Poison

Jason was in Fresno for a few days and got home late last night. He was feeling very ill when he got home and hasn't seen much improvement yet. This morning I was telling Ethan to be quiet, Dad is sleeping and not feeling well. I told him I think Jason probably has food poisoning.

Ethan's response, "Wow. Who would want to poison Dad?"

I may have a budding conspiracy theorist on my hands. . .

I Don't Like

I am in love with BNL's kids CD, Snacktime. The kids like it more than me. In truth, I am a little bit sick of it but EVERY time we get in the car it must be on with the kids singing to it. One of the songs is called, I Don't Like. We simply cannot get through this song without commentary from the peanut gallery. Not only that, it's the same commentary EVERY time. Like it's been rehearsed. I suppose it has, but not really on purpose.

I can eat pork 'til the cows come come
And cheese like it's going out of style
(Kate, "Me too, I LOVE cheese." Ethan, "I HATE cheese.")
I like just about every type of vegetable
(All three of them, "Oh yea, I'm with him, I love vegetables!")
I like raisins, and nuts, and seeds, and olives,
And pickles, and fruit, and beef, and bread,
But I don't like... salmon.
(Nathanael, "I am totally with him. I like fruit and I don't like salmon." Ethan, "How can you say that? You've never even tasted it." Kate, "Well salmon is fish and I don't like fish so I don't like it." Ethan, "You've never even tasted fish!" Kate, "Yes I have." Ethan, "No you haven't" repeat this like an annoying echo including a few supporting arguments. . .

I've jumped from a plane with a parachute
Scuba'd to the ocean floor
Driven super fast in a racing car
I've bungee jumped, and zip lined too,
I've crossed rope bridges over raging rivers
But I don't like... those spinny rides.
(Kate, "Oh yea, I love spinny rides!" Ethan, "I am so with him, I hate spinny rides." Nathanael goes into a long explanation of which spinny rides he likes- did you know there are varying degrees?)

I can fly my very own aeroplane
And I've been to the top of mountains
I've been to the top of the CN Tower
I can work on a ladder, I can climb a tree
I can look out the window of a really tall building
But if I stand close to the edge of a railing, or up on a roof or something I realize I don't like... heights so much.
(Ethan, "I agree. I don't like heights." Nathanael, "Me too, I don't like heightsomuch." "Nathanael it's heights. . . . .so. . . . .much, three words." Nathanael, "Well I still don't like heightsomuch."

sigh.

This is the best "snacktime" picture I could find. This is Kate in July 2004 (3+ years old)

Quotes of the Week

All kids say the craziest things. I try to write down the good ones to use as bribery some day or at least for a good laugh when I need it. Here are two pretty good ones from today.

Nathanael: "Mom, sometimes while I'm at swimming lessons I feel like I'm on a rabbit hunt. "

Me: (think, think, how could a rabbit hunt be related to swimming lessons. . .) "You mean like when you go under water to look for something?"

Nathanael: "No, like I am in the woods hunting rabbits."

I was stumped and didn't respond.

Ethan has some hard labor ahead of him since he broke a basement window on Sunday. I am sure I will get around to posting about it sometime soon. He has to earn some serious cash to help pay for the glass. Jason made a long list of stuff to be done. Ethan thought he might take a year or so to finish these chores, not realizing that Jason wants it done by Friday. He will get a new list on Monday. Today Ethan came in after working for about twenty minutes and told me he was done for the day. I swallowed a chuckle and we had a little talk about getting this work done. Needless to say Ethan was less than thrilled and stomped back outside. A few minutes later Jason called and wanted to talk to Ethan. Their conversation went something like this. . .

Jason: What's wrong Ethan?

Ethan: MOM'S MAKING ME WORK! SHE CAN'T MAKE ME WORK!!

Jason: She certainly can make you work.

Ethan: NO SHE CAN'T! THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY!!

Ahh, the injustice of youth. I love how living in a free country means you don't have to work. Except of course if your name is Ethan and you have really mean parents who make you work to earn money to pay the window you broke.

Quote of the week

Nathanael: Ethan, how do you spell M&M . . . without looking!

Our Up and Coming Songwriter

Kate has written her top ten song titles for display on a gigantic post-it note that she hung on the wall of our hall for a few days. She came up with eight on her own, asked Jason for help on the ninth and liked that one so much that she couldn't top it.


If the Savior was happy
Come to America
Come with me
See, See with me
See me with Panda in China
Have a happy little day, little pup, little pup
Have a fun day at school
Yah, just my pup
Katie Lady is a daddy's girl

I don't know, but "Yah, just my pup" sounds pretty Top Forty to me.

Three Poems

My Mother's Day Poems

Nathanael's:
My Mom, I love U!

Kate's:
You're the BEST!

Ethan's:
Me and you are a team.
Though it seam
That you're sometimes mean.
I love you.

Napoleon?

Quote of the week:

Tania (piano teacher): "Ethan, do you want to be first at the recital?"
Ethan: "Whatever. I don't really care. I just want to show off my skills."

Ok Napoleon!

Gecko Hunt

Nathanael: "Mom, Do you remember when we were at our Grandma's house and all of our cousins were there and there was this chocolate swirly thingy?"

*silence while I figure out what the "chocolate swirly thingy" could be.*

Mom: "Yea, I remember. Do you remember why were at Grandmas?"

Nathanael: "Well. . . I don't know, but me and my cousin Ti and my other cousins were gecko huntin'! And you know Mom, geckos are lizards. And we found a frog. And that's all I remember."

This exchange happened at lunch time this week and I had to laugh about it. Our family spent a lot of time talking about the big event he's referring to and what he remembers is the "chocolate swirly thingy" aka a chocolate fountain. Does he remember the temple or his beautiful aunt in her pretty white dress or his new uncle in his cool black tux? Nope. But the chocolate swirly thingy was right up there with the geckos.

General Conference, kid crushes and brain mush

I love General Conference weekend. It's awesome to look forward to four two hour sessions when I know I will be uplifted and touched and reminded why I am here, where I am going and how I can do better. It was great to see Pres. Monson step into his role as the prophet and I really enjoyed hearing so much from him. I especially loved Elder Ballard's talk. What mom didn't love this talk? I was also touched by Pres. Uchtdorff's, Elder Bednar's, and Elder Holland's talk and others but those are in my mind at the moment.


Here's Ethan in his new preferred computer chair. This week after cub scouts (I am now the assistant bear leader) I was trying to get out the door and Ethan was acting CRAZY, WACKO. I was getting irritated because we needed to leave and get him to piano. He was hiding from and flirting with Erin Child (she was there for activity days), a darling girl in his primary class who he DOESN'T LIKE. Get it? He DOESN'T like her. On the way home I was telling him that his behavior is a dead giveaway that he at least thinks she's a nice girl (but of course he doesn't need to worry about liking a girl until he's 25). Then he softened and told me that he told someone something and they turned on him and it ruined EVERYTHING. It turns out he told Brett Child (Erin's big brother) that he likes Erin. Guess what Brett did? He went and told Erin! Ethan was mortified of course. Ahh, to learn the cruelties of children. Sorry Ethan, but you can't trust kids to keep secrets like that, especially brothers. It just isn't going to happen. I was a little older than Ethan, but this reminds me of when my family moved to Utah (I was 11) and there were a couple of boys in our ward who I thought were SO cute and I would always watch them pretty closely as they passed the sacrament. Of course I wouldn't tell my friends because that would have "ruined EVERYTHING!" Any guesses on those mystery boys?

Quote of the week. . .

This afternoon after conference Nathanael and Kate were watching "the Jesus movie" when suddenly they began to argue. Kate was freaking out because Nathanael had turned off the TV in the middle of the movie without even pushing stop! (Can you believe the nerve? She can't.) Nathanael came in all worked up and practically yelled, "But I don't want my brain to turn to mush!" I tell him that if he watches too much TV his brain will turn to mush. I guess brainwashing really does work.

