It's not shrubbery!

If you've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail then you know about needing to go get a shrubbery.  If you've never seen it you can just skip this post or go watch the movie and come back to this.  Oh, I guess you could just laugh along anyways. :)

We recently let the older kids watch the movie.  Shortly after watching Mr. M was chasing and tickling the little kids.  They were having so much fun together.  At some point he told them he would stop chasing them if they would bring him a shrubbery.  "What's a shrubbery?"  He told them it was the big green exercise ball downstairs.  They got him his shrubbery and the game was over.  End of story; or so it would seem....

Miss A discovered my purple exercise ball which looked remarkably like what she thought was a shrubbery.  She brought it to me and said "it's shrubbery!"  Quite proudly.  Miss E and I laughed so hard and then corrected her. "No, it's not shrubbery.  Shrubbery is green"  For the last 4 days or so we've had the same conversation over and over again.  She brings me the purple ball and says "It's not shrubbery.  Shrubbery is green.  This not shrubbery."  All said in the sweetest, most serious 2 1/2 year old voice you can imagine.

Oh my goodness!  This girl keeps us laughing!

*This is posted so that years from now I can look back and remember and get another good laugh from this. 

Is it cold?

Miss C sitting at the table for breakfast, next to the sliding glass door with drapes open, snow visible on the ground....

"Mom, is it cold today?"

"Its snowing Miss C"

"Ok"

I think she is not a morning person. :)

My brother Mom....

Mr. K has been joining us in saying prayers at meals and during family devotions.  His prayers sound something like this....

"Thank you God for my brother Mom, my brother Miss E, my brother Dad, my brother Miss C,  my brother Miss J, my brother Mr. S....."

It seems that all of the snickers, giggles and smiles around the table clued him in that there was something funny about this prayer.  Always one to enjoy making his family laugh he began to say his prayers even more enthusiastically.  I love that he loves God, is thankful for his family, and is a constant source of joy in our home.

Sweet (and smart) boy!

While shopping at Costco Mr. K noticed the flowers....

"Mom!  Look!  Flowers!"

"We get some?"

When I answered that we would not be getting flowers this time he said....

"but, Daddy always gets you flowers"  Daddy was proud of his little guy reminding Mama what a great guy he is. ;)

On our way out this same little guy noticed the quad.  He was sure we should get one of those too.  I pointed out that we really didn't have space for it.  Where would we keep it?

"Ah!  I know!  Outside!"  Was his answer.  Nice try buddy.  Thats still a no go.  Daddy was, once again, proud of his quick thinking though.

Talking to himself

Mr. K has taken up talking to himself in the cutest way, or he's found himself a new friend...

Yep, he's talking to himself in the mirror.  You know, because there's no one else around here to talk to....

This new friend is just his age, looks like him and even likes all the same things he does. ;)

I just love watching him have these little conversations.  He is such a cute little guy!

Never buy an ugly Umbrella

"Mom, you should never buy an ugly umbrella.  Only pretty ones for pretty girls."  Wise advice from Miss C.

Check out my Virtual Thirty-One Gifts party on my other blog.  Starting Sunday the 16th they are having a flash 50% off sale.  Lots of great deals, but they end the 23rd (so last order for my party needs to be in by the 22nd).  Check it out!

Current events and politics

Our family spends quite a bit of time discussing religion, politics, history and current events; usually around the dining room table.  Even the little ones catch on and get involved.  Daddy was out of town on election day and it seems that Miss C was concerned that he had missed out on some information he needed.  Mid meal she informed him....

"Obama won"

"'dat's bad"

She had more to say on the subject, but we'll leave it at that for now. ;)

First words

Mr. K has always been fairly good at communicating, but usually he uses grunts, groans, cries and signs.  He has been very clearly saying "ma ma" for a while now, but he is becoming a bit more deliberate with his sounds these past couple of weeks.

Recently he clued us in on how he has been watching and soaking everything up around here.  He also showed us that he has a bit of a sense of humor as well.  He picked up a toy gun and started saying "ba! ba! ba! Poe!" all while bobbing that toy around as if he was aiming!  What a boy!  What a Harder!  His siblings thought it was great fun and encouraged him right along in his play which really got him laughing.

He loved me first

The other day we were doing a video chat with daddy while he was out of town. After saying our "I love yous" and "good-byes" we hung up.

Then I heard Miss C say "I love him"

You love daddy?

"uh huh, 'cause he loved me first"

"he loved me first"

"we love him because he first loved us"

On and on she went like that. It was so sweet and cute. What blessed our hearts the most is that not only is she hiding God's word in her heart, but she is finding His word relevant in her life.  God has blessed her with a small picture of His love for her by providing for her a Daddy that reflects God's love for her.

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Toes-e-wosies

Miss C erupted in tears earlier today. She was hurt. As I picked her up I asked her what had happened.

