Dum Dum Dummm

We were reading scriptures as a family in the Book of Mormon (and can I just add that this move was havoc on our family scripture reading... we thought we would finish up by the end of September and here we are in November). 

Anyhoo... a week or two ago as we read, Elizabeth was reading in Ether Chapter 14. She was using nice expression so I told her so. When she got to verse 21 she read this... (emphasis added)...

"And so great and lasting had been the war, and so long had been the scene of bloodshed and carnage, that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead." And then like in a scary movie she added... "Dum Dum Duuummm!"

I haven't laughed that hard for a while... Thanks cute girl! :)

Kill

The other day for some reason or another the kids were being really... annoying... for lack of better word. I don't even recall the specifics but Erik had had it and said "If you don't stop it right now I'm going to... I'm going to..."

Now lets back up a little. Over the past few years Momma Bear has been on Daddy Bear about idle threats. "Don't say it if you won't follow up." My husband will threaten to spank them...yet if memory is correct he has yet to ever spank a child... So don't say it.

So back to this day... we are all around waiting for Erik to finish, all eyes expectantly on him as he searches for something to say. Unable to find anything to get the kids in order he decided to make a mockery of it by using something we don't say in our house. He finishes with a smile and dramatic... "or I'll kill you!"

This is then followed with wide eyes and hunched over laughs from the peanut gallery at the table. As busy as shattering blocks in angry birds the girls start to chatter. "Dad said kill!" "Did he say kill?" "He's going to kill us! (laughing)." I heard the word which I don't like being said about 12 times among the girls and Erik as they laughed and giggled. 

Irritated, because as you may remember the girls were being very... ANNOYING... and now my husband was added to the bunch, I firmly said... "How about the next person who says KILL is going to get Tabasco in their mouth!" Knowing fully well that Mom is good on her word the girls all got quiet. Fast.

Except for Elizabeth who with big eyes, as bright as her idea, said...

"Say it Dad, Say it!!!"

Dinner

I made some Chow Mien the other night for dinner with soft noodles. I had been craving it for a few weeks. Erik wasn't home from work yet and we were all at the table ready to eat our steamy bowls of noodles with veggies and chicken. 

I called on McCall to say the prayer and we all bowed heads.

McCall then prayed.

She thanked and blessed and then asked...

"Help us to eat this dinner."

I had to open my eyes and look up. 

Was it really THAT bad!

 

Man, I love that girl!

Elizabeth-isms

Saturday morning found us preparing the three oldest girls for a church activity while mom tried to get everything done before a presidency meeting scheduled for the same time.

Elizabeth cruised by wearing Capri's to which I told her to get upstairs and get some pants on. She complained that she didn't have any pants to which I responded by calling second mom to go investigate Elizabeth's drawers.



McCall soon came down very frustrated with the responsibility motherhood brings and said,

"Mom, the boot cut jeans are okay for Elizabeth to wear, right?"

"Yes" I hastily replied.

McCall finished...

"Because Elizabeth said she can only wear skinny jeans!"

C.L.A.I.R.E.

I never posted this over the summer when it happened but if I ever turn my blog into a book I want to record it. It is just so darn funny.

We were finishing up dinner one evening...

If you are ever a fly on our wall at dinner time you would see that Erik is up at the first moment food is finished and is cleaning up. Me on the other hand, well I like to sit at the table and talk and let my food "settle" a bit. So usually by the time I stand to take my plate to the sink - or glass (if Erik has already removed my plate) the majority of dinner clean up is complete.

Part of my justification the reason I remain sitting is because Erik wouldn't want my help anyway. You see, Erik believes you should thoroughly scour plates and utensils before loading them into the dishwasher. Me? Well I think that a dish washer is made to clean dirty dishes. So in our home I just load those dirty dishes in the dishwasher and when Erik finds them in the dishwasher he then takes them out and scours them. Works pretty good, aye?

Right.

Back to dinner.

