BuddyNana

We all love the way Ellis says banana, he says buddynana. We were in the car and I asked him to say banana. He said, "Buddynana." We kept asking him to say it and finally Mia asked him to say banana. Ellis said, "Don't ask me to say buddynana any more! Buddynana. Humph!"

Santa Claus

I already decided that if my kids ever asked me if Santa was real, I would tell them the truth. Tonight I had this conversation with Jared:

Jared: "Mommy. If I ask you something, will you tell me the honest truth?"
Me: "Yes."
Jared: "Is Santa Claus really real?"
Me: "No. He isn't. Your dad and I give you those presents because we love you so much and want you to be happy and know that you are loved. We shouldn't go around telling other people that Santa isn't real, not even Mia, because it is a tradition people like to have and they like to believe in Santa Claus."

Jared digested this for a while and said, "Why do people want to pretend there is a Santa Claus?" Me: "People just like to believe that there is a person out there that only wants to make other people happy and do good for them."
Jared: "Oh. Like Jesus. Only Jesus is real."

He then turned over and went to sleep.

Five

I asked Gordon to get a tissue for Ellis to wipe his nose with. Gordon got one for himself and one for Ellis then he asked me if I wanted one. I told him, "No thanks. I'm fine." He asked me again if I wanted a tissue and I told him, "No thank you." He looked at me and said, "You're five?"

Too Old

I went to Parent-Teacher Conferences today and I parked across the street from the school to avoid the congestion. Jared and I were walking in and I asked Jared if he wanted to hold my hand or if he was too big. He started to laugh and said, "Too big to hold hands!? Even if I were an adult I would still be able to hold your hand!"

Choir

When we went in to tithing settlement today, another ward was having Choir practice in the Chapel. Mia went over and peeked in to see who was singing. She turned around and said to me, "There's only old people in there."

Later...

Seth asked Gordon what he wanted to be when he grew up and Gordon said, "Daddy. I will grow up later."

The splits

Jared just told me, "Mom. I just got a spare even though my bowling pins just did the splits."

Brothers

Jared was putting Mia's shoes away and he said, "Mia. I am going to put these in the garbage." Mia said, "Don't!" Jared said, "Tricked you!"

Mia looked at me a sighed and said, "It is hard to have brothers."

Mia Loves You

Ellis just came downstairs and said, "Mom. Mia loves you. OK?" Then he turned around to leave. I said, "Mia loves me?" Ellis said, "Yes. Mia loves you. Mia really nice." Then he went to play with Mia.

Signs

On the way home from the store, we drove through a neighborhood that had a lot of street signs. Jared said, "Those people who have signs in their front yards are lucky - they can play with them when ever they want."

I said, "What would you do with a sign?"

He said, "Kick it any time I wanted."

Apology Accepted

I had had a rough day with Jared and he had yelled at me over some insignificant thing. When Seth got home, I told him that I was going out...alone. While I was at Costco, getting milk, I got a phone call. It was Jared. He said, "Mommy, I am sorry that I yelled at you when you were looking at my magic trick."

Woo Hoo!

Mia asked Seth if she could have more goldfish crackers. He told her that if there were some left, she could help herself. As she was walking away, I heard her say, "Woo Hoo!"

Notes

Another note that Mia left for me:

"I luv yoo ar cut"

(I love you. You are cute.)

Boss

My favorite story about Jared is last year when he had just studied being free in America and how the soldiers fought for that freedom. I was telling him what to do and he burst into tears and said, "I don't think you want me to be free!"

The Vote is In...

On Wednesday, after finding out who won the Presidential election, Jared said, "I am glad that President Obama won, because there's never been a brown President before."

Service

We went and raked the leaves for Seth's Grandma on Monday. We were talking about service and how it is great to help people that need it. On Wednesday, we woke up to snow. Jared came to me and said, "Maybe we should find a grandma that needs us to shovel her snow."

Peanut Butter

Today when we took the sacrament Ellis said, "Mmm. Yummy Peanut Butter!"

Lightening

On Halloween I was taking pictures of the kids while Jared was in going to the bathroom. He came running out and asked, "Is there a lightening storm?" I told him, "No. I am just using the flash in these pictures."

Love Notes

Mia is our little writer. She loves to write notes and leave them for someone to find. She was going to play at her friend Raleigh's house and she decided to write him a note.

The note said,

"Dear Raleigh
I lov yoo.
Fromia."

She showed it to me and said, I didn't want to waste the "M" so I only used one.

How do you spell that?

Today we were in the car and Mia was trying to spell a word that we don't say.

She said, "S T O O D P." I asked her what she was trying to spell. She thought for a moment and said, "S T O O P E D." Sounding it out the whole time she was spelling.

I asked her if she was spelling stupid and she said yes. Jared said, "That's not how you spell it. You spell it S T O T P E D."