You're Serious

Michael: Daddy, you're serious?

Daddy: yup

M: Daddy, you serious.

D: yup

M: Mommy, you serious?

Mommy: as a heart attack.

a little later, from the boys' room upstairs

M: Thomas, you serious?

M: Jerry, you serious?

Is he serious too? I think not. Now, where on earth he learned this one is anyone's guess. What a funny kid.

It Fits, Sort Of

Jerry, are you wearing Michael's shorts?

giggle giggle

I check the tag on his shorts.

Jerry, why are you wearing Michael's shorts, silly boy?

I didn't have any, so I took Michael's!

giggle giggle, goofy grin

A Horse Named Carl

We were out running errands earlier today. We stopped at a local farm for some fresh corn to grill. Across the street is a beautiful house with lots of green grass. And eating that green grass was a horse.

Jerry, "Look! A horse! I think his name is Carl"

We start to laugh, look at each other, shake our heads, and wonder where on earth he comes up with these things.

Jerry, "You want to keep me. You want to keep me forever and ever. I tell funny jokes."

Yes, Jerry. We do want to keep you forever and ever. Your jokes may not make any sense at all, but you sure are a funny kid. We can't imagine how boring our life would be without you.

And pink is his favorite color. In case you haven't heard. And purple is his other favorite. And he will jump off the top of a play set, but is terrified of butterflies. Crazy kids!

Mushtash

"Look Mommy, I have a mushtash!"

Yes Thomas, yes, you do. Although, the marshmallows do leave some bare spots. Nice hand position too. You should be a model.

Mr. Fix-It

The door on our game cabinet met another disaster. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but it came off, again. Jerry fixed it for me this morning. Yes, that is a bandaid to hold the broken piece on. Nice jammas kid. Tell your parents you need a haircut, and pronto.

Bandaid, the first step towards duct tape.

Hot Girl

Background for my story: There is a commercial on the radio for wireless internet. Girl runs into old boyfriend at the park because she isn't stuck at home blogging (like me). They go out for coffee.

Girl: "You're slurping"
BF: "So?"
"Check please"
"We goin Dutch?"

They go away for the weekend.

"What are you looking at?"
"That hermit crab over there."
"What, that hermit crab next to that hot girl?"
"I didn't put it there"
"Creep!"

And now she remembers why she broke up with him in the first place.

Now, the story.

We are on our way to the chili cookoff at church. Commercial comes on. We pay no attention the the commercial because it is a commercial. From the back seat Jerry says "I not gonna be a hottie girl."

"That's good" My fabulous husband replies.

"Yeah, I not be a hottie girl. I not gonna be a creep either"

I just about spilled the crock pot full of chili in my lap from laughing.

Glad to hear it Jerry. I don't want you to be a hottie girl or a creep either. Good thing we got that one straight at an early age.

Where Are You From?

Thomas was working on his spelling homework the other night. One of the exercises is to write sentences with the words. The sentence he came up with for "grin" was "A smile is a grin." Cute sentence.

He was busy working, I was busy getting dinner ready.

"Mom, how do I spell smile?"

"Sound it out. You can do it."

"S-M-I... What comes next?"

"Sound it out, Thomas."

"S-M-I-Y-U-L-L!"

Um, not quite. Only, exactly how it sounds when he says it. I set him straight while laughing at his serious southern drawl. Phonetics can be quite interesting when you have a bit of an accent.

I Have a Surprise for You

Thursday morning I informed the hooligans I had a surprise for them. I had been planning for a while, but prefer to wait until as late as possible to tell them. Something about "is it time yet" or "I'm ready to go" constantly coming out of their cute little mouths in whining tones makes the planned trip less than enticing for me.

We were all playing on my bed when I told them I had a surprise for them. Of course, they got all kinds of excited and wanted to know what the surprise is. I decided to have fun with it.

I whisper to Jerry "We're going on a trip."

Jerry: We're going on a trip?!?!
Me: Yep
Thomas: Are we going to the dinosaur trail? (he could hardly contain himself with excitement)
J: No, that's too scary.
T: No *with that you silly boy tone of voice* they're models *duh, everybody knows that*
J: Oh, ok *smiles and laughs*

Then I tell them where we are going...
Me whisper to Jerry: We're going to ride horses
J: We are?!?!
M: Yes
J: I have to go tell Thomas! (Thomas was sitting right next to him)

A few minutes later...
J: I want to ride a black horse
T: I want to ride a magical horse

And so the morning continued.

