Young Entrepreneurs

I returned from watering the trees/bushes in the front yard to find the following set up:

They were all so proud of themselves.



What could this possibly be?



A tea party?



Wait for it...




Since this was taped to the back side of our home, I think they may need to work on their marketing skills somewhat...

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Random Things We Know

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Connor's Prayer:

...And Lord, I know there are a lot of sick kids in the world. Please heal all of them.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.



Connor: "Did you know there are a lot of sick kids in the world?"

Mommy: "Yes, I did."

Connor: "Oh, wow! How'd you know that?"

Mommy (chuckling): "Because I'm Mommy and I know lots of stuff."

Connor: "I know lots of stuff too."

Mommy: "Yes, but there is still a lot of stuff you need to learn."

Connor: "Yes, but I know lots of stuff now. Like...when you drown, you die."
(We had talked about this already since he just got home from his swimming class)

Mommy: "Yes...which is why we listen to our swim instructor."

Connor: "Yeah. And I know that swordfish have long noses and they sometimes kill sharks with their long noses."


mmmmhmmmm....

Princess Day Collage

Hey all-

Head on over to Emily's blog to see her Princess Day collage!

Don't forget to comment!

Birthday Wishes

Honor: "Mommy, when it is Ariana's birthday tomorrow*, I'm going to let her choose what we do."

Mommy: "Okay. That sounds nice."

Honor: "Okay, then we are going to Bounce U!"

Mommy: "Mmmm...I don't know about that. That is pretty expensive."

Honor: "Oh...okay. I guess we'll go to Peter Piper Pizza instead."

Honor runs out into the living room.

Honor: "Ariana, Mommy says we don't have enough money for Bounce U. We'll have to go to Peter Piper Pizza instead."

Ariana: "Ah, well...we can do Peter Piper Pizza and Bounce U."

Honor: "No, sorry. Mommy says Bounce U costs too much money."

Ariana: "Well, maybe Daddy can just make more money."


...if only life worked that way...


*Ariana's birthday is not until November 26th...time is relative in our family.

Choices

I learned with Honor, Connor and Ariana that it is best to give a toddler/preschooler choices rather than give them a yes or no question. For example:

Rather than saying, "Do you want to put on your shoes now?"

I would say, "Do you want to put on your shoes first or do you want to brush your hair first?"

Two acceptable choices that stop fights in the their tracks because it appeals to their sense of independence. In theory...

Unfortunately, Samuel has built up an immunity to my "tricks". He is quite smart, really.


"Samuel, do you want to go to bed right away or do you want to cuddle first and then go to bed?"

"Um... nothing."


And that is all he says. When he wants to be stubborn, he just refuses to make a choice. I would never have come up with that!

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We have a rule in the family that kids shouldn't say certain things. One of those is, when something is offered to them, they are not supposed to say, "I don't like that" since I feel it is rude to the person who took the time to give them whatever it is. They are allowed to say, "No, thank you," but they are supposed to leave it at that.

Samuel has found a way to politely break this rule too.


"Samuel, here is a granola bar."

"Um...no, thank you. That is not my favorite."


He is going to be trouble, that one!

A Couple of Princessy Things

I feel it is important to mention that, although I call it a "princess day", I in no way condone little girls acting snobbish or getting spoiled. My girls were still told "no" on more than one occasion during our special day. And I have tried to instill in them that a princess is more about the character traits internally than how we look externally. I want them to know that we are princesses because our Father in Heaven is King. Princesses should be modest, have good manners, be kind, be smart, and overall act respectful of others. So when I tell them to "act like a princess" that is what I am talking about.

I think that this has been instilled in Honor's head fairly well...especially given the fact that when I told her that we were going to put on glitter make-up and paint our nails, her response was, "No, Mom! I just want to be me!" And what exactly am I supposed to say to that? "No, Dear...you need to change and put on make up!"??? I was proud of her. In the end, she wanted to put on the glitter and we didn't polish our nails, but that was her choice.

