Phraseology

I love the way Jonathan says things. He has such a unique way of expressing himself. Two recent examples...

Today Jonathan has a band festival at Oak Canyon. I told him on Sunday that he needed to make sure that his Grandpa and Grandma Belnap knew about the festival. He was practicing his sax and clarinet in a spare bedroom at Parley and Bona's on Sunday. Bona poked her head in to listen for a minute. She came out laughing and quoting Jonathan, "For your information, I have a band festival on Wednesday, March 26th at 9:30 a.m. at Oak Canyon". Bona couldn't get over the "For your information" part.

Second, I think it's great that I have a twelve year old who is still willing to talk to me about anything (except for who he eats lunch with). I hope he continues sharing his thoughts, feelings, and concerns for years to come (even though often the stuff he shares with me is TMI for me- stuff that I wish he'd share with Dan and then Dan could share it with me). Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Jonathan was watching the Percussion Ensemble prepare for 6th Grade Day at Oak Canyon. He came home and said "Mom, weird stuff is happening to me- stuff that's never happened before. Girls are 'fawning' over me". "Fawning"? Haven't heard that for a while. Anyway, he got a big ego boost when he noticed a girl (thankfully) in the Percussion Ensemble staring and waving at him (and she was even a 9th grader).

I'll have to keep my ears open for more Jonathanisms and keep recording them.

Secrets

Secrets are dangerous things. Ever notice how when someone tells you their secret and you promise not to tell ANYONE, then the temptation to blab it is nearly irrepressible? I know a secret and I'm bursting to tell, but no! My lips are sealed. I know from past experience that the urge to share the secret exponentially decreases after about 48 hours, but when the secret keeps on getting juicier by the minute... then dang! It's hard. I will prevail. I will not tell. Nope, don't bother to ask me what it is because the only thing I may tell the secret to is Nolan's stuffed cat. Maybe telling Haley will reduce my urge to destroy someone's confidence in me and to become a gossip.

The Funniest Story Ever

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but there really hasn't been anything going. I've had zero to write about, until yesterday!

Aly, Amy, Leslie, and I decided to have lunch together yesterday (because I didn't want to substitute for Nolan's class and a "Sisters" lunch was a great excuse). We met at the BYU Museum of Art and ate in their cafe. I got the monster-super-sized-beyond-turbo-big veggie sandwich and ate it all (except for the feta, 'shrooms, and spinach). Immediately after eating, Amy bailed on us to go to class. Aly needed to get something from the bookstore for her independent study class so Leslie and I were going to go with her. Before we left the museum, I decided that I needed to pee. We found the bathroom. It was empty of any users. Aly went in stall #1; Leslie went in stall #3; I chose stall #6. We are doing our business when I hear someone to the left of me (presumably Leslie) fart. I called out, nice and clearly, "I heard that!" Anyway, Aly and I finished at about the same time and were washing up when we realized that the door to stall #4 was shut and there were white shoes showing from under the door. Aly and I start silently busting our guts laughing. Leslie comes rushing out, washes as fast as humanly possible and charges out the bathroom door. We all fall to pieces laughing. I'm so glad I could call to everyone's attention that the lady in stall #4 was having an intestinal issue. I think I may be responsible for the user of stall #4 developing a phobia of using public restrooms. Leslie thinks, that at the very least, that poor woman is going to need therapy for the rest of her life.

Annoyed over STUPID thing!

This is really stupid and I know it is, but I'm still really annoyed by it. So, my 20th high school reunion is in the "planning" stages. It's being planned by all the nimrods who thought high school was cool while in high school as well as at the 10 year reunion. I did go to my 10 year class reunion and it was stupid. Nolan was just a few weeks old (like 6?). I let Dan stay at my parent's house and have "boys and daddy" time. The reunion was an overpriced mediocre meal with wine (which everyone at my table wanted to know if they could have mine) and dancing. My loverly boyfriend from high school was constantly at my elbow and was impossibleto shake off. I endured a few hours of back to high school torture, found out who decided that they were gay, and went home shaking my head at those who thought that they were cool in high school and still thought they were just as cool 10 years later.

Okay- so what'a annoying me... The reunion committee has put together a myspace page to get the reunion information out. Fine, no problem there. What bugs me is that someone decided that the nasty, tacky, revolting song "Push It" is our class theme. Everytime I visit the class myspace page, I am greated with the nasty panting rhythmic pulsations of "Push It". About 90% of the time that stupid vile song is playing before the page has even loaded so I can't hit the stop button. I need to remember to unplug my computer speakers before visiting the class reunion myspace page.

Oh, and by the way, no I do not plan to attend the 20 year reunion for the GHS class of 1989.

Difficult Concept or Not?

