March 23, 2016

Sidebar quotes, blogspot

I loved putting up quotes from my children on the sidebar of my old blogspot blog. (The first 8 quotes are the ones that were there when I stopped blogging on blogspot, and the rest are from previous quote posts). If you don’t already write down things your children say, start today! You will forget, and their words are such a delight to read years later…which happens faster than you ever dream!

I was putting Anna’s jacket on yesterday, and about to tell her about socks with her shoes. I said, “You’re probably going to want…” and she jumped in “…a cookie to go with it!” (That’s for fans of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie).

Anna didn’t want to go to bed. “I wish we never had to go to sleep!” she lamented.

Anna was scared at night, and Rebecca chirped up to comfort her. “Think of happy things: candy, diamonds, gems, candy!” (Bet you didn’t know Rebecca likes GEMS!)

I came home from Back to School night with a picture that Peter had drawn and an accompanying phrase, “Peter paints.” The teacher had asked the children to come up with an action verb that started with the letter of their first name. Nate, who just came home from his first rugby practice, and on seeing Peter’s picture, protested, “Why couldn’t he have written Peter Plays RUGBY?!” I said that was he wrote was just PERFECT. (Give the poor boy a break!)

Nate is taking Spanish this year. So far he can say, “Te amo Taco.”

“Summer’s not supposed to be busy,” observed Anna, “but it is!”

Listening to a song from the movie Cinderella, we had a conversation that went something like this: “Except for the blonde hair and extremely tiny waist, Cinderella and I are practically the same person,” Sarah observed this morning. “Do you sing and dance with mice?” I asked. “No, but I scream and dance with mice,” she responded. “We don’t have those kind of mouse in our house,” Julia clarified. I agreed, furthering: “We just have the very clever, very scared of people kind of mouse.”

Rebecca asked Anna how much she loved her. “All the way to Korea!” she replied cheerfully. “Only that much?” Rebecca plied. “No, all the cities in the whole world!” Anna countered. “Only that much?” Rebecca pushed. “Yep. Isn’t that a lot?” Anna concluded, satisfied.

October 8, 2010:

I bought some chicken dinosaurs at Costco which Sarah was going to heat up to serve for the “babysitting dinner.” Pete was pretty excited. “Can I have some chicken nugs?” he asked. (This one is for Bex.)

September 28, 2010:

Eliza was looking at a LEGO catalog with Peter, surveying a castle, knights, and princesses. She spied one princess in the castle, “a dismal in distress!”

Making s’mores, Anna said, “Just so you know, I don’t like graham crackers.” After a bite, Sarah said, “Pretty heavy duty, Mom.” Peter’s assessment: “I could eat two billion!”

“I got a 2-headed one!” Anna, commenting on eating her puffed cereal.

“That’s what you need to send me on my mission, Mom: Gatorade powder packets.” Nate’s random comment while eating breakfast this morning.

“Guess what?” Anna asked this morning. “Grandma has CDs that are this big [her hands stretched apart 8 inches].” She’s talking about the records that are Disney stories that Anna plays on my sister Becca’s old Fisher-Price record player.

I bought some live ladybugs today that Anna and Peter were arguing over as to who would get to let them out. Lane asked if we had to let them out tonight as it was so late. “They have to be let out at dark,” I instructed. “Do they come back to the container in the morning?” Lane quipped. “Yes,” I teased, “they’re specially trained lady bugs with tracking devices on them, and you can track them on an iPad.” Peter heard all of this in wonder and awe, and ran to report to his brother: “Nate! You can contact those ladybugs on Mom’s iPad! And they come back in the morning to the container!” Poor Peter, when I told him I was just joking, he was so disappointed!

“What do you want for your birthday breakfast?” I asked Lane. Mockingly, he answered, “Really chunky oatmeal, 42- grain bread, hand-churned butter.” Sounded perfect to me!

Peter: “1 1/2 years until Nathan will be able to drive.”

