Dear Jon...

I thought that I should probably share the letter that Otis and I wrote to Jon a week or two ago.

We loved writing it and reading it over, and over, and over again. 

Enjoy!

Dear Jon,

(typed by Allison, dictated by Otis)

Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Erica (sometimes referred to as Otis by Aliswan)...you may have heard of me, I make your sister run incredible distances.  When I found out your name was Jon I could not resist writing you a 'dear Jon'.  You are my first and last dear jon...hopefully because missionaries are to young for a woman of my beauty and maturity. (that last sentence may have been written by aliswan) I hear we have a few things in common.  I run, you run.  You pull muscles, I pull your sisters muscles.  You run into garage doors with cars, I lose my keys.  I was wondering, has your dad changed your windshield wipers, because he has changed mine.  The other day I got an ice cream CONE.  I hear that you are the expert in dubbing coneheads.  I feel left out.  Just thought I should mention that. I understand that your mother feels left out about not being a cone-labeler.  

I enjoy visiting your house on a regular basis.  As a soon to be anthropology graduate I have decided to study your family and their focus on methane gasses.  Do you find that your severity of gas production has increased or decreased during your time away from home?  The purpose of this study is to discover the possible genetic or environmental connection in your family to the excretion of methane gas.  Another part of this study will involve timing your familia and seeing how long it takes them to bring up the subject upon my arrival.  Today for example, it only took them one hour before it was mentioned (usually it's a lot less, for example, when I open the door). We (meaning just me) appreciate your participation in this groundbreaking study.  All results/responses will be kept as confidential as possible.  I would like to keep you anonymous...what would you like your code name to be?...may I suggest Rocketman?  

In all seriousness, I enjoy your family...except Bug, she is a bit hmmmmmm.....I'm sure you understand, you are a 'J' after all.  I'm not sure what that means, Aliswan is typing....hey Jon! (love Aliswan).  Well, it's Sunday evening, the missionary has been written, and I hope you won't think me to weird when we actually meet when you come home.  Tootles! (notice that the toot in Tootles is a gas noise, Aliswan knows you have a hard time with puns).

-Erica/Otis/anthropological professional/archaeologist/runner extraordinaire/swimmer in training/captain awesome.

What is Unique?

You know that saying, "You are unique...just like everybody else"?

Yeah that is soooooo not the case in the House of Nuts.

We are unique

You'll never meet anyone else like us

You may never want to.

♥
So what makes us unique?
Lots and lots and lots and lots....
and lots of things.

I'll just share one today--Deruda

Deruda enjoys running on the treadmill
but on this day he decided it would be 'cooler' to run in his socks
until he realized that smashing your feet into a hard plastic surface for an extended period of time is...well...not comfortable.
(this one's a bright bulb folks)
Unfortunately his socks are now a little bit dirty
but poor Deruda didn't want the INSIDE of his running shoes to be dirty
so what does he do?
puts on his nice Sunday shoes
because apparently Sunday shoes can be dirty on the inside.
What else can be said?
Except maybe to share this video of him attempting to dance,
on the treadmill
in his clean-on-the-outside-dirty-on-the-inside Sunday shoes.
We should probably come up with an acronym for that
......C.O.T.O.D.O.T.I.....
or maybe
I.M.A.D.O.R.K.
yep, that'll work
Here you go:

Running but getting nowhere @ Yahoo! Video

On the Cita side of things, I took pictures of her at school today.  

It was crazy hair day or hat day

She wore a hat

I think she looks kind of French

and adorable

The cita is a short woman

but that is why we love her

and tease her without mercy.

♥ ♥ ♥

A week in the Nuthouse.

My little brother (the little juan) and his best friend used to make music videos when they were bored.  They would spend hours choreographing silly dances, creating costumes made out of beanies and sunglasses, and memorize the words so they could lip-sync.  Apparently that is something my familia really loves to do.  We don't always make music videos, but making videos is something we love to do.  On Monday Otis came over for dinner and after teaching her how to play Ninja Destruction (don't ask, don't tell), we made these two videos.

The first is about how to Neutralize Your Opponent 101--using just your toes.  Enjoy!

How To Neutralize Your Opponent 101--with your toes @ Yahoo! Video

The next video is an examination on how to fall gracefully.  This is our first and only take...it's painful, we didn't want to fall more than once. :)

Falling Gracefully--a study @ Yahoo! Video

So there are quite a few more than these and they will be posted at some random point when I get them off my ipod. :)

On the male side of things, here is a few things that have happened this week:

Deruda made his first batch of cinnamon rolls--BY HIMSELF!!!

I took pictures to commemorate the occasion.

(yes he is shirtless underneath that apron, I'm not sure if that makes this better or worse)

Deruda is super excited that he didn't kill the yeast.  I have the 'prettiest' brother.  Isn't he adorable?

Here is the finished product.

Another story for this week is when I told the padre that I had a new device that would help him breathe better.  

I think it actually worked a little bit.

Don't worry, I hadn't used them since I got my pedicure.  :)  

We are a vindictive bunch sometimes. :)

So there is the familia update.  We are happy, mostly healthy, and going strong!  We are more excited for spring then we can possibly express though.  

What do you do on Sunday Nights?

It sure isn't as fun as what we do.  Last night I was talking with some familia and suddenly we heard this craziness from the kitchen.  So I whipped out the camera and recorded it for all the world to see and laugh at.  I really wish I could say that this was just a side effect of the extreme spring fever we are all suffering (we are definitely a warm weather family) but I can't.  This is normal for us.  Gotta love the familia.

Sunday Night Madness @ Yahoo! Video