Whatever Evan....

Jon brought home a weight bench a while ago. It's too wide to fit through any of our doors, so it's set up outside. The boys have been enjoying the thing. Personally, I can't imagine being out there lifting with neighbors watching through their windows (OK there's only 3 that could see, and only one with a single window that overlooks that side of our yard). I mean - it's hot; the bench is black; the bar gets hotter than tar in July; I'm sure the bugs love the sweat juice that gets left there - because I'm fairly certain that the boys aren't wiping the thing down...

Anyway - Evan is the one that uses the bench the most frequently. This morning Evan asked...

Mom? You know how I lift 20 twice? Well, I'm gonna call these my ... (wait for it) ...

Twenty Twos

Just for the record - he lifts more than 20, and he does it more than twice. Jon's concerned we're going to have a very vain body builder on our hands - Evan's got plans to increase the weight, start calling his biceps "12 gauges" and his 6 pack his "reload clip".

See where I said it up on top?  WHATEVER EVAN!!!

Did I Offend?

Today was Evan's big day at the Central Utah Science & Engineering Fair.

I'll let you figure out what happened:

His project was titled Are You Deaf?

He got a judge without a sense of humor who wore very large hearing aids.

I'll give you a hint: It didn't end well.

Dang.

But the irony makes me cackle.

And he did win 2 games of laser tag.

About a Car...

Apparently Evan has been living good lately. Last night he took first place in our ward's pinewood derby. Now I have to tell you that I'm completely impressed with this year's car. I mean come on - it's gold and it glitters! Just don't tell my guys that I said so.

Seriously - isn't that pretty?

Do you see her? She's the one out there a full car length in front of the next racer.

That's my boy's speed demon...

Evan was completely awkward walking next to the track to pick her up after each heat. All that attention kind of overwhelms my dear middle son. And yet he just does these amazing things.

As he was headed to his room for an elated night's slumber, he said:

Mom - I know I didn't ask about sleeping with my science fair ribbon. Do you think it's ok if I take this one to bed with me?

Yep - that's all him. Pure humility.

Dating Advice for Preteen Boys

Here's the deal. My dear Evan would absolutely dig a hole and crawl into it for the remainder of his days if he knew I'd posted this, but HELLO I'm a mom and a blogger. I can't make this stuff up, and it must be shared.

So Evan has captured the heart of one of his classmates. He's had her heart since 3rd grade, but really who's counting. Anyway. This year the girl has found herself, and she knows that Evan is what she wants. Please note that they've only been in school for one week - AND - his devotion has never wavered. Evan accepts things as they are, and this thing just was. In his world she and he are and would always be...

Last year they weren't in the same class, but the spark was still there. I guess she needed reaffirmation of his devotion, and she's had the gusto to extract him from his posse during recess to draw the line. My poor boy is clueless in the love department (and I hope he remains so for the next 10 or so years), and he had to ask his resident expert (me!) what most of it meant.

Are you still into me?

Can I call you after school? I think we should discuss this without anyone else around.

Unh. We're through!

This was at 3 separate recesses all on the same day. My poor Evan came home from school and wanted to transfer classes. He was baffled!  With the "into me" comment, he squeezed her shoulder and told her she was a really good friend. She responded by huffing off and stomping across the playground. He guessed correctly that he had not given her the answer she wanted. But to Evan's credit - he wanted to know how he could have responded any differently.

Because if I was "into her" what would we do about it? WE'RE IN 5TH GRADE!!!

He didn't get the "we're through!" and I explained that he'd been dumped. His response?

Shouldn't I be sad?

I told him that if he wasn't then it was OK. He was very nervous about going to school the next day - apparently rightly so. She apparently wasn't serious about breaking things off and spent her after school hours writing him a love song (on the piano!). Words cannot explain his exasperated expression when he came in the door and held the crumpled note up in the air and asked his brothers to leave the room.

Later I told him to tell her that he just wanted to be her friend, but his dad overheard me.

So now I give you dating advice according to Jon Hill. (As shared with me by Evan's older brother - this occurred while dove hunting - a trip attended by Evan, Carson, Jon, and 3 of  Jon's brothers - do you see where this is headed?)

