What are YOU?

One time, in high school, I was hanging out with some of my "comrades" when I got asked a weird question.
One of my friends stared at me for several seconds, and then burst out, "What ARE you?"
I was puzzled.
"I mean, like are you Spanish or Arabian or something?"
I informed her that I am not Spanish or Arabian, but an eclectic mix of Italian, Lebanese, and a whole bunch of "white". I'm pretty sure my nose is Jewish, though I don't know where that came from.
My "vaguely ethnic" appearance has served me well in Utah, a place full of blondes. I was cast as an extra in the Church's upcoming New Testament series, because I apparently can pass for an Israelite. And last week, in Annie Get Your Gun, I got promoted from "ensemble" to "Indian" thanks to my long, dark brown hair. So much for blondes having more fun!
Sometimes, when I am alone and feel like laughing out loud, I say to myself, "What ARE you?" Guaranteed to crack me up.

Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean!

She is TOTALLY making that up. I wake up every morning with a feather duster in my hands. After praying for a safe and clean day, I rush in to the baby's room to change his diaper. Isn't it incredible that I am able to do that without ever waking him up. I then zip into the bathroom and noiselessly shave, shower and dress, ALL while scrubbing the tub, bleaching the floors and toilet and folding towels that I washed while vacuuming after the baby but before the bathroom. The trickiest part of my morning comes from cleaning the burner guards while I make oatmeal for everyone. I set out old newspapers under Sammy AND Kara's chairs before I head out the door because I just KNOW that they will be throwing the very healthy oatmeal (infused with wheat germ) on the floor. My lunch-time highlight is when I rush home to take out the garbage and clean the refrigerator shelves. My wife makes the best dinners. I love washing all the dishes after she is done. I just wash Sammy right along with them. Now, does this sound like someone who accidently drops shaving cream on his wife's (recently sterilized) toothbrush? I think not. Just to prove my cleanliness, here's my first commercial for your viewing pleasure. I took out the earring and grew some hair since the 50's. Ahhhh... I love the smell of a freshly cleaned inaccuracy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbiofcuTZBo

I am not making this up

I am 99% sure I brushed my teeth with shaving cream this morning.

I grabbed my toothbrush, wet the bristles, and stuck it in my mouth without looking at it. All of a sudden my mouth was filled with white foam and I started violently gagging. It took several rinses and many Dove chocolate eggs to get the taste out of my mouth. And yes, the toothbrush went in the trash can.

Ryan apparently made more of a mess than he normally does when he shaved this morning.

*shudder*

Guest Post

I asked my friend Andrew to write a guest post for my blog back in November, promising him I'd write for his blog in return. He has finally collected! Read my thoughts on geocaching on Andrew's blog here. If you don't know what geocaching is, check it out: www.geocaching.com

We're closing in on one hundred posts here at thereynoldstribe. What should I do to celebrate?

Entourage!

So, I don't know if you've heard, but lately my champion sleeper of a son has gone on sleep strike. He wakes up 5 or 6 times in the middle of the night, sometimes refusing to go back to sleep.

Obviously, this is starting to wear on me and Ryan. It's like going back to 6-month-old Sammy, and he's almost 2 years old. We've tried to be creative in finding ways to convince him to go back to sleep in his own bed. (As opposed to the pack and play. He is NOT allowed to sleep in our bed.)

Sam's into stuffed animals now. One of the ways I like to get him to lay down and stay down is to snuggle him up with his stuffed animal ENTOURAGE.

Members of the crew:

Snugaphant

Leader of the gang and Sammy's best friend. Only animal whose name Sammy can say (though it sounds like "snuk!")

Sock Monkey

Likes to dance. His theme song: "Sock monkey/The funky monkey" (sung to the tune of Brass Monkey, because Mommy liked the Beastie Boys in high school)

Blue Sock Monkey

Sock Monkey's funky, chunky cousin. He gives Sammy hugs with his velcro paws.

Pooh Bear

Nice and soft. Sammy's oldest friend on the crew.

Ringo Dingo

Actually a zebra. Head is twisted at an odd angle that gives Mommy the creeps. Sammy loves it.

The Crew

When I was a little kid, I used to be terrified that snakes would get in our house, slither up the stairs to my room, and jump into my bed. This was horrifying. (Wouldn't it be?) I got great satisfaction from positioning my "Jake bear" and a pillow shaped like Simba from The Lion King at the end of my bed to guard from serpentine intruders. I don't know whose idea that was, mine or my mom's. All I know is that it worked. So if Sam needs an entourage of stuffed animals to accompany him to bed...

... who am I to refuse?

If you give a Sam a cookie...

Lately I've been trying to come up with new ways of entertaining Sam. There are only so many hours a toddler can spend playing in his room. One of our (my) favorite things to do together is bake. So far we've made banana bread and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I took some pictures of our pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for your viewing pleasure:

All the ingredients out on the table. The cereal is only out because I didn't put it away after breakfast.

Sam's favorite part of baking: eating the flour. I don't understand it, but trust me: don't get between the boy and a bowl of flour.

He is quite good at stirring. Just don't leave him unsupervised...

Waiting for cookies to go in the oven.

Sometimes, when Sam is afraid to try a new food he will pretend it is "hot". This is what he does to show us that his food is too hot. He also says "HA" and shakes to illustrate the point.

Once I convinced him that his cookie was not "HA", he enjoyed it. Check out little chocolate mouth!!

Updates

Okay, so, in the whirlwind move I have neglected the blogosphere. I can hear you all crying, and let me tell you, I feel your pain.

What have we been up to?

I finished my NaNoWriMo novel. As in, finished, completed, entire story done. I even submitted it to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. I'll know by February 24th if I made it past the first cut, which was judged solely on a 300 word "pitch" of the novel. Also, I turned 24!

Ryan keeps working hard at becoming a seminary teacher. He had an important evaluation yesterday, and I am proud to say that he passed with flying colors! For Valentines' Day we took each other out to this burger place Ryan's been dying to try. It's called Guzzi's and it is AMAZING. If you make it to SLC, you absolutely must eat there.

Sammy is doing much better at playing with other kids. I still take him to playgroup at our old church so I can see my friends. He only clings to me for about a minute before running off to play with the other kids. He is getting sooo big!

We took Sam to the zoo a few weeks ago. It was pretty cold, so we just went to the kiddie part of the zoo. They have a playground. We tried to put Sam in an egg on the playground for a cute picture. He was pretty mad about it.

For a quarter, you can get some bird food to feed the ducks and geese. Sam loved throwing food to (at) the birds.

At the zoo here they let turkeys and peacocks run around free. Which means they're practically begging for kids to run after the birds...

A good time was had by all (except the peacock).