It's the Future, Mom!

Driving in the car with Aaron (7) today, the low gas light came on with a beep, which Aaron recognizes. He said "Uh Oh! We need gas!"  I told him that Dad would get it later, because he has the gas gift card. I have a dislike for filling the van with gas, so I love that my husband usually does it for us.

I asked Aaron if he will get gas for his wife when he's married. He replied, "Yes, I will!  BUT, there might not be gas anymore! It will be the future!"  Cute.  Also cute, by the way, is how he likes to make faces of his letters:

In other news, we are expecting a foot or more of snow tonight and tomorrow. We're excited!  It's been a mild winter here in our part of MI, precipitation-wise. Several storms has stayed south of us. So we're ready and waiting for the Big Storm to actually materialize and give us some real Michigan winter weather!

More Laughs from a Six Year Old

A couple more things that Aaron has said recently that made me laugh.

Yesterday he helped me make cookies (which are somewhat rare around here because they're too hard for this Mom to resist eating!)  While I was cleaning up, I turned from the sink to see Aaron licking spilled sugar off the counter, like a dog, which was funny enough!  But then he told me, "There was so much sugar that I couldn't even taste the counter!"

Later, he declared "I love cookies!  They're my favorite circle thing!"

He's also still calling pirates "Pie-Rips", which cracks me up every time.

Here he is, ecstatic after beating everybody at UNO!  What innocent joy!

From a 6 Year Old's Point of View

Although Aaron, at 6 years old, can certainly try my patience and sometimes irritate every cell in my body, he can also be hilarious and make me laugh.  A few humorous things he's said or done recently . . .

Tuesday night while watching a little bit of American Idol with me, I asked Aaron "do you think you could do that?"  (meaning sing in a competition like AI.)  He replied, "Yea, but I can't go right now, my knee hurts!"  (he actually does have some signs of a good singing voice.)

Aaron has a bad habit lately of hugging Isaac too hard in a way that resembles tackling more than hugging, which bothers Isaac, understandably!   One day after Isaac not-very-gently pushed Aaron away after repeatedly asking him to stop "hugging" him, Aaron got mad and yelled "You just lost a LOT of love!" with his arms stretched out wide to represent just how much love!

Last Saturday we had a great time with our homeschool group, enjoying our own version of Winter Olympics.  One of the competitions was snow ball making.  The Gold went to the person with the biggest snow ball after one minute.  Aaron was so proud of his that he carried it around in his arms for a few minutes and then, after posing for a picture, told me "let's go put this in the van now, to take home!" 

I love the innocence of youth, and how small things are so important.  Wish I could have some of that back sometimes.

Still Calm and Quiet Around Here!

Even the dog has been well-behaved . . .



Practicing jumps and flips from the mini-trampoline on to the couch counts as P.E., doesn't it?!

It's Been a Little Quiet Around Here . . .

Even our neighbor Jack has joined in the fun a few times!





And I'm loving it!

Stop That Bus!!

I'm having a "Wait! Stop that yellow bus, and take my kids!" kind of homeschooling day . . .

I'm not feeling well from some sort of respiratory bug that I've had for a few days now. Isaac and Aaron have been arguing and fighting this morning, mixed in with Aaron screaming because he doesn't know what else to do when his older brother won't do what he wants!

After giving myself a time-out in my room (with a locked door!) for several minutes while feeling sorry for myself that I have to deal with 3 children while sick, I finally came back out, got everybody separated, and somehow calmed down.

Next, I spent a half hour trying to help Noah with Algebra problems that he got wrong from last week, resulting in both of us getting frustrated because we couldn't figure some things out. I declared math over for the day, and then watched a 30 minute history video with the older two boys while letting the Aaron play a computer game.

Now I'm worn out and need a nap; so I decided that after lunch, the boys will have a puzzle/game day for the rest of the day. We do that from time to time, about once a month, for a change of pace, or if Mom really needs it!

And then, praise the Lord, I remembered a Leapster electronic toy that a friend had given us about 2 years ago that was too complicated for Aaron at the time. I dug it out, Noah and Isaac searched around for batteries, and amazingly, Aaron is completely engrossed in it and will hopefully stay occupied with it for quite a while so he doesn't bother his big brothers while I take a nap. After I figure out what we're having for lunch . . .

Homeschooling can be great; but some days, I really do wonder why God thinks that I can do it!

(edited to add): After being sent to his room for a time-out twice for being mean toward Isaac, and then having a toy taken away for the day because he kept grabbing it from Isaac and Isaac yelled at him (all within about a half hour), Aaron started crying and said "this is the saddest day of my whole life!" He's not dramatic at all.

Laughter is Good Medicine

more things heard around our house this past week . . .



"Technically, we can change our heads any time we want to!"

Noah to Isaac, talking about Lego figures



Last night, Aaron brought the globe over to me:

"Where are we in this world?"

I showed him Michigan

"Where is Bah-hain?" (where Daddy is from)

I showed him Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf

"Where is McDonald's?"

Kids Say the Funniest Things . . .

And it can especially be funny when taken out of context. I've heard these comments lately:


"Birds can't be people's brothers!"

Isaac to Aaron, while playing with Legos, and Aaron wanted his Lego parrot and Isaac's Lego man to be brothers.


"Mom, is there anywhere in the house that I don't know about?"

Isaac to me, wanting to "explore" in our house - which is SO large that of course there are places in the house that he's never been before!? (also inspired by a Boxcar Children book we had just read in which the children explore their aunt's large house)


"Aaron, I'm gonna destroy some people; wanna watch?"

Isaac to Aaron, just before starting to play Runescape on the computer (an on-line video game set in Medieval times, which, by the way, my oldest 2 boys love and I have found to be harmless and surprisingly sometimes educational! - so it's not as bad as it sounds!)


They all say funny and interesting things, but Isaac sure has filled his quota lately!