rocks, sticks and leaves on the other end to catapult him up to heaven. He was getting very impatient and demanding. Emmie was all too happy to help him get up to heaven as soon as possible. She doesn't quite understand physics or simple machines so Clay didn't get to see Jesus yet. Clay better be nice to Emmie or she will figure a way to send him to heaven one day. The kids were saying that actually Scott will get to go to heaven first because he is 39 and that's so old. They say they will continue to work on getting Clay to heaven but it will take a lot of dirt.

Say Cheese!

These two are best friends in everything they do. Unfortunately they work together the best when they are concocting some scheme that will undoubtedly leave a huge disastrous mess. I was having them pose for me because the house was finally clean. I was trying to keep them distracted from making any new messes.

Great Grandma Dora is 95!

We went to Nonni and Grandpa Larry's house to celebrate Grandma Dora's 95th birthday on the 10th of November. She spent the day at Thunder Valley Casino and then we met at the house for a little party. She had a full day even if she wasn't turning 95!

Chagrin

Emmie got dressed for church in her very best new early Christmas dress. Then since she had time to kill and she was now a bike pro she went out to ride. Scott had to take her bike apart to get her now ripped and greasy skirt and ribbon out of the chain. I told her I was taking her picture because I was so mad I wanted to see if was funny later. I don't know where the toast came from. Well by the look on her face I can tell it's a lesson learned.

Freedom on the Road

Clay decided it was time to ride on 2 wheels. He said he was 4, and 2 and 3 year old kids can't do that but he can. Em saw how easy it was for Clay so she wanted to do it too. The pure confidence of these kids is all it took to learn to ride without help. The absolutely most difficult part of teaching them to ride on 2 wheels was the need to wear shoes. They both started out barefoot and ended up with cuts, bruises and shoes.

Look Ma! No Training Wheels

We took lots of video of the kids learning to ride their bikes without training wheels. To our amazement they both took off on the first tries. Scott held onto them and ran behind like dads are supposed to but then they went off on their own. Clay was hurt and flipped out for awhile but he soon recovered. Emmie had a bit of trouble turning. She was attracted to obstacles like a magnet.

The broken pot in the background is actually not from a bike crash. We had a big wind storm and had yet to find a replacement pot. It would make for a good story though.

We are planning on teaching the kids how to rollerskate soon. I only hope it will go this smoothly.

Little Weirdos

Photog Clay

Clay took a lovely picture of me. This was the best of the 30 he took. I thought I would share it with you all.

Oooops!

It was pretty early in the morning and it seemed like the kids were still sleeping. I thought they had adjusted to the time change very quickly. What a relief! I went into the kitchen to find this little disaster all over the floor and the Clay desparately trying to sweep it into the dust pan. Emmie was looking on with pleasure because she knew he was going to get it. When they saw me they both took off leaving pink footprints through the kitchen and into Clay's bedroom. Clay just wanted to make a glass of strawberry Quick and didn't want to bother me. I'm so glad I found the mess before they started mopping it up with water and towels!

Trailer Party

Clay went to the trailer with Scott to check it out to see what it will take to make it clean enough for me to want to sleep in it. Used trailers are like used underwear no matter how nice! While they were down there Clay explored around and found the bathroom. Later that night Clay told me, "Ha! Ha! I peed in the trailer potty!" I told him Dad was going to be mad. When Emmie heard that she jumped up and ran to tattle. She hurried and told Scott the juicy gossip she had just heard, "Clay said he had a trailer party!" She really thought she had gotten Clay this time. They love each other so much they will shove the other under the bus just to have a little fun at the other sibling's expense.

Arresting Officer

Emmie and Clay took turns arresting us. Emmie was more gentle. Clay slapped the cuffs on like he meant it. Ouch! Emmie told us we were arrested until she counted to 3 so it wasn't too bad. She was very serious and played her part well.

Emmie Ready for the Rain

Emmie bought pink rain boots with white polka-dots and a bright pink umbrella with green polka-dots just in time for the season's first big rainstorm. Pink makes everything better!

