Notes From The Cupboard

Sometimes our kids say the funniest things. I want so bad to record all of them and I really want to tell it in a way that everyone understands just how funny it was. Sometimes I worry it will be more confusing than understood. Let me know if it's ever too confusing. A few of these are pretty good.

A little preface. I have been doing a workout video that's a 30 day shred. There are 3 levels in the work out. They also talk about the peak of the workout which is the part that works you the hardest. Obviously you start with level 1 and as you progress you move onto the other levels. Not a day goes by that McKay and Gensie aren't right there working out with me the entire time. They are soooo cute to watch.
   The other night McKay was saying family prayer and this is what he said. "Dear Hena Fauder, We're grateful for da opportunity, help us to share da gospel. I want my mom to exercise well and to do level free. Grateful for da peak of da challenge amen."

He also said the other day "Mom, lets exercise tomorrow level 2 not level 1." Good thing I have my own personal trainer that keeps pushing me and doesn't let me slack off.

When my mom was visiting this is a conversation she and Gensie had. Mom was using my blow dryer so she took it into the other bathroom. Gensie walks in and says...

Gensie: "That's my mommy's"
Grandma: "I know"
Gensie: "Stop playing with her things"

Eating dinner the other night McKay says "I don't like da seeds in chicken." He was talking about the bones.

Gensie says "Hey Mook, what are ya doin?  Pulling my leg?"

I said "Gensie quit picking your nose." She said "I not picking my nose, I getting a booger."

Gensie was walking around reading a book and says "Mommy, Hello Dumpty fell off da wall." She thinks that's his name.

While we were doing yard work Gensie found a neat little twisted stick and gave it to McKay. His reaction was "Danks Gens, dis is razactly what I wanted for Christmas."

I was out running the other day and noticed some trash along the path. It was bothering me as I kept running passed it.  When I was done I went home and got McKay and Gensie and a trash bag and took them out to pick up trash. I explained to them that it was littering and that Heavenly Father and Jesus don't like that. While they were picking up the trash I would have to tell them that they could leave the sticks and leaves on the ground. Of course they wanted to know why so I told them that Heavenly Father and Jesus put those things here so it's ok if they stay it's not littering.
   Later on that same afternoon the whole family was in the back yard weeding. All three kids literally dug right in to help by playing in the dirt. We hear McKay talking to Gensie and he tells her "Gens, this is The dirt of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." He also found a rock that looked like an obsidion but I think it was man made. As I was looking at it I said to Quinn "Is that even real?  Is it glass?  Should we get rid of it?" I didn't want it to cut the kids. McKay really wanting to keep his rock says "Mom, it's a rock straight from Hena Fauder and Jesus."

Remember when McKay was superman and all the rest of us had our assignments? Well that's all in the past now but don't worry he's replaced it. He is now Robin Hood, Gensie is Maid Mary as they call her, Avonlea is Lady Cluck from the cartoon, Quinn is sometimes the sheriff of Nottingham sometimes Prince John but usually he is little John, and Mom is King Richard (very fitting if you ask me). Well this is a picture of  Sherwood Forest. There is Robin Hood and Maid Mary with some Merry men. They have some fire wood and some horses and King Richard even provided them with a picnic. A true romantic at heart. When they are in character they dont' let us forget it. If I say Gensie, McKay says "You mean Maid Mary?" If I say "Go find Daddy" They say "Ok we'll go find dat mean bad guy Sheriff of Nottingham."  Sometimes Robin Hood will say "King Richard, Lady Cluck needs you she's crying." The other night at dinner Robin Hood was saying the blessing on the food. He said "Please help us to obey Little John and King Richard."




 The Family Working In The Yard

Looking at bugs together

Look at McKay's boot

"Kids look at Mom!  Kids, I'm trying to take your picture.  Look at Mom.  Mook!  Gens!  Lele!  Look at Mom."  Nothin

Look at our darling little girl.  Obviously she loved it.  We had her caged in the play pen for a while and finally decided to let her get dirty.  She quickly did what McKay would do when he was younger:  Find a rock and pop it right in.

"Kids, look at Mom!  I'm trying to take your picture"  Still nothin. Clearly the dirt is so much more interesting than Mom.

Oh So Darling

This darling little outfit, the dress and the hat, were given to Gensie Lou by Aunt Stephie. She wore it to church last Sunday and oh boy did she get some looks, smiles and lots and lots of compliments. I was told so many times how cute her dress and hat were and how darling she looked. She actually wore the hat the whole time. I didn't think she would but she liked it. Thanks so much Steph.

I carry 3 of these old bracelets that i don't wear anymore in my church bag for the kids to play with. It just so happened that this one matched the outfit perfectly. She also wore it all day. It's too big for her so she would walk around with her hand up in the air so it wouldn't fall off. It looked like she was raising her hand all through church.

I think through the eyes she looks a tiny little bit like Millie Cook in this picture.

I said "Turn around and show me the back" and this is what I got. She has so much personality.

With a 2 year old it's either too much smile or not enough smile.

Hold on to your bonnets girls.

