Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: So, here's the current state of things. Master bathroom opens into master bedroom. There's a teeny little, wall-mounted sink, a regular-sized green toilet, and a shower. The current functional space in the bathroom, minus the shower, is 53"x56". That's 4'5" x 4'8". If I stand in the middle of the room, I can touch both walls, palms almost flat. No storage space, not enough room for two people to get ready in the morning. And really, really seafoam green . On the other side of that shower is the entryway coat closet (2' x 5'). What we're thinking is that we could sacrifice the coat closet (which only sees a little bit of use three months out of the year) to expand the bathroom (which is used at least twice a day, every day). Our plumber thinks we're crazy. Everybody else has been suspiciously silent on the topic. On the one hand, someday we'll want to sell this house and will that be a deal-killer? "No coat cl...

Lisa's sister, Lori, writes: Pic of Evy 'cause she's so cute and our "latest addition." Benjamin with his "Piggy-piggy" --that's what he calls Michael the Guinea Pig. Then we helped surprise our friend Greg for his 40th Bday; nice dinner then off to the races. Those were some fast indoor go-carts. Birthday boy came in 1st on the first race (I was a close 3rd). David took 3rd on the second race...and no one got hurt! :)

Lisa writes: We have a new Sunday School class. We're teaching the 9 year olds. This Sunday, we talked about the creation and the Garden of Eden. One kid asked, "If God created us in his image, then does he have blue/brown/green/hazel eyes?" I dunno. Does he?

Lisa writes: My little brother just put up a blog with lots of family pictures and some video. You should go see it. It's here . It mostly isn't about nearly dropping girls on their heads, but the best parts of it are.

Lisa writes: This is the most charming thing I've heard lately ... My friend K's sister is having a baby. It's her first niece and the first grandchild in the family. K volunteered to paint the baby's room, but first asked other family members to write little love messages to the baby on the walls. Then, she painted the room, painting over the messages and symbolically sealing the love into the walls of the room all around the baby.

Lisa writes: (Just got some more pictures from Lori.) Benjamin and Evelyn are only 11 months apart. It's interesting to see their little personalities develop. Benjamin is a little taller and a lot heavier. He is the social kid. He likes people and usually isn't afraid of much. However, he wasn't having anything to do with ice skates. Evelyn is usually much more cautious about new things, but she put the skates right on, went around and around the rink like this, and then cried when it was time to take off the skates and go home. I really think she would have skated all day if we'd let her.

Lisa writes: Tom is a little psycho about emergency preparedness because it's his job. I'm a little psycho about emergency preparedness because it's my religion. Our basement looks like our own personal Costco. We buy oats in 55 lb bags and we have 100 gallons of potable water that we rotate every six months. That said, you'll understand why I fist-pumpingly endorse the following article in today's Popular Mechanics. "If you're at the scene of a major disaster, it may be a long time before outside help arrives. But one person is sure to be there: you. And nobody cares more about helping you and your family in time of disaster than, well, you. So it makes sense for you to be prepared to take care of yourself—and look out for your neighbors—for some time afterward."

Lisa writes: To all the Costco fans on earth! Grab your monthly coupon thingy and get thee to the meat section, stat! There's a big ol' sale on boneless pork chops, and if you buy a pallet or two, you can make a ton of very excellent pork chops & apples for, like, very close to no money. Maybe $10. For a whole bunch. Your praises will be sung loudly. I sort of used this recipe , but it actually turned out like this: INGREDIENTS However many pork chops will fit in your baking pan Olive oil Salt & pepper 3 green apples, cored, peeled, and cut into 1/2" slices 3 Tablespoons brown sugar (optional) 1/4 tsp thyme, if ya got it around 1/4 ground cloves 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/2 lemon's-worth of juice, or 3 Tablespoons, if ya got it INSTRUCTIONS Meat: Brine nothing because you just decided to cook this a minute ago and brining takes 2 hours and you don't have half the ingredients anyway. Turn oven on 350. On the stovetop, get a big skillet really hot and pour the olive ...

Lisa's Dad writes: Mom's eye surgery [blepharoplasty] began at 10:20. Lisa writes: How long should it take? Dad writes: 45 minutes. Did you get email pic of Mom pre-op? Lisa writes: Yes. She looked pretty perky. Dad writes: She has both eyes bandaged closed for 24 hours. I am taking her to Hawaii to recover. Dad writes: When I remembered she wouldn't be able to see for 24 hours, I stopped making the bed and skipped the dishes altogether.

