New Way to High Five?

We had an interesting conversation as the kids were heading to bed last night:

Madison:  Jacob and I high-fived with our tongues before.
Dad:  You and Jacob high-fived with your tongues?
Madison:  Yeah.
Dad:  That is sort of like kissing your brother.
Ben:  Yeah, only a lot grosser.
Madison:  Its like licking a lollipop stuck to your brother.
Ben:  How did it taste?
Madison:  It didn't taste like a lollipop for sure.

We had a difficult time to stopping laughing after this one.

Santa's House

The family was in the car going to Sentosa Beach when I called them today.  When I asked Ashlyn what she was doing she told me she was going to Santa's House.  We were a little confused until we realized Sentosa does sound like Santa. 

Jacob's Favorite Scripture

Tonight during our family scripture time Jacob shared with us his favorite scripture:  Alma 30:8-9.  We then asked him why he liked this scripture.  Here is his response:

"I like the beginning, the end, and the part in the middle, and it tells me something.  I don’t know what it tells me, but it does tell me something."

Too much whipped cream

During the christmas break we took a trip to Vietnam. The day we returned we didn't have a meal plan and didn't have a lot of groceries in the house, so we scoured the fridge to come up with an idea for dinner.  Angie found a can of whipped cream.  She had wanted to make Santa Claus pancakes for a while, so she decided that would be the perfect night to do it.

 

We sent the kids upstairs to put on their pajamas while we prepared dinner.  I jumped in to help by making the pancakes.  Angie enhanced my nice round pancakes with banana slices and chocolate chips for eyes, banana slices for ears, a whipped cream beard, and a red nose and had made from strawberry jam.  Quickly we had three masterpieces for each of the three older kids.
 

Angie called the kids to dinner.  Their first response was one of excitement at the colorful masterpiece that was at their dinner spot.  They quickly recognized the Santa Claus face sitting on their dinner plate.  However, their second response was to ask if they had to eat it or if they could just have a normal pancake without the whipped cream. 

 

Jacob's response was best.  Lately he has been very excited to be the one selected to offer the dinner prayer.  He requested the priveledge to pray that night and I was happy to oblige.  During his prayer he said, "Please don't let us have any more whipped cream because we already have way too much."

 

Apparently, the kids are not big fans of whipped cream.  In the end, the adults got to eat the delicious Santa Claus pancakes, while the kids had plain ordinary pancakes with maple syrup.

License to Sing

I'm not a fan of potty talk. We don't discuss bathroom events at the dinner table. Sponge Bob viewing isn't allowed on our television. Jacob knows the rules and is pretty good at following them. He used to ask everytime he was sitting on the toilet doing his business, "Can I say" this word and that one to which I would have to answer, "Yes. You can say it while we are in the bathroom."

Lately he is a bit more independent in his bathroom abilities and just calls me it to wipe so he has a little time alone. I've been hearing him sing a new song as he sits on the pot. It's a random and happy tune with notes all over the place. The lyrics vary in order but repeat the same ten or so singular words over and over and over. It goes something like this, "Poo poo" "pee" and all the proper words of the important boy parts of both genders. He sings and sings and sings his happy little song - within the bathroom walls. When he leaves the free speech zone I don't hear another peep of him and the potty words. He's totally enjoying his license to sing.

Shopping List

I use these cute notepad papers to make my shopping lists. Jacob has apparently been paying attention. Today he was analyzing HIS shopping list. "My shopping list just says I only need ice cream."

Jake is Mad at Me

Today I overheard Jacob tell Brian: “When my mom is mad at me, I get mad at her.” Maybe I'm wrong but I thought we had a pretty good morning today.

He’s been saying this a lot to me lately and he usually adds that he gets mad at me because I’m being mean. Poor kiddo.

Lucky for me he also tells me he loves me all the time too. You know, because I'm nice to him.

Today he also said, "I acci-dented-ily did that." I love the little speech mistakes kids make. They make me laugh inside even in stressful moments. Good comic relief. He said something yesterday that was so cute I thought to myself that even if I was boiling mad I'd still laugh if I heard it. Now to remember what it was...darn.

I Found Kathi

Jake saw the tabernacle choir and said he found Kathi. Then he found her again and again and again. "I found LOTS of Kathi's!!"

Quotes of the Day

Kids are learning the alphabet game in the car. Maddie says, "You have to find G in English not Chinese okay guys?"

Also of note:
"I'm just going to look at the clouds to find a letter shape there."
And
"Does it count if the tree is in the shape of an L?"

Ashlyn's First Word

Maddie wanted to hold Ashlyn this afternoon. While she was on her lap she sneezed and made the classic "achoo" noise but Maddie heard it as "ah-too". Now Maddie is all excited because Ashlyn said her first word, "too". I guess this baby is just smarter than your average 16 day old child.

Ashlyn Comments

Jacob held Ashlyn the first time and after just a couple minutes he commented in alarm, "Mom, where are her glasses? She can't see ANYTHING!" Such is the perspective of the kids in my house. We'll take her in to the eye doctor in a few months and see if she got my eyes or daddy's eyes. I'm praying at least one of our kids got daddy's eyes.

