The Things They Say

Children can be real hard sometimes...a lot harder than I ever thought it would be before children. But children can also be so sweet, funny, wise, loving, the list could go on and on. And that is what I want to remember about my children, not the hard times. So here's some cute things they have been doing lately. And just maybe documenting these times will help me to forget the not so cute ones.

Our friends Serge and Jeanella sent these outfits all the way from Gabon. 

One day when we were planning to eat out Mariah said, "What I really want is something fancy like chicken nuggets." I don't know how we're ever going to afford that girl...

Mariah is fascinated by the human/animal body. The other day there was a bird in our yard that had been gutted by some predator, probably a cat. Mariah wanted to study every little bit of it and was so fascinated by the intestines and other organs. One day while snuggling with Tanner she said, "Dad I like touching your blood streams". 

Whenever I am fixing her hair Mariah talks my ear off. One day she said, "I like all things that are beautiful with wings." She paused and then said, "Not mothses (moths)". Apparently they don't fit her beauty standards. 

One day we were listening to the song Mother Knows Best from Tangled. Mariah started asking me all sorts of questions about why Rapunzel's mother was so mean to her so then I told her the whole back story and that she wasn't her real mother. Mariah then said, "she's just a dumb witch" in the sassiest voice. I just agreed with her.  

After spending the day at a place where there were a lot of Asian children, Mariah was looking at herself in the mirror. She stretched her eyes out and said, "I wish my eyes looked like this". I asked her if that was because of the little girls she had played with the day before. She said, "yeah, their eyes were beautiful". I agreed and then told her that her eyes were beautiful too and wasn't it wonderful that Heavenly Father made so many different eyes. I hope she never becomes prejudiced towards certain looks because someone else tells her it isn't beautiful. 

Chet is at that wonderful age where he is constantly saying hilarious things. I wish everyone could hear all these in the adorable way that he talks. I don't write down half of them but here are a few: 

Chet loves pickos (pickles). 

One day I was talking to the kids about the second coming and what would happen. I then told them how wonderful it would be to have the Savior on the earth with us. I told them how all the animals would be nice and we imagined what it would be like to play with a big lion and not be afraid. A few days later Chet came to me and said, "The earth is done burning so they can pet crocodiles and alligators now." So I guess he got part of it...

While painting he told me, "I'm painting blossom dogs. They shoot out parkles (sparkles) and kill people." The name is really misleading.

One day Tanner's parents met us at our church. When we drove into the parking lot we saw their car already there. While walking into the church Chet said, "Grandma and Grandpa don't have kids so they can be fast. I wish you didn't have kids so we could be faster." Uh...ok.

One day at WalMart talking to the cashier:
Mariah: I'm just a girl with two brothers (saying it in such a sad, mistreated way)
Cashier: Oh really?
Chet: Yeah and only one dad
The cashier laughed pretty hard at that. Poor kids.

After asking, "Chet what do you like to do?" Chet said, "Cut ham". Tanner and I don't really like ham so he has probably only had it once in his life. It was so funny and random.

While saying his morning prayers: "thank thee that we can watch Mr. Rogers". Right when he said amen, "Can we watch Mr. Rogers?" Almost every prayer now he asks to watch that show. Every once in a while I let him just to grow his testimony of prayer. The boy is smart.

After spinning around, "Mom did you feel the dizziness that I made?"

Today during lunch: "It would be fun if us lived at the church and I was the Bishop." As he continued talking it was revealed that the reason why he thought it would be so fun is because of all the cool toys in Nursery that he doesn't get to play with anymore. I'm sure that is what the Bishop is doing...

This is what keeps me going as a mother...there are so many hard times and if I focus on that then my vision and my drive for motherhood isn't where it needs to be. So if anyone was wondering why I try to only post about the good in our life, this is why. Dwelling on the negative has never done anything good for me. So just know, we are far from perfect but we cherish the perfect moments we do have as a family.

When the days Warm Up

I'm playing a little bit of catch up after neglecting the blog for a while. We have been loving the warm weather and all the adventures that have come with it. 

One day for our co-op preschool the kids were able to see a firetruck and some firemen were there to answer their questions. But that wasn't the exciting part. The creek by the firetruck was so much better. I hadn't planned for water so I just took off the kids' pants and they had a blast. 

 I work with the Young Women at my church and each year they have a fundraiser to raise money for Girls' Camp. This year we decided to do a yard sale. I left to set up on Friday afternoon when Tanner got done early with work and was gone until late at night. Tanner took the kids grocery shopping, made them dinner, and put them to bed. And then on Saturday I left bright and early in the morning and didn't get back until dinnertime. Tanner took the kids to a health fair at the mall where they got all kinds of toys and prizes and their faces painted. When I got home Tanner had already made dinner and was getting the kids out of the bath. The man is a keeper.

 On another preschool day we went to WVU's farm days. The kids had so much fun, especially holding the chicks. They may be city slickers but at least they aren't afraid of the animals.

 We have loved living an hour from Grandpa and Grandma Crossley but we knew that eventually they would be moving. We "helped" with some of the moving. But truthfully when I say we I really mean Tanner because I wasn't much help with three kids. After Grandpa and Grandma were out of their house they came and stayed at our house for a week. It was so wonderful to spend some time with them before they left. One day they took the kids and I to the Aviary in Pittsburgh. The kids had so much fun with all the different birds. The penguins and a big blue Macaw were some of their favorites. They also got to see a sloth up close and watch it eat and see some big ol' bats. 

Mariah and Chet were each picked to try to feed birds from their hands but the birds weren't interested that day. Chet was so cute holding up his sardine. He was so serious about it all and when his arm started to get tired he used his other arm to hold it up. Austin even loved looking at all the birds and only cried for a little bit when a very territorial little bird pecked him. 

The night before Grandpa and Grandma left, Mariah came out of her bedroom and asked if she could snuggle with Grandma for a little while. Then she started to cry and grandma started to cry and I started to cry. It was a sad but special moment. Then we told Mariah about the family reunion and she has been counting down the days. We have missed them but are so grateful for the time we were able to spend with them. 

One day when Tanner got done at 3 we headed up to Coopers Rock for a little hike. 

We are our happiest when we are outside, so we spend a lot of time outside. 

On memorial day the kids and I headed out to Chestnut Ridge for a birthday party. While turning someone ended rear ending us. The back windshield was knocked out and our back bumper was pretty smashed. After trading insurance information we headed up to the party. The car could still drive and Tanner was working that day so I figured the show must go on. And I'm so glad I didn't head back home because it was such a fun day. 

Many salamanders were caught. At the end of the day when we were leaving Mariah insisted that all of the salamanders were set free. The other kids at the pond didn't dare debate with her. 

Austin's favorite part of the day was the chocolate cake. 

Tanner met up with us at the campground to check on the car and make sure we could make it home. I really wanted to do something for Memorial Day so after the party we went to a cemetery by our house and tried to find the graves with American flags by them. We talked about the meaning of the holiday and how grateful we were for the soldiers who have fought for our country. And then we found a gravestone of someone who fought in the American Revolution. It was so cool!

This last weekend we went to Pricketts Fort which is a living history place. We all learned a lot and afterwords we got some delicious ice cream. 

 Austin's first cone all to himself.

The big kids got to pick their flavors: Mariah got mint chocolate chip and Chet got Superman. 

And when did he decide he could grow up?! The nerve...

All this fun is making us even more excited for the rest of the summer.