What did you say?

From time to time, well actually on a daily basis, my kids say some pretty funny stuff. Too often I don't take the time to write it down, and sadly, these funny moments are often forgotten!
These things may be funny to only me, but I wanted to jot them down anyway...
I posted this first one on facebook, but wanted to leave it here as well.
The girls were part of a children's chorus that sang with the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. Mike, Noah, Lexie and I attended the concert, and as the lights dimmed, a recorded message played..."Please turn off all cell phones, pagers and noise making devices."
Noah quickly leaned Lexie forward-who was sitting on my lap-and began to rub up and down her back. "What are you doing?" I asked. Not even trying to be funny, he answered, "I'm looking for her "off" button." Mike and I just cracked up.

On to the next funny thing..
Mae was re-telling a story she had just read, and often when she re-tells, it is word for word and very lengthy. So on this occasion, my thoughts began to wander after about twenty minutes of her story. Then she said with excitement, "And then, he bit her ear off!!" I quickly came back from wherever I had wandered and with much surprise said, "What?!?"
"In the story I was reading, the boy said he had to tell his mom a secret, and when she leaned down, he bit her ear off." I thought, what on earth has she been reading?!!! I said, "What on earth have you been reading?!!!"
"One of the books on our school shelf." She answered. thinking some bizarre book must have found its way onto my shelf, I asked her what book it was.
"Oh, you know, that one you told me I could read, That one with the pretend stories....what are they called?" She stopped to think. "I think they would be called fiction stories." I said.
"No, they're called something else, like fairy tales, but not fairy tales, but an "F' word."
I was honestly losing my patience quickly, just trying to get the name of the book.
"I don't know." I answered. "Well," she said, "YOU talked to us about the stories, and that they were made up stories, and I just can't remember what they were called, and I can't remember the name of the book." I thought another minute about pretend stories, not fairy tales, that I had talked about.... "Fables?" I asked. "Are you talking about a book of fables?"
The light went on. "Yes!!! That's it!!!" She said, excitedly. "Fables...the book was called....(she paused, trying to remember)... "ASS-Hops Fables!!" She declared it proudly, glad that she had remembered. Mackenzie's head shot up from behind the book she was reading, her eyes big as saucers. Noah dropped his legos and gasped, "Mae, you said a baaaaaad word!!!!!"
I stood stunned for a moment, before it all made sense. "Aesop's Fables...you read EEEEEEEsop's Fables." I stated, emphasizing the "EEEEEEE."
"Oh, so that's how you say it!" Mae said, suddenly a little embarrassed. I made a mental note to self, "Have the Children come show me what they are going to read before they read it...and make sure they can pronounce the title correctly!"
We love things like this at our house...they truly bring out the giggles in everyone.

Angel hair pasta with shrimp, garlic and mushrooms

Yum, yum... Mike threw this together tonight, and it was so wonderful....i knew I'd forget what he added if I didn't write it down. We had the pasta with a caesar salad with homemade croutons and the 3 children who don't like shrimp, had tasty cornmeal coated and pan fried tilapia...my dear husband was quite busy tonight!`

1 box angel hair pasta, cooked according to directions-return to big spaghetti pot after draining.
*note, one box was really not enough for our family of 6!

1 1/2 lbs peeled, deveined and steamed shrimp

1 cup fresh mushrooms, diced

1/2 yellow onion. chopped

4-6 cloves garlic, chopped

4 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

salt and pepper to taste


saute the onion, 1/2 the garlic and the mushrooms till tender in 2 Tbsp olive oilover medium high heat-transfer this mixture (including the oil) to the pot with the angel hair-toss to mix.

Saute remaining garlic and shrimp in 2 Tbsp olive oil over med high heat till shrimp is warmed through-add white wine, reduce heat and simmer another 5 minutes.

add shrimp, garlic and wine mixture to angel hair and toss again-serve immediately.

My non-shrimp eating kiddos loved the mushroom-garlic pasta as well, minus the shrimp....more for the grown ups!!!

Birthday ramblings

So hard to believe Lexie turned two Monday. The girls asked me.. "What time was she born?"
I said, "I don't know, I'll have to look at her birth certificate." For a moment-just a moment..there was a sadness over the fact that because I did not give birth to her, I don't have that first "birth" day memory to hold on to. But the sadness was immediately overcome by an overwhelming sense of gratitude that at just one week old, the Lord placed this precious little girl in our family.
As we sang happy birthday over cupcakes and a room full of balloons, As Lexie excitedly listened to her Daddy and her grandparents sing to her on the phone...As she flew to the door ready with hugs for her other grandparents...At supper as we bowed our heads and Lexie called out, "Daddy, mommy, cissy, mae mae, bubby, food...thank you...AMEN"...As she ran through the house all day shouting, "Birthday, birthday, birthday...two, two, two!!!" The amazing mix of joy, peace and thankfulness that came over me almost brought me to tears.

However many birthdays I get to celebrate with each of my children, Lord thank you for the gift of these days..for the gift of these children...for cupcakes and balloons...muddy footprints and snotty noses...messy rooms and clogged up toilets...army men underfoot and knitting stuff everywhere...pla-dough in the carpet and marbles in the washing machine....dirty socks..40 of them ..in the toybox...sticky handmade cards with glitter all over them...sweet notes that say "thank you mom"...toothpaste on the doorknob....late night fevers and gag reflexes in response to medicine...the same book for the 44th time....one million questions... one million more questions....Lord, thank you for this gift of motherhood-for all the ups and downs-for choosing me, to mother them. Lord, help me today, and everyday to show more of you to each of them-in the cooking, cleaning, teaching, wiping, correcting, playing,, singing, living.....How much I fall short each day...how thankful I am that you love me anyway. Thank you for the gift of another day, to try again....

Happy Birthday, Sweet Lexie...we love you so much!