VIC Savings

We went to the grocery store last night. A lot of good and useful items were on sale, such as Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup, buy one, get one free. We bought 24 cans. PastaRoni was $1.00 per box. Near East Couscous was $1.50 per box.

All told, we saved $89.17 with our VIC card. The cashier had to call a manager for an override. I was so proud.

APB

I'm putting out an APB on a small red fire engine with googly eyes that I left in the Primary room on Sunday. His fellow googly-eyed vehicles miss him. If anyone happens to see him tossed in with the Nursey toys or in a lost-and-found bin, please rescue him. I'd be so grateful.

Minty Not-so-fresh

One last comment on Victor's gum-eating:

A wet diaper can also smell like mint.

Expiration Dates

So what's the deal with expiration dates on medicine? Are they a ploy to get me to buy new Nyquil every year, or is there a real reason for them?

And while I'm asking questions, who is this Steve Songs person who sings children's songs between programs on PBS?

Mama's Little Velociraptor

Victor accomplished a goal tonight. He's been working on this goal his whole life. His accomplishment strikes fear in my heart and requires me to rework my child containment strategy.

That's right. Victor can use my keys and open the door. Freedom is his.

Wet Dry

From an ad for Pampers Swaddlers:

"They don't just feel soft and secure.
They feel familiar.

Pampers Swaddlers and Sensitive Wipes remind your baby of all the comfort and protection you've provided for the last 9 months. They're soft and comfortable to protect your baby's skin. Together, they help cure your baby's first case of homesickness."

I'm all for puffery, but this is ridiculous. I always thought that diapers were intended to keep the baby dry, and I'm pretty sure the womb is wet.

Ho Ho Ho

You may recall the outfit Nephi wears in the Arnold Freiburg paintings and in the Living Scriptures videos.

Now visualize the Jolly Green Giant's leafy garb.

And you can understand why Victor saw a can of corn today and told me it was Nephi, and that Nephi was going to build a ship.

Magic Jack

We recently purchased a Magic Jack. It cost $20.00, and a year's service plan is also $20.00.

The Magic Jack is a little device you plug into the USB port in your computer. Then you plug your phone into the other end. It sets itself up in just a minute, and voila! You have a dial tone and can make local and long distance calls to your heart's content.

You can see the appeal of the Magic Jack.

We are going to test the Magic Jack over the next few weeks. We'll let you know if it lives up to its name.

And Four for Zeke

On Wednesday, Zeke started pointing. It's so cute to see that little finger pointing away. We'll cover the etiquette of pointing at a later date.

Yesterday, Zeke figured out how to make cars go down the ramp of the Fisher Price garage.

Zeke has become our new bottomless pit. I don't know where such a slim baby puts a cup of casserole, 8 saltine crackers, and a pear.

On October 30th, Zeke took his first real steps. I stood him up and faced him toward the door that Jeremy was fixing to open. Zeke loooooves to see his daddy at the end of the day. He took three toddly little steps towards Jeremy, stopped, took one more, and then sat down.

I do not anticipate full-blown walking anytime soon, but his little toddles are adorable.

Three Victor Stories

It's Friday morning in America, and I have three Victor stories to tell.

One. Last night I read Biscuit Goes to School to Victor. In one picture, a bearded and bespectacled teacher contemplates the mischievious dog Biscuit, who has come to school.

I asked Victor what the teacher was thinking. He thought for a minute. Then, "About cars. Cars go faster."

It reminded me of when my old friend Ed said that he always wanted to say "Tools" when a girl asked him what he was thinking about. Also, it made Jeremy very proud.

Two. You may recall the minty diapers post. I can now tell you that if you eat enough gum, you will also get a tummy ache and minty gas.

Three. At about 10:45 last night, a little more than an hour after we had finally heard from Victor for the last time (which is another story, but not an interesting one), we heard the office door open and the final strains of Peter Pan waft out. Then we heard little feet padding down the hall from the office to Victor's room, and a little body getting into Victor's bed.

Sneaky, sneaky.

Happy Election Day

Voting is such a rush. I just love it. Jeremy got up early to vote before work, and then my neighbor and I traded off children to vote in peace.

I was especially grateful that Victor was not accompanying me to the polls because he almost yanked the cord out of the back of my voting maching during the primary election. I pried his hand off the cord just in time.

There were lots of machines set up in our polling station, and although lots of people were there, there was no line. (Good thing, because it's drizzly wet outside.) Jeremy had to wait for about a hour this morning, though. I saw on the news last night that more than 40% of registered voters in our state voted early.

Do you remember about three elections ago when people lamented that the parties were basically the same and voter turnout was super low? No more!

Happy voting, everyone!

Quick Quiz

Question: If a burner catches fire when the potatoes boil over, and flames are leaping out, what will happen if Victor finds the fire extinguisher?

Answer: Victor will pull the trigger and you will end up with plumes of white anti-fire stuff and funny dusty grit all over the kitchen.

Kodak Gallery

There are new pictures posted on Jer's Superfun Family Extravaganza, including Victor Rides a Bike and the extended Halloween album.

As always, you can email me for the password.

Candy Corn

At 6:15 yesterday I got a call from Jeremy. His boss had come into his office five minutes earlier and said, "You'd better get home. You'll miss trick-or-treating!"

Not one to argue with authority (?), Jeremy got his coat and walked out the door.

Then he called me. "I want to take Victor trick-or-treating!" he said.

"Ummmmmmm . . . okay." I said.

And then I called my mother, who suggested that if I had some orange posterboard, I could make a candy corn costume to match the headband Liz had sent.

Lucky for me, I have lots of posterboard for my new calling. Even luckier, I had yellow, orange, and white posterboard, and an orange sweater (thanks, Wardlings).

Twenty minutes later, we had this:

And seven houses later we had this:

And Zeke did this and this: