Christmas treats

While eating a bear claw pastry Anna told the kids it has almond extract in it so it fasts a bit like marashino cherries.
Sam took a bite and said, "this doesn't taste like jalapeño cherries."

Pronounciation

All the kids were telling riddles around the dinner table with their cousins.
Damian: What do you call an X that just got out of the bath tub?
Answer: a Kleenex.

Sammy has trouble making the "L" sound, and he but he quickly formulated this riddle on his own...
Sam: what kind of Queen has no crown?
Answer: A Queenex (but it sounded just like Kleenex).

Crossed over the 50 mile mark

I crossed over the 50 mile mark today, one day ahead of schedule!!
This feels good.

Maria the risk taker

Maria asked "why do we have to wear our seatbelts when we have never been in an accident?"
Anna: "if we did get in a car accident you would fly out the window."
Maria, banging on the side window: "but mom, I'm hitting the window and it doesn't break."

My dad invented that

Maria has lost both her front teeth and has been enjoying all the attention that comes from missing teeth before Christmas.
Tonight her Aunt Catherine sang the "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song. Maria then said: "My dad invented that song."

SIDS

Emily was telling us that the father of one of her friends died recently, really sad. But as we were talking about Joshua asked, "Did he die of sudden instant death?"

Funny Updates

I was wrestling the kids this evening before bedtime.
Maria said: you can you can't hurt me because I'm five, and you're almost dead.
Me: I'm not that old.
Maria: Yes, you're almost to the age of your death.


The other day Maria asked if we could use some of the money that we earn to buy toys. We responded with something standard like: you already have toys, and there are other things to spend money on beside toys.
So Maria said: well yeah, we need to buy food too, we couldn't live if we just had toys, toys, TOYS!

Up before the sun to play in the snow

Everybody already know that our kids are crazy-awesome...but this confirms it. They woke up at 6:30 am, and were playing in the snow by 7:00 (long before the sun rose).

Then they made tiger, bird and dinosaur footprints in the snow.

Later when getting dressed for atrium Maria said, "this would be a lot easier if I was a paper doll."

More stories

Maria was playing paper dolls with Anna and was naming all the dolls and giving them characteristics.
At one point she said, this one is named Maria, she pretends to be the mom and takes care of all the kids ...(pause) actually her mom died of cancer so she is the mom.

I wish I had thought of this

Real Men of Genius

Can you control your self

Maria has been a bit aggressive lately, especially when she is tired.
Today Anna asked her: "can you control your body?"
And Maria shouts "YES" and swings her arm hitting Anna in the head.

LOL

Who can you marry

Damian was talking about marrying Maria but we told him " you can't
marry someone in your family."
Maria added, "yeah, you can only marry someone you don't know."

(that's right, arranged marriages are back)

Almost a Compliment

In response to a suggestion I made, Joshua said "Wow mom, I would have never thought of that. You're almost smarter than me!"

Already Famous

I overheard Joshua complimenting Sam on a picture he drew.
Joshua: "Sam, that is amazing, someday you are going to be a famous artist!"

Sam: "I already am a famous artist."


(infamous maybe, for not putting his art supplies away :-)

Watch this and your adrenaline will rush!!

I am going to mail in my teabag.

Introducting Elizabeth Arabella Rose

Born June 11th (on Jesse's mom's birthday) at 1:36am, 8 pounds 14 oz.
She is a real chubby girl and nursed right away. Big sister Maria was there for the birth. While holder her for the first time she confidently said, "She'swiggly, that means she wants to stand up."

Whoa, not so fast big sister, we'll let her just rest for a while.

Kid version of Go Fish

Tonight we played go fish with the kids. Here's a few of the interchanges.

Joshua, "Sammy, do you have nemo?" "Yes". "Can I have it?" "No".

Maria, "Sammy, do you have squirt?" Sammy, picking up one of his pairs, "I have two, which one would you like?"

Also, all 3 of the kids just had to blurt out what card they had drawn each time they went "go fish".

Running lots lately

I have been keeping track of everything on my livestrong.com account but I ran 6 miles today while pushing kids in the chariot and I am feeling pretty good about it. The iPhone follows my run with GPS on trail guru. I know that technology is annoying to many of you, but I think it is fun to be able to see the blue line on a map showing where I ran.

Emily ran the first 3 miles with me too. We plan to run a half marathon in August and my Dad agreed to do it as well. This will be my 3rd, Emily's 2nd and Steve's 1st! Who will join us next year??

We went to a reception following the funeral mass for Anna's Grandparents (more on that amazing story later).
Joshua has been really confident lately. As the reception was coming to a close a friend of the extended family that we had never met before came to me and told me that Joshua suprised her. He said in a very "matter of fact" way: "did you know that I am smarter than you?"
Thankfully she was a school teacher so she took no offense, she simply responded that he was probably right.