Flat Chicken

Overheard in the kitchen tonight...

Sam: mom, whats for dinner?
Cathy: flat chicken.
Sam: where did it come from?
Cathy: from here. i'm making it now.
Sam: no, i mean what part of the chicken did it come from?
Cathy: huh?
Sam: i mean, which part of the chicken is the flat part?
Cathy: there isn't a flat part, sweetie. i flatten it.
Sam: good. because i think a flat chicken wouldn't taste very good.



PS--This picture is not "our" flat chicken...

Funny things I hear when on the phone with my wife...

When on the phone with Cathy, I often "overhear" things that she is saying to the kids during our separate conversation. Today, Cat and the kids were at PetSmart during one of our conversations. In mid-sentence with me, she broke off and said, "Settle down, honey, that tower is really built for cats, not humans." Sfuni.

It doesn't take too much imagination to picture Will on the top of this cat tree!

Yeah, he's pretty much got it right.

So earlier today, Will was asking Cat questions about pregnancy. One exchange went something like this:

W: So, why is the bump in the lady's tummy?

C: What do you mean?

W: Why is the baby up there if it comes out...you know. (And he gestures in the vague direction of the Southern Hemisphere.)

C: (Playing him like a mackerel) What do you mean, down there?

W: You know, the baby comes out the sweet spot!

Oh lord. You'd think he'd already seen the 4th grade sex ed film.

[But I do have to note, when this little exchange was repeated for me, we did determine that he said "the weak spot" rather than "the sweet spot." In any event, still priceless.]

Thanks

On Thanksgiving morning, I ran in my first Turkey Trot. Eight miles--farther than I'd ever run at one time before. I was lucky to start the very chilly run with a fun group: David, Allison and Angela.

I found myself alone by mile 5, which was a very tough mile. However, right after the turnaround point headed to the marker for mile 6, I saw a wonderful sight: my family, cheering me on. I was greeted with very loud cheers and awesome homemade signs.

This was the front of Will's sign: "You can Doo it Dad."

Luckily, at that point in the run, I just needed to pee.

This was the back of Will's sign.

Made me feel a little like Forrest Gump!

This was Jack's sign.

"Go Ames" -- I think he knew I couldn't chase him down at that point in the race!

All of the kids were very concerned before the race about whether or not I would win--they were sweetly convinced that I would win--at the end I think that we all were just glad that I finished in one piece!

And this was Annie's sign. Very creative!

Sam's sign contained secret messages that only he and I can decode.

All of this said, I was reminded on Thanksgiving, as I rounded the turn and saw my family waiting for me on the race route, cheering and waving their signs, how thankful I am to have such a wonderful family that supports me and loves me. I am truly blessed by my family and I appreciate all that they do to lift me up and love me! Happy Thanksgiving indeed!

Galveston remote blogging: night 1 and day 2

Oy vey. Looking back at what I posted yesterday evening, in light of last night's events, I feel bad for ever suggesting that my eldest child and most precious daughter may have been left by the road yesterday. Long story short, dear Annie was riding her scooter and fell, breaking her right arm. (A new one for us as she's broken her left arm twice, but not her right. Hi, Dr. Sackett!) So that entailed a LONG trip back into Galveston for Cathy and Annie last night to get a dubiously applied splint, which is covered by the plastic bag you see here:


In any event, it sounds like everyone is making the best of the day, and I've seen some evidence of that...

...like Jack prowling in the shallows...


...and Will building a sand castle empire...


...and Sam asking, "Where's da beach?"


It looks like Mary Shannon and Annie are having a good time at the beach!


And this alleviates my concerns from last night and confirms that Will Tompson is still being taken care of well!

Here are all six of the big kids out in the water:

I'm headed down tomorrow! Yippee!

Remote Semi-Live Blogging from Galveston

Well, bright and early this morning I waved goodbye to Cat and the kids as they headed south to Galveston. The trusty family wagon including a borrowed roof top cargo carrier (thanks, Karl!) was filled with beach toys, scooters, fishing poles, swimsuits, and food for our family and the Tompsons of Houston for the next five days.

(Quick aside: as I was helping Cat pack last night, I commented that I didn't think that the 3 bottles of wine she was taking would be enough for 5 days at the beach. Her response? "Valerie is bringing 4 more, and you boys are on your own to get beer." So I think they'll be well provisioned [I typed and then quickly deleted "lubricated" because I know the type of person that reads this blog] in that respect this week.)

Anyhoo, Cat has been kind enough to update me with periodic notes and pics from the trip. They've made it safely to the house, which sounds great, and I can't wait to join them. In any event, here's the day as I've experienced it vicariously via text and e-mail:

11:15 am -- I assist in the search for a Redbox in The Woodlands in which to return a movie, as well as a McDonalds for lunch. (There's one at Exit 69 in Spring off I-45, by the way.) Thank you, Google.