Okay, here is the senario. You are in seventh grade. You go to school and have 8 classes. The school has provided you a planner to use to keep track of your assignments. Your teachers give you homework. Now, what do you do?

When growing up, one of my biggest fears was forgetting about a homework assignment. My teachers' late homeork policies were strict- usually something that would result in your maximum score on late homework being equal to a 50%. As far as I can recall, I never, ever turned in a homework assignment late.

Jump forward to 2008. Now, my name is Jonathan. I am a brillant seventh grader with a planner and I have teachers that give homework. I think planners are stupid and a waste of time. Mom just checked my grades. I have a 52% in Spanish because I claim I didn't know I had to fill out several sections on my monthly study chart. Of course, I didn't write anything about that assignment in my planner because I think using my planner is a waste of time. Hey- Mom just checked my health grade. It's down from 101% to a 90%. Now 90% isn't a bad grade, but she is wondering why my grade dropped. Mom checks the assignments listed on the computer from my health class. I haven't bothered to turn in my "Life Path" assignment yet. I had it finished on time, butI just can't be bothered to turn it in.

Sometimes I really want to ring Jonathan's neck when it comes to him and his school attitude. For as book smart as he is, he has to be among the stupidest when it comes to assignments. Of course, he's now encouraging me to punch him in the face because "that's what I [he] deserves". Drama king to the end and never taking responsiblilty or trying to improve. Not willing to try to use the planner to help him out. Well, I pulled out the big guns and told him that he starts using the planner tomorrow or there will be no Jazz Band for him next year.

Cooking and Kids

I've decided that I am sick of being "the cook" and also sick of all the "fend for yourself" nights that we've been having around here. I got all gung-ho and assigned everyone a night where they plan the menu, cook the meal (with assistance from me), set the table, and help with the clean up. We are ending week 3 of my experiment. While I wouldn't call it the most successful project (maybe it's the most ambitious), it has been interesting. The only rule (so far) is that no one can serve Mac-n-Cheese from the box.

My night is Monday. Jonathan has Tuesday. Nolan has Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are leftovers/fend for yourself nights. Dan has Saturday (and has declared it pizza night every week- yes, he has to make it and can't have it delivered). Sunday is Belnap Family dinner night.

Week 1- I made Spaghetti with homemade sauce, garlic bread and salad. Jonathan made white rice, a salad, and french bread. Nolan wanted more spaghetti, salad, and breadsticks. Dan made pizza.

Week 2- I made fajitas, black beans, and Spanish rice. Jonathan made plain pasta, breadsticks, and salad. Nolan made rice. Dan made pizza.

Week 3- I made mashed potatoes. Jonathan chose Cheerios, fruit, and cinnamon rolls. Nolan made waffles. Dan is making pizza tonight.

I'm sure a dietician would point out that our meals are very low on protein and have a lot of refined flour products in them. So what... any complainers can have Thursday or Friday night assigned to them!

Anyway, thus far, it has been educational. Nolan didn't know where the measuring spoons were kept. They boys have learned how to make yeast rise, how to operate the mixer (we do not turn the mixer on with the beater in the "up" position), and how to measure flour (we do not pack flour into the measuring cup). Both boys are afraid of the oven- they think the air coming out of it will burn them. Meanwhile, Dan cranks the over to as hot as it can go to bake his pizza.

Menus for the coming week are due tomorrow. I'm thinking lasagna or tacos. Nolan has already claimed garlic bread. Jonathan just informed me that his night will involve Ramen Noodles. I guess that is better than Yellow Death (mac-n-cheese) 5 times a night.

Bad Blogger! Bad, Bad, Blogger!

So they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If that is the case, I'm on my way. At least hell would be warm and snowfree... actually, I've heard some people describe hell as your worst nightmare. In that case, hell would be cold and snowy.

Cold and snowy... I've had enough! Our 24 hour snowfall yesterday was around 18 inches. We shoveled out our driveway and sidewalks 3 times yesterday and did a sweet little old neighbor lady's driveway and walk twice. We did get a nice bonus because of the monster storm... church was cancelled. Instead of going to church, we worshiped at the church of FOX 13 and watched the SuperBowl. Big Freakin' Deal. I didn't waste too much time on the Superbowl and just caught the last 3 minutes or so of the game; evidently that was the important part. Nolan was devistated that the Pats lost and got a nasty mouth and threw a SuperBowl sized attitude at us. My question is "Since when did Nolan care about football?" I don't think he even watched a single NFL game this season. But he was definately a Patriots fan yesterday. Next week hockey will probably become his newest favorite sport and he'll be all for the Anaheim Ducks (are they even a real team?).

I had a picture scanning party today. Here are some of my favorites!

I must say, I was one cute kiddo. I also was a stylin' dresser- I'm lovin' the polyester green and white outfit. I think it belongs in the Smithsonian right next to the first lades dresses!