Smelly Cat

Beijing smells bad and Nolan decided to do something about it...








As you can see... not the most successful experiment! But Nolan says 'Jing doesn't stink anymore!

Spider = Ball

Miles, the youtube addict, was watching little kid song clips with Dan last night. One of his current favorites is "Incy Wincy Spider." I hate the clip for a couple of reasons... first, I was taught the title of the song is "Eency Weency Spider". Second, they sing "Out came the sun and dried up all the rain" to an odd tune. Whatever, I am not the targeted audience... Well, the spider in the clip is this blue animated round thing with legs... Miles got excited and pointed at it and called out "Ball"!

Dear, oh Deer

Today in Nolan's class, they were doing proofreading exercises. One of the sentences read, "Do you have dear Mr. Henshaw, Alice asked the clerk." Nolan's teacher called on someone to share a correction she had made. She told the class to underline "Dear Mr. Henshaw" because it is a title of a book. Nolan, who forgot that Dear Mr. Henshaw is a book that thought that the sentence was referring to a meat shop, called out... but I thought it was "'Do you have deer, Mr. Henshaw', Alice asked the clerk." He laughed so hard hard at his interpretation of the sentence that he had tears! His teacher decided that Nolan's interpretation of the sentence was valid and gave him credit for his revision!

Food Again

Smith's last night... Regularly $148.58

• 9 bottles Sobe Lifewater
• 2 bags Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Crackers
• 5 boxes Wheat Thins
• 5 boxes Triscuits
• 2 boxes Zesta Saltines
• 6 boxes Krusteaz Cookie Mix
• 2 boxes Quaker Chewy Granola Bars
• 2 bags Nature Valley Nut Clusters
• 4 bags Kraft Shredded Cheese
• 1 bag Sargento Sliced Cheese
• 6 containers Dryers Ice Cream
• 2 containers Daisy Sour Cream
• 2 gallons Milk
• 1 Bagel
• 3 bags Quaker Rice Cakes
• 1 can Rotel Tomatoes

I paid $32.87. I took Nolan shopping with me. Both he and the lady behind him were impressed!

Up Close with a Millionaire

Last night was Meet a Utah Jazz Player night for the Junior Jazz basketball league. Neither Jonathan nor Nolan are playing basketball, but I thought they'd still like to go and see a real NBA player close up. Jonathan's homework load precluded him from going, so just Nolan and I went. We figured it would be one of the bench warmers making the appearance. To our surprise, it was the star... Carlos Boozer. Nolan thought it was pretty cool. There was a Q & A session, then "Boozer" made a half court shot (after 9 or so tries). The kids got to go down on the floor and do some drills while Carlos Boozer (nice last name, by the way) watched. Then the kids all swarmed "Boozer" and Nolan got to get a "high 5" from him. Pretty cool!

Drum Line

Jonathan is in the percussion ensemble at his school. Today they "played" (what is the right word... banged?) the "prelude" music for the school assembly. Jonathan was a cymbalist today. It was really hard to get a video of him as the students walked through the middle of the ensemble to get to the bleachers.

Mid-day Meal

Dan is ecstatic! He has successfully passed on the "passion far ketchup" gene possessed by the Belnaps! For lunch today, Miles wanted string cheese. He ate 1.5 string cheeses before walking over to the refrigerator armed with a measuring cup and spoon and demanding course #2 of his lunch... straight ketchup. Yuck. So much for the spoon...