apple picking

i'm pretty happy with my little family...

tonight, when daddy got home, we headed out for some apple picking

he was all about picking apples.

she was all about filling that basket...bet happy to let dad do the picking.

sneaking an apple...look at that guilty face!

could she be more beautiful?

they ate about this many apples on the drive home

a momma's delight!

Then it was off to carl's jr...because the one in sandy has a playland

our dinner conversation went like this...

Morgan: "i want to keep my dad, but i want a different mom."

mom: "oh yeah? what kind of mom do you want?"

Morgan: "i want a mom with short hair."

mom: "i have short hair."

Morgan: "no, short hair like grandma becky's."

mom: "what else do you want in a new mom?"

Morgan: "she needs to have one brother and 2 sisters."

hmmm....which brother could I get rid of? anyone want to be my sister?

lollipops

today we got the kids lolipops

(and I didn't take any pictures...crazy I know)

chloe: "what are lolipops made of, mom?"

me: "sugar mostly"

chloe: "SUGAR??!! I knew it!"

morgan: "Yep, lolipops are made of sugar and hard gravel"

there you have it folks...lolipops are made of sugar and hard gravel

my kids have it all figured out!

overheard...

yesterday while eating breakfast...

"Morgan do you want to be Raja and I will be Jasmine?"

"I have to go to school, but I will when I get home."

today while choosing a movie...

"Chloe, do you want to watch 101 Dalmations?

...there's a princess in it...do you know who it is?"

Just the simplest little exchanges between Morgan and Chloe make me so happy!

I love that they love to play with each other.

I love that they know each other so well that they know how to "sell" anything to the other.

I love that they know how to talk through things to find something that makes both of them happy.

I love the sibling relationship.

homework

I think I am going to like Morgan's teacher.

She sent home a homework folder this week with all of the homework assignments for the whole month on a calendar so we know what to plan for and what to work on.

Hello - planning mommy's dream!

Today's assignment was to draw a picture of your teacher and write her name.

This is what Morgan did...

He was dead set thinking that he was supposed to describe his teacher.

You win some, you lose some!

(and you make them write the real answer below the answer that you know will crack the teacher up)

Oh, and did I mention that he uses crazy synonymously with silly...

yeah, I should probably share that tidbit with his teacher...

Also - he is a little obsessed with fingers!

Dinner Conversation

Chloe : "Mom, are you going to get married at wheeler farm?"

Jen: "No, I already got married, but not at wheeler farm."

Chloe: "Where did you get married?"

Jen: "In the temple"

Morgan: "When we are big, we can get married in the temple too."

Jen: "That's right Morgan."

Morgan: "...But you can't marry me, Chloe, because I am not 3. You'll have to find someone who is 3."

Good thing we cleared that up!

funny things

At Sunday dinner with my fam a few weeks ago, we were talking about Shrek 4 coming out.

everyone was quiet for a minute and out of the blue,

Chloe says,

"Everyone put your hand in the air and say, 'SHREK 4'!"

If you know me and Seth, you know that she didn't learn that phrase from us...

I was co-oping in preschool a few weeks ago with one of the other moms and she told me,

"When Sylvie tells me about preschool she says, 'Morgan...you know, the funny one...'"

Earlier this week we were talking about Morgan's birthday and who would be coming to his family party,

"No ticklers are allowed at my party!"

And, just in case you are confused...a tickler is anyone who tickles him.

Pretty much all of his uncles are uninvited if that is the case!

Yesterday we were driving along and Morgan said,

"The only tickler who can come to my party is Dad, because I might want to play his iPod."

I am feeling totally overwhelmed with life right now.

The kids had colds last week and I have one this week that has knocked me flat.

I am editing a bunch of graduation pictures and dealing with birthday mayhem.

I now have 2 little girls who are highly overdramatic and have mastered the art of shrieking.

blah, blah, blah, complain, complain...

but these little pieces of humor coming from the mouths of my children get me through the day.

Sadly, I forget most of them before I get a chance to write them down,

so this is just a snippet of the ones I can remember.

I love them and I love their smart little minds and I love their sweet little faces.

even earlier this morning

In my teary state earlier, I forgot to post what I really wanted to post today...

This morning at 5:30 AM as I was getting ready to head out the door to go to the temple,

Chloe woke up to go potty.

In her still-drowsy-and-blinded-by-the-light state she was quiet as she sat

and then I heard her little voice say:

"Mommy are you wearing a princess dress?"

