Photogenic

When I was tucking Christian in the other night, I noticed he had a bonk under his eye, like the kind of bonk he might have gotten from playing in a really tall, skinny box with Carinne, and maybe I'd told them it wasn't a good idea to stand it up on one end and climb into it by standing on the back of the couch, but maybe they did it anyway, and maybe it had fallen over and he'd smacked his face on her shoulder. Or something. So I said, as I tucked him in, "Ooh, looks like you're getting a black eye, buddy." And he said, "I wanna see!" But I didn't want him to get out of bed, so I told him I'd just take a picture with my phone:

"Well, that one didn't really work. You were all squinty. Let's try again. This time, don't squish up your cheeks....."

"Oh. You still can't see the bonk, huh? OK, we'll try again. This time, maybe try and keep your eyes open wide and look up...."

This time he swore he could see it. Awesome. (I swear to you that he had a big red spot under his right eye. I wish I knew how my phone accentuates blemishes on MY face and doesn't pick up on Christian's eye bonk....)

And, just so I could capture what he looks like normally, I took another picture today. "Hey, Christian, smile!"

Ummm.... OK. Good enough, dude.

Pet Carrot

Remember the sad tale of our frogs who croaked? I held onto their tank and stashed it in the laundry room (I have a bit of a hoarding problem, which stems from an unnatural emotional attachment to objects. But it's mostly under control, because I do get rid of things when I, A: grow tired of them being in my way, or B: watch an epsiode of Hoarders and freak out that I'm heading that direction). Last week, one of the kids filled the tank with water and stuck a carrot inside (did your preschooler ever bring home a Ziploc bag of water with a baby carrot inside as a pet, and they were supposed to sprinkle pepper in the water to feed the carrot-fish?). It's been sitting on the kitchen counter for about 5 days, and I noticed that the water was getting murkier every day.

Finally today I decided to dump the water and the carrot. I figured the murkiness was caused by the carrot decomposing or something, you know? There was also a definite, putrid smell today, emanating from the tank. I noticed as I dumped the water into the kitchen sink that it was littered with lots and LOTS of decaying fragments of frog food. What the...? I had a quick flashback to Stephen King's Pet Sematary before realizing that Dash and Violet probably hadn't come back as undead, evil frogs. That's just crazy. No, one of the kids had been feeding the carrot frog food. So bizarre, right? Do you know how many times my kids willingly and without parental pressure fed the frogs in the 7+ years we had them? MAYBE 10 times. But apparently they fed a carrot daily.

So, my point in sharing this fascinating tale with you is that if you're looking for a low-maintenance, low-guilt-inducing pet, maybe look into the carrot option. You probably wouldn't even need a tank--a cup or bowl or Ziploc bag would be perfectly adequate. But keep the frog food hidden away, or you'll have a stinky mess.

The greatest birthday wish list

Quentin handed Devin his birthday wish list last night. It's the most specific wish list I've ever seen, and it's awesome. I took a picture of it with my phone, but it's pretty hard to see. (I tried it with my camera too, and it was just as bad. I may well be the worst photographer.) I'll transcribe it for you below.

It says:

Quentin's birthday wish list     
                                              Please get me any 2 or more of the following: [smiley face]
                                              
snowboard and size 3 snowboard boots
winter coat
Hero factory (not furno bike or Balk 3.0) <---{because he already has those}
Transformers Kree-o
bicycle
Ninjago fire temple
Skateboard helmet
King size Hershey's
Mad Libs (not Christmas Edition) <---{already has it}
Halo Mega Bloks
Moon phase calender 2012 {I'm shocked that he spelled calendar wrong. The kid never spells anything wrong. Ever}
Non-electric pencil sharpener
Pencils
Erasers
Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 for Wii
MP4 player
Small copper sheet {no idea what he means by that. I intend to find out}

                                                                              Quentin's birthday cake favorites
                                                                                 Cheese cake
                                                                                 Peanut butter bars
                                                                                 Brownies
                                                                                 Pumpkin pie
                                                                                 Spice cake
                                                                                 Peach cobbler

It's cute, right? A little greedy, but we'll forgive him because of the tremendous help it is for me in getting him something he really wants.