Kids Say the Darnedest Things - Part 1

This post has been over a year in the making . . . figured I might as well post it as part one of many I'm sure. Enjoy!

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Every kid has a wealth of one liners up their sleeves that just crack us up. You know, the ones when we think to ourselves, "Oh, that one's DEFINITELY for the baby book!". Unfortunately, in the midst of the craziness and chaos that exists in the lives of us parents, we often promptly forget, at least I know I do. I'm still using 'baby brain' as my excuse. I don't think it ever goes away! Anyway, I was an aunt long before I was a parent and reveled in what came out of the mouths of my nieces and nephews. Now I have my own little clown to keep me entertained on a daily basis. And another one that is quickly learning to talk and I'm sure will be contributing immensely in the coming posts. I've decided that I'm horrible at remembering to write things down in a baby book, so I'll journal them here on my blog, my cyberspace vault of thoughts and remembrances. Here are just a few of Jonah's "Jonahisms" to get me started:

"Mommy, can you read me a story about big boy Jesus, you know, when he had the long hair?"

Commenting on his iced tea: "Mom. Look! There's fish food in my iced tea." Gross. Precisely why I don't voluntarily share drinks with my children.

Jonah: "Daddy, can I have some water?"
Josh: "Sure bud, have a sip of Mommy's."
Jonah: "But I will get boobies!"
Josh (choking) "No you won't, they're not contagious."
Jonah sips the water, then looks down and pats his chest just to make sure.
*** I should also mention, before the unfortunate learning of the term "boobies" (there was a nursing newborn in the house - it was bound to happen), he referred to them as "Mommy's mountains". Ha! Thanks, buddy!

Jonah: "If Jesus is in my heart, how's the doctor going to get him out?"

Jonah: "Mom, you're ruining my WHOLE life!!!" Classic. Four going on fourteen.

Josh: "You know, Jonah, Christmas isn't all about getting presents, it's about Jesus."
Jonah: "Well, what's Jesus going to get me?"

Jonah: "Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose. And, if you ever saw it, you would really say it blows!"

After asking Jonah to run and get me a receiving blanket, he stomps up the stairs while muttering: "When I grow up, I'm going to be a BABY! Hmph." As great of a big brother he is, I guess I had asked him to help me with one too many things that day.

In Jonah's vocabulary, it's "Good Donald's" not McDonald's and "goodsert" not dessert. Some would feel these terms to be very appropriate.

Jonah: "Daddy, when I get big, I'm going to go away and drive the tanks." He tenderly puts his hand on Josh's arm: "Now, Daddy, I will be far away, with the army, will you be okay? I will be gone for a long time."
. . . the following day . . .
"I'll come home for Christmas, but you'll have to make room so I can park my tank in the garage."

Jonah: "Hey look! The war show is on!"
Josh: "No buddy, that's called the news."

At bedtime prayers, after asking Jesus for sunshine the next day, Jonah asks me if Jesus heared him. I tell him of course. Then . . .
Jonah: "Is Jesus in Heaven?"
Me: "Yes."
Jonah: "Well, where is heaven?"
Me: "Well Jonah, God is all around us. He's right here in this room with us right now, but we can't see him. But you know what? God is soooo big, that it's like He's holding the whole world in his hands!"
Jonah: "No, Mommy, it's called Earth, not the world. And Earth, is floating in space."
. . . I guess I didn't use the best analogy to explain such a deep concept to a four year old, one who is especially fascinated with astronomy.

Me: "Jonah, please stop biting your nails."
Jonah: "But M0-OM, I'm HUNGRY!"

November 25th, 2011
Jonah: "Mommy, I don't want to drive a concrete mixer when I grow up. It's too dangerous. I want to be a police man instead."

February 5th, 2012
Jonah: "MOM! I know how you can get to Jesus and God! A rainbow!"

February 11th, 2012
While watching Hockey Night in Canada, as Don Cherry steps out of his Escalade, Jonah starts singing: "Plaid, check, polka dot, stripe, which is the pattern that you like?" CRACK ME UP!!! All of them buddy, it's Don Cherry!

February 17th, 2012
Me: "So Jonah, what should we order on our pizza?"
Jonah: "Macaroni Peppers." (aka, pepperoni)

February 22nd, 2012
Jonah: "Go away you storm troopers and droids, GO AWAY!! If you don't go away I'm going to spank your bums!! RRrgh!" . . .
Step away from the video game, Jonah, step away . . .

April 29th, 2012
Jonah: "Mom, if Micah doesn't stop screaming, I'm gonna lose my marbles - and my money!"

