Things They Say: Halloween Stuff Edition

The 411 on Vampire Bats

Gracie: Do jungles have vampire bats?
Me: I don't know.
Gracie: Do they have jaguars?
Me: Yes.
Gracie: Okay.
Gracie: Wait do they have vampire bats? I forgot.
Me: I don't know.
Gracie: Okay.
Charlie: Are vampire bats real?
Me: Yes. But they're just bats. They don't turn in to anything.
Gracie: I wish they would turn in to animals.
Me: Well, they are animals. They're bats.
Gracie: I mean I wish they would turn in to nice animals. Like a pretty horse or something.
Charlie: I wish we could have a pet.
Gracie: Well, you wouldn't want a vampire bat for a pet. Unless you could train it... to bite your enemies.


The Best Kind of Pumpkins
Charlie went to a pumpkin patch with his preschool class, and scored some swag:

Charlie: I got my own pumpkin and it's not even messy!
Me: Yeah?
Charlie: Yeah! It has NO dirt, and NO cigarettes, and NO stinky signs on it!

Things they say

As usual, the Walton kids are in fine form. Here's some of the best stuff they've said over the last few months. :)


Asking the Tough Questions: What Are Box Top Funding?

Gracie: Can you get things with Box Tops? Like can they be money?

Me: No. If schools give them back to the company that made the things they're on, then they give some money to the schools.

Gracie (righteously): It wouldn't be fair if they gave money to a rich rich rich rich college that had enough money to buy cuckoo clocks for every room.

Sick Day

I came up the steps the other day to find Charlie laying on the floor, exhausted and not yet fully awake, on the landing at the top of the stairs.

Me: How you feeling buddy?
Charlie: It feels like I'm dead.  ...but I'm not.


When Dad Will Stop Working

Charlie (to Dad): when are you going to stop going to work?

Gracie: Dad will stop going to work when he dies.

Gracie: ...and that will be really sad.

Things Charlie is Smart At

Charlie: I'm really smart at listening to Heavenly Father. I'm reeeally smart. I'm also really smart at juggling!


#MomProbs

We had only been at the park for about four minutes the other day (with Charlie and a kid we were babysitting in tow, by the way) when Juliette lunged for and grabbed a piece of squirrel poop and exclaimed delightedly, "Raisin!!!"


Truth Telling

Charlie's take on protein bars:
"It tastes like chocolate. ...yucky chocolate."


Star Wars Culture

Overheard from the Lego table in the next room:
Gracie: Look, that thing has a bad motivator.

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?

Charlie: There is chocolate inside M&Ms. They are a living creature. ...Mom, are M&Ms a living creature?


Birthday

Charlie: "Mom, I wanted to make you feel special. I did! That's why I separated your birthday with you!"

Charlie's Suggestion to Make the World More Beautiful

Me: *finishes singing a bedtime song that ends in "I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world / Heavenly Father created for me."*
Charlie: WHY did he created it for me?
Me: Because he loves you and he wants you to have a beautiful place to live in.
Charlie (happy): I DO!!! (pauses) ...maybe He should die all the pirates.

The Best Compliment in the Galaxy

Charlie has always been a very attentive complimenter, (when he was Juliette's age he spent a lot of time complimenting me on my shoes and jewelry). When I did my hair up all fancy a while back, he continued the tradition with, "Mom I like your hair. It looks beautiful."

And later, with earnest affection, "Your hair looks very circle-y. You look like the girl from Star Wars."

The One Thing That Heals All Wounds

Juliette: Yoda's sad.
Me: Yoda's sad?
Juliette: Yeah.
Me: Why's Yoda sad?
Juliette: He's crying and whining.
Me: Aww. What does Yoda need?
Juliette: He needs a banana.

TGS: Gracie at 6

1. What is your favorite color?
Blue because of Elsa. I love Elsa and she wears blue, so I like blue.

2. What is your favorite toy?
Ellie-brons, my elephant, because elephants are my favorite animal.

3. What is your favorite fruit?
Watermelon. It tastes really good and its realllly watery and I really like water.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Word World. It has these silly animals inside them that can talk and then there's always something silly that they're talking about.

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
Cheese.

6. What is your favorite outfit?
My dance class outfit, which is the outfit with the Singer's Company shirt and my own star pink skirt.

7. What is your favorite game?
Sorry, because in Sorry you have these things that when someone says "Sorry" that when you flip something so that you're winning, they say Sorry on you, then you can put NOT SORRY on them and you can still win.

