Flag football is underway for Tyler. They are learning the basics and the coach has only been teaching them one side of the ball at a time in practice. Tyler had been on defense for all three practices, until the last 20 minutes of the last practice, because the offense was short one guy. He promptly caught a short pass and took it about 70 yards for a score. He later got a hand-off and did the same thing. The coach suddenly realized what he had on his hands, and on Saturday, Tyler played both sides of the ball, but mainly on offense. However, his team (him included) was not ready for their much larger and more prepared opponent. They got crushed. They don’t keep track of the score in this league, but it was probably 63-7; tough day. Tyler did break off one great run for the length of the field. It looked as though his flags were about to fall the entire run. And then, literally, a step before the goal-line they fell to the ground. The rule is if they fall, you’re down. It didn’t matter that he had already run well past every player on the other team, they still called him down. He then, got in two plays later (according to our coach who was on the field), but the other team grabbed his flag and threw it behind the line. The refs stood their not sure what to do, and in the end called him down again. So he never officially scored a touchdown. Oh well, that’s the breaks. His run was fun to watch, anyways.
Game two: Well, on a whole, the team was much improved, but again they faced a better prepared and much larger opponent. It is supposed to be 7-9 year-olds, but I would like to see some of these kids’ birth certificates. They were huge. But anyways, the team scored three times, which was three times as many as last week, so that was improvement. They also stopped the other team a couple times. I don’t know what the final would have been, but Tyler scored two touchdowns, and the first one was from his own 10 yard line (his other was about 15-yarder), so it was a lot of fun to watch. Carol got both of his TDs on video, plus his awkward somersault after he was laid out while playing defense by a much, much larger kid, who put a great block on him. All good stuff and good preparation for him if he’s going to play tackle, which he still says he wants to do, even after that hit.
Other happenings: Bailey has earned so many Image Eagle tickets (a program at her school for positive behavior) that she earned a certificate and a coupon for a free kids’ meal at Taco Bell, which we redeemed today. Throw in the free Chalupa coupons from the Blazers’ game a couple weeks ago, and we got a free lunch for the family courtesy of the Bell. Now that’s thinking outside the bun.
On to the latest funnies, which may be for a PG-13 audience. ;-)
Tyler and I were getting ready to go to his first football practice and Bailey and Trevin wanted to go, to. As Carol was bundling them up, she said: “You guys need to stay where Dad can see you. You can’t run around wild. And listen to dad.” Trevin then sincerely asked: “Can we run in a circle?”
OK, are you ready for some more fun in the bathroom? Trevin was on the potty, while Tyler and Caden were taking a bath. Tyler was just about done, when Carol noticed a peculiar look on Caden’s face. She quickly said: “Tyler get out, get out!” He wondered what was wrong and hesitated. “Get out, just get out!” He did, and sure enough, it was just in the nick of time. Now, for those who have seen Bee Movie (our kids have watched it at least 20 times), you might recognize this. Trevin, upon seeing Caden’s dirty work, yelled: “Ahhh, poo water!” Oh the joys of kids in the bathroom.
Our little princess let one go at the dinner table for all to hear one evening. She and Trevin were both rubbing their fingers in their soup bowls at the same time. So I told them to keep their fingers out of their bowls, then Tyler added, speaking to Bailey: “And you keep your tooters in your bum.” I said: “Well, you can’t do that. It will hurt your stomach.” Bailey, who sits on her knees and consequently her feet, at the table, then said: “Yeah; and it keeps my feet warm. And it keeps my hands warm, when they’re under there.”
Sorry for this one in advance, but it was just too funny not to share. We were watching one of my Michael’s (my brother) many home music videos. There is a spot where Ashley (his wife) and Madison (daughter) are dancing on their bed. Ashley does a kick move, and the kids always think she is kicking Madison because of the angle of the shot. Well, Trevin was watching it again the other day and said “Ashley just kicked Maddie in the Willard.” I questioned: “Ashley just kicked Maddie, where?” He repeated: “In the Willard.” I said “buddy, girls don’t have willards.” He said, “Yeah.” I then reiterated: “Nope, they don’t.” He asked, “Then, where do they go pee at?” Carol and I couldn't control the laughter. While we were carrying on, and with a smile on his face, he calmly advised: “Put that on the blog.”
We were driving home from piano lessons and went by SEH, where Grandma used to work. I pointed it out and Trevin asked which grandma? I told him Grandma Shirts worked there for a long time. Then Bailey said, “yeah, then she graduated.”
Bailey and I were doing some home-made valentines and she was kind of doing things out of order with the glue and cutting. I said, “Bailey, you should have put the glue on the other side of the paper.” She replied, “I know, I wasn’t thinking.” Then pointing to her head, added: “My brain wasn’t working.”
Tyler came home from school on the day his class had their Valentine’s Day party and started to go through his loot. He pulled out one card and didn’t really want us to see it. He just said: “I’m so throwing this away.” We said “what is it?” He stopped on his way to the trash, and then held it up. It was a “High School Musical” valentine.
My brother uses the song “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” (http://www.spike.com/video/paul-simon-me-julio/2863122) in one of his home music videos, and there is a line in the song that says: “Goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona; Seeing me and Julio Down by the schoolyard”. So Tyler was singing the song the other day and doing his best on what he thinks it says. When he got to that part he said: “singing king of Moroni; Singing me and Julio down by the schoolyard.” We asked him about it and he said, “Well he says something about Moroni.” Good to see the gospel influence in his life.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
A Proud Day For The Livingstons
Well, what a day Sunday, February 1st was. It went by in a blur, but there were, of course, some very rewarding moments. First, though, on Saturday, Tyler had his birthday party. We had it at nearby church building and just took a bunch of things for the kids to play. He had 4 boys and 4 girls, plus his 3 siblings come and celebrate.
They all had a good time. And at the end of the party, Tyler emphatically proclaimed: “This has been one of the best days of my life!” Little did he know.
Tyler really enjoys playing with his uncle Cory, and had invited him to come to his baptism. Cory lives in L.A. so it was no small trip to get here. But he came, and it was a surprise to Tyler and his siblings. On the way to get him at the airport, I picked up Tyler’s new bike, which had been waiting patiently to be used at his Grandparents house. So, we got back to the house and I left the bike on the front porch, then rang the bell and ran. Cory and I went around the back of the house and came in the back door as all the kids went out front to check out the bike. When they came back in and saw Cory sitting on the couch, they were in shock. In fact, they were so taken back, they were speechless. It was quite funny to see their reaction. But wait, there’s more. 
Cory took Tyler, myself, and a friend (Tyler chose Hayden Priebe) to the Blazers game that night. But that was also a surprise to Tyler, which he really didn’t figure out, till we got to the Rose Garden; even though we drove around for about 20 minutes looking for parking. Hayden knew about it, too and he even played along the whole time. It was great. We all had a good time, and the Blazers crushed the Jazz, so that made it even better.
Then came Sunday and the day flew by with many different church assignments. Before we knew it, it was time for Tyler’s big moment. His baptism was very well attended and we were so thankful to see everyone that showed up. But we did greatly miss those who weren’t able to come. It was a special occasion and the emotions were near the surface the entire night. As Tyler and I were getting our baptismal clothing on, I told him how much I loved him and how proud I was of him. We shared a big, long embrace, which was so wonderful. He gave the talk on baptism, most of which, he prepared himself. He did an excellent job on it as well. When we returned to the bathroom to change after the ordinance, I told Tyler that: “These are the moments that count the most.” I told him how special he was and how thankful I was to have him. And of course, we shared another big hug. I also let him know that although he has received many talents and will accomplish many great things in life, we would always be most proud of moments like this. The emotions were strong throughout, but when the time came to confirm him, I was a wreck. But what a blessing it was to use the power of the Priesthood to perform those sacred ordinances.
After the service was over, Tyler received his own set of scriptures courtesy of his Grandpa and Grandma Shirts, and his Great Grandma Livingston, who passed away this past May. His grandparents shared their testimony in the triple combination. And Grandma Great even took the time to write her testimony in the Bible before she passed, so it was really touching to read their messages. It was a wonderful night and great blessing for our family. As a parent, I have never felt more proud. It is hard to describe, but I know that many of you have had similar experiences, so you know what I mean.
Thanks again to all those who came and to all those who sent well-wishes via phone, e-mail or Facebook. We appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness to our family.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Hey Ging, At Least Someone Notices You've Been Taking Care Of Yourself
Hello again. Not much new to report this week. We did celebrate Carol’s Dad’s 77th birthday last Thursday, and Carol’s mom provided another most excellent fruit tray. She has a gift with fruit. Carol’s sister Sharon and her family got him a little padded lap tray (seen in use below), which has to be the best gift he could have possibly received. And judging from that smile, I'm pretty sure he agrees.
I think he should just have it permanently attached now. Anyways, it was a fun time and we all ate really well. Carol did a great job on the cake, too. Ummmmm, cake.
Tyler turns 8 next Sunday and, as I’ve mentioned before, he will be getting baptized that night. He also starts Cub Scouts and flag football the following Wednesday. Our kids are getting older and that means life is about to get even busier in our home. That stinks, cuz I’m getting older, too, and I really just need more time to sit around in my chair and complain about the government and the weather; and maybe where some sweet plaid pants with a nice white belt. I don’t have the energy anymore to be chasing kids all over the house, let alone the city. The effects of old age are already creeping in. Oh, how sad. Well anyways, as promised in my last edition, here are the latest and greatest funnies. Enjoy!
Trevin has a little habit that whenever he has his shirt off, mainly when he gets a bath, he plays with his nipple. Don’t ask, I don’t know. I just try to ignore it. Anyways, sometimes I can’t and the other night as Carol was drying him off after he and Tyler got a bath, Trevin was doing some double-nipple action. I said what are those? He said “I don’t know (but he knows full-well what they are).” Carol, said: “Those right there, that you’re touching.” Tyler then says in all seriousness: “Those are your nibbles.” I’ll leave the jokes to you.
Carol was putting Trevin in his diaper to go to bed, and Caden walked up and saw him in his glory, pointed, and said: “Pee.” Trevin then said: “Yeah, that my Willard. You have Willard, too.”
