{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.