"Yes, I am wearing a dress so I can go to the temple after you go back to sleep."

"Are you going to get married to Daddy?"

All this stuff we teach them IS sinking in after all!

Absolutely Gorgeous

and yet...

Sunday she got in the car after church and proclaimed,

"Let's talk about boys."

Dear Chloe,
Hey there little miss all-grown-up,

can you just slow down this growing up stuff and smell the roses a bit.

You only get to be little once,

princesses

my little ponies

and imagination land,

maybe we should just stick with talking about those for now,

because,

trust me,

you'll have plenty of time to talk about boys later...

maybe when you are 3.

Scared to death to meet your teenage self,

but I love love love you anyway!

-kisses and loves-

Mom

Mama

Our week has been crazy...
baby shower for darling sister-in-law at my house
Thanksgiving Dinner for our ward (close to 200 people)
Squeezing in a quick date to the temple

busy work schedule

busy school schedule

lots of cleaning

lots of shopping

lots of finishing touches

And then today was even crazier...
Teaching primary
Doing sharing time
Tithing Settlement
Tests and quizzes and papers due (for Seth)
Thanksgiving dinner for my dad's side of the family at my house
and lots and lots of snow falling outside

and I am totally worn out after all of it.
But tonight, we listed our Thankful Things in our Gratitude Journal like we do every night:
Seth was thankful for our amazing neighbor
I was thankful for church
Morgan was thankful for Playing Wii with his uncles
Chloe was thankful for magic wands
and as I went to put away the book I jokingly said,
"What are you thankful for, Brynnie?"
and you know what...
She dove toward me and nuzzled her head and said
"mama"

Plain and simple...
today was a beautiful day!

Morgan's Recipe for Thanksgiving Dinner

Warning: reading this might cause you to pee your pants,

disturb your co-workers or wake your sleeping baby

Morgan brought home some Thanksgiving recipes today

(complete with side dishes and deserts)

written by none other than the kids in his Preschool class.

So here is Morgan's Recipe for Thanksgiving Dinner:

We get a turkey. We don't shoot them we get them in a bag at the store. The yellow bags have stuffing - we don't get that bag because we don't like stuffing. Get the red and white bag because it comes without stuffing. Sometimes you can give turkeys to people who need them. Go home and put your turkey in a pan. Turkeys have bones in them. Put some pepper and salt on top of the turkey. Turn your oven to 19 degrees. Put it in the oven. Cook it for 18 hours. Make some gravy sauce, mash some potatoes, and cut up some bananas and strawberries. Get some butter and rolls. Then make a peanut butter sandwich when your hungry for lunch. Make some chocolate/vanilla/strawberry ice-cream for dessert. Put some sprinkles on it. Be thankful for things.

Yesterday was a pretty great day

I had conversations like this...

Morgan: "What is tomorrow, Mom?"

Jen: "Nothing."

M (excitedly): "Nothing? We get to stay home?

J: "Yep - maybe we can make pancakes."

M: "No...I just want to read books."

J: "Right, we can have pancakes for breakfast and then you can read books or play in your room or whatever."

M: "I am so excited to stay home and have pancakes for breakfast and play in my room and read books and play with my sisters!"

And this...

Chloe (crying and very upset, all of a sudden): "I need my phone."

Jen: "We left it at home, we'll have to get it when we get back."

C: "But I need my phone right now, I can't hear out of my fingers."

(referring to using her fingers as a phone)

Got compliments like this...

Chloe: "Mom, you have pretty pretty eyelashes!"

And took pictures of this...

It was a day I wanted to capture in a bottle and keep forever!

As a matter of fact...

Today I picked Morgan up from his buddy Wyatt's birthday party. He got in the car and told me all about how much fun he had...particularly playing with the ball shooting gun that Wyatt got as one of his presents. (Side note: I like to have the kids pick out the gifts they want to give their friends for birthdays and make/write the birthday card on their own. After combing the toy aisles at Target, Morgan picked out a super-cool play-doh play set and some transformer stickers for Wyatt - I am a terrible friend for giving your kid play-doh, sorry Judi). I asked him if Wyatt liked the present he had given him...

(very matter-of-factly) "Ummmm, yeah. He liked it VERY MUCH. He had just been waiting to get some play-doh."

How old is he again? 25? How am I ever going to keep up with this kid?

(edited 9-10-09 - I realized I misquoted him when he said something similar again yesterday...it wasn't that he really liked it, it was that he liked it VERY MUCH! lol!)