Trevin and I were boxing on the Wii, and although I was trying to let him win, his arms just aren’t long enough yet, for the sensor bar to really catch his motion on boxing. Anyways, after a while, I finally knocked him down and out, to which he commented: “That was wude of you.”
Bailey was enjoying some ice cream after dinner one night, and was taking her sweet time. I asked her if I gave her too much. She assured me that I didn’t. About 5 minutes or so later she finished and pronounced: “See Dad, you didn’t give me too much. But I’m freezing.”
Carol was leaving the house and we gave each other a kiss and a hug (I know, ewe). Bailey was apparently watching and yelled: “I saw Mom and Dad fall in love!”
Carol was wrestling with the kids and they were trying to pull her off the couch. Tyler, not really trying to, put his hand on her stomach and kind of pushed. Carol said in a gentle tone: “Tyler don’t push me on the stomach.” Trevin then said emphatically: “Yeah, cuz her gonna get pregnant.”
The kids went back to get their pajamas on one night and Trevin came out with his bottoms on, but he needed help unbuttoning his shirt before he could get his top on. Carol noticed his pants were a little crooked, so she adjusted them. Upon doing so she discovered he had forgotten to put his underwear back on. She asked him, “where’s your underwear?” Surprised, Trevin then pulled the front of his pants away from his waist to check. After a quick glance, and without saying a word, he ran back to his room to finish the job.
Carol and I were reading scriptures and Caden came back to the room and just kept shouting: “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy.” Carol told him that we were reading scriptures and asked him if he could be quiet. He said “yeah,” then he started right up again, this time in a much quieter voice: “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy.”
We have a picture frame in our room and one of the photos contains a shot of Carol, my sister Leslie, and my sister-in-law Ginger. First (I feel a disclaimer is necessary), let me just say that I have no idea where Trevin comes up with all of these things he says, but anyways, he was looking at the frame and named off the three parties in that picture. He then said: “I don’t like Ginger’s mouth.” Carol said: “That’s not very nice, why would you say that?” He didn’t answer the question, but added: “I don’t like her lips.” Carol and I both just kind of waited silently, and then he added: “I just like her body.”
I think he should just have it permanently attached now. Anyways, it was a fun time and we all ate really well. Carol did a great job on the cake, too. Ummmmm, cake.
Tyler turns 8 next Sunday and, as I’ve mentioned before, he will be getting baptized that night. He also starts Cub Scouts and flag football the following Wednesday. Our kids are getting older and that means life is about to get even busier in our home. That stinks, cuz I’m getting older, too, and I really just need more time to sit around in my chair and complain about the government and the weather; and maybe where some sweet plaid pants with a nice white belt. I don’t have the energy anymore to be chasing kids all over the house, let alone the city. The effects of old age are already creeping in. Oh, how sad. Well anyways, as promised in my last edition, here are the latest and greatest funnies. Enjoy!Trevin has a little habit that whenever he has his shirt off, mainly when he gets a bath, he plays with his nipple. Don’t ask, I don’t know. I just try to ignore it. Anyways, sometimes I can’t and the other night as Carol was drying him off after he and Tyler got a bath, Trevin was doing some double-nipple action. I said what are those? He said “I don’t know (but he knows full-well what they are).” Carol, said: “Those right there, that you’re touching.” Tyler then says in all seriousness: “Those are your nibbles.” I’ll leave the jokes to you.
Carol was putting Trevin in his diaper to go to bed, and Caden walked up and saw him in his glory, pointed, and said: “Pee.” Trevin then said: “Yeah, that my Willard. You have Willard, too.”
Trevin and I were boxing on the Wii, and although I was trying to let him win, his arms just aren’t long enough yet, for the sensor bar to really catch his motion on boxing. Anyways, after a while, I finally knocked him down and out, to which he commented: “That was wude of you.”
Bailey was enjoying some ice cream after dinner one night, and was taking her sweet time. I asked her if I gave her too much. She assured me that I didn’t. About 5 minutes or so later she finished and pronounced: “See Dad, you didn’t give me too much. But I’m freezing.”
Carol was leaving the house and we gave each other a kiss and a hug (I know, ewe). Bailey was apparently watching and yelled: “I saw Mom and Dad fall in love!”
Carol was wrestling with the kids and they were trying to pull her off the couch. Tyler, not really trying to, put his hand on her stomach and kind of pushed. Carol said in a gentle tone: “Tyler don’t push me on the stomach.” Trevin then said emphatically: “Yeah, cuz her gonna get pregnant.”
The kids went back to get their pajamas on one night and Trevin came out with his bottoms on, but he needed help unbuttoning his shirt before he could get his top on. Carol noticed his pants were a little crooked, so she adjusted them. Upon doing so she discovered he had forgotten to put his underwear back on. She asked him, “where’s your underwear?” Surprised, Trevin then pulled the front of his pants away from his waist to check. After a quick glance, and without saying a word, he ran back to his room to finish the job.
Carol and I were reading scriptures and Caden came back to the room and just kept shouting: “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy.” Carol told him that we were reading scriptures and asked him if he could be quiet. He said “yeah,” then he started right up again, this time in a much quieter voice: “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy.”
We have a picture frame in our room and one of the photos contains a shot of Carol, my sister Leslie, and my sister-in-law Ginger. First (I feel a disclaimer is necessary), let me just say that I have no idea where Trevin comes up with all of these things he says, but anyways, he was looking at the frame and named off the three parties in that picture. He then said: “I don’t like Ginger’s mouth.” Carol said: “That’s not very nice, why would you say that?” He didn’t answer the question, but added: “I don’t like her lips.” Carol and I both just kind of waited silently, and then he added: “I just like her body.”
Friday, January 23, 2009
Finding Joy In The Journey
So, I have been listening to General Conference talks for several weeks while I’m at work and it has been a great blessing. The words of the Lord’s called prophets and servants have truly had a great affect on me. There are so many that have meant a lot, but the #1 talk that has made a difference is from President Thomas S. Monson. It is from the October 2008 Sunday morning session, entitled: “Finding Joy in the Journey.” I know that each talk can have different meaning to different people, and that the messages reach us in different ways. However, if you love your family and friends, then this talk applies to you. If you have never heard it or read it, then you should. If it’s been a while since you’ve heard, or read, it, then listen to it, or read again. It is such great counsel. And again, it has meaning for anyone who has family and friends, whether you are a member of the LDS or church or not. I don’t mean to get on a soapbox or anything, but I just know that everyone could benefit from President’s Monson’s words. And of course, many of you already know that, but some might not, so here is a link: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-26,00.html.
If you would rather listen to it or watch it, you can use this link. Just scroll down to the Sunday Morning Session, about in the middle of the page, and choose your fancy: http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-947,00.html
Sorry, no funnies this time, but some good ones are forthcoming, I promise.
If you would rather listen to it or watch it, you can use this link. Just scroll down to the Sunday Morning Session, about in the middle of the page, and choose your fancy: http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-947,00.html
Sorry, no funnies this time, but some good ones are forthcoming, I promise.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Trevin Weighs In On The Next Apostle
Howdy everyone. I know, it's been a while. Life just keeps getting in the way of blogging, but whattaya gonna do? What's new with us? Carol had a check-up today and everything is normal, except he found three more babies in there, plus two small puppies. Crazy stuff. OK, so that's not true, but then I shouldn't have had to add that for anyone, because no one is that gullible. Carol is doing fine and getting quite a little pooch, but after five pregnancies that is to be expected. She hasn't had any sickness lately. Actually, she never has thrown up, but she sure had a lot of nausia in the beginning with this one. The kids are excited and Bailey is really hoping for a little sister this time. Trevin, on the other hand, wants a boy. Tyler took his excel testing last week and said he enjoyed. He said the questions were very easy, but he says that about everything. We don't know when we will find out the results. Bailey is doing well in Kindergarten and she had her first opportunity a week ago to give a talk in primary. She did very well. She also recently lost her third tooth. Trevin enjoys playing Wii Golf and not having to go pre-school. He is doing better in primary though (read more about that below), which we are very happy about. Caden had had a cold pretty much straught for about 5 weeks, but through it all his ears have not had any infection, which is just a continued answer to prayer. He talks up a storm and throws fits like a champ, but he has gone to nursury without mom or dad two times in a row, so we are thrilled about that. We are looking forward to Tyler's baptism in two weeks (on Feb 1) and for he and Bailey to start taking piano lessons in another week. Also, Bailey started some tennis lessons this past Saturday and really liked it; plus Tyler starts flag football in a few weeks. So, life is busy, but it is good to be busy. And now enjoy the latest and greatest kid quotes:
For those of you who don’t know, Trevin has never been a fan of nursery, or preschool, or even the brief moments he has spent in primary. Well, with the New Year upon us, that means graduation to the Sunbeam class. It has been difficult getting him ready him for this transition, and for the past month, we have been trying to prep him for it; despite his continued insistence that he did not want to go. So Sunday January 4th was the first day of the new class. And lo and behold, the little guy actually did really well. We were very proud of his bravery. Now despite his good first day, his taste for primary is still, let’s say, a little sour. When Carol went to pick him up from class when church was over, one of the Sunbeam teachers informed us that when asked what makes him happy, he replied: “My Mom and Dad.” And when asked what makes him sad, his response was unequivocally: “Primary.”
And for good measure there was also this exchange. Trevin and Carol were in the kids’ room on a weekday morning just after his first Sunday in primary. As Carol opened the blinds for the day, Trevin asked: “is today Sunday.” Carol replied no, and Trevin said: “Yea, I don’t have to go primary.”
Bailey likes to play “going to the store" with her grocery cart and cash register. So we were playing together and she was running the register, while I shopped. After a while, she was ready to switch and said: “OK, now I’m going to buy some stuff, and you can be the cashew.”
Bailey and Caden were in the bath together and Bailey likes to do her brothers’ hair. She was messing with Caden’s hair and he was kind of losing his balance. Carol said to her: “Bailey, will just stop messing with him. He keeps losing his balance. I’m afraid he’s gonna fall.” Bailey replied in a total grown-up tone: “Oh just stop it. You’re not afraid.”
