Much Ado About Nothing

I woke up with a sore throat so after getting all the kids to seminary and school, I came home and decided to make myself some hot chocolate. I always end up making the water too hot so I have it sitting on the end table cooling down as I stay busy with general housework. Rachel comes out and sees my cup sitting on the table. Rachel: Can I have some of your hot chocolate? Me: Sure. Rachel: Did you put milk in it? Me: Yes. Rachel (after picking up the cup): I think it would be better with a straw. What kinds of straws do we have? (Note: I often pick up extra straws from various fast food restaurants and occassionally buy packs of straws from the store. Additionally, some cups we have purchased came with straws and those crazy straws always seem to come home from birthday parties.) Me: I'm not sure we have any straws left. Rachel: Of course we do!

Nick: Mom, is that stuff dad puts under his arms called yogurt? The McDonald's has an air hockey table. Since the youngest three are a bit too short to reach the table adequately, we drag chairs over. Nick used the chair for better reach. Rachel used the chair to climb onto the table. She's the winner because not only does she have better control of the table, she effectively blocks her goal with her body.

We have always tried hard to get our children to follow the age-old tradition of writing thank you notes. Some years we've done better than others, but apparently, there has been some success. This morning, Cierra asked if we could take Ruger to church. We explained that dogs generally don't go to church (I assume that service dogs would be allowed). Dad added that we needed Ruger at home to protect the house while we were away. Shortly after we observed Cierra dictating to Nick (because he can write) a letter thanking Ruger for guarding our home. Here's hoping he'll be as helpful when it comes time to write the holiday thank you notes.

Nicholas: Mom, can we go on a trip for Christmas? Mom: Where do you want to go? Nicholas: Antarctica Mom: Why Antarctica? Cierra: Because they have snow. Nicholas: And penguins. Cierra: Maybe we could pray for snow. Mom: And penguins? Nicholas: Yeah Cierra (simultaneous with Nick): Whaaat?

I'm not a big fan of shopping. I particularly don't like taking kids shopping because they want everything. But we're about out of milk so it's a necessity. After dropping the kids off at school, Rachel and I head to the grocery store. As we get to the milk area, she clamors for chocolate milk. Hanging off the doors enclosing the dairy reefer, are bottles of chocolate syrup. She wants that too. The little bottles of flavored milk are on sale, so I grab one of those for her. Next up - eggs. I open the door and pull out a carton to check for cracked eggs. Rachel discovers that in the reefer next to the one I am working with is another shelving unit full of eggs. These are the organic, special, pricier eggs. All of a sudden I hear her exclaim - Mommy! Chocolate eggs! No dear, those are just brown-shelled eggs.

Cierra (sneezes): Mom, when I sneezed, my ears said something.

Yes, we play the slug bug game, but without the slugging. Aaron has long been teased for the ghost slug bugs he finds which no one else sees. He's a bit competitive. We actually had to ban the game because it was leading to fights. We're still not allowed to play on Sundays. The older kids don't usually play at all but the game is back on. Nick: Slug bug white! Rachel: Slug bug yellow! Nick: There's no yellow slug bug. Rachel: Uh huh. Nick: No, you made it up. Rachel: No, I made it down.

Nick, Cierra, and Rachel are discussing school. Nick finishes kindergarten this week and Cierra is excited to start kindergarten next year. They are trying to figure out when Rachel will get to go to school. Since there is also a pre-k/day care class at the charter school, Nick announces that Rachel can go there next year. Rachel replies "When I turn to be a boy, I can go to Nick's school."

Cierra: I don't like Rachel! Me: Why not? Cierra: She's cuter than me.

Cierra tells Rachel, I'm prettier because my hair is long. Rachel responds, My hair is long too. Cierra pronounces Rachel as pretty but determines that Alyx is the prettiest because she has the longest hair and she wears cool clothes. "When I grow up I'm going to wear the best clothes too"

As we were driving to the dentist, Cierra (politely even) tells Nick "Excuse me, you've got to see this cactus." Pointing out the window she laments that it only has one arm. Nick replies, "That's okay, when he gets older he'll get lots of arms, like a spider and an octopus."

Rachel received a princess dress up set for Christmas. It came with purple shoes which she loves to wear and clip-clop around the house. This evening she wanted to wear them and couldn't remember where she had left them. I told her to go check her bedroom. She walked into her bedroom and began calling "Where are you princess shoes? Where are you?" When that didn't work, she then yelled "Come out, come out wherever you are!"