The Quirks

Today I decided since I had such a great laugh at Jenna's quirks and apparently I was tagged...I decided to play along and list our families goofy ways.

Shawn has a thing about using public restrooms. I suppose we all do to some extent but not like this. Shawn never flushes the toilet with his hand only with his foot. He has always been a bit of a germaphob....but he also has to wrap his hand in toilet paper to lift the lid and when he uses the paper towel....he always carries it out with him and uses it to actually open the mens ' room door.

Mina - when drinking pretty much any drink out of a bottle or can ...and yes;..even plastic...MUST..and I mean MUST sip the drink...Turn the label toward her at eye level....Look at it and then place the drink down facing front. Who knows why I do this? You would think that all this label looking would make me and expert at labels..but actually not...I do not remember any of them.... (Well..COKE YA) There is no great meaning and depth to the glance except to make sure its proper positioning and allignment to my face. No retention!

Shawn has the most perfect Drawers I have ever seen.... (WOW..that sounded just plain wrong...haha) Drawers is a weird word by the way don't you think? It really kind of gets stuck and your face has to massively adjust to get it out ....and at that very last consonent - would - if you stop and hold - force you into a ridiculous face. Drawers should never be discussed on a first date for that very reason. YOU DO LOOK RIDICULOUS saying that word....trust me. Anyway..His Drawers are perfect. He DOES fold his underwear and the socks can not be rolled. All Socks are color coordinated with all the white together and blue socks are not going on top of the white for convenience. The man has the most organized suitcase on trips I have ever seen and it does stay that way!


We Knuckle bump a lot....both of us. It is a sin to leave the partner hanging....so we just are right back with it... For us knuckle bumping represents the following phrases:

"Oh ya man...That was funny"
"You got me on that one"
Your notta kidding"
"Oh YA"
"Right On" (not like we would ever say the words right on....you understand that would seriously date us.)
"I hope so man"

Shawn hides his Pop Tarts (enough said) (And.... get this.. I don't like them...so go figure) (well actually I love them..but what are..they 100 carbs or something???? I gave up those and the PINK COOKIES... ya..you know the ones..the GIANT PINK COOKIES.....And the Costco Muffins - After one tragic look at the nutritional content.

I don't know how to work the remote on my tv...even after being shown many times. I am not even sure which paddle does what. I just grab all three each time and study them. I seldom get the right one first. You would think I would look at the label so to speak but it only applys to beverages. I do not know how to turn on my tv sound.. I just flip through the choices till I hear something. I am not sure why this is so....It is total brain rejection. I refuse to retain that as well.


We have our own language that we made up to when one one laughter filled night we realized how many words contain the short word "lew" I suppose we felt entiled and somhow bonded with the idea since our last name is "Lewis" We would leave off the actual LEW and everything else would remain...

For example if someone made the B (short B sound ) (actual word blue ) (But this Lew language had some common words as does English that sound the same but mean something different...or blue as in the color which also would be shortened to the short sound of B? They might be answered with "no...I am quite happy ...Thanks."

Other great examples formulated that night were things like:

CIFER: You are being mean and nasty and onery. ("Lew" cifer)
UDE: Innapropriate Behavior
HONNA : A city in Hawaii
PEE - You are acting a little crazy Did you have too much to drink?
G (short sound of G) Something essential for arts and crafts
T (Short Sound of T) money
TOODAH " Bye Bye Now
F (short Sound of F ) a minor health situation
IG Cold
C (as in Cookie) meaning you really don't have a clue? (Ok..so I told you that one)
JUH A Winter sport
Sometmes we cheat a bit... but we understand each other - so its all good.

If the Lew fell in the middle of the word - we would then grunt once for the listener to know that the lew fell right there

Short B sound followed by a grunt and a Short M sound would mean BLOOM.

Was this not like 12 or what? Couldn't you just see us in a treehouse laughing??????


I massage my one foot with the other. Some people might look at it as a nervous twitch but NO..It is my little foot massage parlor in action. One foot takes a turn with the other and they give each other constant massages when I am laying down. I am frequently asked to stop rubbing my feet together. This foot motion without stop seems to irritate the family at times.


Charli has some quirks as well.... She has to be the prettiest. Sometimes just to tease her I will say.. "No Mommy is definitely got you today". She gets extremely aggitated not thinking she is the prettiest girl in the universe. This beomces a major problem where you better look out because she is going to point out if your teeth are not looking their whitest today.


She likes her three pillows in a V shape when she goes to bed and has to have KERZAY. (her stuffed Dog) We brought her home one day and without the slightest hesitation when asked what she wanted to name her dog... (not even a pause) she says KERZAY and so it was...... KERZAY can never be just in the toy box

She does not approve of Braids. And she has a thing about hair color. Her favorite Barbie - The Blonde. Choosing between Black Hair and Brown - definitely Brown is prettier.Maryann or Ginger from Gilligan's Isle?? Ginger. Brittany Spears or Miley Cirrus? Brit hands down. Angelina or Jennifer Anniston .... JEN...no doubt.