April Fools

Ethan tried to play an April Fool on all of us but unfortunately for him it all backfired. He was hoping for a big reaction and he got nothin'! Last night he snuck through the house moving all the clocks ahead one hour so we would mistakenly wake up an hour early. His first problem was when he realized that my clock radio is SO old (yes I got it for Christmas my 9th grade year and it still works great!) that he couldn't figure out how to set it. So he had to let me in on his little secret. Then he tried to get Jason to, "just let me look at your watch, I want to check it out." Jason was having none of it since it was after bed time and we wanted the kids in bed. Even if he had gotten a hold of it, it wouldn't matter because Jason has an atomic watch that automatically updates the time 24/7. So at 5 am (the clock said 6 am) when Jason's alarm went off he checked his watch, turned off his alarm and turned over. Ethan was out cold and slept through his joke. I guess there's always next year!

Where is Spring?

Friday the kids' school had the main fund raiser for the year--a jog-a-thon. Of course it was overcast and cold. When I was getting ready to leave (to go to the school) I noticed that it had started snowing. Once the entire school was outside and ready to start running it was snowing again. They were supposed to run (or walk) for an hour but the weather alternated between snow and sleet for a good thirty minutes and they ended up stopping it after about 40 minutes. Ethan was mad. We were running together and he decided to sneak in another lap while they were holding up the "final lap" sign. The funny part is we hauled all these kids back inside and then they were sent out for recess 10 minutes later, and it was still snowing!

Ethan and Kate both had soccer games on Saturday. I had somewhere to be so Jason was on soccer duty. This is what he said, "Kate's game was just plain freezing. Even I was wrapped in a blanket. Then Ethan's was just plain ridiculous. In the space of an hour we saw rain, snow, hail and sleet. The wind was miserable. I was never so glad to be done with a game." I am glad I couldn't go!


I had a lesson in agency this week. Here are the basics- teenage pregnancy, unwanted baby, no Dad= sad situation. We all make choices every single day and those choices affect others and in this case the choices affected a tiny, sweet baby. I've been all worked up about it but I am not going to go into that. But I have to mention Ethan's part in this. He was with me when we met this little baby and on the way home he was intrigued, asking all kind of questions. Here is a sampling. . .

"What is the baby eating?" He can't figure out how a baby could eat without her mother to nurse her. He doesn't know that you can buy formula, mix it with water and voila--instant baby food.

"Is Tania just pumping?" He also doesn't know that women don't just automatically make milk because they are caring for a baby.

"I don't get how she even had a baby if she isn't married." I love that one. The innocence of youth is so refreshing, and I just squashed it. I said, "She can have a baby because she had sex Ethan." Well, that spurred another conversation! As part of that he asked, "So a five year old could have a baby?" No, I gave a brief and simple explanation of puberty. Then he said, "Oh, I didn't know that happens to girls too." That's right, boys aren't the only lucky ones to get hairy legs.

I changed the subject by explaining that it's so important to follow Heavenly Father's commandments and to think before we act because the choices we make can seriously affect others, as in this case.

It was a good reminder that Heavenly Father gives us enough rope to hang ourselves with our choices and he will stand by and let it happen. We have the right to choose. It must be a pretty important principle for him to stand by and do nothing as people murder, rape, maim, rob, etc.

Quote of the week. . .

We had Bret and Tania over for FHE with Aunt Barbara (Dorothy's sister) and Marianna (Bret's youngest sister). Nathanael was teaching the lesson. A scripture was read and he asked a follow up question. Marianna quickly repeated the answer, as read from the scripture. He looked at her and with his most annoyed voice said, "You're supposed to raise your stinkin' hand!" Alrighty then, don't mess with the Bug when he's teaching.

Easter and other events this week

Happy Easter! We took pictures on the temple grounds on Saturday night. It's a good thing since there was no time today, plus it was windy, rainy and cold.






When I went to buy ties for my boys I couldn't resist buying these socks since I could get some for all three boys. It seemed silly since no one would see them. So of course to remedy that we took a picture that I can post for all to see!



On St. Patricks Day we had a green breakfast and the kids followed little leprechaun footprints to find some candy and they thought that was great. That evening we wrote notes to Grandma Ellsworth on our green balloons and let them fly away into the night sky. The next morning I found all three kids looking out the back doors. I asked what they were doing and they said they were looking for Grandma's balloons in the sky. Nathanael asked how the balloons get to heaven.