I would like to think it was because I tell her all the time that she is beautiful just the way she is. That I am doing my job as a mom to instill in her the values of internal beauty versus external beauty.

But it was probably the fact that we had just watched the newest Veggie Tale movie: Sweet Pea. Great movie. And it has this great song at the end:

BEAUTIFUL FOR ME Lyrics
Nichole Nordeman

Every girl young and old has to face her own reflection
Twirl around, stare it down
What’s the mirror gonna say
With some luck, you’ll measure up
But you might not hold a candle to the rest
“Is that your best?” says the mirror to the mess

But there’s a whisper in the noise
Can you hear a little voice
and He says:

Has anybody told you you’re beautiful?
You might agree if you could see what I see
Oh ‘Cuz everything about you is incredible
You should have seen Me smile the day that I made you beautiful for Me

If it’s true beauty lies in the eye of the beholder
What my life and what’s inside to give Him something to behold
I want a heart that’s captivating
I wanna hear my Father say:

Has anybody told you you’re beautiful?
You might agree if you could see what I see
Oh ‘Cuz everything about you is incredible
You should have seen Me smile the day that I made you beautiful for Me

Close your eyes
Look inside
Let me see the you that you’ve been trying to hide
Long ago, I made you so very beautiful
So I ought to know you’re beautiful

Has anybody told you you’re beautiful?
You might agree if you could see what I see
‘Cuz everything about you is incredible
You should have seen me smile the day that I made you beautiful
You’re so beautiful
Beautiful for Me
So beautiful for Me
Has anybody told you?

Princess Day!!!

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It's that time again. The time of year when the "men" go off camping for some male-bonding and leave us "womenfolk" at home. Fine by me! Not that I am opposed to camping--we intend to take a family camping trip sometime soon--but as I mentioned in my last post, I have been wanting to have a special day with the girls for a while. And it was.

We started the day off right...a trip to the dentist. Now some of you may think this is not a fitting way to start a princess day. I would probably say you are right, but I planned the dentist appointment 6 months ago and it was a little late to cancel. Besides...my kids LOVE the dentist. So, we went to the dentist.

I have to admit something...I was scared. Not of the dentist. I actually like going to the dentist myself. No, I was scared that he would learn my dirty little secret: I rarely remember to remind my children to brush their teeth. It is sad, but true. I am happy if I remember to brush their teeth three times a week...let alone the twice a day recommended by the dentist. And only one of those brushings is done by a parent--the others are left to the mercy of little 6, 4, and 3 year old hands.

Thankfully, my kids really don't eat or drink that much sugar so their dentist appointments came off without a hitch (well, at least the girls' did...the boys' appointments are next week...). In fact, I got praised for my children's good oral hygiene. I tried not to laugh. And when the dentist mentioned that Honor had a little tiny bit of shadow between her teeth and that flossing would be beneficial to removing that little bit of plaque, I had to bite my tongue to stop from saying, "well, maybe actual brushing would be beneficial too..."

The best part of the dental appointment though, was Honor's X-rays. We could actually see her permanent teeth getting ready to push her baby teeth out. Four of them--the front four. The dentist said they should all come out about the same time, fairly soon. I could literally see the "cha-ching" going on behind Honor's eyes. She is expecting a huge payout from the tooth fairy...

After the dentist, the girls and I grabbed a few sandwiches from Subway and headed over to Emily's apartment. Her husband went on the camping trip too, so we invited her to be part of our "girl" day. She was pretty thrilled that the tiara idea got scrapped...

Anyway, we made a picnic lunch over by the playground and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Then she graciously volunteered to watch the girls for a couple of hours so that I could go visit my mother-in-law in the hospital. THANK YOU AGAIN EMILY!

My mother-in-law is doing fantastic, by-the-way. Thank you all for your prayers! In fact, they removed the tubes from her brain yesterday and she was moved out of ICU into a "step-down" unit. God is amazing!

While I was white-knuckling the drive through Phoenix to and from the hospital, Emily did crafts with the girls and played hide the squirrel and hide the tomato...pincushion. Emily, you might want to walk around with a magnet before going barefoot for a while...Ariana likes to remove pins...

