MOVIE LINES

We were playing games with some friends today when Carl said, out of the blue, "I love music mommy," in a monotone voice. One of our friends laughed because she knew where the line came from--the Music Man.

It made me think of other the lines we often quote. This is only a small portion of regularly quoted lines.

"Beeg Kees, Leetle Hug" -Nacho Libre
"Now George!" -Music Man
"Crimenitly Trigger, put that pee shooter down." -Robin Hood
"It was a false lie." -The King and I
"Where's my beddy bye basket?" -The Aristocats
"death comes unexpectedly" -Pollyana
"you put one foot in front of the other..." -Santa Clause is Coming to Town
"Hurry along ladies!" -Music Man (watched that a lot growing up)

So it was funny a few weeks ago when I walked into the kitchen wearing a new shirt and Jordan said, "I like your sleeves." I told him thanks and continued doing what I was doing. He said, "No mom, your suppose to say, 'I made them myself.'" That's a line from Napoleon Dynamite. Its nice to know he's following the movie line tradition.

GIRL TRIP 2009 SEATTLE

Beware: this post is longer than all last month's posts put together.

This was the 3rd annual Girl's Trip. We had one sister-in-law missing and one new sister-in-law in attendance.

Day 1 Shopping in Bellevue & dinner at Melting Pot. It was my first and probably last trip (too expensive) to the Melting Pot. We ate just cheese and chocolate. It was SOOOOOO good.

Emily' friend Ashley (yes, two Ashleys) joined us for dinner.

Day 2 Seattle Temple

Mom, Katie, Jamie, Ashley, Leigh. Emily didn't make it to this one.

Pikes Food Tour and shopping. This was the highlight of the trip. We had the most wonderful smoked salmon I'd ever tasted, really good mint (leaves) gelato, truffle oil, antipasto, really good doughnuts, cheese, and THE BEST clam chowder in the world. I've had a lot of clam chowder back in my New England days but nothing compared to that chowder at Pike's.

Listening to our guide tell us Pike's Place ghost stories. The lineup goes: Katie, Me (I know the shoes are really clownish) Leigh, Ashley, Emily, Xiao Ru a.k.a Shampoo (not really a blood relative but we all love her like a sister. She lives in Seattle and was with us for a couple of outings.)

Canoeing at University of Washington. We had some close calls on tipping canoes but everyone made it safe and dry back to shore. "Look there's a beaver!" (it turned out to be a dog). We rode through tons of lily pads. It was beautiful and relaxing even though Ashely had a hard time using her paddle correctly (ha ha ha).

This is Dane. He's our...uh...long lost sister I guess you could say. Actually, he's a friend of Emily's and helped us get to a few places that we otherwise wouldn't have found.


Panera Bread Sandwiches for dinner and a lot of chatting afterward. I haven't been to Panera for almost two years. I've missed that place.

Day 3 Church

We actually had two bathrooms but it was just nicer to congregate in 1.

Primitive Lunch--Emily had a friend make all this really good food (the sandwiches were fabulous) for lunch. We picked it up at Xiao Ru's where it was waiting and brought it to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately we didn't think of utensils or water until we sat down and started eating. It was pretty funny and messy. Mom, for some strange reason had a spoon in her purse, which we used to serve the Bean and Corn salad and I had my gelato spoon which came in handy for the cutting of avocados.

Bellevue Botannical Gardens
Ashley didn't want to pose alone so I told her to pretend like Andy was there.
GAMES--not all the sisters participated in this activity (you know who you are). My longest lasting friend I keep in touch with regularly "the other Emily" drove at least 60 minutes (round trip) to come play games and eat candy with us. What a pal! She's one of those friends that even if you haven't seen her for several years you just pick up right where you left off.

Monks at St. Marks--They say they're not really monks but they dress and sing just like them. It was beautiful when they broke off into parts. I kept hoping they'd break out O Come Emanuel, guess it wasn't the right season for that.

Day 4 Memorial Day: Breakfast at Panera again. I had no idea that place has such good breakfast. We finished the trip up at NorthShore Learning.

