Our Trip To The Dollar Store

The other day, a package came in the mail for the kids from Gramma & Papa!! Of course they were thrilled with everything they received, but especially their new wallets....since each of them came with $1.50 in them...WOW! Since the Dollar Store is their favourite store, I promised that they could each go and buy something there today. Olivia is quite eager to pay for things....probably 'cause she feels independent (which is a big deal...ha!). So, after they had each picked out what they were going to buy, we headed on up to the checkouts. They had each picked a toy and then a candy and were so excited as we waited in line. In fact, as we waited in line with numerous other people, Olivia blurts out VERY LOUDLY, "I LOVE JESUS living in my heart!!" It was so random...but I guess that the excitement was so overwhelming for her and that was the first thing that came to her mind. LOL

Then, it was finally our turn and I told the kids to put their stuff up on the counter and get their wallets and their money out. Olivia immediately got out ALL her money (much like her Auntie Ang) but Braden was quite resistent to parting with his money and must have left his in the car on purpose (kinda like his uncle Jeremy...ha!). Anyway, Olivia gets up to the counter and says to the lady, "Umm...excuse me....is it okay if my brother forgot his money?" Of course the lady chuckled and so did the other people in line. Well...mommy took care of the rest of the tab. But apparently Olivia had set a precedent because as we started to leave, the lady behind us stepped up to the counter and said, "Um, is it okay if I forgot my money today?" I think we all had a good laugh over that one.

Thanks Gramma & Papa for the package!! It appears that the Hotwheels wallet will probably always have money in it and the Barbie one will most likely always be empty!

Promise Myself

Last night Olivia and I had to head out to the store after supper. It was getting close to bed time, so I was preparing Olivia for the fact that it would be bedtime for her by the time we got home. As usual....she was attempting to make a deal with me, stating that she was hungry and that when we got home, she would like a quick snack and then go to bed. She always says it with the cutest little voice and then the infamous question? "Promise Mom?" I answered her and said, "Well Olivia, Mommy can't promise anything this time of night!" She paused for a second and then said, "Well...I'll promise myself then."

Where does Jesus really live anyway?

Today is December 9th...my Grandma's birthday. She passed away a number of years ago, but I often think of her and especially on her birthday. So...while I was making supper today, I told Olivia that it was MY Gramma's birthday today, but that she died a few years ago. I told her that my gramma was in heaven, celebrating her birthday with Jesus!! I expected a response from Olivia (because she always has one), but I didn't expect this one. She looked at me and said, "You mean they are having a party in my tummy?" I guess all those conversations about Jesus living inside of us...has my daughter a little theologically confused...HA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMA! Love you and miss you lots!!! xoxoxo

** Disclaimer: OOPS! After reading this....I have now ashamedly realized that today is actually the 10th, not the 9th....but nonetheless...it's still a cute story!

Oh...I couldn't!

Braden has been quite the little ham lately. Although....most of these posts have been about Olivia, I have a feeling that Braden is about to give her a run for her money. The other day, I asked Braden if he wanted some juice for lunch. He comically replied, "Oh no phanks...I couldn't!" Then, while talking to my mom on the phone the other day, I asked Braden if he wanted to talk to Gramma. Again, he replied, "Oh no....I couldn't!" Such a polite little fella....HA!

That's MOMMY To You!

Once in a while our kids think it's funny to call us by our first names. We usually remind them that, "That's Mommy/Daddy to you!" Now, I wasn't aware that Braden even knew my middle name, but the other night while we were eating supper, Braden asked me to pass him something. I did as he asked and he responded with, "Thanks Amy Sue!"

CANKERS!!!

Olivia was complaining of a sore mouth yesterday, so she wanted me to look inside and see if I could see anything wrong. When I looked inside, it appeared that she had a canker in her mouth. So, this morning, we were getting into the van, when she looked at me and said, "Mom, can you check and see if I have an "anchor" in my mouth? I'm assuming she meant canker, although, either would be quite painful, I'm sure!

Jesus Christ

As we were returning from the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremonies tonight, we had a bit of a walk to the van. There was a group singing while people were leaving and they were singing Go Tell It On The Mountain. When they got to the line, "That Jesus Christ was born", Braden pipes up and says, "Jesus Christ?" I said, "Yeah, Jesus Christ." Braden looks at me and says, "NO, Jesus doesn't cry....we cry!" I guess he thought that they were saying.....Jesus cries!