And then it was time for the "princess" part of our princess day. We all got on pretty dresses, I curled mine and the girls' hair, and we even put on some glitter make-up...definitely only a special occasion deal. The girls absolutely loved it. Perhaps they went a little overboard with the glitter...



Emily and I donned our high heels, (which she promptly traded in for flats once she got down to the car--cheater!) and we headed out to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Although this is not the fanciest restaurant ever, it had the right amount of "niceness" and yet was still "kid-friendly". Besides...the main attraction was the twinkle lights on the outside patio. We got there early so the lights didn't come on until it was almost time for us to leave, but the girls just loved them--which was the point. Definitely "girly". And of course, you can't eat Greek food without having some baklava. We were all thrilled when the waitstaff came out, lit the fried ice cream on fire, and yelled, "Opa!" Too fun!

After dinner we decided to walk around a local outdoor mall to let our food settle. We hadn't thought about the teenage attraction of a mall on Friday night. They were out in swarms. At one point a group of screaming girls ran past us through the food court, completely oblivious to the spectacle they were making of themselves. Interesting.

We enjoyed looking at the trendy clothes, which are really 80's clothes that were most likely stored in the back of some warehouse for the last 25 years. 80's clothes weren't attractive in the 80's! I did get a kick out of Honor looking at dresses meant for adults and saying, "look, Mom...it's just my size!" Seriously, do women actually wear dresses that short???

Then there was the pretty water fountain. That was princessy. Emily had thought to bring her camera so we got some cute pictures of the girls in front of that and some more twinkle lights decorating the trees.

Finally around 8 pm, we decided it was time for ice cream. (Don't judge! Baklava split 4 ways isn't all that much!) The girls really wanted the ice cream. This was the highlight of the whole day for them. I couldn't turn them down. So, we went to Coldstone's and got 4 kids cups, then sat outside under the stars...and listened to heavy metal music playing from the speakers. Again, interesting. As Emily said, you'd expect them to play something like polka music at an ice cream parlor. Definitely didn't fit the atmosphere.

We got home around 9 pm and the girls were exhausted. They practically put themselves to bed. Originally we had planned on watching "Princess and the Frog"and painting our nails, but the day had just been too full. So, Emily and I got to watch a grown-up movie: "Pride and Prejudice"--the Keira Knightly version. Of course I'd seen it dozens of times, and she'd seen it a few as well, so we had fun comparing it to the other P&Ps and the book. I couldn't believe it when I fell asleep at the end. I remember her meeting Mr. Bennett when he came home from London and then I woke up when she was talking with him in the library--I missed several great scenes! Oh well...it was 1 am and it had been a long day!

Overall, the day turned out pretty much as planned. It was special for me and I hope it was just as special for the girls.

Who Is This Teenager?

Tomorrow the boys leave on their annual Men/Boys campout. I have literally been waiting for this weekend all year. It is a time to do some girl bonding....stuff the boys just don't understand. And this year I had a plan. See, a while ago I read a story where the mom periodically got dressed up as a fairy princess with her daughter and went out to get ice cream. I thought to myself, 'oh, what a fun idea! The girls would love that!' and I began the planning for tomorrow.

For almost 8 months, I dreamed of getting dressed up like a princess with a tiara and sitting there with my darling princesses, trying hard not to get chocolate on our pretty dresses. I prided myself on being an "awesome mom"...I wasn't going to let a little thing like embarrassing myself in public stop me from giving my daughters a special memory.

I even told the girls about it. You should have seen Honor's face light up when I let her in on the secret a few months back. She was eagerly awaiting tomorrow, almost as much as me!

And then came the week of our special day.

"Honor, you know what we are doing on Friday?" I asked, my eyes wide with excitement.

"What?"

"Well, Friday is the guys' campout so we get to have our 'girl' day!"

"YAY!" she responded with a big grin.

"Yeah, we get to get all dressed up like princesses with tiaras and glitter make up and everything!" I said, practically jumping up and down with anticipation.

