Elijah is 7!

Elijah at Key West.

Today is Li Guy's birthday.  He invited a friend from school to his "party," which was supposed to include cake, ice cream, and ... and that's it.  Those are the kind of awesome parties that we throw.  We're the best parents ever!  (Funny party story.  A missionary came over to our house for his birthday and his Mom asked us to throw him a little party.  Sent us decorations and such.    So we did it.  As we were putting up the stuff Miciah asked, "Why are you putting this up?"  "Because it's his birthday."  Miciah was confused.  "People decorate for birthdays?"  "Some people do, yeah."  And then, my favorite part came when Miciah responded with, "Why?"  Like I said:  Best parents ever.)

But all our best plans were thwarted when Miciah and Carol, the almost-11-year-old neighbor friend, decided they wanted to throw an Easter party and Carol's mom suggested that the party be this week, during Spring Break.  Hence the combination party was brought into being.

Best Idea Ever.  Seriously.  Rob and I, we don't throw parties.  But who loves to plan parties with all the details?  Miciah and Carol.  Win for everyone!  It was even a better idea than we knew because Elijah's friend from school didn't show up.  Had it not been for our 2 little party planners, and the neighbors' attendance, there wouldn't have been any party at all.  Just one sad little Elijah.

Carol

Miciah

The party started with an Easter egg hunt.  Carol and Miciah did the whole thing.  They found the eggs around the house.  They found the candy for those eggs.  They hid the eggs.  They found baskets for all the kids.  And they helped everyone hide and then find the eggs over and over.

'Brina.  SO fun, that little girl.  She's Tank's bud.

Rob and I supervised egg dying (which we were able to set up while Miciah and Carol were keeping the kids busy with the egg hunt).

Tank.  Check out those cool "buttons" that Miciah and Carol made.

Then the kids went back downstairs to play and Miciah and Carol had everyone doing puzzles.  ...  Never have all 6 of them played so happily together (though, in truth, they usually play well together.  Just not THIS well).  This time was special, they kept saying, because it was a party!

After dinner, Miciah and Carol hosted a Dance Party with my iPod and some speakers.  I thought it was hilarious how excited the kids were for that one.  Tank came upstairs to go potty and on his way back down he stopped to say, "Okay.  Now back down to the Dance [pause for thumbs up] Party [pause for dramatic head nod]!"

Quinn.  Betcha can't tell why Elijah and him are friends, huh?

All the kids chose their poses.  I mean, I wouldn't have chosen them.

This is the cake everyone decorated, as part of the party festivities:

That part that looks like Arabic is Elijah's name.  He wrote it himself.

Oh.  Miciah and Carol made the cake, too.

Elijah says this is supposed to look like him about ready to blow out the candles.

And they made everyone party favors.  And decorated the house.  And gave Elijah presents.  They're hired for every party we throw! 

(A nice side effect of the combination party:  We are now done with our Easter obligations!  Dying eggs, egg hunt, and deviled eggs for dinner?  Done, done, and done.  Woo hoo!)

The only time he looks even sort of normal is when he's not looking at the camera.

Happy Birthday, little 'Lijah.  You're awesome.

Some Miciah Catch-Up

Seems like it's all about HER, HER, HER on my blog these days. But when you've hit on a good thing, you should keep it going, right? Here's a bunch of her things I've been meaning to post.  As always, all spelling and punctuation are Miciah's.

(By the way: It's Spring Break. I'm kinda hoping that a kid breaks a bone during the off time so that I can post a "Spring Break Break" blog title.)

Things I would have if I was Snowbound
by Miciah Thacker
1-28-11

1   I would have to have a lot of food.
2   I would have to have a lot of food for my dog.
3   I would have to have a lot of food for my cat.
4   I would have to have a place for my dog to use the potty.
5   I would have to have a lot of books.
6   I would have to have a lot of water.
7   I would have to have a ton of blankets.
8   I would have to have a place to put trash.
9   I would have to have crayons and colored pencils to color with.
10 I would have to have paper and pencils to write with.

(I just love seeing her priorities:  Take care of food for everyone, including pets, and make sure she has reading and art supplies handy.  Also, there's her practical side:  She needs a trashcan and a place for the dog to go potty.)