Carol was cleaning up after dinner one night and Bailey said to her: “You look pregnant!” Trevin was at the table, too and said: “She is pregnant!” Bailey said to Trevin: “You’re pregnant.” He quickly responded: “No I not. I boy. Boys not pregnant.”
Carol made some orange juice with the frozen concentrate mix. She rarely makes the stuff, and we never buy it pre-mixed. Anyways, Tyler takes a swig, and says in all seriousness, “You make delicious orange juice mom.” Good to see he appreciated all the blood, sweat and tears it took his mother to stir the stuff up.
Tyler got “Backyard Football” for the Wii for Christmas and he and I were playing a game. He had Ben Roethlesberger on his team, only he was playing wide receiver. Anyways, Tyler kept throwing to him and he kept dropping them again and again. I finally said: “Roethlesberger can’t catch anything.” Trevin was within earshot and went to Big Ben’s defense: “Maybe he don’t have any hands.” Well spoken young analyst.
I was downloading some more talks from General Conference onto my iPod and Trevin and I were reviewing the names of the Apostles and First Presidency. He is aware that Elder Wirthlin recently passed away, so he was asking about the new Apostle. I said we’ll find out in April during General Conference. I then said: “is it going to be you?” He smiled and said no, then offered this possibility: “Maybe Daniel Bird?” He is our Elder’s Quorum President, for those of you who don’t know. So indeed, Daniel, you must be thought of quite highly by Mr. Trevin.
Lastly, we were all outside playing on a sunny day in January, today, and Trevin said “Dad, I want to get my bike out.” I said: “Why, so you can ride it for 2 seconds?” “No,” came his reply. “OK, three then,” I said. Trevin then thought about it and said, “No….10.” I said, “10 seconds isn’t very long.” Then, as he climbed aboard his bike, he said in a somewhat pleading voice: “OK.......11.”
For those of you who don’t know, Trevin has never been a fan of nursery, or preschool, or even the brief moments he has spent in primary. Well, with the New Year upon us, that means graduation to the Sunbeam class. It has been difficult getting him ready him for this transition, and for the past month, we have been trying to prep him for it; despite his continued insistence that he did not want to go. So Sunday January 4th was the first day of the new class. And lo and behold, the little guy actually did really well. We were very proud of his bravery. Now despite his good first day, his taste for primary is still, let’s say, a little sour. When Carol went to pick him up from class when church was over, one of the Sunbeam teachers informed us that when asked what makes him happy, he replied: “My Mom and Dad.” And when asked what makes him sad, his response was unequivocally: “Primary.”
And for good measure there was also this exchange. Trevin and Carol were in the kids’ room on a weekday morning just after his first Sunday in primary. As Carol opened the blinds for the day, Trevin asked: “is today Sunday.” Carol replied no, and Trevin said: “Yea, I don’t have to go primary.”
Bailey likes to play “going to the store" with her grocery cart and cash register. So we were playing together and she was running the register, while I shopped. After a while, she was ready to switch and said: “OK, now I’m going to buy some stuff, and you can be the cashew.”
Bailey and Caden were in the bath together and Bailey likes to do her brothers’ hair. She was messing with Caden’s hair and he was kind of losing his balance. Carol said to her: “Bailey, will just stop messing with him. He keeps losing his balance. I’m afraid he’s gonna fall.” Bailey replied in a total grown-up tone: “Oh just stop it. You’re not afraid.”
Carol was cleaning up after dinner one night and Bailey said to her: “You look pregnant!” Trevin was at the table, too and said: “She is pregnant!” Bailey said to Trevin: “You’re pregnant.” He quickly responded: “No I not. I boy. Boys not pregnant.”
Carol made some orange juice with the frozen concentrate mix. She rarely makes the stuff, and we never buy it pre-mixed. Anyways, Tyler takes a swig, and says in all seriousness, “You make delicious orange juice mom.” Good to see he appreciated all the blood, sweat and tears it took his mother to stir the stuff up.
Tyler got “Backyard Football” for the Wii for Christmas and he and I were playing a game. He had Ben Roethlesberger on his team, only he was playing wide receiver. Anyways, Tyler kept throwing to him and he kept dropping them again and again. I finally said: “Roethlesberger can’t catch anything.” Trevin was within earshot and went to Big Ben’s defense: “Maybe he don’t have any hands.” Well spoken young analyst.
I was downloading some more talks from General Conference onto my iPod and Trevin and I were reviewing the names of the Apostles and First Presidency. He is aware that Elder Wirthlin recently passed away, so he was asking about the new Apostle. I said we’ll find out in April during General Conference. I then said: “is it going to be you?” He smiled and said no, then offered this possibility: “Maybe Daniel Bird?” He is our Elder’s Quorum President, for those of you who don’t know. So indeed, Daniel, you must be thought of quite highly by Mr. Trevin.
Lastly, we were all outside playing on a sunny day in January, today, and Trevin said “Dad, I want to get my bike out.” I said: “Why, so you can ride it for 2 seconds?” “No,” came his reply. “OK, three then,” I said. Trevin then thought about it and said, “No….10.” I said, “10 seconds isn’t very long.” Then, as he climbed aboard his bike, he said in a somewhat pleading voice: “OK.......11.”
Friday, January 2, 2009
Do You Know What Sprite Looks Like?
Well, here we are again; another new year is upon us. How time flies. The adage is true: “The older you get the faster time goes.” It really sinks in when your kids hit milestones. Tyler will be eight in a month, which means it will be baptism time for him. It just doesn’t seem possible, but sure enough, time never stops, so we have only the choice to live life as it comes and to take advantage of all the “time” we are blessed to have; or to blow it.
So, I’m sure most of you have seen my last entry announcing our pending arrival in July; now for the story behind it. Carol and I had been talking about it for a few months, but we were not really convinced we were ready again. All of our kids have been brought to us with the help of clomid (baby-making drug). Carol had the prescription, but had not yet filled it. As we continued to fast and pray about it, we decided we would go ahead and give it a shot. But, nothing happened with Carol (you figure out the details, yourself). So we thought: “OK, maybe this isn’t the right time.” Wrong! The Lord was so sure that this was the time he took nature into his own hands. So this baby is a drug-free baby. By the time we decided we were ready, Carol was already pregnant. Surprise! We told our families at Christmas, and found out that my sister (July 11) and my sister-in-law (July 2) are also expecting. July will bring lots of fireworks to the extended Livingston family.
On to other things: I was responding to a friend from BYU about this blog, and told her that it has occurred to me that this has quite literally become a way for me to record a history of our lives. So, from time-to-time, I need to include other types of info on here, which may not necessarily be interesting for others to read, but will be a great source of history for us and our kids to look back on. So with that in mind: recently, Tyler was at school and because of the extreme cold, the kids had some days of indoor recess. Anyways, he was playing a game with a group of kids, and another boy, who is a member of our ward, asked if he could play, too. One of the boys told him no. Tyler said that after the boy walked away, he got up and left what he was doing, and went to ask the boy who had been turned down if he would like to do something with him. They then played together instead. We were quite proud to hear of his kind act.
And of course, here are the latest funnies: Trevin tells me he has to go to the bathroom, the other day, so I ask him: “What do you need to do?” He says “go get up on the potty.” So I tell him go do it then. A few seconds later I call to him and ask: “Did you make it?” He says “Yeah.” Me: “Are you going poop?” Again he responds: “Yeah.” I respond with an “Oh man,” to which he replies in a total “ha-ha” tone: “You have to wipe it up.”
During this holiday season, every time we took the kids to the store with us to look at things, Bailey bombarded us with the phrase: “Oh, I want this for Christmas,” or “I want that for Christmas.” Literally, every time we are at a store she added to her list about every 30 seconds; no joke. So we were at Fred Meyer, and after proclaiming her desire several more times, Trevin held his hands up and while bringing them down to slap him on his knees so as to say “enough already,” he said: “Bailey, you want every thing for Christmas!”
Trevin hit an ornament on the tree with a toy hammer, and it came apart. I said “that doesn’t make me very happy. Mom, does that make you happy?” Carol replied, “No. disappointed, actually.” I said, “Yep, pretty, disappointing.” Trevin quickly retorted: “I’m not going to jail.”
Bailey loves to play school, but usually not while she is being watched. Anyways, she decided to let me play the other day and I was one of her students. She was holding up a book and telling us (me and the other students--stuffed toys and babies) the story. I got distracted for a brief moment and was looking at the poster of David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox player) on the wall. After a couple of seconds, Bailey kindly reminded the “class” without singling me out: “Eyes need to be up here. Not looking at other things.”
Tyler went with Grandma Livingston to the grocery store while we were in Eugene, a couple days after we had announced our pending July arrival. They were talking and Tyler said: “Grandma, I don’t want to have another baby.” She replied: “How come, because you would have to get a new car?” To which Tyler replied: “No. Because then I would have to be even quieter. I already have to be quiet when Caden’s asleep. Now when I come from school, they’ll be two babies asleep.”
Trevin was wrestling with his cousin and brothers in Eugene, and he was a little too rough, so I grabbed him and started wrestling him. His pants came down a little and he was, well, bum-cracking. I gave him a little squeeze and said “bum-cracking.” His quick response as he reached back to pull up his pants was: “Dat not apopiate!”
You’ve all had sliced deli turkey before, right. So of course you’ve seen the little lines of fat that sometimes show up in certain parts of the turkey, right. Well, the Trev-man was eating his lunch a couple days again and told me he didn’t want to eat his turkey. It was basically untouched, so I asked why not. He said, “cuz my turkey has owies.” I said what are talking about? Your turkey doesn’t have owies.” “Uh-huh, look,” he said, pointing to those little lines of fat.
We were eating stew for dinner and a discussion began as to whether it was stew or soup, because of its consistency. Tyler insisted that it was stew each time Bailey called it soup. So the discussion continued and Bailey asked what “runny” meant, thinking that it was the same as mushy. I explained the difference between them and then Bailey turned the conversation a little gross. Trevin then asked: “like tooters?” I said “no tooters are gas.” Bailey then said “like this,” and without hesitation dropped a giant bomb for all to hear. Our sweet little princess!
