A Conversation with Jackson

Tonight as I finished reading Harry Potter to Jackson and was tucking him in bed we had this conversation.

Jackson: Mom, can I make my own hypnotizing gun?

Mom: Well yeah I guess, but I don't think it's going to work.

Jackson: I want to hypnotize pigeons so they'll do what I want.

Mom: (through much laughter) What do you want them to do?

Jackson: Umm, get me ice cream.

Mom: Oh yeah? Where are they going to get the money?

Jackson: From the bank I guess.

Mom: What, you think pigeons have their own bank account?

Jackson: What's a bank account?

I want you all to know I am cracking up laughing as I write this. I love kids! My life would be incredibly boring and dull without them.

Portrait of Luke

I meant to do this on Luke's 4th birthday which was March 17 but as you can see...I'm a slacker.

What can be said about Luke. He loves all things boy yet will play anything his big sister can come up with, including house and princess. He is the defender of his siblings and will really let you have it if you hurt one of them. Every time I mentioned that the weather is really nice today he asks if we can go camping. He is lovingly known in the family as "Lukey" and introduces himself as such. About a week ago Savanna came running up the stairs and said in a very distressed voice, "We were playing smash Lukey and guess what?!" I love Luke and all he adds to our family. Here are a couple of recent pictures of what is happening in the life of Lukey.

4th birthday present from Grandma Quist. A Wightning McQueen mote controw caw.

1st soccer game. Luke playing defense.

Luke is on the Red team and has a blue sweatshirt underneath. Sorry about the lousy videography!

Snow Day

Will the madness ever end?!?!?!? Actually we all had a great time with our snow storm on March 8. Yes, even me. Here are a few pics and videos to document the event.

This was taken out our back door, looking out onto the deck. Now that's a lot of snow!

I Should Have Known

I should have known it was going to be a bad day when I woke up at 3 am and there were 4 in the bed instead of 2.

I should have known when I got all the kids up this morning, fed them breakfast and then found out there was no school.

I should have known when after a sustained amount of silence (I know, I should know better) I walked into the kitchen to find this:

I should have known when all this happened before 9:30 am.

If that wasn't enough to give you a laugh try these...

Savanna: Mom! I won't go to bed unless I have candy!

Mom: Savanna, I don't listen to ultimatums.

Savanna: You don't listen to tomatoes?


After Mark made some sort of smart comment Jackson said, "Dad, you've got smarties in your pants!"

How to Catch a Turkey - a story by Jackson

How do you cach a turkey?
First, you find the turkey you want. Then,
take a bow and arow. After that, showt
it in it's intestins! Yum! Yum! Yum!

(there was no editing done by a mom in this reproduction.)

Sleeping Partners

I know your mind might be heading a certain direction with a title like this, reel it in we are about to go another direction. For about two weeks my three year old has been crawling into our bed every night. This is a new thing for me, none of my other kids have done this and it's kind of getting on my nerves. For one thing, we have a queen bed and it wasn't built for three. He's squishing me. Then there is the occasional kick, not to mention that he has had a cough and keeps waking me up with his hacking. You might be thinking, "Why don't you just put him back in his bed?" Well, he's real sneaky. I don't know he's there 'till he's there. The annoyances mentioned above aren't bad enough to really full on wake me up just be this thing in my subconscious that interrupts my sleep. Then I wake up and say "Okay, this has to stop." So I decided I'd tackle this head on. I'll just ask him why he's coming in and then maybe we can fix the problem. Maybe he's getting cold or having a bad dream. I asked this morning and the answer took me completely by surprise.

Me: Luke, why are you coming in mommy's bed at night?
Luke: Cause I just wuv you.

Talk about melt your heart! Now what?! I could nip this in the bud so he's not doing it at age 10 or maybe clean up my bedroom floor and put a sleeping bag down for him oooooor send him to Mark's side of the bed....I like that idea!

Conference Quotables from the Chapins

Our family thoroughly enjoyed General Conference this weekend. It's such a great time to take a break from the world and reflect on our lives, where we are and where we're going. Along with this came some great quotes from my darling family I thought I'd share.

In response to Elder Scott's comment on the speed of light Jackson said, "Wow, that's faster than a cheetah!"

After spending the Saturday afternoon session at the Merrell's, Savanna came downstairs the next morning and said, "I want a table full of snacks like at Ben's house."

As we watched the Tabernacle Choir sing Jackson mused, "I wonder why the boys sit separate from the girls." After a lengthy explanation from me about different ranges of voices and the need to sit near people that sing similar to you he exclaimed, "I know another reason. So the boys can't talk to their girlfriends."

As one of the Sunday sessions started Savanna informed us to "Let me know when Pres. Hinckley comes, he's my favorite."

And my personal favorite, from by dear husband. At the conclusion of Sister Beck's talk on the duties and responsibilities of mothers I said "Wow, that was a wake up call." and Mark replied, "Ya...it's about time the women got a talk like that!"

Hope you enjoyed the last two days as much as we did!

"Dad, are you watching Veggie Tales?"

Does anyone but me have a hard time being consistant with Sunday rules? I'm constantly finding myself making exceptions for rules that have been set. It's got to be confusing for the kids. For the longest time our TV rules were the worst because sometimes we'd say Disney was ok and then we'd decide to have no TV then it would change again. It's the same thing with what is allowed during Sacrament meeting. Maybe my kids are just getting too smart. They are calling me on stuff now, "Mom, you let me bring Spiderman last week why can't I color in my Spiderman coloring book this week?" I just want to be consistant so I don't have to keep changing and broadening the rules. I just want a Sunday that's seperate from the world as much as possible and that's tricky.
Slowly we have set down certain non-negotiable rules, (This is just what works for us, I don't want anyone to think I would judge how their family does it. We're all different with different needs.) like we don't play with friends on Sunday, it's a family day and TV is ok as long as it's nature shows, church movies, AFV or Veggie Tales. We've been pretty good on those, we're still working on what's appropriate at church.
Yesterday I was hit over the head with how closely our kids watch us. After the kids were in bed Mark went downstairs to watch some short films he had checked out from the library. He got caught when Savanna came down and said "Dad, are you watching Veggie Tales?" Ouch! I guess that's when I realized that consistancy starts with me. We set the rules and the example. If we can't follow our our own rules how can we expect the kids to. They learn so much from us. They mimic everything we do. So where does that leave me? Still trying to come up with the perfect yet realistic Sabbath day for our family. I suppose that's what it's all about, live and learn.