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Welcome to the KingZoo and Funny Farm, where we learn to live, laugh, and love together. Here you'll find snippets of life in our zoo, parenting tips we've learned along the way, reflections on shining God's light in this world, passions in the realm of orphan care, and our journey as parents of a visually impaired child with sensory processing disorder. Have fun!

Friday, December 28, 2018

Victor-isms to brighten your life

Mom, be a lad and get me more syrup, please.
*pause*
What's a lad?

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Isaac: Victor, Andrew and Sarah will be home from their honeymoon soon.
Victor: Will they have a baby?

Now how does he even know anything about all that???????

So we asked him.

Isaac: Victor, how does someone get a baby?
Victor: When someone dies, you take care of their baby.

Ummm, I think this confusion might be my fault. But we're just going to leave it at that for now.

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Victor likes to take coins out of a bowl in my bedroom and put them in his money jar. One day I jokingly said, "Hey, you can't just take my money!" Without missing a beat, Victor replied, "But that's the easiest way to get money."
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Victor spent two nights in Children's Hospital in October for some endocrine testing. The catheter was his least favorite part of this hospitalization. However, he was enamored with this item and brought home a new vocabulary word, "Foley." While in the hospital, he told me that we needed to buy a lot of Foleys. When I asked him why, he told me to use as decorations. Prying a bit more into what kind of decoration, he told me they should be glued to the walls. The next day he told me that when he gets big he's going to purchase a few Foleys so that if someone doesn't get to the bathroom in time, he can just insert one. Yes, that's what he said. Don't worry, I warned his kindergarten teachers before he returned to school. And it's a good thing. One of his aides took a sick day. When she returned and Victor found out she had been sick, he took her cheeks in his hands, got right up in her face and asked, "Did you have to have a tube?"
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Me: Here you go, Victor, I found Buster and Ash for you.
Victor: Thank you, Mommy. You took initiative.
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Me: Victor, what do you want for supper?
Victor: Well, let's pretend this is a drive-through and it's Arby's.
Me: Okay, but I'm not promising that we are going to have what you order like a real drive-through.
Victor: That's okay. We'll just pretend it's McDonald's.
Me: Well...never mind.
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Me: Victor, what do you call it when the bear sleeps all winter?
Victor: Bear-a-caving.
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Victor (coming in the room to wake me up): Mom, I just found something I was delighted in!
Me: Really? Delighted in? What was that?
Victor: The Christmas tree has lights and I was so delighted!
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Will there be a YMCA in Heaven?
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When Midnight, the brown chicken was found dead, Victor had many questions and misperceptions about all of this. After helping John bury the chicken, he still didn't understand and told us, "Me and my father dug a ditch. But she's too dead to be buried tonight." Only, they had just done the deed. We don't know what he thought he was doing.
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Isaac was reading questions from a Chick-Fil-A Kids' Meal toy:

What's the biggest building you've ever seen?
The Kindergarten Academy

Would you rather live in a big city or a small town?
I think Pennsylvania is fine.
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Mom, I love you to pieces. I will always love you. Even if bad men tell me not to love you anymore, I will still love you.

Fifteen minutes later, after being told he couldn't do something that he wanted to do: I love you less and less.
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Victor received a talking watch for Christmas. He wrapped up his thoughts with this phrase: This is going to brighten my life.
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Thursday, December 27, 2018

And it continues...




Everyone made it through Christmas day and the sickies waited their obligatory 24 hours before joining the rest of the family in Souderton.





We missed sushi night but the extended family had been patient enough to wait for us to arrive before gift-giving.












Victor has been asking for a robot for several months now. I think MomMom and PopPop chose well. We didn't have to worry about Victor the rest of the time there.



Eden made another work of art, this time for PopPop.



Okay, I cheated. I've been wanting a small table/shelf to put in front of my dining room window. I don't have windowsills but do like to have plants (the easy kind, and only for as long as they choose to stay alive for me) and I needed a place to put them. I sent my dad some photos of what I was looking for and then left the rest up to him. I knew he'd come through.


A few months ago, Mariana made the mistake of publicly stating she would be cheering for the Panthers and not the Eagles. It was decided then and there that she must be reminded of where her allegiance lies. So she received a bag-full.

We can't forget The Drinking Game. No, not what you're thinking. See, there's this Octocat pillow that gets passed around. The winner of the pillow keeps it for the next Christmas and comes up with a game to determine the new winner. HopeAnne was last year's winner so we, I mean, I planned a taste-testing game. Uncle Chad and I bought a bunch of unusual drinks from the grocery store, health food store, and international market: Tamarind, Elderflower Lemonade, Peach Ginger Tea, Guava, Coconut Pineapple Water, Wheatgrass Aloe Vera, Yuzu Lemon Kombucha, etc. We made a list and one-by-one the participants had to guess which drink was which. The looks were priceless.








Sarah won!

Unicorns are fun and cousins are great!



Codenames is a family favorite





Sisters are super!


And then...The Day After...and two more bit the dust. The stomach apocalypse of 2018 continues...

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

A very merry stomach bug Christmas


2003 will forever be known as the Christmas of the Stomach Bug. Apparently it has a life cycle like the cicada because 15 years later


it's back.

With a vengeance.

The Good Doctor started it. For once he actually had his Christmas "gift" early. Perfectly timed for first Eden, and then HopeAnne, to start dropping like flies on Christmas Eve, which happens to be the King family Christmas.

Between movies -
Teaching Sarah how to ready the annual
cinnamon rolls for Christmas Eve morning

Thankfully everyone was doing fine for Christmas Eve Eve and the traditional pizza dinner and 80s (or thereabouts) movies. This year we introduced Sister Act and Dead Man Walking. We actually did pretty well with our picks this year as each one had only been seen by 1 person in the Under-50 crowd.

The annual reading of the Christmas stocking letters




Eden just couldn't wait for morning and started her venture into stomach flu territory in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning, tripping over Mariana who was on a mattress on her floor. She did try to join us (while sitting apart from the rest) for a little while but then had to give up the fight.

She tried

Hope made it through brunch and gift-giving before she succumbed.

A Secret Santa alpaca painting
from Eden

And she had Jesse's name. She crocheted
some famous hammer from some
popular movie. They know what it is.
Oh, and a taco tie for teaching.

Isaac went clothes shopping for Mariana.

His favorite gift
which happened to be from his Secret Santa -
Sing characters!

And then we sent everyone off to MomMom and PopPop's house to spend Christmas where hopefully they can avoid the dreaded bug. And we get to enjoy a nice, quiet Christmas with just the three of us.

Unbought items from Wedding Registries 
make great Christmas gifts, and here I thought
all along that Andrew had put that 
Poop Emoji Plunger on the list!

A bunch of new books and audio CDs 
for our story-loving boy

Eden helped Victor paint some paper and then she
cut it apart into a beautiful painting for me

When Victor was home sick last week he needed something to do
so we made a Christmas gift for Dad

Jesse found his woodworking side
while living with PopPop and MomMom this fall

A soap/shower gel dispenser -
only Jesse

Except it didn't really feel like Christmas. Too quiet. But these Christmases end up being some of the most memorable obviously.