So I thought we had mice or a rather large cockroach spreading the Fruity Pebbles cereal all over the pantry…until I saw the spoon. Even a large cockroach can’t use a spoon! The guilty party was someone who had never had sugar cereal before and certainly took a liking to them. So much for a treat! More shots on our flickr account. The guilty one is holding a football, how cute is that?! How could anyone get mad at that face?!?
I was on the phone with Donnie this morning making reservations for a little weekend getaway when Bennie came into my office this morning asking if he could play horse checkers. I said, “You mean chess?” He said, “No. Horse checkers.” Very cute kid. He’s getting too big too fast.
Gabe: Hey, Mom, I’m the 2nd newest kid in my class.
Mom: Oh? Who is the newest kid?
Gabe: Dakota.
Mom: Where is he from? Is he white, black, hispanic, oriental?
Gabe: He’s American.
Mom: {smirk} Gabe, I love you!
Gabe: You know, cocker spaniel. He’s our color.
Mom: You mean caucasian? White?
Gabe: Oh yeah, that’s it.
The pics above are from our old collection, somewhere in 2002 just after Jack was born. Don’t Cole and Gabe (and Don?) look so much younger? Where does the time go???
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I’ve been keeping track of the funny things my kids say on here. Well, it’s time to backtrack and add some from years past that we have written on tiny slips of paper and carrying around in wallets and purses F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Here goes!
Backstory: On the way to our OB appointment for Jack in my belly while Gabe was about a year and a half old.
Gabe: “The baby can have my car seat and I’ll get a new one, k?”
No response from us as we are considering his sense of entitlement at such a young age.
Gabe continues: “So, after we hear the heart beat, then they cut you open?”
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Backstory: I was trying to get out of a very young Cole (about 8 or 9) if he really wanted to go hunting with his father. I was nervous and he could tell.
Mom: “So, Cole, do you want to go hunting with your father or do you want to go next year?”
Cole {very long sigh}: “I really want to go hunting, even though I know there’s a 50/50 chance I could die.”
Rule #1: This book club is not for kids. Do not bring your kids. Find a babysitter. So — I broke rule number 1 already and since I was the only one doing it, I arranged in advance for the hostess to have Lightning McQueen at the ready. She had better toys than we do (dinosaurs and cars do the trick!) and Ben was super quiet upstairs…for the first hour and a half. Nearing the second hour, when he had enough, Ben devised a surefire way to get me to exit Book Club quickly: come downstairs naked. A high school friend reminded me that, yes, indeed, this is how we roll in Nebraska. Unfortunately, my day was not over yet!
I promptly went to Barnes & Noble to purchase September’s book. I figured if I bought the book they’d have to let me come back, right? So….sitting in Barnes & Noble, I purchased a sandwich and cookie. I ate the sandwich. Ben ate the cookie (lunch=cookie when you’ve had the morning that he had entertaining book club ladies). Our conversation went like this:
Mom: “So, Ben, do you even know that you live in Texas now?”
Ben: “Yeah.”
Mom: “Do you like Texas?”
Ben: “Yeah.” (Boys are such great conversationalists).
Mom: “So. Are you a Husker or a Longhorn?” (At this point, I’m just fishing for info).
Ben (mouth full of cookie): “A Longhorn!”
Mom: “Well, that’s not gonna fly! You are a HUSKER!!! You ARE a Husker, right?!“
Ben: “I’m a Husker. Do they fly?”
20 minutes after blog entry: I had to remove the word “naked” from the title and the tags because within this short amount of time I have had too many hits from freaks in this world searching for “naked boys” and getting my blog. Unbelievable. What is this world coming to?! I am actually physically ill over the thought. I didn’t even consider such sick things when I wrote the article. I will take your IP address and send them to the police. Disgusting. May God have mercy on your soul.
We had a Second Day pass that needed to be used in the next week or so, so we decided to head down to Galveston today to Schlitterbahn. We had to make one stop on the way, however, and since our GPS is broken and needing to be sent back to HP for repairs we had to take written instructions (gasp! the stone age!). Hmmm…not so good. We took every back road possible and we could have reached our destination a gazillion times faster if we’d have just looked at a map and taken the highways. Oh well. We scored some great deals at the XPEDX Retail Store in Houston then on to Galveston! The boys had a blast and they were so easy to locate in their new rash guard shirts. I hope Cole doesn’t mind matching his brothers. He doesn’t usually care about such things (and I know I’m lucky!). At least, he doesn’t care enough to TELL me. Plus, it’s better than being sunburnt (sunburned?). All in all - a very great day.
