WE WILL BE BACK WHEN THE SWINE FLU HAS GONE.

Andrew: Man. Warrior.

Now it's Drew's turn! Technically it should have been his turn first, with him being the firstborn and all that, but Zach was the one who petitioned for more blogs about he and Andrew, so I wrote him up first. Now to it...

The name Andrew is from the Greek and means "man" and "warrior. This guy is both.

He rises early, almost always the first one up in our household...with his dad. He did not inherit that from me! And he ALWAYS eats a HUGE breakfast IMMEDIATELY...as in cereal...and eggs...and toast...and bacon if he can get it...and orange juice....and hot tea....It makes Zach and me shudder (we aren't able to eat until 10:00), but we find it entertaining to see how much he throws down before 6:45am.

He has a distinct sense of style ranging from "high end sporty"...

to "cool and casual" .....

....to REALLY cool and REALLY casual! Where's my fig leaf?
Good thing he's got the hat on!!!

Whether it's water skiing with cousins....

...cutting up the court....

....or swinging the clubs...

....he attacks the sport at hand with precision and power.....

...and usually a little finesse.....

And when he's done.....

....he's done....really really done....

He's private....he's wondering if my camera has a super mike on it and I've been able to hear what they were saying... looking at their faces, I really wish I DID know what they were saying!...

...and he is a great spiritual leader to his siblings and others....which has nothing whatsoever to do with this picture...but I just wanted to get that in there.

Andrew, you are loved. Don't you forget it! Ever!

Mom

Zach Gets Personal

Last week I had all of my blog posts from 2008 printed out into a book, kind of like a photo album, although the pictures weren't very good quality, so that we would have a record in hand of all the happenings that I had had time to write about. Which, make no mistake, are not ALL of the dramas that go on around here...just a little sampling. Anyway, as you can probably guess, it was quite apparent that Lily and Timmy are WAY overrepresented in this forum. There were some complaints about this...namely from one Zachary Todd Lindquist. And I do share his wish that blogging had existed when he was little, because wouldn't that be fun? (So go to it all you young parents!)

I explained that there were TWO factors playing into the rarity of blog posts about him:

1. He isn't a ham and, unlike OTHERS in the family, is generally unwilling to allow himself to be photographed in dorky or embarrassing situations.

2. He and Andrew have given me strict instructions upon pain of deletion (of my blog not me) NOT to write anything remotely personal...

...which raises the question of what "remotely personal" really means....

So in order to get a better family balance, I am dedicating this post to Zachary. (Andrew's turn comes next.)
In this post, you will find nothing personal.
Nothing.
Maybe.


We will now begin with the story of Zach's labor, delivery and circumcision!!!
JUST KIDDING! Just kidding Zach...just kidding...
Here we go.:

This is Zach.

He's kind of a jock. He does most things well, but he's especially good at athletic things....except gymnastics....but we'll save that story for another day...a day when we can be personal.



He is big and jumps high. I personally (this is ME being personal) would be scared to be on defense when he is coming down the court with the ball. Sometimes I get scared just sitting in the stands....like when he makes that one face....whoops better stop there......


Zach works hard and is quite strong.
(How am I doing? Good so far?...)


This is Zach's idea of the perfect moment....flying through the air about to land on Timmy.
Zach is often seen in pictures in a state of action. He rarely poses. As I mentioned, he is not a ham like...



...Timmy. Now Timmy is a poser. He's great at it.

BUT....but but but.....ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, Zachary will get in a posing sort of mood....
and then....



.....there's no stopping him..... (especially when cute girls are around)



He'll pose.......



and pose..... (nice marshmallow)



...and pose..... AND EVEN......




DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS!
There must have been something in the marshmallows that night. Can there be "something" in marshmallows? Because it looks like everybody had some.



But most of the time, our Zachary is like this:

....steady, helpful and strong and caring. And that's the way God made him.

Love you Zach!
And that's personal!
Mom

In Case You Thought We Were Normal...

"Feelin' Orange"


"80's Day at School" This I can do. I can do 80's.

"My Lil' Sweetie"

A Hot Day

In defiance of THIS...

In blatant disacknowledgement of THIS...