8. What is your favorite snack?
Cheesy macaroni.

9. What is your favorite animal?
Elephants. Just because they're cute. I like them.

10. What is your favorite song?
Let It Go. Elsa swirls her magic and I really like how it looks 'cause it makes snowflakes in the air, and snow in the air, and even pretty swirls.

11. What is your favorite book?
That's really hard, I have a lot of books. I like my three Frozen books, Matilda, and I like much more.

12. Who is your best friend?
Sadie, Abby, Ireland, Riley, and Emma and Bella.

13. What is your favorite cereal?
Froot Loops.

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Play in our playhouse and run around and get all the noise out of me. And I like to make echoes in the air.

15. What is your favorite drink?
Apple juice.

16. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas and birthdays because you always get presents!

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?
My three elephants because I like cuddling with them and because they're soooo fluffy. And my pillow and my blanket.

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
Granola.

19. What do you like for a special dinner?
Cheesy macaroni!

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Maybe a singer or a dancer, or a reader or a artist. Because I love singing, dancing and artist and I like reading.

21. What is your favorite thing to do?
Play!!! I like playing with my dolls, my art stuff, my stickers, I even like to sing. Aaaaand I even play with my own SPECIAL Legos that's really fun.

22. What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?
Cuddle!

23. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Play games with Dad. Like Sorry or Uno or someday we're going to do my new decoration matching game.

24. What is your favorite thing to do with Charlie?
I like playing Legos with him, and I like drawing with him.

25. What is your favorite thing to do with Juliette?
I like to play with her and read to her, by myself.

Things they say.

Birthday Perk

For Gracie's birthday in August, we let her choose whatever she wanted for every meal. At lunch I could tell she wasn't into what she had chosen the day before, and I told her that since it was her birthday she didn't have to eat anything she didn't want to.

Gracie: Really?! I am TOTALLY not eating taquitos!!!


Nevermore

Charlie, upon seeing a large black raven/crow: I see a bad owl!!!

Existentialism at breakfast time

Gracie was whining about something as we got into the car the other day.
Me (jokingly): "Oh, life!"
Charlie (cheerfully, from the back seat): "That's a cereal!"


Smells

During her dinner one night, Juliette blew a rather unsavory-smelling raspberry at Gracie from her high chair.

Gracie (seriously): Ewww! She just mouth-tooted at me and it smelled TERRIBLE!

Some buddy.

In the van the other day we heard the beginnings of Imagine Dragons' "On Top of the World," which begins, "If you love somebody..."

Charlie (who often gets called "Buddy"): It's the Buddy song!

Feelings.

Charlie: Your shirt looks pretty. And your feelings look pretty.
Me: My feelings?
Charlie: Yeah! Grown ups really have feelings... ...Except maybe Dad.

Things They Say: The Upside of Marriage

Charlie: When I was a born then I would be a mommy.
Me: When you were born you were a baby.
Gracie: But you can't be a mommy. You can be a daddy!
Me: Yeah, like Daddy! Are you going to have kiddos?
Gracie: You need to find a girl to go with you.
Charlie: No thank you.
Gracie: Yeah, and you need to get married.
Charlie: No. I don't think so.
Gracie: Well, its a fun celebration--you get CAKE.

Things They Say: What Mommy Does

What Mommy Does

Steve cracked a joke to me about something rather obnoxious the kids were doing in the car, and Gracie, who is in a very curious stage right now, immediately piped up from the back seat:

Gracie: Why is Mommy laughing?
Daddy: I was being silly to her.
Gracie: But why is Mommy laughing?
Daddy (avoiding the question): Oh, you know Mommy. Always laughing.
Gracie: Mommy's not always laughing.
Me (curious): What am I always doing?
Gracie (after a thoughtful pause): Mommy's always bossing.

Doctor's Visit.

Charlie accompanied me to Juliette's 4 month checkup, during which her doctor did a full physical exam. Then the nurse came in and gave her three shots on her cute thighs, which made her very sad, and then put band-aids on her. Here is how Charlie related these events to Steve when we got home:

Charlie: The doctor checked the Juliette-baby, and then she cried, and then she got stickers.

(Cute baby thigh.)

We Are Not Amused.

Sometimes Charlie gets really mad at us and gets sent to his room. While there, he sometimes shouts more things at us. Recently (all within a few seconds of each other):

Charlie: DADDY!!! WHY ARE YOU NOT ANSWERING ME?!?

Charlie: THIS IS NOT FUNNY!!!

Charlie: I'M TIRED OF THIS!!!!

