The Latest Quotables

I'm not the best at documenting things the kids say, but sometimes I remember.  And sometimes I even post them!   Since reading through a blog book with the girls, I have a renewed resolve to try to write their funny sayings down.

The first four are from some time ago, last spring I'm guessing since it was Amanda and Aiden hanging out.

Aiden yelled up the stairs, Girls, build each other up!  Then he heard more arguing and said, My girls are not listening to me!  So he took a couple steps closer to the stairs and said, Girls, build each other up!

Amanda showed me a picture she had worked very hard to color.  As I praised her, she got an "awe-sucks" face on and said, Yeah, I AM created!

Amanda and Aiden were sharing an all too uncommon time of sweetness together.  The three of us were laying in Aiden's bed, she was singing to him as he requested songs.  Jesus Loves Me, He's Got the Whole World, etc.  At some point he wanted I'm in the Lord's Army.  Apparently Amanda hadn't brushed up on that one in a while and kind of fumbled with the words.  When she was done, Aiden exclaimed, Amanda, you didn't say "infantry!".

Amanda at the breakfast table, just the two of them.  Daddy had just reprimanded Aiden.  Aiden, sometimes I get mad too but soon you are going to have your own kids and you'll be able to tell them what to do...when to go to bed, what they can eat.  The bible tells Mommy and Daddy that they have to tell us what to do.  It says "store up your treasures in heaven"

Amanda: I was just up on the third floor trying to find a tank top to wear and I saw a picture of you and Daddy.  Your nails were painted and, and....Daddy was probly richer then.  I just couldn't keep my eyes off of it.  I'm so ashamed that its up there and not down here where everyone can see it.

So...now it sits in a prominent place downstairs.  :)

Walking into the mall....There are a LOT of tores in the mall.  Mom, what does "mall" mean?  I'm not really sure...what do you think?  I think it means alot of people need help.  Let's see if there is anyone in there collecting money for the poor (Salvation Army bell ringers).

First time of the season with the new mittens.  After many, many attempts to get his thumb in the thumb slot, we were both getting a little frustrated.  He looked at me, a bit exasperated and said, Mommy, you're not doing your best!  Meanwhile, I was starting to work up a sweat!

Dee udder day I was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Come Inside Its Fun Inside and, and, and, and...Minnie was bringing Goofy some soup because he had a cold.

Oh yeah?  That was nice of her.

Yup.  That's what she did.  And she brought Pete some, too.

Aiden and I do a LOT of chatting in the car...

Imagine if dare was ice and da car went on it and pinned around.

Oh, that wouldn't be fun!

(absolutely incredulous) Why wouldn't dat be fun??

Well, if the car slipped, it could be dangerous.

No, Mom....I think that would be fun!

Mom...please can I have some strawberries?  Please?  Please on Earf and mercy mild?

Project 365, Week 4

This was our first week of really getting back into tax season and I felt it.  The first little bit is always hard and then I eventually hit a groove.

See, our lives are built on the premise that there are two parents with flexible schedules working side by side to make it all happen.  When one of the parents is removed, we feel it!

It makes me that much more thankful for how good we have it the rest of the year!

Very much looking forward to the big warm up we have coming up this week!!

January 20

This?  Just my kids running around outside with lollipops in their mouths.  Why...is that dangerous?  :)

After dinner, the kids were whispering amongst each other and then told me to leave the kitchen and not come back until they came to get me.  It must have been an hour or so that I could hear them working.

Finally they said, Mom, you can come in!

The kitchen was spotless.  Even the pans were (hand) washed, dried and put away!

I was SO blessed, especially because Z was the ring leader of it all.  Do you think a 20x30 canvas will be large enough to print out their message?

 January 21
We enjoyed our day off of school, mostly playing, with bickering sprinkled on top.

Aiden and Great-Grandpa playing tug-of-war.

 January 22
Mom, take a picture!

 January 23
This should have been my first clue that something was wrong, but I thought she was just resting and getting warm.