According to Jon, telling a girl that you just want to be her friend is the worst possible thing you can say. This is the part that really gets me. Then Jon referenced The Simpsons (Season 4, Episode 8 to be exact) where Bart has a crush on his older next door neighbor, who trance-literally rips his heart out, throws it against a wall, and watches it drop into the trash, when she tells Bart that she has a boyfriend. I was choking too hard to hear what Jon's advice for fixing the situation is, but I'm sure that all that testosterone offered something...

We all are fond of this girl at our house. She's adorable, and I'm in love with her for identifying Evan as the target of her affections so early. I always have thought that Evan would be the boy who would find one girl and stick with her (he's just that loyal) - I just didn't think it would happen before he was 10. She's just got to realize that she is pouring it on a little thick - you just need to take it as it is with Evan. He'll eventually catch on and react appropriately. It just has to be on his time - and he's not one for pressure so you may be in for the long haul. Be patient - he's so worth it.

Hereditary Talons

This morning my boys had their semi-annual teeth cleaning. None of them had cavities!

On the way home, Evan was playing with his dino flosser and got it stuck between two molars. I tried to pry it out for him, and guess what popped out. A freaking filling! So - we get to go back to the dentist tomorrow. He's not in pain, and I think it's a baby tooth that should fall out soon. I'm hoping he can just live with the hole.

So - the other fun thing we found this morning is that Griffin's got a talon tooth. Do you know what that is? Well, it's where there's a talon-shaped tooth that either comes in between the front incisors or it attaches to the back of one.

Here's the deal: my dad had one...

AND - So did I.

Mine was attached to the back of my right incisor - the baby tooth version. I didn't think about that until the dentist said Griffin's could attach to the back of his tooth. I immediately remembered running my tongue over that bump. I swear that I held onto that tooth, but I've just searched everywhere I thought it would be, and nada.

It showed up on the xray they do to see whether he's got all his permanent teeth. So - we get to wait until it comes in to find out where it is.

It's a fitting feature for my Griffin... because you know what a griffin is, right?

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, grýphōn, or γρύπων, grýpōn; Latin: gryphus) is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle was the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Griffins are normally known for guarding treasure and well valued priceless possession.

Thanks wikipedia...

Evan's 7! (+3)

I've been trying to decide which photos to include in a 10-yr-old collage of Evan. One from each birthday? Halloween? Moon Lake? I decided to just put together a smackling. I wish everyone got his personality. He's the most sensitive of my boys, the most tempermental, the most stubborn, the most idiosyncratic.

So here you go: The Essence of Evan

This photo collage made with Smilebox

School is cool...

The past couple of weeks have been very emotional for me. First of all - Carson started Middle School. He's quit talking to me other than in one word spurts when he gets home. Jon can get a whole string of stories out of him, but me? Not so much... A friend at work suggested that I wait a couple of hours to start asking him questions. I've done this the past couple of days, and CJ has taken to seeking me out and asking if something is wrong with me! Love it...

Evan started school the day after Carson, and it's his first time going without his older brother. I should have thought this through and realized that this would be a slight problem. We dealt with it by going out to breakfast before school on the morning of his big day.

Griff was the one I was the most hesitant about. I'll be the first to admit that I amped up the "He's my baby..." this summer. Jon informed me that I had to quit because I was stressing the boy out. Does this looked stressed to you?

This morning was pretty funny. Carson woke Griff up to give him some big brother advice about entering kindergarten. Evan hung back until Carson left. Once that happened, Evan swept into full on defensive big brother mode.  I don't even know why I was here! Griff didn't need anyone else - it was all Evan. Notice the hand at Griff's back guiding him where he's supposed to go? The other hand was on the other shoulder...  Also notice the length of the bus driver's beard. The kids are calling him skinny Santa, but his name is Jim.

I'll leave you with this beautiful image. I'm off to pop open a Diet Coke and bask in solitude on my front porch. I love today.

When a Librarian Says "SHHHHH!!!!!!" You Better Listen

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This afternoon the boys and I ran over to the library to pick up my on-hold books, renew the checkout on Griff's Justice League DVD, and let Carson and Evan check out a book or two. Sounds like a plan, huh?

