Quoting the Cute: Page Twenty

Ten-year-old daughter: "What? Is falling against the law now?"

My seven-year-old daughter said a silent prayer over her lunch at school and her teacher told her, "I love that you are so sweet."

Five-year-old son at the grocery store: "Mom, I have five words for you: Mine wegs are tie-yerd!"

Three-year-old son watching fireworks: "That scared me out of my crap!"

When we took my oldest daughter to the zoo for the first time (I think she was four) she told me that her favorite animals at the zoo were the "scrumpions" and the fish with no eyes. I was surprised and amused.

We asked our kids if they were excited to go to the mountains to gather firewood. Our seven-year-old daughter said, "Yes! I can't wait to find turkeys and bears and snakes!"

One day my five-year-old stuck his head in the door of the bathroom and said, "Mom, we're all counting on you." Then he stuck his head in again two or three seconds later and said, "I mean, we're all waiting for you."

My husband was talking to me one night at dinner and said that now that our youngest is potty-trained, he wishes we could freeze them. Of course, this was confusing to my three-year-old so when I tried to explain he burst into tears, "But I don't want to stay a little boy forever!!!" Luckily I was able to calm him quickly, reassuring him that we have no power to stop time...and the fact we are getting old too fast proves it.

My ten-year-old daughter is really starting to use her sense of humor. The other day, I told her to get the lid for the butter and put it in the fridge. So she got the lid and put the lid in the fridge. I told her she wasn't funny, but I couldn't keep from laughing.

When my seven-year-old was a toddler, she used to call hummingbirds "honeybirds." She flutters with her hands when she is happy, and has done this since she was tiny. Because of these things, I call her Honeybird.

I asked my five-year-old son what he likes most about school and he told me he likes everything about school, but he likes recess the best. I hope this never changes!

My three-year-old son says "mont-sir" for "monster" and draws them like this:

Someone tell me how to freeze time!

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

One late summer day, we took our four children into the mountains to gather firewood. We hadn't gathered firewood as a family in many years, so I planned to take the camera and take a few pictures. But because I planned to take it, I forgot it.

This reminds me of the first time I went to the zoo. I was an adult and I had never been to the zoo. My husband took me there before we had kids and I was so excited. But I forgot the camera. I still remember the "click" sound my husband made with his pretend camera as we walked around the park...

So as my children and I sat on a long, smooth log for a lunch break of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I noticed we were sitting tallest to shortest and wished I had my camera. I thought about how I wanted to remember that day, the way all of the children (ages three to ten) helped to carry firewood to the truck. And how cute my three-year-old boy looked bouncing on a young tree that had been bent to the ground by a fallen tree. I wanted to remember how excited we all were to see wild turkeys for the first time, and recall the simple joy of seeing a deer or a butterfly.

And then the thought came to me that I could write about it. I asked myself, "If a picture is worth a thousand words, does that mean a thousand words is worth a picture?" 

I want to remember how my husband and I agreed that baby cows are so cute and how strange that is since grown-up cows are not cute at all. I want to remember how my five-year-old son tried to convince his siblings that if we didn't lean away from the side of the vehicle closest to the drop-off over the side of the mountain road, then we would surely tumble over the edge. I want to remember how good it felt when  my husband and I worked as partners, without words, to remove the dead trees while the sound of the chain saw rang in our ears. The air was fresh except for those few whiffs of skunk, the day was cool enough to be able to work in our long sleeves without wilting, and the happy chatter of our kids was worth the hour-long drive to the gathering spot. As we bounced around in the truck on the rock-covered road, we started learning the words to "Away in a Manger" even though it is only August.

I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming gratitude for the chance to have a family and to share this world with such amazing little people. It was a good day. One for the photo albums!