Things They Say: Gracie's Olympics Commentary

Today we watched some speed skating, beginning with the Netherlands (orange) vs. USA.

Gracie immediately chose to root for "orange."

Gracie: "See. There's you but, I'm ahead of you." Pauses for a bite of goldfish crackers. "I hope the orange one gets the medal."
Me: "Why do you like the orange one?"
Gracie: "Because I usually like orange. And what's the orange one? Is it the one that Nicole likes?" (referring to Tenesse football)
When I told her she'd won:
"WHAT?! I Won?! WOOO HOOO! Charlie I won! I won!"

Next up was...

Norway v. Netherlands

Gracie: "Now I want the red one. Whatever one is winning I want them to win. I want them to be tied up so they both can have a medal." (Starts humming to herself.) "What's the red one?"
Me: "Norway."
Gracie: "I'm excited because of their flag. Because China's flag is, um, red."

Gracie: "Charlie which one do you want to win? Do you want the orange one?"
Charlie: "The orange one."
Gracie: "Who do you want to win? The red one?"
Charlie: "I want the red one."
Gracie: "Alright, lets do the red one. Because it's prettier. Right?"
Charlie: "Right."

Gracie: "Charlie, I want the orange one."
Me: "I thought you wanted the red one."
Gracie: "I changed my mind."
Me: "Why?"
Gracie: "Because."
Me: "...who's winning?"
Gracie: "Orange." (Pause for more goldfish.) "He won't stop." (Hums to herself.)
Gracie (moments later): "Mom, when is this going to be done?"

Things They Say: Heroes, Food, Growing Up, and, uh, NO.

Charlie's Salvador Dali hot chocolate mustache.

Names

Charlie: Jamie! Your name is Jamie.
Mommy: Yeah, my name is Jamie. And you call me "Mommy." What's Daddy's name?
Charlie: Um... "Hon."

(And just to clarify, he meant "Hon" like short for "Honey" not like... a mispronunciation of Han.)


Food

Gracie: Everything is food except people, trees, and smoke.


Uh, no.
When Charlie doesn't know the end of something, he just shuts it down with a "No." Last Sunday at church he was trying to read the EXIT sign to Steve.

Charlie: E... X... I... Uh, NO.


When I'm a Little Grown-Up...
Lately Charlie has been thinking a lot about what will happen when he is a "little grown-up." Here are some of the things he expects to encounter:

Charlie: When I'm a little grown-up, I can have a suitcase!

Charlie: When I'm a little grown-up, I can go to WORK with DADDY!

Charlie: When I'm a grown-up, I can have a MANGO!


Fin

Charlie (reaching over me to close a book we'd finished): Let me "the end" this...

Shampooh

Charlie (checking out the Pooh bear on Juliette's diaper): Oh! It's Sham the Pooh!

Sneeze

Charlie: *sneezes*
Mommy: Bless you!
Charlie: Yes! Bless you, me!

Q&A
We have a "Question-a-Day" journal that I fill out with the kids everyday during breakfast (or dinner) when they are still. :) Here are two of my favorite responses so far.

January 08 - Who is your hero? Why?
Gracie: What does "hero" mean?
Mommy: It means someone who you think is wonderful and brave.
Gracie: Daddy. And you. Because you are brave and you're not scared of anything.

Mommy: Charlie, who is your hero?

Charlie: Uh, no. Never mind.

Gracie: Juliette's not a hero, because she's not brave. She is wonderful. But she's just a teeny tiny baby.

January 10 - What are you especially good at?

Gracie: I am really good at holding Juliette. And also making her smile.

(Same question to Charlie...)

Charlie: I'm playing by the fire. Do you see on the UNO cards? There's some cards on it. I hiccuped!

Things They Say: Moon Talk, More Doughnuts, and Fat Numbers.

 Had to take a picture to convince her not to keep this bandaid (from her 5-year shots) forever.

My Nemesis, the Number 5.

Gracie (to herself): Big fat belly. Big fat belly... Hey, Mom!
Mom: What?
Gracie: [The number] five has a big fat belly, and so do you!
Mom: ...
Gracie (walking over): You're like a five, look!!!
And then she air-drew a five over my body, with five's "big fat belly" over my baby bump.


Aspirations.

Gracie: Today we talked about our favorite numbers.
Mom: What's your favorite number?
Gracie: One hundred.
Mom: Why?
Gracie: Because I want to be really, really old.


Love Note.

