Is That What He Thinks?

Usually Zack does a pretty good job staying in bed once we tuck him in. A few nights ago, this was not the case. It was either his 14th or 15th time getting out of bed and he finally voiced his real frustration after coming up with many creative excuses. He said in desperation, "I just want to be an adult and stay up late and watch bad movies!" It would have seemed so funny to me at the time except that I wondered about the bad movie part. Does he think we watch bad movies and why does he think that, and what is his definition of bad movies? Lance and I were watching Valkyrie and paused it each of the 16 or 17 times Zack came in the room. So he had no idea the content of the movie or any other movie we watch since there is always the push of the pause button to attend to whichever child walks in needing something. So, I guess there needs to be a follow-up conversation. My only response was, "I just want to be a child and have someone stay up doing all the chores and make me go to bed." Not a very good response. Lance's response was more creative..."Well, if you stay in bed, you and I will switch places this weekend and you can be the Dad and make me go to bed and you can stay up late." I'm glad Zack didn't follow his part of the deal and instead got out of bed 2 more times, or we would have a 6 year old still up at midnight tonight.

Movie Night

As we were getting ready for a family movie night a while back, I walked into the family room and this is what I saw. This scene had "Halli" written all over it. I asked her about it and she said Jaxon wanted to be part of movie night too, so he needed his blanket, jammies, slippers, and of course, his passey. She said even though he couldn't eat the popcorn, he could at least hold it. So, I laughed, snapped a picture, and asked her to let someone else enjoy the popcorn and Jax could keep the rest of his movie necessities.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday. People who know her would all agree she is an amazing person in every way. I am so grateful for her. I grew up knowing how much my mom loved me and never doubted that. The older I have gotten, she has become my friend as much as she is my mother. Whenever something exciting or sad happens, no matter how big or small, I always think, "I need to call Mom." I haven't lived close to her since I was 18, but she has always come to visit just for fun and for the important occasions in my little family's life. Now my children get to enjoy the beautiful person she is. My Mom is an example of true patience, perserverance, calmness, faith, service, and she is a great listener. Thank you Mom for your quiet example. I love you. Happy Birthday.

Brotherly Love

When my brothers and I were little, my mom kept a notebook of the funny things we would say. A few years ago, one of my brothers made it into a book and gave each of us a copy. It is priceless. He gave them to us when we were all together one Christmas, and we all sat around reading the book, laughing so hard. Every day with guilt I think I should be blogging or writing down all the things my kids say so they can do the same thing one day. So here is the latest...more sweet than funny. We were all at the park this weekend and Zack asked to hold Jaxon while Lance took a couple pictures of us. As we were all getting up to leave, I heard Zack quietly say to Jax, "Jaxon, I will always be your pal and your bro."
The next one is not so sweet. Last night as I was feeding Jaxon, Zack in his fourth attempt to get out of bedtime, asked if he could "pick" Jaxon. (This is probably gross to anyone not related to monkeys). Anyway, Zack likes to pick the lint between Jaxon's toes. Yes, I know, gross. So, he asked, "Can I pick Jaxon's toes? Everyone needs a good picking before they go to sleep."