Kids say the darndest things part 2 (Drew)

When it comes to "quantity" of funny things said, Hayden takes the cake.  But he isn't the only contributor. All of my kids can say some pretty funny things.

Most of the funny things that Drew says are funny because he is so serious! He really is trying to solve a problem or figure something out . . . and sometimes his logic is just funny. 

The weekend that Lamon went to the Grand Canyon I wanted to have fun with the kids. So we planned on going to McDonalds, having a sleepover downstairs and watching a movie etc. etc. Well we went over to Grandma Neuberts for a while and when it was time to go we needed to clean up and I was telling the kids, "Come on! Let's hurry and clean up. Remember we are going to have a sleepover tonight . . . and watch a movie . . . ?"
Drew just turned to me quite aggitated  and asked me, "Why do we always have to celebrate when Dad leaves?" I thought it was so hilarious I started laughing. But he really was truly concerned about Dad missing out on our fun.

Drew is a problem solver too. The other day I was having a hard time remembering something and Drew sat there thinking and he turned to me and said, "Mom! I know how you can NOT forget about things!" He looked like he had just come across the most amazing idea. He said, " . . . Just write it on a piece of paper and then stick it on your face when you sleep!" He was completely serious. But hey . . . I bet that might work!

Drew does like to try to solve problems and make things better. Hayden and Tilson stayed home from church a couple weeks ago because they were sick. Well at church Drew walked up to a mother of one of Hayden's friends and very seriously told her, "Um . . . I would really appreciate it if you would have your son write Hayden a letter." It was pretty funny. She was a little puzzled. I explained that Hayden was sick. The way that Drew said it though just made both of us parents laugh. He was talking to her as if he were an adult. "I would really appreciate it if . . . " I love it. And the sweet thing was that her son Jayden did in fact bring a letter by just as Drew requested.
Oh Drew I love you!      
       

         

Kids say the darndest things part 3 (Ada)

I already recently did a write up on Ada, but she is always making me laugh. She is just so full of personality.
Without another little girl in the house to play with she is constantly looking for a play mate. One of my favorite things that she will say is "That is thee plan." She says this after a description of what we can do together. She will say something like, "Mom . . . how about we go and play with Dora people. Ya? We will play with Dora people and then with Ponies. Okay? . . .That is thee plan!" It's hard to say no to her cute little voice.
Yesterday while I was feeding Tilson Ada was downstairs trying to get the boys to play with her and she came up to me and said, "Mom? . . . I have a dream (like Rapunzel). My dream is that someone will play with me for forty minutes."

Ada's voice is so cute I thought I would try and capture it. Here are a couple videos of her. One she is singing in, and the other one she is "reading". Whenever the boys read, she likes to read too even though she doesn't really know how. She likes to point to words as if she is reading them and even mimicks sounding them out. It is pretty funny. I love this little Girl!

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2306824011402747213#editor/target=post;postID=8797940503519965845

Halloween

Some people love Halloween so much they start planning what they are going to be for Halloween months in advance! . . . We are not so much one of those people. Halloween is fun, but we are more the  type of people who look through their costume box days before Halloween asking the kids what they want to choose to be. We have some great costumes that I have picked up at garage sales. Unfortunately kids actually have an opinion about these things! It worked when they were young . . . but for the last few years Drew has had something specific he wanted to be. At five he was Batman. Last year he wanted to be Percy Jackson. Lamon spent a whole day helping him put that costume together and even made him a lightning bolt. This year Drew wanted to be Harry Potter. The other two little munchkins didn't really care. Hayden did want to be a vampire at first but then went for the cape instead and chose to be Batman. Ada was an M&M along with me. Lamon took the kids out trick or treating for awhile, and then I took them over to the grandparents house to show off their costumes. We went to Grandma Barksdales house first where Holidays are always rockin and the house is always decked out, and then we went to the Macks and decided to do a little trick-or-treating at the "good" houses. We banked! It was a fun night!  And the best part of it was . . . knowing that the next morning would officially start off the Christmas "Season!"The day after Halloween Ada informed me that next year she knows what she wants to be. She wants to be "Nail Polish". Am I even the least bit surprised?! I guess we have a year to figure that one out! :)

The Boys' First Big Race

So earlier in the school year Drew, Hayden and their cousins Kimball, Justin, Carter and Abbie all participated in a race at BYU. For weeks their school sent out newsletters encouraging the scholars to participate in the race. The more students who participated in the race the bigger chance there would be that they could win the big school trophy. They had won for two years in a row.

