It's no wonder that our world is falling apart when you consider what kinds of things we read to our kids. I'm shocked as I read to the kids; the stories can be quite startling. But the kids like the stories so I keep reading them anyway.

One story they love is the story of Peter Rabbit. Anthropomorphism suits this story well for the most part. Until you get to the line where Peter Rabbit's mom warns Peter Rabbit to stay away from Mr. McGregor's garden because

"Your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor."

Imagine being a child and having your mother say this to you.

I'm also unnerved by the Mother Goose nursery rhyme "Goosey, Goosey Gander":

Goosey, Goosey Gander,
Wither shall I wander?
Upstairs, downstairs,
In my lady's chamber.

There I met an old man
Who would not say his prayers;
I took him by the left leg,
And threw him down the stairs.

As parents are we supposed to use this story as a threat? As odd as this poem is, I'm not sure if it's better or worse than the story of the frantic woman who is chased by handicapped mice before she finally cuts off their tails.

Perhaps the creepiest story of all is the disturbing "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. It starts off nice enough but quickly degrades into a tale of an aged woman dragging her son, who is a grown man, out of bed after breaking and entering into his home. She then holds him down and rocks him back and forth while singing to him. It's just like a scene out of a horror movie. Not the "Saw" kind of horror movie - I mean the really freaky movies like "The Sixth Sense" or "The Changeling". It may just be a rumor, but I heard that the original version of this book ended with the mother's ghost coming back to haunt the son. She whispered the song in his ear every night until he finally went crazy. They were going to print the story anyway but Sheila McGraw's illustration showed the mother's ghost with no eyes in her sockets and it freaked everyone out.

A lot of ladies think "Love You Forever" is a very sweet book but there's a lot they don't know about Robert Munsch. First, and most awkward, is that he's a Canadian. An American-born Canadian, actually. I'm not sure how that works. Second, he wrote a book called "Good Families Don't". Since this is a family blog I will limit what I say about this book. Suffice it to say the plot involves beans and the effects of eating said beans.

Now that I think about it, a book that combines the stories from "Love You Forever" and "Good Families Don't" might actually be a good read.

December was a month of serious partying. First, we had Bryce's big one year celebration. We had a small group of family over that consisted of grandparents and the "duckies". When it came time to sing to him he wanted to grab the flame so badly that he had to be restrained. Here's a picture of the moment:

Chase also had his birthday in December. Once again, it was a low key affair with just grandparents.

Christmas was a particular joy because everyone was fairly healthy - something we haven't enjoyed for years. We had a fantastic Christmas Eve out in Spanish Springs at the S. household. On Christmas day we went to Emilie's parents for a fabulous prime rib Christmas dinner. After dinner we spent the rest of Christmas at my parent's home. Between Christmas and New Years we had a lot of fun family time. As previously stated, it was doubly fun because no one was sick.

In addition to the family partying, we also attended my work Christmas party. The food was okay, but we were mystified that the Christmas party had a "Studio 54" theme. To make it all the more authentic, the ballroom was scattered with "exotic dancers". No joke. I'm not sure if they were intentionally trying to be offensive or if they just wanted to make everyone extremely uncomfortable. Either way, they certainly achieved their goal. They sent out a survey asking for feedback about the party. I said it was okay, but maybe next year it would be cool to have Andrew Dice Clay come do an act. Or they could do a "Silence of the Lambs" theme. That would certainly open up a lot of possibilities for dining and entertainment. We'll see if they actually take the feedback seriously or not.

The most exciting thing about the party is that we got real babysitters to come watch the kids for us. Not even family members - just a couple of young women from church. Shockingly, everything seemed to work out okay. Maybe one day we'll get to do it again. One day...

Well, I have some exciting news. I should also state for the record that Emilie is not as excited about this news as I am. Anyway, it looks like the Carpenter household will soon have another little mouth to feed. Several months ago I harvested part of a leaf from my flytrap and have been nurturing it to create a new plant. It finally started to grow some tiny new traps. Hopefully the coming months will see continued growth and health as I continue to try to force its mommy/daddy to go dormant.

Emilie doesn't care about my plants. I don't think she hates them. She's just completely indifferent about them.

I'll follow up later with pictures of the new plant and our awesome amaryllis.

Time to catch up on the myriad of things going on. The biggest news of all is that Bryce tried crawling tonight. Fresh out of the tub, he crawled several shaky steps. Once he got dressed and ready for bed he wouldn't try it anymore, but he at least had several good attempts. He has been very proficient at pulling himself up on things. He loves to climb on the dishwasher door, the couch and especially the stairs. He can scale the stairs amazingly fast. This is all making our lives that much more exciting.