Trevin was coughing at the dinner table and was going on for quite a bit, kind of like he was forcing it. Carol told him, OK that’s enough, to which he replied: “My throat is doing that.”
So, I’m sure most of you have seen my last entry announcing our pending arrival in July; now for the story behind it. Carol and I had been talking about it for a few months, but we were not really convinced we were ready again. All of our kids have been brought to us with the help of clomid (baby-making drug). Carol had the prescription, but had not yet filled it. As we continued to fast and pray about it, we decided we would go ahead and give it a shot. But, nothing happened with Carol (you figure out the details, yourself). So we thought: “OK, maybe this isn’t the right time.” Wrong! The Lord was so sure that this was the time he took nature into his own hands. So this baby is a drug-free baby. By the time we decided we were ready, Carol was already pregnant. Surprise! We told our families at Christmas, and found out that my sister (July 11) and my sister-in-law (July 2) are also expecting. July will bring lots of fireworks to the extended Livingston family.
On to other things: I was responding to a friend from BYU about this blog, and told her that it has occurred to me that this has quite literally become a way for me to record a history of our lives. So, from time-to-time, I need to include other types of info on here, which may not necessarily be interesting for others to read, but will be a great source of history for us and our kids to look back on. So with that in mind: recently, Tyler was at school and because of the extreme cold, the kids had some days of indoor recess. Anyways, he was playing a game with a group of kids, and another boy, who is a member of our ward, asked if he could play, too. One of the boys told him no. Tyler said that after the boy walked away, he got up and left what he was doing, and went to ask the boy who had been turned down if he would like to do something with him. They then played together instead. We were quite proud to hear of his kind act.
And of course, here are the latest funnies: Trevin tells me he has to go to the bathroom, the other day, so I ask him: “What do you need to do?” He says “go get up on the potty.” So I tell him go do it then. A few seconds later I call to him and ask: “Did you make it?” He says “Yeah.” Me: “Are you going poop?” Again he responds: “Yeah.” I respond with an “Oh man,” to which he replies in a total “ha-ha” tone: “You have to wipe it up.”
During this holiday season, every time we took the kids to the store with us to look at things, Bailey bombarded us with the phrase: “Oh, I want this for Christmas,” or “I want that for Christmas.” Literally, every time we are at a store she added to her list about every 30 seconds; no joke. So we were at Fred Meyer, and after proclaiming her desire several more times, Trevin held his hands up and while bringing them down to slap him on his knees so as to say “enough already,” he said: “Bailey, you want every thing for Christmas!”
Trevin hit an ornament on the tree with a toy hammer, and it came apart. I said “that doesn’t make me very happy. Mom, does that make you happy?” Carol replied, “No. disappointed, actually.” I said, “Yep, pretty, disappointing.” Trevin quickly retorted: “I’m not going to jail.”
Bailey loves to play school, but usually not while she is being watched. Anyways, she decided to let me play the other day and I was one of her students. She was holding up a book and telling us (me and the other students--stuffed toys and babies) the story. I got distracted for a brief moment and was looking at the poster of David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox player) on the wall. After a couple of seconds, Bailey kindly reminded the “class” without singling me out: “Eyes need to be up here. Not looking at other things.”
Tyler went with Grandma Livingston to the grocery store while we were in Eugene, a couple days after we had announced our pending July arrival. They were talking and Tyler said: “Grandma, I don’t want to have another baby.” She replied: “How come, because you would have to get a new car?” To which Tyler replied: “No. Because then I would have to be even quieter. I already have to be quiet when Caden’s asleep. Now when I come from school, they’ll be two babies asleep.”
Trevin was wrestling with his cousin and brothers in Eugene, and he was a little too rough, so I grabbed him and started wrestling him. His pants came down a little and he was, well, bum-cracking. I gave him a little squeeze and said “bum-cracking.” His quick response as he reached back to pull up his pants was: “Dat not apopiate!”
You’ve all had sliced deli turkey before, right. So of course you’ve seen the little lines of fat that sometimes show up in certain parts of the turkey, right. Well, the Trev-man was eating his lunch a couple days again and told me he didn’t want to eat his turkey. It was basically untouched, so I asked why not. He said, “cuz my turkey has owies.” I said what are talking about? Your turkey doesn’t have owies.” “Uh-huh, look,” he said, pointing to those little lines of fat.
We were eating stew for dinner and a discussion began as to whether it was stew or soup, because of its consistency. Tyler insisted that it was stew each time Bailey called it soup. So the discussion continued and Bailey asked what “runny” meant, thinking that it was the same as mushy. I explained the difference between them and then Bailey turned the conversation a little gross. Trevin then asked: “like tooters?” I said “no tooters are gas.” Bailey then said “like this,” and without hesitation dropped a giant bomb for all to hear. Our sweet little princess!
Trevin was coughing at the dinner table and was going on for quite a bit, kind of like he was forcing it. Carol told him, OK that’s enough, to which he replied: “My throat is doing that.”
And lastly, I went in to check on Trevin, on a recent trip to the potty, when he informed me as he went pee: “that looks like sprite.” So those are latest funnies and the latest happenings in the Livingston’s Life and Times. And these are just a few pics from the last couple of weeks.
All aboard the Tyler train
The cowboy way
Family fun in the snow
Who was that purple girl?
Super(cute)man
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Our Little Comedians
Oh these kids of ours. They just make us laugh all the time (except when they are driving us nuts in their less-than-rewarding moments). Anyways, we've had a good week of funnies around here. Plus, we attended our ward Christmas dinner and party on Saturday and for our two little guys, Santa was such a tramatic experience it could leave scars (see pictures below). We are getting ready for the holidays like everyone else. We are also getting ready to deal with a week of wintery weather. I know for many of you (in Utah & Idaho) this is no big deal, but we are not expected to get above freezing for at least the next six days. And we are expecting some snow this week, as well. That's in addition to the tiny bit we got today, which turned out to be enough to cancel church. Well, on to this week's funnies:
The kids have recently discovered wrestling with their Dad, and they are quite match. So we are wrestling the other day and during a break in the action, the kids got out a bunch of pillows and blankets and had them covering the living room floor. I said, "Wait a minute. Who said anything about getting all those blankets out?" Tyler said: "We said it to ourselves."
When Tyler gets a cold (like he has now), he gets a really nasty, dry, barky cough. Trevin was out on the couch with Carol the other morning and Tyler woke up and headed for the bathroom. He let go of one of his ugly hacks, and Trevin said to Carol, quite startled: "What was that?" Carol said: "Just Tyler coughing." Trevin replied: "Oh, I thought monster."
More bodily noises - While reading the scriptures the other day, Trevin was on the couch next to me. He pushed out a toot, then waited about 3 seconds, and calmly moved away from me over towards the other side of the couch. It almost worked, too. Carol thought it was me.
Speaking of tooters, while in the bathroom with mom at JC Penney's a woman in another stall dropped a bomb. Trevin asked what it was, and Carol just quietly replied "someone else going to the bathroom." He then said, "Was that the toilet?" Carol made sure to get out of their quickly to save the poor woman further embarrassment.
At our house, the kids always have fruit after lunch and dinner. Yesterday, Tyler asked if he could have a whole apple (cuz usually we make them share to make the fruit last longer). We said yes. Bailey then asked for a whole banana. We said no, and of course she said how come Tyler gets a whole apple. Trevin said "Cuz he bigger." We then gave in and let Bailey have a whole banana. Of course, Trevin wasn't going to stand for that and asked: "Can I have whole...grape?" Just so you know, usually we only give them half a grape each. Just kidding. They always have a good handful at a time, so that's why his request even funnier.
Me and the three boys were playing in the playroom and first Tyler knocked Caden down. He kind of whined a little bit so I asked him if Tyler did something. He replied in a whiney voice: "Yes." I asked him if he wanted me to beat Tyler up, to which he replied, again whining "yeah." A couple seconds later Trevin knocked him down on purpose. We went through the same line of questioning, only this time, I looked at his face while I asked the 'beat him up' question, and with a big smile he replied "yeah."
During another wrestling match Bailey jumped on me with quite a force and it hurt. I said, "Bailey, you're cruel." In all seriousness (and not familiar with the word cruel), she replied: "You mean cool?"
And last, but not least. Bailey likes to gather up all her dolls and babies and treat them as her children or school kids or primary class, or whatever else she can think of. She had them all on the couch today and was sitting in a little chair in front of them, while holding one of the smaller ones. Without prompting, she says out loud to herself: "I'm so bored of taking care of these kids all day, while their dad is gone. It's just so tiring." Carol assured me that she has never said anything like that.
The kids have recently discovered wrestling with their Dad, and they are quite match. So we are wrestling the other day and during a break in the action, the kids got out a bunch of pillows and blankets and had them covering the living room floor. I said, "Wait a minute. Who said anything about getting all those blankets out?" Tyler said: "We said it to ourselves."
When Tyler gets a cold (like he has now), he gets a really nasty, dry, barky cough. Trevin was out on the couch with Carol the other morning and Tyler woke up and headed for the bathroom. He let go of one of his ugly hacks, and Trevin said to Carol, quite startled: "What was that?" Carol said: "Just Tyler coughing." Trevin replied: "Oh, I thought monster."
More bodily noises - While reading the scriptures the other day, Trevin was on the couch next to me. He pushed out a toot, then waited about 3 seconds, and calmly moved away from me over towards the other side of the couch. It almost worked, too. Carol thought it was me.
Speaking of tooters, while in the bathroom with mom at JC Penney's a woman in another stall dropped a bomb. Trevin asked what it was, and Carol just quietly replied "someone else going to the bathroom." He then said, "Was that the toilet?" Carol made sure to get out of their quickly to save the poor woman further embarrassment.
