{Sing, Sing a Song}

Olivia, my little singer/songwriter was busy making up a new song this morning. She asked me, "Mommy, I'm goin to give you two words that rhyme with France and you tell me which one I should use."

"OK," I said.

" 'stick a hungry squirrel down your pants' OR 'romance'".

What!? I opted for romance, but as the song went on, they both made the cut.

{Nicknames}

One of the families we are closest to in CA are the Nielsons. Phil and I go out with Mindy & Tyler regularly on the weekends. Olivia & Lily are great friends and Will and Ava are good friends. We love spending time together and we have even traveled together.

For awhile now, Tyler has called Olivia "O-Town" whenever he sees her. Recently, she has started calling him "T-Bone". Today at church, Tyler said to Olivia, "O-Town's in the house!" To which she quickly replied, "T-Bone's in the steak!"

{Age is just a number}

Recently, while in the car, I called a salon near our house to make a Will a long-overdue appointment to get his haircut.

I asked the girl who answered the phone if they had time to do a haircut for a 7-year-old boy, she said yes, I told her what time we could be there and hung up.

A few minutes later, I realized Will was trying to get my attention and said, "Uh, Mom, maybe you're not my real mom, or maybe you just don't know that much about me, but I'm not 7 years old. I'm 6. Remember!?"

The irony is always teasing Will & Olivia that I want all birthdays to cease so that they can stay their current ages forever and truly I hate how quickly they are growing up. Before I know it they will be leaving home for college, going on missions, getting married and starting their own families!

{Coincidentally, I was talking to Grandma Kat later the same day and she too referred to Will as being 7 years old.  He was equally exasperated with her lack of Will knowledge.}

{Design Star}

Will has been a never-ending source of funny material on our trip to OC.

Today, while at the beach...

The dads dug a large hole in the sand for the kids to play in. It kept them happy all day. At one point, my brother Ryan came over tonreport that he was impressed by Will's leadership skills. Will was doling out jobs to the other kids and when he noticed Ryan was observing him replied, "We're just adding some 'homey' touches."

{Gum Cop}

Today we had family pictures with all my siblings and their families. At one point, Will came up to my sister Melissa and said, "I just want you to know that the children got into your gum and they all have some. They tried to give me a piece and I did not take it because I didn't want to get in trouble and I told them I was going to tell you what they were up to."

{Jam Wars}

Today I made more jam-one batch each of strawberry & raspberry. Will requested waffles with strawberry jam for his lunch. As he devoured them he said to me, "Mommy, your jam is the best jam I have ever had! And I'm not just saying that because you're my mom and I love you- your jam really is the best!"

{Dangerous Duo}

During her post-swimming lessons shower this morning, Olivia was singing a song she made up: "I can't resist...I can't repent...I can't resist...I can't repent."

Uh-oh.

{Bird Dreams}

Last Friday I took Olivia to get a princess manicure and pedicure as a reward for no longer biting her nails. On the way to the salon, Olivia said to me, "Mommy, do you know what animal I would want to be if I could be any animal?"

Intrigued, I replied, "No, what?"

"I would want to be a bird so that could poop on cars I fly over."

"What? Are you serious? I would think you would want to be a bird so you could fly." Surely she is kidding, right?

"Nope. I want to be a bird so that I can poop on stuff I fly over. {Pause} Okay. I'm just kidding. I want to be a bird so that I can fly."

{Extreme Couponing}

Yesterday, Olivia and Will were working on some art projects. Olivia made several drawings of numbers and letter for me. She explained to me that they were coupons that I could use on the internet.

She said, "Okay, Mom. So here are your coupons. You are going to want to use this one first, and then this one and then this one. You need to put them all into the internet and then you will probably be able to make a Christmas Tree" (her voice trailed off at the end with uncertainty).

I burst out laughing, which she didn't like, but I quickly explained that laughing is my favorite thing to do and anyone who can make me laugh that hard is my favorite person in the world. She seemed to like that.

{Weird Child Protection Tactics}

Last week we were in Utah for various reasons. While on a grocery shopping trip, at the end of a long day, Phil and I divided forces, each of us taking one child and half of the grocery list.  I got to have Will as my shopping companion and he decided he was tired and wanted to sit in the front of the cart (something I quickly realized he has outgrown).

We cruised up and down the aisles looking for food and in his usual form, Will was a source of non-stop chatter, questions, observations and sounds.  After a few minutes of him making annoying sounds, I said, "Will, why are you being so weird?"

He shrugged his shoulders and then replied with earnest, "You know, Mom, it's a good thing that I am weird. Because if someone takes me away, they will totally just give me right back."

{Sweet Nothings}

Tonight when Will came to say goodnight to me, he climbed up on my lap, put my face in his hands and said, "A nose kiss...represents loving my mommy forever." {Then gave me an Eskimo Kiss}
"A hug...represents our family being together forever." {Then gave me a huge hug}
"A regular kiss...represents that I love my mommy and daddy the most." {Then gave me a kiss on the lips.}

I gave him another big hug and said, "Will, how did we get so lucky to get you in our family? What did we do right?"  He looked me in the eye and exclaimed, "It was a miracle!"  I couldn't agree more. We are truly blessed.