Gracie loves leaving notes for her Daddy when he has a late night. Sometimes it is a "card" with a pretty picture inside waiting by the front door. The day she got her Kindergarten vaccinations she got to get the whole family doughnuts as her reward, and she wanted one for Dad, too. She left him this note with his doughnut on the stairs for him to find when he got in around midnight. :)

It says:
Dear Daddy
You get a donut.
I have Garfield [bandaids] on my owie.
Love, Gracie


Moon-wear.

Charlie, discussing the moon:
The moon is my buddy. He's doesn't has any underwear! When he's born he can has underwear. When he's born he's can has eyes and a nose. He's has a nose when I read Mother Goose!


Little Loves.

Charlie heard me worrying over Gracie's cough and for the rest of the day whenever he heard her cough he'd run over to her and ask (in his best caring-parent-immitation), "You okay, my lamb?"

He likes snuggling me even when I'm all tired and pregnant looking. :)

Man-date.

After breakfast one morning, Charlie told Gracie where he wants to go on a "date":
Airport first, then hospital, then HOME DEPOT!!!



My Most "Useful" Child?

Mom (to Gracie): You're a big girl.
Charlie: I'm a backhoe!

TGS: Gracie at 5

Sassy pose before heading to her first day of school.

1. What is your favorite color?
Pink. And gold. Because they're shiny.

2. What is your favorite toy?
Ellie-Brons the elephant because she is cute.

3. What is your favorite fruit?
Grapes and watermelon because they're yummy in my tummy.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Word World because I like the animals and it's kind of funny.

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
Trail mix, bananas, and peanut butter sandwiches. (She actually kind of despises PB right now so...?)

6. What is your favorite outfit?
My Hello Kitty shirt (with the sparkle heart) with my Hello Kitty [hair] clips. I looooove um... That's my favorite one, I guess. Because I like the sparkles and the heart.

7. What is your favorite game?
Wearing dress-ups. Boggle. I like to play hide and seek.

8. What is your favorite snack?
Trail mix because it has nuts.

9. What is your favorite animal?
Elephants because their funny noises!

10. What is your favorite song?
When I am Baptized. I like to look for rainbows.

11. What is your favorite book?
Princess book. The biiiig red book with the castle on it. (A Disney collection from when mom was a kid.) Want to ask me what my favorite princess is? Ariel. And the princess I like the most is Rapunzel because she has a pretty dress with... with a little bow. And some... criss...es... on it. (Criss-crosses? For her ribbons, I think.) And that she has long hair. And I like her purple dress.

12. Who is your best friend?
Sadie and Abby. They're fun to play with.

13. What is your favorite cereal?
Fruit Loops. They have a lot of fruit and they are pretty and colorful.

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Play ball.

15. What is your favorite drink?
Lemonade.

16. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas because Santa comes when we're sleeping and gives us presents.

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?
Ellie-Brons. I like to bring Emma, Ellie, and Ellie-Brons. (Her huge, tiny, and regular-sized stuffed animal elephants.)

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
Oatmeal.

19. What do you like for a special dinner?
Uh.... Um.... Uh.... Um... Mac and cheese.

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?
That's a tricky one. Um... A mommy because... because then we can have babies.

21. What is your favorite thing to do?
Play house. Dress-up and play fish. We have to jump up, and try to wiggle our tail. And I can play snake if I want--its kind of fun. (She actually likes to play with her Barbie princesses or her mouse dollhouse, and looooves to draw.) I can sing songs, play radio.

22. What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?
Make pictures and play. With you, Mom. I like to go to the gymbo with Mommy and Daddy and Charlie. Even with Juliette! She'll come after Chaaaarlie's birthday. December. (She's actually due in October.)

23. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Like go to Lowes [to] build things. Like Monster's University things.

24. What is your favorite thing to do with Charlie?
Play with him. Like play hide and seek.

25. Anything else you want to say about yourself?
Oh yeah! Ask me some more questions, I'll give you some answers. Well like somethin', like I looooove you and I looove Dad and I loooove Charlie.

TTS: Vintage Gracie Facebook Posts

I happened to be looking through Gracie's (now-unpublished) old facebook page, and I came across some little Gracie quotes & tidbits that I am pretty sure never made the blog. These are all "vintage," circa ages 18 mos to 2 years. :)

4/28/2010
Gracie usually says "I missed you, too!" when Daddy comes home. Except this week she saw his keychain and switched it up to, "I missed you, keys!"

4/29/2010
Gracie reading the "E" page in Dr. Suess's ABC: "Ear... Egg... Daboot." Elephant is a hard word.

