The World Through Natty Colored Glasses

We passed a cemetery on the way to church last week. Natty looked out her window and said, "Awwww...that's where zombies are born..." No fear. She said it as if we were passing the nursery in a hospital. And with such conviction. I looked out my window, half expecting to see a green child swaddled in rotting blankets. I wish I could see the world through Natty's eyes for just one day!

Also, Chad introduced the kids to the wonderful world of non-alcoholic mixed drinks via homemade Shirley Temples. Natty and Mikey both loved them. Really, what's not to like about adding corn syrup to already too sweet 7-up? Natty requests them all the time now. Only, to her they're not "Shirley Temples." They are "holy temples." So, should she request a cup of holy temple at your house, don't be alarmed! We aren't teaching anything weird in our family home evenings. She just wants a drink.

Oh, Natty!

So, we stopped at Target this morning to pick up a prescription. There was a motorcycle parked in the spot next to us. The driver of said motorcycle just happened to exit Target the same time as us and start up his bike. Mikey and Natty were both amazed. Natty rolled down her window, stuck her head out and yelled:

"Hey motorcycle boy! You ROCK!!!"

Oh, Natty...

Super Fun Weekend of Awesomely Amazing Dating!

This weekend was pretty much the funnest weekend ever. Friday, Chad took me and the kids to the Puyallup County Fair, where we totally demolished our good dieting record. Man, the fair is foodie heaven. I experienced my first, and then second, (don't judge me) elephant ear. For those of you unfamiliar with the magical pastry, please allow me to explain. An elephant ear is a lump of whole wheat pastry, rolled out super thin, deep fried, and then smothered with butter and topped with either cinnamon & sugar or raspberry jam. Yummy.

Also, we got in free! We were at the ticket counter, pulling out our wallet to pay, when some lady walked up to us and said she had tickets she wasn't using. She gave us three and walked away! That saved us over $20! (translated: we had $20 more than we expected to spend on delicious fair food. Hello, onion burger!!!) I love the fair. The food, animals, vendors, shows, rides...it's all just so much fun.

Last year the kids went on the super tall slide & had such a good time that they've been talking about it since then. They were so excited to get to the fair so that they could go on it again! So, we bought tickets for four slide rides and trekked over as a family to make the plunge. We grabbed our burlap sacks (to ride down on) and climbed the bazillion stairs up to the slide platform. Mikey and Chad went down first, gleefully giggling as they graceful slid down the bumpy track. Then it was time for me and Natty to go. I sat Natty's burlap sack on the slide and then...she freaked. Full on, clown-in-the-room, freak out. She literally braced herself with her arms--locked elbows---away from the slide. Being the loving, nurturing mother that I am, I looked down at the millions of stairs and said, "No way I'm walking that again. You're going down!!!" To which she responded with hysterics. So I picked her up, screaming and flailing limbed, and shoved both of us onto the same slide. Unfortunately, I missed the burlap sack, sending it flying down in front of me. So, my adult-sized bum stuck to the slide all the way down. I had to literally scootch down with my feet while Natty was yelling and everyone at the bottom was watching me. Best use of four fair ride tickets ever. It was all worth it though, because when we handed our fair employee our tickets to go on the slide, he looked right at me and said, "are you pregnant? Because if you are, you shouldn't ride. This ride could induce pregnancy." Now, I've heard of a ride inducing labor, but never pregnancy. Seems like you should have to be taller than 42 inches for that kind of ride! Chad & I laughed about that the rest of the day.

That night, Chad took me to a concert in Seattle. We saw a band called Mates of State. They are a husband and wife duo. It was so fun! They have two little daughters that they take on tour with them. Good Morning America did a segment with them awhile back. You can see it here. I thought it was really cute! The music was great and it was super fun to see them live.



Saturday night, Chad took me out again. This time we went into Seattle to see a roller derby bout at Key Arena. Holy smokes, it was so much stinkin' fun. Roller derby is awesome! Totally the best sport ever. I was cheering for the Sockitt Wenches. Chad was on the Throttle Rockets team. Sockitt Wenches won (sorry, Chad!). Rat City Roller Girls will be bouting in Kent at the Showare center twice this summer & I will definitely be there!


Basically, it was the best weekend ever. Thanks to Jessica for babysitting my little ones so that we could go out adventuring!!!

Spring Has Sprung!

It's the craziest thing ever. I woke up yesterday morning and found that spring had arrived overnight and unpacked her bags. Literally. From snow to blossoms. Now, it's no secret that I moved to Washington for the cold, wet winters. It's my favorite by far. But, this spring thing isn't too shabby either. The cherry blossom trees all bloomed in unison, paving the streets with gorgeous pink puffs. I've got tulips and daffodils sitting on my fireplace mantle--my two absolute favorite flowers. Yesterday, on our family walk we watched two huge eagles flying over us, squawking at each other like an old married couple. And, I've walked around for two days straight with no jacket on. I never thought I'd say it, but I enjoyed the sun. Of course, it was still in the sixties outside, so there was no chance of breaking a sweat. It's just proof positive that Washington is heaven, no matter what the season!