Lane: “Frightening, huh?”

Peter: “And then he’s going to take me to In-n-Out Burger!”

I got into the car after I had finished swimming laps during the girls’ swim team practice. I commented on how I wanted to go home so I could blow dry my hair. The girls protested. Julia cheerily said, “Your hair looks beautiful. It looks like you blow dried it, and then someone dumped a bucket of water on it.”

I had 22 messages on my myjobchart.com message board. About 17 of them were from Eliza. “Check your email. Nooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww,” she said.

“I wish school weren’t over today,” Rebecca lamented, after having a year with such a wonderful teacher.

“Is Aunt Becca coming this summer?” Julia asked. “Mm hmm,” I confirmed. “That’s good,” she continued. “Then we won’t be totally bored.”

I woke up the children this morning (May 24) with a “Good morning! It’s snowing outside!” Their responses: Eliza–“THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Nate, earnestly–“That is SO cool!” Peter, gazing out the window unbelievingly, “It’s not a-posed to snow….”

July 25, 2010:

Perhaps the only thing missing from the institute this week is the opposite sex. This year’s students are all girls. No one is exactly sure why, but student Caroline Richards, 13, of Pleasant Grove has a guess.

“You picture angels playing [the harp],” Richards said, “and boys don’t want to look like angels.” (From article “Harp institute draws students from across county,” by Lisa Schencker, Salt Lake Tribune, July 15, 2010.)

June 27, 2010:

Sarah noticed that Anna’s antibiotic had a flavoring added to it: caramel-orange-raspberry (?!). She wondered what Anna thought of it. “Does your medicine taste good?” Anna explained, “Not really. It kind of tastes like rotten wood.” Lane reminded me of another time when Anna had told him her medicine tasted like “the wall.”

One of the great parts of having friends from another country is how a young child thinks about the possibility of a country besides their own. I love how this is shown. Nate was late getting home from school. “Where is Nate? Where is that boy?” I wondered outloud, a little annoyed. “Maybe he’s in Korea,” Anna suggested.

Peter was headed off to school after I dropped him off at the curb. He paused, then turned and called out: “Do I still get to go to playgroup?” “Yap!” I answered, a little surprised by what came out of my mouth. Yap? I guess that’s what comes out when you think “Yeah” and “Yep” at the same time. Kind of like the Electric Company: “yeah” + “yep” = “YAP!”

June 13, 2010:

One of our daughters was waxing affectionate: “Mom, you and dad are the best parents ever!” I smiled and returned to her, “Would you please keep that in mind the next time you get mad at us?” She smiled, and I happily reminded her of our exchange that night when she refused to come to dinner :).

Another daughter wrote a sweet note that she slid under our door at bedtime (after we scolded her and told her to get to bed!). “Thxs for all you do. You are the best family anyone could want. I love you….P.S. Dad, will you help me w/math tomorrow morning?” Nothing like a little buttering up….

Rebecca was sampling a new “Lara Bar” that I had picked up at Costco to try. She was excited to taste it. She took a bite enthusiastically. “Lara bars are good!” she chirped, smiling. Then she continued to chew, as she paused and her eyes looked to the corner. “They’re not so good, though,” she assessed. One moment and wrinkled nose later, she stopped chewing, pulled out the wrapper, and put the rest of the bar back in it. “Actually, I don’t like them,” she politely concluded. I was cracking up!

“Mom, do you some people have potbellied pigs for pets?” Peter asked me today at lunch. Hmm. How to answer such a random question of which I know nothing? “I bet that at least they do take them on walks!” he continued. Wow. I bet you’re right!??

The children in our family have a fetish for Top Ramen. Eliza wrote me a note, wanting her siblings not to see. “Top a ramen [sic] please?” I told her there was some leftover in the fridge. She protested, “I don’t want a little bit! I want a lot-a-bit!”

