Lost

Bad things come in threes, or so I've heard.

8 days ago, Ella had a dance recital at one of the local malls.  She's been in a little neighborhood dance class for the past couple of months.  She has had such a good time.  Early indications are that she's going to be a little dancer.  They even did a bake sale to earn money for their costumes and earned down to the exact penny the amount they needed.

Her recital lasted a couple of minutes is all, and afterward, the parents were kind of hanging out just talking.  For some reason, both Ange and I believed that Ellie was with grandma (Ange's Mom).  That was not the case.  I looked over and saw grandma sans Ellie.  I spent the next 10 seconds looking for her... no dice.  I tried to get grandma's attention for the next 10 or so seconds... strike two.  I gave up, and tried to get Ange's attention. 

"Where's Ella?"

"With grandma."

"No, she isn't."

With that, real panic set in.  I did a quick circuit of the central court.  No Ella.  Ange had headed straight to the parking lot to see if she could catch a glimpse of a potential kidnapper.

By then, I had returned to the stage when I caught wind that someone had seen a child, "dressed like those other children" all the way down the mall.

I ran, heard Lincoln trying to catch up, waited for him, then ran with him to find Ella near the entrance to Macy's, some 300 yards from where we were.  I was so relieved.  So was Ange.  Ella didn't seem to care.

The next day, I caught wind that Matt was lost in Central Utah.  He details his experience in his latest post here.  My sister's point of view here.

Thanksgiving could have been a lot worse.  Luckily, we got to spend it with our Ella, and Matt. 

So the question is, what is the third bad thing that's going to happen?  We thought it might be that Ange lost about $80, but she found it, and it was only like $55.

I hope that third bad thing comes quickly, the suspense is killing me.

Because bad things come in threes.

Stats and Projections

We went to the doctor's office for Abby's 2 week checkup, and Ellie's 3 year checkup.  I thought I should post their stats, and my prediction for height at weight for each child when they are 18 (21 for Lincoln).

Lincoln: 

• Currently at 90th percentile for height and about 50th for weight. 
• Projection:  6' 1", 180 pounds.

I had to revise the weight down from last year.  As a three year old last year, he was 42 inches tall, which meant he could ride The Bat a.k.a. Mike Tyson's Punch Out at Lagoon.  He weighed in at 40 pounds.  He is now 45 inches tall, and weighs 41 pounds.  Seems like three inches should be worth more than a pound.

Ella:

• Currently:  weighs 28 pounds (22nd percentile) and is 37.5 inches tall (62nd percentile)
• Projection:  5' 7" 120 pounds

Of course, I'll just be happy if we can get her to stop screaming at the top of her lungs at Lincoln.

Abigail:

• Currently:  weighs 10.3 pounds (95th percentile) and is 22.5 inches long (98th percentile)
• Projection:  5' 11", 160 pounds

Obviously things can change, but she seems to be a large child, and she is wearing Ange out with how much she wants to eat.  Hopefully she'll end up being a little smaller.  Ange's sister, Natalie is tall, and as you can see, it scarred her for life.

Feel free to make projections.  The winner gets a king size Snickers, but we won't know until May 29, 2028.

Link the Artist

So last Sunday, after church, I went to pick up my kids.  Lincoln bolted out of the primary room like it was on fire.  I've heard boys described as "all afterburner and no rudder".  That pretty much sums up Lincoln after 3 hours of sitting quietly in church.

He was even more excited than usual because of this drawing he had worked on.  His description is below:

"I'm riding on Mommy's shoulders, and mommy has a baby inside her kicking her tummy so hard.  Ellie is riding on Daddy's shoulders and Ellie only has one eye."

Unfortunately, he didn't explain what the green blob was to the right of Mommy.  I asked, but didn't get a coherent response.  I have my own ideas as to what that is.

I also think it's funny that Lincoln has to write "Link" on every single piece of paper he ever sees.

Pirates

This is how I imagine Mike Smith and Preston spending time together in a few years. Unfortunately, I don't think Preston's going to have a little sister anytime soon. I'm sure most have seen this ad, but I think it's funny.

Not Obese

...Just overweight. That's what the new BMI numbers say for me. Whew, I was getting worried there for a minute.

I don't like BMI very much because it doesn't account for someone who is big boned. You can tell if you're big boned if your fingers don't touch when you wrap them around your wrist. Mine don't, meaning I'm big boned or have short fingers.

Anyway, if you account for me being big boned, I think my real obese number is 233 lbs. I'm at 212 now. To get to normal, I have to get down to 176 lbs. That is one of my New Year's Resolutions, so we know it won't happen. If you adjust for me being big boned, I only have to get to 193. If you want to calculate your own BMI, take your weight in kilograms, and divide it by your height in meters squared. Or just use this calculator. 30 or above is obese, 25 to 29.9 is overweight, 18.5 to 24.9 is normal, and below 18.5 is underweight.

In other news, my talk on Family History went quite well. The only person in the congregation that fell asleep was Lincoln. Plus I got to tell a lame joke I've been holding on to for more than 20 years.

Internet Bored

I suppose I'm trying to prove that last time's update of my blog wasn't a once in a 7 month experience.

I ran across an article on Yahoo! that frustrated me. But before I get to that, I think it's funny that every time the Internet is in front of my face, I do the same thing.

First, I hit the political sites:
Independent Elephant
Red State
CNN
Fox News

Then, I go to Yahoo and scroll through the various stories they have highlighted.

Then I browse the sports blogs:
Cougar Tracks on KSL.com
ESPN.com
Rivals.com

Finally, I'm ready to get to the business at hand, and if I didn't have any business, then I don't know what to do which means I usually leave the computer.

At night, when I'm putting Ellie and Lincoln to bed, it's the same deal, except I use my iPod to browse through the following sites:
Letters from Harriett
Smithsonians (because I know it will be updated)
Other Family blogs in no particular order
Then, I use the Evernote app on my ipod to write in my journal
Then I look up all relevant sports scores and read associated stories
Then I go to more political blogs:
MarkLevinShow.com
Politico.com
NewsBusters.org

by then, the kids are usually asleep. I used to be annoyed that I had to spend an hour downstairs getting them to bed, but now, not so much.

Anyway, I think Internet routines are kind of funny.

So this article was a little frustrating to me. Their number one suggestion is to fidget. Seriously? Does anyone know a bigger fidgeter than me? And at 215 lbs., I'm officially in the obese category. Lame!

This is like those articles that tell you to not buy that cafe latte in order to save money. Thanks for nothing.

In the interest of those that would scream TMI, I won't go over my Internet browsing habits while I'm on the pot.

Talk

I'm giving a talk this Sunday in church on Family History. I'm also updating this blog for the first time in like seven months, but we'll pretend that it's always updated.

Anyway, if anyone wants to see the carnage, our church is at 11. Hopefully the sister speaking before me gives a 45 minute talk like last time.