Sometimes they're so cute I could just bite them

Chloe: Mommy, are these jeans?
Me: No, they're cords.
Chloe: But they don't have any plugs.

*****************************************************************************

Luke: Mommy, can I go outside?
Me: Are you going out in your bare feet?
Luke: I have boy feet! I not a bear!

The birds and the bees and the lions and the crocodiles and the camels...

Today on the way to Michaels:

Chloe: Mom can we buy some pumpkins and Halloween decorations at Michaels?
Me: No, I think we're going to wait and just decorate for Christmas.
Chloe: Did God make pumpkins?
Me: (still feeling like a confident, knowledgeable mom) Yep! God made everything.
Luke: Did God make animals?
Me: Yes.
Luke: Did God make lions?
Chloe: How did God make people?
Me: Yes, He hade lions. And He made Adam out of dirt and He made Eve from Adam's rib.
Luke: Did God make Nile crocodiles?
Chloe: Did God make me?
Me: (getting just a little frazzled at this point by the questions all being asked at the same time while I am trapped in the car on the way to Michales) Yes, God made you and crocodiles.
Chloe: How did God make me?
Luke: Did God make camels?
Me: Yes He made camels and He made you as a baby in my tummy.
Luke: Did God make giraffes?
Chloe: How did He make me in your tummy?
Me: (getting a little frantic for a distraction at this point) Yes He made giraffes, and He took a little part of daddy and a little part of mommy and they grew into a baby in my tummy.
Luke: Did God make elephants?
Chloe: But HOW did I get in your tummy?
Me: (desperately) What kind of pumpkin should we get at Michaels?

An hour later, back in the car...

Luke: Did God make birds?
Chloe: When can we make our wreath? Where are we going to put our pumpkin? Are we going to put a face on our pumpkin? Can I help you make the wreath?
Luke: Did God make pumas?

At least one of them got distracted...

Her glass isn't only half-full, it overflows

Chloe about cheerleading practice today:

We ran and I was the very first one in! Welllllll. Actually, A was the very VERY first one, but I was the second very first one!

Really not a baby anymore

Today I had the startling revelation that Chloe is really not a baby anymore.

Now I know that at almost 5 years old, this should have occurred to me by now.

But today I received a visual reminder.

She rolled her eyes at me.

I guess in some corner of me, there was this hope that if we homeschooled, we'd be able to skip past that attitude stuff altogether.

Yeah.

Not so much.

Which is silly really, since I have heard somewhere (like, oh, The Bible) that we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But at least later we were able to return to joy in innocent things like apple boats. Apple slices with mini-marshmallow men, pretzel stick oars, and almond butter glue (so much yummier than peanut butter).

I'm sure one day they'll be way too babyish to get excited over.

But for today she's still young enough.

Maybe I should be worried...

So today Isaac was watching "Future Weapons" on the Discovery Channel. He left the tv on when he went back to work unpacking, and later I walked in on Chloe mesmerized in front of the tv.

When she finally noticed, she said, "I'm watching people make fire. It's really fun. I like big fire."

Overheard in the bathtub

Dora- Let my people go!
Squirting Fish- No!
D- Yes!
SF- No!
D- Yes!
SF- Ok. No, I changed my mind! Ahhh, I'm in the water! Help me, help me!

Can you guess what Bible story Chloe has been learning in Sunday School? :D

The best reasons to buy a house

Chloe: Mommy, What are you doing?

Me: I'm trying to figure out if we can buy a house.

Chloe: Why?

Me: Because then we'll own it instead of someone else owning it, and we can do what we want with it.

Chloe: (skipping off happily) Daddy! Daddy! We're going to buy a house and we can paint my room and make giant holes in the walls!

Sweet Little Lies

Ok, I will admit that it was really cute when I found a pile of toys hiding under a blanket in Chloe's baby doll crib.

(And this was after I had found them in her dirty laundry basket, before which they were in the living room.)

When I asked her why she put them there, she said, "I was being sneaky!" Which would have been terribly sweet if not for All The LIES that she has been telling lately.

The other day, Chloe got in trouble for stuffing everything that was on her floor into her closet and then proceeding to lie about it several times. It was her first outright LIE.

But apparently not her last.

Four out of five days this week she has been relegated to her room to clean it up properly. You'd think she'd have learned by now that it doesn't work, but there was that cute little pile, all snuggled up with Bitty Baby.

And short of throwing away everything that she sneaks into the wrong spot, I'm just not sure what to do anymore.

And on top of it, I'm just plain sad that she's beginning to lose the innocence of childhood.

Really, I think that's what I'm most unsure what to do about.

Can you guess this song?

Chloe singing: "Give a verse and play in galaxy. You are oly."

Truth, Lies and Biscotti

I've found that 4-year-olds are a veritable font of unasked-for truth. Like the other day when Chloe saw me reading my Bible:

C: What are you doing?
Me: Reading my Bible and praying. I'm having my quiet time with God. I try to do it every day.
C: But you don't do it every day.
Me: I know, but I try.
C: Yeah, but Mommy, you don't!

Or regarding my post-baby size:

C: Mommy, when I grow up and have a baby, will I have a really, really big chest like you?

But last night Chloe outright lied for the first time. I mean, she's told plenty of fantasy stories about the people who come and play with her during naptime, but this was different. This was a LIE. In fact, it was three LIES.