I'm a pretty lax library mom. We have a deal that Griff and Carson head to the kids DVD section. Evan grabs a book and then relieves Carson. I swing into the hold room and then stop by a computer to see when my next hold is going to show up. Then we all meet at the DVD section and narrow down Griff's selection. A boy's family should only have to put up with so many TMNT, Goosebump, and Sonic videos creating ambient noise you know?

Anyway - shortly after that we stampede to the auto checkouts, and see who can get finished first. While we wait for the others, we get to watch whatever animal happens to reside at our library. We've had chinchillas, sugar gliders, and now it's rats.

WELL, today we were approaching the checkout counter, and I discovered that I'd left my wallet home. This was a problem because not everyone has their library card bar code memorized (what is wrong with Carson, Evan, and Griffin?!) so most of us could not check out our selections.

Never fear - a plan popped into my head. The library has a program that allows you to read away your fines. You get $1 for each 30 minutes of reading done in the library. See that little earlier mention about renewing the checkout on Griff's Justice League DVD... Carson and Evan wanted to sit and read anyway, and Carson said he'd read to Griff. Please note that I was completely apprehensive of leaving Griff without my supervision, but the librarian said that as long as he was reading, he would be all right without me. That's as good as permission! Right??

So home I ran. Then the thought occurred to me that I needed to get the boys' Hunter Education Registration Certificates so that they could start the class tonight. What better time to do that than when I've got no boys with me? I took heed of my friend, Julie's, facebook status.. While I was waiting for the certificates to print, I remembered that I'd thrown my very short grocery list in my purse, AND I WAS OUT OF DIET COKE WITH LIME!!!!!

A mere 30 minutes later (that's 30 minutes after I decided to run through the grocery store) I pulled into the library parking lot. Now - any mom out there will recognize the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I tell you that the librarian was standing outside - WITH GRIFFIN. I parked, walked over to them, and made some comment about how Griff must not have been reading. She replied, "Nope!" with a very strong emphasis on the "p", turned, and walked into the library ahead of me.

Good news is that Carson and Evan completely read away their fines. As for Griff? She gave him fine credit, but I ended up paying for the Justice League DVD because it's been missing for about 5 weeks anyway.

I hope I don't see that librarian for a while.

Sometimes I Don't Get It

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We were driving to Provo yesterday afternoon, and Griff starts asking me: Mom? What do blue and yellow make?

I responded: Green (which was NOT the answer he was looking for)

This went back and forth with increasing frustration on both our parts.

Griff finally said: You're supposed to say red - it's a joke.

A few minutes later: Mom? What do blue and yellow make?

Now - I know I'm supposed to say red, but that was not the correct answer, and I was in one of my moods...

I responded: Green

Completely exasperated sign from the back seat.

Evan pipes in: G, sometimes women just don't understand.

What a morning...

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Guess whose kids typically ride bus 1402...

My boys missed the bus this morning, and Jon drove them to school. They drove through the intersection and saw the whole thing. They're pretty shook up.

By the way - the bus driver was not drinking. The driver of the truck apparently was.

I asked Evan how everyone was doing at school, and he said that his friend Braydon O was bloody (that's Braydon's mom on the news clip) and that Woody was really bad. Woody is the bus driver.

Evan says they may never see bus 1402 ever again because they'll probably scrap it. Evan was very disappointed that Woody was not there to drive the kids home and wants to find out which hospital he's at so that we can go visit him.

Woody is a great bus driver.

I Don't Love My Kids' Dentist So Much

All right it's not his fault that it's been entirely too long since we had a good trip to the dentist. In fact, we don't even see the same dentist every time. We get whoever happens to be at the office the day we schedule our appointment.

Did I mention that every one of the 4 male dentists is incredibly attractive? That 3 of them are nearly perfect height? That every one of them has an uncanny ability to make you feel like you are the absolute most important person in the world? That you have to be a member of the pretty people club in order to be one of the assistants? No? Well - there it is.

Today was not one of our better trips. I have a strong ambivalence toward the dentist's office so I'm sure I let that rub off on my children.

Anyway - Carson went first. He has done a much better job brushing and flossing. THAT'S GOOD NEWS!!! But he has 6 cavities! AND Carson has no more baby teeth, so these all require fillings.