In outright protest of doing THIS on October 12 (today).....

I am posting a story that happened just a LITTLE OVER A MONTH AGO!

It was a hot day.

It was a beautifully hot day.

It was a beautifully hot day to sit outside and watch football!

Go Wheaton!

The sun blazed! Feel the heat!

We were packed in the stands to cheer Wheaton on against Bethel. Have I mentioned that it was HOT?!

Only little white fluffy things in the sky...no shade...


Here was my view. Are you all aware that I'm claustrophobic? ...that I hate hot tight places? Like grounded airplanes in August? Like the back of the suburban on long trips in the winter? Like packed bleachers in the hot sun next to a fence? Just look at that little patch of shade. I did! ...over and over and over.....I fantasized about climbing over the fence and down to that sweet coolness...


When I got tired of looking at the patch of shade below me, I'd look at the clear blue sky above....and clutch the fence and wonder what I'd do if there was a fire.

It may not make sense, but it felt like a real possibility.


It certainly didn't make me feel any cooler to look at Lily!

Still Tim smiled. He really loves Wheaton. Looking at the two of them, I knew if she sat on my lap I would faint.

Then she did this! I think I did faint.

Wait! What's that! Could it be? Yes it was!.....the little white cloud turned into a little grey cloud. It saved me! This cloud honestly saved me from a panic attack and possible death from heat. It was from God.

It saved my poor nephew too...that and the pom pom on his head...

We lasted in the stands until halftime, and then....

I ran over about ten senior citizens to get down the stairs and to the shade. I was ruthless. It was the survival instinct. Wheaton survived too, winning the game in the last two seconds with a twenty yard pass into the endzone...and I was right down by the endzone to see it...because (of the shade) I love football.

Go Wheaton.

A Very Scary Fairytale

Halloween is just around the corner. It's a holiday I prefer to ignore. I ignore all the evil, creepy, occultish decorations. I ignore the world's fascination with all that is dark. You can't even find anything to watch on tv at this time of the year, because it's all ghoulish....and I've made a couple of vows in my life: one...never to set foot in the CVS on Century Avenue and E again, and the other is never ever ever let shows or music that glorify the dark side play in my house. I have theories about that. BUT, I'm about to make an exception with the following post. Although this true tale took place in our kitchen a couple of months ago, it seems that now is the perfect time to tell you this frightening story, but take heed, the following images may be disturbing. You might have bad dreams....

Once upon a time....


...there was a sweet little princess (you've met her before and before that) who put down her crown long enough to help her kind beautiful mother bake a cake for her handsome fun dad, who was about to have a birthday.


Alas! The cupboard was bare! There wasn't a single cake mix to be found in all the castle! There was an obnoxious number of half eaten bags of potato chips and at least seven boxes of half-eaten, stale cereal, and lots of old jello....but not a single box of cake mix with which to make a birthday cake.
Despair was about to descend.... but then the kind beautiful mother had a brilliant idea! There WAS a box of brownie mix! The little princess and the kind beautiful mother immediately set about baking the brownies in round cake pans just like they would a cake...but when they turned the brownie cake out.....



Disaster! It was a disaster of huge magnitude! Pieces of brownie were everywhere!

This is the horribly distorted, quivering mass that was supposed to be the cake!

"Eeeaaaaaaeeeeeeaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeekkk!"

Quickly the kind beautiful mother realized that time was of an essence. While the monster was still slightly warm she risked her dainty hands and mushed the whole thing together in a shape that was slightly reminiscent of a cake.

"I don't believe you did that! This can't possibly work! And now icing?" the little princess exclaimed!

Icing was indeed poured over the mass of chocolate goo. It ran in the cracks. It gooped down the sides!

But the brave little princess now realized that all would be well. Chocolate icing can cover a multitude of evils.

OK, not COVER exactly...but hey...this is a fairy tale...with a wave of the magic wand....

...and a few grimaces of disbelief.....

....the candles were set.....

....and the party guests appeared.....

...and all the people ate the nasty looking cake and a good time was had by all.

The End.

Moral of the story: The brownie cake is a great idea, but USE PARCHMENT PAPER!