June Peanuts

• Isaac just took the printer apart. "I nee' peessapapah." [I need a piece of paper.]
• A first lesson in debugging: Melissa and I couldn't figure out why her circuit didn't work, so we broke it down into components. The battery worked, and the alarm IC, and the speaker. But when we added the "space war" IC, we got nothing. So we swapped in Matthew's IC and it worked. Then Melissa rebuilt the circuit she wanted.
• I thought nobody was paying attention when Brian told me, "Rachel said I could take the kids out for donuts after breakfast." But Isaac attacked his oatmeal with renewed interest, and when he was done proclaimed, "I rea'y donut!"
• The older kids were thrilled to hear we'd be staying in A HOTEL in Houston for Brian and Kirsti's marriage. What I didn't expect was that Corinna is every bit as amused by the novelty, if not more so. She careened through the room, giggling at the new couch, new curtains, new beds... We should offer our endorsement to Marriott: "Four out of four Ellis children recommend Residence Inn."
• Rachel: "Where's Matthew?" Me: "He's over at the Hannas'." Rachel: "Oh, right. So that's why it's so quiet!"
• Didn't have time to investigate the myriad options in the kids toothpaste isle, so I grabbed the standard peppermint kind. Isaac does not approve: "Hot!" he protests.
• Rachel put Brian and Kirsti's wedding photo on the fridge. Isaac was pleased. "My Kirsti!" Melissa covered Kirsti's face with a Rhinoceros magnet. "Look, Isaac! Rhino Kirsti!" "Nooooooo! Can't see Kirsti!" Isaac wailed. Rachel told Melissa stop teasing Isaac. Then she just let him have the photo because he was so pleased with it.
• Isaac gave me some Jolly Ranchers. Rachel took them back. Guess my low-sugar diet is still on.
• Chauffeuring cub scouts to day camp. Radio tuned to the classical station in a futile attempt to deaden the noise. "What kind of music is this? Soft rock?"
• You know you're getting old when the dentist hands out little trial tubes of Sensodyne instead of Colgate.
• Matthew: "Japan is Asian?"
• Melissa, after the flight to Washington: "I'm so thankful for gravity."
• Grandma Linda: "I can take the kids to walmart with me. That'll get them out of your hair for a while. What's left of it, anyway."
• Interesting first night in Walla Walla. Isaac up moaning at 12:00, 12:30, 1:00. Grandma Sinden's dog up whining to get out at 4:00--and Grandma can't hear it. Corinna up for good at 6:00.
• Grandma's neighbor Sandy helped Matthew get his trout off the line. To show his appreciation, he and Melissa caught a canful of worms for her and took them over.
• Corinna hit her third outfit before 9:00. First she got poop on her shirt when I changed her diaper. Then, dressed in outfit #2, she sat in a puddle when I took her outside for a walk. (Since she was wearing a onesie, this necessitated changing into a new shirt as well as pants.)
• Rachel: "aren't you glad your job doesn't deal with putting someone's brains back in his head?"
• Melissa took her cupcake outside to eat on a glass plate. Isaac thought it would make a good frisbee. It didn't. That's how I ended up on my hands and knees picking 1/8" shards of glass out of my sister's lawn for 20 minutes.
• Matthew is taking his second shower of the evening. This time, I told him to use soap.
• Matthew's getting frustrated playing risk on the ps3. Starcraft has ruined him: "How do you even mine resources?"
• Melissa, on tying shoes: "First you make bunny ears. Then you make a rainbow, and turn them like they're dancing. Then you put one ear through the rabbit hole and pull them tight!"
• Rachel left me with one Corinna diaper and no wipes. Of course she peed first to use up the diaper, then pooped. I wiped her off with TP and toilet water, then put one of Isaac's night time diapers on. I felt like the McGyver of poop.
• Isaac showed the grocery clerk his penny. The clerk was appropriately impressed, and pointed out to him a spot on the floor with another penny AND a dime. Now Isaac is rich.