Last post today, I promise!

Ember's always wanted curly hair, but using heat to curl it never works.  It's straight as a pin and very resistant to curlers, curling irons, flat irons, everything.  So we've been experimenting with no-heat curls, trying things like the sock bun, braids, regular twisted buns... still not the beautiful ringlets that she's always wanted.

Until I found these at Walgreens:

We washed Ember's hair last night, blow dried it

until it was slightly damp, and rolled her hair up

in about 8 of these things.  They're very easy to use.

They were still wrapped tight when she woke up this morning,

and when we unrolled them, here's what we got!

This is one HAPPY 11 year old this morning!

While we were shaping Ember's hair to perfection,

Ben was playing with my comb.

So I said to him, "Ben... I moustache you a question."

To which he replied, "That's very Pinteresting."

Well played, son :)

I have such funny kids!

..

Kids say the darndest things

Translation: To Mom From Grace. You can dance and you can eat and you work on the computer and you can watch TV.

I love how she spells "cenputr" and "teve". I got about 10 of these notes today, they just keep getting better and better. She is very proud of herself for being able to sound out words and write notes herself without any help.

Here's some more funny kids stuff, while I'm at it.


Mom: "Ember, you look like your shirt is falling off."
Ember: "Mom, you don't know the FIRST thing about fashion."

Grace: "Mom, you're the best Mom ever. I don't just mean in Arizona, I mean everywhere."

Ember: "I feel so bad for those birds, giving their LIVES to protect their eggs. DIE PIGS DIE!"

Grace: "You don't feel good? No wonder everything is so messy."

Ben: "Mom, I have the goose bumps. Is there such a thing as duck bumps?"

Grace: "Mom you have a red bump under your chin, but don't worry... no one can see it unless you're looking at the stars."

Grace splashed Dad with something and he got upset... she said "What, are you going to a meeting or something?"

Ember wanted to play with Dad's new smart phone. He said no because the battery was low. She responded, "well I AM letting you raise me."


I'm making a book about each kid, with illustrations (photographic evidence... but that's just semantics) to give to their kids. Or maybe I'll keep them at my house... grandma has the BEST bedtime stories ever!

More funny archives

After my last post, I stewed for a few days and I'm finally ready to laugh a little bit again. Here's a few more funny kid moments from my old journals.

February 2004
Ember (age 4) was big enough to place her own order at Wendy's, spending her very first dollar. She got her chicken nuggets, enjoyed them to the fullest, and then got extremely upset. In a teary voice she said, "Mommy, I want my dollar back!"

May 2004
Ember, almost 5, sat in the bathroom singing to herself for almost 10 full minutes before I realized what she was singing. She'd made up a song to tell me that "there's no toilet paper!" When I finally clued into the words of the new song, I ran in to help her and she just smiled and said "hi Mom! Guess what? There's no toilet paper!"

Spring 2004
After Austin hadn't shaved for a few days Ember told him, "Daddy, you have bugs on your face."

July 2004
I have a mole on my arm that is Ben's favorite, it always has been. He rubs it when I sing him to sleep... from age 1 to age 8. He used to call it my "button." That summer I'd spent a lot of time outside and all my freckles had gotten darker. Ben (age 2) told me one afternoon, "Mom, you have a LOT of buttons!"

July 2004
Ben was pulling on the doorknob desperately trying to get out of nursery one Sunday, and the teacher asked him where he was going. He shouted, "California!"

July 2004
During one visit to California Ben showed my parents where their home wasn't childproofed. He put mom's bowls in the toilet, and he put hot dogs in my milk, just to name a few foibles. When we were leaving Grandpa said, "feel free to come back and visit after his mission!"

November 2004
Ben talks in his sleep. Here's a few favorites we've overheard, since he sometimes crawls into bed with us.
"No, I DON'T want a sandwich!"
"Stop it! No No, Daddy!"
"I don't want a pony."
"No, No Ember"
"Expectro Patronum!" (shout out to Harry Potter fans)
He also sang Jingle Bells and the ABC's. And giggled. A lot.