Here is Gensie's thank you

"Thank you Aunt Stephie Thank you for the beautiful hat.  And thank you for the beautiful dress.  I love you"

Happy Birthday Corinne!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORINNE!
   We'll we don't have your email address or a phone number to reach you and we're not big facebookers and it always seems so impersonal anyway, but we wanted to wish you a happy birthday. We thought "Hey lets post it on our blog. We know she reads it". SOOOOOO Happy Birthday Corinne! Knowing Brady I'm sure he made it very special for you. We have now been sisters-in-law for almost 2 years and I have still only met you twice. Once at Christmas before you guys were even engaged and then at your wedding and that doesn't hardly count because we all know how busy girls are just before they get married. Who has time to socialize? And remember how sick both Quinn and I were at your wedding? Yet somehow we both feel like we've known you way longer than that. Maybe it's because we know Brady boy so well. You are so pleasant and easy to be around. So comfortable to chat with. I am really looking forward to you guys being back so we can get to know you better. We are really hoping you will come visit us when you get back. We are secretly hoping you'll stay a few weeks with us. We love you and hope you had a great day. Love your brother and sister,
               Quinn and Tasha
                                                   This is from the kids.

Happy Birthday McKay

   For McKay's birthday he was a cowboy, which he is a lot. He got cowboy toys and a horsey cake. We had a wonderful dinner of homemade hamburgers with avocado and sauteed onion and mushrooms on homemade wheat bread which is sooo good. We also had watermelon which McKay loves. Fruit salad, chips, deviled eggs, strawberries, and a vegi tray. Then homemade whole wheat carrot cake and ice cream. His gifts were some Playmobil cowboys and dogs, Patch from 101 dalmatians the stuffed animal, and a bike. Grandma Pearce, Aunt Autumn, and Uncle Andon were still here which he loved. It is always so fun having a birthday for little kids. They get so excited and love every little second of it. He was so excited about his horsey cake. You should have seen him looking at a cake making book I have for the last month. He would talk and talk about what kind of cake he should have. He would discuss it with Gensie and he would change his mind every 5 min. I finally had to decide for him. I chose a horse because he loves being a cowboy and he was getting cowboy toys for his birthday. It's so hard to believe our little man has been here for 4 years. It feels like we just barely had him yet it's hard to remember life before he was born. We are so grateful for this wonderful wonderful boy. He is so darling and sweet. He is a very kind and loving big brother. He is lots of help to his mom and wants to be just like his daddy.

The holes in the cake are because it's made out of cupcakes. The 45 is Grandpa Pearce's brand for his horses.

His birthday is May 7th

Happy Birthday Kiss

Uncle Andon's Visit

Tasha took a trip to Boise in mid-March to see Steph for a few days and to do some scrapbooking.  She left the kids at her parents and when she came home she brought Andon home with her.  He loves coming and usually tries to get his bags packed weeks in advance.  We really enjoyed having him.  He is a lot of help for Tasha and is so easy to have around.  Our kids love having him here too and they definitely got used to having another playmate.  Like we mentioned in a earlier post, even though he is 17 he is more like a 2 year old.  So when he plays with the kids he plays the same games they do.  He loves playing toys with them.  3 of this favorite things to do are eat, wrestle, and jump on the tramp.  He was here for about 6 weeks and they flew by.

Andon has a very good friend who has been on a mission in Germany.  His name is Jeremy, but Andon's name for him is Tem.  They made a deal when Jeremy left on his mission that Andon would be his companion from home and help him and pray for him for missionary success.  Andon has been VERY faithful in fulfilling his side of that bargain.  We couldn't say a single prayer without addressing it, and if we did forget then we had to go back and pray about it.  Even with him gone our kids still include it in their prayers.  There was also not a single day that passed without Andon talking about helping Tem.  He would get his scriptures out and study them for a while, then he would carry his Preach My Gospel around and study that at the table as he wrote notes.  If McKay and I were in his good graces at the time we would be welcome to help Tem too.  If we were not in his good graces then he definitely let us know.  We knew when he was bothered at us or if we did something he didn't approve of when he would tell us, "Ah-ite.  No help Tem!"   Jeremy just returned home from his mission a couple weeks ago and Andon is not ready to be done.  So we made the suggestion that he transfer to the Louisville Kentucky Mission where he can be companions with Elder 'Teddy' Eastin.  (Teddy is Andon's name for Devin.)  Devin has always been so kind to Andon and Andon has always loved Devin.  He has always loved going to Quinn's "mom and dad's house and teddy".  We have always felt that Devin and Andon had a connection, so we now need to let Elder Eastin know that he will have another companion.  The picture above is his usual church clothes, but he is really big on being just like Quinn, so the picture below is a little gift from us.  Tasha bought him a white shirt and undershirt, and Autumn bought him a briefcase.  He was SO proud of them and spent hours putting notes, scriptures and other important papers in his new briefcase.  He put so many things in that he couldn't get it closed.  He had to try on all his new clothes with his briefcase and scriptures, but not before he had Tasha do his hair so he could show Quinn that he looks just like Quinn does on Sundays.  Quinn is one of his all-time favorite people.