Emmie, Sooooo Happy!

Emmie loves Pixie Sticks. They are a little sour for her but that doesn't stop her from enjoying them. She doesn't say it's sour but says it's "spicy!"
Look how happy a little straight sugar makes our pink leopard.

Clay's Goofy Smiles

I can always get Clay to pose for a picture by telling him I will take a picture just so HE can see how he looks. It works every time. He loves to see himself on the camera. He had lots of fun trying on funny teeth and smiling for us. The red lips are wax. He had a few of them but he kept biting through them before I could get a picture. I took this one just in the nick of time.

Trick or Treating

Morgan 1 1/2, Madelyn 4, Clay 4, Emmie 5

We went trick or treating in Ione with our friends after the Trunk or Treat. It was a fairly warm night and it started out dry. Then the rains came and went throughout the rest of the evening. Each wave of rain soaked us more than the one before. The kids seemed to enjoy it even more because of the rain. They were all very brave this year. Emmie and Madelyn kept saying, "I hope I'm dreaming!" when they went to an extra scary house. Clay pooped out first. He was exhausted by 8:30 and I had to carry him. Emmie and Madelyn wanted to keep going and stopped at all the promising houses on the way back to the cars. Actually Scott pooped out long before any of the rest of us did. I imagine Clay will be carrying Dad back to the car in about 5 years.

Every year so far that we have been out trick or treating with the kids, they have fallen asleep on the way home. This time even though they were exhausted they stayed awake. Well, Emmie did. Here they are pretending to be so tired they fell asleep instantly upon getting in the car. See those little smirks on their faces? Clay actually was asleep a few minutes after this.

Trunk or Treat

We went to the church for the annual Trunk or Treat. The kids ran around with Madelyn. Emmie and Clay played bean bag toss and bowled for prizes. Then we trunk or treated to the cars in the parking lot. It was pretty small this year since it was on Halloween. Most people stayed home to pass out candy from their houses. Emmie and Clay had fun anyway.

Emmie wanted her face pink with white whiskers. Clay wanted a moustache and beard. Mom wanted him to have chest hair like Dad. Clay was all for that! I went as a last minute rabbit with ears from Emmie's dress-up box and Scott went as a republican. Shockingly we did not win any costume contests.

The Case of the Missing Pizza

Clay really wanted pizza for dinner before we went out trick or treating. They had a special pizza that looked like a jack 'o lantern...sort of. We also bought the cheesy pizza breadsticks. I put them in the fridge until dinner time but when I went to bake the breadsticks they were missing. It was so weird. I walked all over the house looking for them thinking I was losing my mind. Finally I asked Clay if he knew anything about it and he said he put the breadsticks under the computer. I have no idea what he was thinking. It had been sitting out all day but we cooked it anyway. We all survived.

Carving Jack O Lanterns

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year. It was really REALLY windy so we had to take it in the garage. The wind added to the spooky effect whistling through the manzanita on the other side of the driveway. It made the typical "woooooo" sound you'd expect from a ghost!

The kids insisted on taking their shirts off to scoop out the goo. I wanted one year where the kids weren't partially naked. This year was a great improvement over last year however.

The kids picked out designs from a book and we taped them on the pumpkins and scored them. Then we took the paper patterns off and tried to make sense of the markings to carve them out. It's a little tricky taking a flat pattern and trying to trace it onto a round pumpkin. Clay wanted a monster which fit best on his short round pumpkin. Emmie wanted a flying ghost that seemed to fit well on her tall skinny pumpkin. They turned out all right but I like the ones they designed themselves.

Pumpkin Carving

Emmie and Clay each picked out a pumpkin for their own carving design. Emmie drew a sweet little face and Scott cut it out for her. Clay scribbled a crazy design and I had to try and cut it out for him. They were fairly proud of their accomplishments.

With the time change occurring after Halloween this year it wasn't dark enough to light them with candles by the time we left for our Halloween festivities. By the time we came home Clay was asleep and everything outside was drenched from the rain. We will never know how they would have looked with candles but they were cute nonetheless.