Lisa writes: Towards the end of last year, we taught our six-year-olds a Sunday School lesson about tithing. As part of the lesson, I gave the kids 10 pennies (which they were THRILLED to receive) and talked about how to calculate 1/10th. Then they each put one penny in one of the official tithing envelopes and filled out the official tithing slip (with official carbonless paper, which completely blew their minds) with their names and donation amount. Then we all marched down to the Bishop's office and gave him our tithing. He was very cute about it and shook each child's hand and thanked them as they give him their envelope. Fast-forward to today when we dropped by our neighbor's house, the neighbor who currently acts as the church finance clerk. Guess who got to set up a new donor profile in the church's computer system for each one of those nine kids, and then fill out an IRS donation form for nine 1-penny contributions? Sorry, Robert. But, just so you know, I'll...

Lisa writes: New Years Day, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo . For a dollar, you can buy three Trisket-looking crackers to hand-feed the giraffes. That leads to an lot of unfortunate THIS: I bet that really grosses out the giraffes. The kids can get right up close and personal with the giraffes. The grizzly bears would love to get up close and personal with the kids, too. All those yummy, yummy kids...

Lisa writes: So, you make a board and some game pieces out of scrap paper, then quiz the entire family for weeks to come up with the game cards. Ta-Dah! Family Trivia! It's a good, solid, two to three hours of fun and heated arguments about fuzzily-remembered family history. (How is it possible that nobody remembers what city we were in when Donny got the fish stuck in his ear?) Debbie and Kellen ultimately won, fueled only by strategic game play and that can of Redi-Whip. How would you have done? (Answers in the Comments.) Q1: Which of Lori's kids used a bottle of nail polish to finger paint on the floor, walked through it into the bathroom, then threw the mostly-full bottle into the toilet where the polish floated up and coated the toilet bowl? Q2: Which of Lori's kids found red Chinese ink, rubbed it into their hands and feet, and walked around on the white carpet? Q3: Which of Lori's kids threw a carton of raw eggs all over the kitchen and living room floor -- twice...

Lisa writes: We opened gifts after everybody arrived on the 26th. I think the original game plan was to let Santa come that night and open the presents the next morning, but the gifts were just all right there under the tree, and there was a 8:11 kid-to-adult ratio. I bought books and made drawstring backpacks for all the nieces and nephews. This one was my favorite. It's Cameron's. There's a dinosaur appliquéd on the pocket, but I didn't sew his mouth closed. So then I thought, "He needs some snacks" and attached a little carrot, cow, and chocolate bar for him to much on. ("What does a T-Rex eat?" "Whatever a T-Rex wants.")

Lisa writes: The day after Christmas, we went to the basketball court at the back of the church so the kids could fly their new mini-r.c. planes and play some basketball. Donny and his friend brought some country swing music to practice dancing and teach us some moves. Like this one: Christian got it on the first try. Tom and I are nothing if not game, but our motto is "know your limits." Unlike some people.

Lisa writes: Living in D.C. means postponing dinner with friend until after the healthcare debate because they're working 25-hour days on the Hill.

Tim, Tom, Dad (Roy), Donny, Kellen Christi, Lisa, Mom (Rexene), Debbie, Madison Taylor, Ava, Dave w/Benjamin, Lori w/Evelyn, Breanna Christian, Camer on Lisa writes: Lois requested a shot of the "big kids." Here is the whole gang. We make it look easy, but if it makes you feel any better, threats, beatings, candy canes, and no fewer than 300 frames were required to get this shot. (And that was just to get the adults to behave...)

Taylor, Dad, Evelyn, Mom, Madison Ava, Cameron & Benjamin, Christian, Breann a Lisa writes: The whole gang went to my parents' house in Colorado for Christmas. Twenty people drinking gallons and gallons of milk every morning. We opened presents and went to the zoo and went to Chuck E. Cheese and the indoor rock climbing gym. We watched old home movies and decided the 70s weren't as bad as we remembered, but the 80s were much, much worse. We visited the Humane Society and went to church and a cousin's wedding reception. We fed the squirrels on the back porch. We played basketball in the driveway. We flew r.c. planes in the gym at the back of the chapel. The kids played with Dad's electric train. The kids broke Dad's electric train. Dad fixed his electric train and they played with it some more. Some of us went to Denver and Boulder and country dancing and Costco for more milk. Taylor (Christi's, 11), Cameron (Lori's, 11), Madison (Christi's, 12) Benja...

This is a Lar Gibbon at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It's originally from the tropical forests between Southern China and Indonesia, and I suspect the Southern Chinese and Indonesians shipped them all out to zoos just so they could get some sleep at night. They are LOUD.