Life Lately

Okay, so! (Yes, I know that's not a full sentence.)

Andrew is home and doing absolutely great. He's even feeling well enough to threaten me with pain if I post another picture of him on the blog. Ha!

This week a lot happened. Friday, everybody helped move Daniel and Wendy's stuff from G-ma's house into their big moving van.

Saturday, Mommy and I helped Daniel and Wendy finish moving their stuff at their house. Then Catherine, Mommy and I went swimming with the Iowa Fujas. Tayton and Catherine had great fun, and he now loves to visit with "Caff-vroom," as he calls her!

Sunday was little cousin Spencer's baby blessing, which was great. We had the tent set up in the front yard and had lunch afterwards. The wind kicked up, and everybody had fun playing "Hang On to Your Plate or Wear Your Lunch." Only two people I know of actually ended up wearing their lunch, but it was fun to watch. Later, we played other more conventional games. I taught the younger children some clapping games such as "C-C-O Playmate," and "A Sailor Went to Sea," and then "One Potata, Two Potata" and "Jen Keng Pon" (my Japanese spelling is atrocious, it's sort of a Japanese Rock Paper Scissors). Then they taught me their version of One Potata, called "Bubblegum." It's played with the skipping rope rhyme, tapping each hand as they say the rhyme. The person whose hand it ends on chooses the number of "pieces," and then they count that number, tapping the hands in the circle again. The last hand is out. We all played "Down by the Banks." Then...was it Erin or Kenya...I don't remember...one of them (I think Kenya) taught us a game called "Tic Tac Toe." This is how to play:

1) Put both hands together in a "prayer" position (flat vertically, palms together). "Brush" hands back and forth with the other player, chanting: "Tic Tac Toe, Give me an X, Give me an O. Give me a three in a row."
2) Play Rock Paper Scissors.
3) The loser bends his/her head, exposing their neck. The winner pokes their neck with a finger.
4) The loser tries to guess the finger they were poked with. If they guess right, they win. If they guess wrong, they lose.
5) The loser holds out an arm. The winner bangs their wrist, elbow joint, shoulder, elbow joint, wrist, etc. chanting: "I win, you lose, now you get a big bruise." (Or, depending if the winner wants to end somewhere different: "...a big fat bruise," or "...a great big fat bruise.") On the word "bruise," they bang hard.

As far as I can tell, the object of this game is to cause pain. Well, it can be. Matt and I played it and he hit my bad left wrist, and it still hurts! Anyway, it was fun playing with the kids. Then the whole family played "My Uncle Harvey Died Last Night," and "Brother, I've Been Bopped!"

After that, we went inside and watched a great DVD that Uncle Randy put together for G-ma and G-pa about the 50 years of their marriage. Grandma got a little teary, I noticed. You should have seen her face when Randy told her about the celebration they had planned! Classic!

Sunday was also my Daddy's birthday. He's turning an age which I have been threatened with pain if I put it in this blog. That seems to run in the family, threatening me to keep stuff out of the blog. ;P Hopefully, we're celebrating today with an ice-cream cake.

Monday was the big Golden Anniversary Celebration! We had the tent set up, banners, a TV with the movie playing, gold 50s everywhere, and big banners. We had lots of food, including meat and veggie platters, and cheesecake. People came to the openhouse, family and friends. I met a lot of people I don't know! After the openhouse, G-ma and G-pa and the siblings went to dinner at the Roof. I stayed home and babysat. It was very fun, and I got to play with Hunter and Tayton. I love those little guys!

However, I got to bed very late because of all this. So I'm very tired today. But Andrew went back to school for the first time today. Daniel and Wendy left for Texas this morning. I wish them a safe trip, but boy am I going to miss them! It's sort of unthinkable for them to be sooo far away! I wish I'd been able to get in one last sleepover or something before they left.

Also on the schedule for this week: 24th of July celebration, Finals in Children's Lit (as well as several projects due), another midterm in Old Testament, and Socorro's shower on Saturday. Holy cow, I can't believe I'm old enough that one of my good friends (my age) is getting married!

((TBC))