Honor's face fell. Her eyes became wide with horror. "No, Mommy! We can't dress up like princesses! Everyone will LOOK at me!"


Sigh.

It was then that I realized that my little girl had become a teenager about 7 years too soon.


On the bright side, Ariana still wants a princess day, so she and I will go on a Mommy/daughter date another time...

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Nice Surprise

This was waiting for me on the back door when I came in from doing my chores this morning:

That Had to Sting...

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My darling Honor LOVES lemons. I don't know why, but she insists on picking lemons off our trees every time she goes outside. She then takes them in the house and painstakingly peels them bit by bit until she has a hole big enough to suck out the insides.

Well, today while I was doing laundry, she decided that she no longer wanted to suck the lemon through a small hole. So, she grabbed a knife that had accidentally been left on the counter and attempted to peel said lemon. She made a deep cut alright--right into the knuckle of her index finger.

So, I got to spend some time playing hangman with her in the office of the Urgent Care. Sometime in the nearly THREE HOURS we had to wait to be seen by the doctor, the wound (which had been re-bandaged by the triage nurse, as all we could find was a bit of gauze and masking tape--don't judge me!) had closed up enough to only bleed a little rather than the gushing fountain that was her finger when we left home. The doctor decided that she did not need stitches, so he used "skin glue" to hold the two sides together and then put a splint on her finger to keep it straight. It took all of five minutes for that mastery of doctoring...

All in all, it actually wasn't that bad of a night. Honor was exceptionally well-behaved and cute.

Me: "Honor, they are probably going to have to stitch your finger together. Do you understand what that means?"

Honor: "No."

Me: "It means that they might have to sew it like I do your doll's clothes when they are ripped."

Honor: "No! I have bones in there!"

Me: "Well, they won't stitch your bone, just the skin so that it holds in the blood. But maybe they won't have to stitch it at all. They might be able to get away with just a butterfly bandage."

Honor: "Nah...I'd rather have a princess bandage."

See...cute.

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Yes...Honor Just Said...

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"I wish I could shovel poop..."

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Mother (In-Law)

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not, but I literally have the best Mother-in-Law...Ever. She is so much more to me than "my husband's mom"...so much more than a friend. From the moment I met her, I knew that she was something special. After only dating her son for 2 weeks, she welcomed me into her family with open arms and made me feel completely at ease. Once we were officially engaged, she began calling to talk to me rather than her son about wedding plans. We became good friends right away.

Although my husband would deny it, he really married a woman much like his own mother. I know that when I tell her something, she will usually know exactly what I'm talking about because she often sees things the same way I do. Our personalities are similar and our tastes in practically everything are similar...although she has an unnatural obsession with the color red that I just never quite understood.... GREEN is so much better! Lucky for her, red is a great color on her...

I always hear other women complaining about their MIL interfering in their marriage/parenting. My MIL generally talks with me before she talks to her own son, and she actually used to ask me to print up notes for her so that she wouldn't mess up my routine with the kids when she watched them. She is so considerate as to how we choose to parent that I actually have to encourage her to spoil the kids!

She is a great friend who I enjoy talking to on the phone--who else is not only willing to listen to, but actually enjoys all of my stories about the mundane things my children do throughout the day? When I moved here from Iowa, I left behind my mom who is one of my closest friends as an adult. My MIL made that move much less difficult in helping to fill that void. I cannot hang out with my own mom as often as I'd like, but whenever I need a mom, my MIL is there, ready to hang out with me and the kids at the mall, or go to the park, or just to be there.

But the best part about her is, she is a Titus 2 woman and a Proverbs 31 role model. It is a breath of fresh air to see a woman who loves God with her whole heart and it shows in everything she does. There have been many times I have run to her for counsel and left with words of profound wisdom. I am so thankful to be able to go to her for spiritual guidance and encouragement.

She is kind and generous and genuinely makes those around her feel blessed.


So now that you know how special this woman is to me, I would ask that you lift her up in prayer now.