She frequently asks me to "Smile like Jenna" I will smile like I think Jenna would smile....and she will seriously get annoyed.. "NO....LIKE JENNA!!! I will try again. (I smile) "NO!!!! LIKE JENNA!!!!! Mom Please!!!! " This goes on through every smile my face can contort with no satisfaction.


I am also requires to talk in what she refers to as my nice voice....which makes me feel somewhat like Cybil at times. I am always nice but the voice is a good octave above where I normally would speak. Forced to speak Soprano when I am a true Alto.


Her prettiest Sister?? ... None..cuz remember SHE is the prettiest.

A few loves.............

Charli loves ice cream, popsicles, dogs, snuggling, her shirt collars, birthdays, christmas, books, peanut butter, chocolate, her cereal bowl with the straw, perfume, God to not look at her when she is changing clothes because we told her God sees everything and this has become a great worry, swimming, seatbelts, frostys, hide and seek, ponies, birds, flowers, shoes, her pillows to form a hole for her head when she sleeps, her hair dryed, not to have her hair brushed, pizza, movie night, hotdogs, polished rocks, kids meal toys, to squeeze herself into the grocery cart, when daddy comes home, to jump off the side of the pool, to swim on her back, to carry chiquita around, to watch cartoons, to cook with mommy, to color ponies, princesses, to compete against the dancers on so you think you can dance and come in first place.

We love her to "God and back infinity times"

I don't want to get up! Oh ya..Today is my first day of Kindergarten

So...Then morning began with me trying to rouse the sleepy head as you can see from the pictures. It was "I am not done sleeping and rolled over" Then it was ...(see the smile) mommy reminding her that is was the first day of school. But just for dramatics she still had to go back to sleep on the floor or pretend to anyway! Then it was a bowl of cereal while mommy made eggs and then off to the bathroom to get ready!

Happy with her looks Charil said quite confidently.... I look so pretty all the boys are going to fall in love with me ...BUT I AM NOT GOING TO WORRY ABOUT RIGHT NOW! (well...that's nice to hear my little 5 year old!)

Then it was off to the school to brave the crowds of tearful mommies and happy kids! (haha). I creied all the way home! But..Charli did put kisses in my pocket (imaginary) in case I got lonely without her..and one for chiquita.

My Very First Blog Ever!

Ok... So I am not Charlise - I am Charli's Mom and this is my very first ever blog. I was inspired by my daughter Jenna's Blog and I decided that it was worth jumping into this century and figuring all this stuff out!!

Charlise is 5 now and getting ready for Kindergarten! When Charli turned 5 she turned into a princess. We are not quite sure what happened but from about age 17 months to 5 - she was quite a demanding little thing with two very distinct personalities and then all the sudden she hit a princess phase and realized that she had everyone pretty much wrapped around her finger with her sweet personality and so it just stayed on and we were quite relieved! Charli is literally the biggest animal lover the world has ever seen and given a chance she would play with her puppy 24/7. No...this is not an exaggeration. You may think it is..but we literally have to take the puppy away to let him rest several times throughout the day and during those times remind Charli how much time till she can resume playing with our little chihuahua we affectionately call Chiquita Bonita Angelita Chihuahua (chikeetee peetee) for short. For the most part -chiquitee does not seem to mind all the attention except when it involves her swimming a lap or two in our pool in which case she makes a beeline for the steps and takes off running! Occassionally she will hide under the bed in the direct middle until Charli comes to get me and then she runs into my arms and my arms only despite please from Charli to come out and play.

Charli started playing baseball with her daddy this week. They journeyed to the park with pink bat and pink glove in hand and loved it until Daddy forgot he was not in the major leagues and line drived one of her pitches right back into her tummy and THEY (almost true...Daddy was equally devestated but not crying)came home bawling. Yes..it left a mark and it might be awhile before she gets excited about the sport again. It was Mom to the rescue as Charli tossed up her shirt and said..."Look what daddy did??? and the tears came down again." "I didn't mean to!!" Shawn said innocently as if they were reporting back to me about their adventure! I am happy to report that the mark is gone.

So my baby is growing up...and off to school she will go...How sad! The only good thing about it is she will be my last child I will have to hold down with three nurses to administer the lovely 6 shot (yes...you heard that right) 6 shot round of kindergarten shots! It is no wonder they then give them several years off from the whole ordeal so that hopefully they will not remember the trauma!

What else can I say... She is my baby of 5 kids and I love her to pieces! Actually as Charli would say to me and I would say to her..... "I love her all the way up past the moon to God infinity times" and I love her so much I could scream ..(and then we do as loud as we can........)(but never when daddy is home or in the car!)