{A Child's Prayer}

"Dear Heavenly Father, I hope you had a fabulous day in Heaven today and I hope you have only sweet dreams tonight. And please bless that I will only have good dreams, and no bad dreams. And please bless we will be able to have a fun day as a family tomorrow. In Jesus name, Amen." - Will

{Singing is the best medicine}

Olivia has an uncanny ability to remember and recite lyrics to songs. It cracks me up when I hear her singing Nirvana's In Bloom while she tools around my bathroom while I get ready in the morning or Duffy's Mercy as we drive to school. And now, thanks to our recent trip to NYC, (where she saw the Broadway musical), her latest (and perhaps more age-appropriate) singing obsession is Mary Poppins.  She loves to sing all of the songs, but in particular, Spoonful of Sugar & It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary.  


Lately, Olivia has developed a wee obsession with eating peanut butter & honey on a spoon. Who can blame her?  Well, just now, while eating her favorite snack, she started singing, "Just a spoonful of peanut butter helps the honey go down! The honey go dooooooooooown the honey go down!"

{Choosing the Right, finally?}

Today marked the start of a new {Primary} year at church.  Big changes, most notably that Olivia is no longer in Nursery and is finally a Sunbeam!  Also, Will graduated from the Sunbeams and is officially a CTR. CTR 4, to be exact.

When we picked up the kids from their classes, they both had so much to tell us about their new teachers, new class names, etc. etc.  Will had a picture of the CTR crest that he colored.  At the bottom, he drew a picture of a "Sunbeam" (which looks remarkably like his snowflakes & seashells).  It had a line drawn through it and he asked, "Do you know why I drew this? Because ERNT! no more Sunbeams!"  On the way home Olivia, taking a page from her big brother announced, "ERNT! no more Nursery!"

Phil asked Will what CTR stands for and he answered, "Choose the Right." Following up, Phil asked him "So, if you had a choice between yelling at your sister or not yelling at your sister, which would be the right choice?"

"NOT yelling at my sister!" Will answered gleefully.

"That's right, Will. That's Choosing the Right."

Without missing a beat, Will replied, "Good thing I went to church!"

{Juice}

Oh how I wish we had video cameras installed everywhere to capture these spontaneous outbursts. When you read this, you have to imagine "Oprah voice" for Will's exclamation (the italicized portion).
On a recent trip to Costco, I couldn't find the juice boxes I normally buy for Will & Olivia, so I instead bought Fruitables, which have a mixture of fruit & vegetable juice.

When Olivia woke up, after Will returned to get his beauty sleep, he informed her "Olivia, there are new juice boxes downstairs. They have different colors than we usually have. I tried a pink one and LOVED IT!"

He got me twice in a row. I again spent the next several minutes laughing hysterically.

{the secret to his cuteness}

This morning I woke up to both Will & Olivia in my bed. Will went downstairs to get himself some breakfast, and when he came back up, he informed me he still wanted to sleep.  He cuddled up next to me and said, "Mommy, next year for Christmas, my best Christmas wish would be for me to get my Beauty Sleep."

I spent the next 10 minutes laughing hysterically.

{overheard on christmas morn}

After all of the presents were opened, Will exclaimed "Wow Mommy! I think we were so good that Santa brought us ALL of the presents from his sleigh!"

When I finished emptying my stocking, Will said sadly, "I guess you weren't very good this year because Santa didn't put very much in your stocking." Ouch. Actually, Santa was just working long hours, including all day on Christmas Eve. I'm sure he'll make it up to me.


Olivia after opening her Pink Castle: "Oh! It's exactly what I wanted! Thank you soooo much!"

"Mommy, which of these should I do first?" Will asked, referring to the two presents from Grandpa Chapman (a Color Explosion color board & Crayola Glow Station).
              "Whichever one you want to play with Will, it's up to you."
"But I'm so excited for both of them.  Will you please choose for me? I can decide because I want to do both of them!"

From both Will & Olivia: "This is the Best Christmas EVER!" and in reference to the cookies I made for Santa that they of course each sampled, "Mommy, you are the best cookie maker ever!"

{perfect day}

On our first full day in NYC, we took the kids to Times Square & upon seeing the lights and buildings for the first time, Will exclaimed, "Wow!"

Will & Olivia zeroed in, almost immediately on the huge Toys R Us store - and had to go in. Inside they have a huge ferris wheel with character cars & you can actually go for a ride. Of course, Will & Olivia wanted to ride, and so we did. When the ride (which gives you a view of the store's 4 levels) came to an end, Will said, "This is the kind of day I want to have everyday."