Yesterday evening around 5:30, my husband received a call that she had hurt herself during a workout. Apparently her personal trainer had her doing 100 crunches (I can't do that many! See...she's amazing!), and when she stood up, she collapsed from the pain in her neck/base of her skull. She had gone to the doctor and the doctor called an ambulance to take her to the hospital to run some tests. Steph was able to be with her and my husband went to her house to take care of their foster adults (she and my father-in-law are foster parents to developmentally delayed adults)...my FIL was in Iowa for a funeral.

Around 9 pm they took her in for a CT scan. At the time they weren't overly concerned--she was talking and acting fairly normally once they gave her some medicine to assist with the pain. Sometime within the hour, everything changed. My MIL had bleeding in her brain. She needed to be seen by a neurosurgeon in another hospital. She was diagnosed with a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. They wouldn't know what treatment would be needed until they spoke with a neurosurgeon, but chances of brain surgery were high. My FIL looked for the first available flight home this morning.

I was told to go to bed and that Steph would call me immediately with any news. At 3 am she called to tell me that the hemorrhaging had been confirmed by another CT scan and that they were going to observe her. They woke her up every hour to make sure she was still lucid.

Around 5 am, Steph called to let me know that the nurse had given her a little more detail. My MIL's body responded to the hemorrhage the way it should--causing a clot. Because there is very little space in the skull, the clot applies a lot of pressure to the brain, which is why she was in such severe pain. At that time they believed the hemorrhaging had stopped and they were going to do another CT scan at 2:30 am the following morning to see if the clot had decreased in size--like it should. Treatment at that time was observation.

Around 7 am the Physicians Assistant came in with the news: my MIL had a brain aneurysm and they would definitely need to operate as soon as possible.

Before the surgery, they were told that this particular procedure was the most complicated procedure that they performed. That being said, the surgeon had performed the procedure several times and there was only a 5% chance of complications. I will not go into all the gory details, but they opted for the invasive surgery since it has permanent results. They would go inside her skull and clamp the aneurysm off so that blood no longer flows there.

They anticipated the surgery lasting 4 hours, but were able to get it completed in 3 without any complications. My FIL got a flight and was able to get in to Phoenix in time to be there before she woke up from surgery. My mom was able to get a flight for my MIL's mom to be in by 8 pm. All went according to "plan".

My MIL is now awake and things are looking good. She is able to move all of her limbs, although she seems a little restricted on her right side.

There were many blessings throughout this journey. That she was able to make it to the hospital in time. Many people with an aneurysm don't know they have one until it ruptures--then it is too late. My in-laws often go on out of country vacations and mission trips. It happened here where she can get the best medical treatment. My MIL had been working out with a personal trainer for over a year and was in great shape. Both great-grandma and my FIL were able to get a flight here when all flights from Iowa to Phoenix were overbooked due to a football game this weekend. And most important: PRAYER.

The moment we heard, the word was spread via facebook and prayer chains. I saw people on facebook requesting prayers for her. I received an e-mail from Emily stating that she heard about it, not from facebook or our church's prayer chain, but from her husband who heard about it from his mom (who had sent it out to her prayer chain), who heard about it from his grandma (who is a member at my old church in Iowa). I was told of numerous other prayer chains that were lifting her up in continuous prayer all day today. People who had never met my MIL were praying all over the world. And their prayers were felt.

She is not out of the water yet. She will be in ICU for at least a few more days and then she will need to remain in the hospital for a few weeks for observation. We do not yet know if any damage was done. We do not know how much recovery she will need, so your prayers are still very much coveted. She hasn't opened her eyes much and the little she says shows that she doesn't know quite what is going on, but that is to be expected given that they were messing around with her brain. It should take a few days before she starts to return to "normal".

