Nicmunks

This house usually sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks live here, so this just made it extra squeaky!! Alvin and the Chipmunks have a new movie coming out, and as part of the movie promotion you can "Munk" yourself. Who can resist? Not me. I also still can't figure out how to embed a video, so here are our chipmunk pictures linking to our cool sound effects...

Jackmunk

Amandamunk

Elizamunk

Nikkimunk

Jaymunk*

*Jay wasn't actually home when we did this, so I did a voice over while imagining what he might say.

Scots at the Beach

Another wonderful annual family beach extravaganza. This time it was even more fun because my Great Aunt Iza made the trip. My Aunt Betty drove down with Iza, and my cousin Kristen flew down with her sons Johnny and Tyler. The girls immediately velcroed themselves to the boys. I had forgotten about how Amanda constantly followed Tyler around last year, but Amanda sure remembered. She was back at it, only she still calls him Johnny. Their conversations consisted of the following:

Amanda: Johnny?
Tyler: Tyler.
Amanda: Johnny?
Tyler: Tyler.

Over and over and over again. Tyler never lost his cool, he just went with it.

The real Johnny (who is part ninja and part kamikaze) seemed to use this to his advantage. Johnny operates best in stealth mode, and by the time the pantry door opens and he walks out (trust me, you won't see him go in), there is no telling how much candy he has devoured.

Iza is 92 and hops around like she is 20. One night it was about 10:30 pm and we were all exhausted, everyone but Iza and my Mom were already in bed. Iza was sitting on the couch doing a cross word puzzle as my Mom was turning off the kitchen lights. I heard Iza say "where is everyone?" and then heard my Mom laugh and say "Iza! Everyone is in bed!"

It was my Mom's birthday, and because she doesn't care for sweets, we made sure she had three desserts to choose from: brownies, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries, and fresh peach pie.


My Mom was reading Harry Potter and at one point she was talking with Tyler about her favorite Jonas brother. Everyone seems to be getting younger. Even my cousin who is training for a triathlon. I can't be certain, but I think this might be the Curious Case of the McWilliams Clan. I'm still getting older, so I'm not sure exactly when I start to reverse. I'm ready.

Some pictures of the fun...

Foreshadowing

Guess I should have saved those pocket size highlighters.

Last night Amanda fell out of her bed and hit the corner of the nightstand right below her eye. She came into our room crying and stood next to my side of the bed. In my head it was a replay of the night before last, when Amanda had a terrible nightmare. That night, I had asked her about the nightmare, and was so disturbed that I couldn't go back to sleep myself.

So last night, assuming Amanda was crying about another nightmare, I told her to shhhhhhh. I picked her up, plopped her in our bed, and stroked her hair until she fell back asleep. I felt like a jerk when she woke up looking like this. I felt even worse when I tried to explain the incident to the nurse and she said "so...you basically have no idea if she lost consciousness?" But...mean nurse lady, this one time, there was this nightmare, and it was scaaaaaary! Tell her Amanda, tell her about the nightmare where someone kidnaps Jack! Um, hello DSS, yeah, this is mean nurse, this family is all kind of messed up...

The doctor actually thought it was humorous that Amanda seemed to be completely pain-free. She giggled when he pressed on the bruising. She is fine but will have this bruise for a couple of weeks. It will change colors, so we're looking forward to that. Should be fun.

I'm very thankful that the doctor grew up with my husband and that his wife is Amanda's teacher. They get us. It would be hard to explain us to strangers.

Accentuate the Positive

Today while Amanda was at zoo camp, I took Elizabeth and Jack to the book store. I bought the girls some cute pocket size highlighter pens. Probably not a genius move on my part. Anyway, the girls just adjourned from some closed door sessions in their bedroom. It was too quiet, I should have known better. This is what Amanda looked like:

When I asked her why? Why????? This was her response:

No words, just this puppy dog face.

She is no longer the owner of pocket size highlighters. But she sure can emphasize an eyebrow.

Beach Finds

We celebrated the Fourth of July at the beach last weekend, and the kids found more than just sea shells...

Elizabeth found an entire pine tree that washed ashore. The trunk was worn down and perfectly smooth, making it an excellent beach balance beam. Thanks ocean!

Jack found this kayak/sailboat/windsurfing thing and really wanted to take it for a test drive. He tried to push it toward the water a couple of times but it didn't budge. I'm proud to say that none of the kids tried to climb aboard, even though the owner was sitting dangerously far away down the beach. The owner left it long enough for Jay and I to study it (we just looked, didn't touch) and to decide that we could totally do that. We were in the middle of rock, paper, scissors (to see who had to stay on shore with the kids) when the owner returned and sailed back out to sea. Darn. Bye OH 9913 DK, we love you!

Amanda found that her favorite part of the beach is when she gets to go back and swim in the pool. She appears to have a low beach tolerance just like her Mom, but maybe it's just a phase. She would complain that she didn't feel good on the beach, but was cured immediately when she hit the pool. Hmmmm. In all fairness, I get it and know it all too well. I just never imagined that my pool buddy would turn out to be Amanda! For now, I will continue to encourage beach over pool in hopes that it's a phase. But if she really is a fellow pool person, we will face this world together...with a beverage and a spritz.

Open Air Dance Spot

Speaking of, what exactly is an open air dance spot?

At first all I could imagine was Woodstock or the movie Hope Floats. But then I remembered Lexington Fun Day from a couple of years ago...

I'm thinking that right before this random toddler pulled this smooth move on Amanda and Elizabeth, he took his paci out long enough to tell his buddies "watch and learn." His buddies are still teasing him - "remember that time we were at that open air dance spot and your MOM showed up and carried you away???"