May 6th, 2012
Josh: "Jonah, how did all this pee get on the floor?"
Jonah: "I peed straight."
Josh: "Straight?"
Jonah: "Yeah, straight off the toilet."

May 23rd, 2012
This one's from one of my piano students, too awesome not to include it here . . .
"When I grow up I want to be a piano teacher just like you AND a REAL teacher too." ~ McKenna S.

May 27th, 2012
Jonah: "Mom, where does Akari live? Where there's bears?"
Me: "Huh?"
Jonah: "Where there's kung fu bears?"
Me: "You mean pandas?"
Jonah: "Ya. Kung fu pandas."
Me: "She lives in Japan, honey, not China."

Dear Mommy

So after a really crappy day, I come home tonight (December 22nd, 2011) to find this letter waiting for me on top of my laptop . . .

MOMMY (in chicken scratch),

I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry for climbing out of my high chair. I realize now, that that was at best, a foolhardy thing to do.

Having said that, I want to also say that you should not feel bad or inadequate as a mom just because I was able to do this. The fact is, is that I'm a rascal and for the rest of your life I will probably be doing things of all kinds that will cause your heart to stop beating. More than likely, I will, at the very least, jump of the roof of the shed, at least some part of the house, go scuba diving, black diamond skiing, skateboarding, snowboarding, motorcycle racing and sky diving, just to name a few. Also, given my disposition towards dangerous and risky activities, I will probably be employed as a firefighter, police officer, special forces sniper, MMA combatant, mine disposal man, or a crocodile wrestler in the deep south. My point is, that you can't cage me in. I'm growing, getting stronger and am learning at a geometric rate. I have displayed fine motor skills at an early age and possess an excellent perception of depth and space. Climbing out of my high chair is the least of your concerns, trust me. (Just between the two of us, I've almost figured out the snap buckles anyway. I think Daddy has seen me looking, but I'm not sure.)

Anyway, please don't beat yourself up. Just be glad you haven't caught me doing electrical work yet.

Love your son,
Micah

Mmmm Mmmm Mac 'N Cheese

For me, fall is a time for casseroles, slow cooker cooking, and all around comfort food.  My absolute favourite of which would have to be my Mom's homemade mac 'n cheese. I absolutely despise Kraft Dinner (a flaw of mine which is almost a deal breaker for my hubby who would eat KD for breakfast), probably because it can't even come close to comparing to this:

I took  this pic before it was cooked because I was giving it away and wouldn't be seeing it in it's ooey, gooey, melty, cheesy glory.  (Isn't there a Taco Bell commercial about that?)

I've been asked for this recipe many times, so I thought I'd share it here on the blog.  Hope this is okay, Mom!  If you try it, tell me what you think!

1.  Cook 2 1/2 c of macaroni until done (al dente).  Strain in colander.

2.  In same pot, melt 1/4c of butter.  Whisk in 1/4 c of flour, 1/4 tsp of dry mustard, 1 tsp of salt, and pepper to taste.

3.  Add a few good splashes of Worcestershire sauce, more if you like a little more zip.

4.  Whisk in 3 c of milk.  Heat gently, stirring with a whisk frequently to prevent scorching until it comes to a gentle boil.  Then keep stirring until it thickens.  Turn heat down just to keep it barely bubbling. When it thickens, stir in 2 1/2 c of shredded sharp cheese until melted.  Optional:  Add a good dollop of Cheez Whiz for extra cheesiness.

5.  Take off of heat and dump noodles back into the pot to mix.  Pour into a greased casserole dish.

6.  In microwave, melt 2 tbsp of butter or margarine.  Toss 1/2 to 1 c of bread, cracker, or cornflake crumbs until coated (I've even used ruffles chips, but I like soda crackers best).  Sprinkle over macaroni.  Then sprinkle more shredded cheese on top.

7.  Bake in oven at 350 until you see it bubbling around the edges and the topping is browned.  

Pair it up with some homemade biscuits, a salad, and an ice cold glass of milk and you've got a meal made in heaven!

Kicking leaves leads to shoveling snow . . . winter's on it's way!

This morning began at 7am.  Nothing unusual about that.  The sun was just coming up and the baby was beginning to stir.  Then I heard it.  The rhythmic chhh-chhh . . . chhh-chhh . . . coming through the bedroom window.  What is that???  Could it be???  I jumped out of bed (okay that's an exaggeration, I'm too sleep deprived to 'jump', it was more like a slither) and ran (I mean, dragged) myself to the window.  It was the neighbour scraping the frost off their car.  Just a little frost.  Whew!  Jonah entered the room and headed to the window.  His morning ritual is to check out what's happening as far as the construction goes on the street, and to make sure the 'builders' aren't leaning on their shovels sipping their Timmies for too long.  He notices the sparkly landscape right away but was greatly disappointed when I explained to him that it wasn't exactly snow and that we still had some time before Santa would be dropping by.  But, it put him in the festive spirit anyway - he enjoyed his breakfast of waffles and syrup in front of his Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer DVD.

