a sweet mix-up

Mike's in Haiti. That's far away. Jonah went to Nineveh. That's also far away.

Mae spotted Mike's water bottle here at home and asked me, "What if Daddy needs a drink in Nineveh? He will have to come home and get his water bottle.".

Oh, how I love to hear their little thoughts.

(I should say---we're learning a song about Jonah in church. Hence Mae's biblical knowledge of the prophet Jonah. It goes like this:

"Jonah was a prophet, tried to run away

But he later learned to listen and obey

If we really try the Lord won't let us fail

That's what Jonah learned deep down inside the whale")

New Words

The kids and I were sitting down to lunch when Quinn turns and looks at me. He gets a big smile on his face, opens his mouth and says happily,

"You're stupid Mama!".

Whoa. Thoughts race through my mind, "What was that?! I don't think so! Try that again, Mr.!".

I look at my 5 year old. He's beaming.

New thoughts enter my mind, "He's trying out a new word. He likes the way it sounds. He doesn't get how hurtful that word is.".

Deep breath. Teaching moment, here I go....

I smile. I ask him where he's heard that word. He doesn't know. I tell him that's not a nice word to say to someone. It's an ugly word, a mean word.

The twins are glued this exchange. The next few minutes made my head spin. But it was a funny spin. A new kind of conversation for me and my kids. It went something like this;

"How about stinky?"

"How about big puffy?"

"Hello Cow!" ouch.

Language. Nice words. Mean words.

My kids are growing up.

The conversation ended with us suggesting happy words to replace bad ones. The phrase that everyone liked best was one Quinn used on my Dad just a few weeks ago. "Hi Gorgeous!". Quinn came up with that one all on his own. I think he's going to turn out alright after all.

Mother's Day

I get to mother these three cuties:

After a wonderful morning of worship and a tasty pasta lunch by Mike (made right before he crashed on his pillow---he worked Saturday, Sat night & Sunday morning) the kids and I took a long nature walk Sunday afternoon to get out of the house while Daddy slept.

Spring, glorious Spring!

It is a joy to walk along the bike trail.

The kids were so cute about Mother's Day. I told them it was a day to give your Mom a gift and tell her you love her. Then I took them to Target (you see where this is going...) and they wanted to buy me everything! It was the cutest thing ever. If I stopped and lingered looking at something (for instance, sunglasses), the kids would say, "I'll get you some sunglasses for Mother's Day!". I laughed as Max held up a Go! Diego watch that he was going to buy for me. Bracelets, rings, shoes, headbands, the kids were ready to put anything I touched into the cart. I could have gone hog wild this Mother's Day! In the end, a nice new red wallet went into the cart, and Mama + kiddies were happy as could be.

Yeah, I'll keep my day job. My co-workers are pretty awesome (Daddy included!). :)