Archive for the Interviews Category

Interview with a teenager. Gabe – 14.

Tuesday, August 11th, 2015 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? Don’t bite your fingers.

What makes you happy? When I get my way.

What makes you sad? When anybody else is sad that makes me sad.

How do I make you laugh? Cause you have completely ridiculous jokes that are amazing.

What do you think I was like as a child? Ridiculous.  Like the rest of us but with a little bit of normal.

How old are you? Uhhh… 14.  That took me a little while to get for some reason.

How old am I? 40.  Or 42.

How tall are you? 5’7″.  No, not that tall.  Maybe 5’5″.  No, wait.  How tall is Dad?  I am about an inch taller than him.  Maybe 5’9″.

What is your favorite thing to do? I like to play football.  I like spending time with Joe.  Those two are pretty much just like in the balance.

What do I do when you’re not around? A lot of stuff but I would say mainly plan ahead.  Like prepare for grocery shopping.  I don’t know what you do with your free time.  Maybe sleep or nap or stuff.

What are you really good at? Football.  And I am good at…  Never mind.  I’m good at football.

What are you not really good at? I’m not really good at making sure things get done.  I’m good at doing them, just not at remembering to do them.

What does the president do? The president is like a figure head kind of.  Whenever you think of something wrong that the government has done it always seems to lead back to him.  Everybody points to the president.

What is your favorite food? Burgers.

What do you and I do together? Talk.

How are we the same? We are very good with little kids and… yeah.

How are you and I different? I play football but you just like to watch it.  You’re a girl and I’m a boy.

How do you know that I love you? Because you want me to do good in everything I do and if you didn’t love me you wouldn’t care.

What is one thing you wish you could change? I wish I could run faster.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? I wish we could go to, like, Crackerbarrel and talk.

What is your job in our family? My job in our family is to make sure the younger kids are doing what they are supposed to do and not being really bad or anything.

What is your favorite room in the house? The kitchen. Well, the dining room.

What is your favorite animal? Platypus.  They have a bill.  And they have a beaver’s tail.  And they are mammels but they lay eggs.  And they sweat milk.  

What has been your worst experience? This one time way back in the Turkey Oaks house there was this giant, long log or stick that I was carrying around and Joe wanted it.  And then he went and told you, and you told me to give it to him so I did and then I stomped off inside.  Joe was calling my name but I didn’t hear him because a bird was crowing and Joe and I both got in trouble for lying.  Either that or when Conner punched me in the face.

What is your favorite color? Red 

What is one piece of advice you have for me? Don’t procrastinate anything.  If you have something to do, just do it. 

What is the worst sound you’ve ever heard? Two magic erasers rubbing against each other.  EH EH EH.

What is your favorite song? The desert song from Legend of Zelda.  That song is awesome.

Do you have a favorite singer or band? Nope.

Where was the best place you’ve lived? When we live here in Milton the time before this.

What is your favorite show? X-Files

Do you have a superhero preference? Superman

Can you think of any other questions I should ask you? I can.  What is your favorite football position.  My answer would be receiver.

Interview with a teenager. Joe – age 17

Tuesday, August 11th, 2015 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? Drive safely

What makes you happy? Mountains

What makes you sad? A wasted day.  I have found that it makes me sad when I realize I have done nothing profitable in a day.

How do I make you laugh? When you’re visibly excited about something.  Because it’s so rare.

What do you think I was like as a child? Goofy.

How old are you? 25 no.  17.

How old am I? 40. 20. 24.  A pretty young age. I don’t know.  You still look good.

How tall are you? 5’8″

What is your favorite thing to do? Hike.  Off the path.  Like hiking, but off the path.  I don’t like paths.  They’re boring.

What do I do when you’re not around? Play the Game Cube most likely.  (Not true)

What are you really good at? Listening.  People like to talk to me because I listen.  Or they think I’m listening.  I believe I have that kind of personality that people think I’m a good listener and that I’m listening but I’m not.  That’s the only thing I can think of that I’m good at.  (I reminded him that he’s really good at science and he replied, “Oh yeah, put that.  That sounds really smart.”)

What are you not really good at? Remembering to do things I need to do.

What does the president do? Current president or all presidents? Make the people crazy. No, hold on.  Not his job.

What is your favorite food? Spaghetti with ground beef but not meatballs.

What do you and I do together? Visit the emergency room.

How are we the same? We’re both introverts.

How are you and I different? I like cold weather and you don’t.

How do you know that I love you? Because I can tell you want to lead me to do what is right.  You want to see me succeed and to grow up to be a good man.  If you didn’t love me you wouldn’t care.

What is one thing you wish you could change? I wish the education system would change.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? Not visit the emergency room.  No, that’s not my official answer.  Hold on.  Star gazing.