Chase has made some comments lately that made me laugh out loud. One comment that he has used a few times is "that's what kids do" to explain his naughty behavior. For example, he slammed a door while all the other kids were sleeping. I said, "Chase! Don't slam the door!" He casually replied, "That's what kids do. They slam doors."

A couple days ago I caught him pulling the cushions off the couch and making a mess of it. I reminded him that this was not acceptable and that he needed to put everything back. He looked at me and said, "You get mad when you see me do this. Why don't you go away so you can't see me?"

While Chase has been making funny comments, another behavior in our home has been far less funny. Mason has a problem with biting, which is spiraling out of control. In order to defend themselves, Chase and Jaxon have begun biting, too (Jaxon more so). Jaxon has a very bruised spot on his arm courtesy of Mason and Mason has a deep bite mark on his back. Chase got one from Jaxon on the chest tonight. Our attempts at curbing this behavior have been unsuccessful so far.

A few night ago Mason was very tired because he didn't take his nap. While getting ready for bed he had a breakdown and became very upset. While Emilie was putting his pajamas on him he became so enraged that he actually bit himself on the hand. We're still not sure what to do about it.

We had a phenomenal evening at M. and L. C.'s house on Sunday. After a delicious dinner and a worthy treat, we played some Beatles Rock Band. We only got through a few songs before the kids melted down and we had to head for home. The evening became awkward when M. expressed his distaste for Rush, one of the bands of all time. Since it was Sunday I quickly forgave him and trust that he will repent.

I got a flu shot last Friday without incident. I went in for a blood donation on 9/28. I was able to do a 2RBC, which I wasn't able to do for a couple donations previous.

I have all sorts of exciting plant news, but I'll save that for next time...

Plenty of newsworthy items for today. Recently we received a surprise phone call from an unexpected caller. It was the police. Bryce apparently learned to dial 911. Unfortunately, the operator was unable to understand why he was calling.

A couple days ago Mason dropped a gigantic Maglite flashlight on his toe. Mason isn't that tall so how far could he possibly drop it? Apparently far enough to crush his toe pretty bad. It's starting to heal pretty well, but it still looks ugly. It left a nasty open wound and I'm sure his toenail is about to check out.

Mom and Dad C. and Mike came over last night for a raging party. Emilie made some phenomenal taco soup. The parents brought some ice cream and the kids ate some even though they didn't eat their dinner. That's messed up.

The twins are severely distressing Emilie with their climbing in and out of bed every day. Nap time, which used to be a necessary respite, is now just another daily challenge. A successful nap time usually requires someone sitting in their room until they go to sleep. To add to this challenge, Chase usually pops in and out of the room. Emilie handles this challenge much better than I do.

Finally, I've got some good news and bad news. First, the bad news. The yellow jacket that I put in my flytrap ended up killing the trap. I thought it was doing well, but then one day it suddenly went black and gave up the ghost. The good news is that the new traps that are growing are developing a very nice red color, which is indicative of a healthy plant. Still no luck on propagation.

The last time we met I mentioned Mason's bizarre decision to flip out of his crib. Learning from this mistake, the twins decided to improve the process. About a week ago I headed upstairs to get Jaxon and Mason out of bed and found that Jaxon was already heading down the stairs. I helped him get situated on the couch and then went up to get Mason only to find that he, too, was already out of bed and headed down the stairs. I thought Emilie might have gotten them out of bed but found that she was still asleep. They finally figured out how to crawl out of their cribs - something Chase never did. The twins are now at the age where we took Chase's crib out of his room completely. We're trying to work out the logistics of this problem.

Mason has only climbed out a couple times. Jaxon, on the other hand, is constantly climbing out of his crib and into Mason's. It is disrupting naps and causing issues. This issue, however, pales in comparison to another issue we're having with Jaxon.

I mentioned in a previous post that Jaxon tends to be a daredevil. Specifically, he likes to climb the stairs on the ledge on the outside of the rail. Of course, as usually happens, this thrill soon wasn't enough and he had to start looking for bigger thrills to get his adrenaline high. So he started climbing up the next section of stairs. I've caught Jaxon on the outside of the rail probably half a dozen times. I'm providing a picture with an arrow pointing to where I usually find him.

I have tried desperately to think of an effective way to keep him from doing this, but I haven't come up with anything yet. I have a couple ideas that may work, but I would love to hear suggestions.

Speaking of climbing up stairs, Bryce has become very proficient at climbing stairs. He still doesn't crawl - he does the army crawl thing. He likes to get up on his hands and knees, so it surprises me that he doesn't want to try crawling. He is still a very good baby and we consider ourselves very lucky to have him.

To add some humor (although this is kind of gross), Chase made a funny comment the other day. While changing diapers I found that Mason had diarrhea. I asked Chase if he knew what diarrhea was and he replied, "that's when it comes out real fast."