She was supposed to clean her room, which pretty much looked like a tornado went through a tutu store. She said she was done, and when I checked, lo and behold, a clean room! Except, wait, what's that sticking out of the closet? Hmm...some dress up clothes...and baby doll clothes...and pajamas...and dirty clothes. She had stuffed the whole pile into her closet. So we talked about how we don't put things into our closets like that, and she had to put them all in their proper places.

Hysterical crying ensued.

Later, she came out and said she was done.

Me: Already? You put it all away?
C: Yes.
Me: You put your dirty clothes in the basket?
C: Yes.
Me: You put your baby doll clothes in their drawer?
C: Yes.
Me: You cleaned it all up?
C: Yes.

So I go to check, and lo and behold...it's all still in the closet. She didn't check one thing. So I sat her on my lap and we had a talk about what lying is, and how it's not honoring to God, and she apologized and we prayed to ask God for forgiveness, too. Then I told her she had to clean it all up.

Hysterical crying ensued.

She refused to look at me or talk to me, and finally (since it was past her bedtime by now) I just had to say goodnight and she could finish cleaning and then get herself into bed.

So today we made biscotti together, since we ended last night on such a low note.

Because really, is there anything that some homemade biscotti and a cup of coffee (or two) can't fix?

The girl has a big heart

Our church is participating in Operation Christmas Child, where you fill a shoebox with items for a needy child. I thought this would be a great way to introduce Chloe to serving others, so we decided to make a box for a little girl and headed out to Target.

I explained to her that some kids don't have any mommies or daddies to buy them Christmas presents, so we were going to buy the presents for the little girl. Chloe picked out so many things that I knew she loved for herself, but never once asked to have them. (She doesn't know it, but she's getting a lot of them in her Christmas stocking, since she was so good and didn't ask for anything!)

When we were all done, Chloe said how she was going to give the little girl all the presents and that she had lots of extra pillows so the little girl could share Chloe's room with her.

And then she said that since the little girl doesn't have any brothers or sisters, Chloe and Luke and Audrey could be hers.

And then she said that Isaac and I could be her mommy and daddy.

And then she asked when we were going to get her.

I tell you, it actually hurt my heart to explain to Chloe that we couldn't get her, we could only mail the shoebox. She kept asking, "But what if she never has a mommy or daddy? Can't we be her family?"

Isaac and I have always thought that we would adopt a child someday, and it looks like God may be preparing the hearts of our children for that!

Conversations with Chloe- Birthday Edition

Since my birthday is in a few days, and we just celebrated Luke and Chloe's birthdays, Chloe is big into surprises...


C: Mommy, I helped Daddy wrap your birthday present! I put the tape on!

Me: That's great! Thanks for helping him.

C: But I can't tell you what it is, because it's a surprise!

Me: Oh, that's ok, I don't want to ruin the surprise.

C: Ok. But I think it's a bracelet! But I won't tell you!

Conversations with Chloe

C: Mommy, why is Luke wearing a band aid?
Me: Because he hurt his chin and it was bleeding.
C: Why did Luke hurt his chin and it was bleeding so he needed a band aid?
Me: Because he fell.
C: Why did Luke fall and hurt his chin and it was bleeding so he needed a band aid?
Me: Because he was running and he fell.
C: Why was he running and he fell and hurt his chin and it was bleeding so he needed a band aid?
Me: He was just playing. And he fell. It just happened. It was an accident.
C: Why was it an accident?

Do you feel like banging your head against a very hard object? I sure did!

*************

C: Mommy, why is there traffic and there are a lot of cars on the road so we can't go fast or else we would bump into them?
Me: Um, yeah. What you said.

*************

C: Dear Jesus, I hope you don't die. But if you do, it's ok, because you'll come back to life. Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Lukie. Amen.

That just makes all those questions worth it :)

If you don't know, just ask the girl!

Friday night Isaac and I really wanted to relax and watch a movie. He's been spending all his free time studying for his upcoming Professional Engineer's exam, so we haven't had much time together. We had three new movies from Blockbuster.com to choose from, but we couldn't find them anywhere.

We searched for over an hour. We even dug through the trash. Finally at 10:30pm, Isaac said, "We could ask Chloe if she's seen them."

Despite having been in bed for over 2 hours, she was still awake and singing her own version of "I just can't wait to be king" from The Lion King.

Isaac went in and asked her.

Her response?

"Yes, Daddy! I disappeared them today when I was helping Mommy clean."

She went right into the cupboard and pulled them out for us.

Of course, it was way too late to watch a movie, but now we know...when we can't find something, just ask Chloe!

Chloe's opinion on homeschool...

Me: Chloe, tell Daddy what you did for school today.

Chloe: But Mommy, we didn't do school today!

Me: Yes we did!

Chloe: No we didn't! We read some books and we did some workbook pages, but we didn't do school! We just played and had fun.

Knock Knock

Chloe (3) "Knock Knock!"
Me "Who's there?"
Chloe "Turkey!"
Me "Turkey who?"
Chloe "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Luke (1) "Na Na"
Me "Who's there?"
Luke "nana"
Me "Banana who?"
Luke "Na Na"
Me "Who's there?"
Luke "nana"
Me "Banana who?"
Luke "Na Na"
Me "Who's there?"
Luke "nana"
Me "Banana who?"
Luke "Na Na"
Me "Want a cookie?"