The Minton Family.com

Lana has been completely fascinated with mermaids for the past couple of years.  She used to watch Aquamarine a lot and then became enthralled with a tv show called H2O.  On her Christmas list, she requested a mermaid tail that looks real!

The other night she found a video on YouTube that said if you put a sea shell in a glass of water, add a little sand, salt and a piece of your hair then you will turn into a mermaid! I thought I was going to be sick when she took a drink of her potion…LOL.

Needless to say, my baby girl is NOT a mermaid. She is however, a little disappointed.

We had a few friends over last night to celebrate New Years Eve 2011. Jonah didn’t quite make it to midnight but the other three did. Maybe he’ll hang on next year.

The girls had a buddy over and the trio were wild enough they could have gone on for a few more hours. Levi however was just about toast. To top things off, I don’t think the ball drop was any more exciting for him than it historically has been for me based on the photo below.

Jada Lana Gillian

Levi

Like that headline? It’s December 26, 2011, so the Christmas festivities (chaotic activities) are on a downward slope. One of the stocking stuffers the kids received was a bottle of Ski. It’s a citrus style drink similar to Sprite or Mellow Yellow that I’ve never understood the big deal about, but Jackie’s family goes nuts over it. In any case, our kids got them from Santa and given the bottle is shaped about like a beer bottle, I guess that was enough to convince Levi. Jackie was in the kitchen when Levi walked in carrying his bottle of Ski and asked “Mom, will you open my beer?”. We both cracked up. I don’t drink (never have) and Jackie drinks very rarely, so we’re not even entirely sure how he made the connection. The request was funny nonetheless.

As is typical, amongst the splattering of smaller gifts, the kids each got big gifts from Santa this year as well. The boys got Nintendo DSi’s and the girls scored iPod Touches. They had been asking for cell phones for months, but given their ages; 8 & 9, a monthly bill for calling and texting the one or two people they’d talk to didn’t seem like a good idea (to Santa as well it would seem).

The boys also got a race track that Jonah punished within a couple of hours, a few DSi games, a couple of XBox games, and several trucks, both remote control and not. They’ve bounced around from toy to toy, not spending a lot of time with any given one, but Levi has played the DSi quite a bit.

The girls however, seem to love their touches. Even though they’ve had access to Jackie’s old iPhone 3G which worked like a touch for over a year now. I set them up with their own Apple accounts so they could learn to manage money a little bit and so far…we all love it. They each got $15 iTunes gift cards, and quickly learned that even .99 apps have tax applied, which makes them cost a tad over a dollar. I pointed Jada toward a better photo app than the one that comes with the Touch and her first question was “Is it free?”. I said “No.”, and she said “Then I don’t want it!”. It’s funny to hear her change her tune when she has a finite amount of money to spend and knows the supply is no longer unlimited (Daddy’s money).

Madelyn (next door) also got a Touch for Christmas, so they’ve been texting and calling each other quite a bit. The girls spent the night at Madelyn’s house last night and Jill (Madelyn’s Mom) took them out to buy cases for the Touches this morning. They seem to really enjoy the Touch and everything they can do with it. I think given their own accounts to buy things with, they feel a little freedom..and they needed that.

Jackie got several vegan cookbooks and I got some photography stuff (Photoshop CS5, a photography book, lens cleaning pen, etc.) which seems to be my new love since needing the latest and greatest gaming gear is no longer a requirement given the slow-down in gaming (Unreal Tournament) time. Levi has been playing UT2004 on the computer though, which he seems to really like (and I of course love watching him play a game I enjoyed so much).

I got some really good pictures, both at Mom’s and at our house. So far…still lovin’ the new camera hobby. I’m not as good as I want to be yet, but I’m definitely getting better.

It’s that time again, well, ok, it’s a little after that time. School pictures have been available for awhile now, but basketball pictures haven’t been! Jonah and Levi just got their basketball pictures this morning, so those aren’t late at all! In any case, here are their ugly mugs, and if you want to see some half way decent pictures, don’t hesitate to look here.

Jada Fourth Grade 2011

Lana Third Grade 2011

Levi Kindergarten 2011

Jonah Preschool 2011

Jada Basketball 2011

Levi and Jonah Basketball 2011

Levi and Jonah Basketball Team 2011

Levi and Jonah Basketball Team Silly 2011

Jada Basketball Team 2011

Jada Basketball Team Silly 2011

Levi T-Ball 2011

Levi T-Ball Team 2011

Jackie was getting her hair done this evening and I had the kids. The boys had been to bed for awhile and it was time for the girls to hit the hay. After our nightly “flush and brush” routine, they laid in bed for a couple of minutes, then Jada got up (as she always does) to get some tissues. She got them and was piddling around when I told her she needed to get to bed. About that time, she burst into tears.

It took a few minutes to get the problem out of her because of the sobbing. When I finally got the full story, I thought it was funny. She however, wasn’t so amused. She was so upset because she was evidently mean on 11/11/11 11:11 when the other three had been playing and she had been mean (all day according to her story). She said her Mom told her she’d always remember this because she was being mean on a special day.