Friday December 10, 2010
Dear Santa,
How is it going in the North Pole?  Here it's going great!  It's already snowed!  I think that I've been doing great in school.  I also think I was good this year.
What I want for Christmas is a lava lamp.  I really want a lightning one, but Mom says no.  So, instead of a lightning one, can you get me a bubble one?  I want my bubble one to be a shiny blue at the top and bottom for the plastic parts.  In the middle, I would like it to be a normal blue.  You have to turn it on for a while for it to get moving.  Please get me a lava lamp!
Well, time for me to stop now.  Maybe I'll see you this Christmas!
Your Friend,
Miciah

(Remember that Miciah totally knows about Santa Claus.  Also, she got a blue lava lamp for Christmas.  She helped me pick it out on-line.  So Santa knew exactly what she wanted.)

Oh, the places I'll go!
By: Miciah Thacker

I would like to go to many different places.  I want to go to Disney World.  There you can see all of your favorite Disney charracters.  Disney World is in Florida right next to my great aunt and uncle.  They work there.  The land around Disney World is very pretty.  I want to go to Disney World very badly!

I also want to go to the Grand Canyon because the rock the canyon is made of has a lot of colors in it.  The rock looks magnificent in pictures.  There is a place to stand above the canyon, too.  The floor is made of glass.  That's why I want to go to the Grand Canyon, the most colorful canyon in the world!

I would like to go to Washington D.C., too.  There are wonderful monuments, lots to do, and you get to see the White House!  If your lucky, you get to go inside the White House.  The place is beautiful!  I want to see the Decleration of Independence.  There is lots to see and lots to do.  That's why I want to go to Washington D.C.

All of theese places I would love to go to, no matter what time.

(Well, Disney World probably won't ever happen.  And her great aunt and uncle do live close by, but they don't work there.)

I think being the president would be fun because you would get to live in the White House.  You would get to have a lot of visitors.  If I was president I would be the very first woman president in all of U.S.A. history.  I think being the president would be fun, but at the same time, difficult.

(At least she acknowledged at the end that it wouldn't be a party ALL the time.)

I'm so Lucky
By: Miciah Thacker
I'm so lucky because I have the game Carcossonne (car-ka-sonn).  To play it you build castles, feilds, coysters, roads, and you can buy expansion packs to add tiles to play with.  We bought 3 expansion packs.  One has a king and a robber baron for the biggest castle and road.  Another has inns and cathedrials.  The last one just has pieces that are actually pretty cool.  Carcossonne is the best game ever!

(Carcassonne has been our family's latest obsession.  It's a great family game, and we've had a ton of fun with it.  Come play it with us some time!)

Here's some fun artwork.  Miciah says it's called Me Ready for Snow:

She wanted to do something on the back side, and she came up with this:

Rob says it's freaky looking.  I think it's hilarious.

Also she has a long story called The Dragon who Learned to Love, but that's a post for another time.

Laundry Adventures

I like laundry. I feel no shame in admitting that. Still, since the cat has gone away, I've found it nice to leave a pile of clean clothes sitting there. "Look, Rob. There's a pile of laundry and there's no cat sleeping on it." It's the little things.

Today I am Officially Recovered From the Flu: The laundry is all done.

Also, I ironed the Christmas napkins. I know what you're thinking: I'm 3 months late on that one. Wrong! I'm 9 months early.

The End

May All Her Wishes Come True

Miciah had to come up with 3 wishes for a school assignment. Here they are:

1 - I wish to go to all the places I want to go to!

2 - I wish my cousin Dea lived with me!

3 - I wish to have an awesome house and get anything I want!

Whatever. Our house is already awesome.

Ken Jennings

A friend read Ken Jennings' book Brainiac a few years back.  I trust this friend's judgment in books, so I decided to read it too.  I liked the book so much that I started following Ken Jennings' blog.  Who knew that Ken is really, really funny?

And then I felt compelled to send an e-mail to Ken Jennings.  (It's hard to say just Ken or just Jennings.  Try it.)  And guess what?  He e-mailed me back!  I was pleasantly surprised and completely entertained.  So I thought I'd post both my e-mail to him and his reply.  Cause they're fun.  Enjoy!

subject:  Dear Ken Jennings

Guaranteed:  This is the lamest e-mail I've ever sent someone I that don't know personally.

