Christmas pics

Just a few of the outtakes from our Christmas picture sitting. Note the individual expressions on the childrens' faces--completely indicative of their personalities thus far.

Auralee's birthday

I'm posting here some pictures taken from Auralee's birthday yesterday. Those of you with more brain cells than me will note that the pictures were taken yesterday and posted today, but her birthday isn't until tomorrow. They say you lose 10% of your brain power when you're pregnant. Well, I think that accumulates during multiple pregnancies, and, considering the fact that we only use 10-15% of our brain capacity to begin with, I'm operating at a deficit here. Which explains why I accidentally celebrated her birthday on the wrong day!

Pictures from Grandpa Lew's camera

Not funny

We have discovered, as our children age, that it takes a long time for their senses of humor to develop. So far, they really only get body humor and slapstick. They're trying, however. While we were driving to church on Sunday, Joe and Priya decided to amuse themselves by telling knock-knock jokes. John and I were satisfied because they are finally old enough to tell knock-knock jokes to each other without requiring either of us to say the requisite, "Who's there?" and "Banana pants who?" In addition, we are no longer required to laugh at jokes which are, honestly, not at all funny.

Of course, the verbal nature of the knock-knock joke, which is what makes the joke work, is completely foreign to children for whom homonym might as well be a Spanish word as an English one. But they still try. And believe us--it's pathetic.

Anyway, Joe decided to tell Priya a knock-knock joke. It was, characteristically, not funny. But he laughed hysterically when he finished it. Priya, in turn, told him a knock-knock joke almost identical to the joke he had told her. He did not laugh. Instead, he told her that her knock-knock joke was not really funny.

"Well," she said, "yours wasn't funny either."

"Yes," he agreed, "but yours was not funny-er than mine." Just like that.

Priceless.

Netti-pot

So last week I spent a day suffering from the painful experience of a clogged sinus. Since I'm pregnant, I'm not allowed to take the good stuff, and I was desperate to try anything "legal" that I could get my hands on to relieve the buildup of mucus inside my facial cavity. I bought a netti-pot and tried it out. Don't know if you've ever used a netti-pot before. It feels a lot like when you're body-surfing and a horrible wave washes over you and you inhale a whole bunch of salt water up your nose. You're supposed to dissolve the pre-packaged saline solution in warm water and put the netti-pot in one nostril. Then you tilt your head so that the solution flows in one nostril, through your sinuses, and out the other nostril. Fun!!!

Well, I was sitting in bed this evening, waiting for John to finish his post-basketball shower, when suddenly, from the direction of the bathroom, I hear a series of spluttering coughs and desperate attempts at nose-blowing. The last time I had used the netti-pot was in the shower (figured that the hot water PLUS the salt water ought to work twice as well). John had seen it sitting on the ledge and thought, "Hey, might as well try this out." Needless to say, he won't be making another foray into that branch of alternative medicine anytime soon.

"What were you thinking, leaving a netti-pot in the shower? As if I would know not to try it. It still burns," he kept exclaiming as he dried off and dressed after his shower. "Did you breathe through your mouth and block off the sinuses in the back of your throat?" I asked. "No. I just filled it up with salt and water and poured it in one nostril and it came out everywhere. You didn't tell me how to use it." I tried defending myself, "You didn't tell me you were going to try it." But that was no excuse, apparently.

2009 Caribbean Cruise

We just got back from our second cruise on Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas. It was a four night cruise that stopped in CocoCay and Nassau. The weather was unbelievable. We went snorkeling on CocoCay and had a blast. Of course, cruising is the only way to vacation (we think). Here are a few pictures to remind us that we are, at times, sane adults and not crazy, flustered parents.
This is us after snorkeling. Too bad we don't have pictures of us in our sweet snorkeling gear. If you look close, however, you can still see the mask lines on Shaunna's face. Also, you can't see it, but she did get stung by a jellyfish on the side of her neck. She can affirm what they say about vinegar easing the sting. Unfortunately (or fortunately) she did not test any other remedies.
Here we are for the formal night. (Thanks for the dress, Chellene!)

And here's another self-portrait taken the last night. We were looking for some salsa, but we were not blessed with latin dancing every night like the last cruise we took.
We did, however, do some karaoke instead. This is John and Luke, one of the guests from our dining room table, hamming it up to "Get Down Tonight." John wanted to sing "Sexual Healing" as well, but he did not get the chance. Too bad.
This is our entire dining table (#466). It was the best table ever! Not only did we have a great time eating dinner together every night, but we actually formed a group (called Prohibition, since we are Mormon and the other couples are Seventh Day Adventist) that won the trivia game where we all got Royal Caribbean highlighters and keychains.
Here's John trying to fish with conch slop on Nassau. In spite of such delicious (!) bait, the fish were just not interested. Look how blue the water is, though.
And in a totally unrelated incident, look how cute Priya and--who was that masked baby?--are dressing up the other day. Auralee thought the mask was so becoming, she insisted on wearing it around the house all morning and was happy to allow me to snap these pictures.

Wayne's new camera

Wayne came to visit last week with his new camera. So we went to the park and the beach for some photo ops. It's a nice camera. See? Anyway, here's how the kids are growing.