{Another one "bites" the dust}

Tooth number 2 made it's escape from Will's mouth tonight (bottom right as you face him). As with the first tooth, his adult tooth is already through the skin and ready to stake its permanent place in his mouth. I thought after the first one wasn't so bad that he wouldn't be scared again, but today he was a hot mess worrying that it would hurt when his tooth came out. He worked on it all day and got it nice and loose, but in the end, the trusty pliers had to take matters into their own hands and out came the tooth so quick and easy it seemed downright silly.

Can't wait to see what the tooth fairy will bring tonight. I told Will if he got the tooth out today she'd bring his something extra special.

{Makes me wonder what she "means".}

I just asked Olivia a question and she delivered her answer with air quotes!

{Super Baby}

This morning, on our way home from taking Phil to work, Olivia asked me, "Mommy, what if I was zero years old? Like a brand new baby that was just born, and I could lift a giant boulder.....with only one hand?"

{Lost: 1 tooth}

Today, Will lost his first tooth (bottom left as you face him).  He has been asking when he would lose a tooth for a long time, but the realities of a tooth actually coming out when the time came, was a bit scary. In the end, he was brave and when I pulled his tooth out - he didn't even realize it was out! I'm sad...my little boy is growing up way too fast!

{Gross}

Today is our anniversary {9 years!} and when I got up, I gave Phil a kiss and said, "Happy Anniversary!" Will, who was also in the room, said, "I'm kind of getting used to you guys kissing, but it kind of grosses me out. But I'm a kid."

{Kiss & Tell}

Tonight, Olivia crawled up on my lap and whispered in my ear, "Mom, today Sophie and her friends chased Will and kissed him! But don't tell Will I told you!"

Shortly thereafter, Will came in the room, and I asked him, "Will, did anything happen at school today that you want to tell me about?"

He turned about 6 shades of red, and knowing his secret was out, said sheepishly, "Sophie and her friends chased me at school and kissed me! I didn't want to tell you because I thought you would be mad."

Of course I wasn't mad! We teased him relentlessly and of course had to get every excruciating detail out of him, but I made sure he knew that he can always tell me anything especially when it comes to girls and he doesn't need to worry about me being mad.

My favorite part of this whole story is that Will wanted to share his secret with his sister! Of course I also love that she immediately came to tell me (she'll have to be a little more sly about that if she wants to continue to be on the receiving end of his secrets!). But it made me so incredibly happy to see their friendship go to a whole new level.

{Good to Know}

While I was making pancakes this morning, Olivia marched into the kitchen to inform me, "Mom, I do like witches. I just don't like fat witches."

{Wanted: Unicorn}

Today at Target, Olivia informed me she wants two pets and challenged me to guess which two. Thinking she of course meant a kitten and a puppy, I decided to give her outrageous guesses, "Ummm...a hippopotamus and a walrus....a giraffe and a penguin....a lion and a orangoutang."  After a few of my silly guesses, she tired of me and insisted she just tell me the two pets.

"A Kitten and a Unicorn!" She exclaimed.

"OH! A kitten and a unicorn huh? Where do you even buy a unicorn?" I asked, because I really wanted to know.

Olivia looked at me like I had just asked the stupidest question on the planet, rolled her eyes and responded in her all-too-familiar exasperated voice, "JEEESUUUUS!"

Jesus. I should have known.

Update: While telling this to Julie, we were informed by James that the scriptures mention unicorns 8 times. A quick search on LDS.org indeed pulled up several references, including this one from Psalm 92:10 "But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil."


So maybe Jesus is the one I should see about a unicorn after all.

{#1 Sister}

Today while driving to get Will's hair cut, I asked him who he was going to invite to his upcoming birthday party. We are going to a place where they do indoor skydiving and since it's pretty pricey, he has to keep his guest list down to just four friends.  Will rattled off the list of friends he wanted to invite and Olivia got really sad.

"He's not even going to invite me to his party mommy!" she cried, from the backseat.

"Yes I am!" Will exclaimed.  "You're the number one person on my list! I want you to come to my birthday party more than I want anyone else!"

That did the trick. She was happy and I was crying. This was one of those days I just savored the thought that I've done something right as their mommy.

{Sign of the Times} - *NEW & UPDATED*

Today in primary, our good friend Rocky Garff gave the bishopric message to the children and asked them how God communicates with us. Will answered, "Sign language!" and felt adamently that he was correct.

Later, after church, I asked him, "Will, how does God talk to us?" He answered, "The Scriptures and through the Holy Ghost after we pray to him.  Well, actually, I thought Sign Language & that wasn't the right answer.  I just thought you know, maybe we could see just his hands in our head - not his body- just his hands and he could use Sign Language to talk to us."

Update: I later found out that Rocky started off his talk by having the kids do a silent version of Simon Says where he just did things like putting his hands on his head or over his mouth or touching his shoulders. He didn't say anything, but wanted to see if the kids would follow him. He then asked, "Why do you think I did those things?" Will answered, "So you could have us follow you and have you control us." 


He cracks me up!  It did make more sense why his mind was thinking Sign Language after learning about Rocky's "object lesson".