I have been ready to try a new hairstyle for a while so I made my appointment on Wednesday; Jason would be gone and I would have a few days to figure out how to do it before he got home. I wanted it short for summer and I decided to be brave and really cut it short. I have liked it and hated it several times since Wednesday. It's short and layered and it's kind of hard to do because pretty much the only thing I can do really good with hair is a pony tail and that's not an option here so I am in a bad way. Oh well, it will grow right? Yikes!

Nathanael loves these underwear so much that he decided to wear them both at the same time. It was a surprise to us and when I asked him about it he acted like he does it all them time. No wonder my laundry baskets are always full.

When reading interupts sleep. . .

I have to start by saying I love to read. I have been known to stay up half the night and on occasion almost the whole night to finish a book. But I read responsibly! I generally only stay up super late reading on the weekend when I can sleep in a little and/or I don't need to look human the next day. That being said, this morning around 4:30 I heard one of the kids get up and go to the bathroom. I looked at my clock and thought to myself- sweet I have another hour and a half to sleep! I promptly rolled over and resumed my repose. Again I was awakened by one of the kids, this time walking past my room. I laid still, waiting. Soon I heard the piano and I knew it wasn't playing itself. I looked at the clock and it was a few minutes before six and Ethan was practicing piano. I got up, woke Eli up (Yes, you read that correctly- and I suppose I am crazy. I snatch him from his cozy basket every morning at 6 and feed him in my bed where we both doze off and on until 6:30. Then I get up and wake up the rest of the house and Eli sleeps until I get him up for real at 7:00) and went back to bed to feed him. At 6:30 when I went to wake up Kate, Ethan was done and came to tell me, "I'm already done practicing piano!" He really thought it would be a surprise to me that he was done, as though I actually slept through him playing! Ok, so maybe that's not too far off since Kate was still out cold. He proceeds to tell me how he woke up at 4:30 am to go to the bathroom (yep, knew that) and he just decided that he wanted a nice long book to read over the weekend so he decided to finish his current book so he could get a new one at the library today to have for the weekend. I just stared at him (incredulous) and said, "So you read from 4:30 until 6:00 in the morning?" This was his response, "Yea. You know Mom, I am all about reading and not so much about sleeping." Huh?

Butter, fingers (a thumb actually) and a goal

This week while I was making dinner I asked Ethan to put some butter on a plate. He looked at me like I was speaking Greek and said, "What do you mean?" I said, "You know, put butter on a plate, like that over there." I was referring to a plate that had maybe 2 teaspoons of butter left on it that had been left out after the kids ate some toast. Not too long after that I turned around to see the butter in it's wrapper, standing straight up on the dirty plate. The bit of left over butter was smashed to oblivion under the weight of the fresh stuff. I asked him, "What is that??" His reply, "It's the butter." Yes, it sure is.


Elijah is discovering that there are some warm, long things connected to the ends of his arms and if he moves them just right he can get them near his mouth and possibly in his mouth where he finds that they fit so very nicely. I checked on him during his nap this week and found him sucking contentedly away. I have had one thumb sucker and I was really hoping that I wouldn't have another. They make great babies but the aftermath ($$$ to the orthodontist) is more than I like to think about.

Ethan scored his first goal of the season yesterday. He was pretty excited. I was pretty excited that Jason was in the right place at the right time with the camera ready. Can't you just see the goalie saying, "Nooooooooooooo!" :)

A few pictures. . .

I am hoping Ethan will outgrow this phase pretty soon.


Kate always wants to wear shorts or capris, even if it's below zero outside. So on this day she insisted on wearing capris but since she was cold she decided to wear her soccer socks to keep her legs warm.


Nathanael has a fixation with mohawks. It comes and it goes and he generally asks for it on school days to which I always reply- I don't think so. Once he asked when it wasn't a school day and this is how it turned out.


Elijah is adding fat rolls faster than I want to add oreos to my daily lunch menu. I love his chub! His face has turned into a square and I often can't keep my lips off him!