Andon is so social that he would not go to bed until he could tuck us into bed at night.  So he was always the last one to go to bed and the first one up when Quinn would get up to go to work.  It didn't matter how quiet Quinn tried to be, he would always wake up because there was someone to be with.  So he didn't get nearly enough sleep when he was here and would take naps a lot.  He would never take the time to take an official nap, to actually lay down with a pillow and blanket, so he took many naps just falling asleep in the middle of whatever he was doing.

These 3 kids spent a LOT of time on the trampoline together.  It was definitely one of their favorite things to do.

Wrestling was another favorite thing to do.  McKay loves wrestling with pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, and pretty much anything else.  So we had plenty of things in the living room to wrestle with most of the time.

What 2 year old doesn't like to help and be important in the kitchen?  So one Sunday Tasha was rolling out tortilla shells for dinner, and she usually lets Andon help with the last 1 or 2.  Well, she forgot and he was having a hard time with it.  So she told him after dinner she would make cookies and that he could help.  He did most everything to make them with Tasha simply telling him what to do.  As you can see, he was very proud of himself.

I Made Both of These

    I will admit I made both of these. The little girl and her dress and I am very proud of my work. Here I am in my twenties and I'm still playing dress up with dolls. These dolls are much cuter, more expensive, and they even talk back.
   My mom came to visit for about 2 weeks. She sews very well and I've always wanted her to teach me how to follow a pattern but have never gotten around to it. I have bought fabric and patterns on more than one occasion and still something always got in our way. Probably 'free witto' kids. This time I was determined. She arrived on Saturday and Monday we started sewing. We would read the instructions together then she would explain what they meant and I would do the work. The dress was actually sleeveless but for church I wanted it to have sleeves so we took a sleeve pattern from another pattern and added them. It couldn't have turned out cuter. The size, color,style, print I LOVE it all. I think Gensie got tired of me staring at her all day on Sunday and telling her to turn so I could see her 'buful' dress. I asked her about a hundred times who made her dress. I have already picked out another pattern and fabric and am now making my dollies matching dresses. Thanks to my wonderful mother for helping me. It really wouldn't have happened without her.

Notes from the cupboard

Gensie counts 1,2,3,6,0, I con ready or not.

My youngest brother Andon was staying with us for about 6 weeks. He has Downs Syndrome so even though he is 17 in most ways he is a 2 year old. The kids love him and love playing with him. He likes to go out in the back yard and talk to himself on occasion. 

McKay comes running to me and says "Mom where are my shoes?"

Me: "Why where are you going?"

McKay: "Wif Andon outside to talk to ourselves."

A couple things in our house needed to be fixed so our Landlord sent over a repair man. Gensie is standing on our hearth when he knocks on the door. Quinn answers the door and invites the guy in. I was in the kitchen and I hear Gensie squeel "Mommy yook (look) it's Joseph Smif." I step around the corner to look and the man is tall, thin, and has a 6-8 inch beard. I had to step back into the kitchen to hide my laughter. I know Joseph Smith doesn't have a beard but she associates beards with prophets so he was the first one that came to her mind.

After Mothers Day I told McKay that in a few weeks it was going to be Fathers Day. A while later he asks me "Next Sunday is it going to be Papa's Day?"

McKay wrote a song and sang it for me the other day. He wouldn't let me record it but these are the lyrics.

We love Jesus. we love Jesus
I wish Grandma Judy didn't die
We love Hena Fauder
Da yard is so clean
De end

Quinn had a hole in his sock and Gensie saw it. She says "Daddy, who broke your sock?" Quinn says "I guess I did." Gens says "Uh-oh dat's not a good choice to do to your sock."

McKay says to me " Mommy I sunked my honey into my oatmeal and I can still feel it." What he really meant was he stirred his honey into his oatmeal and he can still taste it.

Gensie says to me "Mommy yook and the hand."
I asked "Your hand?"
She replies "No, my hand."

McKay wanted to watch the "Big Toe" movie. He meant Beethoven. He now calls it "Big toven".

We set a day to take McKay on a date with Mom and Dad, so a day or so before he and Dad were driving in the car.  Dad asked him what he wanted to do on the date and this is what he said:
"Maybe just go the the restaurant and eat food...or go to the park...or Family Home Evening...maybe go to the store...climb a tree...play pirate ship...or maybe climb a ladder."

The kids room is hardwood floors and in the closet there is a corner of one of the floor boards that is broken off.  The other day McKay saw it and said, "Oh Dad!  There is a hole in the floor!  Satan is under the ground and he will get out!"

Our kids love primary songs.  The other day I heard Genesis singing this to the tune of Follow The Prophet:
"Take off my jama's in the Latter-days.  Follow my jama's, follow my jama's, follow my jama's; Jama's knows the way!"

Happy Mother's Day to Grandma Eastin and Grandma Pearce

We have a LOT to catch up on.  First things first though.  We wanted to post this video for Mother's Day as a gift from our wonderful kids to their very special grandma's.

We love you and want you to know that McKay, Genesis and Avonlea loved learning this song for you.