At our house, the kids always have fruit after lunch and dinner. Yesterday, Tyler asked if he could have a whole apple (cuz usually we make them share to make the fruit last longer). We said yes. Bailey then asked for a whole banana. We said no, and of course she said how come Tyler gets a whole apple. Trevin said "Cuz he bigger." We then gave in and let Bailey have a whole banana. Of course, Trevin wasn't going to stand for that and asked: "Can I have whole...grape?" Just so you know, usually we only give them half a grape each. Just kidding. They always have a good handful at a time, so that's why his request even funnier.
Me and the three boys were playing in the playroom and first Tyler knocked Caden down. He kind of whined a little bit so I asked him if Tyler did something. He replied in a whiney voice: "Yes." I asked him if he wanted me to beat Tyler up, to which he replied, again whining "yeah." A couple seconds later Trevin knocked him down on purpose. We went through the same line of questioning, only this time, I looked at his face while I asked the 'beat him up' question, and with a big smile he replied "yeah."
During another wrestling match Bailey jumped on me with quite a force and it hurt. I said, "Bailey, you're cruel." In all seriousness (and not familiar with the word cruel), she replied: "You mean cool?"
And last, but not least. Bailey likes to gather up all her dolls and babies and treat them as her children or school kids or primary class, or whatever else she can think of. She had them all on the couch today and was sitting in a little chair in front of them, while holding one of the smaller ones. Without prompting, she says out loud to herself: "I'm so bored of taking care of these kids all day, while their dad is gone. It's just so tiring." Carol assured me that she has never said anything like that.
Santa (And Spidey) Sitting
Tyler was right at home with the jolly man, and was impressed that he knew all the kids' names.
Bailey was sure to tell Santa that she has been nice... 
This could have been the single most horrifying experience of Trevin's life. The picture doesn't show how bad he was shaking. 
And for Caden, it was not much better. He didn't know what to do, but he was being held back very tight so he could not leap away. Oh the memories.
And this of course, is not Carol and Santa, rather Carol and Spiderman. She was praying, but I thought she was sleeping so I set up a wonderful pose. The hat is actually a piece of clothing for one of Bailey's babies. Quite cute, don't you think? Carol is a good sport and is nice to put up with my shenanigans...
Friday, December 5, 2008
The Latest From The Livingstons (in The Couv)
So how is everyone? We had a good Thanksgiving (and 10th anniversary) -- first at Carol's parents, where the food was quite good and the football (on TV) was spectacular. You should have seen the fruit tray Carol's mom did. Quite delicious and pretty fancy looking, too. After we were good and stuffed, we headed down to Eugene so we could enjoy some sales tax-free shopping, as well as free babysitting while we hit the early Black Friday sales. The clock in the room where we were staying at my parents had never been adjusted when Daylight Savings ended, so it was an even earlier morning than I anticipated. But we had a good time and saved lots of money.
The kids had a good time playing and NOT going to the stores with us. There is also a new park right by G & G's house, which we had a good time at. We also took them to see the new movie "Bolt" in 3D. It was really good for them and us.
Caden visited his "voodoo" doctor when we returned and it looks as though he is cured of ear infections. He is eating all things wheat now, and it appears there are no ill affects. We still have him abstaining from dairy, though. The whole situation with his ears has been one answer to prayer after another, and it is amazing the change in him. Thanks, Cory!
Tyler is doing well and he got to go see a play production of James and the Giant Peach for a school field trip. Bailey gets to go to the Children's museum in January. Trevin is doing quite well with pre-school. He gets a little rattled at drop-off time each day, but he gets over it quickly. And Caden is doing well on Sunday going to nursery. he could be our first easy one.
We got our Christmas decorations up on Monday for Family Home Evening, then on Wednesday we cut down our tree. We had it up and decorated last night. However, Carol called me at work to let me know that our tree had just taken a dive. What a mess! We got it all cleaned up and re-decorated today, so now it's just another memory for future Christmases.
And now it's that time again:
I was making a phone call that had to do with my church calling, but it was right at dinner time. Carol jokingly said: I'm gonna talk with Bishop about this Bisopric stuff. It's starting to take up too much of your time." Tyler chimed in and said, "Dad you're not in the Bishopric anymore." Then Bailey, who apparently had been doing some contemplating, added: "To be in the Bishopric, you have to be a Bishop and you have to be a brick."I said "a brick?" She said, yeah, you know, Bishop-Brick." So she needs a little annunciation work on that word.
Our Toys R Us store recently remodeled and had a grand re-opening sale. We decided to check it out to get some Christmas ideas for the kids. As part of the remodeling they added a "Babies R Us" to the store. As we were driving up to the parking lot, Tyler was reading aloud: "Toys R Us. Barbies R Us -- Barbies R Us?" I'm not going to that store." We pointed out his error and he was able to set foot inside the store after all.
Caden is quite vocal for a 19-month-old and he is apparently rather observant in his young age as well. The other day, with none of his siblings around, he opened the entertainment center drawer and pulled out a Wii remote and started waving it at the TV. I asked: "What are you doing?" His reply: "Pay Wii."Also, around here, Carol and I don't like to answer the phone. I'm worse than she is, but usually we argue about who it is going to be for, so other person has to get it. On the contrary, the kids love to answer the phone. Whenever it rings they make a mad dash to the kitchen yelling "I got it, I got it, I got it." So the other day it rings and Caden without hesitation, starts toward the kitchen yelling "got it, got it, got it." And lastly, each night when I leave for work, Carol always asks me if I got the cell phone. So the other day, as I'm at the door telling everyone I love them, Caden is saying over and over: "Got phone, got phone?" Finally we realized what he was saying, so I repeated, "did I get the phone?" He said: "Yeah" I told him yes and he said, "Kay (OK)." Quite cute.
As many of you know we have taught our kids who everyone in the First Presidency and Quorum of the twelves Apostles is. Trevin had the chart down the other day and I asked him what the prophet's name was. He started to smile and said "Thomas...(pause)....the Train," followed by a big goofy laugh at his funny.
While in Eugene for the Thanksgiving weekend, Trevin ran upstairs to tell me he was going to McDonald's. I said: "Who's taking you to McDonald's?" thinking my mom had just promised him a trip there. He looked at me, pointed, and replied: "You" By the way, we did take them all that day.
Last, but not least, we have a little Nativity set that we let the kids play with. The other night Trevin was playing with it and apparently let go of a big "tooter" (that's what we call them in our house, although I'm sure the kids have heard other terms for them by now.) Anyways, Carol said: "Whoa! Trevin, did you just do a big tooter?" He replied: "No, it was Joseph." At least he didn't say baby Jesus.
The kids had a good time playing and NOT going to the stores with us. There is also a new park right by G & G's house, which we had a good time at. We also took them to see the new movie "Bolt" in 3D. It was really good for them and us.
Caden visited his "voodoo" doctor when we returned and it looks as though he is cured of ear infections. He is eating all things wheat now, and it appears there are no ill affects. We still have him abstaining from dairy, though. The whole situation with his ears has been one answer to prayer after another, and it is amazing the change in him. Thanks, Cory!
Tyler is doing well and he got to go see a play production of James and the Giant Peach for a school field trip. Bailey gets to go to the Children's museum in January. Trevin is doing quite well with pre-school. He gets a little rattled at drop-off time each day, but he gets over it quickly. And Caden is doing well on Sunday going to nursery. he could be our first easy one.
We got our Christmas decorations up on Monday for Family Home Evening, then on Wednesday we cut down our tree. We had it up and decorated last night. However, Carol called me at work to let me know that our tree had just taken a dive. What a mess! We got it all cleaned up and re-decorated today, so now it's just another memory for future Christmases.
And now it's that time again:
I was making a phone call that had to do with my church calling, but it was right at dinner time. Carol jokingly said: I'm gonna talk with Bishop about this Bisopric stuff. It's starting to take up too much of your time." Tyler chimed in and said, "Dad you're not in the Bishopric anymore." Then Bailey, who apparently had been doing some contemplating, added: "To be in the Bishopric, you have to be a Bishop and you have to be a brick."I said "a brick?" She said, yeah, you know, Bishop-Brick." So she needs a little annunciation work on that word.
Our Toys R Us store recently remodeled and had a grand re-opening sale. We decided to check it out to get some Christmas ideas for the kids. As part of the remodeling they added a "Babies R Us" to the store. As we were driving up to the parking lot, Tyler was reading aloud: "Toys R Us. Barbies R Us -- Barbies R Us?" I'm not going to that store." We pointed out his error and he was able to set foot inside the store after all.
Caden is quite vocal for a 19-month-old and he is apparently rather observant in his young age as well. The other day, with none of his siblings around, he opened the entertainment center drawer and pulled out a Wii remote and started waving it at the TV. I asked: "What are you doing?" His reply: "Pay Wii."Also, around here, Carol and I don't like to answer the phone. I'm worse than she is, but usually we argue about who it is going to be for, so other person has to get it. On the contrary, the kids love to answer the phone. Whenever it rings they make a mad dash to the kitchen yelling "I got it, I got it, I got it." So the other day it rings and Caden without hesitation, starts toward the kitchen yelling "got it, got it, got it." And lastly, each night when I leave for work, Carol always asks me if I got the cell phone. So the other day, as I'm at the door telling everyone I love them, Caden is saying over and over: "Got phone, got phone?" Finally we realized what he was saying, so I repeated, "did I get the phone?" He said: "Yeah" I told him yes and he said, "Kay (OK)." Quite cute.
As many of you know we have taught our kids who everyone in the First Presidency and Quorum of the twelves Apostles is. Trevin had the chart down the other day and I asked him what the prophet's name was. He started to smile and said "Thomas...(pause)....the Train," followed by a big goofy laugh at his funny.
While in Eugene for the Thanksgiving weekend, Trevin ran upstairs to tell me he was going to McDonald's. I said: "Who's taking you to McDonald's?" thinking my mom had just promised him a trip there. He looked at me, pointed, and replied: "You" By the way, we did take them all that day.
