Crazy Little Piggies

By some freak of nature, Sophie's toes don't match. Her left foot is like Todd's, second and third toe equally long, and her right foot is like mine, second toe longer than third. Weird, huh? Try to figure THAT out with a Punnett square!

Boogie Bear

We went to the zoo the other day for a field trip and we were diggin' this polar bear's sweet moves. It's not exactly breakdancing, but not bad for a white bear :) So turn on your speakers and get your groove on:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

We used this for our Bevans family skit at camping this weekend (the first four were found in the Reader's Digest, the rest were masterminded by the warped minds of our camping crew, or overheard somewhere at some time). Anyway, we wondered what other answers people might be able to come up with. Here's what we have so far:

Sir Isaac Newton: Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest. Chickens in motion tend to cross the road

Karl Marx: To seize the means of production and escape the alienation of the proletariat

Ernest Hemingway: To die. In the rain.

Groucho Marx: Chicken? I had an uncle who thought he was a chicken. My aunt would've divorced him but she needed the eggs.

Chicken's Mother: Because I said so!

Yoda: To the other side to get, he wanted

Agnostic: Who says the chicken even exists? Or the road? Prove it.

Gonzo: Which way did they go!!!

Democrat: The real question is, did he pay his road-crossing tax? Is he illegal? Grant him amnesty and tax his feathers off!

Rush Limbaugh: I blame the liberals. And the ACLU. And the Clintons. Before they came along, there was no "crossing the road"

Bill Clinton: I did NOT have crossing relations with that chicken! Wait - define "cross"...

JFK: Ask not what the chicken can do for you, but what you can do for the chicken!

George Bush Sr.: Read my lips: "No new chickens!"

Barry Bonds: The chicken did not knowingly crossing the road.

Michael Jackson: Because I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it...

Betty Friedan: Because she felt enslaved by the rooster's oppression, and longed to answer the silent question burning in her chicken breast, "Is this all?"

Dr. Laura: Undoubtedly, she listened to Betty Friedan, decided she was unfulfilled, and hasn't read my new book, "10 Stupid Things Chickens Do To Mess Up Their Lives"

And a few other favorites found on the internet...

Hamlet: That is not the question.

Mr. T: If you saw me coming, you'd cross the road too!

Howard Cosell: It may very well have been one of the most astonishing events to grace the annals of history. An historic, unprecedented avian biped with the temerity to attempt such an herculean achievement formerly relegated to homo sapien pedestrians is truly a remarkable occurence.

Children's Books That Make You Go, "Hmmmm..."

As a disclaimer, let me say right off, that I LOVE a good children's book. I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur of good children's literature. Trying to do a post on my favorites would be too arduous a task, so I won't even try. If done well, a good book can have such a power to teach and inspire. But every now and again, I find a book that strikes an odd chord with my more logical self, makes me slightly uncomfortable, and causes me to wonder whether the author didn't quite think the story all the way through.

For instance, everyone knows and loves the book "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. Such a sweet story of the love between a mother and a child. But don't try and tell me you haven't thought the same thing at the same part as me.

It's truly creepy for the mom to be sneaking into her adult son's bedroom at night to rock and sing to him in his sleep. Now, in the author's defense, he's presumably single at the time (or else he got kicked out of the master bedroom and has to sleep in the spare -probably for letting his mother butt into their personal lives too much), because that would cross so many mother-in-law lines, it's not even funny. I can honestly say that I am at least 94% certain that although Todd's mom loves him devotedly, she has never succumbed to the temptation to drive 60 miles north to rock him in his sleep. (I'd love to hear that call to Dr. Laura...) This part of the story just begs the reaction, "Cut the umbilical cord already!!"

(The lingering 6% wonders....)

A book I had to read dozens of times a day to Sophie when she was about 2 years old was "Who Are You Sue Snue?" by Tish Rabe (they try to make it look like it's by Dr. Seuss, but it's NOT). It's all about a young girl discovering her potential to be anything she wants to be when she grows up. It's all fine and good until she declares at the end that she'll do whatever she wants and no mother or pop can tell her 'Please stop!' Now, c'mon, am I supposed to imbue that rebellious spirit into my own child's consciousness?

This last book is from a series that I loved as a child, and my kids love too - the Mr. Men and Little Miss books by Roger Hargreaves. Meet Mr. Messy. He is extraordinarily sloppy in every aspect of his life until he meets two indubitably gay men, Mr. Neat and Mr. Tidy. Ignoring Mr. Messy's protests, they take it upon themselves to whip his house into shape, totally disregarding his privacy, and even going so far as to bathe him (AAAAHHHHH!) I can't read it to my kids without feeling like I should note how that really wouldn't be the right thing to do no matter how messy he was.

(even if they are all jolly and chummy at the end)

And the Answer is...

To the 3rd grade trivia question - the answer is La Nina. Tricky, huh?

Look at What I got in the Mail Today!!

Todd sent off an autograph request for me to David Archuleta :) It just came in the mail today - I was totally surprised! I wonder if I can get one of David Cook too - I'm such an Idol junkie. I'm anxious to see which one of them is going to win (I'm already assuming they'll be the top two, we'll see Wednesday if I'm right). Either way, I'd be happy - I think they're both fabulous.

He's received quite a few other autographs since I last updated. I'll post them when I get a minute.

Are You Smarter Than a 3rd Grader?

Our school has a competition every year for the 3rd and 4th graders called "Battle of the Books." This year, Sophie's team was the 3rd grade champions (yay!!!). They read a selection of 10 or so books, from which questions are taken by the 3rd and 4th grade teachers. In a tournament style competition, the teams (3 children per) answer the trivia questions to determine the winner. Today was the battle between the top 3rd grade team, the Wildcats, and the top 4th grade team, Rabid Reading Rabbits. When the 4th grade team entered in matching t-shirts with their team name embroidered on the front, and bunny tails on the back, wearing bunny ear headbands, I thought to myself, "Man, these boys are dead serious." Todd thought, "What a bunch of geeks."

It looked promising in the beginning with the Wildcats keeping pace with the Rabbits. Then the Rabbits biffed a question, and the Wildcats were ahead. We were hopeful until the Wildcats got a question they answered incorrectly, and the Rabbits stole it from them for a bonus 3 points.

So, to salve Sophie's wounded pride, I thought I'd pose the deciding question to see how many of you would've known the answer, without looking it up. (Comments are encouraged!):

A large body of cold surface water in the Pacific Ocean that can cause severe weather fluctuations and damage is called _______________.