Out of the mouths of babes...

Well, one babe in particular.

Sometimes grownups forget that kids are around, especially if they're not sitting right in front of them. Kids, on the other hand, are always listening, even if we think they aren't.

Max was in the car with his Aunt Becky & Uncle Bill & Ian a couple weeks ago. Bill was telling a story that happened to have the work f***er in it & forgot to censor himself. Oops! All the adults look at Max, who seems to be oblivious, so they continue on their way after a reminder about appropriate language from Becky. As they pull up to their destination & Uncle Scott comes out to greet them, Max leaps from the car & runs up to Uncle Scott yelling, Hi F***er!
Guess he was listening.

On Tuesday, Ian, Max, Rob, Becky & I were having dinner with Ian's dad at his house. It was the usual banter around the table when Max took advantage of a lull to put in his two cents. As the adults grow quiet, some of us to put more food in our mouths, Max pipes up with "Uncle Robbie, you're a jerk!" He had the biggest smile on his face so you could tell that he had no idea what the word meant. He must have thought he was giving Rob a compliment. He soon figured out that it was not a good word when he looked around the table & saw our faces & heard all three of his names from Ian & I in stereo. His little face just crumpled, poor kid! He & Ian had a conversation about why you shouldn't use words if you don't know what they mean. I can't wait to see what word he comes home with next.

Today, I promised that if he was good during our shopping expedition, we would go to lunch & actually eat at the restaurant instead of getting it to go. He made good on his promise & was even really chatty with the stylist as he was getting his hair cut. That should have been my first clue that something interesting would happen at lunch. When we got to his chosen fast food joint, our first stop was the potty, where he proceeded to chat with the woman in the stall next to us. Luckily she thought he was hilarious. We proceeded to get our food & sit down without incident. As we were calmly eating our lunch, two guys from a local carpet cleaning place sat down at a table next to us. Max kept eating & dancing in his seat while surreptitiously looking over at them. Suddenly, in his not so quiet 4 year old voice, he asked, "Who are those guys? What are they talking about? ARE THEY ON A DATE?" As half the restaurant turns to look at Max & the guys in question, I vacillated between sinking into the floor & laughing hysterically. Luckily one of the poor guys had a sense of humor & replied "No, are you on a date?", with a smile that said he had a niece or nephew that age. To bad the other one didn't quite see the humor in the situation.

Mom

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that Sunday, January 11th, my mom, Norma Farrar Good, passed away.

After a three year battle with cancer, God has called her home.

Her most recent battle was a stay in the hospital that lasted over 90 days. After winning that battle, she was able to come home the Monday before Christmas and was able to have her entire family (kids, their spouses, and all of her grand kids) surround her with their love as we celebrated the holiday.


At the begining of the January, my mom and dad went for a doctors visit where they were informed that the cancer has been winning and that they should start to think about Quality of life vs. Quantity of life, so with many tears and prayers, they decided to call in Hospice on Monday, January 5th.

After that, the Norma spirit that we all know her for was back, and her demeanor was much happier and engaging. Then Sunday morning, God decided it was time for no more pain and suffering and that he wanted her with him, so he called her home to be with him.


Although she left us without her physical presence, her love, and spirit will forever inhabit this world with all the grace and love that she spread to those she was around.

Peace be with you all,

Ian C. Good

Funny!

While you guys are waiting for the Christmas post here's a funny Max story to tide you over.

Max has decided that his favorite Christmas song is Driedle, Driedle, Driedle. Yes, I know, not a Christmas song but its on the Barenaked Ladies holiday cd so it must be suitable for either holiday. That is a 4 year old's logic anyway. He sings it constantly, sometimes changing the words to fit whatever he's doing at the time. For instance, a couple days ago, he was playing with his tools so he was singing, "Hammer, Hammer, Hammer, I made it out of clay..." Over & over & over. Finally, I asked him to sing something (anything) else for a little while. He looked me straight in the eyes & proceeded to sing Driedle, Driedle, Driedle, I made it out of clay... Ian laughed; I had to leave the room.

Christmas post

Ian w/ Santa in a kilt

We had a ton of things going on this Christmas! Ian's nonprofit Scots for Tots had an event called Christmas in the Kitchen with Mitzi MacDonald & her band Keltic Reign. They had a packed house & managed to get 6 huge boxes of toys for the MO Baptist Children's Home.

Look at the size of those boxes!

At the children's home

Then it was time for Christmas at our house. Max was thrilled the Santa brought him Wall*E! The movie, PJs & a bath towel! How cool!

After opening everything under the tree, Ian went down to the basement & discovered one last present that Santa had set up. Max was absolutely amazed by his new train set & spent at least the next 45 minutes playing with it.

Joy upon discovery (please ignore the whale in the background)

happily ignoring the call of pancakes

Later that day it was off to Mimi & Grandpa's for more Christmas celebrations & a yummy feast! Prime rib & yorkshire pudding! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Wait a minute! I'm always hungry!

Mimi w/ 3 of the kids (Becky came the next day!)

You asked for it!

I must admit, even though I said I'd be better this time, I have been bad about taking belly pics. But since a few of you have prodded me, here are a couple. Isn't it weird how you never think you're as big as you are til you see a picture of your self?

Holy Cow! Look at that belly!

By the way, I hate Liz Lange (Target) maternity jeans! I feel like they fall down constantly!

48 Days

That's how many days left until my due date! Amazing, huh? Some days I have trouble believing that Cashew is actually coming at all, that this is just a dream & I'm going to wake at any moment. Then I feel a swift kick or a punch & know my kid is already practicing kick-boxing. S/He is going to give big brother a run for his money. I can't wait!

I have a 10+ page paper due in...

6 days! Why, oh why do I feel the need to get on the blog? Its a compulsion, really it is. Ian says I have OCD. With all the other weird habits I have, I think he may be right!