Next was Griff. This little guy really does try to brush and floss. He loves going to the dentist to get a new toothbrush and a toy from the treasure chest. He does NOT like the sedation crap they've had to force him to drink on trips past, and he reminded everyone that would listen today. This kid had his share of cavities (one of which is a repeat offender - we've filled the same tooth 3 times folks. This one now gets a lovely crown) AND we found out that he has something called hypoplastic molars.

I have been a bit concerned lately with the color of his 6-yr-old molars, which are all in the process of pushing their way through his gums. These four teeth are a lot darker than his others, and they are not standard tooth shape. Some of them seem to have extra cusps or have cusps that don't appear to be connected.





Apparently hypoplasticity occurs as a result of high fever, infection, antiobiotics, or flouride dosing. When the evil moons of Endor align during pregnancy or early part of life and one of these events occurs, hypoplasticity can happen.

So - what do they do? Well in a patient as young as Griff, apparently they fuse a glass isonomer to the tooth's surface. This is supposed to hold things together until he has permanent molars that will help hold a crown in place. Hypoplasticity apparently does not have an impact on permanent teeth.

Oh yeah - the dentist happened to mention that G is probably in pain when he eats. Every. Single. Time.

Evan got on the chaise last. He had one cavity, and it's in a tooth that should be falling out soon. So, we're just going to extract that one. Don't go thinking he let me off easy after his younger brother...

One of Ev's molars had a large filling, and the tooth somehow broke underneath the filling. While it's been broken, it's wedged itself up against another tooth. Guess what... That one broke too. You'd think I would have noticed something while flossing or that Ev would have been experiencing some sort of pain.... Nada. Both teeth need crowns.

So, here's my dilemma: things have been tight in the financial dept around here. I do have decent dental insurance, but I still have to pay 20% for most fillings. I have to pay 50% for the crowns. There is no way that I can just get all 3 boys immediately back to the office for their required treatment plans. But how do I decide which one of them goes now and which have to wait a few months?

Griff's in pain, so he's the one I chose to tackle first. Problem with that is his is the most expensive, and the dentist won't let me take the others in until I've paid all that I owe...

Guess now isn't the best time to mention that I also need to get Evan in for an eye appointment (he failed his school vision screening back in October) and I still need to take him to an ortho to have his knees evaluated.

How bout them apples?

I think I'd better head off to FaceBook for some Mafia Wars. Do you think taking out a rival family will help my frustration?

A Fish Named Abraham

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a scrapbook retreat in Bear Lake. It was absolutely fabulous! I was warned that I should stock up on Depends because the amount of laughing would necessitate their use. I honestly had no idea that you really can laugh for 48 hours straight. That includes the time I kept laughing as I was telling Jon about the weekend. It's Tuesday, and my abs are finally slightly less sensitive.

While we were cleaning up on Saturday afternoon, I received a voice mail from Evan. Here's a transcription:

Hey Mom? Um. I got a goldfish at Henry's baptism. So that's pretty cool. But Dad and Carson are gonna try and kill him. So if you don't call me back they'll probably kill him. So yah. Talk to ya later. Bye.

Now - let me remind you that Evan is my easily-attached-to-animals child who hoards stuffeds like there's no tomorrow. The boy mother-hens them all every night by gathering them in his bed and sleeping on top of them. This sadly spoken message really did pull at my heartstrings!

When I got home Saturday night Griff had just dropped the jar with the fish on the kitchen floor. The jar didn't break, and they'd gotten things cleaned up. The poor fish was suffering from post-traumatic shock, and he wasn't swimming quite right. By Sunday afternoon he was still having entire-body convulsions followed by sporadic, backward darts. We put a plastic bucket over his Mason jar (we haven't had fish before so we don't have any fish bowls) to let the poor thing recover.

Evan made sure to check on him while the lights were out. I'm not quite sure how much this benefitted the fish. I mean - how would you feel if you were surrounded by a whiteness that suddlenly lifted to reveal two gigantic circles? I just don't think it would be all that rejuvenating.

While we were getting ready for church on Sunday morning Evan informed me that if the fish did die, he'd like to cook him and take just one little bite. (Evan is also a child that has an incomparable love of all things sea food).

Anyway - we fed the fish some bread crumbs on Sunday night (we also didn't have any fish food), covered the jar with the bucket, and left the poor thing alone. As Evan was climbing the stairs to go to bed he said, "I think I'll call him Abraham."

