Anna Grace reporting

Anna Grace often absconds with my camera. Most of the time I have no idea she has even had the camera, because she puts it back in the case when she is done. It isn't until I am uploading pictures to my computer that I realize she has been busy. Tonight I discovered this picture.


Click on it to enlarge it to see what it says. I laughed. Heartily. Ahhh...that Anna Grace.

ag's guest post

Anna Grace has requested to do a guest blog post on my site. I am handing over the keyboard to her. Ladies and Gentlemen...Anna Grace.


The camping trip was so fun. We went on two trails. After we went on the 2nd trail Jacob and I were aloud to walk in the stream with our shoes on. We saw a mouse and a frog that looked like it was dead. Erica caught a baby frog and I caught a tadpole. Will and Erica were scared wile we were going there and wile we were coming back, because of the big cliff. The last time we went there were baby frogs everywhere. We got to feed a little bird. This has been Anna Grace Dixon with your camping report.

Food Review 3

Because the last food review was such a big hit I have forced my kids to taste more potentially disgusting things for your enjoyment. This time we went with things that made us think we were indulging in a little something special. Not just juices. No siree. This time we were looking for things that came in silver cans. And amber bottles. And maybe, just maybe, if we crossed our eyes and held our heads at just the right angle as we swallowed we could convince ourselves that there was a little something special in them. Because here at the Dixon house we don't indulge in drinks that actually have something special in them. We are a soda household. And if we are feeling like we need a little bit of a kick we mix Coke with Sprite. I'm telling you...it totally works!


First up we have a can of Red Bull. In reading about this drink on Wikipedia (which we all know is the best place for accurate information) I see that it is available in the states. I had no idea.


Now I should say that Will was extremely excited to try a Red Bull. He had been begging for one for a long time. I couldn't see spending $2 on a can of energy. Twice the caffeine of a can of coke. What kid needs that much caffeine? But for you my dear friends I happily forked out the money. I was willing to deal with the bouncing off the walls. The leg tremors at night. The crash afterwards. Anything for you.


And Will's verdict. Tastes like cough medicine. Not at all like the mixed berries Wikipedia claims it is supposed to taste like. Man. I thought it was going to be really good. I'm very disappointed.


Jacob wasn't quite as willing to try this drink. He has never had a desire to drink a Red Bull. And it smelled suspiciously like the cough syrup Will claimed it tasted like.


Ew. Yuck. I am not trying anything else. I am not going to taste anything else in any more taste tests ever. You can't make me. They are getting worse and worse. Seriously.


Then a few days later I ran across this little gem of a drink in a store that sold imported items. (This is what Andrea was telling me about in the comments on the last taste test.) I have to buy this for a taste test! Brian wholeheartedly agreed.


After seeing it poured in the nice, clean, white styrofoam cup he wasn't so sure about it. What color is that exactly?


It smells like grain...like wheat or something. That can't be good.


Down the hatch.


Well now. That tasted like...um...liquid bread. Like really bad liquid bread.


Will closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at it as he tasted it.


I don't know what that was. I can't even explain it. Like something I have never tasted before. Something not good that I've never tasted before. Something not good that I never want to taste again.

And then it was Jacob's turn.


No. I am not tasting it. I told you I wasn't doing anymore taste tests.


Ok...but this is the last one. Seriously. I am not doing this again.


I knew it. I should never have let her convince me.


And then he did this. And made me promise not to put the picture on the blog. He was wiping his tongue with the towel as he tried desperately to remove all the flavor of the Vita Malt from his mouth. And he told me that he was never doing another taste test again. EVER. And this time I think he might mean it.

Wait! Look kids...Wine-rgy bars. I bet these taste like wine! Let's try some.

Oh wait. Winergy rhymes with energy? Like as in Win-ergy? Never mind.

PS. When we moved to Turkey we made the decision not to drink alcohol for personal reasons. We have no problems with those who do drink. Cheers!

PPS. Jacob gave final approval on the picture hiding the actual face he made as he attempted to clean his taste buds.

PPSS. The girls were at camp so they totally missed out. Poor girls.

Blending in

In yesterday's post I mentioned that my kids went to a Turkish school for the first two years we were here. Last night I was looking through some pictures and came across these. (The school was established in 1984...that was not the year we attended!) Guess which kids are mine! To see the pictures better you may want to click on the pictures to enlarge them.







The only picture I found of Jacob's class was at Christmas when they were all dressed in costumes. All the other pictures are in an album and I didn't want to pull them out.


Of course there is this one which was featured in a past blog post. His class was performing a dance. He was quite concerned about having to wear this pink shirt. The red ruffly one he had to wear for the Spanish dance they performed later was fine. Since it was red and red is his favorite color!

No amount of wearing the same clothes or speaking the language was going to help us! We stood out like sore thumbs. So much for assimilation!

