Garfield

Gordon is memorizing the US Presidents and was practicing them in a little song before he went to bed last night. Ellis listened intently as Gordon was singing them. When he finished, Ellis said, "I like how they included Garfield."

Rodeo

We went to the rodeo tonight.  The announcer said it was time to get ready for bare back.  Ellis perked up and said, "Bear Back?"

They Pay You to do That?

I have been substituting all week in Ellis' class because his teacher had knee surgery.  Yesterday I was talking to Gordon and Ellis about how I need to check in at the office so I can get paid.  Gordon stopped in his tracks and said, "Wait.  They pay you to substitute!? I always thought you did it for free!"

Ellis said, "I always thought you paid them to let you substitute."

I asked Ellis why he thought I paid them to let me substitute and he said, "Well, You are using their building."

Acne Agony

Mia has a small pimple in her eyebrow.  We were talking about it and Mia said, "Oh no! I have acne!" 

Gordon said, "You have agony?"

We all started to laugh and Ellis was in the back saying, "Agony...annie...it's agny!"

Reading

Another note that Ellis wrote for me while I was at the band concert. (We started paying our kids $.01 per page in the hopes that Gordon who is a fantastic reader would get excited about reading something other than picture books.  They have to read a book on their reading level and they can only get paid for it once.  Then they need to give me a book review. We got this idea from Seth's cousin, Becky.)

From Ellis
Dear mom
I red 111 pajes
in a book it
was abot
cristmas in camolot
(Fictin) what
I liked abot
it is Jack and
annie whent
to a cave
Then got
Torches
ant ust
Them
like sords.

From Ellis
Dear mom
I read 111 pages
in a book it
was about
Christmas in Camelot
(fiction) What
I liked about
it is Jack and
Annie went
to a cave
then got
torches
and used
them
like swords.

Christmas Program

I came home from Jared's band concert to a note that Ellis wrote.

It said, "could you please come to my cristmas program today please"

Disgusting!

Gordon and Ellis were in the other room and I heard Gordon say to Ellis, "You are disgusting! Even Disgustinger than DAD!!"

Old Fashioned

We went on a walk with the kids yesterday.  Everything was so pretty and green, a result of all the rain, I suppose.  As we were walking, we walked past a plant that had died and was grey.  Ellis pointed it out and said, "It's an old fashioned thistle! You want to know how I know it is old fashioned?"  I told him I did. He said, "Because it is black and white."

Shower Helper

I had a meeting at church an hour before our meetings started.  I fixed Mia's hair before I left and left the boys to Seth to get ready for church.  When I made it to sacrament meeting, I took one look at Gordon with his hair sticking in all directions. 

I said, "Who fixed your hair?"

Gordon replied, "The shower."

Ellis had his hair plastered to his head.  He said, "Do you know who fixed my hair?"  I told him I didn't. 

Ellis said, "I did. I just went like this (rubbing his hands on his head to flatten any hair)."

Braids

I was tucking Ellis in tonight.  He was talking about his teeth. His two permanent teeth are pretty crooked.  I asked him if he always played with the tooth in the back with his tongue.  He said, "It is really hard for me to not play with it.  I think I am going to have to get braids on my teeth to pull them."

That Which Shall Not Be Named

We were talking about roasting wieners tonight over a fire. In a confused and disturbed voice, Ellis said to Linda, "Mom, you said we can't say that word."

Ellis is Fun!

Ellis has a shirt that says, "I'm not small. I'm fun-size!"  He put it on the other day and Gordon read it.  Gordon was so excited and ran to me he said, "That shirt is right!  Ellis is a LOT of fun!"

Freckles

I was reading "Pippi Longstocking" to Gordon and Ellis the other day.  We got to the part where Pippi, Tommy and Annika go on a picnic.  They are trying to find a spot to have the picnic and Tommy suggests that they sit in a nice shady place. 

"Oh, no, that's not sunny enough for my freckles," said Pippi, "and I do think freckles are so attractive."

Both of my boys have freckles and Gordon said, "That's not true. No one is attracted to me!"

Ellis looked down at the floor and said, "They are to me."

Gordon said, "I know! Everyone is attracted to you. Like millions of people."

Ellis said, "Except for bad guys."

Gordon said, "I think a bad guy might kidnap you because you are so cute."

Ellis stared at Gordon for a bit and then said, "That is kind of a really nice thing to say, Gordon."

(Note: There wasn't a hint of sadness from Gordon.  He is happy with who he is. For the record, I am super attracted to his freckles!)

Ward Boundaries

On Sunday our Stake reorganized their boundaries.  Seth and I went to a meeting about it and when we got home, we told Jared that our neighbor across the street was no longer in our ward.  We have been talking about who is in our ward now and who is not.  On Sunday, Ellis asked me, "Mom.  Will you tell me when we are in our ward?"  On Tuesday Ellis had a fever so I kept him home from school.  During lunch Ellis said to me, "I am glad that we stayed in our ward because I like where we live and I like being this close to Seven-11."

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?"

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!"

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.

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.