What is your job in our family? Lead my brothers.  I wasn’t going to write down clean the living room.  I mean, that’s my job after dinner but that isn’t my job in the family.  You’re writing all this down aren’t you?

What is your favorite room in the house? What kind of question is that?  Uh…  The rec room.  It depends on what time of day.  It’s hot but there is a fan you can turn on if it gets too hot.  

What is your favorite animal? Water Dragons.

What has been your worst experience? We were up in the mountains taking a little vacation and Kaity and Dad went missing in the woods and I was unbelievably scared.  (To clarify, their snowmobile got stuck in deep snow about 11 miles from where we were staying.  They weren’t lost, but search parties were organized quickly and it was dark and 10 below zero before they arrived safely back at the cabin.)

What is your favorite color? Storm blue.  Like purplish.  Or gray.  The color of a dark storm.

What is one piece of advice you have for me? When Dad says don’t open your box knife unless he’s around, don’t open it.

What is the worst sound you’ve ever heard? The sound of magic erasers rubbing up against each other.  Or the sound of Mr. Crabs rubbing two pickles together.

What is your favorite song? The Son of God Goes Forth to War. It sounds great when the whole church is singing it together.

Do you have a favorite singer or band? Mumford and Sons.  If I had to pick a favorite band it would be them.

Where was the best place you’ve lived? Washington State.

What is your favorite show? Doctor Who.

Do you have a superhero preference? Ant-man.

Can you think of any other questions I should ask you? Yes.  If you could be in any place in the world right now, where would it be?  You could also ask if you could bring one thing in to reality, like one thing that doesn’t exist, what would it be? If you were to write a book, what would it be about?  That’s it for today.

Interview with a 12 year old. Matthew.

Tuesday, August 11th, 2015 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? Good job.

What makes you happy? Playing football.  Wait, wait, wait….  Being with my family.

What makes you sad? Getting hurt.

How do I make you laugh? Tickling me or jokes.

What do you think I was like as a child? Bad, pretty, and funny.

How old are you? 11.  Why?  NO WAIT.  12.  I’M TWELVE!

How old am I? 40

How tall are you? Almost 5 feet.

What is your favorite thing to do? Play football.

What do I do when you’re not around? Do stuff on your computer.

What are you really good at? Football.

What are you not really good at? Not playing football.

What does the president do? He makes laws?

What is your favorite food? Tater tot casserole

What do you and I do together? Go to the store and be awesome.

How are we the same? We both have long legs and we’re both awesome.

How are you and I different? I play football and you don’t.

How do you know that I love you? Cause I know. And cause you take me to football.

What is one thing you wish you could change? Abortion

What do you wish you could go and do with me? Go to Whataburger.

What is your job in our family? Dishes

What is your favorite room in the house? The livingroom

What is your favorite animal? Bearded Dragon

What has been your worst experience? Breaking my leg.

What is your favorite color? Orange

What is your favorite number? 4

What is your favorite letter? M

Can you think of any other questions I should ask you?  Should we stop eating lunch and go to Whataburger?

Interview with a 10 year old. Ben.

Tuesday, August 11th, 2015 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? I love you

What makes you happy?  Spending time with mom and dad

What makes you sad? Not spending time with your family

How do I make you laugh? Funny stuff

What do you think I was like as a child? Bad.  Stealing candy and eating in the bathroom.  (note:  I have never stolen or shoplifted anything ever.)

How old are you? 10 years old

How old am I? 40

How tall are you? In the middle of four feet and five feet.

What is your favorite thing to do? I already answered this.  Spend time with you guys.

What do I do when you’re not around? Hide the bathroom.

What are you really good at? Swimming.

What are you not really good at? Being dumb.

What does the president do? He tells people what to do.

What is your favorite food? I do not know.  Wait!  I’ll just put pizza because I’m getting tired of ground beef.

What do you and I do together? Go to the store.

How are we the same? We have long toes.  We have brown eyes.

How are you and I different? You’re a girl.

How do you know that I love you? I can just tell.

What is one thing you wish you could change? Get rid of evil. No.  Get rid of sin.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? Go to LEGO Land

What is your job in our family? Sleeping.  Wait, no.  Making breakfast and lunch.

What is your favorite room in the house? My room.

What is your favorite animal? Panda Bear

What has been your worst experience? In the old house, falling on my face on the back porch when the earth hit me.

What is your favorite color? Purple.  Wait!  Yeah, purple.

What is your favorite number? Ten

What is your favorite letter? A.  Wait, no.  B.  NOOOOOOO.  AHHHHH…….

Interview with a teenager. Kait.

Thursday, November 29th, 2012 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? “I try not to listen to you.”

What makes you happy? The Gators win a game.