 Avery has math speed drills each night for addition and substraction problems.  There are 100 on each page and she has to work on getting her time down.

She is so focused and so fast.  I find it interesting that she doesn't go in order...her method seems very random to me, but I'm not about to race her!  :)

 January 24
I didn't get a picture.  It was just the usual....pick sick kid up at noon with 102.5 temp, get sick kid and 3 year-old tucked in bed for naps, go pick up older kids at two different schools early while Shaun was home for a break so they can do homework and so I don't have to wake the sleeping kids up because we have to go....

Sit in therapy waiting room with three kids, go "into the office" for my annual review (I still have a job! :), take Z to basketball practice, stop at H&R Block to see Daddy which didn't work because he was with a client, but we still got lollipops, get kids home, serve warm crockpot dinner (THIS recipe is definitely worth trying), and whisk them off to bed.  Stop briefly to wonder how that all actually worked out.  Shaun and Z came home a little after 9 and after a quick catch up, I went to bed.

January 25
Another day of the timing working out just right...I'll spare you another play-by-play.

Here's my (now TWO) sick kids, hanging out together.  They were so sweet standing side by side, I said, Wait there...let me get a picture!

 Aiden, let's make a heart with our fingers.

 Ok, now lets do a silly pose.

Then Aiden puts his hand in his armpit and starts flapping.  I'd never seen him do that and it was hysterical and mortifying.  Wonder which big brother he learned that from!

 January 26
Another full day.  My fever kids made a bed of coats on the bleachers and rested while we cheered Z on.  At one point Aiden got hot so we took his sweatshirt off.

 It was an exciting game...Z scored the tying basket with five seconds left to take them into overtime (which, quite honestly I had mixed feelings about).

From there, we went right to church, which I would have skipped because of the sick-kid thing, but I had committed to taking pictures of the baptism service and I'd scheduled a meeting with potential wedding clients after.

I kept Aiden and Amanda in the service with me.  99% of the time Aiden is in the sanctuary its for one of the plays...rehearsals or performances.

So, when the curtain closed on the band and the pastor got up to preach, Aiden whispered to me, When is the shooting part?  (there is a shooting scene in Lost in Vegas that he's very scared of and I always take him out for).  There's no shooting scene, Aiden...this is church.  Well then, why is Blaze Wilde here??  ("Blaze" is the "bad guy" in Lost in Vegas and had just MC'd the baptism service).

Then, a Spanish lady got up to give her brief testimony.  She was talking about her thoughts when she was diagnosed with cancer and it was translated, The devil said, I am going to KILL you.  

Again, Aiden, on my lap, whipped around a little more frantic this time, Mom, when is the SHOOTING part??

We were sitting with the writer and director of all these shows and we both got a good laugh out of it.  Clearly, we need to get our kids into the church service once in a while!

I hope your week is filled with blessings and production!

Baby, Its Cold Outside

Its cold.  I know no other way to describe it here in New England.  This morning I drove the kids to school instead of walking.  Its THAT cold.

Days like today make me wonder who came here and thought it was inhabitable.  How did they spend a January here and think, gosh, this would be a great place to set up house!  Nooo...go south People!

Alas, nearly all of our immediate family is here, which makes this a great place to live.  :)

I've been biting my complaining tongue and trying instead to just think warm thoughts.  My grumbling will in no way change the weather and not for a second would I wish away any minute of this month or this winter.  Life is too sweet and too short.

I pulled up a couple miscellaneous photos from 18 months ago, July 2011.

You decided where the borders of the earth would be. You made both summer and winter.

Psalm 74:17

Project 365, Week 3

We have certainly hit the ground running in this new year.  Some big decisions to be made.....an eclectic mixture of scary and exciting.  We're leaning into God more than ever for wisdom, guidance and favor.

In between our leisurely dreaming, planning, hashing out sessions (ha!), we're doing this life thing, pictured in part below.

Daily blessings to overflowing, when we want to see them.

January 13

One of my favorite pics from the baby dedication I photographed at church.

