Sucking Ducks, Stopping Hearts, Sky High Toes, and Chunky Monkeys!

Yeah, I know. I had you at the title, right??!! ;D So much has happened since I last posted that I don't even know where to start! Soooo.... let's start at the ducks, and work our way to the monkeys. Just like at the zoo. Zoo, Hutcherson house, they are pretty interchangeable anyway! Bryan went to log warrior... again... for a week. (army speak: "Log Warrior" translation: "camping in the woods and playing at being a soldier/cook, soldier/water boy, soldier/fueler, etc.") After he returned home, he decided that the family needed a special night out to reward the kids for being fairly good, and me for keeping them all alive! So we headed out to Jiang's. It is our all time fav, yum-o Chinese restaurant. We get there and we order our food. Our spring rolls come first and they are served with Chinese mustard and duck sauce. Silence descends on our little group as they (they being the kids... mostly!) inhale the spring rolls. Then the peace is broken by a "SSSLLLLLUUURRRPPP! AHH! SSSLLLLLUUURRRPPP! AHH!" Bryan and I look down the table and there is Jaden. He is sucking the duck sauce off his plate with his straw. Jaden looks at me like, "what mom? Licking my plate is bad manners, but this is duck sauce! I can't just waste it!" Sigh. Miss Manners would have a heart attack around my family. Speaking of heart attacks... had one this week. Really. All four of the big kids were in the family room. Two were playing a board game, one was watching TV, and Jaden was dancing around and just playing. I'm in the kitchen cutting up veggies for dinner, when I hear all 3 of the biggest kids start screeching. All I can make out of the noise is, "you're gonna kill him! You're gonna die!!" I'm thinking, oh crap Kaylee left her hermit crab out and Jaden has killed it. If only! I run into the family room in time to see Jaden strung up like a criminal in a hangman's noose! He had gotten up on the back of the couch next to Ethan and wrapped the cord from the mini blinds around his neck several times. Ethan, with out looking at him or seeing what he was up to, told Jaden to get down or mom was gonna yell at him for standing on the back of the couch. SO HE DID!! I grabbed him and unwound the cords, thankfully they weren't tangled, and held him tight. He was crying, I was crying, the other kids were crying. Scared Jaden more than hurt him, and he recovered pretty quick. He had a small rope burn all the way around his neck though. Hours later I almost dropped dinner on the floor because I was still shaking so bad. For the record: these mini blinds were supposed to be "safe". The little round things that gather up the cords don't work, obviously, when confronted by the wiles of a 4 year old, who is hell bent on sending his mother to an early grave! The cords have now all received their military hair cut, as in I chopped those suckers off all the way up at the top! Just hope no one needs to open the blinds anytime soon.
Speaking of tops... Kaylee is TOPS! On Friday night, she marched in her first ever half time show! She was so funny. She has fantastic toes! All of your band geeks out there know what I am talking about. Her toes were sky high when she roll stepped. I was so proud! Not to mention, she is in a euph line (euphonium, people, get with the terminology!) with about 5 other players. She's the youngest, only in 6th grade. The rest are 7th and 8th graders. She marched out there and hit her spot and stood at attention. All the euphs did good... for the first 5 seconds, then it looked like a free form marching band move. Kaylee standing perfectly still, at attention, feet together, head held high, statue still... surrounded by kids moving like you wouldn't believe. It was comically! And no, I am not just being partial! I am going to post the video on the blog as soon as I can figure out how... PROOF that my little girl is geek through and through!
Speaking of Geeks... well, more like CHeeks! Our little chunky monkey had his 6 month well baby check up on Wednesday. He is officially a weeble wobble. He is 26.33 inches long, 17lbs 10oz, and has "ham hocks" instead of thighs. He cannot roll himself over, but he can push up on to his hands, or his knees alternately, and he is sitting up unassisted. Like a weeble wobble. A fat weeble wobble. Just more to love, right baby?!