"I hurt my toes-e-wosie!"

In order to inspect I asked which one was hurt.

"da wittle baby one"

I love that she can mange to be incredibly cute even while hurt and crying.

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Can I drive?

"Um, Dad....Can I drive?"  came from a tiny sweet, and very serious, voice in the middle row of our van.

She has asked this several times, each time very seriously with a confidence that shows that she feels that she is ready, willing AND able.  It seems that Miss J is very eager to serve her family by driving us all around. I think the rest of us are glad that there are about twelve more years between her and the open road.

She sure keeps us smiling, but then so do all of our kids, in their own ways.

*The picture was taken when we were up in Portland visiting family.  It was my Dad's car, and we thought it would be fun to get a picture of Miss J in it.

Desert Museum

We had the opportunity to join a group from church going to the Desert Museum this week.  Rob already had the day off, which made the day all the more enjoyable!

We were following one of the Jr. Docents to her assigned stations at the Museum and exploring a bit between stops.  We got to hear about local plants and wild life.

 

There were plenty of hands on activities too!

 

We had a picnic lunch.

Then we split off from our group to explore a bit on our own.  We had a great time and it seemed to be the perfect time to go.  It was nice and warm, but not too hot.

 

*We didn't get a picture of them, but Miss J was so excited to hear that we would be seeing "Fairy Dogs." We told her many times on our way to the exhibit that they were P-P-P-Prairie dogs, but I guess it did not sink in.  Upon seeing them the first thing she said was "Why aren't they flying?"  We were then able to explain that they were Prairie dogs, and there are no Fairy Dogs.  She thought they were cute anyways.

A little girl and her weapons!

Miss J is mostly "all girl" she loves to play with dolls, have tea parties, play dress up and help in the kitchen.  However, she does love her weapons!

Recently, after coming in from playing outside she was heard saying "Oh no!  I've left my weapons outside!"  On that particular day her weapons consisted of a sword and a pop gun.

Daddy is so proud, and so am I!  You see we see weapons not as agents of violence and destruction, but as tools.  Knives are in use daily for everything from cooking, opening boxes, yard work and various other cutting jobs around our house.  Guns are viewed as tools as well, they are to be used for hunting and self defense (not to mention battle, we are a military family ya know ;) ).  We start teaching safety and respect with these tools early on, even with toys.  We study history as well and the kids see how these tools have been used in the past, how they were made, and how they have changed over the years.

Mommy please pray...

Tonight when I went in to say goodnight to my girls Miss J asked me to "Please pray that I would be cute."

No, I did not burst out laughing.  It took nearly all of my strength to keep a straight face as I said  "How about I pray that God would make you cute on the inside, and that your inner beauty would shine through making you beautiful on the outside as well?"  She thought that was great and so I prayed that ALL of my girls would have inner beauty from God and that they would glorify Him in all they do.

Pouring milk

Last night I asked Miss J to help me with getting drinks for dinner. She got the jug of milk out of the fridge and then asked if she could pour the milk. At first I thought "no", but then I figured that since it was only 1/4 full this would be a good chance for her to give it a try.

Yep, she poured a couple of glasses of milk for her siblings without incident!

Mommy- "How old are you Miss J?"

Miss J - "oh, I two and free quarters, but I amost ten"

Whobody?

Mr. S asked me why something had been put in a certain place this morning.

I responded with "Somebody must have put it there."

To that he replied "whobody?"

Ah, he made up his own word. How cute!

That boy is just too cute, and always making us smile.

back to real life....

I'll finish blogging about our vacation soon, but real life is busy right now! When we got home from our vacation we came home with a sick baby (who is just now recovering), and what seems to have been a mild bug going through some of the kids.

I'm in need of a vacation. :) However we've had busy days and sleepless nights with the baby since we've been home, so I'm going to try to have a couple of down days before I get back to my vacation blogging.

On a silly note- Mr. S was heard yelling "Come see! You've got to blog about this! It's so funny!"

Yep, the cat in the linen closet was the cause of such excitement!

English

Miss J's favorite movie right now is "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," and she was watching it this morning while we were getting ready to head out to run errands. Mr. S was watching too as he was eating an apple on the piano bench. A funny scene with the Grandfather happened, and Rob chuckled, and Miss E asked what he was laughing about....

Rob replied, "Oh, he's just peculiar."

Mr S. said in a very matter of fact voice, "him English," as if that explained why the Grandfather was peculiar.

fancy phones

last night was AWANA night, but Mr. S's cubbies class was canceled so he got to come with us to run some errands.

We were in the Walmart electronics area getting some pictures printed out when we walked by some phones.  

Mr. S says "Wow! look at those fancy phones!"

Yep, he was talking about the plain old phones WITH cords!