Flat Colby

Putting the boys to bed tonight, said our prayers, gave 'em a kiss, turned to leave....

Colby: "WAIT! Mom! You haven't flattened me yet!"
Mom: "What?"
Colby: "You know... you flatten my covers...."
Mom: "You mean tuck you in?"
Colby: "Yeah, that."

Putting Money on the Card

While Mom and Reagan were gone in Spokane this past week, Dad took Quinn and Colby out to dinner and to a local arcade. They used a card loaded with money to "swipe" video games. At $2.50 a pop, it didn't take long to use up the balance on the card. Quinn today decided to rectify that situation.

Quinn: "Mom, I want to use this card to play more games."
Mom: "There's no more money on it. The money's all gone."
Quinn: "How do I get it to work again?"
Mom: "You need to put more money on the card."
Quinn: "OOOOOHHHHH." Next thing I know, Quinn had robbed his piggy bank, and had a pile of penny's stacked on top of the card.
Mom: "Quinn - not THAT way. You have to put the money on the magnetic strip on the back of the card!"
Quinn: "OOOOOOHHHHH." So he flips the card over, and puts the pennies on the magnetic strip.

I need to clarify.

Chefs

Quinn helped me cook dinner today. He used a butterknife to slice mushrooms, and then measured out the rice and pushed the buttons on the microwave. He did a very good job.

Quinn: "Mom, I think we need to call someone from a different country on the phone."
Mom: "Why? Calling a different country on the phone is expensive!"
Quinn: "Well, we need to tell someone in a different country that I'm a chef!"
Mom: "Why do we need to tell them that?"
Quinn: "Well, when they find out that I'm a chef, they'll say 'WHAT? A kid's a chef? That's IMPOSSIBLE!'"
Ahhh. We need some long-distance kudos and awe-struckedness ;).

Up In Heaven

Grandma Fran died today. Or rather, last night. I've been trying to explain what that means to two little boys all evening.

Mom: "Grandma Fran lives up in Heaven with Jesus now."
Quinn: "Is she dead?"
Mom: "Yes. It makes me very sad."
Quinn: "What died her?"
Mom : "We don't know. She was just getting ready for bed, and died."
Colby: "Did someone die her?"
Mom: "No. I think Jesus just wanted her with Him, so He took her home."
Quinn: "We saw her at Grandma Betty's house."
Mom: "Yup. That's the last time you saw her."
Quinn: "Mom, why are you crying over the jelly?"
Mom: "Grandma Fran made this jelly for us for Christmas. It's the last thing I got from her. It makes me think of her."
Colby: "If she's up in Heaven, she's not dead."
Mom: "Her soul is up in Heaven, her body is still here on earth. We'll bury her body in the ground."
Colby: "WHAT? She has no bones up in Heaven? If she has no bones, she's DEAD!"
Mom: "Her body is dead. Her SOUL is alive in Heaven with Jesus."
Colby: "Do you have a map to Heaven? How did she get there?"
Mom: "That's a tough one. She left her body here, and the part that was HER went up to be with Jesus. You can't find it on a map."
Colby: "Yes you can. I have a map to Heaven. I know how to get there."
Mom: "OK. You know your toy robot dinosaur? When the batteries die, it doesn't work anymore. It needs the energy from the batteries. It's like the dinosaur stayed here on earth, but the batteries went up to Heaven to be with Jesus." Bad, bad analogy, Mom. How do you explain a SOUL to little boys? "The part that makes Colby Colby and Quinn Quinn is your soul." I'm not doing a good job.

I finally just tucked them in and said goodnight, because my explanations were sounding really lame. I'm glad they remember her, though, since we saw her so rarely after moving to Michigan. I hope they have some recollection of what an amazing, beautiful, vivacious woman she was. My grandma.

Getting Ready For School

Getting two boys up, fed, dressed, and out of the house by 7:45 am is not easy. Today, Quinn finished breakfast in record time, got himself dressed, snowclothes on, and was on my bed, waiting for the bus, before Colby even finished his breakfast. WOW! I was impressed. Until I saw that half the outfit I had laid out for him was still on the coffee table.

Mom: "Quinn! I thought you said you got dressed!"
Q: "I did. I have a new shirt on."
I decided that maybe I should double-check things a little. He had put on a new shirt. Backwards. And had on the same underwear and pants that he worn yesterday. When I made him take off snowclothes and boots to get "re-dressed", I saw that he wasn't wearing socks, either. Thank GOODNESS I didn't take him at his word that he was ready for school!!! Supervision is obviously still required.

De-decorating for Christmas

Took the Christmas trees down yesterday. Asked Quinn to help me. He said this:
Q: "Mom! I have a great idea! Let's just leave the tree up all year, so it's ready to go for next year!"
I was SOOOO tempted, because it's such a pain to take down. But they are (or were) live trees, and we would have nothing but sticks within a few weeks, and be swimming in the needles on the floor. Shoot.

A Motherly Dream Realized

Ever since I was a little girl, it has been a dream of mine to read the Chronicles of Narnia to my children. Since the moment I read them myself in the fourth grade, I have imagined snuggling up in bed with my future offspring, and sharing the magic. At five years old, I really thought the boys were too young yet for such things. But Quinn brought "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" to me last week, and insisted on me reading it to them. They were initially concerned that there weren't any pictures, and when I said that the pictures in their head would be far better than anything anyone could draw, they seemed to accept that. We've been reading a chapter a night, and they are really, truly listening! Since we're near the end of the book, I let them watch the movie tonight. It just meant so much to me to have them say "Oh, next they're going to meet the beavers!" Or... "That must be Aslan!". Just so so cool. And Colby even noticed a few times where the movie strayed from the book. He said at the beginning "Wait! There were no airplane pictures in my head!" when the movie showed a bombing raid over London that never happened in the book. The fact that I get to share books that meant so much to me as a little girl with MY children just... fufills me. Really.

Other signs of awakening brain cells lately...
Colby was counting at the piano, head down over the keys, so I thought the boys were playing hide and seek. When I asked him what he was doing, he said "I'm counting the keys... 86, 87, 88!" I was incredibly impressed that he counted accurately that high, without losing track. There are, indeed, 88 keys on my piano!

Quinn wrote out a "treasure map" today, and spelled out on his own "bot" (boat), "pat" and "track" (I helped him add the last 'K', but otherwise, he sounded the rest out himself). Both boys have been spelling words they hear on a daily basis. Today they also sounded out and spelled "sno man".

Just a whole new realm for us, this ability to read and write that is emerging. And I think it's so cool!!!