And frankly, I could use some prayer right now. It is very hard for me to sit at home with the kids when she is in the hospital. I want to be there with her! It makes it even harder when I hear about other members of our church that have gotten to visit. But I know that right now it is more important for my husband to be there than me. I have had wonderful friends offer to watch the children, but we are currently watching an additional boy for the week whose parents had to fly to Jamaica for her father's funeral. Ronaldo is a great boy and it has been a fun week for my kids, but he will be with us until Saturday and I would not feel right leaving him with a stranger to his parents unless it is absolutely necessary. There is not much I can do at the hospital right now anyway and I am able to fulfill the role of communicator for our church family, but it is still very hard. I was thankful that the kids and I were able to pick my FIL up from the airport (despite being late!) because it let me feel like I was doing something. Hopefully I will finally get to go to the hospital on Saturday.

I would like to say that I am being strong for my husband's sake, but I have broken down more than once on the phone with him. He is staying at my in-law's home so that my FIL can be with my MIL so I haven't seen him since yesterday. I should be comforting him, but I find that he is having to comfort me and I feel bad about that too. I am thankful that I have kept it together for my phone conversations with Steph and great-grandma, but this has been a draining day for me.

The kids got to make cards for grandma today though. That was fun. Connor made several pictures of him and grandma...he was holding swords and "speers". Honor's all involved flowers and hearts (and her and grandma). Samuel's were a bunch of scribbles. Ariana tried to write something, but even she didn't know what she wrote. We sent the cards with grandpa to decorate grandma's room. Even though we can't be there, hopefully it will remind her that she is thought of constantly.

Why is it that illnesses bring out my sentimental posts? I don't know, but...

Jennifer...I sure do love you!

I Feel So Loved

Samuel decided he wanted to actually say some words during his prayer last night rather than just "mumble, mumble, mumble...In Jesus Name, Amen" Here is his prayer, near verbatim:

Dear Lord

Thank you for my mommy.
And thank you... mumble, mumble, mumble...
And I love my mommy.
And so...
And so...
I love my mommy.
And so...
I love my mommy.

Amen!

Kiki

Jasmine in the "Hunter Orange" chest protector Daddy got her for when she dives through thorny bushes in search of elusive pheasants (and rabbits, but she's not supposed to look for those...)






Jasmine and Daddy preparing to hunt birds. Note the attentive look Jasmine is giving Daddy. Hunting birds is something she doesn't want to miss.






We started her off young. Jasmine is a fantastic hunting dog. It is in her nature.



Sigh.


Today while I was putting away the ponies, I heard a commotion coming from the chicken run. Honor had been in there grating citrus peels for the chickens (don't ask...I don't know why). From that distance, I couldn't see what the screaming was about, but I shut things up and got out to look. Then I saw it. Flashes of brown and white dashing back and forth.

I wasn't worried at first. I assumed Jasmine was outside the chicken run. But I was wrong. The fence had been opened and Jasmine was in full hunting mode.

I yelled for Daddy to intervene, but it was too late.

When I got to the run, Jasmine was out, and Daddy was holding a dying Kiki in his arms. In Jasmine's defense, we don't think she meant to kill her, but chickens aren't as easy to hold in her mouth as pheasants are and so she had to grab her around the neck instead of the body. I am calling it manslaughter rather than murder--she was only doing what she'd been trained to do.

Poor Honor was especially heart broken. I heard her tell Ariana on the way into the house, "I'm sorry I let Jasmine out to kill your chicken, Ariana."

I cuddled with Honor, Connor and Ariana on the couch for a bit (Samuel remains blissfully unaware of the incident). We talked about why it is important that we keep Jasmine in the kennel when we are all outside doing chores.

And then I promised them that we would get some more chicks. They were fine.

It helped that Kiki was Honor's least favorite chicken..."she pecked me two times!"

Actually Kiki was our most outgoing chicken. I shall miss her.

There was some small debate as to what should happen to Kiki's body. I was willing to make her dinner (she is a farm animal after all!), but Daddy couldn't handle that. So...he put her in a garbage bag and "buried" her in the dumpster.

To make the kids feel better, (and to distract them from "the burial") I told them they could give the remaining chickens some bread as a treat. That cheered them up.