Oh! One kid funny: The highway was closed in one spot so there was a massive delay and Don was a true Texan in his SUV and crossed the grass/curb median to the frontage road just like everybody else…Cole asked if it was illegal to which I replied, “Yes!” and to which Gabe replied, “Uhhh….I’m not going to jail!” It’s good to know he’d stick with you through thick and thin!
These pictures are from the Guerilla Potty Training Series that has been going on lately. Ben does a great job all around but isn’t quite there yet…almost. I know he could do it if we were better about having him go but frankly I’m not quite up to it. So, he’s using Pull-Ups and keeping them dry for the most part! Wish us luck as the war continues…
It’s hot today and we’re all inside. Today is one of those days where I think maybe, just maybe, I was not meant to be a mother. My nerves are shot…when does school begin again??? I love my kids. I’ve just seen too much of them lately. I need some quiet time - and not only when I’m sleeping. Part of the problem is that I signed up at church to take dinner to two families this week and I have been to the grocery store 3 times today. I want my own kitchen back. Whine, whine, whine. I know, but it’s true: the kitchen really is the heart of the home. It has been a rough year: not comfortable in our own home while showing it, selling our house for nearly a year, moving a thousand miles away and not into our new home even yet. I am so looking forward to unpacking! I need a serious lesson in how to be happy in the here and now…
Even while I whine, I know I am just venting. I am thankful for many things. I’m thankful for a kitchen to cook in and not a hotel room or apartment! I’m thankful that I’m not the one needing meals today. I’m thankful that we are blessed with plentiful food and too-plentiful-desserts. I’m thankful my kids have voices, healthy bodies, and brains, even if they use them to annoy one another daily.
I’ll just leave you with one funny note: our kids have been playing way too much Nintendo DS. I told the kids to stop playing so much and save their brains. Cole immediately announced to his brothers, “Okay, boys, go to File, then Save.” Very clever, but really not very funny!!! Let’s hope if I put this picture of you up on SparkBark that you will learn to not pose with your finger up your nose again (and You’re Welcome!).
Pretty self explanatory. We love it! We are going to miss the Derr family but I think that Ben might miss Kaylie the very most.
Ben likes hootenany pancakes so much that he sang for them and we got it on video. It’s a classic Rolfson recipe and oh-so-easy-and-cheap. It is a staple in our household for breakfast OR dinner. Sometimes we even have to make two pans.
Hootenany Pancakes
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
6 or 7 eggs
pinch salt
1 stick butter
Cut 1 stick of butter into several chunks and put in bottom of 9×12 or 10×13 pan. Place in 400° F oven until melted. While butter is melting, whisk or blend flour, eggs, milk and salt. When butter is melted, pour into pan with swirling motion. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Pancake will puff up! Best served with elderberry syrup but also great with jelly, powdered sugar, etc. I have been known to serve these in the car in baggies - cold - and the kids eat them just as well. Enjoy!
First I suppose a little back story is in order. Gabe and Jack have been participating in a reading competition at school. When they read for 15 minutes a night for a certain number of nights they received a certain shell or starfish or sand dollar as a prize. Well, with them both enjoying reading, they got all of the prizes available. At the end of the competition (Friday February 27th) they held a prize drawing that included all of the kids’ names. Jack’s name was drawn and called out over the intercom to come get a prize and he was awarded a ukulele. He was very happy to get it so we ‘tuned’ it last night and the kids have all been playing it and singing along.
Fast forward a few hours and the kids (except for Cole) are in bed so that Lizabeth, Cole, and Don can have an online scrabble tournament on Facebook. After three games we notice that it is almost midnight and we still have not prepared for the house showing at 10:30 the next morning. We hastily created a list of things that we needed to accomplish before the showing so that nothing gets missed, set the alarm for 5 a.m. so we can get it all done and head to bed, noticing that now it is after 1 a.m. Somehow we are ‘blessed’ with a wakeup call (wrong number) at 4:30 a.m. We decided that we should get up and moving anyway and began the day by making beds and doing dishes and shoveling the 6 inches of new snow.