Nate has started working on his Eagle project. Eliza asked, “Did Dad ever get his Eagle…or his Beaver?”

Peter and Lane went to watch a rugby game today with Nate. Before the game they stopped to get some fish tacos and ate them in the back (the bed) of Lane’s truck. Peter, enjoying himself, plied Lane for some family history: “Dad, did you have a truck when you were little and sit in the back of it and eat tacos with your dad?” “No,” Lane responded. Peter, all seriousness, furthered, “Did you have a horse and cart?“

Several of Nate’s friends came over on Friday night (like 5 of them). One of them hadn’t met our family before. After seeing some of the children, he remarked, “You all look alike, everyone of you!” (I think I’ve heard that “you didn’t break the mold” comment before…)

May 18 2010:

Peter and his play group friends were talking in the car. Peter confessed that a girl in his kindergarten class had given him a kiss!! One of his friends was not impressed. Peter was concerned about his friend’s reaction: “Don’t get mad at me,” he defended. His friend replied, “I’m just saying that’s totally uncool, dude.”

(For those of you Activity Day leaders who wonder if Activity Days has an impact) I walked in to Rebecca’s room one morning, when she had been worried about being able to get up to finish an assignment, and asked if she had remembered her prayers. “I was just going to, because of the prayer pillow.” She had made a little pillow with a jingle bell on it that week in Activity Days.

We were talking about which movie Rebecca wanted to watch for Friday night. I thought she said “Mormon Barbie.” We started to chuckle at that. “I can just see it now,” Rebecca started. “Barbie walks into church. ‘How are you doing? I’m Barbie!'”

Nate, when Peter got a stuffed buffalo for a gift: “Buffaloes are making a comeback.” (Peter loves this buffalo which came from Cody, WY.)

Anna was in her birthday suit one day when I asked her why. “I feel like I just can’t wear clothing.”

Anna prayed, “Thanks for Jesus and his apossibles [apostles]. And I’m sorry Jesus died on the cross.”

We went out to lunch. Peter got pop with his children’s meal. He made “Sprite” out of rootbeer and fruit punch!

Anna talked to the shark toy she had just gotten from the dentist’s office: “Open up big and wide for me…”

I marveled at how gently Lane handled a misdeed. He was driving in from work when he saw Peter sitting on the corner of the neighbor’s yard. He asked him if he wanted to hop in the truck with him for a ride up the driveway. Peter glumly declined. Lane joked with him, and tried to cajole him, but could not get him to budge. Lane asked if he’d had an accident. No, he hadn’t. Finally, the reason for his immobility: “Daddy, I accidentally borrowed your hammer.” “Accidentally?” Lane asked, trying to hide his amusement. “Yes.” “Should we go get it?” “Yeah.” Peter climbed in the card, and they retrieved the hammer together, Peter’s burden obviously lifted.

We were listening to songs from the movie Mulan. Anna, obviously puzzled, asked, “Her name is Mulan. Why do they keep singing ‘Anna to us all’?” (You have to know that we pronounce Anna “Ah-na”).

Eliza was working on a survey for school. “Which of these five sports do you play best?” The list included volleyball, baseball, football, soccer, and tennis ball [sic]. “Is dressing up a sport?” she asked me, deadpan.

Anna challenged Peter, “Tickle me. If I don’t smile that means I’m not ticklish. Daddy said so.” (Can you hear that nah-nah voice?) I went over with a tickling hand, and that stoic little girl kept a stolid face the whole time. I think it’s more just her iron will than her ticklishness!

Anna finished singing the Alphabet song: “‘Next time won’t you sing with me.’ That means next time you actually have tosing with me,” she accentuated.

I was eating a succulent pink grapefruit for breakfast. Anna asked for a bite. She decided, “I like it. It’s just a little bit yucky.”

Looking forward to playing with Paige after school today, Eliza prayed in family prayer, “Please bless school to go fast!”

Author: Liz

Filed Under: General