I tried getting her to laugh it off, and to understand that 11/11/11 was really 11/11/2011, meaning, it really wasn’t all 1′s, so it really wasn’t that special. I also explained to her that the real 11/11/11 was long…LONG ago since both the creation of the earth, and the big bang happened much sooner than 1/1/0001. She didn’t buy it. To her, 11/11/11 was a special day, and she had blown it. She said there wouldn’t be another one for 100 years. I said what about 12/12/12? She said that wasn’t the same, they weren’t all 1′s or 2′s.

Finally, I explained that this just wasn’t that important, and before long, she’d forget all about it. I said “You’ll remember days when you lose loved ones, or close friends. But being mean on 11/11/11? You’ll forget about that before too long.”. Both girls seemed interested in hearing more, so I told them more.

I spent the next 15 minutes or so talking about two close friends that had passed away, the last things that had happened, or they had said, and how I remember them. I also talked a little about my Dad and how his last night was. By the time I was done, poor Lana had tears running down her face. It was still a good talk, and I think they got something out of it. It was nice to see that they do have some compassion given how much they fight with one another.

I’ll check on her in a few minutes…we always do. Hopefully, she’ll be sound asleep thinking about what Santa will be bringing in a few weeks. I love those little babies (she’s 9), and I want to keep them under my watchful eyes for as long as I can…even if they’re mean on a special day.

We have GOT to start posting stories more often! So much goes on, so many cute things get said..if you don’t post quickly, you forget things!

So, what has happened lately? Well, Levi beat Lana in arm wrestling awhile back. That wasn’t expected for a couple more years, especially by Lana!

We walked into K-Mart the other day and the first words out of Jonah’s mouth were “I smell toys Dad.”. That kid is good.

Levi told me last night when I got ready to shave his head that he wanted hair like Ethan’s. Evidently, Ethan’s hair angles up at the front by using mousse. So, we ended up not shaving his head and put a little mousse in it instead. Jackie ended up calling someone to give him a haircut, because it still needs trimmed!

We’re going to go to Mimi (Pam) and Uncle Mike’s house to get family pictures done during the Thanksgiving holiday. Mike is doing some photography work on the side and the results are good!

I just got back from a work trip to Boston. I don’t travel for work much, but it’s looking like I may be starting. Not sure yet if that’s good or bad!

The house still isn’t on the market. We had it inspected, and that came out good. Now we just need to bite the bullet and get it listed I suppose.

I got a new DSLR camera recently; a Canon EOS 60D. Below are some of my favorite images so far.

Here’s another YouTube style tutorial from Lana. She keeps sneaking off with Jackie’s phone to create these things. She actually seems pretty confident doing them!

Jada, Lana & Levi started school yesterday!  I know I was more excited than they were.

I went in to wake them up and they…got up! The girls made their beds, got dressed and brushed their hair without me telling them to!!!  They were all perfect angels.

At 8 we walked over to the school for the Open House, donuts, and a little play time before school started.  I had the chance to talk to the teachers, which was really nice.

Levi didn’t get upset when I told him I was leaving and he had a smile on his face when I picked him up after school.  Jada was the only one with homework and she wasn’t really happy about it!

Levi is in Kindergarten and his teacher is Mrs. Hardy.  This is her last year of teaching as she will retire at the end of the year.

Lana is in 3rd grade and she has two teachers.  Mrs. Freer (Ms. Deidre) is her homeroom teacher, but she also spends half of her day with Mrs. Herring.

Jada is in 4th grade and her teacher is Mrs. Shuster.

After Jonah starts school in a few weeks, I will probably be volunteering at Jane Addams…unless I get a job!

Christmas was  a crazy time here!  Did you expect any less?  All of the kids got skates from Santa.  We haven’t been skating yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long.  Levi got his coveted “water building”, but the pots and pans work better for him.  The girls got Build-a-Bear dogs and a couple of games.  Jada really likes playing Yahtzee.  After we checked out our gifts and had our Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, we headed to Grammy’s.  We came home on my birthday and we all went out to dinner at O’Charley’s.  The kids went back to school last week, much to their dismay.

Lana started gymnastics again last week.  She really had a good time and is excited to go this week.  The other 3 have swim class at the same time.  Last week, the small pool heater was broken, so the boys didn’t have class.  Jada got to swim though and she was thrilled.  Jada and Levi start basketball next week.  Levi doesn’t really “get” that he will be doing it, but Jada keeps asking “When does basketball start?”.

Mom and I went to Columbia, MO to watch Gail’s team play Mizzou.  Texas lost, but Mom and I had a great time at the game and visiting with Gail.  We went to dinner with Sonny, Jan, Colleen, Glen, Devon & Sean afterwards.

While we were gone, Bill was on Daddy Duty.  He packed the kids up and headed to Marion for the weekend.  It sounds like the kids had fun shopping and playing with Aunt Tracey’s dogs.  I think Daddy had fun playing x-box games with Ben.  He said the kids were really good while they were gone, which is so nice to hear.

According to the weather report, we are supposed to get 3-5″ of snow tonight, so I bought the necessary ingredients for snow ice cream…so BRING ON THE SNOW!

After Daddy, Jonah, and Levi get hair cuts this morning, we’re going to go to the mall to see Santa Claus and tell him what we want. Hopefully it won’t be too crowded, Jonah isn’t a big fan of waiting in line for things. Patience isn’t really his thing.