Ben thought she had teeny, tiny everything. Tiny fingernails, tiny head. She sticks out her tongue a lot. He claims he got the first kiss she ever gave away when she licked his face.  He loves to hold her and look at her.

Maddie thinks Ashlyn has a little bit of hair and her eyes are small. She loves to hold her little sister and tell everyone who will listen about her.  She says Ashlyn tries to grab her glasses already. She wanted to take a picture into her school class to show her off to all her friends. 

Here is an email excerpt from my email conversation with her teacher I thought was hilarious.

Kiran,

Sorry we weren’t organized enough to send pictures of the baby on Monday. She was still in the hospital so the weekend didn’t quite go as planned. And our printer wasn’t working well. Brian said he could print them at work. I laughed so hard when he brought home near poster sized prints last night. I guess he was working on another project and forgot to change the paper size. Once it was done he figured why reprint.

Ashlyn was released from the NICU yesterday morning (Monday) so Maddie finally got to meet her in the afternoon. She was so pleased to have a sister and loved holding her so much she didn’t want to go on any play dates at all but wanted everyone to come to our house to show her off.

Angie

Hi Angie,

Ashlyn’s pictures were such a big hitJ We have put them up if that is ok. Yes Maddie is proud. I told her I am sure she’ll make a super big sister.

She is also thrilled to have a helper-she said she does not have to help with the laundry anymore-hilarious!! I asked her what she did instead..I teased her-do you sit and have a cup of tea instead? She said NO that’s for grown ups!! Then I said I bet you help mom look after Ashlyn instead and she said yes.

Kiran

Primary Program Today

"What are those kids doing?" "Singing about Jesus in French." "Oh. They saying, 'Oui oui oui oui!'" ("We we we we.")

Maybe I've taken too much creative license with my translation/interpretation thinking he automatically switched into French, a language he absolutely does know. But the timing was fantastic and I started laughing.

By the way, Maddie and Ben remembered their parts and did great.

"I Wish..." Said Maddie

"Mom, I wish there was no such thing as church, fires or grown ups."

"Why?"

"Because then I wouldn't have to buy anything from anyone because there would be only kids and teenagers and teenagers don't sell stuff, only grown ups sell stuff. And I wish there was no fires so the fire alarm wouldn't have to wake me up an night when I was asleep. And I wish there was no church because then I wouldn't have to go to class.

Conversation in the Car

"mom." - "what?" "Mom!" - "What?" "MOM!!!" - "WHAT!?!" "Don't say WHAT Mom." - "Jacob, you said 'mom' and I said 'what.' You said 'Mom!' and I said 'What!" You said 'MOM!!!' and I said 'WHAT!!!" I was responding to your question." "It don't care, Mom!"

Maddie Says

Driving home from the water park with the kids my Maddie says:

"Mom, does it cost to do a parade?" "Do you mean to march in it or watch it?"

"March in it."

"Yeah. Somebody has to pay for you to go in it. Why? Do you want to march in a parade?"

"No. I just want to be in it. I want to be the guy that just breathes."

"Huh? Which guy just breathes?"

"The one that stands on the driving things (the floats) and doesn't have to walk."

Later in the drive...

"UGH!!! Mom, it feels like some air is just stuck on my mouth."

Never did figure out what she was talking about. She is feeling under the weather and after me dragging her to the water park against her will I decided it was in my best interest to mask my giggle over her question and not probe for anymore awesome quotes or she may break down and cry.

Ben Quotes and Cooking Adventures

“Mom…..I feel like Virginia was an ice land like in the movie Ice Age because it was so cold there. And below Virginia is a WHOLE NEW WORLD!! It’s called Singapore and there is no snow there EVER!”

While I was blogging and the kids finishing dinner, “Ewwww! Food just came out my nose when I sneezed. That’s weird. Hey, are you typing that on the blog?” “Yep.” “Okay, I’ll try to do it again then. Before you finish you need to write, ‘Ben got carrot on his chair and arm.’”

Also said today. “Mom, I know what I want for snack tomorrow. Carrots.” Uhhhh…say what? That coming from the boy who typically sheds tears over the thought of eating a tiny baby carrot. Today he was starving after school. He asked for a snack. I said he needed to come up with an idea. For weeks he has shot down any idea I give him and flops on the ground because whatever terrible food I dared mention makes him so upset. I ask and ask what he wants me to have in the house that isn’t candy or ice cream for snacks. Not once has he provided an answer. We have almost nothing under the sun that he will take to school for snack beyond pears. When we go on Saturday family outings we pack lots of water and several snack foods and I ask before we go what he wants, offering up to six or seven different things. I think he’s chosen to go hungry every single week so far. This kid is picky beyond belief. No granola bars, no pretzels, goldfish only sometimes, no banana, no apple, no oranges, no raisins. Just forget even trying vegetables. And now apparently he’s having carrots for snack tomorrow. I think it has something to do with the fact that he prepared them and they were just a slight touch sweeter than the normal big carrots. In any case, I’ll cross my fingers, but I’m not holding my breath.

