Threatening Santa

Gordon wrote the following first draft of a letter to Santa. He assures us he was "just joking."
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Dear Santa,
I wood really like a ball maze for christmas. I will be good and never hit again. I will hit if i don't get one and will be very very very bad for the rest of my life. I really want one. I have been really good. Merry Christmas
Love,
Gordon

Eyelashes

Ellis has these crazy long eyelashes.  He was snuggling with me this morning after getting out of bed and I asked him how he got such long eyelashes.  He looked at me and smiled and said, "Well, I do pull on them a lot."

Porcupines

I made Porcupine Meatballs for dinner tonight.  Ellis was eating them and started crying.  I asked him what happened and he said, "A porcupine got in my applesauce."  When he finished eating he asked, "Did I eat enough porcupines?"

Homeless

Seth is singing in a choir in December.  He is singing with a group that is singing Homeless from the Forgotten Carols.  He told the kids, "I have to go practice being homeless."

After Seth left for practice, Gordon came to me and said in a very concerned voice, "Mommy. Why does Daddy want to practice being homeless?" 

Commercials

Seth recently set up an antennae on the house so we could get the broadcast channels. We have been a year and a half without any television.  We were watching a show the other day and a commercial came on.  Gordon said, "I remember these! Can we watch these?!"

No Courage

Today we were talking about courage and we used not being afraid of the dark as an example of courage. Gordon then shared the following personal experience: "One time I said a prayer that I wouldn't be afraid of the dark, but the answer was 'No'".

Too Many Games!

You can tell we use electronics too much when we go on a bike ride and  Gordon needs to "Regen his energy".

Dads

Gordon came into my room this evening crying.  I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he hasn't been sleeping well "these nights".  He said that the only way he can sleep without being frightened is if he watches a movie.  I suggested that he read a book.  He talked about how you can remember things forever and he was worried that he would be scared forever.  After talking to me for about 20 minutes he decided to go to bed.  On his way out of my room he said, "Dad is kind of the best at taking the fear away."

Tears

We had our Home Teacher come over tonight and he shared a message about testimonies.  He shared a few stories about testimonies.  After he left, I was listening to Gordon read.  Gordon had red eyes and he said, "I might cry because I just feel like crying."  I told him that sometimes I feel like crying too.  He said, "It's because of the stories that guy was telling.  They made me feel like crying."

Best Friends

Yesterday Gordon and Ellis were playing a game where they collected a bunch of invisible diamonds. 

Just before the bus came, Gordon said with excitement in his voice, "Want to sit with me on the bus?"

Ellis said, "Yes!"

Gordon said, "And we can keep talking about this game! Want to play with me at school?"

Ellis said, "Yes! And we can keep playing this game!"

Sky

I took Gordon to the dentist today.  When he got in the car, Gordon said, "When it was winter, I really missed the sky!"

Scab

We went swimming yesterday and Gordon said, "Mom.  When you see my tummy, you will see that there is something that doesn't look like skin on it.  It is bumpy.  It is a scab but it is part of my skin." Turns out his friend had scratched him last time we went swimming with them and it was much deeper than I had thought.

Spanish

I went on a walk with just Ellis tonight.  I was talking to him about school and what he was excited for.  He got really quiet and said, "What if my teacher speaks Spanish to me and I can't understand what she says? I am worried about that."  He has been so excited about this whole dual immersion class, I didn't know he had any misgivings about it.

Growing

We were at the Drive-In Movie last night and Ellis came limping over to me.  He crawled onto my lap, pointed at his leg and said, "Mom.  This leg is going to grow tonight.  It is hurting for no reason."  I felt so bad for him.  I didn't have any Tylenol with me and he quietly cried on the way home until he fell asleep.

Tender Hearted

I was at Girl's Camp all week last week. Over the weekend, Seth and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary. Today was my first full day back with my kids. Today Gordon was just sitting and looking at me. I asked him what was wrong and with tears in his eyes, he said, "I was just thinking about when you die. I can't get it out of my mind. I love you so much and I don't want you to die."

Maybe a week was too long.

Scriptures

Ellis has a really great primary teacher.  After learning about the scriptures in primary, he came home with a tiny handmade bible.  His teacher had shrunken the pictures down and assembled them into a bible with blank pages.  Before going to bed Ellis said, "My Babel.  I need to write words in my Babel!" I asked him what he was talking about and he said, "You know.  My Holy Babel.  I need to write words in my Holy Babel.

Bigger

I was snuggling with Ellis today and I told him that I didn't want him to get any bigger.  I just wanted him to stay small forever.  He turned so he could look me right in the eye and said, "Mom.  I have to get bigger because when I am 6 I will look like a 5 year old."

Homework

Ellis has the tiniest fever. When I took his temperature, I said, "You have a little fever."

Ellis said, "But I love school!"

I asked, "What do you love about school?"

Ellis said, "Homework. I do love homework."

Poetry

This morning while I was driving Jared to school, we were commenting on the beautiful sunrise. Jared kept talking about it and describing it. He was quiet for a moment and then he said, "I could write a poem about how beautiful this sunrise is."

Maybe I will be in for a treat when he gets home from school.

Heart

I asked Gordon this morning, "Gord, why do I love you so much?"

Gordon came over, pointed at my chest and said, "It's your heart."

Chill

This morning Gordon looked at the menu for school lunch and saw it was chili. He said, "Oh. It's chill. Did you know that chill is my favorite soup?"

Puberty

Mia loves to correct anything I might say incorrectly. It is like having my personal dictionary following me around.

On Saturday, we were watching Superman. These old cartoons that are about 10 minutes long on Netflix. We kept watching Clark Kent's silhouette changing into Superman. Jared said, "I just want to watch him change clothes!"

I laughed and asked if he was a pervert. Mia said, "Puberty. Mom the word is puberty."

Mercy!

Sunday we had our Stake Conference. The kids were coloring while listening to the talks. I was wondering if they were even listening. The speaker said something about Christ having mercy and Ellis looked up and said, "That's what Mia says all the time!"

What I Love

We had a special Valentines Day dinner last night. We ate by candle light and listened to some of our favorite love songs. We even had dessert!

As the kids were finishing their meal and before the dessert, we went around in a circle, saying what we loved about each other. It was such a sweet moment.

My favorite was this:

Ellis, "What I love about me is that I am small and cute!"

Mercy!

The other day I was playing Uno with Mia, Gordon and Ellis. Mia was nearly out of cards and I suspect she saw that Ellis drew a Draw Two card. She said, "Have mercy on me!"