life in alaska

Emmie just told me a knock-knock joke. It went something like this.

Em - Knock-knock.
Me - Who's there?
Em - Who.
Me - Who who?
Em - Hey, I think I hear an owl in the tree!


Logan just started a sentence by saying "From what I gather..." He's a little thinker-boy.

Today Emmie answered me by saying "Yes Mammy! Yes Mammy!" I'm a little scared. Maybe we've been in the South too long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had Emmie to myself last night for a bit while the kids where at Awana. (She cried for a few minutes that she doesn't have a class...)

Em (as we're pulling out from the church) - Mom, laugh!
Me - Ha, ha ha.
Em - Laugh again!
Me - La, la la.
Em - Not like that! Say "Hose, hose hose."
Me - Hose hose hose.
Em - Huh? I said the wrong word. Say "Ho ho ho."
Me - Ho ho ho.
Em - You're like Santa Claus! Hey, Santa goes to Christmas!
Me - What does he do there?
Em - He brings smelly socks!
Me - What does he do with them?
Em - He puts them in the laundry!


Today I tried a new recipe - "Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes" - and while I liked it (as did Jeff) the children did not. Not originally from this region, I really had no idea how spicy these little chipotles are. I followed the recipe and hadn't tasted it yet (although my first clue should have been that a spot on my chin was burning were I had touched it with chipotle-laced fingers but I didn't know that was what it was from) when Emmie spooned a big bite into her mouth and then yelled and grabbed her tongue. I didn't make her eat it.

 

 

 

 

Last night Emmie had an emotional meltdown, captured in these two sentences (crying), "I just don't want to talk right now! I just want to be alone!"

Sunday we had a baby shower here for Spring, and Logan (very cute in his little tie that he left on most of the day) was told to stay upstairs with Dad and Em. I found him on the steps crying because he just wanted to come to the party. After trying to talk him out of wanting to come down, I let him come in and watch Spring open some presents. He leaned toward someone near him after watching for a bit and said "They're not all going to be shirts, are they? I know they can't all be shirts!" Not very exciting to the little buddy.

Now, here's another one of those kid conversations where you just wonder if you can make it through another day. We went to Taco Bell and they gypped us out of a chicken soft taco. So we stopped back by on our way home and Jeff ran in to get it.
Ri - Why did Dad go in?
Me - To get the taco they forgot to give us.
Ri - What?
Me - They forgot a taco. They gypped us a taco.
Ri - What? What did they give us instead?
Me - Huh?
Ri - Well, what did they give us instead of the taco?
Me - Nothing. We paid for a taco, and they forgot to put it in the bag.
Ri - What?
Me - A taco. They forgot a taco.
Ri - So what did they give us instead?
(Insert moment of frustration.)
Me - Riley, they didn't give us anything, that's why we're here. They forgot to give us the taco we paid for. Do you understand?
Ri - No. What did they give us instead?
Me - Nothing. They gave us nothing instead, nothing. It cost two bucks and they didn't give it to us and that's why we're here - to get the taco we paid for because they didn't give it to us. Do you understand?
Ri - Not really.
(At which point I let it go.)

Riley lost another tooth - I need to get a picture of this. Her other front tooth hasn't dropped down and so it's a space, a tooth and a space. When she grins it's kind of funny and cute. She didn't want anyone to pull it and I promised I wouldn't as long as she didn't want me to. But it was just hanging and starting to really bother Jeff, so the other day he said "just pull it!" and she freaked, and having promised I decided to compromise. I offered her a dollar if she'd let me just yank it out - she's into money right now so that worked. Plus she got to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

I like my children.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only forgotten son - according to Logan.

Riley walked out of Kroger this afternoon and said, "Wow, it's just like winter out here. I mean it's really chilly." (It's 80 degrees.)

Yesterday in the van, Emmie was yelling at Logan (I think he was kicking her seat or some other older-brotherish trick).

Me - Emmie stop screaming at Logan.
Emmie - (yelling again) Logan stop it!
Me - Emmie, I said stop yelling.
Emmie - No, you said stop screaming.


We're in our third week of school. It's generally going well. Juggling them is a bit of a trick, but if Emmie's happy then we're all happy. She gets little worksheets to do (and knows several of her letters) and enjoys things like matching same objects, picking longest or shortest, and doing simple mazes. She's pretty great.

Riley's favorite thing is probably the book we're reading right now - Baby Island - for her reading and comprehension. It's a fun story about a ship that goes down and two little girls have to take care of four babies on a deserted island until they are rescued. She's also starting a journal (I get ideas from Hannah Senn), filled with stuff like "I like my friends. I like soccer."

Logan zips through all his work. Math is a breeze, reading is a breeze. He really likes the books about mummies that we got for history this year (Old Testament/Ancient Egypt). Except that going to bed last night he was all worried about how they made mummies - "did they push that fuzz into their mouths and everything?"

So the challenge is to keep stuff for Emmie to do - right now she's roaming and looking for trouble.

Right now the threesome has formed a rock band. Emmie is the flute player, Logan's on guitar, and Riley is sort of drummer/on the phone. She keeps calling the police on Emmie, the "mean flute player". Logan stood up with the guitar and was promptly called down by Riley. His answer - "but rock stars always stand up with their guitars" wasn't enough, since it's her guitar and she doesn't want it broken. Emmie, upon being informed that the police are coming to put her in jail, exclaimed "but I don't want to go to jail, I'm an alien!"

Along the musical line, Riley dreamed of being in the "Laurie Berkner Band" the other night. She was so excited when she woke up, and said, "I was really singing and everything!"

Yesterday we were working on Riley's spelling.

Riley - How do you spell "book"?
Me - B-o-o-k.
Riley - B-o-o...(pause)
Emmie - K!


Then later, she was looking at a little coloring sheet I had given her and said, "What does 0-n spell?" I said, "It spells 'on'." So she looks at it and says, "O-n spells on. On." She's my crazy baby.

Sunday night I went in Logan's room to tuck him in and he pulled me down beside him and said:

"Mom, I learned a new word today - incomprehensible. It means that your mind can't understand how great and mighty and powerful and merciful and how he does stuff and uh you can't understand with your mind all about God."