On the way out to the chicken coop, I caught Honor sitting by herself next to a citrus tree--praying. What a special memory that came out of this sad event. It was a blessing to me to see Honor seeking comfort on her own from the only One who can truly provide it.



Goodbye, Kiki. You will be missed.

Another Reason Samuel Needs Potty Trained...

...his love of chocolate.

In addition to the fact that Samuel looks like he is at least 5 years old and thus "should" be potty trained, Samuel has many food allergies. These allergies won't be so bad once he is potty trained as they only show themselves in the form of severe diaper rash the moment he soils his diaper. The list has grown from the original banana, corn, and chocolate, to include grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon...all of which take merely a small amount to trigger the painful diaper rash that lasts for days--I'm talking one chocolate chip...

Today we went to a birthday party at Bounce U. The kids had a fantastic time. After bouncing for an hour or so, we were invited into the "party room", where we were served pizza, pop, and cake. Of course, my kids didn't hesitate to drink down the Pepsi that was offered them--the Holy Grail of all drinks--none of them took a nap, yet all needed one...

Anyway....the kids were sitting at the "kid table" and we were sitting at the "adult table". Other than making sure the kids weren't choking to death, I wasn't paying too much attention. We sang "Happy Birthday" and the staff started serving cake. Connor was first. He dug right in, managing to get frosting over pretty much every inch of his face. I don't know how he does it...it's a talent. Then, Ariana got hers. And Honor got hers. And Samuel got his.

Samuel happily dug his fork in, ready to partake in the bliss that is cake. Then, from across the room, I heard a wail of such sorrow it nearly broke my heart.

"What's wrong, Samuel???" I asked as big crocodile tears streamed down his face.

"Awwwwww toooooooooookkkkk maaaaaaaaaa caaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkeeeee!"

"What was that?"

And then I saw it. The server had removed the cake from in front of him...a perfect forkful resting on his plate as if in mid-bite.

See, Mommy and Daddy don't need to watch out for Samuel--he has three older siblings...and all three "ratted" on him. "He's allergic to chocolate!" was all the server needed to hear.

The poor child was inconsolable. I had to take him from the room and try to explain to him that if he would just learn to go potty on the toilet like a big boy, he could eat all the chocolate cake that he wanted!

Logic is lost on that one.

Thankfully the servers saved the day by bringing him candy. At first he wouldn't take it since everyone else got cake, but then Ariana wanted his candy and he realized that he was "special".

Score one for the Bounce U staff!

Arizona Kids

As I was doing my morning chores with the kids, a slight breeze picked up, making it truly perfect outside.

Connor: "Winter's coming soon, Mom!"

Honor: (while rubbing her hands up and down her arms): "Oh, Mom...it's kind of chilly out! I think we need to get our jackets..."

The Carousel

Today we went to the mall to get lunch and measurements for my bridesmaid dress for my friend's upcoming wedding on New Year's Day (I'm telling you, you have never seen a more excited bridesmaid, but that is another story...). After lunch, I decided to treat the kids to a carousel ride--despite the fact that it is ridiculously overpriced ($3/token!...but 5 for $10 which is much better...). Granted, it IS a double-decker carousel, which ups the coolness factor dramatically, but I digress...

As expected, my kids could not all choose to ride on the same level, so our friend Emily agreed to take Connor and Ariana on the lower level, while I took Honor and Samuel on the upper level. The following story was relayed to me by her...

Ariana eventually made her way up to the top deck, but before she did, Emily had tried to get her situated in the spinning tea cup. While that was happening, Connor climbed up on the awesome triceratops, buckled himself in, and waited patiently for the ride to start. Connor is on the small side for his age, so it shouldn't surprise me that the carousel attendant was concerned about him riding by himself.

"Excuse me," she apparently asked him--and I can just picture her sweet, little smiling face. She has the best job ever, in my opinion! "Excuse me, young man, but are you big enough to ride this by yourself?"

My son did not give a verbal answer. He merely held out his arms and showed her his "muscles".

And that was all she needed to know...

Human Sun Dial

I can't remember if I posted on this before or not, so I apologize if this is a duplicate post, but I am just so impressed by something my son said that I don't want to forget it...

