Scooter

If a person who rides a bike is a biker and person who swims is a swimmer, then is a person who rides a scooter a scooterer? Or is the scooter riding a scoot? And does a person riding a scooter go scooting or scootering at the park. Here is Andrew and Mylie riding their new scooters. Mylie's scooter is named Fasty. Feel free to respond with captions for each picture.

Baby Names Update

So we've almost decided on names: Wyatt or Gwen. We are pretty sure that it shouldn't just be Gwen, but either Gwendolyn or Gwyneth (Gwenivere has already been vetoed). I checked on the social security website and found the following information. Each name has a number indicating how many baby's were born in 2007 with that name and how that name ranks with other names of 2007:
· Wyatt - 6445 babies - ranks 69
· Gwendolyn - 450 babies - ranks 650

The popularity of the name has no bearing on our decision. But I did think it was interesting. Here are some other interesting facts:
· Mylie - 322 babies - ranks 861 (I was surprised it was even on there)
· Andrew - 18,157 babies - ranks 10
· Gwyneth didn't make the top 1000
· Sybil didn't make the top 1000
· Polly didn't make the top 1000
· Leroy - ranked 999 was my second choice for a boy - vetoed

More interesting facts:
· Isabella moved up 43 places since 2000 to second most popular name in 2007. You would suspect Twilight as the culprit.
· However, in the same time frame, Edward moved down in popularity from 108th place to 145 place. Maybe her choice of the male protagonist's name was his only shortcoming ... despite his rapturous good looks, charm, elegant flowing gait and majestic persona ... ugh. Every time I read the book for ten minutes I have to take a break to call my friend in Transylvania, Count Barfula over the porcelain telephone. Definitely written for the reader who cares more for the rollercoaster emotions of high school romance. The premise is great and the vampire lore is fun.

Yet more interesting facts:
· Jacob ranked #1 in 2000 and 2007. BUT, his percentage of use went down almost half a percent since 2000.

One more fact less interesting but obvious:
· Mat is a turbo geek.

Here is a quick photo of Mylie in November.

Candy Survey Update

Here is a link to see Andrew's Candy Survey Data.

This data might be useful when determining what candy to get for someone as a surprise for their upcoming birthday or Christmas.

Interesting facts to note:

• Kit-Kat scored highest
• Jaw Breakers scored lowest
• Suckers ranked 40th on the rating, but we got over twice as much as the most abundant candy bar. This means we live in a cheap neighborhood that doesn't care what kids like. But still, we got 31 Snickers.
• The top 13 ranked candies were all in the chocolate category
• Tootsie-Rolls are not considered chocolate.

Halloween

Saturday morning after all the trick-or-treating was done, Andrew dumped all of his and Mylie’s candy out on the living room floor and sorted them. Ever since he has learned to write, he has a fun time making lists. So he made a list in his journal of each kind of candy and how much he collected of each kind. He then proceeded to take a survey of each family member on how they would rate each candy on a scale of 1-10 (10 being their favorite). His analog spreadsheet became cumbersome and I introduced him to the data collection joy of an excel spread sheet. We quickly entered his data and he proceeded to survey Grandpa, Nana and Cousin Sean. The data is below.

Andrew finds the joy in actually talking to the people and collecting the data. I think it is interesting to see what candy people like and hate. Feel free to copy and past the list below into an email to me, take the survey yourself and I’ll repost the results in a couple days.

Also below are some pictures of Andrew and Mylie in their Halloween costumes. (Andrew won an award for the scariest costume and Mylie is The Purple Power Ranger (her own design)).

Candy Name (Amount Collected)

Jolly Rancher (5)

Smarties (36)

Crunch (4)

3 Musketteers (4)

Tootsie Roll (44)

Reeses (14)

Dollar Gummies (2)

Hard Candy Mint (7)

Laffy Taffy (37)

Starburst (36)

Milky Way (19)

Twix (5)

Nerds (11)

Jaw Breaker (11)

Werthers Originals (3)

Licorice (1)

Hard Fruit Candy (9)

Nestle Chocolate Bar (1)

Chocolate Money (2)

Pumpkin Marshmallow (2)

Sour Patch Kids (1)

Hot Tamales (1)

Almond Joy (4)

Gummy Body Parts (3)

Swedish Fish (8)

Carmel (4)

A&W Hard Candy (4)

