Heard randomly throughout the day sometimes...
Rayna: Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports.
Me: Why does she keep saying that?
Strider (with his devious grin): She's trying to annoy me. I told her I didn't like that word, so she keeps saying it. But I tricked her.
Upon learning about adverbs (that most of them end in -ly)
Strider: I guess Dolly Parton is an adverb.
As I was serving some salad
Rayna: I want some of those....those... leperchauns! (She really meant "croutons" -- we don't have them in salad very often, obviously!)
During a conversation in which Colsen and I were pretending he was 38 years old:
Me: Where do you live these days/
Colsen: California
Me: Oh. What job do you have?
Colsen: I'm a goldfish
This morning:
Colsen: Hic… hic…. Hic
Pete: Colsen, do you have the hiccups?
Colsen: Yeah. Can you buy me a new mouth?
Said about 10 times a day:
Me: Go put the…. in the….you know what I mean.
Said about 8 times a day:
Me: I just need to ….. get the.... you know.... for Cole-I-mean-Ray-I-mean-Miles.
[NDD (Noun Deficiency Disease) is evidently stronger than ever with me.]
Funny things said by Pete recently
N/A
[He's been too busy and stressed to be funny lately. Apparently students aren't the only people who find the end-of-semester time hard!]
After getting the situation contained, I heard Colsen up in his room telling Strider all that he had done. He finished the story by saying, “I got all wet and then I got in trouble.”
“Was Mommy mad at you?” Strider asked him.
I walked in the room and Colsen asked “Mommy, are you mad at me?”
“I’m not mad anymore Colsen, but I really don’t like it when you put things in the toilet.” I answered.
“You yelled at me,” he answered.
“I know,” I admitted. “You don’t like it when I yell at you?”
“I don’t like it when you yell at me,” he answered, in a pitiful voice.
Strider chimed in, “I know, Colsen, I don’t like it either.”
Now I’m feeling pretty bad. So I give Colsen a hug and tell him I’m sorry.
“Don’t yell at me again, Mommy” he says.
“I’ll try not to, sweetie,” I say… and then I think: WAIT A SECOND! WHO EXACTLY IS IN TROUBLE HERE?! HOW DID THE TABLES GET TURNED THIS FAST?
Man, this parenting thing is hard.
Who was baptized this past Sunday??
It was a big day here... not only was Miles baptized, but Strider also made his public profession of faith and joined our church! There was much to celebrate.
Here is what Pete said:
Miles today we present you before God to become a member of this covenant community, and we seek God’s blessing on you as grow and one day soon profess on your own that you are His child.
We chose your name because it means merciful, and we are reminded on this day of God’s great mercy in giving you to us. As the Psalmist says “The Lord is merciful and gracious; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
We have experienced God’s mercy in you already and we pray that in His mercy God will grant you His wisdom as you grow and learn how to be a man of God. We hope you always strive to fix your eyes upon Christ, for perfection is found only in him. As a fourth born you and I share a special bond, and I know you will need patience and wisdom… so I pray you will be quick to point to God’s word for truth and not to your own abilities.
We pray that God’s mercy would be on you as you grow and no doubt have struggles in this life. We pray that you would know God’s love early in your life, and like the Psalmist, would be able to say, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” We pray that He would show you mercy in health, in the decisions you make, and in the relationships you have.
Finally, we pray that God would use you as His instrument as you love others, and that the world would see His great mercy because of you and through you.
To paraphrase the prophet Micah, “He has shown you O little man what is good: and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Since I love patterns so much, this is one thing I have happily realized: all 4 of our children were baptized within the same 8 days of April (in different years). Here are some shots of those other special days:
Looking at these, I see that over the years, while my hair has slowly gotten longer, Pete's has disappeared!
And, our babies are growing up! We are so thankful for each of them, and continue to pray that God will lead and direct them in His love.
Today at lunch, completely out of the blue
Strider: I really wish I could find the area of a circle.
Me: What? Why?
S: Because then I could have PIE!
Talking about his future in baseball
S: Well if they aren't going to let me play, I'm going to sit on the bench and chew tobacco.
Me: Great.
As we're driving in the car
Rayna: This is the most beautiful country!
Strider: Rayna, this is the only country you've ever been in.
While sitting in her "time out" chair after doing something she shouldn't have
Rayna: Mom, can I get down now? I forgive you!
.
After hearing Strider tell me something I that was excited about
Rayna: Mom! Mom! I wanna tell you something!
Me: What?
R: Umm...There was this man.... and let's see.... what did he do?....
On his truck
Colsen: Look, Mom, I'm on my skateboard! Can you take a picture of me so I can see it?
Twenty minutes after I sent him up for a nap
Colsen: Hi Mom, I'm awake now!
Me: Cole, you did not sleep.
C: Yes, I already did!!
But this is what he looked like.... I think I was right.
I realized recently that I needed to teach Strider about Roman Numerals. Apparently his Singapore Math workbooks never cover this, and I figured he needed to be exposed to this numbering system -- at least so he can read a formal table of contents or the random clocks that only have that type of numbering.
So I sat down and made out a whole sheet of symbols and translations ( I = 1, X = 10, etc) and then made a sheet of problems for him to translate for homework. I called him over to the table, and before I could even start the lesson, he picked up the homework sheet and said, "Oh I can do this." Not believing his cocky little self, I told him to go ahead and try. About 5 mintues later, he brings me the finished sheet -- all correct! And these were problems like "Translate XXXIX and CCCXLIV."
"HOW did you know this??" I asked him.
He answered, "Mom, this isn't hard. The Super Bowls are all in these kinds of letters, so I just figured it out awhile ago. I just needed to look at your sheet to find out what "C" and "L" stood for because the Super Bowl doesn't go that high."
I, personally, had thought that the little tricks like you have to put a "I" before an "X" to get 9 were a little complicated, but apparently not.
So, thank you NFL for taking care of this math lesson for me.
Of course, when Pete came home last night, Strider announced, "I already knew all about German Numerals today for math when Mom wanted to teach me".... so I guess I still have a little teaching to do.
I recently had that classic laundry disaster: washed a burgundy skirt with a load of other, lighter colored clothes. The funny thing was some of the newly "pinked" items may still work out, even if they can't be worn by their original owner...
For example, I had just gotten this cute little shirt and hat for Miles. They were blue and white when I put them in the washer.... when they came out they looked like this:
I realized this wasn't the end of the world... though it is the end of the plan for them to be worn by Miles. Instead, the next little baby girl I know will get to wear them! Still cute, right?
I thought I might be on a roll here.... all the previously white or blue items could become lovely little girl items! I love recycling and redeeming! I thought I was onto quite the plan...
...Until I pulled this shirt out:
Even really thinking outside the box here, I don't think I can think of anyone who would want to put a lavender shirt that says "little brother" on their baby.
Oh well. I guess the recycling ends here.
At our neighborhood Easter egg hunt, Colsen was scared of the Easter Bunny -- preferring instead this balloon. Rayna, on the other hand thought the big Easter Bunny was way too cool and spent a lot of time hugging him, giving him high fives, etc. I finally had to pull her away!
Other highlights this year included making baked "empty tomb" creations, having another egg hunt in our backyard, and having some friends from our life group over for Easter dinner.
(Our Good Friday events are recorded here. (Thanks, Alleyn!) )
How thankful we are that we have a Risen Savior who gives us abundant life!
