Facebook Status Updates

And so it is time again to share all of the facebook status updates from the last few months (newest first--Feb 2014 to Nov 2013):

As you may know, our TV is broken. Talley just said to me, "Mommy, I have a little saying, 'The TV is history!'"

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Claire just said to me, "Mommy, do you remember when Ezra was little and he was a total hypocrite?" She then went on to relay a story that proved her point. Cracked me up!

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As I was making dinner, Ezra stood next to me, breathed in deeply, then sighed and said, "Mmmm ... your food comforts me. Your food is comfort food."

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Talley struggles with spelling. She usually doesn't do very well on her tests, but she sure tries hard. This week her score was 20% higher than last week's grade. She was super disappointed in her actual grade. I was trying to point out how much better she had done this week compared to last week. I wanted her to be proud of how hard she is trying and recognize that she is actually improving. She was not about to be comforted. She said in despair, "But I don't want them to see my grades." I said, "Who?" She said, "The colleges. I don't want them to see my bad grades." I replied, "Talley, you are in 3rd grade. There isn't a college in this world that cares about 3rd grade. They basically only care about high school. By then you will be an expert speller." Ezra piped up, "Talley, you did better than last week. Besides, I'm in 4th grade and I can't spell 'leaves' or 'who' or 'does'." Talley said, "But can you spell 'yes'?" Ezra, rather indignantly, replied "Of course I can spell 'yes'!" These kids crack me up!

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I was about to grade Ezra's spelling test when he swung around and said, "I'm not going to look." I said, "Ezra, you can watch me grade your paper," thinking he was just being polite. He said, "No, I don't like when the big red pen hits the paper."

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While I was washing dishes this morning, Claire made Henry oatmeal for breakfast. Henry smiled at her and said, "You're the best Claire. You're the best in the family." Oh how I love big siblings helping little siblings and sibling adoration.

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An 11 year old's perspective:

Matthias, while discussing a lady we know, who is *maybe* 10 years older than me, said, "She's got a lot of energy for someone her age." I guess that means I better make good use of these next few years, since I'm practically on death's doorstep.

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Claire came home from Activity Days (a church activity) and said, "Mommy, I need an enemy. I don't have any enemies and I need one so that I can write them a Valentines card. We're supposed to write one to our enemy and tell them that they are wonderful and special and that we love them. So, I need an enemy." HAHAHA! :-) That girl!

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Nothing like saying, "As soon as you are finished revising your fairy tale, you can be done with school and go outside to play," to get the kids writing at rapid speed.

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I put striped socks on Henry this morning. I usually put white socks on him. As soon as he saw the socks on his feet, he said, "I look like a baby with these socks on."

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One of the things we do for homeschool is I read a poem several times and the kids have to write it as I'm reading it. Then they correct their mistakes after I have read it. Ezra has to re-correct his poem writing many times because he is sloppy. Today Claire said to him, "Well Ezra, it seems like poems are your worst enemies."

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Something I learned from Matthias (he was doing an oral report) in homeschool today ... it was apparently very rude to scratch your dog during a feast in the medieval times. After his report, he asked me, "Would we have been considered peasants if we had lived back then?"

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I'm making chile verde for dinner. There was some cilantro sitting on the counter. Henry asked, "Can I eat these?" I said, "Sure. You may not like it though." He ate a couple of leaves and said, "YUM! I sure love these. What are they called?"

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I told Henry that I needed to brush my teeth. He said, "I need to brush my teeth too. I'm going to brush all of the pancakes out of my teeth."

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Henry said to me yesterday, "When I was a little boy I used to wear that shirt," as I got him dressed.

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As we were making dinner tonight, Beth told me a funny story. This is what she told me about:

Ezra was singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and Matthias said, "I *hate* that song!" Ezra said, "Why?" Matthias replied, "Because. Basically it's talking about adultery. Think about the part that says what a surprise it would be if daddy could only see. I'm sure it would be horrible for daddy to see mommy kissing Santa. And that's why I hate that song."

I was laughing pretty hard and also found it charming that Matthias is such a loyal sort.

We did have to break the news to him about Santa Claus this year (he'll be 12 in March) and the above conversation took place before we talked with him.

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Talley: "Mommy, when are you going to take us shopping?"

Me: "Um ... I hate shopping."

Ryland: "I'll take you girls shopping and you can buy nail polish and dolls."

Claire: "I'm off dolls."

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Ezra: "Shrimp are pretty filling for being such tiny sea creatures."

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Talley, in a horrified voice: "My prince has high heels on!"