We had lots of fun on out little mini adventure. More details and plenty of pictures to come. For now, I have to deal with whiny children who keep annoying each other and thus annoying me. At least I made yummy cheesy bread braids. Yeah, more to come on that one too.

Conversations in the Car

This picture is old and completely unrelated, other than being Thomas. But isn't he so sweet?

Do you ever have those days when you wish you could record the conversation and replay it later? All too often those happen in the car. Today was no exception.

Thomas: I want to make Flat Stanley be Dark Vader.

Me: Oh yeah?

T: Yeah. He has a red light saver. Obie Kanobie has a blue one.

M: He does, huh?

T: Yeah. And who is that other guy he is with?

M: I don't know. Obie Kanobie is with lots of people at different times. (Yes, I know it is Kenobie, but I wanted to keep him going because it was so cute and honest)

M: Are you talking about Luke or Anakin or...

T: Luke! He has a green light saver.

T: When I grow up I want a red light saver. I want a real one, not a pretend one. A light saver like they have, not like the candy.

T: The other guy has a green one too.

M: What other guy.

T: The other guy.

M: Can you tell me what he looks like?

T: The little guy, in Star Wars.

M: The green guy?

T: Yeah! The green guy.

M: His name is Yoda.

T: Yeah, Yoda. He has a green light saver too.

Maybe when he gets a little bigger I will tell him that Gingams has hair like Yoda. But that, my friends, is another story for another day. Or maybe not. Maybe you had to be there. Cousins and other unruly family folk, tell me, did you have to be there for that one to be funny?

And the conversations just continued. Different topics, but all just as funny and matter of fact as you can be. I can't even remember everything they talked about, but it was a funny trip home today. Thomas also wants a 3-dollar bill for dress down day, the day they can buy a pass to wear regular clothes and not uniforms.

I love my kids. They are so funny. I think I just might keep them.

More Funnies

I'm tired. It's late. Here's a cute quick little funny for you.

This morning Jerry sneezed.

Thomas said "bless you."

Jerry got upset and came over crying.

I told Jerry that Thomas was just being nice. When someone sneezes, we say "bless you" because it is the polite thing to say.

Thomas says, "Yeah, I was just being nice. And when you are alone and you sneeze, you say ble-shme."

You are absolutely right, Thomas.

Get it... blesshoo... bleshme.

Whatever, I'm going to bed.

Funny Words

Kids say some funny things. More often than not they have no idea they are being funny. To tickle your funny bone, here are some of the fun ones around here lately.

Thomas upon hearing and seeing Sound of Music come on TV one night excitedly pointed and said, "Look Mom, it's Mary Poppins!"

Jerry has all kinds of funny almost, but not quite words
swywater is flyswatter
askident or askdident is accident
mint truck is a cement truck

Jerry and Thomas also used to call my sister AaaunTamanda. Drawn out "A" and all run together like that. She misses that. Now I just call her my seeeeeeeeeester.

Michael, among the dog and cow noises, has a new funny. He shakes his little head and says "No doggie, no doggie, no doggie." Sometimes he looks at Daddy and says it and we can't be quite sure if he is saying doggie or daddy. Yesterday, when I went to get him out of bed in the morning, that was the first thing out of his mouth. Today he started doing "no mom," but it didn't last. Or maybe he was doing his best Jamaican accent and saying no mon.

The things they say are so funny and cute. I could even get all sappy and think about how much I will miss the little funnies when they get older. Then I listen to my fabulous husband and the way people laugh at me, like when I tell the kids to get their shoes out of my feet, and realize they will never outgrow it, they just outgrow the cuteness and sweet voices.

Now, if you will please excuse me, I now need to go silence those little sweet voices. Way after bed time and after multiple re-beddings, the words and voices are less than cute.

Say What?

Jerry is going to the eye doctor tomorrow. We were snuggling before naps when he started talking about the doctor looking inside his eyes. Then he said "The monster took my eyes out. And the dinosaur put my eyeballs back in. The dinosaur will glue my eyeballs back inside my head." Um, okay?

