Rhodes Family Variety Hour

So What's Up?

We saw some bats.

We toured Austin (mostly because we parked very far away.)

We stayed with Amy and Grayson.

I ran a 5K.

We hung out with Michelle at Deutchen Pfest.

We've been playing outside and watering our flowers.

I've been crafting.

Austin trip was May 14th - 18th.

Ella's Entry

Ella thinks that sliced cheese should be filed under "W" for wonderful. Or wasted, or whoa!, or WHAT!?! This is what I found when I went to the post office yesterday...

Today's Acheivements

Ella completed a 24 piece Elmo puzzle by herself today. She also figured out how to use the computer mouse to play her favorite games on Yo Gabba Gabba.

Jacob picked up a little theology today:

(Jacob is playing a Power Rangers game on the computer.)

J: Can you help me play this game?
Me: No, Jake, you have to either keep trying or try another game. Besides, that game is too hard for me.
J: Do you know who can win this game?
Me: Who?
J: God.
Me: Oh...
J: Where does God live?
Me: Well, some people say that God is everywhere and some people say that God lives in heaven and some people say that He lives in our hearts and some people say that he doesn't live anywhere.
J: I know where he lives.
Me: Oh yeah?
J: In heaven.
Me: Okay!
J: Can we go talk to God?
Me: Well, sometimes God chooses to talk to people like Moses or I guess if you died and went to heaven you could talk to God. Or you could pray.

(Taught Jacob how to pray a nice little prayer about the nice weather and parents.)

J: I wanna pray a different prayer.
Me: Oh yeah? What do you want to pray for?
J: To win this game.

Picture FYI

Because of some unwanted attention on the latest pictures of the kids, I have marked all of the kids' Flickr pictures to private. I will still post pictures here, but if you had been enjoying seeing the kids on my Flickr photostream, you'll need to join Flickr and add me as a contact. I can then add you as a friend/family and you will have access to all of our pictures.

Jake the Linguist. (Warning: minor kidbrag.)

From the back of the car yesterday, Jake asked "Daddy, what's 'lee' mean?"

"Lee, like the name?"

"No, 'ly,' like 'accidentally.'"

I stumbled around an explanation of the meaning of the suffix -ly, and ended the explanation by saying "So you can say that [i.e., the thing I clumsily explained -ly means] by saying -ly after some words."

He thought for a second, then asked, "Kinda like -er and -est"?

He must have picked this up from PBS or something because I didn't teach it to him.

So we talked about some -er and -est words for a while. Then after a few seconds' pause, Jake asked, "What's 'well' mean?"

"You mean like what you get water from?"

"No, I mean like, 'Well, that may be true, but what I really want is a tiger.'"

The kid's got a future in Linguistics he does.

-Kris

FYI

Kris has started a new blog about his dissertation topic, extended cognition:

http://www.ex-cog.blogspot.com/

Bear in mind that real live professional famous philosophers have started writing on here, so feel free to look and comment if you have something to say, but if you just want to say hi, please write that on this blog. We hope that this will yield a job or at least get Kris a name in the philosophical community.

Also, I already broke the previous rule, but in my defense, no one famous was on there yet.

Yay Kris!!!

Happy Birthday, Kris!!!

Tomo Update

Friday I took Tomo to the vet dentist in Dallas. My friend, Lisa, was kind enough to take off a day ot work to come with me. After dropping her off, we went out to lunch and after about an hour, I received a call on her condition.

After taking some more precise x-rays, the doctor saw that there were no root fragments left over and that what the last doctor's x-rays had shown was just a massive swelling. Tomo's problem? Feline acne. That's right. Tomo has zits. Apparently, Tomo's acne on her chin became infected and made the inside of her mouth swell. Since she'd had a tooth pulled in that area before, we just assumed that the problem originated inside.

Tomo did have a biopsy of the area to rule out cancer and is taking a series of antibiotics. Her swelling has gone down and she seems like she's back to her normal, fat self.