January 14

Monday was an intense day for me, as I spent three hours in the lobby of the courthouse.  It was an important day in the grand scheme of things and was something I (as usual) had no control over.  Good thing I know the One who is running the show.

It was a minor feat getting to the basketball game, but once there it was fun to watch Shaun do his thing...which is exactly this...

 Then we walked down the stairs to swim lessons.

January 15

Shaun had the morning off, so we went to drop the car off...our second vehicle to get a new set of tires this year

 I snuck out to run a few errands and when I came home Shaun was in the shower and I couldn't find Aiden....that is, until I went up to his room.

Sweet little guy had tucked himself in for a nap.  Too bad he doesn't know how to put his diaper on.  Oh well, good day for clean sheets.

 We went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday with just the two little guys.  Amanda couldn't understand how I could have a birthday without cake and candles.

She went on a hilarious rant about it, this video is me asking her to say it again.  (Don't mind the candy she popped in her mouth right before I hit record.)

 My sister had a couple extra tickets to the Hope & Healing Concert for Newtown, CT, so she brought Avery and Z, who are both big Toby Mac fans.  I got to watch the Live Stream on my iPad while I edited wedding photos on my iMac and for a while Aiden sat beside me playing on my iPhone.  Ha!

It was an incredible night and I'm so thankful the kids got to have that experience!

 January 16
Snow day!

 January 17
Mom, I have Aiden's shorts on.

January 18
Aiden went with Pop and Kiki to the assisted living center where they do a service once a month.  Kiki  said the ladies were in LOVE as Aiden and Pop sang a couple songs they'd practiced.

Aiden hands out song books and shakes their hands while saying God bless you.  Its an amazing thing to see God using him at just three.

 Daddy had another basketball game, which mostly means playtime with cousins.  :)

 Isaiah will out weigh Avery before too long.  :)  Oh, how she loves her babies!

 January 19
The girls had their game in the morning, then we headed to Z's.  They only had five guys, so the team had to play tough.

 My little super hero did a great job muscling through no nap.

That's our week....hope you have a great one!

Random Friday

Today's a random day, at least here in my brain and, in honor of it being a high of 26 degrees, I am posting a couple pictures from last May....you know, for my own sanity.

I cleaned out the toothpaste/toothbrush/dental floss drawer and realized 1. we were all just about out of toothpaste and 2. I needed to ONLY buy toothpaste that has the cap attached.  A tube of toothpaste without someone conscientiously and consistently putting the cap back on is just...nastiness.

After a trip to the store I began to wonder if the only people in the world who are NOT concerned with that little cap getting put back on after each use are the ones who live under this roof.  It must be so because 90% of the boxes I peeked in had a removable cap and not a flip one.

This is as puzzling to me as seeded watermelon.  Why?  If there is such a thing as seedless watermelon, then why not phase out the seeded stuff?  I actually thought "they" had, until I mistakenly bought one last summer.

Speaking of "Why" questions....last night I was talking to Z's coach and I was incredibly distracted by his LONG eyebrow hairs, several of them sticking straight out or up.  Does he really have no one in his life who feels like it would be the right thing to do to mention that to him?  I don't see the harm in his wife throwing out an offhanded comment to see where it goes.

Yesterday Shaun offered to purchase me a one-on-one training session with someone who could help me with my running "stuff"...injury prevention, training schedule, form...you know, stuff like that.

At first I blew it off, as if there could possibly be anyone out there who could teach me something I don't already know.  Seriously.  Immediately I figured I'd get someone straight out of college who has read the same books and blogs as me.  But upon further thought, I DO think its possible I may not know everything on the subject.   Wow....glad we got that straight!

The other night the girls pulled out one of my blog books for a bedtime story.  Funny kid quotes proved to be the favorite.  Amanda in particular thought it was just hilarious.  She laughed and laughed at this one.  Made me think I need to post quotes more often.

I am so excited for their day off of school this Monday and I may or may not have counted down the days until February vacation.  Love having them home!

Love this quote...so true!

Hope your (maybe long) weekend is fabulous!!