Kids say the darndest things

Good morning Utah, umm I mean, California! this is the second time this week we have gotten snow! And last week, we were enjoying weather in to the 70s! Monday's storm put down about 2 inches as opposed to last night's little dusting. Why are all of the headlines pushing global warming? We haven't had this much snow here in all 5 1/2 years I have lived here!

I had SUCH a day yesterday! We have been trying to get things done and still get back to the wonderful schedule of learning that I had before (I really really really enjoyed my children when we were all learning together). We have been sick for the past week or so, and it has been really hard to get moving again - especially for the teenager who thinks couch+movies (sick schedule) is the way to go. Still, we had a few precious moments yesterday.

First, Robert took all of the blankets and the chairs from the kitchen and built a fort - it was pretty well done, they had no light inside whatsoever. In fact, Ginny took two naps inside! I couldn't find my camera at that moment, but it was very cute. Robert was a good sport about rebuilds - for a while - then he told Josh that the "maintenance is too expensive." Although I didn't catch the meaning, Josh thought it made perfect sense and didn't press the issue, but moved on to an anatomy puzzle book that we have. After throwing the pieces around with Ginny for a while, we sat down to put them back together. When we got to the digestive tract picture, Josh got very excited and said, "Look mom, his stomach goes all the way down to his penis!" He was sooo proud of himself (I, of course was just choking). The picture is not THAT detailed! His pronuciation was absolutely perfect in its clarity and Byron was incredibly proud of his powers of observation and took him aside to point out exactly where the intestinal tract actually comes out ... guess what I'm going to be hearing about today.

At bathtime last night, I took a good look at Ben and said, "Wow you have a lot of bruises! Where did you get so many bumps and bruises?" Without missing a beat, by little 3 yr-old said, "Genevieve and Josh." The funny part is that he is about half-way right about that. Tuesday morning, he was pushing Ginny and she turned around (holding a little Disney princess toy in her hand) and just clocked him. She must have gotten just the right spot because he had the best bloody nose! Ben didn't cry at all and, when I got him cleaned up, spend a bit of time trying to figure out where to pick to get the blood to come back. Playgroup was great for that - sorry everyone! The, today, he was again fighting with Josh (sensing a pattern?) and Josh managed to get a shoulder in just right and Ben lost his footing. Luckily for Josh, I happened to be watching this little exchange because I would never have believe that Ben could have made that kind of "contact" on his own, but it was true! Josh even tried to catch him, but down he went and caught his nose on the corner of the bed. Josh was the only one who cried about that, and I imagine he was worried about the trouble he was going to get into. Now, I have to point out that in both of these "altercations" Ben was both the instigator and the main agressor - so he did kind of earn those bruises. I just looked more closely at the picture ... the red around his lips IS ketchup. The bruises are on his nose, upper lip and over one eye. Ooops!

And finally, my "little Mimi" surprised me last night. After her bath, I decided it was too cold to put her down with wet hair, so I pulled out the blow dryer (my favorite thing, remember?). I expected to have to fight with her to get her hair dry, but she loved it! I put it on the warm setting and she kept turning her head into the air to get her face. So, I pulled out a styling brush and she just grinned and HELD STILL!!!! She is sooooo my mother!