Milk Duds (5)

Mr. Goodbar (3)

Charleston Chew (Vanilla) (2)

Gummy Candy (7)

Baby Ruth (5)

Hershey Chocolate Bar (19)

Snickers (31)

Kit-Kat (11)

Butterfinger (10)

Whoppers (12)

Gum (10)

Sweet-Tarts (9)

Now-n-Later (12)

Skittles (11)

M&M (15)

Sucker (Dumb-Dumb) (78)

Runts (2)

Teddy Grahms (1)

Pixy Stix (2)

Gum Balls (30)

Peanut M&Ms (5)

558 Total

Washington DC

Mat and I got some free airline tickets from Breanne and Ben. We were not able to make it work out for the two of us to go somewhere together. We did not want to waste the tickets so we decied it would be fun to take Andrew somewhere that is anywhere. If anything just so Andrew could ride in an airplane.

We decied it would be fun if I(Andi) would take him to Washington DC. We thought it would be fun to make it a surprise. We did not tell him until we were at the airport that morning. He thought we were going to go pick someone up!!! He was kind of dumb-founded when we gave him his bags and told we were going on an airplane to DC. It was really fun to surprise him. It wasn't until we were inside the airport for about 10 min that he started to jyrate because he was so excited. We were able to stay with Mat's cousins who live in DC. It was so fun to stay with them. They did so much to make our visit so fun!! Thanks guys!! While we were there we were able to see the Lincoln Memorial, The Capital, Surpreme Court, Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Washington Monument, and the White House. Andrew loved every bit of it. It was so neat to see him get so intrested in all the history and sites. It was fun for me also to spend time with just Andrew. It was a trip we both we never forget.

Kid Numero Tres

We had an ultrasound yesterday and here is number three. The doc said the official due date is May 23rd but the unofficial due date according to history says it will be between May 9th and 13th. He had an opening on May 21st, so if the little critter doesn't appear by then, we're goin in to take him/her out.

Seven Years of Bad Luck and 15 Stitches

Mylie used Andi's long mirror for a slide down her bed yesterday and cracked the mirror in half. Seven years bad luck didn't take long to start. Five minutes after I came home for lunch, Mylie did a face plant onto our nightstand. She sliced a quarter inch cut in between her nose and lip. It looked deep, like a tooth went through. We called her pediatrician who said to bring her in instead of the ER. They checked and sure enough, it was cut straight through. They referred us to a plastic surgeon who sewed Mylie up. The inside of her mouth was really screwed up and took 12 stitches. The outside only had three stitches. The doctor was impressed that Mylie could sit still for the anesthesia shots. She was really tough. Tougher than me. I almost passed out.

Girls Night Out

Once a year my sisters and I take my Mom to the Melting Pot (fondue resturant). This year we took her on her birthday. We all look forward to this evening all year long. It is so fun. It is the type of dinning experince that you are there for about 3 hours. It is so fun to sit and talk, laugh and eat for 3 hours. And of course we do have plenty to talk about. I love this opportunity to hang out with 4 of my best friends. I love my family so much. I feel so blessed to have them all live so close to me. I am grateful to them and all of their wonderful examples to me.

The Best Nana

A couple of weeks ago Mylie received a package in the mail. It was from her Nana. First of all she was so excited that she actually got something in the mail. Of course she opened it right away. To her great surprise it was a snorkel set like Andrew got for his birthday but hers was PINK! I thought she was going to pass out she was so thrilled. These were her exact words, "Nana is the BEST BEST NANA IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!!" Thanks Nana for making her day.

Names

Here are the list of names we are thinking of so far for a girl (in no particular order):

• Polly
• Claire
• Samantha
• Sybil

Here are the names we are considering for a boy:

• Wyatt

As of yesterday, number three should be about 5 weeks along. The due date should be around May 12th. Andi is still feeling great. We are very excited.

Be Safe With The Dragons

Every time I drop off Mat at work, the kids always tell him to be safe with the dragons. I don't know what that means, but it is cute.

This is a picture of our campout.

Guts

We were munching dinner at the park last night and the dinner topic landed on guts. Andrew cringed and covered his ears when we said the word “guts”. It turns out that is one of the words that give him the willies. He suggested that we use the word abdomen instead. I don’t know why a seven year old even knows the word “abdomen”. What are some of the words that give you the willies?