1:08 pm -- "Leaving houston headed to big g." The renovations to the Tompson house are reputed to be "Awesome."

2:17 pm -- "On island not to house yet. Passed place we stayed [Spring Break 2008 with Barbara]. Still there."

2:55 pm -- "The bridge in the background is the beach. Pretty awesome."


You can barely see Sam in the lower right corner of the picture sprinting toward some unknown thrill/dangerous condition. Looks like fun.

3:17 pm -- "View from our upper balcony."


I sure hope Will Tompson survives this trip.

3:22 pm -- "I forgot the pkg of steak seasoning. It is in the spice cab. Please bring it for grill nite."

[Yes, I am happy to make a 280 mile trip to deliver spices. Try me.]

[At this point, Cat ignores my very pertinent question of whether they have had their first bottle of wine yet.]

4:49 pm -- "In the 1st 5 minutes Rach got a crab and Jack found a shark skull. Nice."


Curiously, I have not seen any pictures of my eldest child in Galveston. I'm wondering if she's currently locked in the roof top cargo carrier or if she made the entire tri? There may be a band of Gypsies out somewhere on I-45 with a new daughter/scullery maid/laundry wench. Good luck to them.

Now (roughly 6:00 pm) they were headed to the resort for the swimming pool and some dinner. Sounds like they are having a blast! Can't wait to get down there and join them!

Hutton Dialogues, Part Two

highs and lows.....

sammy: my high is that i got to sing in my christmas program and my low is that i wanted the toy that preston had at school.

jack: i have no lows, only 3 highs. first, my high is right now. my 2nd high is that i have no homework all week. and my last high is....i don't remember anymore.

will: mine are just the same as jack's

jack: yours can't be the same. you don't have any homework.

will: i know. i'm happy that you don't and i can't remember the other one either.

the end

(Ed. note: We do "highs and lows" at dinner every night so that the family can share the favorite and least favorite parts of our days. Cathy was particularly tickled by this one.)

Hutton Dialogues, Part One

jack: mom i have a joke for you

mom: ok

jack: why do fish not like to play tennis?

mom: why?

jack: because they get caught in the net. doyagetit. ido. (said all together..very quickly)

mom (laughing): yea, i get it. good one.

sammy: mom, i have a joke for you

mom: you do? what is it?

sammy: why do fish not like ennis?

mom: why?

sammy: cause they are caught in the nets. do ya get it?

mom: yea, i get it. do you get it?

sammy: no.......(long pause) not really. what's a ennis?

the end

Lucky 21

Twenty-one years ago tonight, I had my first ever date with the love of my life--my wife, Cathy. We were sophmores in high school, we went to see Cinderella (I was so romantic then) and then went to a Christmas party. I was lucky then and remain lucky now to have such a wonderful, loving, blind-to-my-many-faults, patient, beautiful woman be a part of my life and the mother of our children. While it may say something about her judge of character that she accepted my plea to go on that first date, I am glad that she said yes then...and again 7 years later to marry me...and that she's still with me tonight.

Cat--I love you now and always will.

Appreciation

A friend recently gave us a pomegranate, and the kids were asking us about it at the dinner table. Cathy gave a very descriptive, informative answer and at the end, sweet Jack said "Mommy, I didn't ask that question, but I sure liked your answer!"

Halloween!

We had a very fun Halloween. Each of the kids picked out their own costumes. The two Littles had a superhero theme going with Superman and Ironman:


As you can see, by the time the Bigs got into the act, Superman had a little too much kryptonite... Thanks to the Hungarian whip that Tita brought back from her semester abroad a long time ago, Jack had Indiana Jones down pat. He even put his candy in his satchel! And Annie was a very beautiful and popular Cleopatra. Even Cathy got into the act!


The kids told me that since I looked scary every day of the year, I didn't need a costume for Halloween. I tend to agree...

Introductions.

With the beginning of the blog, it probably makes sense to introduce the primary cast of characters as well as those making frequent appearances...

THE HUTTONS: Ames thinks he's the head of the house but everyone knows that Cathy's the boss. She's fond of telling everyone that she has 5 kids. Annie, the oldest, has been warped by her parents' love of 80s music and knows the soundtrack to Mamma Mia by heart. Jack, the oldest boy, wants to be either Jeff Corwin or Indiana Jones when he grows up. (Together, Annie and Jack are "the Bigs.") Will, our blond bomber, is the middle boy, and he's known for full contact hugs and preschool politics. Sam, the youngest (Hi Dr. Cochran!), is anything but the baby, and he loves the movie Cars. (Will and Sam make up "the Littles." But don't tell them they're little.)