Erik is at the counter while the five of us girls are at the table finishing our chat dinner. At this point Erik starts to wipe the counter, our stark white corian counters, if that helps you visualize better.

As Erik wipes he comes across some markings and with a hint of annoyance says...

"Who colored crayon all over the counter?"

To which McCall, with a hint of pre-teen attitude says...

"Uhhhh, F.Y.I. Dad, it was marker!"

To which Claire, with a hint of 4-year-old honesty replies...

"No, it was C.L.A.I.R.E!"

Why 4-year-olds don't raise 2-year-olds

Wednesday morning found me sitting at my laptop doing some humanitarian/Relief Society work. As I am sitting on my bed, I can hear Claire and Estelle in their room playing with the dollhouse.

It's cute to listen in on them... mostly, and I love that they like to be under my radar.... if I'm in my room, they are right out the door in theirs; if I'm in the kitchen, they are in the family room; if I'm in my office/craft room, they are in the playroom or in the exercise room; if I'm in the bathroom they are pounding at the door.

Right.

As I sit a top my bed, I hear a thump (someone tripped I suppose, as a second earlier I saw them laying on their tummy's playing on the bottom floor of the dollhouse and I could just catch sight through my door of Claire's legs still lying on the floor in the same position with Stella now on her knees on the opposite side as I saw before). I then hear Stella's annoyed "Clayew!" Obviously Stella took it as Claire's fault that she tripped over Claire's legs.

Before I could interject with my, "It was an accident Stella!" I hear Claire's panic-ed voice of reason...

"No Stella, don't hit! You only hit when someone really hurts you!"

This week from the Peterson Home...

Just thought I'd share a couple things from this week which made me smile...

After getting all the girls bathed and dressed I called all of them upstairs to get their hair done. Claire zipped right upstairs. I complimented her on coming when I called the first time and being the first one up.

Claire then responded...

"Yeah! And I didn't even use my magic powers!"

At Target the other evening I just had Claire with me. We wandered past the DVD section. Claire spotted a Barbie Rainbow something or the other and said, "Can we get this movie?" To which I replied, "No."

Most emphatically Claire cried, "Ohhw...but it's the best movie EVER!"

"But you've never seen that movie Claire." I replied.

"Well... I just know it really IS!" she declared.

I was making dinner this evening. (Baked Tilapia, rice and broccoli - if you want to know.) The girls had been at each other for the past hour straight as they picked up and got pajamas on before dinner. Frustrated I tried to occupy them and told the girls to grab a board game or two to play at the kitchen table while I got dinner ready.

What was in the water today?! 

With board games opened they continued to fight over random issues; who gets to set up the game, who gets that piece, who gets to go first, whatever they could argue about this evening they did!

Exhausted, particularly by Elizabeth's whining, I said,

"Elizabeth, if you whine one more time you will go to your room for the rest of the night without any dinner."

Elizabeth paused for a moment considering and said...

"What are we having for dinner?"

Getting BOO'ed

So we got BOO'ed last week. You know... the ring of the doorbell, the treat left on the step, the return of two treats to another family and the ghost in the window.

So one evening, while McCall was at dance we made some cookies. I will not get into the details of baking cookies with helpers ages 6/4/2, my post is not about all of that, but needless to say that it in itself makes a great post.

So we finished placing the cookies in cellophane bags and headed out the door. There was a small battle over rain boots. I tried to tell the girls it's hard to run fast in rain boots but they wanted to wear them. "Okay, dig your own grave!" I thought.

So we head out ...

So... did you notice that all 4 paragraphs SO far have started with SO? I see a trend in which a lack of adjectives is deeply shocking! I am about being real, keeping it real, so rather than me editing out the above SO's into something more intelligent sounding, I am sacrificing my own personal pride and your perception of my intelligence and leaving the so's for the world (or the two readers of this blog), to view and judge me by. I will be more careful hitherto.

To continue on... we headed out with our cookies, if you still even remember where we were going with this... and went into the neighborhood.

