Livingston Life And Times: September 2009

Man, I’m horrible about updating more often. It sure would make them easier to post and read if I was more diligent. Oh well. So let’s see what has happened since we last blogged? We went to my Grandma’s funeral which was a very nice service. She looked really good and was buried with her purse. And, of course, that purse contained lipstick and tissue, two essentials of my Grandma McClellan. It was very fitting. We had a good time together with family and wished we could stay longer. Caden did get croup and we spent the morning of the funeral in ER, but all-in-all he did OK.

If you’re a Livingston, this should really interest you. My uncle Dick’s cabin was just about 5 minutes away from the old LDS Catherine Creek Lodge (the site of our annual Livingston family reunion), so we decided to pay a visit; and boy things are different there. We got some good video of it as well as some still shots of the kids, but Carol didn’t think about taking any stills of the changes. They have added electricity to the place, and they are building another structure there, which will be one big bathroom and shower facility. That will be nice. They had a huge 160,000 gallon tank for water, I guess, which will be buried somewhere nearby. The basketball court was ripped out, because that is where the new bathroom building is going to be. The field was all torn up, too so they can lay all the cables and pipes. Quite different than what we have been used, to. Hopefully, we will have another reunion there so we can see all the finished changes.

The next weekend we headed to Eugene for Claire’s baby blessing (she belongs to my sister Leslie and her husband Eric). We had a good time there, too. Also, on the way down we met up with my dad at Wilsonville Honda, where we finally got a van. It is a 2005 Honda Odyssey. It is silver, not one of my top color choices, because Honda's Odyssey silver has a brown tint to it, but it will do (sorry Bird’s, no offense since you have the same color, I just really wanted charcoal gray). We got it back to our house and gave it a thorough cleaning and washing. It looks pretty new, now, so that is nice and it has everything we wanted (leather, DVD and only 48,000 miles). My dad helped us get a good deal on it, too.

We did take Caden to the naturopath again, and his ears were good, but his system was a little backed-up. He got a treatment and is doing better, but we will probably take him one more time. Plus, we are altering his diet once again to help with the skin irritation he has. Ammon is growing like crazy and was 13 lbs 12 oz at two months. He is a good baby and sleeps pretty well at night. In fact, last night he slept through the entire night. Too bad Caden was on our floor having his nightly fights. Oh well, such is life. I’m sure I could add many other happenings, but who wants to bother with those when the funnies are waiting. So here you go, plus we’ve got new pics, too...

As I’ve mentioned before, I do “Day out with Dad” with the kids whenever the occasion permits itself. So on a couple of recent Friday’s I went to the park with Bailey and Caden, then later, to a diamond to play baseball with Tyler and Trevin. So on the night of the second Friday I was writing in my journal in the kids’ room and I asked Bailey: “What do you want to do next time for Day out with Dad?” She quickly replied: “Go to the Dollar Store.” I said something like: “Oh Bailey, you love going to the dollar store.” She concurred, and then I added: “But going to the Dollar Store isn’t really doing anything with me.” She said: “Yeah it is, because we would go together.” I said, yeah, but you’re just going to spend money, not to spend time with me.” She said: “Yeah, but I like to buy stuff, and you could buy something, too.” I told her: “I don’t want to waste my money on junk from the Dollar store.” She then replied: “Yeah, but you could just get a sweet dude necklace.”

We were gone all day on Saturday, August 23; at baseball games, a team picnic, and then Carol’s Family Reunion. It was getting later in the afternoon and I asked the boys if they were ready to go. We were playing baseball, though, so of course the reply was no. however, Bailey must have been feeling tired, too, because she responded: “I am. I can’t even remember what our house looks like.”

The other day Caden stripped down to his diaper while we were reading scriptures, which he never does (in fact this could have been the first time). He came back out to the living room and started pulling his diaper down. We told him he better not. He smiled a wry smile and continued tugging on it. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty, and he said no. I said: “Then you have to wear a diaper.” He again said no. So I said: “Which do you want sit on the potty OR wear a diaper?” He replied: “Orrrr, no!”

Don’t ever let Tyler watch the Shopping Network and give him access to a credit card. We were watching TV and an ad for the latest and greatest Oreck vacuum cleaner was on. The ads are a little longer than normal ads, and after a couple minutes Tyler says: “That is so awesome.” Then a few seconds later he says: “We should have one of those. That is the best vacuum thing I’ve ever seen.”

Tyler and Trevin were in the bathtub and Carol and I were both dealing with Caden and Ammon and several other things, so we weren’t there to help Trevin. I called from the hallway and said to Trevin: “Trevin, wash your hair!” He yelled back: “I can’t get the shampoo.” I then said: “What about Shamoo?” (a famous performing killer whale for those who might not know), and he replied: “Well, I can’t get that either.”

I was eating my lunch and Caden came over and asked: “Can I watch you?” And for him that means he climbs up on the table and sits himself down right next to your food, which he proceeded to do. After a couple minutes he says to me: “Can I have chip, real quick?”

Carol was just getting started to cut a honeydew melon and Caden was in the kitchen. He asked, “Can I have a little bite of honeydew?” Carol told him: “It’s not ready yet. I still have to cut it.” He replied kind of “ah shucks” kind of way: “Dang it.” Carol said: “Dang it? Who says that?” He said: “I do.”

We took a trip to Eugene recently and stayed a little longer than we planned or packed for, so Tyler ran out of clean underwear. We always pack extra for Trevin, though, cuz you never know with a 4-year-old when an accident might happen. So anyways, Tyler had to wear a pair of Trevin’s (which actually fit him cuz he’s so skinny). The next evening, as we were back home and I was folding laundry, I grabbed the pair Tyler had worn and Trevin saw me and said to Tyler: “Ha ha, you wore my undies.”

I was saying goodnight to Bailey one night and told her that she had drawn some nice pictures earlier in the day. I said: “You’re a good drawer.” She replied: “Yeah, I think Mrs. Majewski (her teacher) is better than me, because she can draw people that really look like people.” I said: “yeah, but she has a lot more practice than you.” Bailey smiled and said: “Yeah, I’m only six and she’s like 17 or something.” Now enjoy the pics...

You might think that's funny, but it's snot