I wanted to tell you that I read your book and was pleasantly surprised that it was really good!  I had really, really low expectations; I didn't expect that "the guy who won on Jeopardy! so many times" would be funny and approachable, even if you are Mormon.  (During your run, my mother-in-law would ask, "Did you watch Jeopardy! last night?"  "No, why?  I never watch Jeopardy!"  "Ken Jennings is on, and he's Mormon!"  "So?"  She's taken, as are a lot of Mormons, with all things Mormon.  Ken Jennings, David Archelleta, that Republican guy that's possibly running for president (just spaced on his name).  They all must be good people because they're Mormon!)

Do you even read these e-mails?  Are you hounded by tons of fan mail and you just can't stay on top of it all?

I think your celebrity status is awesome, but also somewhat comical.  I feel the same way about my husband's aunt, Lisa Bearnson, who founded Creating Keepsakes magazine.  It's a scrapbooking magazine (for serious).  She's obviously a level or two below you in celebrity status since she's not a household name, but still, the people who know her are CRAZY about her.  I've witnessed a few of her encounters with obsessed fans and it's taught me that 1 - I'm happy I'm not a celebrity of any type, and 2 - people are crazy.

Which isn't to say you're not awesome.  You totally are.  But I'm awesome, too, right?  I'm just not awesome + rich.

And your blog is hilarious.  I've been recommending both your book and your blog to friends and family, which is strange, because I kind of hate trivia.  Trivia coupled with a sense of humor, though?  Can't beat it.

Thanks for being you, and for taking the time to read this e-mail, assuming you actually did.

Tamra Thacker

P.S.  Did you approve the use of that picture on the front of your book jacket?  Cause you look a little dazed in it.  Do you frequently look dazed?  Is that your preferred look?  Did I just try to insult Ken Jennings?

The next day he sent this reply:

Re:  Dear Ken Jennings

Tamra,
Thanks for your drunken email!  I am very glad you liked the book.

I'm afraid I have to correct you on one point however: rich, famous people like me and, uh, Lisa Beamson (taking your word for it on that one) are indeed awesomer than the rest of you.  That is how we got so rich and famous.  Hope this helps!

Best,
Ken

PS: No, I dislike the Jeopardy photo on the cover just as much as you do.  It was a last-minute addition at the publisher's insistence.

Bam! Zoom!

This little guy wishes you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!  (Artwork courtesy Elijah)

I can say with complete surety that this St. Patrick's Day has been the best one I've ever had.  We had our good friends, the Treanors, over for dinner.  Years ago they defected to northern Kentucky, so we don't see them as often as we'd like (which is about every other day).  So we celebrated in style:  Everything on the table was green!  It's amazing how fun food coloring can be.

The Treanors had baby #3 back in October and I finally finished the baby blanket that I made for him.  The Treanors name their babies cool names that are actually words.  Things like Hope and Dedication.  (Those aren't actual names, I just made those up.)  So before they had baby number #1 I told them that if it was a boy they should name him something STRONG.  Something like Bam! Zoom!  Bam! being the first name, and Zoom! the middle name.

Sadly, even though baby #3 was finally a boy, and they had that golden opportunity, they didn't take my advice.  Even still, I designed and put together this blanket for the baby that I will continue to call Bam! Zoom!.  Here it is, being modeled by Treanor parents and the baby himself:

You can tell little Bam! Zoom! loves it, right?  What a happy little guy.  He loves everything.  He loved his blanket so much that he tried to eat it and he spit up on it.  That's real baby love.

By the way:  If you're wondering why I've never made your child a baby blanket, it's cause I don't really make baby blankets.  This is my first and only baby blanket in 5 years.  It will probably be my last for another 5 years.  Though it was fun to make, I'll admit it.

Also, we re-made 2 key lime pies, with the pie crusts baked this time, and gave one to the neighbors.  Hurray for saving face!

Pi Day Fail

I was so excited to make pie for Pi Day yesterday!  Went to the store and bought the needed ingredients for my mother's pumpkin pie, including pre-made pie crust (I don't make crust.  Ever).  Came home, went to get the recipe and ... couldn't find it!  Panic! 

Here's my issue with pie:  The only true and living pie is pumpkin.  I don't make pie unless it's pumpkin pie, and I don't make pumpkin pie unless it's my mother's recipe.