What makes you sad? Failing at anything.

How do I make you laugh? You say idiotic stuff.

What do you think I was like as a child? You stole candy and hid in the bathroom eating it.  So a rebel. (FYI I’ve never stolen candy.  Or anything. But for some reason all of my children think this about me.)

How old are you? Me? 14….  17 Gosh.

How old am I? 37

How tall are you? 5’5”.       And a half.

What is your favorite thing to do? Eat steak.

What do I do when you’re not around? You cry.

What are you really good at? Nothing.  The jack of all trades is the ace of none.  I can do a lot of stuff but I’m not really good at anything.  Except being awesome.

What are you not really good at? Violin.

What does the president do? He symbolizes…  That’s pretty much all he does.  At least our current one.  He’s like the American eagle.  Except he doesn’t really symbolize freedom, he symbolizes debt and poverty and welfare.

What is your favorite food? Steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese.

What do you and I do together? Everything. Especially since dad’s been deployed.

How are we the same? We both find stupid stuff hilarious.

How are you and I different? You’re a realist and I like people.

How do you know that I love you? You buy me stuff and clean the house and give me advice in a nice way.

What is one thing you wish you could change? Sometimes I wish that the sky was, like, purple or something.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? Eat steak. Or go to England.  Either works for me.

What is your job in our family? I am the master chef and I have to yell at kids all the time and make sure nobody is doing evil when you’re not looking and put stuff away and play music really loud that you hate.

What is your favorite room in the house? What kind of question is that?  The bathroom.  What the heck?  Like if there was only one room left what room would I want it to be?  Is that what kind of question this is?  Probably the kitchen.  I could just pee in the sink.  Don’t put that last part.  MAWM!!!!

What is your favorite animal? Fennec Fox

What has been your worst experience? Moving to Jacksonville.  It’s not bad now though.

What is your favorite color? Metallic-y gray blue-y

What is one piece of advice you have for me? Start spelling gray with an e.

What is the worst sound you’ve ever heard? That one sound that Taylor played that one night when we were at their house for dinner.  Like 2009.

What is your favorite song? Everybody wants to rule the world.

Do you have a favorite singer or band? I like Foster the People a lot.  But I also like Peter Cetera.  And… I like Jason Maraz.  OH TRAIN!  Train is one of my favorites too.

Where was the best place you’ve lived? Milton.  Well, I really liked Washington too.

What is your favorite show? This is a hard one.  Probably Psych.  But I really… It just depend on my mood.  Sometimes I really want to watch Merlin.  Sometimes I really want to watch Arrested Development and sometimes I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT TO WATCH MODERN FAMILY BUT MOM HASN’T PREVIEWED ANY MORE OF THEM SO I CAN’T.

Do you have a superhero preference? Heck yes.  Batman for the win.  And Hawkeye.  I like Thor a lot too.  Oooh, and the Green Arrow.  I really like him too.

Can you think of any other questions I should ask you? Yeah.  You should ask me, “Kait, would you like to sleep in tomorrow and have me make you steak for breakfast and serve it to you in bed?”

Interview with a seven year old. Ben.

Saturday, November 24th, 2012 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? You love me.

What makes you happy? Jumping on a trampoline.

What makes you sad? Getting in trouble

How do I make you laugh? When you tell me jokes or tickle me.

What do you think I was like as a child? Good.

How old are you? Seven.

How old am I? 37

How tall are you? About 3 feet.

What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my friends.

What do I do when you’re not around? By us presents and stuff. And wrap them.

What are you really good at? Rugby.

What are you not really good at? Football because I don’t really know how to play it.

What does the president do? He tells everybody what to do.

What is your favorite food? Pizza.

What do you and I do together? Help each other. Talk.

How are we the same? We’re not. Well, we’re in the same family.

How are you and I different? You look different.

How do you know that I love you? Because you hug me.

What is one thing you wish you could change? Dad being back from sea.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? Go to the store.

What is your job in our family? Clean my room.

What is your favorite room in the house? Your room because you have a big fluffy bear and a giant bed and two sinks that are yours.

What is your favorite animal? Elephant.

What has been your worst experience? When I almost got my head cracked wide open. In the old house, remember Chris? My chain came off my bike and got stuck to his pedal and I fell off and my head hit this part in the road really hard and then another kid rode over my head with his bike. The first wheel, not the second.

What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite number? Ten

What is your favorite letter? Uh… B. No. Uh… E.  NO!  N!

Interview with a 9 year old. Matthew

Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? Stop saying “Um”.

What makes you happy? Jokes

What makes you sad? When bad things happen. Like when that squirrel died.

How do I make you laugh? Tickling me.

What do you think I was like as a child? Crazy.