House #1:
Elizabeth wanted to go to this home, so I stood by the mailboxes and told the girls to go and set the items on the front porch and then ring the doorbell two times and then RUN, Forrest, RUN... (ahem) and hide.

Onward they trudge in those darn boots, (in case you have forgotten amid my rambling, the girls are in rain boots), and arrive at the home. Elizabeth is carefully holding the bag of the cookies, while Claire is running ahead with the paper. As they approach the door Claire is at this point most certainly in the lead and I see her drop the paper and reach for the doorbell. "Oh no, busted!" I think. At that same moment I hear Elizabeth scream, about 10 feet from the door, "NO CLAIRE! NO! Don't ring it yet!"

Now, I am watching all this from across a cul-de-sac, and laughing quite profusely. If I can hear the girls from my distance, I'm sure everyone in the home can too!

Among the two girls they get the whole leave the items THEN ring the bell discussion sorted out and the bell gets rung and then they run behind the parked van in the driveway. Despite their best efforts to get caught by peeking out from behind the said van, the homes door gets closed and the girls run away, "thump thump thump" as the rain boots slap their shins across the cul-de-sac.

House #2:
This home has a steep drive and a lot of steps. I told the girls it was a risky getaway but in case you are as uninformed as me, my girls are smarter than I am.

I hide around the bend in the road behind the neighbors motor home with a perfect view of the 'home on the hill'. The girls trudge (still in boots) in the direction of the home.

As they near the home a large truck pulls into our subdivision. It turns the corner by where I am positioned and starts to pull up to the 'home on the hill'. My first instinct was to run out thinking this person is going to snatch my girls. The girls are now heading up the steep dive, as the passenger door of the truck opens and out pops a youth. "Oh crap I think, the son is home from football!"

The rest is basically a blur because the girls are at the door with the youth approaching, I'm thinking "ABORT, ABORT!" and laughing so hard I'm having a hard time standing upright with Stella in my arms.

The girls come dashing back, "thump, thump, thump" and when they get to the safety of the motor home I say, "So you got caught?" Wide eyed, excited, and heavily breathing they tell me "No, we didn't". I ask, "But what about 'name of youth'?" Elizabeth tells me "Well he just said, "what is going on!" but we rang the doorbell and ran away." Claire added, "no one even caught us!"

They returned home thinking they are they greatest, smartest spies in the whole wide world. CIA BEWARE! 


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

SLR

I just went to Best Buy to purchase season 5 of The Office (which they were sold out of btw) and I ended up wandering over to their SLR camera's and I've wanted one for so long... and when I called Erik (to tell him they were out of the Office and as I explained about the Office being sold out and how I should have purchased it at Costco yesterday but Erik had seen an add for it at Best Buy... yada yada yada) So, as I'm explaining this, Erik came back with a "Honey, I'm busy--I don't care what you buy"... and right at that moment I was just standing there looking at that cute Canon... so I just figured I'd purchase it because Erik sort of gave me the okay with the "don't care what you buy".... RIGHT?!!
Anyhooo..... I am really excited and I hope I can figure out how to use it. :)

While mother's away the little ones will play...

So last Friday night the girls (McCall & Elizabeth) wanted to sleep in the guest bedroom - soon to be McCall's as soon as we pick out a bedroom set - anyhooo, Erik had gone down to walk on the treadmill about 9pm, with girls in bed, as I headed out the door to deliver a birthday gift and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie to my Dad in Orem.

When Erik got off the treadmill to come upstairs at 10:30pm this note was sitting at the foot of the stairs - and the girls were still awake in the middle of a crisis concerning one head and a sippy cup of water. Needless to say when I got home about 11pm the girls were asleep in their own beds!

(Dad, Elizabeth hit me with her drink. Love, McCall P.S. Wer (where) is mom?)

I love it! What a goof!

CornBelly's

I know I am late posting these photo's from Cornbelly's, but it is nice to look at them now and remember the warmth of the day - warmth - which like October, has gone.

Poor Claire, the climb to the top with her sister alone would have done her in but now her sister is in control of rocketing her to the bottom!