Abe did just fine yesterday, and we bought him some fish food after Evan got home from school. We're going to hold off on the bowl, rock, and sunken pirate ship purchase for another week. We figured that's enough time to ensure he's recovered and going to be around a bit longer.

Scratchin My Head

I know that I just posted a bunch of questions from G that make me think, HUH?!, but Ev may have topped him in the stupify-your-mother contest.

A couple of nights ago Ev had just gotten out of the tub. He typically takes a while drying off. I think he enjoys standing in the warm humidity - especially when the heater is on and blowing additional warm air into the room. This particular evening he quietly opened the door and snuck into my office behind me. He had his hand over his chin, and he proceeded to tell me that he'd burned his hidden chin on a lightbulb.

I'm not posting this photo so that you can see how blah the boy's bathroom is (although please note how clean the counter was today), how the lightbulbs don't match, how the towel isn't the right color - at least they've got a towel in there!, how the star towel hangers have scratched paint off the wall or how some vinyl lettering also removed paint above said hangers. I'm married to a painter, folks, all of that really is an easy fix. Oh - and the vinyl lettering was really cute - it used to say "Boys don't bathe, they dust off". My boys are getting a bit big and stanky for that kind of saying. They really do need to bathe.

Anyway - Evan - Poor kid. Scorched the top layer of skin right off - it kind of looked like a rug burn. Two questions:

1. Just how did that chin touch a lightbulb? AND


2. What was he doing with his chin at that elevation anyway?

I was working on our taxes, and Evan was sitting on the floor wrapped in a blanket. A while later he said, "Mom, if I was a girl, this is the kind of picture I'd draw." Because girls, chainsaws, and flowers have so much in common?!

In case you're wondering - he is the one who chopped it up with a paper cutter - not me... He said he was making a puzzle for G.





Finally - Evan has a difficult time sitting still during Sacrament Meeting. Last week was not a good one for the boy, and Jon and I were a little anxious about what this week was going to be like. I'm the first one into the chapel because the guys are all tied up in primary. Evan joins me before anyone else, grabs my face in his hands, gives me a kiss on each cheek, looks me directly in the eye and says, "Mom, I'm really sorry if I end up being bad today."

Are Moths Poisonous?

Evan and I just had the following conversation. My SIL's sister, Julia, was talking about the difference in male and female thinking last night. This is a perfect example!


Evan: Hey, Mom? Are moths poisonous?

Me: I don't think so.

Evan: Even if you put them in your mouth?

Me: silence - huh - I'm really stumped. Why would you want to do that?

Evan: shoulder shrug as he walked away smiling

Part 2:

Immediately after I posted our conversation, I wondered if moths really were poisonous. I called Evan back into the computer room and we looked it up online. We found out that there is a member of the Tiger moth family that is in fact poisonous because of the plants it eats while in larva form. Who knew?

Evan then told me that he was wondering if they were poisonous because of the powder that's on their wings. Again he sparked my curious side, and we looked that up, too. Turns out that the powder is actually scales that in a male contain scent to attract females. These scales help moths (and butterflies for that matter) escape things such as spider webs.

Evan's reply to this?

COOL! So if Frodo had been covered by those scales, he would have been able to escape the spider web!

I love how the male mind works.

Evan Update

The doc's office just called, and Evan's blood work was just fine. His gait is cause for concern, so we do need to visit with a pediatric ortho.

Evan Screams Like a Girl

I took Evan to see the pediatrician today because his knees are bothering him every morning - AGAIN. This comes up intermittently, but the pain goes away, and so does the need to go see Doc Schmidt.

Anyway - today we got to be questioned by intern, Doug, before the doc came in the room. Evan has a habit of going all quiet - not so much shy, just some kind of "if I shrink into my chair and move my mouth while I breath, I will be left alone". Insert eyeroll here

Doug did a good job asking questions, he just did too much leading. I mean when a kid hurts sometimes you have to call him on it and make him show you where. Doug asked him on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being when he broke his leg), how bad was this pain? Evan finally spoke up that it was ABOUT a 2. Remember the eye roll from the previous paragraph - well, insert an even bigger one here If this morning pain is only a 2 and he's griped this much, the mom-patience is defintely going to be tried!

