Interview with a 9(!) year old

Favorites:

color - white

cereal -  Cinnamon Toast Crunch

non-sugar cereal - Rice Krispies

vegetable - cauliflower

drink - mix of Sprite, Root Beer, and lemonade

toy - Nintendo DS

TV show or Movie - Diary of a Wimpy Kid

game - Lord of the Rings Risk

book - Percy Jackson 5, Fairest (which is what he is currently reading) (although I would say Diary of a Wimpy Kid, because he has read all 6 of them 2 or 3 times)

restaurant - Subway or Casa Salza

holiday - birthday or Christmas

animal - cheetah or tiger

activity - reading, spending time with family


What do you like to do after school?
read, play with friends, have a snack

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Book critic, president of the United States

If you could change your name, what would you choose?
"I love my name.  If I had to?  . . .Corbin."

What is something you learned this year?

"division, rounding, why the "s" word is a bad word, how many grams of sugar are in most cereals"

Where would you like to go on vacation this year?

New York or Texas, Maine, Washington, Oregon or California or out of the country

What do you love about each person in our family?
Mom - she cooks for me and tucks me in bed and tells us stories and she takes us on trips
Cody - he plays with me and gives me presents and he shares his toys with me
Colton - he plays with me also, he shares and he gives hugs and he's really cute.
Dad - he teaches me stuff, he helps me do stuff, he spoils us and he takes us to Grandma's

What are some of your wishes for this year?

"That I'll get a good 4th grade teacher, that will let Dad come to the class.  That I'll have a good time in Lake Powell.  That I'll get fun stuff for my birthday and holidays.  I hope to get an upper grade workbook."

And now, a couple stories written BY Corbin:

If I had a pot of gold, I would buy some really tall shelves and 1 thousand books and make a private library only fo rme.  I would also get a ladder so I could reach the books on top of the shelves.  If I had a pot of gold, I woul dkeep some of it for treasure.  Then when I grow up I could show it to my kids.  If I had a pot of gold, I would save some of it.  Just in case there was a bill that I couldn't pay.  If I had a pot of gold, I would share it with people that didn't have enough money.  Like people who didn't have a job or are homeless.  If I had a pot of gold, I would give some of it to relatives.  Like my mom, dad, brothers, cousins, grandmas, grandpas, great great grandma Likely, and my friends.

"Diary of an Older Brother"
Last year my little brother named Cody was throwing a ball and catching it.  Just then he threw it too far and I tried to catch it but I tripped over a toy.  I fell on a bump that cut my knee to my kneebone.  My mom took care of it by putting a band aid on it.  In 2010 my family and I went to Bear Lake.  My little brother named Colton was doing something that my mom and I didn't know.  So we checked where he was hiding (under a chair with a towel on top.) and found him eating sand!  So my mom took a picture.  Last year at Christmas Colton went outside to play in the snow.  All of the sudden, it started snowing really, really hard so we went outside to go looking for Colton.  But we couldn't find him because the snow was taller than he was!  We finally found him under a snowman!  So we took him inside and had hot cocoa.  The end.

How to tie your shoes (it also had illustrations, but I'm too lazy to scan it in)
First you make an overhand knot with your shoe laces.
Then you make two loops. (Or some people call them "bunny ears".)
Next you put one loop around the other one and you put it in the space.  (Some people call it the "cave".)
After that you pull it tight.  And then your done!
If you double know it then it stays without falling apart.  You just put it around and through the space.
If you triple knot it you can barely get it off.
If you quadruple knot it then you have to saw it off.
And you don't have enough lace to knot it five times!

Cookin' up some birthday fun

If you haven't noticed from other posts, I LOVE to do birthday parties.  But as they get older, it seems to get tougher.  They're not into cute-sie stuff anymore and while they do have longer attention spans, they're not quite as easily entertained.  So after perusing the internet (no, not pinterest), I came up with the coolest 9 yr old party ever, suitable for both boys and girls and with plenty of things to pass the time without mutiny.

 

Since I can't seem to figure out how to upload the invitation, it was a black/white/red recipe card that said...

Recipe for:  Cooking Birthday Party

From the Kitchen of:  Chef Corbin

Ingredients: 1 cup friendship, 2 cups happiness, 3 cups fun, a pinch of laughter and 9 birthday candles.

Directions:  Mix ingredients together at Corbin’s Café, located at 1087 West 400 South, on Saturday, April 21.  Put in oven at 11am.  Should be cooked by 1pm. 

Call manager Mindy Jensen for reservations (801-380-9973)

When they arrived, they decorated their aprons and got their chef hats.

 

 

Then we played a game called "Oh, Waiter!".  It's a relay.  Boys vs girls, of course.

 

Step 1: Pour water from pitcher into glass (which is plastic).

Step 2: Carry it carefully on your tray all the way around the chair and back.

  

Step 3: With whatever water is left, fill the hurricane glass (which IS glass).  First team with theirs full, wins.

 

 Now it's time to cook!  Each chef got to prepare their own mini lasagna however they wanted...

 

Choice of Ingredients:  Rigatoni or lasagna noodles, italian sausage or gr. beef, mozzarella, parmesan and sauce, of course.  Most of the kids just piled a little bit of everything and most of them actually ate it!

 

While that was cooking . . .  it was time for our Super Chef Cookie Bake-Off. 

Two teams, recipe for chocolate chip cookies, and all the ingredients you need.  Ready, Set, Go!

 

 

I'm not sure if we were going for the fastest or the best tasting, but it turned out to be a good little baking experiment since one team followed the recipe exactly and one team decided just to throw all the ingredients in and mix.  Either way, it was fun and they all loved sampling the cookie dough and taking some home.