"A boy who loves Jesus"

Tonight, we decided to take the kids downtown to the 'Christmas Tree Lighting' festivities. Olivia asked if she could take her doll in the doll stroller as well (her name is Sarah). I hesitantly agreed, figuring at some point in the night, I would be walking the doll stroller. Turns out, Olivia walked with her everywhere....and managed popcorn and cookies all at the same time. She did not leave Sarah's side the whole time. In fact, in the myriad of people, Olivia even sacrificed a better view of Santa, just to be with her baby. She spent the whole night walking her and caring for her....making sure she had blankets and all. So, when we got in the van to return home...I said, "You know Olivia...I was so proud of you tonight. You were very responsible with your baby and I was so proud to see that." Then she says to me, "Do you think I'll be a great mom someday when I have a real baby?" I said, "You absolutely will!" Her next question was, "Will who will I marry....Braden or somebody else?" I said, "Well, marrying your brother is not really okay, but I hope that someday, you marry a boy who loves Jesus with ALL his heart." Then she said, "Well...I'll just ask every boy if they love Jesus and if they don't, then I'll find another one." I said, "That's a great idea!" Then she asks me, "Is that what you did? You just keeped looking until you found the right person?" I said, "Yes I DID honey!"

Our World

The other day...we were having a bit of a wind storm here! Olivia was standing at the living room window staring outside as the trees and leaves were vigorously blowing around. She looked a little concerned, so I went over and stood beside her. Staring out the window, she threw her arms up and said, "Look at our world!" I said, "What do you mean honey?" She says, "Look Mom....it's wrecked!"

Precious Moments!

So...Braden has been quite sick for the last few days, therefore, him and I have been camping out downstairs in the spare bedroom, so as to not disrupt the sleep of "the others". Anyway, for the last couple of nights he has been spiking fevers in the night and last night was no different. I don't know if he was a bit delirious from the high fever or what, but at one point in the middle of the night, he rolled over on his back, folded his little hands together and whispered softly, "Phank you God.......I want Jesus......Amen!" And he went back to sleep. It was the most precious moment for me. You gotta love kids!!

The Most Wonderful Dream In The Whole Wide World

Once again, Olivia is dominating these posts..haha! (at least for now....)

So....Olivia woke up this morning and came and found me downstairs. She was kind of sobbing, but it's always hard to know whether it's for real or another 'act of drama'. Anyway, I said, "What's wrong honey?" And she looked at me and weepily said, "Mom, I just had the most wonderful dream in the whole wide world." She went on to tell me that she dreamt about Barbie Land and that her and Braden were puppies, named Sparkles and Lily. Thinking that was a pretty cool dream, I was confused and asked her, "So, why are you so upset?" She answered, with some pretty intense tears, "Because I thought it was real and when I woke up I realized it was just a dream." Olivia LOVES puppies, so I thought maybe I misunderstood her dream and I said, "Oh, you mean you and Braden HAD 2 puppies, named Sparkles and Lily?" And she said, "No, we WERE puppies!" And then....a dramatic outburst of tears!

Man, it is so hard to try and be sympathetic, but be laughing your guts out on the inside!

"Bathetized!"

Wow...it truly amazes me how much material my children provide for this blog!! HA! So, here's yet another story that happened today!

About 6 weeks ago, we were driving in the van and out of the blue, Olivia says, "Mom...do you think I'll ever get "bathetized" (that's how she says baptized)??" Don't know what made her think of that, but I responded with, "Well, I hope that you do someday." Then, she says to me, "Why? Is it because I made some mistakes?" LOL So, I went on to try and explain that baptism is something we do once we've accepted Jesus into our hearts that means we accept that Jesus died for our "mistakes". Anyway...that was basically the end of the conversation until today....
Olivia was sitting at the table today...playing a game on her Land Before Time dvd. She was having lots of fun and then ...again....out of the blue....I heard her say, "Oh man!! I just made 3 mistakes. Guess I'm gonna have to get baptized 3 times!"

Take Me!