Doc Schmidt comes in, talks to Evan a bit, has him run up and down the hall (because Evan runs kind of funny). Doc agreed with me about the funny running and went back in the room to write up our lab order. The purpose of the tests is to rule out the bad stuff - like arthritis.

We got to go have blood drawn and an xray taken of both lower legs. I'm really surprised that DCFS didn't come running down the hall during the blood draw.

Evan's name was called, and he walked on back like it was no big deal. He went to sit down in the chair and saw the needle cup thing and the 3 vials on the counter. He started to shake and sank to the floor while clutching the leg of the chair. I picked him up while he remained curled into a very tight ball. I sat him on my lap while I sat in the chair. The phlebotomist asked me to pin his legs between mine (I did an all right job, but I'm sure a couple of them got gut kicked at least once) and wrap my right arm over his. This just didn't work. We ended up calling 2 more helpers. That made 4 grown women trying to hold the kid down while they got the vials filled!

This boy has an amazing set of lungs when he chooses to use them. I just mentioned how quiet he was when he didn't really want the attention, but once he saw that a needle was involved, all the rules changed. I. Could. Not. Believe. The. Noise. This. Boy. Made. If I hadn't been pinned underneath him, I really think I would have walked away.

Anyway - xrays looked fine (no tumors or incorrectly healed bones - Ev broke his left tibia when he was 3 and his right tibia when he was 4). We'll hear back from the lab on Friday morning.

When it was all over and we were in the Yukon driving home, I had to call Jon and laugh about how out of control Evan had been. We put Jon on speaker so that he could ask some questions. The last one was, "So did it really hurt?" Evan's reply?

I DON'T KNOW - THEY SAID I WAS ALL DONE BEFORE I EVEN FELT THE POKE.

Evan's NOT Seven!

OK- So I'm a little late getting this posted, but it's been busy around here!


Evan turned 8 on May 18. We went to see Iron Man and made him this cake - pretty pathetic compared to Griffin's. At least he got to choose the cake and frosting flavors...

Here's a silent movie (we really do need to get with the times and get a digital camcorder or something) showing the excitement of the evening. The bit at the first is Evan waiting for us to sing to him. Most of you know that Hill's talk pretty dang slow - the singing's worse...

We were going to go to Fat Cats for bowling and pizza, but 2 out of 5 of us were sick. We didn't think they'd appreciate us sharing our germs.

Turning 8 meant a couple of things for Evan. First of all, he got to get baptized. It looks like a beautiful Saturday afternoon, but the wind sure made it cold! Notice how Jon's jumpsuit is all billowy - that's more wind than just Jonny. We went to our favorite local park (Skye Park) to eat lunch and play on the climbers and grass. It gets a little tricky putting nearly 50 people in your house, so we thought this would be a great place to eat. True to Jon & Staci tradition, the weather was questionable. Oh well - we think the kids had a good time. Later in the day we went to see Indiana Jones.

Evan also got to start cub scouts. He's loved this! He's been busy making some kind of thing for his dad's Father's Day gift. Should be interesting...

Compsog what?

Evan's 2nd grade did their dinosaur program a couple weeks ago. It was fabulous! The kids all were assigned a dinosaur to research, they built a diorama, and they had a singing program. Evan even shook his dinosaur tail during the Dinosaur Dance. Now that was hysterical! Imagine the entire stage of 2nd graders singing at the top of their lungs and the suddenly turning around and shaking their badonkadonks at you. I was so upset I'd left the video home! Being all boy, the first question Evan asked when it was all over was whether he could smash his dinosaur. Poor Compy!

Evan did a rap during the program - I'd heard him practicing in the bathroom (see my earlier rocker post), but I didn't know what it was for. Hunh. Here are the words:

I'm a Raptor
doing what I can
Gonna eat everything
'til the appearance of man
You will see me -
I'm living below the soil
I'll be back,
But I'm coming as oil!

Evan's report is included below:

My dinosaur is named Compsognathus, or “Compy” for short. The name means petite, dainty, pretty or elegant jaw. I think the jaw is small compared to other dinosaurs, but I don’t think it’s very elegant or pretty.