THE GRANDPARENTS: Grammy, Mimi and Big Mike are a big part of our lives. Until they tell us otherwise, their true identities will be kept secret.

THE GRAHAMS: What could we do without the Grahams? Kyle and Sarah are our neighbors, our friends, our role models...and they have four great kids who we love to have as a part of our lives! You can follow their equally crazy life at http://grahamhalfdozen.blogspot.com/.

THE AUNTS AND UNCLES: Aunt Tita and Uncle Andy live too far away in Indiana, and Uncle Jason lives too far away near Denton. In addition to our biological kin, we have a host of other aunts and uncles who are near and dear to us all. Embarassing pictures of all to follow.

Inspired.

Finally, it's time for the Huttons to jump into the Internet age! Inspired by our good friends the Grahams (Hi Kyle, Sarah, Mason, Garrett, Reed and Wagner!), we've decided to set up a blog to share our experiences and stories about living with four very smart and determined children!

Cathy has been writing down her adventures with the kids off and on for years. Given the fast pace of this house, her writing is more stream of consciousness and funny, matter of fact vignettes of daily life in this very crazy home. Ames cannot let go of grammar, spelling and punctuation (thanks for that, law skool) and tends to write in more epic form. Together, we make an anal retentive Homer (not Simpson, but his influences are there) meets James Joyce (?).

Since Ames had a critically acclaimed travel writing series that was well received by a very friendly audience this past summer, some of those travelogues will be posted and back dated in the near future. We'll try--but don't promise--to make you laugh, make you cringe, and keep you entertained with the stories of our life.

Enjoy!

Asheville trip: Night #1 in Memphis

(Ed. note: this series is what really started me thinking about writing a blog. I wrote a series of updates for friends and family about the Hutton family's driving trip to Asheville in July 2008. I'm posting them and back dating them to the original dates and times I sent the e-mails, so these posts will predate the actual beginning of the blog.)

Well, since Cat wouldn't let me live blog our drive to and from Asheville this summer, I thought I'd let y'all know a few highlights of the trip so far. By the way, it's 10 pm on Saturday night, 7/12/08, and we're safe and sound in Memphis at the La Quinta. There are 5 (I think) sleepers already in the room, so I'm trying to stay quiet.

Today was hot. Not going to lie about that. The car (thanks, Barbara!) is riding great and the AC is nice and cool, but with all of the potty stops, gas fillups, leg stretchings and other assorted stops we have to make, and with my need to tinker with the roof-top luggage carrier each time we stop, I've started and stopped sweating approximately 73 times today. So I've got that going for me.

The drive was relatively uneventful. Nice but hot weather all day. We started around 9 am (maybe a few minutes earlier) and didn't have to make our first stop until Greenville. Yep, we went an entire 40 minutes without making our first stop. And guess what? We've trained the kiddos so well to pee or at least try whenever we stop that everyone had to get out of the car that time...and the next time...and the next... At least there weren't any accidents. That I know of, that is. One thing we discovered in Greenville was that our absent minded professor kid Jack FORGOT HIS SHOES AT HOME! Grrr. He was only reminded about 6 times this morning, but went and got in the car without them anyway. So anytime that he wanted to get out of the car, I gave him a piggyback or he had to borrow Annie's shoes.

We had a rest stop picnic lunch just east of Texarkana, then a rest stop/sweet treat at ChikFilA in southeast Little Rock. I ran to the nearby Walmart while the kids played in the CFA playland to get Jack some shoes. He almost got a $1 pair of pink flip flops to help him learn his lesson, but then I found a $2 pair of sandals and had mercy on him. From Little Rock, we headed east to Memphis--only 3 stops along the way, but one was at my request, so I can't be too upset about that--and we headed straight to Beale Street.

Fun, mini Bourbon Street like atmosphere there--we got there about 7 pm, walked a few blocks and then got a table at a good but overpriced burger joint called Dyers. They use the same grease that they've used since 1912 when it opened! Yum. The kids were running on fumes when we finished, so we piled back in the car, drove to the hotel, threw everything in the room and piled in bed (everyone but me, that is).

On the way to the hotel I asked everyone what their favorite part about the day was. Unedited, here are the answers: Sam--the fire we just saw on top of the building (it was venting from a manufacturing plant of some kind that we had literally seen about 5 minutes before), Will--the brown horse I saw this morning (at about 11 am, still in Texas), Jack--the fun day of driving and being nice to my family (which Will then said was his second favorite thing, a little hero worship going on there), and Annie--the Elvis statue we saw on Beale Street.

Tomorrow, we're going to do a driveby at Graceland and then head to Knoxville. A relatively easy day--well, easier than today--and hopefully a long swim at the hotel pool. I'll try to let y'all know about tomorrow, tomorrow night!