This evening I was playing with the boys and squishing Thomas and Jerry together in a big tight hug. They would both scream and laugh. Thomas let out an exceptional scream, right into my ear which is still ringing. Then he told me "some of my voice came out and it's missing."

Michael has a slight cow obsession. Maybe we made one too many free trips to Chick-fil-a. When he sees a cow, he throws his head back and lets out a loud and long MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The first time he did it we were on the way to school. We pass by a place that has about 20 cows or so. Out of nowhere I saw in the baby mirror he threw both hands up over his head, threw his head back, and let out his moo. I'll try to get that one on camera. I laugh every time.

These kids are strange. I need to write more of these down.

In My Head

First off... Happy Father's Day to all of you father types. We hope you had a wonderful day, with lots of yummy food, eye catching ties, priceless handmade crafts, and plenty hugs and love.

So, we had Sunday dinner with Lolly, as usual. We had super easy and yummy crock pot beef BBQ with homemade sourdough bread. Lolly brought rich, heart attack inducing Texas brownies. After dinner, we were getting ready to eat dessert and the kids decided we needed candles to go with our brownies. It seems after Tyler's birthday and Aunt Amanda's birthday, all desserts require candles, so Jerry and Thomas had candles which we lit and blew out several times. Anyway... Thomas wanted to sing Happy Birthday to himself. Fine. Whatever. He started to sing "Happy Birthday to you, Happy..." Then it happened. He stopped and looked at us and said "I'm going to sing to myself... in my head." He got this look on his face and we could just hear him singing inside his head. Then, he looked up without the singing in his head look, smiled at us, laughed, and ate his cake. Is there anything to do at that point but laugh? What a funny boy.

Sunday Sillies

We have had lots of funnies around here, so I thought I would share and make you smile too.

The sun was shining really bright through the kitchen windows.
"Mommy, turn off the lights," says Jerry.
"That's not the lights, that's the sunshine. We can't turn the sunshine off," I reply.
"We can't turn off the sunshine?!?!" he says as incredulously and shocked as a 3 year old can.

Michael will not sleep with socks on. Not even an option, no socks at all. When you put him in bed, he will stick his feet up in the air until you take off his shoes and socks. Then, once they are off, he will put his feet down and go to sleep.

In the car tonight, and a couple weeks ago, the kids were singing. I was so proud my kids knew the primary song "Follow the Prophet." That is until I couldn't keep my laughter to myself once I realized what they were singing. Instead of "Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, follow the prophet don't go astray. Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, follow the prophet, he knows the way," the hooligans were singing "Follow the prophet... don't go away" over and over again. Ah, so funny. Just ask Aunt Amanda about some of her goodies with messing up the lyrics. That one could have you laughing for hours.

We went to see my grandmother for Mother's Day. It is about 3 hours there, and we do it all in one day. We had some fun conversations throughout the trip. Aunt Amanda said she didn't want to drive back home (she is not a fan of driving and never has been). She invited Jerry to come home with her and play and asked Jerry if he wanted to drive her home. We laughed because of all the hooligans, Jerry is the one who would try and drive someone's car well before he reaches the legal driving age. We went on laughing about how he would reach the pedals and all the places he would go. Well, he was a bit tired and fell asleep. He woke up as we were dropping Aunt Amanda off. OK, he didn't really wake up, just sort of came out of unconsciousness enough to respond to her. He sort of rolled his head up, half opened his eyes, and said "I need to drive your car," then his head rolled back down and went back to sleep. Oh, Jerry, what trouble you have in store for us.

Another day, we were near Lolly's work and stopped in to say hi. She came out and said hi and brought animal crackers for the two little hooligans. Jerry asked Lolly to stay and she told him she had to go back to work. "Work?!?!" he says, with his head cocked to the side and his eyebrows raised (you have got to see this kid's facial expressions), almost in disbelief. Lolly offered to trade with him and said he could go to work and she would go home with me. I laughed and told him he would get to play with all the things he isn't allowed to use at home like the stapler, hole punch and scissors. If that doesn't get a 3 year old excited about going to work, I don't know what will. For days now, he has been telling me he needs to go to work and use scissors. I think I need to hide all of ours in the safe, or who knows what he will cut up all in the name of "work."