Last, but not least, we have a little Nativity set that we let the kids play with. The other night Trevin was playing with it and apparently let go of a big "tooter" (that's what we call them in our house, although I'm sure the kids have heard other terms for them by now.) Anyways, Carol said: "Whoa! Trevin, did you just do a big tooter?" He replied: "No, it was Joseph." At least he didn't say baby Jesus.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Painting Some Memories
Well, the painting is almost done; just the kids’ room and the three bedroom closets to go. We’ll probably just ignore the other closets. We will be glad to be done. It looks good (we think), and makes our house look quite different. The kids are as fun as ever, but still driving us as crazy as ever. We love them, but you know what we mean. Trevin is quite mischievous and is always getting into things he’s not supposed to. Caden is developing quite an attitude as well. He has his precious moments, like saying his prayers. He’s not even 19 months yet, but he will repeat everything we say for his prayer. It is quite cute and touching. But he also has a mean streak and a defiant streak. Lehi said their must be opposition in all things, and lets just say that Caden is doing is part to fulfill that scripture. I have been busy making a few changes to the blog, as you will see. I have added a playlist and a slideshow. The slideshow is supposed to be longer and I actually have two different ones online that you can check out if you would like. Flickr and Photobucket (there is some overlap).
So that is about all folks. Here are the latest funnies from the kids, but I have been a slacker and have unfortunately missed some in the past couple of weeks because I didn’t write them down right when they said them. My bad!
CAN I QUOTE YOU ON THAT?
With election time here, the kids have picked up on things from TV, us, and their ultra-republican grandparents; not that there is anything wrong with being republican, of course. Anyways, on the Monday before the election, Tyler said Go Obama! We quickly corrected him. However, he has heard me tell people that the silver lining of an Obama victory would mean no more Hillary Clinton, for at least 8 years, and quite possibly forever. (Just do the math. In four years Obama will run again. So if he wins again, that’s 8 years without Hillary. If he loses, that means the republican wins and, of course, no Hillary. So after 8 years, her window to run for president is basically over.) Anyways, he said: “But if Obama wins that means no more Hillary Clinton.” Then Bailey interjected: “No, not Obama. If he wins he’ll take all our money.” Well-spoken from the 5-year-old political analyst.
Trevin wanted a piece of his Halloween candy, but we had just had dinner and he had already had a piece for his dessert. I told him he could have a piece with his snack, but that it was not time for that now. He went to ask Carol and basically got the same response from her. He came back to the kitchen to put it away and said: “Mom, Dad, you wude (rude).”
Tyler has to be one of the best 7-year-old readers around, but even he comes across a word here-and-there that he’s not familiar with. Carol was on YouTube again showing the kids old TV theme songs (they love that activity), and she was trying to find the Popeye cartoon song. Tyler looks at the computer and says in all seriousness, “Is that “poopy” the sailor man?”
The kids have come up with a new game they like to play. They pile up all the pillows and blankets they can get their hands on and then bury stuffed animals inside it all. Then they pretend that the animals are drowning and they go in the pile to save them. So Bailey gets in the pile the other day and starts yelling for Trevin to save her cuz she was drowning. She went on and on for a coupe of minutes, but Trevin was preoccupied with something else. Finally, he goes over to assist, and Bailey says: “It’s too late, I died.”
As part of our home changes we are gradually putting new knobs on all the doors. They have all been off for painting for about three weeks now. Privacy has been tough to come by for the kids in their bathroom, especially with the big hole where the knob was. Anyways, I finally got a new one put on in the master bathroom, after much tribulation. Tyler was in the room as I took care of the finishing touches and I said: “There, mom and dad finally have a knob on their bathroom door.” Tyler said: “Good. Now I can poop without anyone looking at me.”
That's all for now folks. Happy blogging...
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Latest & Greatest Bathroom Humor
Here are the kids gutting their pumpkins and the other photo is a shot of them with their cousin Nathan after he was set apart as a missionary a couple of weeks ago. He heads to Jacksonville, Florida on Nov. 12th. As you can see Caden was pretty sad to see his cousin leaving. ;-)
It's that time again. I know it's been a while. Hopefully that will mean you are more hungry for new material from my kids (they won't disappoint). Let me just say though, that my nephew Caleb has come up with one of the funniest comments of all time. If you want to check it out head to this address http://homemadegingerl.blogspot.com/ (my sister-in-law's blog and it is like the second thing down, called "Lovely boy-truthful and blunt." Absolutely hilarious and a must read, even if you don't know them.) Anyways, things are rocking here in "The Couv." School is in full-swing and we just had parent-teacher conferences. Both kids are doing wonderful, and for the second year in a row Tyler's teacher has recommended that he take a test to enter an accelerated program. So, this year we are going to have him do it. Bailey is also doing well in kindergarten, and we can really see her growing. Trevin still isn't so sure about pre-school, though. It's a work in progress.
We took all four kids trick-or-treating on Friday and they loved it. Even Caden had a pumpkin filled. Carol pushed him on the stroller and he caught on pretty quick. At each house he would hold up his hand waiving while is siblings got their treats. And as he did that, he would say "want one, want one." Needless to say, Carol and I now have a lot of options for late-night goodies after the kids go to sleep.
As for us, we are still very busy with home changes. our Craig's List and garage sale money is almost gone, but we have taken full advantage of it. We have started painting the whole interior and are making progress, but we can generally do just a little at a time. Usually just one of us works on it at a time, so we don't end up ignoring the kids. So that is what's new, in a nutshell.
OK, on to the quotes of the "past few weeks"....
Bailey told us the other day she had a headache. Often, when the kids tell us their tummies hurt, we suggest that perhaps a trip to the porcelain throne will help. So when Bailey complained of a headache, Trevin’s helpful suggestion was: “Maybe you should go poop.”
I know, it seems like 80% of these come from trips to the potty, but that’s life, right. Trevin was in there with Carol and his ever curious younger brother Caden. There was a little fuzzy stuck to Caden’s sock. Carol thought it was a booger, so she picked up Caden’s foot and put it in Trevin’s face, and said: “Here, eat it!” Trevin responded: “No, I already pick my own nose.”
The kids got an old children’s book that had been sitting around on grandma’s shelf for years. And you know that smell that books or many other things get when they sit around in one spot for many years; just that old musty smell. Well to put it bluntly, the book smells like that. Anyways, in this book there is an illustration of a little boy getting out of the tub. You can see his behind, and the kids think it is quite funny. Anyways, Tyler and Trevin were looking at it, and I got too close and got a whiff of the book. “That book stinks!” I said. Trevin’s reply: “Why, cuz that bum crack?”
Trevin was in the bathroom after doing his business and our home teacher showed up right as he was finishing up. As many of you know, the stake president is our home teacher. Trevin said to me, “I hope pre-i (president) Nashif du-int (doesn’t) see my poop.” I laughed and he then said, "Don’t tell him I say that.”
Trevin turned off the computer one afternoon by pushing the power button. He has been told many times that this is not something he should do. He enjoys watching old 80’s TV theme song videos on YouTube, which we introduced to the kids when were waxing nostalgic a while back. So he enjoys Gilligan’s Island, Laverne & Shirley, Dukes of Hazard and many others. Well, I told him he lost YouTube privileges for the next day because he turned off the computer. He said: “So, I’ll just tell Mom and she’ll say yes.” I started laughing quite hard because of his bold statement, to which he responded: “Dat not funny.” Needless to say, I had an even bigger laugh.
So we were watching funniest home videos tonight and they did a whole montage of babies puking in their parents mouths. I don’t know about you, but it almost makes me puke just seeing that. I continued to be disgusted by the whole thing and I told Bailey that she did that to me when she was a baby, and she jumped up and told me: “Oh yeah, I’ll do it again right now.” Anyways, when she did it as a baby it was quite disgusting, and it has forever scarred me (I may need counseling over this in the future). So, about 30 minutes later, after AFV was over, I was playing with Caden on the floor. I lifted him up over me and shook him (in a gentle fun way, not a psychotic shaken-baby syndrome way), to which he laughed whole-heartedly. So Bailey comes over and says “do it to me, do it to me.” I should have seen it coming. As I begin to shake her, she drools right into my mouth. I was grossed out and she was laughing her head off. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” I said. Still laughing at my expense, she nods in the affirmative and says, “yes, I wanted to see you eat it.” Oh my sweet little princess!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Anything You Say, Can, And Will Be Used Against You
Not much new to report this week. Same old stuff going on here, except Carol is pregnant with triplets. Ahhh, just kidding, but I probably got somebody for at least a half-a-second. Anyways, here are the latest and greatest quotes of the week.
Carol has come up with a little game with Trevin when he doesn’t “have to go” to the bathroom, even though we have just witnessed the potty dance. Anyways, she tells Trevin that she can sing Popcorn Popping in its entirety before he goes. So if the kid ever has an accident in primary when they sing Popcorn Popping, then we’ll know who to blame. Anyways, he got up there this week after Carol made the challenge, and as soon as she hit “I looked out” he was doing his thing. Carol pretended to be disappointed, to which Trevin said: “Maybe next time.”
Another recent trip to the bathroom from Trevin brought an argument between mom and dad as to who would take care of clean up, which I’m sure is a common argument at many of your households as well. At our house I like to leave it up to the kids, because they always choose Mom. Oh, too bad for me, eh? So this time, Carol wouldn’t give in and I finally did. But Trevin wasn’t too happy with Mom dissing him, so he said “Mom eats poop…and I don’t like her pony tail.” Crude, but how could you not laugh when it comes out of the mouth of a 3 year old; especially the pony tail part. Who knew he was so interested in how his mom wears her hair, which was indeed in a pony tail at the time.
There is a little Halloween tradition in these parts where people leave candy at your door and run, and then you’re supposed to pay it forward to 2 or 3 other people. Anyways, someone dropped a bag on our porch on Sunday night and it included the classic “Bit-o-Honey” candy. So Bailey kept asking about it and on Monday after her lunch, she had a piece of it for her treat. And her critique after placing the little morsel in her mouth, in all seriousness, was: “This tastes like ‘bit,’ and it tastes like ‘honey’!”
And this from Carol: “We were watching some old video of the kids and Trevin was picking his nose in it. He was sitting with me at the time and I noticed that he was picking his nose again. I said to him ‘Trevin stop picking your nose, you were picking it in the video and your picking it now, stop that. It’s gross.’ His response, without any hesitation, was, ‘I put my boogers on the ground’ as he points to the floor. ‘I said right now you have been putting them on the floor?’ He answered in the affirmative. I said again that that was gross. He said, ‘No one can see them, they are too small.’”