Rockin' McCall

This is what Elizabeth will wear if she cuts anymore hair off...

The balloon man... okay can I just say - PEOPLE you are supposed to tip them! I can't believe how cheap people can be. So many kids followed him around and never paid anything. The same thing went for the face painters.

No paint for this little one but the maze of pumpkins was fun for her.

Two Princesses ready for the ball... (okay, that was cheesy I know).


Okay, so I was laughing so hard I couldn't take a picture of the kids on the slide thing with the pvc tubes which rolled as they went down. (If you went you may know what I mean?) The kids were bouncing and it so didn't look like any fun but it was hilarious, ohhh, I am LOL right now just thinking of it. We had a 60 year old woman on it and she came off hardly walking. Elizabeth got a little way down and stuck her heals in so she wouldn't go down and we were persuading her to come down, but I think they did it a second maybe third time. Ahhh... good times.

Warning: This could happen to you...It could happen to your...

MOTHER, YOUR SISTER OR YOUR DAUGHTER.

The strangest thing happened to me this weekend.

I was sitting at a local outdoor cafe having lunch by

myself and two men came and sat down at my table.

I gave them the death look, but they just casually

stayed at my table and wouldn't leave me alone.

I shined up my ring on my married finger, then placed

my hand on the table and I hinted to them that I

was married and that I was not interested in them.

Luckily for me they got the hint and left, but thankfully

the whole thing was captured on the Cafe's camera.

I'm sending you this picture as a warning...just in case

they try and pick you up too.


Honestly, some men think they are God's gift to women.










YUM! Thanks for this email - it made me smile!

A memory to share...

So this is a memory from Sarah Lunt, and it is so funny that I just had to share...It is so typical of Sarah to have a memory like this -- it seems her life is full of them! Ahh, I'm still wiping away tears (maybe it helps because I can picture it all!)

Sarah wrote:
"We were newlyweds and my ward was hosting an enrichment dinner at the Covey's beautiful home! Sister Covey was going to talk to us about manners I think...and just being a gracious person. Her talk was wonderful and so was the food. When it was over we said goodbye to everyone and headed out to the car. The Covey's lived on a hill in north Provo/Orem and we just parked on the street. I drove the only car that Darin and I owned at the time...which was a blue-green VW Fox...let's just say that a car like that is hard to find, very rare. I unlocked the door and got in, reached around and unlocked the passenger side and put the key in the ignition. For some reason the key wouldn't turn. The car was old and so we thought the steering wheel got locked up. So you and I kept jerking on the steering wheel trying to get it to unlock so it would start...but nothin'! Then we thought maybe it just needed a little push, so we took off the emergency brake and pushed it a little way down the hill, jumped in and tried it again. Nothing happened again. Pretty soon a big crowd from the activity was gathering and we were explaining that the car wouldn't start. Then I noticed that one of the hubcaps was missing and there was a rusty dent in the side. We were like, "NO WAY! Someone hit the car while we were in there and didn't even leave a note!" Sister Covey came out and asked if we wanted to call the cops and we said no we'd just call Tyler to come get us. As you ran in to call Tyler I chatted with everyone about "the accident". You came back and said Tyler was on his way. Almost everyone had left the activity but one girl who lived about a building down from me came over to see what was wrong. As I told her she said, "What car?" and I said, "This one." pointing to it. She said, "Oh, that's my car." LOL The whole time we were pushing the wrong car down the hill and yanking on the steering wheel! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. I'm sure Sister Covey and the other "have-it-all-together" women there were cracking up over us. But seriously, I had NEVER seen another blue-green VW Fox in my life! And I surely didn't know my neighbor had one! So we looked up the hill, and just one more car away was MY VW Fox!!!I seriously think we are like Lucy and Ethel!"

So one Sunday afternoon McCall came up screaming (with delight) "There are turkeys in the backyard!!!". Sure enough we had two feathered friends. Erik got a picture just before they flew the coop! To bad we don't have a gun. We could have had Sunday dinner too.