Cute Kid Conversations...

Yesterday as we were getting ready to start our day at the breakfast table...Piersen found a half eaten cookie that he had stashed somewhere from the day before. I let him eat it (no comments, ha!) Then, naturally, Chase requested one too. So I said he could have ONE before he ate something healthy but that was IT. As could be expected...within minutes, Chase is requesting another one...with his best manners, of course. Here is how it unfolded...

Me: No Chaser. Remember, I told you just one.

Chase: But, Moooommmmm, it tastes so good. Just one more. Please.

Me: Chase, I am not changing my mind. No means no.

A long period of silence from him...as I continue doing stuff around the kitchen.

Chase: Mom, do you like princesses?

Me(a little suprised by the change in theme): Ummmm, yes I guess I like princesses alright.

Chase: Well, then if you don't give me another cookie I am not gonna get you anything "princess-ey" for your birthday!


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After a crazy day of all kinds of things going on, we decide to order pizza for dinner. Benjy asks what kind everyone would like...Reece responds with "macaroni pizza, please". I am thinking he is being silly so as parents often do - we order the pizza we think everyone wants instead of waiting 20 minutes for agreement from the brothers. The next morning, Reece is drawing at the table before school. He begins to draw and cut out pieces of pizza for everyone in the family. He hands a teeny tiny litte paper pizza slice to Pierce and says: Piersen, here is your macaroni pizza. When I look down and see his drawing I finally realize that he is confusing "macaroni" with "pepperoni".


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Benjy, driving the boys to school in the morning, listening to his radio as the boys are on the back bench of the van in an important, intense conversation. Benjy realizes (kind of amazing as he likes his radio, ha,ha) and shares this commentary with me when he gets home...

Reece (adamently): no, no, no

Chase: yes they can

Reece: Dad, Dad...isn't it right that elephants can't fly?

Benjy: well, no Chase they actually can't.

Chase (a little disappointed): not even baby ones?

Reece: no Chase. you see anything that is really strong usually can't fly.

(Benjy then realizes that Chase is probably thinking about Dumbo - poor kid - Disney sets him up for a fall again!)

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Tonight the kids were eating some fruit for a snack before bed. They were all in a rather rambuncious (sp?) moods with a lot of noise and laughter filling the room - and definitely in the realm of little boy silliness. Reece, struggling with a cold, laughed as we was about to take another bite of melon, and...let's just say his nose didn't hold it all in like it should have. He ran out of the room to the find a tissue in the bathroom and Chase looks at me with an expression and tone that only he can give as he states: "that kid is gross"!

Can Anyone Relate??

Okay, so ever since I was a little girl I have had a fascination with "school-supply" kind of things - my conscience still won't let me forget about the year I lied to my Mom about "needing" a new eraser - just because I felt like everything in my new pencilcase needed to be new. Sorry Mom. But one of my favorite times of the year would be the end of summer and the days before a new school year - all of the school supplies purchased and labeled and I would lay them out on the floor and pack them into my backpack....then unpack them and repack them again in great anticipation of using them! Very fun. And I love, love, love the smell of crayons. And I love to color (I think it is therapeutic). To me it is nearly a CRIME to break a crayon or rip the paper off of it. So IMAGINE my life with three little boys who think that you are not alive if you have not, are not, or are not planning to destroy something, anything, just because. So instead of a neatly organized crayon box in my current home...I have a box filled to the top with little teeny pieces of all kinds of paper-torn, broken crayons. HELP! :)

So I took matters into my own hands yesterday...I bought "twistable crayons" - which I think is an amazing invention - and we had a short family training on "how to use these twistable crayons" with a visual demonstration! Included: a strong threat of if you are caught throwing or twisting too much crayon to cause breaking - you WILL be banished to only being permitted to use the "broken crayon box".

We have had one day of total success and I am smiling. :)

School Pictures for 2008/2009 Year

Chase - Kinder II

Reece - Kinder III

Little Piersen Turns the Big 2!

Our sweet baby celebrated 2 years of life on March 12th and as always, we snapped lots of pictures to remember the day. We partied with a puppy-dog theme as it seems to be one of Pierce's favorite animals. He does the cutest little barking imitation, and panting, and crawling on all fours, and picking things up with his mouth...ya you get the picture. It was an appropriate theme - let's just leave it at that! We had puppy-dog cake, and doggie bone biscuits (chocolate cookies), and a puppy pinata (although it rained all afternoon and we had use the back-up-dump-all-the-candy-on-the-floor plan) :) Piersen's favorite part was blowing out his little number 2 candle and he repeated the "game" numerous times throughout the day! The cake was a little large to set in front of him so we gave him a bowl of doggie bones instead. This boy loves anything sweet so he was very content to chew on a few of those while we cut cake. We were blessed to spend the afternoon with good friends (but sure missed being with family!) Enjoy a few pics below... (my apologies for not doing a neat little slideshow with the pics - we are having computer issues so I am happy they even got posted!)

Pierce, we wish you another happy year of life in our family. You are an amazing little boy and we cannot imagine life without you. You are such a happy guy and you brighten up our days with your funny ways of laughing, talking, and dancing...you truly bring smiles to so many faces. Your brothers adore you and it is one of my greatest joys to watch all three of you together. Thank you for being just exactly who you are. We are excited to watch you grow and change this year - and hope you know how much we love you through and through! Happy birthday sweet boy.