Funny Kids

Before my days of blogging I had a journal just to keep track of the funny things my kids said or did. Now that I'm scrapbooking my blog, I want to have all those funny things in just one place. I opened up that old journal today in an effort to cheer myself up, so here's some transcripts of my kids funnier moments.

December 2003
Grandma Lawlor asked Ember (age 3) to help clean up the toys before we left her house for the evening. Ember said, "I'm sorry, but I can't clean up. I'm going home."

January 2004
Austin found Ember in the bathroom spinning in circles in front of the toilet. When he asked her what she was doing she said, "I"m doing the potty dance!"

One of Ember's favorite things is to add the words "very-very" to everything she says. The told Ben the other day, "That's a very-very no-no."

Ember can't say throat, so she says float. When it gets sore she says, "Mommy, my float is back." She sometimes says "my sick is back."

December 2003
Ember (age 3) came with me to a dollar store where two boys were righting with foam swords. She walked right up to them and said, "hey two boys! You have to stop fighting. Just be happy, ok?"

Common three year old phrase? "You CAN'T say no to me! That makes me very angry!"

Winter 2003
I like to curl in on the couch wrapped in blankets in the mornings, and Ben (age 15-18 months) now races me to the couch to get there first. He throws his arms out and shouts, "my spot!"

January 2004
Checking on the kids after bedtime one night, we couldn't find Ember. She's pulled her bedding under Ben's crib and made herself a little cave under there, falling back asleep. We woke her up and moved her back to her bed and asked her why she'd done that. In her groggy state she said, "Because I did. You can't tell me no."

February 2004
Ember put on a beautiful dress, admired herself in the mirror, and told Austin, "Daddy, you have to marry me."

March 2004
At the dinner table one night Ember said, "Someday when I'm older I will get bath-tized, but not today."

January 2004
Got up and fixed Ember some oatmeal, then laid back down because baby Ben was still sleeping. Ember got me up awhile later and said she'd shared breakfast with Ben. He was still in his crib, so I had to investigate. He was covered in oatmeal, and so were his sheets, the crib slats, the walls, the carpet, his blanket, some toys, and it was also gummed up in his hair. And he was grinning like a fool, he was so happy! I couldn't get angry, Ember was so proud of herself for sharing with Ben.

April 2004
Ben was getting into trouble over and over again and in my frustration I said, "Ben, do you want me to spank you?!" He shouted "Yes!" Ember rushed over to him, grabbed his arm, and whispered LOUDLY in his ear, "Ben, you're supposed to say no!"



That's all for today. I'll archive more crazy kid stuff the next time I want to cheer myself up.

dinnertime conversation

Ember: "I wish we were all made of legos, so if we died Ben could rebuild us!"

Ben: "Yea, I can build ANYTHING out of legos!"

This is the life

Ember: 'Ahh, this is the life. Watching the Suns game with my family and eating sugar."

She had a bowl full of caramel popcorn on her lap, part of our Family Home Evening treat.

You're right Ember, this is the life :)

Austin and I were in our room taking the regular Sunday afternoon nap and we heard Ben and Grace go into Grace's room, right across the hall. Ben shouted, "Grace! What happened to your room?" Of course Austin and I had a moment of panic until Ben said, "It's so clean!"

It's sad when it's a shock that it's clean, and not when it's a disaster.

Men vs. Women

Playing games at Grandma's house, Ember was winning against all the adults. They were teasing her and trying to talk her into making a bad move. She said:

"Men are annoying."

Similar sentiments have escaped the lips of Lawlor women for generations. :)

More on the honesty of children....

Austin is playing a game online. Ben watches for a minute. Then he says....

"Dad, why do you keep on losing?"

Backyard fun

Isn't she beautiful?

Elphie loves the backyard. I bought her a doggie pool, but she'd rather lay in the grass and chew on rotten oranges. Want to know what happened to the doggie pool?

Kids filled it up. And I swear we feed that boy.