Until recently, all of the kids were required to take a "rest" between 3 and 5 in their rooms. They didn't have to sleep, but they had to stay in their rooms. This rule is still in effect when Mommy or the kids are sick (otherwise, that is when I typically do actual 1:1 schoolwork with Honor and Connor). Connor somehow manages to leave his room RIGHT at 5:00 on the dot. I don't know how he does it since there are no clocks in his room, but when the "ball drops" (literally...I put a hard plastic ball on their doorknobs that falls when they open their doors so I know when they get up...) and I look at the clock, it is always within 5 minutes of 5:00 one way or the other.

Flabbergasted, I asked him about it one day. "How do you know when it is 5:00?" I peeked out his curtains to make sure there were no clocks out the window he could see.

His response blew me away.

"The shadows from the sun."

HOW DID HE FIGURE THAT OUT??????

Dot Coooommmm

The kids have several educational computer games. One of them has a section where the kids can type a story and print it out. Honor clicked on that section, then asked Connor what she should write.

"Type: Honor Connor dot com"

I was curious...is there an honorconnor.com? Nope.

Hmmm....what should we sell?

When I Grow Up

Random conversation around the breakfast table...


Connor: "When I grow up, I want to be a space ranger astronaut!"

Honor: "When I grow up, I want to be an artist!"

Samuel: "I want to be a space ranger astronaut too!"

Honor: "What do you want to be when you grow up, Mommy?"

That's Not Funny

Ariana: "I have a joke."

Mommy: "Okay, what is it."

Ariana: "Why did the chicken go to the doctor?"

Mommy: "Um...because he was sick."

Ariana: "Uh Huh!...wait...No...a funny joke!"

It was then that I realized that I was supposed to come up with the punchline....

.

I Love Juice

Samuel:

I love juice!

It's not poison...it's juice!

Good to know...

Letter to Great Grandma

"Here, Mom, I need you to mail this to Great Grandma," Honor said as she handed me a neatly folded piece of paper Saturday evening. I explained that it was Labor Day weekend and I couldn't mail anything until Tuesday.

"Okay."

This morning Honor handed me the paper again. "Okay, Mom. Mail this."

Okay.

Here's the letter, as written. My scanner doesn't work so you will just have to use your imagination on the "kid writing" effect.

DeAr GrateGrAnDmA

Im GLAD YouR

Better When Will

YOu invite Us

OVeR YOuR

GRAnDDAUGhteR

HonoR

It Creeps Me Out

Who doesn't think this doll is creepy? Really. CREEPY!

It is part of a bag of toys that my kids found in our shop. Leftovers from the previous owners. I managed to throw away most of the stuffed animals, but the girls insisted on keeping this doll and two others. They are much too realistic for my comfort. Raggedy Ann? Fine. Creepy lifelike doll--NO!

At least none of them have blinkie eyes...

But it gets worse. Samuel likes to give the "baby" a high-pitched voice. Then the baby chases me around the house, trying to hug me and kiss me and tell me, "I love you, Mommy!"

Yep. Creepy.

Go Fish

I tried to teach my kids how to play "Go Fish" the other day. Yet another game that teaches great skills such as number recognition, same/different, and good sportsmanship. Honor and Connor picked it up just fine. Ariana did okay. They all know their numbers well, although Ariana couldn't remember J=Jack, Q=Queen, and K=King. Samuel...well, let's just say the finer points of the game were lost on him, but he had fun bending the cards and making them "talk".

We played with a deck of cards that my parents gave us: Monsters, inc cards. Since there are four jokers, I included them in the game also. Here were two of my favorite game comments:

-----------------------

Ariana to Connor: "Do you have the silly card?" (referring to the joker)

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Samuel to Mommy: "Do you have Spiderman?"

Mommy: "No, Honey, you need to ask for one of these," I said, pointing to the numbers on the cards.

Samuel looked down at his cards and then back at me: "Nope!...No Spiderman! Go Fish!"