Last night, I was up all night with Braden. It appears he has "croup" again! Since, we've been through this before, I was able to resist the urge to rush him to the emergency room, since I know there really isn't anything they can do for it. I did all of the recommended "at-home" remedies and just tried to keep him as calm as possible through the whole night. He still seemed to be having trouble breathing this morning, so I was trying to mentally prepare him for a visit to the doctor, but he was very resistant to the idea. After numerous attempts on my part to try and convince him, Olivia says to me, "Mom, take me!! I'm your only other choice!"

A "NEW" Baby Theory

Since we're on the subject of babies, I thought of another story that happened about 6 months ago. Olivia likes to ask questions about when she was in my tummy and how she was born and then she likes to rehearse the details, just to make sure that she's got it all figured out. One day, while rehearsing these details....again....she ended up with an interesting conclusion...all on her own. She said, "Mom, when I was a baby, I was in your tummy and then I was borned....right?" I agreed and said, "That's right, Olivia!" Pondering that for a moment, she looked at me and said, "Yeah...and Braden, he came from Daddy's tummy!" How interesting....it never occurred to me before, but it only makes sense (at least to a 4 yr old), that girls should come from girls and boys should come from boys...right? HA! After sharing this story with some friends of mine, we concluded that, if that were true....the male poplulation would probably be extinct by now!!

Tell It Like It Is

I'm not sure where this came from, but a few months ago, Olivia started asking a lot of questions about pregnant women and how babies come OUT of their tummies. Thankfully, she hasn't asked me yet how the babies get IN the tummies...HA! Anyway, Olivia really likes to pray and so she is usually more than willing to be the one to ask the blessing on the food before every meal. However, she takes it as an opportunity to pray for anything and everything and sometimes forgets to pray for the food.

There was a season of a couple of weeks where a common request kept coming up in her prayers. It would go something like this, "Dear Jesus, we just want to thank you, 'cause we really 'ppreciate you and we just love you SOOO much Jesus. And I just want to pray that you help me to not have pain when I grow up and have a baby. And help Angie to not have pain when she has a baby and help mommy to not have pain when she has a baby and just help all the people to not have pain when they have babies."

I don't know when or how this realization of pain occurred to her because I've never really discussed the whole "birthing" thing with her...but for some reason, at 4 years old, she's quite concerned about this already.

With this in mind, I was informed of another funny "Olivia Story" that happened while the kids were being babysit by family friends' of ours. There was another lady at this house who is pregnant and I guess she was laying on the couch and Olivia was inquiring if she was okay or if her belly was hurting. Megan said, "Yeah, I'm okay, just tired and need to lay down for a bit." Apparently, Olivia looked at her and with all seriousness said, "You know...pretty soon, you're gonna go to the hostipal and have your baby, and you're gonna have pain!" Like a pregnant woman really needs to be reminded of that, but they thought it was hilarious!

An "Unusual" Request??

A couple of weeks ago, I was tucking Olivia into bed when she asked another unusual question. She said, "Mom....do you think that we could have a bunch of people over and they could like watch me grow. You know, like have a big party and people can come and like watch me grow up!" I decided to have a little adult fun with the "lingo", so I said to her, "Oh, you mean like you want to have a "grow-up" party!" She was quite impressed that I understood so quickly....and had no idea that I was smiling because of the pun. Little does she know...."Grow-Op" parties are probably quite common here in Abbotsford! HA!

Totally INHUMAN?

So...I had to take the kids to the babysitter's house last night....and Olivia wanted noodles before we left, but didn't have time to eat them all. So she asked if we could put them in the fridge and have them later...I said, "sure!"

When we got home around 9pm....she asked if she could eat them again, but they were cold...so she wanted me to heat them up. I decided to put a little bit of water on them to help moisten them a bit and then went to put them in the microwave.

I guess she saw me put the water on them...and she says to me, "Mom, what are you doing? That's like totally inhuman!" Where does she come up with this stuff...seriously!! It's not only that they remember these interesting words, but that they understand them enough to know where to use them!

