I have no idea where it came from, but Malachi (our littlest guy) has developed a “funny laugh” that never fails to crack us all up. We even put it on our answering machine. People say that they call now just to be cheered up by Malachi’s laugh on the recording.

I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t get a video of this goofy laugh. A few days ago I finally got it done. It took…more than a few shots. Ah, but at least it was fun.

If you happen to need a laugh and have one minute and forty one seconds to watch something  completely pointless and silly, please watch this little video we call, “Laugh Along with Malachi”. 

Hey, did you notice the other boys flying around in the background, trying to get on camera? At least the boys come by their wild and wackiness honestly.

What is up with me encountering critters in my house? First the snake and now this.

I will say, right from the start, that having a snake in my house was a MUCH worse experience than this one. This one was mostly just funny and made my children laugh at me.

Early last week the boys and I took down our Christmas tree and decorations and boxed them up to store until next year. We keep all of our Christmas decor up in our attic, along with a various assortment of dust and dirt. 

The boys hauled all of the boxes upstairs and put them at the base of the attic stairs. I was then planning to take the boxes up the steep steps into the attic. 

So picture this:  Four boys (fairly bored, disinterested and relieved to be finished with packing up decorations) gathered around 6-8 boxes all of various sizes and shapes at the base of a set of stairs leading up to an attic. One mom (also very relieved to be finished with packing up decorations and ready to move on with life) picking up one of the boxes to begin the trek up the stairs to deposit the goods. Sounds innocent enough wouldn’t you think? Kinda makes you want to yawn, doesn’t it?

I opened the attic door and carried Box Number 1 up exactly five steps before abruptly being greeted by loud flapping wings and a beak flying toward my face. 

I yelled something intelligent like, “Aaauughhh!”, simultaneously jumped down all five steps in one leap and landed smack in the middle of my four boys and all the remaining boxes.

Oh, and I also slammed the door to the attic while I was leaping…all while still holding Box Number 1.

I have to say, the whole act was quite impressive and heroic.

The boys looked quite stunned at first, because well…this was not part of our yearly Christmas storage tradition.

It was then quite obvious that while they really wanted to make sure I was unharmed…they also really wanted to laugh. I’m also pretty sure they wanted to take a turn at the “go up five steps then leap back down while slamming a door” trick. Both of those activities are against the rules of the house…and to do them both at once? Cool.

I believe my oldest was the first to find his voice,  “What was THAT about?” he tried to ask without smirking.

“THAT,” I told my boys, “Was a bird flying at my face. Don’t worry, I wasn’t really scared. I just didn’t want the bird to fly down and get into the house, because do you know how hard it would be to get a bird out of our house? That’s why I jumped down so quickly and slammed the door.”

We had a nice laugh together, then left the boxes at the foot of the stairs for my husband to deal with later.

Best part of the story:  My father-in-law was visiting at the time. I went downstairs and, still a little out of breath from the whole experience said, “Hey, did you hear me yell and jump and wonder what was going on up there? There was a bird in the attic that flew at my face!”

My father-in-law just looked at me, quite interested and impressed with the situation.

Then he asked just as seriously as can be,  “What kind of bird was it?”

;)

Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose,
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose,
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose,
panda hippo gnu deer!

No, I didn’t write that myself. I’m not that creative. But you can think I am if you want to.

Actually, after I saw this little song, the boys and I had to turn it into a little research project. We did Swag searches to see what some of those animals looked like! How could I not gno about a gnu? Ah the things we wish we gnu.

I’ll be signing off for a couple of days to celebrate Christmas. I’ll do my best not to eat too much fudge this year.

Check back in soon! I’ll start answering your questions to add to my Learn About Laura series!

Have a wonderful, blessed Merry Christmas!

We have a super cool brown rectangular basket that sits up high in the kitchen looking cute and adorable. It holds the gum and candy people from church give our boys as rewards during Bible classes. The treats go into the basket and every once in a while, they get to pick something from it. 

Last week Malachi decided to redecorate.

Now the super cool brown basket sits empty. 

In it’s place is this box, now full of candy and gum.

So, should I make it a new kitchen theme? Because there are more of those kind of boxes where that one came from.

You MAY be interested to know that Adam and BryAnna came over today.

And tonight we played Nertz.

Guess who won!?!?!?!

ME! ME! I DID! I DID!!!!!!

I beat Adam!!! (I beat everyone else who played too…but Adam is the one who was talking the most smack.)  (I’m pretty sure Matt and BryAnna were both rolling their eyes at the two of us the entire game.)

I held myself back from scanning in the score sheet to show you that my score was 110 and Adam’s was…I don’t remember…LESS than that!!!

Did I mention that I played the entire game while standing only on one leg? Yes, I’m having some weird issues with my left knee (old volleyball injury, grr). I made sure to point that out when the game was over…how tired my right leg was from standing exclusively on it while I WON!

Okay, I think I’m done now. This post is perfectly ridiculous and I’m almost too embarrassed to publish it.

Thanks for putting up with me.

I promise NOT to write a post the every time I win a game of Nertz.

Maybe.

Why is it, do you suppose, that while I was making pretzels yesterday I had a sudden urge to grab a shoe and a cottage cheese container?

<shudder>