Lambert's Cafe

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So first of all, this is RICH posting, not Lisa, although she is the star of this, and many of my blogs, I just don't want to misrepresent her. She'll start blogging when she gets a different calling. Moving on, this is Lambert's Cafe - the place where they throw yummy, hot rolls across the room to you, serve hot chocolate in a GARGANTUAN soda mug (a.k.a. - Super Sized/Big Gulp/Bed Wetter), serve dinner FROM the dinner pan. Never knew red necks could make it all so fun! This is the ANTI-fancy eating establishment that serves GREAT everything, and just when you think you are going to BURST, they bring out fried okra for everyone! What a place! Dad is the photographer - that's why you don't see me. Somebody has to take the pictures while everyone else is talking and eating.
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Lisa is the BABY of the family by many, many years. While we won't do ages, let's just say that her mom lived through the depression, and her sisters watched
The Sound of Music in the movie theater. Ok, her eldest sisters are my mom's age. When I married Lisa, I went from having 1 nephew (Ashton), to 21 Nieces and Nephews!!! Now we can't count them all. Lots of them. They are THE Lambert family of California, eating here at Lambert Cafe in Missouri.


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See them pans! See the mugs! See the boys in red suspenders pushing carts of yummy food?

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Lydia, our youngest Missouri Niece, just couldn't get her drink down fast enough. She is lots of fun for the boys, especially Parker, who is just 6 months younger.

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Lisa, you ain't never looked better! Why was we in California for all them years when we cou'da been out here? Can you tell my wife loves hot chocolate. Wait, scratch the word hot, she loves anything chocolate.

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The boys had "lots of fun with Lydia", Thomas says. Notice they didn't eat the food we ordered b/c their tummies were full of hot rolls. Notice also that we put them at a table of their own? Big THANK YOU to Lydia, who made this moment possible!


Parker the Pathologist

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Parker is working on his yearly science project. This year he found an idea on the web to study the anti-bacterial effect of various spices on E. coli. I emailed my brother, who is a pathologist, and got a little advice. It was so fun to read his letter. I will post it below.

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Hi Richard!

That sounds like a fun experiment. I think the easiest way to get E coli would be to swab stool and streak it on MacConkey Agar. E coli will grow as pink colonies. A few other types of bacteria will also grow pink, like Salmonella, Shigella and Yersina. To prove it is E coli, you could pick a pink colony from the MaConkey agar and swab it on Levine EMB agar, where it will grow out as black colonies with a greenish sheen. If you already ordered a nonselective media and don't want anything more complex, you could still do the experiment without knowing exactly which species you are working with. Just streak a single colony from the first plate onto a second one to get a single type of bacteria. The bacteria should be grown at room temperature away from direct light. The main thing is to not get bacteria outside of the Petri dish, wash really well, and not get sick. The Petri dishes will generally stay fresh for about a month if stored in the fridge, but I would never put them in the fridge after growing anything on them.

I love you, Richard. Thanks for telling me about your cool experiment. Let me know how it goes.

Love,

Joseph


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Thomas at 5 years, 10 months & 7 days

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I wasn't sure what to call this collage of Thomas. You can see that at 4 years and 10 months, he is quite a charachter. At his best, he is the sweetest, cuddliest, best little buddie that a parent could dream of. At his worst, we feel at a loss...we feel DONE! As the current (and possibly permanent) baby of the family, he has acquired many of the attributes commonly ascribed to the youngest. He screams at the first sign of something unfair, asserts himself into your face when he wants to be the center of attention, throws tantrums, etc.. It's a good thing that Thomas likes to give hugs and kisses! Yes, he is THOMAS, and he won't let ANYONE call him 'Tommy' - EVER. I play the piano for primary, so I have a front row seat to everything that he, and my other sons do in primary. The Tommy thing really is quite funny, since everyone can't seem to help calling him Tommy, only to be told very emphatically "THO-MAS!". Last week he moved up from Sunbeams, and there is a new row of little people in the front. They are SO little, and say such off the wall things, it reminds me how much he has grown in the last year. Thomas's birthday is March 17th - he will be 5.

Lisa helped me put this collage together. It was rather obvious that we had a common theme among his recent pictures. Something about Ben-10 and Kung-Fu Panda has apparently affected his poses for pictures. He is an adorable little boy. Thank you Thomas for kissing your parents goodnight (the other two wouldn't dream of a kiss on the lips, but will allow us to kiss them on the cheek).

Scotty Sampler

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I took these pictures during a classroom Christmas Party in Scott's 1st grade class. It was a blast! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED being in his little classroom, remembering all the great memories I had in my first grade class back at Provost in Provo, 1979-1980. I could feel how much Scott loves being in school, and how much he loves his best buddies. The photo on the lower right was my favorite. He was sitting with his markers arranged neatly on his desk just before creating a work of art. Scott IS the artist of the family. He is in his own little heaven when he is putting things together in any form. I couldn't help taking a picture of his teeth, as I am about to put braces on him for a short time to align his front teeth, and make room for the rest. He is a perfect "Phase I" patient.

Scott loves to sing. He sings while he is in his happy place. We love hearing him hum and sing away while he is working on one of his projects. He has the best musical memory of our children, singing parts of songs that he heard in movies and so forth. Talented little buddie. We've spent at least 5 hours in the past week, and 15 hours in the past month playing legos together. I have yet to post our grand creation - it's coming.

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Night Time Routine

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Lisa runs the show when it comes to getting ready for bed. It works as close to clock-work as typical children will allow. We head upstairs after "Last Chance Snack", which you can see Scotty finishing off in the first picture.

We are NOT usually so cuddly as these pictures show, but hugs are given out freely most of the time by our children.

Scott and Thomas both like for us to climb in bed with them for a few minutes. Scott will say "Com'mon Dad! Spoon with me!"

Two nights ago I went in to cuddle Scott, and he said "Oh Dad, I wanted to cuddle with mom." I thought it was so sweet that he keeps track, and sometimes wants one of us specifically. Thomas will take anyone, anytime. Parker needs little more than a peck on the cheek, a quick hug, and he is out like a light.

Here is a rare moment of brotherly love. Scott looks like he might be recovering from a blow or bite to the face, however, painting a slightly more realistic picture. Although there isn't much actual violence with fists or scratches, bedtime routine isn't always as pretty as I'd like to paint it. Lisa and I are working on being 'at peace' with our little warriors while trying to keep the mood light and 'happy'. You know, it's always great when you are yelling at the top of your lungs that everyone had better stop yelling.

Many evenings actually ARE calm, for the most part, but even so, the average night has at least one mishap of someone not being very nice to someone else. We DO have many 'nice' moments in the evening when reading from the Book of Mormon every night before prayers, and then a chapter or two from a book. Reading is our family past-time. Currently we're back on the Magic Tree House series. I preferred 'The Candy Shop Wars' and 'Fablehaven'. Thomas didn't always like the intensity, but Scott thrived on both series.

I'm the hygiene Nazi - so my kids don't really brush their teeth. I brush them. I floss them. I'm currently out of my favorite floss: the kind that has toothpaste on it by Reach. The toothbrush is Oral-B, but I could talk toothbrush talk for hours with you. It's what happens to be working at the moment. I use the Sonicare. Clean and slick!

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The Snow Day Dance?

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You may wonder why my children are dancing outside with their
pajamas backwards and inside out,
or why they put an orange in the freezer,
and a spoon under their pillow,
and an ice cube in the toilet...

Well folks, in these parts it is a common belief among children that this will result in the next day being a snow day. I am sad to report that they were disappointed in their results, but we got some good laughs while Parker and Scott they gave it their best shot!

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