Later when we are well into the cleaning routine and the kids are up the hilarity begins. Jack and Ben are standing in the hallway when I hear the following discussion:
Ben: "Is that your bitar?"
Jack: "It’s not a guitar, it’s a ukulele."
Ben: "It’s not a huku-lady, it’s a bitar!"
Jack: "No, it’s a ukulele not a guitar!"
Ben: "It’s not a huku-lady, it’s a bitar!!!"
This continued back and forth for probably ten or twelve times before I totally lost it and began laughing out loud. Then on and off throughout the day the same discussion has ensued. Ben still thinks it is a ‘bitar’ and NOT a ‘huku-lady’ no matter who tells him differently.
After the showing when we were all back home and resting, the kids were watching a Scooby-Doo video Ben was playing with the huku-lady when a scene right out of a Quick-draw McGraw cartoon occurred. (For those of you who are too young, look here: QuickDraw McGraw cartoon at YouTube) Ben climbed up onto the chair where I was dozing and kabonged me right on the forehead. I awoke, grabbed the kabonger and very loudly explained that we do NOT hit people. He cried for a bit until I hugged him and we were all better. Then Cole looked at me and said, “Dad you’re bleeding!” Sure enough, I had a split in my head right above my eyebrow. We debated for a bit whether or not it needed stitches, and finally decided that since no one lost a finger or had a chopstick in their ear, we could skip the emergency room and applied a little tape and I went back to dozing. I really didn’t want to either visit the ER nor pay the $100 deductable for said visit.
Added Monday morning by Lizabeth: I think it’s funny that Don categorized this under “Things to be Thankful For” on my blog. Nice perspective! Or, perhaps…you’re not thinking clearly from being bonged on the head?!?
He’s so darn cute. Just wanted to share something simple since I’m really under the weather today. That’s what I get for bragging that we just hadn’t got sick like everybody else around us. I should know better by now. Plus, I’m thinking it’s time for a giveaway - gotta think up something good to share!
We were talking about how diverse the kids’ new school district will most likely be when we move to Houston as compared to Gretna, Nebraska. Jack proclaimed with much disappointment, “We’re going to be Texans?!? I wanted to be German!” He then went on to proclaim “No, no…I really wanted to be Egyptian!”
Cole informed me that when Gabe walked in from school he proclaimed, “Oh, yeah, baby! The furnace is working!” Cole thought it was funny because most of the time people only say anything about the furnace when it’s broken.
Where do they come up with this stuff???
Gabe is a gifted kid in so many ways but it’s funny to hear him on what he personally thinks are his gifts. I caught this conversation last week:
Gabe: “Hey, Mom! I can make Jack laugh just by lookin’ at him….it’s a gift.”
We were discussing the meaning of horsepower and Cole commented, surprised, “Oh! I thought it meant how many horses a car could drag.” He claims to be kidding but we’re not sure. Sorry, Cole. Hopefully Elizabeth won’t tease you too much over this one. xoxo Mom & Dad
What?! I officially have a teenager?!? News to me. Other than being the world’s biggest eavesdropper, Cole is nothing like your typical teenager (give it time, right?). He is still a great kid and I’m proud of him and glad he’s in our family. He is like a superhero - kind, helpful, courageous, righteous, strong, smart, imaginative, friendly - and he has only one weakness that I know of: spelling. It’s his achilles heel. Not a bad trade for a superhero.
Memories of Cole from when he was a baby: he cried constantly because he had reflux. We had to do step aerobics to bounce him to keep him happy. He has always loved animals - especially dogs (and they seem to love him, too). He is also a very good big brother - he has helped take care of each of his three brothers. His first word was “Jesus” (seriously, even before mama or dada). He has always made friends easily and has a great sense of humor. The daycare he went to as a baby called him Mr. Personality. He enjoys piano, just quit trombone (with our blessing; we’re just not band people), is a brown belt in taekwondo (sooo close to black!), scouting, camping, swimming, etc. I asked him if he wanted to live in the country or suburb when we moved to Houston and he said without hesitate, “country”. He’s just an easygoing kid. We are grateful for him! We’re proud of you Cole.
Yesterday, at church, he got to be the Bishop’s helper and he held the microphone for a confirmation and had to sit up on the stand all during sacrament. His brother, Jack, looked up and said, “What’s Cole got?” (we were thinking microphone) and then he answered his own question by saying, “Cole’s got the priesthood?!”
