Random Kid Quotes

• "I wish I was blind!" "Why do you wish that, honey?" asks confused parents. "Because maybe then you would get me a seeing eye dog!" (Desperate) Rebekah, age 8.

• "Jonathan, we don't kill people on Sundays!" (Desperate) mom about a boy with a play gun.

• "How did you hurt your hand, young man?" "My mom made the doctor cut off my thumb!" Jonathan told a scandalized looking woman behind us in the grocery line. I quickly tried to explain it was a duplicate

• Susie said "mine" up until Sunday and now she says "mice" when she means mine. I think it has something to do with you-yours, mine-mice?

• Susie insisted on calling me "Mama Joe." I tried to explain that it was "Daddy Joe" and "Mama Julie." Now she simply calls me "Juwee."

Scrooge and Cookies

Have I mentioned that Susie is many wonderful things but she is also a scrooge! She loves to sing, laugh, and "read books" but she is a real scrooge when it comes to giving kisses or hugs! Yep, she very rarely will voluntarily give one or the other...usually, it's a hug. Jonathan just ran up and gave me the last little vanilla sandwich cookie from the box of Austin's cookies and crackers. "Here Mom. These two are for you and Susannah!" "Are you sure?" I ask him. "Yes, I ate ALL the rest of them and I saved these two for you (plural)." Again I ask him if he doesn't really want the last one. (I enjoyed several after lunch already myself and am still feeling the guilt--no exercise, lots of mini cookies). "Yes, you have it because a mom is gooder than a cookie!" There you go! You have heard it. Moms are gooder than cookies and I do like cookies so moms must be pretty darn good!

A Very Happy Birthday

Susannah, our caboose, turned two today! We celebrated during the day by getting "ba-oons" (balloons), and eating party foods for lunch: making heart shaped cream cheese and raspberry jam sandwiches, pink milk (Strawberry Nestle Quick), and Cheetos! She opened a gift from her brother, Little Einsteins Fruit Snacks. She enjoyed blowing out two small candles. I hope more than anything else, she feels of the love we have for her. We are so grateful for her birth into our family! Susie is learning to do lots of things! She likes to call her siblings after I do (she is a great mommy echo). She is slowly learning to use the potty. (I.E. She will go in in it the morning for a treat--later that day we will see her sitting on the potty, pants on, diaper on, Onesie on...Must be wanting that treat pretty bad!) Her sisters tolerate her playing on the piano while they practice. She believes she is "not baby, big girl!" and gets very frustrated when the big kids want to play in the snow and shove her in the front door and shut it behind them or "play Spa" and she is not invited for lotions and massages, etc. She is a good little counter from one to nine--who needs ten anyway?! Her "I'm in a bad mood" words include: "No way!" and "Go away!" which delight the people in church as we take her out into the hall when she would like to be concert pianist in Gospel Doctrine Class. Most of the time she is our angel and very content and placid...except when her brother smirks at her or pretends he is a monster.

A New Year and A New Book

Wow, I am still trying to catch up to the new year and all that has happened the last several weeks in our family. I will post holiday pictures and updates soon. We have actually read several books since Christmas...but the book I am currently enjoying is The Other Side of Heaven (or In the Eye of the Storm) by John H. Groberg about his mission experiences to the people of Tonga. So far, he has expressed eloquently much of what I wish I could have expressed about serving a mission to Finland. This book is also interesting in that at the time I served a mission to the frozen North, naively, I felt that serving a mission somewhere tropical would be much easier. As we learned doing member missionary work in Hawaii (twice) since my mission, Hawaii had its own unique set of challenges and temptations and hardships. Perhaps it comes down to the fact that hard work, faith, and a degree of total reliance on the Lord is mandatory to grow as a missionary. Need a good book recommendation, consider this one.

Russian Christmas with t he Campbells

This year, we were asked to not visit the Campbells because Aunt LaVon Alise was decorating and then needed peace and quiet. She called after the holidays and invited us to a Russian Christmas Party! There we ate Grammy's Borscht(beet, cabbage soup), dark rye bread, thin sliced ham, Anne's Au-Gratin potatoes, (our) Frog-Eye salad with Grammy's fresh berries added in (raspberry, black, and blue--YUM!). We had fun dressing up for the Nativty program that LaVon Alise and Hannah scripted with Pop Pop. What other Nativity do you know that has guards for King Herrod? Anne brought a Ghiradelli Chocolate cake and Beth made caramel for dipping. In the end the Great Dane "Arwyn" ran off with the ham and the children enjoyed watching Home Alone 111 (we have seen this "funny" violence all so much before the Macauay Culkin won't even agree to act in another one!) movie.