Posts Tagged ‘humor’

Our Family Muppet Show

Monday, March 20th, 2017

our-family-muppet-show

My dad bought my kids four Muppet Show puppets for Christmas, so we decided to make our own family Muppet Show! Of course, we starred Susan Evans (yours truly) as the guest. My son Nathaniel practiced Kermit the Frog’s voice and did a great job with introducing each segment!

We had to watch the introduction to the Muppet Show to figure out how to dance the female puppets across the stage and have them turn their heads abruptly to the right. The male puppets came in from the left, pumping up and down. It was hard to do this without showing my sons’ arms, but you’ll smile anyway.

Without further ado, here is our show:

My son Stephen was in charge of writing most of the script, and he played the part of Fozzy Bear. My son Bryan played the part of Animal, who had a segment where he was pounding on the piano to catch the mouse puppet that was a running gag in several sketches.

My son Bryan did the Swedish chef scene. He had to watch several episodes to get the general sounds and motions for the Swedish chef, but my kids did a great job with cracking an egg into a pan and having a quail come out. My son Nathaniel was working the arms while Bryan was working the puppet and saying the words.

swedish-chef

My daughter played Miss Piggy, of course, and she had a solo to sing: “What a Cold and Cruel World.” In case you didn’t hear all the words, this is what she sang with her best Miss Piggy voice:

I see Kermit who’s green, my love, too;
I see him turn his back on me and you.
And I think to myself, what a cold and cruel world;
And I think to myself, what a cold and cruel world.

miss-piggy

As you can see, we had to pin a tissue to her arm so she could blow her nose throughout the song.

Homeschool organization guru Susan Evans began giving some organization advice when Miss Piggy (and later a mouse!) interfered with her demonstrations.

organizing-cupboards

We had such a fun time! Who knew it would be so fun to put on a Muppet Show?

The Lame Story Behind the Cookie Cutter Series

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

cookie-cuttersThe cookies didn’t turn out. That’s the punch line.

I had gone to the craft supply store to buy two cookie cutters the shape of flowers. I thought I would make some flower-shaped cookies for the springtime, decorating them with candy on the top to represent the petals. So I baked the cookies, but they turned out poofy and ugly. So I thought to myself, “What else can I make with these stupid cookie cutters?”

Hence the birth of the cookie cutter series. I didn’t really want to blog about cookie cutters. No. I wanted to blog about the Beth Moore Bible study on the life of David, since I am learning so much spiritually. I want to process what I am learning, and I want to blog about something that matters, not drivel like what to do with cookie cutters. I’m not surprised that my readership plummeted.

So why didn’t I write about the Bible study? Because I’m just about brain dead, working on this 8-DVD set on “Time Travel: Writing Historical Fiction.” I filmed this creative writing class two years ago (and it came out fantastic!), and after putting 100 hours of editing into it and seeing no progress in the editing, I lost heart. So I put it on hold for two years. I told my sister it was like eating a plate full of chopped liver, but that the chopped liver never went down on the plate. You know, like Dante’s Inferno–one of the circles of hell where you aren’t allowed to be finished no matter how much work you do. “Zero down, infinity to go,” I heard myself say every day after hours and hours and hours of work.

I’m going to release the Time Travel set this year if it kills me. Yep. I’m going to finish before speaking at my next homeschool conference, which is in Seattle the middle of June. I will finish.

Hence the birth of the cookie cutter series, since creating magic from cookie cutters is something I can do in my sleep almost. Since creativity is my strong point. And it started off happy. But then my kids were wondering why their lunch was always shaped like a flower.

When was all this madness going to end?

When I made the Fourth of July garland out of the star cookie cutter one night, my son Stephen declared that I was a genius the next morning. But my son Bryan (almost 13) said, rolling his eyes, “Mom, it’s April.” And so it went.

You might think that 17 ideas aren’t that many, but I never told you all the ideas that failed. Like the fried egg that stuck to the cookie cutter, and I had to flick the whole thing into the sink, burning myself. Or the carefully crafted toast that I later realized was too similar to sandwiches to count.

I finally decided to put an end to it one night when I yelled to my husband who was walking by, “I’m sick of cookie cutters! I never want to see another cookie cutter in my life!” to which he replied, “I think you should ONLY blog about cookie cutters for the rest of your life. 1,976 creative ways to use cookie cutters. You would be famous. You might get on TV…”

You Know You’re A Missionary Kid When…

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

 

missionary-kid

You Know You’re A Missionary Kid When…

  • …people ask where you are from, and you hesitate.
  • …you are used to seeing 17 people in a VW bug.
  • …you don’t understand the jokes people tell.
  • …it takes over a year to receive an Easter box with candy in it, and you still eat the candy! Even if some of it has a strange flavor similar to that of the lotion which was also in the box.
  • …people ask you if you are happy to be “home” and your answer is “I guess?”
  • …you think in two languages at the same time.
  • …you miss the sound of raindrops on a metal roof.
  • …you worry that saying something in English will cause the price of an object to inflate ridiculously.
  • …people have asked you stupid questions like, “Do you go to school on elephants?”
  • …you’re in college and you haven’t seen your parents in years because they are still on the field.
  • …you see the embarrassing prayer card picture from like 8 years ago hanging on someone’s refrigerator.
  • …you can fit a tractor trailer load of luggage in a minivan.
  • …you have two passports (from different countries).
  • …you feel terribly guilty throwing away Zip-lock bags.
  • …the only people who think you’re normal are other MK’s.
  • …you’re staying at different people’s houses every weekend on furlough.
  • …you sit down and cry in the American supermarket because there are too many choices.
  • …toilet paper goes in the trash so the pipes don’t clog.
  • …you think American grocery stores have a certain “American smell” to them.
  • …you can’t stand people saying, “Welcome to the ‘real’ world.”
  • …you thought Grandma’s house was the lap of luxury when you were growing up.
  • …you were dressed about 10 years behind the times when back in the U.S. on furlough.
  • …you feel happy thinking about airports.
  • …you have trouble feeling comfortable in any American churches.
  • …you LOVE meeting people from your home country when in America.
  • …you can’t spend money on yourself.
  • …you look like you belong here but don’t truly feel at home.
  • …you think the real mission field is America.

To keep up with my MK posts, like my MK page on Facebook.
Buy the book: Growing Up as a Missionary Kid (profit goes to missions)

Organizing Your Car

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

In this funny video, I show you how organizing your car can be simple and rewarding: