Things We Learned This Week

Everett can never get enough attention, especially from some of his Aunts and Uncles. My family passed through here on their way back to Utah (yes, to live) and Everett spent every waking moment with praise, admiration, and little sneaks of candy.


My kids still have a special place in their hearts for their grandparents. Ashley spent much of her time toddling over to Grandpa's lap while he was here. The only other thing they needed was a visit from Grandma, who was in Utah already caring for Uncle Nick.


Sometimes making your own popcorn in a pot is a lot of fun, especially when you make it into caramel popcorn at the end. Plus, at 99 cents a pound, it is a whole lot cheaper than microwave popcorn. Plus, it really doesn't take that much longer. Plus, it really isn't hard at all. Plus, you can add whatever you want. Plus, for those of you worried about this, there will be no preservatives, artificial colors, or flavors. Plus. . .well, there are a lot of plusses.

All Everett cared about was that it tasted good for our family movie night (the Charlotte's Web with Dakota Fanning--worth a watch.)

(Also, it's nice to prove all those naysayers wrong (*cough* Joel *cough*) and prove that yes, I CAN make popcorn in a pot.)

Apparently, you CAN catch the stomach bug over the phone. Sorry, but it's true. My kids had it last week, and my family got here and had it the second day they were here. Somehow, my Dad escaped the bug. What do the sickies have in common? They both talked on the phone with Everett, who had been very sick. Could they have caught it from someone else? Possibly, but they spent the majority of those intermittent days being confined to the inside of a car.

When Ashley had the stomach bug, Everett felt so sympathetic that he had to take her on his lap and snuggle her.

But apparently Ashley did not appreciate this gesture all that much.

Finally, we learned that seagulls are thieves with a major sweet tooth. We had a nice bag of cookies in our beach bag on the beach at Lake Michigan. . .and when our backs were turned, guess who dug out this bag and began tossing it around in an attempt to eat it? Yes, that's right. The crazy gulls. Fortunately Everett didn't mind that the cookies were now crumbs.