Compy was a meat eater and ate things such as lizards and insects. Fossilized remains from a Compsognathus’ stomach contained the skeleton of a very fast lizard. Its front teeth were smooth, but the teeth at the back of its jaw were jagged. Since the skeleton in Compy’s stomach was whole, some scientists think it didn’t chew its food.

Compy lived during the late Jurassic period about 150 million years ago.

Compy walked on two feet. It had long, thin legs, and three toes on each foot. Its long tail helped it keep its balance during quick turns – such as escaping from other dinosaurs.

Fossils of this small, chicken-like dinosaur have been found in Germany and France. The fossil in Germany was found during the 1850s. The fossil in France was discovered in 1972. The German fossil had two fingers on each hand. The French fossil had 3 fingers on each hand. Compy’s German fossil was the first reasonably complete dinosaur fossil ever found.

Compy was approximately 10 inches tall at the hip. Its length ranged from just over 2 feet to over 4 ½ feet. It weighed about 6 ½ pounds.

I think Compy protected itself by running very quickly and by being smaller than most other dinosaurs.


The makers of the movie Jurassic Park made Compy appear to hunt in packs and overwhelm human-sized prey because of the number of Compies in each pack. There is no scientific evidence that Compy behaved like this in real life.

Shock Through the Heart

I found my old Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet CD the other day and had it playing a bit loud in the Yukon when I picked Griff up from daycare. When he likes a particular song, he uses his lovely 3-year-old temper and demands that you play it over and over and over and over and over and over (get the picture?) It's just easier to beat him to the punch and start the thing over before the final guitar riff has faded.

We listened to "Shock through my heart" (This is what Griff was calling it) from Mindy's house to the grocery store and then to the pharmacy and to the library. Finally, we listened to it on the drive to our house. As soon as Griff was in the house he was yelling that Evan needed to hear this "Heart Shock" song. Evan got it out and put it on his CD player. I haven't seen the CD since. Evan is quiet most of the time, but of my 3 boys, he's my rock star. (Check out the photo of him & me in the sledding photos a few posts down)

That was a few weeks ago. Today I walked in from work. Carson had left for scouts, so Ev had been home alone for about 15 minutes. I found Evan standing on the bathroom counter watching himself play air guitar in the mirror and hand gesturing "ROCK ON". The music was so loud that he didn't see me standing there. I suppose all he was missing was the long, ratted 80's band hair.

Now - because I know you want this song stuck in your head just like it's stuck in mine... I'd load the mp3 on the blog if I could, but I can't quite figure that out. Perhaps tomorrow there'll be another self-concert that I can catch on video on the sly...

You Give Love A Bad Name

J. Bon Jovi, R. Sambora, D. Child
An angel's smile is what you sell
You promise me heaven, then put me through hell
Chains of love got a hold on me
When passion's a prison, you can't break free

You're a loaded gun
There's nowhere to run
No one can save me
The damage is done

Shot through the heart
And you're to blame
You give love a bad name
I play my part and you play your game
You give love a bad name
You give love a bad name

You paint your smile on your lips
Blood red nails on your fingertips
A school boy's dream, you act so shy
Your very first kiss was your first kiss goodbye

You're a loaded gun
There's nowhere to run
No one can save me
The damage is done

Shot through the heart and you're to blame
You give love a bad name
I play my part and you play your game
You give love a bad name

Now that I think about it, it may be time to share some Hysteria and Pyromania. I just won't be able to show him the album covers since he's also the most sensitive of the 3 boys, and he may find them a little disturbing to his 7-yr-old mind. It's gonna be a great weekend.

Oh, The Drama...

A wicked bug reeked havoc on Evan, me, and Jon last week - I missed 2 days of work and part of my weekend!

Evan spent his first day of feeling better playing water games and football with the kids on our street. Ended up with a rock stuck in his head and ran screaming into the house, "I'm dying!"

I couldn't do the blood, so Jon took him upstairs to put him in the tub. (No stitches needed - hoorah) Jon had told Carson to get the rock thrower's parents. They showed up while Jon was upstairs, and I had to deal with that interaction. Great. Go Jon.

Evan calmed down enough to ask Carson (it was one of Carson's friends that pegged him), "Is this what friends do?"

I'm so ready for school to start on Monday!