The net result of his hunger today was that he chose a single slice of bread for his snack and ten minutes later was asking if it was dinner time. It was 4:20. I asked what he wanted to eat for dinner. He asked if we had mac'n'cheese, which we did. He got it and began preparing to cook it. Seizing on the odd opportunity that was currently presenting itself, I helped him read the instructions on the box, supervise to make sure he got all the right tools and watched him cook a dinner he was really excited to eat. It was awesome! Knowing the water would take a good while to boil I told him this is the time you use to get other things ready. I showed him the available vegetables in the fridge. He chose carrots. He peeled them and I chopped them up. He plated them. We read the next instruction to drain the noodles. I asked if the sink was ready. He understood the problem of having all the carrot skins in the sink so he cleaned it up. What a great day. I do think it was the best dinner I've had in a while. Just don't mention to him that we had mac'n'cheese for lunch today too. It was totally worth eating again for him to take such pride in his work.

After dinner Ben continued to be fantastic. This kid usually whines about any tiny amount of homework. Not today. He did his math on the bus and was just fine with doing the corrections I had to have him fix, mostly it was 5, 6 and 7 written backwards which is terribly frustrating to him. Then he did make-up spelling journal exercises because we swam and had a pizza party on Tuesday instead of homework. Then he did tonight's spelling homework. I asked him to read two books because no matter how many we return each day, he gets two new ones each and every day. We had a back log of 9 at the house now. This nut job decided to read four. Then since he was halfway through anyway, he finished the entire pile. We were up an hour past bedtime so he could do it, but it was totally worth it. He's a good boy that Ben. I think we're going to keep him around.

Dinner Conversation

At dinner tonight Jacob pointed to the pasta and said, "I want protein dinner." Then he let us know that he needed some applesauce to put on it, the stroganoff sauce. I told the family that I had run into a gal today that had never in her life had a Goldfish cracker. I had to snicker just a little bit since they are almost at the point of qualifying as their own food group in the States. She was visiting from London, doing her "looksie" to see if they really want to move here so she came with us to playgroup so she could ask the more seasoned moms all those vital questions that she needed to answers too. Brian's comment was, "She's lucky." Too funny.

Dreams Do Not Come True

"I didn't know my dream wouldn't come true. Only my alligator dreams would." That is what I hear from the landing at the top of the stairs. She's leaving her bedroom where she has been playing with Ben and Anthony and it sounds like they have imparted some of their very impressive wisdom upon her. Maddie came on down the stairs to where Jacob was cuddling in my arms after he had woken from his afternoon nap needing a little snuggle time before he could rejoin the land of the living. She approached him to tell him in the most stern voice she has ever mustered, "Jacob. Do you know that your dreams will not come true?" Dramatic pause. "Well, do you?" Pause. "Jacob! Yes or No? Which is it? Do you know that?" Jacob just stares at her and she is losing patience with him. She persists and I attempt to deflect the intensity of the questioning. I explain that Jacob is still a little bit sleepy and isn't ready to talk. "Okay, but Jacob, your dreams will never, EVER come true. Remember that. Because wishing stars are not real. They are just suns floating in the sky." And off she went.

Just Call Me Angie

Jacob has started calling me Angie. It sounds more like Andy, Ah-Gee or even Nandy but it's darn cute. He always begins with Mom. If I am distracted or not paying close enough attention to him he moves on to Angie but he tilts his head to the side and his voice intonation makes it sound like a question. Love it.

Irresistable Maddie Mae

Last night Grandma and Grandpa Zufelt let Brian and I go out on a date. While we were gone Maddie made a project to display on the wall. She always takes great pride in the letters she writes. After she finished she took it to Grandpa and asked him, "What does this say?"

Grandpa told her he didn't know and asked her what she wrote. She told him that of course she couldn't tell him what it said because she couldn't read!! Obviously, Grandpa had to figure it out. Duh. He's the one who can read.

Today Maddie was totally upset about wearing her patch. It was the first day she had to wear a new one, meaning the sticky was going to be fresh and strong again so it might hurt a bit more when we took it off after her four hour sentence. Our current deal is that after she finishes eating lunch it goes on. Attempting to make the best of a rough situation I spread the patches she spent lots of time decorating all out so she could pick her favorite. She could think and decide over lunch and then let me know when she finished which one she chose for today.

She was adamant that she didn't need the patch, that it would hurt too bad and various other logical reasons that she was unable to wear the patch. When it came right down to it in the end, Maddie couldn't decide which one. She put her hands on her cheeks and with all the exuberance of a four year old said "Oh!! Well ALL of them are the most beautifulest and I love them all but I don't want to wear them, just give them to my friends (fwends) to share them." When I insisted it was time to choose one or I would do it for her, she chose one stating, "Well, actually, this one is the most beautifulest one. I'll wear this one today."