He has muscles in his arms, but you can see his ribcage!

While helping me water the garden, they decided to water themselves.

Maybe it will help them grow!

And yes, Grace took off her princess dress and got in the pool in her underwear.

At least this is in the backyard.

I'm gonna burn these pants

Sitting in the doctor's office, Ember was sitting on my lap with a bit of anxiety. Doctor got up and walked out for a minute, Ember turns to me and says...

"I just farted in your lap."

I turn my back for ONE second...

Grace found the stickers.

She thought they would look cute on her lips...

...and her toes...

...and her forehead and tongue...

... and the puppy. That one got onto Elphie's whisker by mistake, she tried to kiss Grace. She got one on her butt too, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't from kissing.

tattle tales and extortion

Ben: Pleeeaaaase don't tell mom!

Ember: I'm going to and there's nothing you can do about it.

Ben: But I didn't do it!

Ember: I won't tell if you give me ten bucks.



That just gives me warm tingly feelings as a mother. You know what? I don't even care what he did. Just close my door on your way out.

Lists

During my bouts of insomnia I like to make lists. My last published list was all the things you can do with the fruit from 13 citrus trees. Last night I was thinking about all the different things we've found under the couch. (Why do kids think that's such a great hiding place?)

1. cereal
2. baseballs
3. pajamas
4. dishes
5. inhaler
6. used kleenex
7. candy wrappers
8. dust bunnies (that's a given)
9. my little pony
10. Care bears
11. barbies
12. ok, toys in general
13. diapers
14. blankets
15. cheese crisp
16. earrings
17. homework
18. pens & pencils
19. movies (the disk or the DVD box)
20. hairbrush
21. backpacks
22. money
23. bills

That's all I thought of for now, but I know there's more. Is this a common hiding place for "stuff" in anyone else's house? Whenever something's missing, under the couch is the first place I look.

Sacrament

Dad passed the sacrament tray to Ben during church this morning, and Ben said:

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

Kids Prayers

My kids pray for the cutest things. Here's Ember's blessing on the food tonight:

"Thank you for this lovely and gracious day. Thank you that I could save up my ballet bucks and get the watch instead of the lolly pop and I'm grateful I could make such a hard choice even though I'm so young."

I love it! At least she remembered to bless the food...

One good looking boy

My son Ben combed his hair before school this morning, spraying it and styling it carefully. He came out of the bathroom and said "Mom, you might want to take a picture."

Funny Family Moments

These are just some funny pictures I captured over the weekend. First is Grace showing Shelby how to eat her Thanksgiving dinner, and adding some of her "leftovers" to Shelby's plate. Those two girls stuck close to each other all day!

Ember and Ben learned how to play Dad's favorite computer game, Unreal Tournament. It's your basic shoot-em-up game, and they were having a blast. Thankfully the game has a "low gore" setting, so they just laughed when they shot each others' heads off.

Grace went bike riding and Ember helped her get all decked out in her safety gear. This all belongs to Ember, but she's outgrown it and decided Grace needed it more. Those tricycles can get pretty crazy, after all.

Ben and his cousin Chase spent Thanksgiving day reading over 30 Spiderman comic books. They were comparing their favorite scenes, villians, and pictures. They were there for a long time! It hasn't worked since that day, Ben doesn't hold still for more than 15 seconds at a time.

More of Shelby and Grace; they were playing ring around the rosie, and falling down is their favorite part.


Today Grace asked me if she could have a banana for a snack. Then she just sat at the table holding it for a long time. I finally asked her what was wrong and she said it was "too peeled." She tried to re-wrap it in the banana peel, and when that didn't work, she decided to feed it to her nativity toys. She said her friends were hungry.


I love my kids, and all the different ways they make me smile every day.

Birthday Video--Thoughts from the kids

Happy birthday, Jill.
Here is your present for this year.....

THIS is our son.

Watch this clip... if you know my family, tell me that chicken doesn't remind you of a certain six year old.... "What are we talkin' about?"

Chicken Little