Super Heroes

Underfoot Says: Thank you for my birthday party. I had Sister Kartchner cutting my hair. She likes to cut my  hair and I like to get my lollipop. I came home. I got a book about the Zoo at the library bus. I watched Star  Wars (Episode IV) too. The robots are my favorite. Those ones are in Star Wars. The big one has teeth but  his mouth can’t move. He went on a rocket ship and fly away from the bad pirates. A woman was with them.

Dad Says: The big event this week was Underfoot’ birthday party. Mama and I have adopted the ‘Birthday  Party every 4 years’ policy. On Saturday we had about 30 children and 15 parents and siblings for a two  hour Super Hero training session. We did a watermelon eating contest, cupcake decorating, an obstacle course, a balloon popping event, and a pinata. It was a lot of fun. Mama worked really hard to make it a wonderful event.

Saturday morning was also our semi-annual community yard sale. Mama went to train someone to be a  baskets coordinator. I took the boys on a treasure hunt. We got an outdoor table (with 6 chairs), a 3 person  swing with a sun shade, a booster seat for K2 that will stay in the Scout, and a bunch of clothes for  Underfoot. Mama also picked up a full sized rocking chair that matches the one we got for Underfoot while living in Pennsylvania.

Midway through the week we treated the boys to a movie- STAR WARS. We watched Episode IV  together. Underfoot and K2 both fell asleep midway through (it was in the evening, right around bed time.)  Underfoot talks about Star Wars and how he wants to watch the other two episodes.

Mama has been dealing with some new challenges in her role as Tucson Coordinator for baskets. She has to  ensure that all the distribution sites in Tucson are running smoothly. She does a good job handling the quirks of  the various site coordinators. Bountiful Baskets has given her an outlet where she can contribute to the  community, contribute to the well being of our family, and interact with adults about a subject other than  children. I see it as a great thing for her, our family, and our community.

Mama Says: K2 has learned quite well how to say thank you. He has not grasped the concept of please. He  will say thank you to ask for anything when prompted. Also K2 likes to store food in his left cheek. He  never stores it in the right cheek. We will ask him to spit out whatever he has been storing in his cheek at  various times of the day. Tonight we learned that if we squeeze his cheeks it forces him to eat what he has  stored. Some time he spits candy with the wrapper still attached or half masticated. Sometimes it is bread. I  don’t know where he finds the bread or the candy at our house. Candy is eaten around here at light speed. So if you ever want us to store your candy, we will enjoy it thoroughly but will probably only return wrappers.

I spoke with my Grandpa Hoggan this week. He told me about Hilda Augusta Amelia Carlson Hoggan. She  was born in Norrkoping, Sweden and moved to the United States. She married James Morn Hoggan, and  they had 6 children. My great-Grandpa Frank was one of her sons. As I talked with my Grandpa we talked  about his Uncles and their various occupations. One story he told was that his Uncle Dutch sold chickens to  the first Kentucky Fried Chicken when Colonel Sanders started. Another interesting story is when Grandpa  Frank bought his first house, he sold all the chickens that were in the backyard for the down payment on the  home. The cost of the home was $6,000. One more thing is that my Grandpa wanted written in our family  history that he gave blood this past week for a cookie and some apple juice. He really is a very positive man,  and I truly enjoyed our conversation.

On Monday there was a car accident on the main road where we live. The motorist hit a telephone pole and  broke the pole into 3 sections. This knocked out our telephone and internet. The whole community was  without for about 18 hours. I forgot how much of a convenience the internet and the telephone are. Even  though I had a cell phone, it frustrated me to not have immediate access and caused me to think of how much  of my time is spent into quick information. Information use has come so quickly and easily. I wonder at times if  I also base a lot of my self importance to how many emails I get a day. The event made me realize I need to make some changes.