5/6/2010
Gracie is awake in her crib and telling herself, "Psyyych! Psych! Psyyych!" loudly and frequently.

5/11/2010
Gracie dropped some cereal and said, "Uh oh, kitchen. Fall down."

5/13/2010
Gracie knowing she is not supposed to eat Mommy's croissant, gave it a kiss, then looked at Mommy and wanted to know if it needed a hug as well.

5/28/2010
Gracie just found a hair on her cup and said, "What is it? A SNAKE!"

6/1/2010
Gracie thinks her middle name is Banana.

7/5/2010
Gracie (stroking the MacBook's power cord) "Hi Cord. Are you boodiful? Yes, you are boodiful." *Pat pat pat*

7/7/2010
Gracie, when asked who she loves more, Mommy or Daddy, replied, "Eric!" (her uncle)

8/10/2010
Gracie, when told that Mommy, Daddy, Gracie, and her new baby brother would all be a family: "Awww. That's happy!"

8/20/2010
Gracie swimming in the Atlantic: "I'm swimming like a fish... I'm Fish Gracie!"

9/3/2010
Gracie was told that she had boogers, and now asks her mama to wipe the "sugars" from her runny nose.

9/6/2010
Lunch conversation...
Gracie: "What's on my shirt?"
Mommy: "Are they gumballs?"
Gracie: "Mommy has eyebrows."

9/9/2010
Gracie calls ketchup "hiccup."

9/30/2010
Gracie's favorite pastime? Closing herself in the pantry (in the dark!) and saying, "See ya yater."

10/14/2010
Gracie just put Elmo in time out for hitting.

10/19/2010
Gracie sat down at the table (totally away from the TV) and said, "Sid the Science Kid is coming up next!" ...

10/25/2010
Gracie looked sternly at her mother and exclaimed, "No pooping on the floor!" Good advice.

10/26/2010
Gracie calls m&ms "The candy has a number on it."

10/29/2010
Gracie looked in her cup, studied the backwash floaties, and said, "Oh, there's fishies in there."

11/2/2010
"Whats me doing? I'm just hanging out. Hanging out with my veggies."

11/13/2010
Gracie could spend all day dancing to "All My Sing-yoo-yets" (Beyonce's "Single Ladies")

11/18/2010
Gracie told her Mommy at breakfast, "You need to obey. Put the lid on the milk."

11/19/2010
Gracie calls the computer mouse a "mousie mousie."

12/3/2010
Gracie to her grandpa: "You can be a cow and I can laugh at you, okay?"

12/9/2010
"I'm a doggy. I'm have a tail. I'm like to have a tail on my bum."

12/11/2010
Gracie, when asked to wipe someone's tears to make them happy, obediently reached up to wipe both EARS. :)

12/28/2010
Gracie refers to candy canes as "candy kitchens." No one knows why.

1/3/2011
Gracie reading Aladdin: Once upon a time there's Daddy. There's a monkey named Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. * unintelligible words for two pages* And a flying carpet!

1/28/2011
Gracie to Daddy in the morning: "Get up! It's day! Time to get going--go Dad, go!"

5/16/2011
After being put in time out for lying (oh no!) Gracie promised not to lie or--BONUS--"plunder Charlie's toys."

7/25/2011
Gracie gets bossed around by her mom a lot, so when mama laid down on her bed this afternoon she set the record straight: "You can lay on my bed for five more... years, and then you need to get off."

8/2/2011
Gracie heard a strange sound and after discovering it was a "toot" said, "That was magical!"

Things They Say: Fashion, Parentage, and Doughnuts

A recent Gracie self-portrait. She even sounded out and wrote "I am Gracie."

Fashion and Divinity.

As Gracie and I were driving to a Valentine's party at church, she sat in the back seat admiring her pink polka-dotted boots. Suddenly, she asked me how Jesus could see us, and if it was because He was in Heaven.

Gracie: Can Jesus see us now?
Mommy: Yes.

Then there was a pause so long I thought she had moved on before:

Gracie: I hope he can see my boots, because they're pretty cute.

Uncertain Parentage.

Back in the day, Gracie thought a guy on the Sandals commercial at the beginning of Sesame Street was Steve. She also thought Aladdin was Steve. So it actually made much more sense that when the Blues Clues guy announced that his name was Steve, Charlie said:

"Is that Daddy? Is that Daddy? IS THAT DADDY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Doughnuts.

When Charlie and doughnuts were introduced, a love affair began. Since Krispy Kreme is headquartered in Winston, we drive past their building on the way to church every Sunday. Recognizing the logo, Charlie starts shouting, "Donuts! Donuts!" It is almost tradition at this point.