Some more potty humor from Trevin (I know, a lot of this addition of quotes of the week centers around Trevin’s trips the bathroom, but what can I say, kids and potties can make for some good laughs). He has been having some “stomach issues” lately, so I asked him if his Tummy hurt. He said: “Yeah, that’s why I do that much poop.” I said, “Yeah, but it’s real runny.” He also has a little cold, so his response was: “Yeah, I have a runny bum, and I have a runny nose.”
We were listening to the “Dan Patrick Show” on the radio in the car, and turned it on in the middle of the conversation, which apparently centered around one of the staff being a vegetarian. Dan asked him, what he would do if he went down in a crash and had to eat a human, like the movie “Alive.” The guy said he would rather eat a person than an animal. Bailey was evidently listening and said, “Ewe, he wants to eat a person. How come that guy likes to eat people?”
And last, but not least. We were at the dinner table tonight, and Bailey announced that she didn’t want to get married. I said “that’s too bad. You can’t go to the Celestial Kingdom, if you don’t get married. Then you can’t live with Heavenly Father and Jesus. She said “so.” I said “So?” You don’t want to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus?” She replied, “But there’s no way to get up there.” I said, “yeah, once you die your spirit can just fly up there.” A look of unbelievable shock followed, then this: “Whoa, that’s so lucky.” We all laughed, then, she did too, and added “You should put that on your blog.”
Carol has come up with a little game with Trevin when he doesn’t “have to go” to the bathroom, even though we have just witnessed the potty dance. Anyways, she tells Trevin that she can sing Popcorn Popping in its entirety before he goes. So if the kid ever has an accident in primary when they sing Popcorn Popping, then we’ll know who to blame. Anyways, he got up there this week after Carol made the challenge, and as soon as she hit “I looked out” he was doing his thing. Carol pretended to be disappointed, to which Trevin said: “Maybe next time.”
Another recent trip to the bathroom from Trevin brought an argument between mom and dad as to who would take care of clean up, which I’m sure is a common argument at many of your households as well. At our house I like to leave it up to the kids, because they always choose Mom. Oh, too bad for me, eh? So this time, Carol wouldn’t give in and I finally did. But Trevin wasn’t too happy with Mom dissing him, so he said “Mom eats poop…and I don’t like her pony tail.” Crude, but how could you not laugh when it comes out of the mouth of a 3 year old; especially the pony tail part. Who knew he was so interested in how his mom wears her hair, which was indeed in a pony tail at the time.
There is a little Halloween tradition in these parts where people leave candy at your door and run, and then you’re supposed to pay it forward to 2 or 3 other people. Anyways, someone dropped a bag on our porch on Sunday night and it included the classic “Bit-o-Honey” candy. So Bailey kept asking about it and on Monday after her lunch, she had a piece of it for her treat. And her critique after placing the little morsel in her mouth, in all seriousness, was: “This tastes like ‘bit,’ and it tastes like ‘honey’!”
And this from Carol: “We were watching some old video of the kids and Trevin was picking his nose in it. He was sitting with me at the time and I noticed that he was picking his nose again. I said to him ‘Trevin stop picking your nose, you were picking it in the video and your picking it now, stop that. It’s gross.’ His response, without any hesitation, was, ‘I put my boogers on the ground’ as he points to the floor. ‘I said right now you have been putting them on the floor?’ He answered in the affirmative. I said again that that was gross. He said, ‘No one can see them, they are too small.’”
Some more potty humor from Trevin (I know, a lot of this addition of quotes of the week centers around Trevin’s trips the bathroom, but what can I say, kids and potties can make for some good laughs). He has been having some “stomach issues” lately, so I asked him if his Tummy hurt. He said: “Yeah, that’s why I do that much poop.” I said, “Yeah, but it’s real runny.” He also has a little cold, so his response was: “Yeah, I have a runny bum, and I have a runny nose.”
We were listening to the “Dan Patrick Show” on the radio in the car, and turned it on in the middle of the conversation, which apparently centered around one of the staff being a vegetarian. Dan asked him, what he would do if he went down in a crash and had to eat a human, like the movie “Alive.” The guy said he would rather eat a person than an animal. Bailey was evidently listening and said, “Ewe, he wants to eat a person. How come that guy likes to eat people?”
And last, but not least. We were at the dinner table tonight, and Bailey announced that she didn’t want to get married. I said “that’s too bad. You can’t go to the Celestial Kingdom, if you don’t get married. Then you can’t live with Heavenly Father and Jesus. She said “so.” I said “So?” You don’t want to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus?” She replied, “But there’s no way to get up there.” I said, “yeah, once you die your spirit can just fly up there.” A look of unbelievable shock followed, then this: “Whoa, that’s so lucky.” We all laughed, then, she did too, and added “You should put that on your blog.”
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Garage Days Re-Revisted
Hey, it's me again. The fire-sale continues here in the Couv. We reached that point in life that all men seem to dread, but that women look forward to like a Pampered Chef party with their best friends. Yes, we had a garage sale and although it was not quite as successful as we had hoped, we have since sold several items (not forunate enough to be selected from our humble driveway) on Craig's List. Oh that Craig, he might be the only man I would kiss. Anyways...it was nice to purge ourselves of more of our things.
On to other news, Caden still seems to be doing well. For those of you who don't know, he was scheduled to have tubes placed in his ears because of never-ending fluid and infections. But thanks to prayer and a huge assist from my brother Cory, we took him to a naturopath (i don't know if that is spelled right) and his ears are doing very well. He now has his second cold since treatments began and during the first one everything functioned properly and no infections occured. So, he goes in next week and we're hoping that the same will be said for this latest cold he has.
School is in full swing and Tyler & Bailey are both doing well and we enjoy their opportunity to spend the day learning. Yes, we all need a little break now and then, am I right? Not too much else is new with us. I'm still looking for work (oh what fun) and Carol keeps doing her work-at-home job very well. Too bad it doesn't pay anything. Dang society!
And now on to the part you've all been looking forward too - The Quotes of the week. Unfortunately, I have not been as diligent to note them all down when spoken, so I'm missing some, but thanks to Trevin we still have these gems to share.
The kids had just had a snack and Carol put the graham crackers up on the counter. Trevin kept insisting he wanted more. So after a bit he took matters into his own hands while Carol was distracted folding laundry. When he walked into the living room with a cracker in his hand, Carol told him to put it back because he already had his snack. Trevin’s sly reply was: “Well it already touch my tongue, so I have to eat it.” Well played Trev-man.
Another one from Trevin recently: He had an accident in the bathroom and while I was on the floor cleaning up the pee, I asked him (because he’s had quite a few lately), “boy, when are you going to stop having accidents?” His response: “Uh, maybe when I 10.” I laughed and said, “Well I hope it’s sooner than that.” “Maybe when I eight,” he replied. No sense in aiming too high, I guess, but I just wish he had a little better aim around the bowl.
And the T-man once again: after several people had shown up and purchased things at our garage sale, a couple more came and Trevin says “I don’t want to sell anything.” I said yes, we’re going to sell everything. We’re going to sell you.” I then quickly said, “no, we would never sell Trevin.” He replied: “we would never sell anyone.” Then, after a few seconds to ponder his statement, he adjusted it with “we no sell anyone…cept Caden.” A few moments later he points to a woman who has just arrived, and says: “we sell that lady.” Luckily, she wasn’t close enough to hear it.
That's all for now folks. We would love to hear from you!
On to other news, Caden still seems to be doing well. For those of you who don't know, he was scheduled to have tubes placed in his ears because of never-ending fluid and infections. But thanks to prayer and a huge assist from my brother Cory, we took him to a naturopath (i don't know if that is spelled right) and his ears are doing very well. He now has his second cold since treatments began and during the first one everything functioned properly and no infections occured. So, he goes in next week and we're hoping that the same will be said for this latest cold he has.
School is in full swing and Tyler & Bailey are both doing well and we enjoy their opportunity to spend the day learning. Yes, we all need a little break now and then, am I right? Not too much else is new with us. I'm still looking for work (oh what fun) and Carol keeps doing her work-at-home job very well. Too bad it doesn't pay anything. Dang society!
And now on to the part you've all been looking forward too - The Quotes of the week. Unfortunately, I have not been as diligent to note them all down when spoken, so I'm missing some, but thanks to Trevin we still have these gems to share.
The kids had just had a snack and Carol put the graham crackers up on the counter. Trevin kept insisting he wanted more. So after a bit he took matters into his own hands while Carol was distracted folding laundry. When he walked into the living room with a cracker in his hand, Carol told him to put it back because he already had his snack. Trevin’s sly reply was: “Well it already touch my tongue, so I have to eat it.” Well played Trev-man.
Another one from Trevin recently: He had an accident in the bathroom and while I was on the floor cleaning up the pee, I asked him (because he’s had quite a few lately), “boy, when are you going to stop having accidents?” His response: “Uh, maybe when I 10.” I laughed and said, “Well I hope it’s sooner than that.” “Maybe when I eight,” he replied. No sense in aiming too high, I guess, but I just wish he had a little better aim around the bowl.
And the T-man once again: after several people had shown up and purchased things at our garage sale, a couple more came and Trevin says “I don’t want to sell anything.” I said yes, we’re going to sell everything. We’re going to sell you.” I then quickly said, “no, we would never sell Trevin.” He replied: “we would never sell anyone.” Then, after a few seconds to ponder his statement, he adjusted it with “we no sell anyone…cept Caden.” A few moments later he points to a woman who has just arrived, and says: “we sell that lady.” Luckily, she wasn’t close enough to hear it.