Most of us felt like this by the end:

Things to remember:

• Emily is an awesome planner of trips. Hopefully she'll be able to plan all future trips.



• Getting two rooms next to each other works out really well. It might be necessary to get certain sisters their own rooms.



• I get really giggly and silly around my sisters



• Always carry at least one utensil in your purse



• Boy's and other non sister friends must pre-qualify to be part of a girl's trip



• Mom will always wake up early to exercise with me no matter how many hours of sleep she lacks.



• After a few days together its easy to get crabby--"just be nice" I need to remind myself.
  

"I'm done wiff my job mom"

Associated Press: Breaking news today at the Cleaver Plant. Model #4 was allegedly caught cleaning. Yes, cleaning. Sources say he would not accept help from anyone. He had a job to do and he was going to do it alone. Experts say this behavior may have been motivated by watching other suspects clean during after dinner family cleaning time. Apparently he doesn't want to be left out. We're told that Grant has actually had quite a bit of experience with a broom, not as a cleaning tool but rather as a weapon. Mrs. Cleaver commented, "He's cleaned the bathroom twice in a 24 hour period. Who knows what he'll do next."

Mother's Day Gifts

I'm figuring out something about myself. I love thoughtful gifts from my kids. I got nothing for Mother's Day that I can use this week but these little cards from my kids make me feel so happy.

Katie made me a hardbound book at school called My Mama Knows Her ABC's. All misspellings have been preserved.

Its "dedicated to my only loving mother." Here it is:

Always exercising

Being nice

Cleaning is her sport (really?)

Dad loves her

Exited for cleaning

Fun on Saturday

Great cook

Her hair is short (its actually quite long for me)

I love her

Joyful all the time (that makes me giggle-its not true)

Kisses xXx (Nacho Libre style, she pointed out when I was reading it)

Mom is her name

Nothing but love (ha ha ha)

On the go

Peacemaker for the family

Quite (she said this was supposed to say cute) and nice

Read nice

Smooth hair

Tidies the house

Understands everyone (not every family member agrees with this statement)

Volunteers for everything (if she only knew)

Wakes up on time (true)

XOX I love you

You love us

Zooming to my brothers room

Here's the card from Jordan:

I feel dlighted when you surprise me on my birthday.

I feel visious when you yell at me. P.S. It almost never happons. (Ha ha ha)

I feel stupendous whe I get my allowance.

I feel weary when I have to wake up.

Alex colored me a picture and gave me a stamp of his hands with a poem attached. Grant's gift was a piece of colored wood. They made me get back in bed so they could bring me in breakfast. While I was opening the gifts Grant kept saying, "can I have some eggs mom?" They're so cute and nice some days.

teaching the less knowlegeable

I found Alex and Grant reading a book that we had two copies of. Alex would point to his book and say the word and then Grant would point to his own book and repeat the word. They read the whole book that way. Perhaps Alex felt that Grant had improved his reading skills enough that he was now ready for math.

Alex: "Grant, what's 5 plus 4."

Grant: "two"

Alex: "no its 9, see if you have 5 cookies on this line and 4 more on this line, its 9."

This went on for several minutes. There was no talk of watching TV, no fighting about playmobil pieces, just pure teaching and learning. I love catching those moments.

another conversation

Alex: Mom, Grant is just little so he doesn't really know that much...

(a few minutes later)

Alex: In Hawaii they have lots of fruit 'cause it like grows on every tree. They also have lots of fish and stuff because they live next to the water.

Me: Yeah, its probably a pretty healthy place to live.

Alex: Yeah, and they don't have lectricity and stuff.

Me: Yes, they have electricity.

Alex: They do? Oh, then they can watch TV! (This was said all very excitedly. I think he decided Hawaii was the perfect place to live, now that he knows they have "lectricity.")

SOLD!

We are finally rid of our Massachusetts house. Its actually quite amazing how everything worked out in the end. We've thrown a lot of money away on that house and now its time to save. Yipee! I'm so happy its over!