Finally, tonight's funny. Thomas was doing something in the back seat. I told him to stop and he asked "How did you know it was me?" Tyler said "Because Mommy is a secret agent. She has eyes everywhere, only a lot less funding." Ah, the things I could do with the resources of a secret agent. Perhaps a new career is in my future....

Smile, there is silliness all around. All you have to do is look for it.

Funny Words

Some funny sayings around here that I don't want to forget.

Thomas says "McDonald's has a play station!"
"Really? What are you talking about?" I ask.
"They have a slide and stuff to climb on... a play station"
NICE! Can we keep that concept for a long time? Probably not.

Jerry was in time out this morning. I hear a commotion coming from the corner.
"Michael... go away... I'm in trouble!"
Apparently Michael was trying to play with him or talk to him.

Jerry likes to watch Muffins.
You probably know them as The Muppets.

If you tell Michael to lay down and go to sleep, he lays down on the floor with his head down and bum up in the air. Then he starts to snore.

If you look at Michael and close your eyes and open them, he does it back, but with a cute look on his face.

Michael and Jerry love candy and sweets. Michael comes running over and opens his mouth up like a bird any time someone has treats. Jerry just does anything he can to get to the treats.

There are plenty more cute things, and more are sure to follow as I think of them.

I think the next post will be about fishing. Just wait, you don't want to miss this one.

I Prayed to Jesus!

Yesterday Star Wars came on TV after church. The kids go down for naps after lunch, so Thomas was quite upset that he was going to miss Star Wars. I told him that if it was still on once he woke up he could probably watch it. I knew it would be over, but wanted a nap and would deal with the drama later. I was awake in my room when Thomas woke up. From downstairs I heard his little voice "Star Wars is on Daddy! I prayed to Jesus that it would still be on when I woke up and Jesus answered my prayer! Star Wars is still on!" We just laughed about it and were also quite proud that he has the basic concept of Heavenly Father will answer our prayers. I love my kids and all the teach me.

Funny Sayings

Jerry is known around here for the funny things he says. Here is just a taste of his little, or not so little, personality.

*Last morning, instead of yesterday.
*Pomatoes.... not tomatoes, not potatoes, but pomatoes. This is what he calls potatoes.
*"I talk to Zona" when he said he was talking to Arizona. We asked what Arizona said to him and he said he didn't know.
*Sticky Cheerios are Honey Nut Cheerios
*Tyler was sitting on the couch and said he was going to go make lunch. Jerry came running over and said "I LIKE LUNCH!"

Jerry has also become very animated. Just picture Spanky from The Little Rascals. That would be Jerry. He uses his entire body when he talks, and of course the funniest facial expressions you can imagine. He makes us wish we had a video camera. This child is far from lacking in the personality department.

Snow

It isn't that often that we get snow in our area; not uncommon, but certainly not a weekly event. Last night it started snowing and it didn't stop until this afternoon. Of course, the kids went nuts and were beside themselves with excitement. After a yummy breakfast of pancakes (thanks Tyler), the kids couldn't stand to wait any longer. We got all bundled up and went out to play. Soon after Jerry went out, he came back in screaming. He learned pretty quick that making snowballs without mittens starts to hurt.
Thomas and Jerry, just dying to go outside and play.
The view out the back door. Of course, I opened the door to take the picture and the wind started blowing inside. And, I was the brainiac who did it all while barefoot. Can we say cold toes?
Our house from the front.
Jerry having tons of fun with his Sponge Bob hat on. Thanks Aunt Amanda, it's a favorite, year round. He also decided that snow is much more fun and snowballs are much less painful to make when you have your mittens on.
Michael's first toy of choice was an umbrella. Nice rain boots. We had to put on 3 pair of socks because they were so big on him, and they were still funny on him.
Spoons make for great digging tools, just ask Michael. You can't even see his cute boots because the snow is so deep on him.
Tyler shoveled the driveway and walkway. As soon as he was done, there was more right where he had finished. He also had a bit of fun launching shovels of snow at us. I certainly got my fair share of snow on the head, and back, and neck, and pants, and anywhere else on my body. He didn't quite follow the rules of a snowball fight. Or did he? All's fair in war?
Michael and I came in first when he decided he didn't want to keep his mittens on. He wasn't such a fan of the mittenless snow either. Thanks Lolly for the super soft and warm mittens and scarf and hat from New Zeland. Too bad our kids have massive heads and the cute Rudolph hat with antlers have yet to fit one of their noggins.
Michael was a bit unhappy about coming inside. He threw himself face down on the floor and pitched a royal fit. We are so proud our baby has learned to throw a top notch fit.
Thomas stayed out the longest and came in the wet-est and red-est. He was so wet he needed help getting out of his clothes. Yes, he looks drunk or stoned. Let's just chalk it up to tired after lots of fun. Why do they always blink and make a funny face when you tell them to smile?
After lots of fun, it was time to take off all the wet clothes and curl up in warm blankets. Of course we had hot chocolate and snow cream to top off the day.