The next night I was getting ready to read to Chase and grabbed his Book of Mormon chart off the dresser. For every chapter we read together he gets to put a star on the chart to mark his progress. I found that he had put a star on the chart on his own and I explained to him that he can only put a star on the chart if we read together. I then started to read and he began repeating all the words as I read. He apparently took my words literally when I said we had to read together.

Finally, Emilie and I took all the kids to Idlewild Park on Saturday to participate in the "Walk in Memory, Walk for Hope" suicide prevention walk. It's been a while since I've spent much time at Idlewild, but I had some serious flashbacks while walking around. I had completely forgotten that there used to be a little miniature train that went around the park until we came across the little tracks that are still in place. The giant rocket was gone, as were all the rides. In their place was a regular old park. Boo. I say bring the old Idlewild back.

Before starting yet another week I figured I better get caught up on my list of bloggable stuff. Of course, since I'm blogging that must mean all the kids are sick. Indeed, it is true. The kids suffered from an extended cold, which turned into some kind of eye problem. They would wake up with their eyes caked shut (not with actual cake, mind you). Our pediatrician prescribed Vigamox, but $85 later it didn't seem to help. It would clear up temporarily but then come right back. I then took Mason to Reno's finest ophthalmologist, who then prescribed Neomycin/Polymyxin B and Dexamethasone Ophthalmic Suspension, which only cost $4. It was obvious that our pediatrician did not prescribe this initially because he couldn't say it. After diligently administering this to all four kids for about a week everything finally cleared up.

But then they all got another cold. They've been fighting it for a few days now and I caught it. Emilie seems to be to only one who doesn't have it yet. I think everyone is on the rebound, which is good.

Last Saturday (August 29th) Emilie and I ran the Scheel's Spark-a-Delic 5k Run. There were a few others from the ward who ran. I haven't run 5k competitively since high school, so I my expectations for myself were pretty low. I pushed myself pretty hard and was proud to finish with a time of 28:27. Especially considering that I didn't do anything to prepare myself.

Mason and Jaxon have both done some pretty dumb things lately. I have a couple things about Jaxon to blog, but I need to include pictures. I'll save it for next time. As for Mason, I put him in his bed a few nights ago and he was not happy about it. He decided to fling himself over the rail of his crib, causing him to do a flip and land on his back. I know he didn't want to go to bed, but I'm not sure what made him think it would be a good idea to jump headfirst out of the crib. I think he got the wind knocked out of him, but didn't seem to be hurt otherwise. He calmed down pretty quick. And he hasn't tried it again since.

I'm going to call it a night and I'll shoot for getting the rest of the blogging done tomorrow.

A little more than six weeks ago I acquired a Venus flytrap while at The Home Depot. I think I was there looking for stuff to revive certain parts of our lawn that are less than spectacularly healthy. Anyway, I was inspired to spring the few bucks to buy this plant by the fact that our house is constantly full of flies. It could be because the kids leave the back door open all day. It could be because we have four kids in diapers and that makes our house a particularly delectable resort for these pests. Whatever the reason, I was intrigued by a plant that murders flies to live. I mean, I love to murder flies but I have yet to test whether it is truly a matter and life and death to me.

As it turns out, the plants they sell at The Home Depot are pretty much meant to played with for a few days and then tossed. At least that's the impression I get. I've taken it upon myself to try to make the plant a healthy one. I re-potted the plant, arranged for sufficient lighting and moisture and so far it seems to be doing very well. I'm currently in the process of trying to propagate the plant through a couple methods. First, I'm using a cut flower that I've been working on for a few weeks. Second, I just started a pulled leaf today. It remains to be seen whether either method will work.

The plants are very interesting so it's been a lot of fun to watch and experiment. I'm embarrassed to show a picture of it because it's not very attractive. First, I had it in sort of a mini-terrarium and the shape of the container was making the leaves grow in strange directions. I cut the top half of the container off so that the plant is free to roam, but it's looking pretty crazy. Also, it seems that there are at least three plants growing based on the number of traps. If my propagation attempts are successful then I'll try experimenting with splitting the main plant.

You can see in the picture that there is one trap with a fly corpse in it, another with just the head showing and less obvious is one with a yellow-jacket in it. The plants caught the flies on its own, but I gave it the yellow-jacket (I heard that's like ice cream for these plants). In the background you can see a round container with the flower in it and in the far rear is the pulled leaf.

Watch for more exciting updates!

My task now is to try to convey the gut-busting excitement we've experienced over the past couple of weeks in a way that will not bore you. Actually, this will be long and boring. Go grab a Pepsi and get comfortable. I'll wait.