The party invitation!

The cake!

The doggie bone cookies!

Singing to the birthday boy!

Brothers chewing on doggie bones while they wait for cake!

Digging in!

The big moment of the day...

A big breath....

And it is done...

Thanks friends for all these cool presents...

Pierce with his puppy pinata...

Candy time!

My happy boy!

Retreat!

Last weekend we enjoyed a 2 day escape from the Big City for a church retreat in the mountains! It was a wonderful time together as a Christian family - there were around 28 of us who participated in worship, fellowship, play and of course...eating! We introduced the Mexicans to smores around the campfire and shared great conversation and heard many encouraging words exchanged between everyone. Our boys had a blast being out in nature - finding sticks, rolling down hills, and just being outside. The whole weekend was a lot of fun but my favorite time was when the whole group worked the process of trying to discover our personal passion(s) in life. We individually had to reflect upon and answer several questions and then we collectively shared them. It was a really neat way to get to know one another on a deeper level, and we will now take all of this information and begin to ask God to lead us in discovering ways to use the individual passions of each of us to become an active body of Christ in our community. As a house church, we desire to be instruments in God's hands and want to care about the things He cares about. Please continue to pray for us as we seek to be used to shine the light of Christ in this dark City.

Large Gap in Priorities...And Rightly So!

My sweet siser in law lead me to this poem and it makes me smile as I think about how much more enjoyable (and eternally lasting) it is to spend quality time with my little ones than be worried about things that need to be done around the house. Both are necessary but the gap between where they fall on the priority list is amazing. I hope this inspires you to set aside what you were going to do in the kitchen/laundry room/bathroom - let your house be shocking and instead go be with your baby(ies)....

Song for a Fifth Child. (by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton, 1958)

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Making Fun Out of the Simple Things...

I believe my goal was to shoot this video to capture how well Pierce is getting around and pretty much running. Instead, the young child is distracted by a toy car on the sidewalk and like any good boy will do...makes a game out of the simplest things. Apparently he thinks it is pretty fun - watch how he laughs at himself - too funny!

Another Chaser - Funny

I have got to record these things when they happen so they are not forgotten....

Chase is in the bath for the second time of the day. He has been playing for a while so I pop in to check on him. He looks like he just got caught...not because he is doing anything wrong...but because he hasn't yet washed his hair (a constant battle with him).

Me: Chaser, don't worry, you don't hafta wash your hair tonight.

Chase (suprised): What?!?!

Me: Ya, you don't need to wash your hair.

Chase (thrilled): Is it Christmas time???

Figuring Out Trikes and Bikes...

 

Ahhhh. A life with boys. Always full of movement - their little selves - or the things they like to ride upon! Often...the faster the better. The crazier the better....

 

Pierce's little legs can reach the pedals. Sort of. Just not quite comfortably enough to began the motion of his trike. But. If I am pushing him on it, he is all in. The faster we go the harder he laughs. A very frequented phrase in his limited vocabulary is "GO". It used to be that we would say, "ready....set...." and he would finish it off with a strong "GO". Now he has advanced to a "grunt...grunt...GO" all on his own! Very cute (if I do say so myself).

 

 

These pictures captured yesterday demonstrate the pure glee of "little boy independence with moving objects!" Notice what is NOT attached to the back tire of this little bike. Yep. You guessed it! He really is growing up. He has grabbed on tight to this new found freedom and doesn't seem at all shaken by the frequency or the severity of the crashes. He has already advanced in skill and confidence in just one day! His Daddy was thrilled to be a part of this milestone (remember, he was out of town when Reece took the plunge) - and was sending Chase off with speeds I thought were a little advanced for him this early in the game...but what do I know?!!? His big brother was quick to give him "pointers" on how it all works (even though there was slight protest to the truth that Chase is a little younger than Reece was when he went training wheel-less). Chase was quick to proclaim to his Daddy to "never, never, never put those back on my bike again. Never!" And little brother...well, he can be seen in the video below, showing off that he is practically running these days! Always a handful of milestones - especially those involving action - in our little family!

 

That one was just to show that parenting is all about modeling your expectations - ha,ha! Enjoy this live footage!

How Far Is Too Far?

I think sometimes we have gone too far in this post-modern age. Everything goes. Everyone can think what they want to think. We pump our kids full of self confidence and "you can do anything" to the point where they don't even realize that sometimes you lose...sometimes you fail....not everything is always "ok". We tell our kids they can be anything they want to be - the sky is the limit (ha - no pun intended with what you are about to read!!) But maybe sometimes it is just too tough to confront it. Here is a perfect illustration. Tucking Chase in to bed a few nights ago....

Chase: "Mommy what are you gonna be when you grow up?

Me: "Well, I am kind of grown up and I am a Mommy. I really love being a Mommy. What do you want to be when you grow up Chaser?"

Chase: "I want to be a spaceship!" (with great wonder in his eyes!)

Me: "Really. A spaceship. That's awesome!?!?!" (I just didn't have the heart to crash his dreams!"