So, later in the day, we had the pleasure of having my grandmother from Hornepayne (bet you don't know where that is!) and my Auntie Lee-Anne from Jasper, along with my mom and dad, for supper. We discovered this really neat paved trail through the forest last week that criss-crosses back and forth over a twisty creek, so we decided to take the fam and the dogs for a hike.  The leaves are just about at their peak so it was just gorgeous.

These pics are from our hike a few days ago. Unfortunately I forgot the camera today and didn't get any pictures with the family.  I'm horrible for forgetting the dang camera!

Anyway, we arrived home to a supper of cabbage rolls, French bread, carrots, and pumpkin pie! Yum! What a festive day and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!  Can't wait until next weekend when we can enjoy the cottage for the last time before it's closed up for the winter.  Such a bittersweet time of year.

Baby Has Arrived!

Wow!  It's been a while since I've been on here.  I guess I've had some better things to occupy my time with other than sitting in front of the computer - one of which things, would be our new baby boy!

Micah arrived a little early, at 9:28am on August 25th, 2010, and I couldn't be more thrilled to not have to hang on another three weeks!  I had a feeling, one way or another, he was going to be coming early.  It turned out I had preeclampsia and they decided to do an emergency induction to get him out before my health took a turn for the worse.  After a not too difficult 11 hours of labour (Yay for epidurals!), Micah arrived a healthy 7lbs 11oz and 20 1/2" long.  We went home the next day, and so our new life as a family of four, began!

Daddy's idea of labour . . .

Fruit of Mommy's labour . . .

(Hospital pictures are never flattering!)

At long last, after much anticipation, Big Brother meets Little Brother!

Our precious wee boy, finally home!

Wordless Wednesday

After staying up until 2am last night reminiscing with hubby and looking at baby pics of our firstborn, I thought I'd post a pic of our first sweet baby boy.  As the due date creeps closer, I find myself wondering all day long what this next one will be like!

These were before and after shots of his 2nd hair cut (the first could barely be considered a hair cut).  

He went from Conan O'Brian to G.I. Jonah.  I just about died when I realized how short they were cutting it!

It's okay . . .

I'm totally stealing this idea from a good friend with a great blog - check her out at Dreams, Diapers, and Dilemmas.  She stole the idea from her sister who stole it from a magazine, so I guess it's a catchy idea! Here goes.

It's okay that . . .

I'm hopelessly addicted to warm fuzzies.  Cats, dogs, my husband, my son, babies, chick flicks, and making memories on family outings. Maybe that could be the reason why I'm such a picture taking junkie and tell stories on end about my little boy.  I just love reliving the moments.  And hey, what's better than the smell of yummy babies and burying your face in a kitty's fur?

It's okay that my 3 year old was up until midnight last night because I accidentally got carried away with my scrapbooking in the afternoon and he ended up with a 4 hour nap.  Oops! 

It's okay that I'm a tomboy at heart but hate bugs or baiting my fish hooks.  It's about the only girly girl aspect about me.

It's okay that I'm a facebook junkie.  I love to stay up to date with friends and family, especially since we moved more north.  It has really become difficult to get to see everyone face to face on a regular basis, and lets just face it, what mom has time to spend hours on end on the phone?

It's okay that I hate being pregnant (but I love the results).  For anyone that spends their entire pregnancy yakking, fighting constant heartburn and sciatic nerve pain, you'd hate it too.

It's okay that I'm not Supermom.

It's okay that I'm a dreamer.  I get a high just planning things and thinking about how I'm going to do something, even if I know, it's probably never going to happen.  Optimism is healthy!

It's okay that I nap just about every day, even when I'm not pregnant.  If it's good for the Spanish, it's good for me!

It's okay that I LOVE homemade mac and cheese and just can't wait to microwave the leftovers the next day.

It's okay that I love Road to Avonlea and would watch episodes for hours on end if I had the time.  My heart melts every time I hear Gus Pike say "Mess Kang (Miss King)" with his alluring accent.  : D  And yes, I will admit, I dragged my husband with me to the Road to Avonlea cast reunion at the Royal Ontario Museum a few years back.  I even made him be the one to take the picture of me with 'Gus' (Michael Mahonen).  And yes, he said "Mess Kang" for me!!!! Eeeee!  Next to my wedding day and the day my son was born, it was just about the next best day of my life!


What's your "It's okay . . ." list?  Share your comments, I'd love to hear!