I decided to make one of the Lesser Pies:  chocolate anything or key lime.  (No, lemon doesn't work.  Meringue is evil.)  I looked up recipes for key lime pie on-line and settled on one that I thought sounded decent.  I doubled it, just because I could.  That would make one for the Pi Day party and one for us later.  I made the pies, poured them into the pie crusts and let them set.

Were they done in time for the party?  No.  We bought a pie at the store. 

But we decided that keeping 2 pies was ridiculous, so on our way out we stopped by a neighbor's house, wished them Happy Pi Day, and gave them the key lime pie.  Happily, the pie is green, so it doubles as a St. Patrick's Day pie, they informed me.  Win for everyone!  What great neighbors we are!

It wasn't until late last night that Rob said, "Were those pie crusts baked?" 
"What?"

Yep.  We totally just gave the neighbors a pie with an unbaked pie crust.  In the words of my good friend, Jules Q, we are so awesome!

The Jesus Picture that Should Have Been on Our Wall

Sadly, we found this one too late.  It's called Jesus is Love:

The other picture is non-refundable.  Bummer.

Rob found it!

For about a year we've been planning on getting a picture of Christ for our living room.  We bought a scripture quote to go underneath this someday-we'll-own-it picture of Christ:  "Be still and know that I am God."  We thought it was perfect.  Now we just needed to find the picture.

Rob and I would occasionally do internet searches for artwork, and we started paying attention to works of art we saw in shops and homes and books.  Nothing spoke to us.  I knew 2 things.  1 - We would spend a good chunk of change on the piece of art.  We wanted a huge framed picture to set the tone for our home.  And 2 - We'd know it when we saw it.

Last night we finally re-arranged all the pictures in our living room.  Our Key West family pictures are finally up (hurray!).  (Or at least the frames are.  We have 6 5x7's to put up, still.  But the frames are up to remind us to do it some time this millennium.)  A series of kid shots are on the other wall.  The decorative mirror that my grandfather made is above the piano.

And there was that blank wall.  Still needing the elusive picture of Christ.

So Rob went searching on-line once again.  When I came home last night he said, "I want you to look at something."  When I knew it was a picture of Christ I almost rolled my eyes.  I've gotten used to being disappointed.  Like, "Yeah, I like it alright.  But it's not the right picture for our living room."

Within a few seconds of looking at the picture I said, "Huh."  The phrase we chose came back to me:  Be still and know that I am God.  "Rob, this is it."

So we bought it.  It's being shipped right now.  In about a week we'll have our picture of Christ hanging in the living room!  Hurray for us!

Here it is:

We'd never seen the picture before.  And we'd never heard of the artist before:  Julius von Klever.  The piece is called Christ Walking on Water.  Not sure it's our Favorite Picture of Christ Ever, but it's the one meant for our living room.  I'm excited!

and now...

I am fully healthy again, which took forever.  Last Friday I thought, "Maybe this is what it feels like to have mono."  Thankfully I did actually get better.

Which means it's time to give my announcement.  Here it is:

I'm going back to school.
(Which is way better than moving or having a baby.)

Short details:
I'll be going as close to full-time as possible starting in the Fall, but may be taking a few classes before then.

I'll be doing an ASL Interpreting Program at Cincinnati State.  They call it ITP (Interpreter Training Program).

I'm not excited about the school part.  I don't really want to deal with 19-year-olds all over again.  Nor do I want to re-take Math (but I will if I have to.  I still don't know how many of my BYU credits will transfer, since they're now over 10 years old.  I do have almost 100 credits, though.  It'd be a shame not to be able to put them to good use).  But I'm excited about the ITP program, and I love Sign Language. 

And that's it.  You can now feel informed about my life.

How to Tell a Joke

Effective Joke Telling.  Miciah to Elijah.
M:  What's your name?
E:  Elijah.
M:  How do you spell it?
E:  E-L-I-J-A-H.
M:  No!  I-T!

Ineffective Joke Telling, part 1.  Elijah to Teancom.
E:  What's your name?
T:  Teancom.
E:  How do you spell it?
T:  I DON'T KNOW!

Ineffective Joke Telling, part 2.  Elijah to Rob.
E:  How do you spell it?
R:  I-T.
E:  Uhhh...