 

Then, while we waited for the lasagnas to cool, we made fruit kabobs to round out our meal...

 

And finally . . . Bon Appetite!

 

 

 

But it's not over yet!  Time for presents, to the tune of . . .

 Yep, that's right.  It may sound silly, but it is the tactic I use at every kids b-day party - no matter the age.  They pass the potato (or ball or whatever) and when the music stops and it lands on them, they get to sit by Corbin and give him their present.  It keeps it from becoming mass chaos where no one can see what he got, he doesn't know who its from and Mom can't see a thing.  Works like a charm.

 

But wait!  Before everyone leaves - don't forget cake and ice cream! As chefs, they had to decorate their own, of course, and what's better than leftover Easter candy?!

 

 

Best Little Chefs Ever!

Thanks to everyone who came and participated! It was so much fun!

Is it possible to love too much?

Loved this boy right from the start.

 Happy 9th Birthday, Corbin!

I can't believe you have been in my life that long.  Time goes by faster and faster.  I love you more and more everyday. We are so blessed to have you!

Which one makes the "Story of the Day"?

So let me set up the scenario and then I'll give you the choices . . .

Ice fishing, mid-March.  Currant Creek Reservoir, surrounded by mountains.

We're chillin' (literally).

Helping Dad.

Makin' snow angels.

Scoopin' ice.

Drawin' maps.

Takin' potty breaks.

And yes, catching fish.

Russ even caught one on his "Barbie" pole.

But on to the real stories:

What once was lost, now is found.
First bite of the day. Russ and I are about 10 feet away from this particular hole.  Corbin is about 2 feet away.  I see it moving, Russ does the "Oh, oh, oh!  Corbin! Corbin!  Quick, grab it!"  Russ runs toward the hole, one foot crunching through the top layer of ice.  Corbin is excited . . . too excited to realize what he's supposed to do.  Russ and I reach the hole just in time to see the pole pop in and dwindle into darkness.
Thirty seconds later, we have a bite on the pole right next to it, which is not uncommon since the fish tend to come in schools.  Russ grabs it and hands it over to Colton to reel it in.  Some thing's a little funny about this one though . . . it's tangled in another line . . . we reel some more . . . same fish that yanked our previous pole comes out of the water and next up . . .

Yep, we got our pole back (this never happens, by the way).  Guess that fish wasn't so smart after all.

The library gets my dough.
So, as normally do when we go fishing, I brought a book so I could get in a little quiet reading time (which didn't really happen).  But finally, when the boys went back up on shore, I sat down to soak up the sun and read a few pages.  Pretty soon though, the wind started blowing and the poles started wiggling.  So then I am staring at them intently, wondering if it is the wind making them move or a fish slowly nibbling at the bait.  And of course I did not want to be the one who lost another pole, so I had to be vigilant.  The moment came and I threw my book in my chair grabbed the pole and reeled in a nice cut-throat trout.  Just as I pull it up onto the ice, another pole 4-5 feet away starts jumping and I dive for it.  Safe!  I start reeling, look over, and the fish I dragged out is almost back to the hole!  And he's still attached to the pole!  Ahhhh!  Of course Russ comes back and just laughs at me as I try to keep one on the line and drag the other one back with my foot.  Turns out I yanked the second one too hard and lost it.  And during this little heart pumper moment, the wind picked up, and so as Russ and I try to gather our stuff and keep things from being carried away across the ice, my chair is blown over and my book takes a dive.  Yep. Right. in. the. hole.  Good thing Russ saw it or it might have been completely gone.  Either way, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to pay for that one.

Colton goes swimming.
Yes, really.  No pictures, sorry, but I was about 50 yards away.  See the thing about ice fishing this late in the season is that while it is nice and sunny and we can take off our coats, it also starts to melt the ice.  Now, before my mother has a panic attack - I'm not talking about melting the 20+ inches of ice that we are fishing through, no, just a good 8-12 inches off the top.  It's kind of hard to describe, but picture it being nice and warm the day before we get there, so there gets to be a few inches of slush on top of this frozen mass of ice which is one top of the rest of the lake that didn't freeze (where the fish are swimming around).  Then during the cold night, a layer of ice reforms on the top of the slush, which is on top of the big ice layer, which is on top of the water.
So . . . after a few hours of fishing in the warm sun, Colton decides he really has to go to the bathroom now, so Russ and Corbin start to walk with him back up to the latrine thing by the parking area.  About 10 yards from shore, it becomes quite clear that this top layer is melting again.  So with each step it is a precarious dance of balance and luck as to whether or not it will hold or whether your foot will slip through.  And about 2 feet from hard pack snow, it happens - to Colton.  What for us is the dip of our boot and shin, is half of his body.  And since the ice keeps breaking all around him, soon he is on his side swimming in this layer of water, slush and breaking ice.  From my vantage point, half a football field away, I'm like, "Russ!  grab him!" and in my mind I am screaming!  Russ can't get near him because the ice would just continue to break.  --Let me just interject at this point that there is no real danger of him drowning or anything like that, just picture him swimming in the kiddie pool, but full of snow and ice and in his snow clothes.--  So Corbin is the closest and he is doing that holy crap kind of laughing like "is this really happening, and it's kinda scary, but kinda funny that my brother is floundering around in the water like a wounded duck."  So Russ hollers at Corbin to grab him, and then the adrenaline takes over and Corbin uses his super-human strength to hoist him up by the suspenders on the back of his snow bibs and propel him onto the snow-packed shore.

Yep, that was the end of our fishing trip.  It was good though.  Really good.