Cute Stuff

Wow, I'm looking back at these quotes I've collected over the past few months, and I genuinely don't remember some of them.  So glad that I write these things down...  :)

Shaila (age 4) - "It was SOOOO cold in my room that it went right through my jammies and into my heart."

"Dad, I can't tell you about the crude humor in my dream because I don't even know what crude humor is!"

"If we sin, Jesus will just trade His sweet heart for our bad hearts, and He'll take our bad hearts and NEVER sin!"

And now for some mixed up theology...

"Satan didn't want to be an angel because he was a boy, so he gave Adam and Eve that sinful thing to bite."


"Abraham Lincoln and Sarah had Jesus."

When urged to hurry up and eat her breakfast, Shaila said, "Okay, before my oatmeal gets soggy and RISKY, I'll get dressed really quickly!"

With 8 people sharing a single bathroom, we have more potty accidents than I'm willing to admit to.  A while ago, I reminded Shaila that she needed to change her underwear, and her expert reply was, "Ummm...pee dries."

This summer Shaila came up to me with her sweetest dimpled smile and eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and  asked, "Mom, do you want to see the most disgusting thing in the WHOLE WORLD?"
I replied, "Sure, sweetie!" and was promptly handed a wadded Kleenex used to wrap up  her latest treasure - a chipmunk's tail.  : /

Sometimes preparing and serving gourmet dinners can feel a bit like casting my pearls before swine.   Then the kids come out with gushing compliments and make my culinary efforts feel worthwhile again

Connor (age 7) - "I LOVE caramelized soup!"  And the other day, I walked in the door to find that Connor and Siobhan had whipped up some restaurant-quality Pots de Creme.  :)

Connor - "I hope that Great Grandma lives to be 100 because she's fast like Siobhan and INCREDIBLE!"

For this year's family "staycation," we wrote a list of all of the special plans that have been crammed out of our busy schedules.  We let each of the kids come up with a couple of ideas - ranging from making homemade ice cream and watching family movies to visiting the Boston Aquarium with Dad's discounted tickets from work.  We're perfecting the art of summer vacationing with a large family and are thrilled that our kids are content with the most ordinary treats.  The other day I brought the 3 middle kids to the dollar theater, followed by free ice cream (compliments of the library's summer reading program).  After thanking me several times, Aidan said, "We need to remember to thank Dad for working so hard to fund this!"