How old are you? Nine

How old am I? Uh… It’s like 30-something.  36?

How tall are you? 50?

What is your favorite thing to do? Go on vacation.

What do I do when you’re not around? Cleaning.

What are you really good at? Football.

What are you not really good at? Baseball.

What does the president do? He’s the leader of the city.  No, country.  And he makes laws.

What is your favorite food? Tater tot casserole

What do you and I do together? Make food.

How are we the same? We’re not.

How are you and I different? I like video games and you don’t

How do you know that I love you? I just know you do.  You help me. And you tell us all the time.

What is one thing you wish you could change? Stop people from lying.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? Going and getting LEGOs from the store.

What is your job in our family? Helping the younger kids learn to be good.

What is your favorite room in the house? The livingroom

What is your favorite animal? Cheetah

What has been your worst experience? When Lucas died

What is your favorite color? Orange

What is your favorite number? 25

What is your favorite letter? M

My interview with Jesse, age 3

Monday, November 19th, 2012 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? Uh… Fwee.  Me: I always say three to you? Him: Yep.

What makes you happy? Ben

What makes you sad? Ben

Who makes you laugh? Matthew.  Me: Not who, what. Him: Oh. Gabe.

What do you think I was like as a child? Fwee.  No, Two.

How old are you? Fwee

How old am I? Two

How tall are you? This (holds up a number 9 magnet)

What is your favorite thing to do? Shoot

What do I do when you’re not around? You say MAIL TIME!  (For the record, I don’t shout mail time when I’m alone.)

What are you really good at? Blues Clues

What are you not really good at? Bow and arrows.  I’m good at it too.

What does the president do? Walks.

What is your favorite food? Cereal.

What do you and I do together? Play games.

How are we the same? We’re big.

How are you and I different? (confusion)

How do you know that I love you? Like this (He gives me a hug).

What is one thing you wish you could change? My blue pants.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? Clean the garage.

What is your job in our family? Going to church

What is your favorite room in the house? The playroom

What is your favorite animal? Dinosaur and a T. rex.

What has been your worst experience? A creeper. (Don’t flip out. It’s a Minecraft thing.)

What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite number? 1 2 3 2 0

What is your favorite letter? 1 2 3 5 2. Me: No, those are numbers.  What’s your favorite letter.  Like your ABCs?  Him: Oh, 5 4.

My interview with Sam, age 5

Sunday, November 18th, 2012 | Permalink

What is something I always say to you? Play games.  Sometimes. (For the record, I never just tell him to go play games.)

What makes you happy? Playing games.

What makes you sad? Not playing games.

How do I make you laugh? You do something funny. Like make jokes.

What do you think I was like as a child? You were good.

How old are you? Five

How old am I? Eleven

How tall are you? I don’t KNOW how tall I am. I’m big.

What is your favorite thing to do? Play games.

What do I do when you’re not around? Type on your computer and clean sometimes.

What are you really good at? I’m really good at dodge ball.  (for the record, I don’t think he’s ever played dodge ball.)

What are you not really good at? I’m not really good a pool. Not the kind of pool you swim in. Just normal pool.

What does the president do? Writes down on papers. And eats chicken.

What is your favorite food? Ice cream. No. Pizza. Because Cake and ice cream are dessert. (apparently dessert is not food.)

What do you and I do together? Watch movies.

How are we the same? We have the same colored hair. (Not really.  His is blond and mine is very dark brown.)

How are you and I different? I don’t know. (So I asked him “what about that I’m a mom and you’re not?” and he said, “I don’t know. It’s hard to remember those things.”)

How do you know that I love you? Because, (giggles) BECAUSE. (seemingly embarrassed) Because I know that you love me because I love you.  And you let me play games a lot. And you come and check on us before you go to bed every single night.

What is one thing you wish you could change? Change our house and paint it green.

What do you wish you could go and do with me? We should go out to sea.

What is your job in our family? Cleaning my room.

What is your favorite room in the house? My bedroom.

What is your favorite animal? Hmm… Bear.

What has been your worst experience? It would be the saddest thing ever if Lucy died. But she’s not dead, so Dad being gone.

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite number? Ten

What is your favorite letter? S

Misunderstood T. rex

is a blog we are putting together as our family of ten grows. The blog is called Misunderstood T. rex because, like the infamous dinosaur, our large family is often misunderstood, profiled, and categorized simply because of our collective number of teeth.
This is a blog to help me remember our favorite recipes, and to help our future sons and daughters-in-law find out more about their spouses, what meals they like, and other things we'll throw into the mix.
There will also likely be drawings of T. rex's here and there because I draw T. rex's, being that we're practially related and all. Also, I'm not exactly sure what the plural for Tyrannosaurus Rex should be.
This introduction is much longer than I had planned.