That's all for now folks. We would love to hear from you!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Random Acts Of Life
OK, so it's been much longer than I anticipated since the last time I "blogged". Funny, who ever thought "blog" would become part of our vocabulary. The word blog sounds like it could be used to describe so many other things (just use your imagination). Anyways, we have been busy with life. A couple weeks ago, while in Eugene, Carol found me in bed in a deep gaze. "What, are you like in deep thought, or something?" she said with a laugh. "Yes. As a matter of fact I am." I was contemplating our home and how we could make it a little larger by eliminating some of our "stuff." Well, two weeks later, we have sold our 6-piece bedroom set, our office desk, cabinet and chair, and our entertainment center. Ah, the beauty of Craig's List. We now have all four kids in one room and the office is officially a play room. And speaking of Craig's List, after searching several stores for a dresser that would be similar to the one we did keep, we headed to Craig's List and wouldn't you know it, we found an exact match for only $40 (we bought ours years ago at Fred Meyer). We were thrilled. However, "the Lord gave and the Lord taketh away." Just minutes before we were to leave to pick it up, the lady called to inform us that her son had sold it while she was at work. We were crushed. "I know that anything is possible with the Lord, but we're probably not going to find another exact match, again," I was heard saying to Carol. Whoa now, just minutes later Carol worked her Craig's List magic and found yet another exact match. After some haggling we got the price down to $75 and picked it up the next day. Wow, who is this Craig fellow, and why did he start making a list, anyways? Who knows, but sometimes I think his list would give Santa's a run for it's money. So, our house looks different than it did two weeks ago, and now we are constantly looking for things to sell. The more we get rid of, the more we have to play with and continue to change things around here. So we'll see where it takes us. But we definitely have the bug.
What else is new? The kids are back to school. Tyler is in second grade and Bailey started kindergarten. She even gets to ride the bus and goes to a special program at the high school, where she gets to work one-on-one with high school kids who are taking a class designed to prep them for a career in early education. She likes it so far. And Trevin, well Trevin still insists that he won't be going to pre-school when it starts up again, so things could get interesting there.
Now on to the quotes of the week (or two).
A Bird had pooped on our front door, and Bailey told me that there was something red on the front door. I told her it was bird poop, to which she replied, "Bird's can poop anything?" I laughed and she clarified: "You mean birds can poop any color?"
We were doing our family scripture reading the other day and read 1 Nephi 21:23: (And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. ). I often ask the kids questions about what we have read, and give them the chance to earn a piece of candy if they answer correctly. Well, the Isaiah chapters aren't exactly friendly for coming up with kid questions. So after reading this verse, I said Trevin (3 yrs): "So what will they lick?" "Uh, a sucker." Good guess and much tastier, but not the right answer.
Last night at the dinner table, Bailey declared her love for water, to which Tyler replied with the time-honored, kid-tested best comeback of all time: "If you love it, then why don't you marry it." The exchange between them that followed was hilarious. We only wished we had it on tape. But this is the gist" B: "I can't marry water, it's like nothing." T: "I'll use magic to turn it into a fat guy." B: "I'm not gonna marry a fat a guy." It went on and on after that, but it was good to know that Bailey hopes to marry someone who takes care of himself. It reminded me of another dinner table exchange between me and Bailey. I was trying to get her to eat kidney beans, and I told her that even when she was older I would call her husband and tell him to make her eat her beans. She said, "Oh yeah, well I won't tell you our phone number." Bailey 1, Daddy 0.
Well, anyways, that is why I haven't had time for blogging lately. Hopefully, I will be a little more diligent. Thank you to all those who have taken the time to read this, and, leave a comment. They are fun to read. Oh, one other thing, as soon as we can get a new computer, I will start adding photos and videos to this thing, which will hopefully make it more interesting. Peace out.
What else is new? The kids are back to school. Tyler is in second grade and Bailey started kindergarten. She even gets to ride the bus and goes to a special program at the high school, where she gets to work one-on-one with high school kids who are taking a class designed to prep them for a career in early education. She likes it so far. And Trevin, well Trevin still insists that he won't be going to pre-school when it starts up again, so things could get interesting there.
Now on to the quotes of the week (or two).
A Bird had pooped on our front door, and Bailey told me that there was something red on the front door. I told her it was bird poop, to which she replied, "Bird's can poop anything?" I laughed and she clarified: "You mean birds can poop any color?"
We were doing our family scripture reading the other day and read 1 Nephi 21:23: (And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. ). I often ask the kids questions about what we have read, and give them the chance to earn a piece of candy if they answer correctly. Well, the Isaiah chapters aren't exactly friendly for coming up with kid questions. So after reading this verse, I said Trevin (3 yrs): "So what will they lick?" "Uh, a sucker." Good guess and much tastier, but not the right answer.
Last night at the dinner table, Bailey declared her love for water, to which Tyler replied with the time-honored, kid-tested best comeback of all time: "If you love it, then why don't you marry it." The exchange between them that followed was hilarious. We only wished we had it on tape. But this is the gist" B: "I can't marry water, it's like nothing." T: "I'll use magic to turn it into a fat guy." B: "I'm not gonna marry a fat a guy." It went on and on after that, but it was good to know that Bailey hopes to marry someone who takes care of himself. It reminded me of another dinner table exchange between me and Bailey. I was trying to get her to eat kidney beans, and I told her that even when she was older I would call her husband and tell him to make her eat her beans. She said, "Oh yeah, well I won't tell you our phone number." Bailey 1, Daddy 0.
Well, anyways, that is why I haven't had time for blogging lately. Hopefully, I will be a little more diligent. Thank you to all those who have taken the time to read this, and, leave a comment. They are fun to read. Oh, one other thing, as soon as we can get a new computer, I will start adding photos and videos to this thing, which will hopefully make it more interesting. Peace out.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
From the Mouth of Babes
Hello again all you in blog land. One thing I would like to do with this is, is to share some of the moments of our lives with you all, including the smiles and laughs our kids bring us on a regular basis. We would love to hear the same from you. On Friday, August 29, we went to Honeyman Beach with Grandpa, Grandma and Monica. The sand boarding was fun and the weather was great. Even Caden loved going down the hill. Anyways, as we were getting set to leave, a car alarm went off. Trevin said: “That train, Mom?” Carol was busy with Caden and didn’t answer, so he continued to ask, probably 3 or 4 more times. Bailey finally replied, a little impatiently: “No Trevin, that wasn’t a train!” To which Trevin calmly replied: “I not tah-ing (talking) to you. …That train, Mom?” It was quite funny.
On that same trip, as we were heading there that morning, Tyler asked: “Mom, is the air conditioner on?” It was, so he asked if she could turn it off cuz he was cold. Carol pushed the button, and Tyler immediately said: “Ah, that’s better!.”
A couple days later Trevin was up in the room where we were staying, with us and said (in Trevin-speak): “Dad I want to play board game…with everyone. Except for Grandma, Monica and Grandpa.” I restated his request to which he replied: “Just with everyone in our family, (pause) except Caden.” “Not Caden?” I replied. “No everyone in our family, except Caden.”
A couple weekends ago we had a family reunion for Carol’s side of the family and while Trevin was playing on the playground, I was ready to do something else. He said: “I want to climb this one more time.” I said: “Wellllll…” And he responded: “Well Nuh-ing (nothing), I want to do this again.”
Just some of those funny little moments our kids bring us, as we’re sure yours do, too. So please share them with us.
On that same trip, as we were heading there that morning, Tyler asked: “Mom, is the air conditioner on?” It was, so he asked if she could turn it off cuz he was cold. Carol pushed the button, and Tyler immediately said: “Ah, that’s better!.”
A couple days later Trevin was up in the room where we were staying, with us and said (in Trevin-speak): “Dad I want to play board game…with everyone. Except for Grandma, Monica and Grandpa.” I restated his request to which he replied: “Just with everyone in our family, (pause) except Caden.” “Not Caden?” I replied. “No everyone in our family, except Caden.”
A couple weekends ago we had a family reunion for Carol’s side of the family and while Trevin was playing on the playground, I was ready to do something else. He said: “I want to climb this one more time.” I said: “Wellllll…” And he responded: “Well Nuh-ing (nothing), I want to do this again.”
Just some of those funny little moments our kids bring us, as we’re sure yours do, too. So please share them with us.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Blessings Unseen, But Not Unnoticed
Well, this is my first blog (on the computer anyways), and of course it is inspired by my children. They are great kids -- not perfect -- but great. Tyler, Bailey, Trevin and Caden teach me new things every day. Mostly, each night that I see them sleeping, they remind me of the many mistakes I make each day, and of the many things I need to work on. Tonight, I had the opportunity to put them to bed. As is custom I sit with them until Trevin goes to sleep. He has become spoiled with that, but that's how it is. Anyways, I laid next to him gently rubbing his forehead until he was asleep. Usually, after that I'm outta there right away (got things to do for myself), but tonight I decided to give equal treatment to older brother and sister. In no time at all, I had Tyler asleep, too, then Bailey a few minutes after that. As I lay there, I am always inclined to look back on my day and consider my mistakes with them, as well as the good moments of the day -- and those four are responsible for many. After they were all asleep, I headed to Caden's room where Mom was having no luck getting him to sleep, which is unusual. Anyways, I took him in my arms and rocked with him, and he was out about a minute later. I then took some time to just look at him as we rocked. As I did that, I thought about these past several years in which we have struggled with employment. It has been hard and it has been frustrating. Sure we have questioned the Lord and at times even murmured (yes even that). But when you really start to think about it, we have nothing to murmur about. We have never gone without anything we need, and we have been blessed many times over with things we want, but don't necessarily need. Sure, we would like to have a nicer, bigger home, car, "toys" and many other things. However, that isn't what life is about. I look at others I know who have more than we do, or nicer things than we do, or really good jobs, or any of a number of other things that we don't have, but I would never trade with them. Everyone has problems, including many with their children. But one thing I can always be grateful for is our children. No, they are no perfect and they may not be the "best" kids in the world. But, oh are they wonderful. They do so many things well and so many things right. I cannot count the times we have been complimented for our children, and how many more times they have been complimented themselves. So, although we lack a lot of "things" that others have, there is no way we would ever consider ourselves unblessed. And of course there are many other things, which I could list, and which would go on and on; but really they are our greatest blessing and will continue to be, even when things finally turn around for us in the old employment department. Our blessings may not be counted in "things" but there are many that go unseen to the eye that are known by our hearts and our spirits.
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