I feel it is my duty to warn the world about the dangers of fixing dinner for your family. Wednesday evening, just after Guy had gone to scouts, I was trying to quickly finish up dinner for the boys, when I managed to chop off a piece of my left index finger tip. Luckily, it didn't go to the muscle, and I was amazingly calm in the stress of the moment and managed to get my finger cleaned up and bandaged, and got dinner on for the boys. But I've been completely grossed out by the injury since, and I make Guy look at it for me (although I prefer to put the bandages on, rather than have Guy do it, because I can feel to get the pressure right where I need it). I was feeling frustrated by my carelessness and worrying about how long this will take to heal, all the things that will be harder to do in the meantime (typing being one of them), and wondering if my finger will ever look normal again, when my mom told me she had a very similar injury to her thumb (just before she ran the sewing machine needle through her finger), and it has healed really well. She did say that as far as pain goes, her thumb hurt much worse while healing than the needled finger. I do ok, until I bump the finger into something or until Mitchell decides to grab the big, fat bandage, and squeeze!

At any rate, I've determined that it is simply too dangerous to make meals for my family any more, and you may want to consider doing the same. The risks are just too great. Now I'm trying to figure out how we can survive on a diet of things that don't need to be chopped. Poor family.

January 2008 1) Ambidextrous eating, 2) Flashing his "cheesy" grin because he was very very excited about eating a jar of baby food pears, 3) Grabbing cheese off the little pizzas we were making for lunch.

Jan. 10, 2008 Another week, another school project. Marcus built this 1/2 scale Stonehenge (we didn't have enough blocks to build one with the 30 uprights and 30 lintles they think were originally in the outer circle), and we simulated midwinter and midsummer sunrise and sunset. We printed out the pictures and he put them on a poster he titled "I BUILT STONEHENGE!." When I started to make dinner, I managed to knock down most of the East side of Stonehenge and Caleb and Mitchell happily finished off the job.

January 2008 My older boys have heard many times that they need to be aware of the powerful influence they have on those who are younger. The younger ones watch and copy much of what the older ones do. Here is photographic proof. Caleb crashed on the family room floor one Sunday afternoon, and Mitchell got out a blanket and copied him. Granted, I think the fact that I was taking pictures of Caleb may have influenced his actions. In addition, Mitchell didn't actually sleep. In fact, shortly after the second picture was taken, he managed to wake Caleb up. But still the lesson is valid, right?

January 2008 This Christmas we (choose your favorite of the following statements) a) became lemmings and got swept up in the tide of popular opinion, b) fully entered the 21st century by finally buying a gaming system, c) got really lucky and actually found a Wii. I must say that I was really reluctant to take this step, and worried about the social, emotional, and intellectual ramafications on my children of bringing VIDEO GAMES into the house (I'm sure that really surprises those of you who know me well), but I've been quite happy with it so far. First of all, I love how small the unit is, and I love that the kids get up and move around (except for Caleb. He's trying to perfect the art of Wii Sports from a reclined position). We have had to have some discussions on the art of loosing gracefully (the funniest for me was when Sheridan was seriously upset that the 7-year-old neighbor girl beat him at boxing) and being good sports, but for the most part, the boys have done really well with their new toy. We've all really enjoyed it--Guy thinks it's pretty darn cool, and Mitchell tries to get in on the action as well. I think I got the biggest kick out of seeing my (almost 72-year-old) dad (who made a great look-alike Mi) bowl with the boys and Shanda on Sunday. As beginner's luck would have it (or maybe its the years of wisdom and experience), my Dad won.

January 2008 Mitchell was very determined to eat this lemon one night, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to catch one of those "this is not what I anticipated" faces. But Mitchell loved the lemon and didn't pull a single strange face. Remember this is a very picky eater--the boy who has never even tasted bread and throws a mini-fit if I presume to offer him a piece.