Lately, he's been thinking about them aloud a lot. He'll just be sitting in his carseat, or he'll wander into the living room, rest his hand on a chair's armrest, and say, "Should we have doughnuts?"

Things They Say: Poo.

Daddy daughter convo on the way home from the Y:

Gracie: Why did you roll the window down?
Steve: I'm still a little bit smelly and sweaty from the gym:
Gracie: Oh. So, are you 'disgusting?'
Steve: A little, but 'disgusting' isn't the nicest word to use.
Gracie: Well, Charlie's poop is disgusting.
Steve: True, but all poo is pretty disgusting.
Gracie: ... Not Winnie the Pooh

Touché, Gracie. Touché.

Things They Say: Hotel Edition (and also, Snow)

Pockets.

Charlie recently became very interested in pockets. The other day when I was taking him out of the car, he told me he was "all done" with his snack.

Charlie: I put it your pocket?
Mommy: No, you keep it.
Charlie (very, very charmingly): I put it your pocket?

I relented, because he was adorable. And he put it in what he deemed to be my best snack-sized pocket, by putting his snack cup down the front of my shirt.

On the phone.

Charlie likes to play on hotel phones (we unplug all the phones when we enter a hotel room).

Charlie pretend-talking on the phone to Daddy: "Helloooooh! Okay, have fun, Daddy! Okay, bye. Okay, bye."

And then to Caden, "Helllooooh, Caden! Have fun, hospital! (Their daddies both work at the hospital). Okay, bye. Bye bye, Daddy. Okay bye."

And then to Daddy, about Caden, "Hellooohhh. Caden my friend! Okay byebye! Say love you, Daddy! Say looooove you. Say looooove you. Goodbye!"

Hotels have the best toys.

Charlie found the clock radio in our hotel room and is dancing/drumming along to Nirvana's /Heart Shaped Box/. "It's man singing! Please dance!" he told me. And then, "I LIKE this one!"

Then he accidentally turned the radio off and said, "It need batteries."

Earlier he came out of the bathroom whimpering, hands and shirt covered in soap saying, "I want wash body!" Shirts are always in the way aren't they?

Snow.

It snowed on Friday, so I scooped Charlie up and took him to look at it through the front door.

Mommy: What do you see?!
Charlie (concerned): It's yucky!
M: It's not yucky, buddy, it's snow.
C (surveying the white ground suspiciously): It's messy snow.

Things They Say: Santa, Printers, and more struggles with Obedience.

Nosey.

Charlie woke up from his nap with a stuffy nose. He sniffed noisily a couple of times, pointed to his nose, and said, "It's too loud."


Sugar high.

Steve and I have slowly been working on a 1lb Toblerone bar (delicious, delicious chocolate), which Charlie found on Steve's nightstand one morning. He picked it up.

Mommy: What is that, Charlie?
Charlie: It's a cookie!
Mommy: It's candy.
Charlie: I like candy!
Mommy: It's not for playing, okay? It's Daddy's. (He usually responds pretty well to this...)
Charlie (clinging to it): No!!! I NOT give it Daddy!!!


Pennies from heaven.

Gracie brought a dime in to show me:
G: Sometimes I find these strange pennies that I like...


Stay on Target.

I was carrying Charlie through Target (so he wouldn't get in to mischief) and he decided he wasn't so into that arrangement.

Charlie: I want down.
Mommy: You want down?
C: Yes.
M: Sorry buddy, I have to hold you.
C: I NOT hold you!
M: Yeah, I have to hold you.
C: Obey me. Obeyyy me!


Maybe I'm Amazed

Gracie seems to think the new printer has magical properties. Anytime I print something she shouts, "More papers!" and runs to the printer to retrieve them. Then she delivers them to me, noting, "It's from the PRINTER," in the way one might say "It's from SANTA."


Here Come Santa Claus

When Santa just arrived at the nativity...

G: He wanted to get his wife and his Christmas tree. That's why he goed to Jesus, because he left everything there!



Oh Christmas Tree.

The kids were super excited to put the Christmas tree up, especially when we got to the turn-on-the-lights stage. Since Charlie is still new to this Christmas thing, he wasn't quite sure what to say to celebrate.

(Daddy plugs in the tree and it lights up like a firework.)
Charlie: Halloweeeeeen! Happy birthday!!!



:)

TGS: Gracie at 4

Gracie on her first day of preschool.