AG strikes again

Further evidence that something has happened to AG in the past few weeks. She and Erica are headed to camp tomorrow night, and AG made a list before she packed so she wouldn't forget anything. Seriously.



Side note - I received an email wondering why the boys aren't going to camp. Will absolutely refuses to go. He has been twice and says that he is never going to camp again. His reason...a week is too long to be away from home. He misses me too much. And he isn't ashamed to tell his friends. I think Jacob would go if Will was going. Originally AG didn't want to go either, but she changed her mind after listening to Erica talk about how great it was. I hope it is great, because if AG isn't having fun the whole campground will know it!

A rabbit tale.

This is Anna Grace and her friend Christy. Christy owns a rabbit named Snowy.


This is Snowy.

Guess who is going to America for the summer.


If you guessed Christy you were right.

Guess who is staying with us for the summer.


Yep...Snowy.

Guess who promised to take care of Snowy and feed her and make sure she has water and make sure her messes are cleaned up.


That would be Anna Grace.


And Erica promised to help.

Guess who is going to camp for a week this Friday.


Yes. You guessed it...Anna Grace.


And Erica is going for two weeks.

Guess who gets to take care of Snowy and feed her and make sure she has water and clean up her messes.


That would be Jacob.


And Will.


What? Did you think I was going to say Her?


Or Him?


Nope. That's why Her and Him had four kids. So they wouldn't have to do any of the work around here.

The End

When does school start?

What Anna Grace just said...

Tomorrow is going to be a boring day. No school, no soccer, nothing.

Are you kidding me? Today was the last day of school, and she is already anticipating boring. Sigh. It's going to be a long summer!

And now Ladies and Gentleman - I give you Jacob

This is Jacob. Jacob is 10. Jacob doesn't know how to sit still. His whole life he has been squirrelly. He wiggles and giggles and makes up silly songs. Like today. He came in the house singing a made up song with the words "my booty is twice as big as your booty." I have no idea why. I don't even ask anymore.


This is Jacob. He is crazy. When he was a toddler he was everywhere. He wasn't a fussy kid, but he was into everything. I would put him down for a nap and close his door. Within seconds he was out of his room and coming down the stairs to see what I was doing. Without any thought about what he should be doing. I finally started putting him in his room and standing outside his door holding it shut until he fell asleep. Usually on the floor right inside his door, but hey...at least he was napping.


This is Jacob. He is a big goof most of the time. Tonight we went to dinner and I can't even tell you how many times we had to tell him to stop sliding down the booth bench and onto the floor. Or how many times we had to tell him to sit down. Or how many times he repeated the word fun, fun, fun, fun...

I always thought I knew how Jacob would turn out. He didn't seem like the brightest kid, but he was lots of fun. He couldn't sit still so I thought for sure he would be in trouble at school all the time. He was a clown at home so I thought he would be a clown at school. I was wrong.

Since 1st grade Jacob's teachers have been telling us what a perfect student he was. The kind every teacher would love to have. I had a hard time believing them at first. It couldn't be true. I would describe his behavior at home, and they didn't believe me. At first I just figured he had his 1st grade teacher wrapped around his little finger. Then he went to 2nd grade and that teacher said the same thing. So did his 3rd and 4th grade teachers. I have been astounded. Amazed really. And very happy that he was doing so well in school.

Today Jacob came home from school with his final report card of the year. He made all A's. Not only did he make all A's this quarter, but he made all A's the entire year and earned a High Honors certificate for the accomplishment at the end of the year award ceremony. He also received another award today. One that I am especially proud of. He was awarded the Character Award for demonstrating outstanding character throughout the year. This is the first year this award was given, and it was awarded to 4 students in grades PreK-6. Out of 141 students my Jacob was one chosen for having outstanding character.

(JACOB WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP SINGING I AM YOUR BROTHER OVER AND OVER IN THAT SQUEAKY MOUSE VOICE - THANK YOU)

This mom is proud of her son.

(JACOB, DID YOU HEAR ME?)

I think he turned out alright.

(JACOB!)

AG - a full report.

Something is happening to AG, and I have no idea what it is. She is one of those kids who doesn't give a flying flip what other people think of her. She will not pretend to like you if she doesn't. She figures if you don't want to be her friend it is your loss. While I am glad she is independent and not easily a victim of peer pressure I do want her to be kind. Nice. Forgiving of others. Overlooking others' faults. Friendly. We have been working all year on being nice to people. Having a better attitude when it comes to other people who aren't her. It has been hard.

This attitude has carried over to the condition in which she keeps her room. I tell her to clean it all the time. She does a half-hearted job and calls it done. She is usually called back in to finish up several times before it is done to my liking.


Exhibit A. This is after I told her to clean her room. She said she was working on it. She had been in there a long time for it to still be in this condition. At this point she was asking for a break. Um...I don't think so.


Exhibit B - Notice drawers pulled out, bags, clothes, books, sheets, and who knows what else on her floor. Why? How can you live like this? But it didn't disturb her in the slightest bit. It was her room so as far as she was concerned she should be able to keep it however she wanted.