Two weeks ago we had quite an exciting day. It was a Saturday just like today (except two weeks previous). I was bringing the kids inside after playing around at the front of the house. The front door was open and Emilie was folding clothes. I should mention that Emilie is scared of bees. And crickets. I'm not sure which one terrifies her more, but she is comically scared of them both. A yellow-jacket wasp flew through the front door and landed on her causing her to jump and scream. She used some clothing that she was holding to fend the wasp off. I grabbed a cup and captured the wasp because I had plans for it.

I took the entrapped wasp and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes until it appeared to be immobile. I then grabbed the wasp by a wing and fed it to my Venus flytrap (more on that exciting topic later!). At first I thought I froze it too long and had killed it, but a minute or two after the trap closed the wasp came to life and started to freak out. But by then it was too late.

Just as I was stepping away from this delightful activity I heard glass break and then screaming. I ran to the bedroom and found Jaxon precariously poised over a pile of broken glass and Emilie scrambling to clear the area. Jaxon had apparently found a drinking glass somewhere and had broken it against the exercise machine. He was bleeding quite heavily from his hand so I took him to the sink to assess the situation. I could see several small cuts on his hand and one large laceration that appeared to be quite deep and uncomfortably close to his wrist. Unable to determine how bad the cut was, I put pressure on the cut with my thumb and we took Jaxon to urgent care.

Fortunately, the cut wasn't as bad as it initially appeared. Jaxon screamed like a dying rabbit the whole time. Only stickers and bubbles could temporarily sate him him before the terror and pain returned. The doctor cleaned the wound, checked for glass, glued the cut shut and covered it with butterfly bandages and gauze. We were in and out of urgent care in less than an hour (yay for American health care!). As soon as we got home Jaxon crashed and had a pretty good sleep.

Meanwhile, I went down to my dad's shop to do a little bit of work. As I was getting ready to leave my dad called me over and I made my way to the back hallway. As I rounded the corner I saw a giant lizard that had somehow gotten into the store. We briefly discussed how we were going to catch it, but then I realized that it was on tile and couldn't move very well. I just reached down and grabbed it as it slid around ineffectively trying to escape. As we started outside to let it go, it managed to get about halfway into my shirt sleeve. We got to the bushes at the edge of the parking lot and I started to pull it out of my sleeve, but it worked its way all the way into my shirt where it had free reign. My dad had to stick his hand up the back of my shirt and he eventually fished it out at the back of my neck.

Emilie's parents came by that evening to check on Jaxon and they hung out for a while. Jaxon did pretty well with his bandages all night, but by morning the wound apparently started to itch. By the time I went in to get him out of bed he had removed all the gauze, all the butterfly bandages and had partially clawed the cut back open. Of course, his sheets were a bloody mess as a result. We bandaged it back up and he did pretty well keeping the bandages on for the next few days. He still has a decent scab on his hand, but it seems to be healing pretty well.

All that excitement in one day. Yikes.

Remaining blog topics will be added in a separate post. Chances are you haven't read this far anyway...

What was happening last year about this time? Here's a refresher:

• Sam was turning 30 - read more here
• Birds were waking us up at 4:30 in the morning (and a squirrel posed for a picture) - original story here
• Emilie and I announced that our new baby would be a boy on July 30 - original post here

While all these exciting stories that included the number 30 were happening, I was also setting a goal to read 30 books within the next year. I finally achieved that goal today. In a house full of kids and chaos I'm not sure how it happened, but miraculously it did.

Some of the books were outstanding and some were stinkers. There will be a clear bias apparent in the books I chose to read. I'm always willing to take suggestions, but I'll state that I'm not a big fan of fiction. Soooo, for those dying to know what sort of trash Brad reads, here's the final list:

• Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell
• Deliver Us from Evil : Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism by Sean Hannity
• The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage by Laura Schlessinger
• Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes by Gordon Bitner Hinckley
• An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems by Glenn Beck
• The Power of the Word by Ed J. Pinegar
• If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans: Ann Coulter at Her Best, Funniest, and Most Outrageous by Ann Coulter
• A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
• Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
• So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
• Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
• The Naked Capitalist: a Review and Commentary on Dr. Carroll Quigley's Book Tragedy and Hope - a History of the World in Our Time by W. Cleon Skousen
• In the Gravest Extreme The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection by Massad F. Ayoob
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Emil Frankl
• Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
• Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America by Ann Coulter
• Sacred Intimacy by Brenton G. Yorgason
• A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media by Bernard Goldberg
• A Witness and a Warning: A Modern-Day Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon by Ezra Taft Benson
• Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins edited by Noel B. Reynolds
• How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter by Ann Coulter
• The Forgotten Man - A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes
• Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton by Jonah Goldberg
• Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The Holy Temple, Illustrated Edition by Boyd K. Packer
• Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio by Brian Jennings
• The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
• Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Evolution of Thomas Paine's Revolution by Glenn Beck

You can always see what I'm currently reading over at Shelfari.