(During this interview, Gracie is sitting at the kitchen table after breakfast, wearing her nightgown and a pink cape, and insists on being called Super Why.)

1. What is your favorite color? 
Pink. Pink is mostly a pretty, prrrrretty color. I think YOU like the color pink.

2. What is your favorite toy? 
Elephant. Elephant is so cute and she's my favorite thing to cuddle.

3. What is your favorite fruit? 
Grapes. They're reallllly really yummy.

4. What is your favorite tv show? 
Olympics. They do a good job.

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? 
Pasta & apple (Mom doesn't think this is actually true.) They're so good for you.

6. What is your favorite outfit? 
You-ming-go shorts, you-ming-oh shirt. (What???) Pink clothes. (Which clothes?) The shorts with you-ming-oh's on it, and the pink shirt. (Ohhhh. Finally Mom figures out that "you-ming-oh" means flamingo.) Because they're PINK. I like PINK clothes, and that's my favorite color I think. I like your Kindle because it has pink on it.

7. What is your favorite game? 
Boggles. I like to put them on the square and sometimes they miss, sometimes I miss them. Then you put them in a little bowl. Remember a little Boggle bowl? And and you put them on a square, upside down? Covers it up and you can shake it?

8. What is your favorite snack?
Graham cracker because graham cracker is really good. I like it.

9. What is your favorite animal? 
Elephants because I LIKE elephants because I even HAVE an elephant on my BED! There's a cute elephant on my bed I bet. She is the one with a cute tail. On her bum there's a cute tail huh? Sometimes she has to go potty from her tail. She actually goes potty in the grass, like dogs. Because she's a cute pet animal. Not mostly zoo elephants. Not mostly those.

10. What is your favorite song? 
Mommy's songs. (The songs that Mommy sings at bedtime.) I like the sunshine song. (You are my Sunshine.)

11. What is your favorite book? 
That pink book. YOUR pink book. (The Random House Book of Fairy Tales, from when Mom was a kid.)

12. Who is your best friend? 
Abby and Addi. Remember Addi and Abby? She starts with an A. She goes A-B-B-Y.

13. What is your favorite cereal? 
Froot Loops, because Froot Loops look so delicious to me on Saturday. (We only get sugar cereals on Saturday.) And I like Cheerios on Monday and Frys-day. They're my faaavorite cereals!

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? 
Play with my motorcycle. (Tricycle)

15. What is your favorite drink? 
Milk. I like Strawberry Lemonade, too. At Firehouse Subs. Mostly I call it Firehouse DUBS. (giggles) Isn't that a silly way? It's just silly.

16. What is your favorite holiday? 
I like Christmas holiday, because Christmas looks so my favorite. Looks like it has presents. And smelling flowers. I like all kinds of flowers. I like sunflowers.

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? 
Blanket, bear, elephant, pillow, sheet. And a bed.

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? 
French toast. I like that for breakfast, sometimes Daddy makes that for breakfast.

19. What do you like for a special dinner? 
Pancakes!

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A cowgirl. A cowgirl catches something with her rope and all she has to do is put a hat on your head, you get on a horse. That's what you do, that's what you do when you're a cowboy. You need to buy a horse first. Unless I have money in my hand. Remember that money from Daddy's grandma and grandpa? It's kind of like a liiiiiitle paper. Cowgirls are kind of like, they're kind of nice. And Charlie can be a cowBOY when he's grown up.

TGS: Phone Calls, Coffee, & Running Errands

This morning Gracie walked into the kitchen, looked at Charlie and said, "Hey Sugar-buster."

It cracked us up.

Me: Charlie's going to run some errands with me.
Gracie: No... I think he can't run very well... Maybe you need to take a stroller.

Gracie: We don't drink coffee. It's bad for our bodies.
Me: You're right.
Gracie: It makes us COUGH a lot.

Gracie had a rough morning--all her toys got locked away because she refused to clean her room, and it just went downhill from there. In the car she said, "You know why I'm making bad choices? I need to listen to President Monson, so I can learn how to make good choices."

Gracie on her fake phone: "hello? ohhhh hi. ohhh you're sick? i'm sorry. well, i'm on a playdate right now, so i can't come back to my house. sorry. okay. bye............ husband."
(to me) "He's crying because he misses me."
Me: "Does daddy cry when i leave?"
G (stoically): "No."

First Brackets

We tried really hard to get Charlie to fill out a bracket. We had a whole system of Cheerios, raisins, and colored pencil-picking that got him through the first two rounds, but with only about 12 left to pick, he decided he'd had enough.