We have also struggled with her attitude when it came to school. In school if she didn't like the subject she didn't try. A bit. She made a C on a test once and was given the opportunity to retake it. She said she was happy with the C. What? Um...yes...you will be retaking the test! She heard her teacher say to the class, "it's ok if you don't finish the handwriting book by the end of the year." Meaning...keep working on it, but if you don't make it all the way to the end it is ok. What AG heard. It is ok to stop working on the handwriting book, because it doesn't matter if it is finished or not. Her handwriting grade this last quarter. D. Because she didn't do one page of handwriting the whole time. It sounds like she deserved an F to me. Maybe she was graded on handwriting on some other papers so she was able to pull her grade up to a D. In handwriting. You've got to be kidding me.

But in the last week something has changed. AG, in talking about going back to America this November said, "I don't want to be the new kid. I do not make friends easily." Hm...interesting. My response was that if she would be kind to people and treat them with respect she would have no trouble making friends. She said, "I know."

Then AG decided to clean her room. She cleaned it and organized all the drawers, shelves, and cabinets. She even made a sticky note to put on her door that says "Cleaning" so we wouldn't disturb her. Every night before she goes to bed she puts the clothes she is going to wear the next day on top of her dresser. When she gets dressed in the morning she makes her bed and puts her pjs at the end of her bed.


Exhibit C - Notice the pjs at the end of the bed. Her floor is remarkably, like totally clean.


Exhibit D - bed is made. End table is cleaned off with only end table appropriate things on top. I opened the drawers and everything was perfectly folded and neat. Even her underwear!


Exhibit E - shelves and cabinets are perfectly in order. Usually that bottom cabinet is a mixture of all kinds of papers, toys, dirty clothes, trash, and the like. Now...it holds blankets. Ok.


Exhibit F - Shoes paired neatly under the desk. I'm not sure why she decided to put the writing thing under there, but hey...it fits and still looks neat.

She also came home from school with a stack of papers with good grades. Like all A's. She did have one 73 that she was not proud of. Like she shoved it to the back so it would be seen last. After I looked at the grades she threw the 73 in the trash and brought the other papers to her room. TO SAVE! Like she cared or something.

While I was writing this post AG came into the kitchen to get the broom. I asked her why she needed it, and she said she wanted to sweep her floor because "there were little things on it". Then when she was finished she brought the broom back and put it away.

Good cow, I hope this lasts!

A Food Review - Part 2

Today at the store I discovered this new soda. It's purple and pretty so I immediately thought it was grape soda. Yum! I love grape soda!


Upon closer inspection, I see that it's called Cilgin. That means crazy in Turkish. It wasn't grape flavored either. It says Orman Meyveleri...Fruits of the Forest. Hm...I'm not quite sure what I think of that. I have a great idea! I'll buy one and let my kids taste it first. Let's see what they think!


Will taking a drink of Crazy!


This doesn't look promising. His comment...it's not bad, but I wouldn't want to drink very much of it. Ok...moving right along...


Anna Grace looks quite happy to drink a cup of Crazy. She kinda looks like she already drank a cup of Crazy. Here we go...


Oh...that is too bubbly. NO...I don't like it.


And now for Jacob. He'll eat anything. Really, he will! Once we were at this place that served beef tongue and Jacob totally knew what it was and ate it anyway.


Yum! I'm going for a second taste! Good stuff!


I also came across this decadent can of fruit juice at the store. The flavor...coconut, hazelnut, chocolate flavored orange-apple juice. Now, I had no desire to try this. None at all. But I did think it would be fun to throw in today's food review. So let's see what the kids think of this.


Anna Grace bravely went first. Before she could even take a drink she said, "This stinks!" Yes, but how does it taste?


Oh, that is the grossest thing I have ever tasted! Ugh!


And Will's reaction...


and then he did this...


and this...


and finally this. I'm thinking he doesn't care for it much. He couldn't even speak, but the sounds emitting from his lips reminded me of some an animal would make in its death throes.


Finally, Jacob tried it. He was quite hesitant after watching Will collapse on the floor and die. I was able to convince him that it didn't kill Anna Grace so he had a 50/50 chance of survival. Just take one little sip....please!


So...what do you think?


Yeah...I'm not even swallowing it. I will spew it forth from my mouth. Send the foul liquid back whence it came. Um...ok Jacob. No need to be dramatic. See...I told you it wouldn't kill you!

Then, because they were such great sports I pulled out this!


Chocolate Carnival ice cream


Will came back to life quite quickly when the words Chocolate Carnival Ice Cream were uttered. I think he was faking it. Jacob took his bowl of ice cream and ran. I think he was worried I might have something else for them to try later.

Note: Anna Grace did point out that every time we do a taste test Erica seems to vanish. Yeah...she was at a friend's house. She got lucky. This time!