In the end we got around 5-6 inches, the most since 2002. Who knows what else is in store with the wacky NC weather we have.

Yes, I am also quite aware that pictures from Thanksgiving and Christmas have yet to make it on the blog. Don't worry, they will show up soon enough.

Students and Such

The latest and greatest around here is fantastic! Thomas got treasure box a few weeks ago, then he got it again last week. FINALLY!!! Unfortunately, we already blew it this week. He came home from school with a note that he had hit one of his friends.... in the nose.... with his fist. So much for two weeks in a row. We will just have to keep trying. At least we are on the improvement track. Tyler is now registered for classes and starts a math class in January. My little boy is all grown up and going to college. Yeah, whatever, no tears here. Not like he is that little either :) We are so excited that he is starting on his way to the degree he wants so badly. After helping me through, we can't wait to return the favor and cheer him all along the way. The goal is for him to graduate college before Thomas graduates High School. That sounds reasonable. As for the other two, we just can't wait for them to be in school and out of my hair. They are so good and we have lots of fun around the house. Yesterday Jerry came up to me wearing garden gloves. He said "I ride my motorcycle to work, like Daddy. I wear gloves and a hemet." (If you haven't heard the hemet story, give me a call, it is so much funnier when you hear him say it.) Not that Daddy rides his bike to work (tools don't fit in a tank bag so well), but at least Jerry knows to wear all the gear when he rides. Michael is as snuggly and sweet as ever. Right now he is hiding under his pajamas that never made it to the laundry and making cute noises. He waves now and I taught him to blow kisses last week. He also smacks himself on the forehead when you say "Oh no!" He is such a funny little baby. Me... I have a headache, 3 little boys, and lots more performances coming up. Life is good.

One month from tomorrow we leave for the trip. Can you believe it is that time already? Happy thoughts and wishes to everybody this wonderful season. Remember all you are thankful for and all that we are blessed with. Although things may not be perfect or easy, we are truly blessed. Take the time to slow down and focus on what is really important and share where you can. Even a smile can mean the world to someone.

Halloween

The boys all had a blast this Halloween. After several parties, we finally reached the big night. Pirates are a favorite in our house lately, so Thomas and Jerry paraded around as the cutest pirates in town. Michael was the usual 1 year old bumble bee. Of course, he was the most adorable, fuzziest bumble bee to be seen. We went to Lolly's neighborhood to avoid the massive crowds around our house. This was Jerry's magical year when he discovered that trick-or-treating is fun and easy work. By the end, when someone answered the door, he would start jumping up and down and yelling "Candy!!Candy!!" as only an excited 2 year old can. Of course, his reaction endeared him to the givers and the kids got more goodies. Little kids are definitely what makes the annual sugar fest, part one (we still have Christmas to come), so much fun. All told, we hit 15 houses. From the looks of their bags and the number of times we had to unload their bags into the diaper bag, you would think we had knocked on as many doors as a missionary in a day. Now I am the candy Nazi and the goodies are highly regulated around here, even for the adults. Thanks to those of you who the boys have such a fun time. Also, thank goodness Lolly remembered to take out her camera, otherwise there would be no pictures of pirates and bees. Silly Mommy flaked and left the camera buried in the bottom of the bag. I guess I was to busy with kids to remember a thing like a camera.

Any thoughts on next year's costumes?