Steve concerned about Charlie's bracket-picking:

It's okay. I just made my first bracket this year, too. It was stressful. I get it. I used a highly scientific methodology involving seed rankings, my gut instinct, which states I liked (or knew someone who lived there who I liked), which school names I liked (I got kind of obsessed with Purdue just because I liked saying it), and, as a failsafe, which school had the least-lame mascot.

My gut said Kentucky. Steve's said Ohio. We'll see who has a smarter gut.

Gracie colored a Rapunzel picture while she filled out her bracket. I asked her over and over to pick between two teams. Here are some choice responses:

Mom: Duke or Lehigh?
Grace: LEHIGH!!! What does that mean? (raising eyebrows)

Mom: ...Is it from the scriptures? (we've been reading in the Book of Mormon about Lehi)

Grace: YES!!!!

Mom: Louisville or Davidson?

Grace: DAVIDSON! LIKE ABBY'S DAD!!! (who is named David, see below)

Mom: Murray, or Colorado?

Gracie: MURRAY!!! LIKE SESAME STREET!!!

Murray:

BYU fans, just FYI, she chose BYU over Marquette, but for no real reason.

Mom: North Carolina or Vermont?

Grace: North Carolina!!!! (She knows we live here.)

Mom: Temple or Florida?

Grace: TEMPLE!!! That's where you got married!!

(San Diego Temple)

San Diego or North Carolina (NC State)?

SAN DIEGO!?!?!?! (She knows that is where she was born, but since I know she has loyalties to both I asked her again, and she changed to North Carolina as her final answer.)

Ohio or Loyola?

MELORA. (She thinks Loyola is "Laura" the name of her favorite daycare leader at the Y.)

It went on like this for a while.

Then I asked her her favorite number (she held up 3 fingers, for her age/fav number) and added 100 to that for her final score guess.

In the end it came down to Abby's dad David (Davidson) and her Y leader, Laura (Loyola). Sorry David, but Loyola is her pick for the win. So far its not looking so hot.

TGS: Peacocks and the Best Baby Name Ever

Gracie and I had great conversations in the parking lot the other day, while Steve was in the post office mailing a package.

I wish this could be verbatim, but there was really no hope of me remembering all ten minutes of this story, so I'll give you what I've got.

Gracie: I saw a bird!
Mom: Flying in the sky?
Gracie: Yeah! Where do birds go?
Mom: They live in trees.
Gracie: And nests. And birdhouses. I have a Peacock. And another bird. Her name is.... Pea-mock. She's a smaller bird. And another bird. Named Pea-hawk. They live at my other house that I have. I used to have another house. And another car. It was white. I was driving my white car to my other house. My birds live in a house--WITH NO HALL. AND NO BATHROOMS.
(Sidenote: I like that no hall is equally as terrifying as no bathrooms.)
Mom: No bathrooms? Why does it have no bathrooms?
Gracie: It just has their table in there. If they want to play, they can just go in their bedrooms. They're just outside. You see them? (points outside the car)
Mom: What color are they?
Gracie: They can be another if they want to. They painted themselves! Brown. She goed in her nest, and she plugged an egg out.

(I had to turn around when she said this because I was silently cracking up. Plugged an egg out?! Hahaha.)

Anyway we talked about Peacock, Pea-mock, and Pea-hawk for a long time. I wish I could remember more. It was one of my all-time favorite conversations. It culminated with an argument over whether rabbits lay eggs with baby bunnies inside.

Then Steve got back in the car, and we drove past the hospital on our way to the gym.

Gracie: Mommy, you work at the hospital.
Mom: No, I work at home.
Gracie: No, you work at the hospital. With babies. I used to live at the hospital when I was a baby.
(Sidenote: Thanks for the credit, that was awesome--everybody else acts like labor is no big deal! haha)
Gracie: I have a baby in my tummy. Its going to grow big and pop out! (Indicates where her stomach will pop out--don't worry, she wasn't talking about the baby popping out...)
Mom: What kind of baby is it?
Gracie: Its a girl baby.
Mom: What are you going to name her?
Gracie: Housemaid.
(pause)
I'll also call her Meeve.
(pause)
And Abby can call her Peace.
(pause)
I'll also call her Peace. And Daddy can call her Peace. Everybody can call her Peace!
Mom: Can we call her Housemaid?
Gracie: Sure. She's going to be born. She's a big girl. She can already walk.

Good. If she can walk, that will definitely help her with the housekeeping. ;)

Gracie Tells the Christmas Story

Merry Christmas. :)