Well Drew had never run before, but we asked him if he wanted to go and do this mile race, and he did. I told him that a mile is a pretty long distance if you have never run before. We decided to let him do a practice run. We took him to the Junior High to run around the track and see how he fared. We told him not to start out too fast and to just go slow. He totally surprised us by running a full mile in 11 minutes and 45 seconds without stopping. Pretty good for his first try. For the next few days before the race Drew delighted us with all sorts of talk about how he wanted to win the whole race. We told him that it didn't matter if he won. We explained to him that in all of the races that me and Lamon have done, neither one of us has ever "won" a race. That isn't why we do it. But he was certain. We didn't want to tell him that we had looked at the results from last years race and the first grader who won it ran a 7 minute mile!

So the day of the race came and it was so fun to watch. Hayden decided that he wanted to run too. I was a little worried about how that might turn out. All I could think about was Hayden's soccer season when he would flop on the ground and lay there and tell the coach he needed a break after running half way down the field! But he did it. He ran with Kimball, and the two of them shuffled along together the whole way. They were all the way in the back, but they did it. It was so cute.

And as for Drew. In his very first race and his second time running a mile ever he ran a 9:10 min mile. He ran it more than two minutes faster than he had a few days earlier. I think he might have some runner's blood in him. And he is a bit competitive too. He was so dissappointed at not winning it all, but he has a little bit of a drive to practice and do better next year. And I have a feeling he will. I am so proud of my boys!

Family Pictures

We Finally have put Family pictures on our wall. We have lived here for three years now and finally took some family pictures! My sister Liz took the pictures and I think they turned out great. I printed them off at Costco and put them in these cute barnwood frames that I found at . . . you guessed it . . . a garage sale. I put them up myself. I was so proud of my work that for the first few days every time I went in the living room I had to stop and look. I was so proud. (I'm sure all who know the extent of my decorating skills can understand.)

I think it is pretty amazing that any of the pictures turned out. There was only one family picture that had all of us smiling in it. I had to post some of these pictures that didn't make it on the living room wall. One of the pictures is to just show what family pictures are REALLY like. It is the picture with all of the kids being crazy and Lamon turned getting mad at Hayden for being goofy, while I'm just smiling staring into the void with Tilson just laughing at it all. Classic!

Power of Persuasion

A week or two ago the neighbors came over to play. My kids LOVE Jonah and Nicole, and they get pretty excited when they come over. Well, the boys and Nicole were all playing downstairs, and Ada was pretty excited to have some friends to play with too. She went downstairs and grabbed a puzzle and on her way up she confidently called out "Who wants to do a puzzle with me?" She said it in a very sure voice like she was expecting the whole lot of them to immediately drop what they were doing and follow her. But instead Hayden matter of factly responded saying, "No one."

This was not the response Ada was hoping for and she started to cry. I thought it was kind of funny, but I felt pretty bad for her and I am always a champion for the underdog. I told her . . . "I'll do the puzzle with you Ada!" So we got the puzzle out and we started to put it together. Hayden was so adamant that the last thing they all wanted to do was do a puzzle so I wanted to prove to them just how fun a puzzle really was. So we started putting the puzzle together, and every time I put a piece in I would excitedly shout out some sort of exclamation like, "All right Ada! Wahoo! We did it!" And then I would give her five. It was pretty ridiculous. I admit it. But it was pretty fun. I was doing cheers for us each time we put something together. "Go Ada . . . Go Ada . . . It's your birthday . . . " etc. etc. And sure enough . . . as much fun as they were having downstairs . . . One by one each of the children made it to the kitchen to see what the commotion was. And yes . . . all of them DID end up wanting to do the puzzle with Ada . . . And I slipped away and finished the dishes! I am pretty talented!

Dinner Compliments

Kids are the biggest critics when it comes to cooking. I mean come on . . . I'm an award winning cook! ;-) But I've got myself some pretty picky eaters. It is not very often that all of them will like what I make for dinner simultaneously. I mean There are a few meals that they all like, but usually at least one of them will struggle wanting to finish their food and we have to do the "Okay . . . five more bites" thing.

Well not tonight I tell ya! They were dishing out the compliments tonight. I didn't really think that Lasagna was going to be that exciting, (especially since I've made it a billion times)  but for some reason tonight they decided they liked it. Here are some of the things they were saying:

Drew: "Look how fast I'm eating!"

Drew: "Mom, no one in the world would say they don't  love this food"

Hayden: "I love this dinner more than I love light sabers." ( I know . . . I had to have a moment of silence at the dinner table after that one and I told Hayden that he almost made me cry)

Ada: She didn't so much say anything . . . she just actually ATE. Which for her is pretty impressive.

Drew and Hayden both had 5 helpings each, and Ada actually cleared her plate. Wow . . . that is blog worthy!

What can I say . . . I make a wicked Lasagna! I've come a long ways since grilled cheese and marshmallow sandwiches. Although . . . that is a winner . . . don't knock it until you try it.