"The Pot Calling The Kettle Black"

While we were at church this past Sunday, Braden was running around with some other kids and cracked his head pretty hard on the wood floor. I didn't see him fall, but I heard the crack and I knew it was a big hit! It was one of those falls that was followed by the "what-seems-like-forever-silent-scream". Needless to say, he had bumped his head pretty good. Since he was crying pretty hard, our "after-church visiting" was abruptly ended and we got in the van and headed for home. As we were driving, Braden would calm down for a few minutes and then start crying again, obviously complaining that his head still hurt. I was feeling sympathetic, knowing that he probably had a pretty big headache going on. After about 10 minutes of this on and off crying, Olivia blurts out, "BRADEN....would you be quiet, that's enough already!!" Normally, I'm not so tolerant of the crying/whining either, but since I knew it was legitimate this time, I was upset with Olivia for responding like that and so I said, "Olivia, that is not very nice. Your brother bumped his head really hard and it still hurts!" Her response to me was, "Well, Mom....he's just over-reacting."

There's 2 things that make this story funny for me. First of all...her use of the word "over-reacting". I wasn't aware that it was in her vocabulary or that she really understood it. And second of all...of both of my children, the biggest over-reactor and most dramatic one...is most definitely....OLIVIA!

Questions About God??

Lately, Olivia has been asking a lot of questions about God and how He made us. It's been interesting because although I know the answer to that question, when you try to explain it to a 4 year old, my "adult" answer needed some revamping. Anyway, I did my best to explain it to her with words that I thought she could understand, but I guess it wasn't satisfactory enough for her because she kept asking the question. At mealtimes, Olivia would pray that God would bless the food, but before every Amen, there was always one last little plea? "And Jesus, I really want to know how you made us! Amen."

So...one night as I was tucking her into bed, she asked me the question again. "Mom, I really want to know how God made us?" Not knowing why she still wasn't satisfied with my answer or how I could answer her differently, I suddenly had a brain wave! I said, "Olivia, you know what? When we get to heaven, you can ask God himself and he can tell you how He made you." Desperately hoping that was satisfactory for her, she got this huge smile on her face and shouted out..."You mean He's real? He's a real person?" I said, "He sure is!" Little did I know, that would lead to a whole realm of other questions for her! After several questions then about heaven (Is there dirt in heaven? Is there ice cream in heaven? Etc?), her next question was, "Well, when can I see Him? How many more sleeps until I can see Jesus?" That's a difficult question for anyone to answer, let alone a "mother". So, I said, "Well, I hope a lot of sleeps honey!"

Finally, I got her to be quiet long enough for me to start praying with her, but it wasn't long before I was interrupted again...LOL! This time she looked at me....and I could tell she was the one with the brain wave this time....she said, "Mom, why don't I just ask Him right now how He made us?" How can you say no to that? So I said, "alright Olivia...go ahead." So....she sat up in her bed and paused while she looked up towards her ceiling. With all sincerity, she says, "Jesus (long pause), I really want to know how you made us..........." We both sat there...staring at the ceiling and I started to mentally try and prepare myself for my next response. After a minute of silence...Olivia looks at me and says, "ummm....Mom??...he's not talking...." Again, not knowing exactly how to respond, she pipes in again and says, "Well...I guess we just can't hear Him 'cause He's so deep down in our hearts!" That worked for me! In all honesty....she answered that better than I probably would have...LOL!

My "Unconscious" Son!

If you know Olivia and Braden at all, you know that both of them are quite verbal and have both been quite "early" talkers! When Braden was 2, he totally surprised me with his vocabulary one day. He was jumping off the little ledge in front of our fireplace, and then dramatically falling onto the floor The ledge is only about 8 inches off of the floor....so it's not a big fall, but he was attempting to make it look quite dramatic. After doing this a number of times, he climaxed this dramatic event and started yelling for me, "mom, Mom, MOM!" I decided to play along with him and pretending to be panicked, I ran to see if he was okay. When I got to him, he was laying flat on the floor and he looked at me and said, "Mom, I think I'm unconscious!"

THE FUNNY THINGS KIDS SAY!

I'm starting this blog for family and friends who are interested on keeping up on our lives. Our kids, Olivia (4) and Braden (3) are at such an interesting and entertaining age right now and usually when I share their funny stories, people are always telling me that I should write them down. It seems that lately, there have been so many funny stories, so, this is my attempt at writing them down....for me....for them....and for others!

The first few posts will be memories from the past year or so, but eventually I'll catch up and they should be "current"!

So....enjoy!