Beth and Me, after looking at him: "Those are boots."

Talley, sighing in relief: "Oh."

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Talley said, "Most old people on Christmas night turn off all the lights in their house and only have the fire on."

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Henry said, "Santa is a good dad. Him gave me lots of toys."

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Henry has 3 little stuffed rats that he loves and carries around all day. These 3 rats have become very naughty. Yesterday Henry brought me a Christmas nightlight that he had unplugged (he is not allowed to plug or unplug things). I said, "Henry!" He showed me the grey rat and said, "He did it!" This morning, Henry was playing on my laptop and swiftly pushing every key that he could. I again said, "Henry!" And he showed me the white rat and said, "He did it!"

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Matthias: "Raccoons are adorable, but deadly."

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I just gave Henry a pear. He took a bite of it and exclaimed, "WOW! Pears are good!"

Claire asked, "Is it true that you get chicken pox from not being yourself?" Me: "No, it is an infection that you can catch from other people." Ezra: "Really? 'Cause I thought it was being outside too long in the sun." Matthias: "I believe that is called a sunburn."

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Matthias woke up with spikey hair, and not in a good way. We were all questioning him if he had tried doing his own hair with gel and he is promising that he just woke up like that. Bethlehem said to him, "Don't try doing gel yourself. If you're going to do a hairstyle with gel, you need magic hands to do it. Otherwise it just looks bad."

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Claire: "When I grow up, I am going to name one of my kids 'Yo-Yogurt'."

Oscar: "And I am going to name my kids Delvin and Van."

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While discussing why hiccups happen, Matthias gave an unusual reason why. I asked, "Where did you hear that from?" Matthias replied, "I heard it from this guy who heard it from someone who *calls* himself a scientist."

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I was handing out a treat to the kids. I had forgotten that Oscar had lost treats today for some poor behavior, but was quickly reminded by his justice-minded siblings. As I explained to him why he couldn't have a treat and that I had to stick to my rules to help him make better choices in the future, he lowered his head in sadness. I could tell he was working up some crocodile tears and maybe even a full-blown screaming fit, so in order to hopefully stave off a meltdown, I said, "Crying will not make me change my mind." Claire quickly and matter-of-factly added, "Yeah, that kind of thing doesn't work with her."

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We don't have cable or an antennae. We have amazon prime instant videos and netflix. Therefore, we are just now discovering the show "Chopped" and we love it. After a hard day of work, we all like to sit down and watch a couple of episodes. The little kids are obsessed. Last night was an episode featuring rocky mountain oysters. A fun time has been had this morning as I try to explain to 8-11 year olds what that exactly is. Another fun thing is that they all want to do a family version of "Chopped". Ezra said, "I will make raisin pancakes." I replied, "And I can tell you right now that they will be 'chopped' before I even try them." (I hate raisins.)

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Ezra: "I really wish we lived in the olden days."

Me: "Why?"

Ezra: "Because that's when all of the action was."

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Ezra just said, "Sometimes people get out of control on Christmas and then that just ruins the whole Christmas spirit."

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I am thawing out some stew meat. Talley said, "Mommy, that meat on the counter has red stuff under it. What is that?" I said, "That is blood." Talley, "What!?" Me: "Talley, all meat has blood in it. Meat is muscle. Every time we eat meat, we are eating the muscle of that animal. Muscle has blood in it." (I expected her to be completely grossed out, because it grosses me out and I can't think about it too much or I will revert to vegetarianism all over again.) Talley smiled big and said, "Muscle tastes SOOO good!"

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For my entire pre-married life, all I cared about was growing up and becoming a mom. When Tim and I were married, becoming a mother took on a whole new meaning for me. I was obsessed with it. With each miscarriage, I was heartbroken and distraught. There were days I felt I couldn't do one more moment of being a childless couple. And then God stepped in and blessed us with our first child, a baby girl born in Vietnam. My heart went from absolutely shattered to perfectly healed the moment she was placed in my arms. As I have been cleaning out the house, I have come across piles of photos of our beautiful children over the years. Each child is so precious to me. I can't help but tear up when I see the beautiful family that Tim and I, with God's help, have been able to create together. We are so very blessed. I have the family I always dreamed of. We may not look like each other, but we belong to one another and we are a family through and through. Sometimes we think we know what we want and need. But maybe that is not the plan God has for us. Maybe His plan is even better than we can imagine.

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Conversation at our house:

Kenyon is working on a science project. Matt says, "Is your science teacher nice?" Ezra, "No Matt, he's mean. He throws chemicals at the kids."