Smoothie Central
Brian, always the idea man around here, inspired our smoothie making contest Saturday night. (Unfortunately the boys no longer call them smoogies - that would make a better title for our event.) In randomly assigned teams we all took turns concocting and tasting our chilly creations. Lincoln and Libbi, Rachel and Maegan, Emily and Truman, and Brian himself were no match for the wisdom and boldness of Sarah and Mom. Fresh peach, a hint of vanilla, strawberry yogurt and a few other secret ingredients were whirled together into the tasty winner of the night. The big boys enjoyed adding everything they could think of to theirs, and Jefferson ate and ate - he is an ice cream fanatic and smoothies were close enough.
We followed the event with Spiderwick Chronicles, which was scary for the younger crowd who don't yet know all kid movies end well, but they enjoyed it. I thought it was good and moved pretty well. The adults then watched Bella CLEARPLAYED, another nice story different enough to be captivating.
The next morning we enjoyed Libbi's talk in our ward reporting on her mission and have received two inquiries so far about her dating status.
Pancakes
We had pancakes for lunch today and I thought I would double the recipe so I could have some for tomorrow. Little did I know Lincoln and Truman would be breaking their pancake eating records...
Lincoln got the gold medal in the pancake category with ten pancakes eaten in one sitting. Truman got the gold medal in the pancake and a side category when he ate five pancakes and one fried egg. Jefferson ate one and a half pancakes before noticing the garage door was open and escaping to play outside in his camouflage underwear. McKinley polished off two pancakes of her own with no problem. 
These were not silver dollar pancakes people! According to my calculations, Lincoln alone consumed 1000 calories in pancakes and at least another 400 in syrup. I believe that is usually his calorie intake for a three day period. If he eats dinner tonight I will be surprised.
McKinley Marilynn Duryea
Here is our lovely little McKinley. She always has these great faces. If it is not smiling at the Camera or Brian it is sticking out her tongue or singing along to something or another. When ever you sing around her she will start to bounce up and down and the yell inaudibly. She is our little lime-lighted musician.
Her favorite thing to do is walk. This afternoon she was chasing a spider in our house, trying to catch it and, we are sure, eat it. Luckily I realized what she was doing before she got it done. To date, I have never seen her walk as fast. It could almost be considered a trot.
In the picture above she is ready for church and just trying to follow the rest of us around as we run frantically around before 8:55am.
She is just the perfect age!
Her favorite thing to do is walk. This afternoon she was chasing a spider in our house, trying to catch it and, we are sure, eat it. Luckily I realized what she was doing before she got it done. To date, I have never seen her walk as fast. It could almost be considered a trot.
In the picture above she is ready for church and just trying to follow the rest of us around as we run frantically around before 8:55am.
She is just the perfect age!
24th of July Extravaganza
Here are the fireworks we can see from our driveway. Happy Pioneer day everyone.
This is Thriller
This video is classic (if you haven't seen it). These are a BYU group and I (Brian) post this in memory of Maegan seeing the classic Michael Jackson Thriller Video for the first time just a few weeks ago. Seriously, what did she do growing up?
We are teaching Lincoln and Truman the dance moves so maybe soon enough we will have a short video of them on here going to town.
babblings...
Yes I stole Katherine's blog heading. I wanted to share a few tidbits for sharing's sake and if I wait until I have time to upload and add pictures I will never do it, so for pictures see Brian's posts, for words, see mine.
Yesterday in the car on the way to our friend's house we listened to the CD the girls made. We got to some song about ice cream by this singer with a pretty nice voice and I was like, I think this must be someone's recording of the song Sarah had to sing for voice once. Doo-da-doo, the song continues and I turn it up. Wait a second, that sounded kind of like Sarah talking. So I listen and turn it up. Then it sounds kind of like Sarah singing (though I have only heard her sing in passing so I am unsure). Then I hear talking again and I am certain it is Sarah! I excitedly tell the boys it is her and they listen with it turned up again. Then we hit the end and there is the craziest awesomest note - very Pirates of Penzance Linda Ronstadt - and I am now unsure again if this is Sarah. Surely if Sarah had this amazing of a voice I would have heard her sing somewhere before!!!! Maybe on the radio, maybe at church, maybe just as a nice favor for her older sister at FHE... Anyway, it is awesome and I was way impressed and have played it for everyone I can (that is only 2 other people because I have very few friends, don't worry Sarah:) Anyway, I am hoping Brian can put that music on our blog somehow.
Truman at the grocery store -
I picked out pork chops, bagged them and noticed Truman poking his finger through different pork chops breaking the plastic. I take my pork chops out and go to replace them with his recently opened package. He sees me reaching for them and immediately sticks his tongue through the hole in the package to lick the pork chops. The raw pink pork chops. Nice.
Lincoln at bedtime -
I told the boys they could watch a movie in their room if they went to bed at 7, but they opted to play toys. When I put them in bed at 9, Lincoln pointed out that his pillow was propped up so he could see the movie. I told him there would be no movie because it was now nine. He was not happy. I went to help Jefferson with something and then Lincoln called me back over. "Mom," he said, "I am choosing what I should do. Should I fight you about this, or should I just obey and go to bed." (Pause from him, stunned silence from me...) "I choose to obey you and go to bed." And that is what he did and that is what the other two did because he explained to them that they also could choose and that choosing to obey had made him happy, Mom happy and Heavenly Father happy. I believe this is one of those rewarding moments moms and dads live for. May there be more to come, and I think there will be because Lincoln sure loves to find what is right and then choose it.
Jefferson in water -
All of the boys are crazy and daring, but Jefferson has them all beat in senseless daring. Lincoln likes to try cool things to be cool. Truman likes to try tough things to be tough. Jefferson does anything and everything because he has no sense that danger exists anywhere. At the pool in Florida he jumped in to swim without hesitation and with or without floaties. BJ saved him once and I would let him jump to me and leave him underwater trying to swim for as long as I dared. Apparently it was never long enough cause he loved every second.
McKinley in the bathroom -
There is no room anywhere that McKinley loves more than a nice bathroom. She is not that interested in the toilet unless you count those white knobs on the base that she likes to remove and eat. Her favorite food is unused toilet paper torn into tiny pieces by her tiny fingers. But I think the real draw is the echo. She will stand by the bathtub and bang and scream happy screams whenever she finds the door open. I think she is a singer at heart because she dances to music and sang along to Sarah's ice cream song and to her bedtime lullabies. I guess if I put a radio in the bathroom she would be in paradise.