P.S. In honor of the spring weather, we decorated Easter Eggs today. We now officially have more brightly hued eggs than we will ever be able to eat.

The Things They Say

So, Tuesdays are our regular playdates with another family at Russell Ridge. It was my turn this week. Which means that at 3:00 that day I was driving a car full of kids down the Maple Valley Hwy. And by full of kids, I mean full of kids. Three friends plus my two make for a very noisy drive. So, half way to our destination, Mikey yells at me: "Mom!!! Ethan is throwing all his junk into our trunk!" Then a few seconds later, "Ha, ha...junk...trunk...those rhyme." Then the other four broke out in laughter. Apparently the 4 to 8 year old bracket finds rhyming words to be absolutely hilarious. By this point I was already amused. Then they all started chanting "Junk in the Trunk" in unison. Now, they had no idea of the colloquial meaning of the phrase. They just thought it was funny that the words sounded similar. I, on the other hand, thought it was soooo funny. I can only guess what the cars next to me at red lights were thinking.

Later that day, Natty was sprawled out on the floor playing with her doll house. Mikey was sitting next to her watching tv. Natty turned to Mikey and said, "Shhhh....I'm playing with my dollies and this is a very hard level." Hmmm...maybe we should cut back on our video time?

I just love my kids so darn much. They have me laughing all day long. They are just so innocent and genuine and full of life. I can't imagine having a better job than the one I've got!

Love It!!!

I love this guy! His name is Parry Gripp. I guess he was in some band. They went on tour and he hated it. According to Parry, his tour bus smelled like old nachos. Anyway, he decided it was time to grow up and get a real job. He thought he'd try his hand at advertising. He submitted this jingle to a waffle company. He didn't get the gig, but he liked his jingle so much that he posted it on youtube.com to share with others. It ended up getting over a million hits (or something like that) and becoming an internet sensation. He has since recorded an entire album full of short little songs about nothing & everything. I love them all. I think he is super funny. My kids love him too. And so should you.

Fairies and Mints

So, it's been awhile since my last post. Not much has happened, but I do have a bunch of random things the kids have done/said to report on.

First things first, I am on a wacky new diet. Have been for the past four weeks or so. I've had a couple miscarriages in a row, and this diet is supposed to help my particular problem. In essence, it is a diabetic diet with no white sugar, white flour, white rice or white potatoes. Totally a racist diet, if you ask me. I can have all the fruits and vegetables that I want though. Chad has been super supportive and stuck to the diet with me. (Such love and devotion!) Anyways, the drastic increase in roughage has created a problem with, well, "air pollution" in the Perkins' household. It's embarrassing, but let's face it--our bodies just don't have what it takes to digest that much produce. As my mother-in-law would say, we are experiencing a lot of "tooting." Natty has decided that if you really, really love someone, than their toots don't stink. Literally. She has informed us that Chad's smell like mint and mine smell like fairies. I certainly hope for your sake that she is right. Otherwise, we may be sitting in our own pew at church for awhile.

So, to celebrate our new diet, we attended Vegfest 2009 at the Seattle Center last weekend. It was so cool. It was $7 to get in for adults, free for kids. Along with your ticket, you received a big paper grocery bag. The Exhibition Hall was packed with tables, each housing a vendor giving away copious free samples. It was like trick-or-treating for adults. I had such a blast. Also, I discovered Lara Bars. Have you ever experienced the joy of a peanut butter cookie Lara Bar? Heavenly. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that vegetarian is not always synonymous with low calorie. Oh well. You've got to pick your battles, right?

We also discovered Natty's intense fear of clowns at the Vegetarian Festival. They had two fine, face-painted specimens at the back of the hall making balloon animals and painting faces. Natty took one look at them and totally freaked. I'm mean, she was screaming, yelling, tearing at my clothes and running for the exit. I explained to her that it was silly to be afraid of clowns because their whole job was to make people laugh and be happy. A bad guy can't make you happy, right? So, they must be good. An airtight argument, right? Natty responded in her most serious voice, "Well, I don't like to laugh, so that must be why I don't like clowns." Which we answered with a round of laughter. After the chuckling quieted down, Natty said calmly, "No, seriously guys." It was hilarious. She's four. What four year old says that?

Natalie has been saying the funniest stuff lately. She is so brutally honest. We went out for frozen yogurt (which I'm allowed to have on my diet. So I do. Often). Natty had a cup of chocolate and informed us in her loudest voice that it looked a lot like "poo." At the Super Mall, she informed us that the palm trees looked like "arm pit hair." Obviously she was referring to Chad's armpits, not mine. And then the whole mints and fairies thing. She has me cracking up all the time.

And that's about it at our house. Diets and potty humour.