overheard

Henry to Ethan: "Ethan, Aaron is a baby. He's so stupid. He doesn't even know what a hother is."

Ethan: "yeah"

Henry: "he doesn't even know what a basement is"

Ethan: "yeah"

Henry: "it's just a downstairs!"

Ethan: "yeah"

Henry: "He doesn't even know what a sweet potato is. He's never eaten one!"

Ethan: "I've never eaten one either..."

Henry: "he doesn't know what an avacado is!"

Ethan: "yeah!"

Henry: "yeah. But Aaron is a baby!"

Henry: "he doesn't even know what, um..."

Ethan: "you know Luke?... this is how Luke says yogurt, 'yo-GIT' "

Henry: "you know Lizzy?"

Ethan: "no. Who's Lizzy?"

Henry: "Lizzy only eats mama milk"

Ethan: "what's mama milk?"

Henry: "it's milk. Milk that comes out of mom's... mom's tummy"

So long, Frank Lloyd Wright

I recently watched a documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright. I think I really don't like him. So I says as much, via my faceboooaorf status. To which my sister and some other funny people replied. Then Tyson commented. (as me) Then I laughed until I cried. Then I changed the laptop desktop wallpaper to pictures of Frank Lloyd Wright. Then I pointed to all the pictures (for there were several) and said, "He would approve of that, he was very humble." And then Tyson says "yes, but only if the pictures were facing away from the street" !!!! OH man. Laughter ensues.

what Tyson said:

"plus, he's an egotistical robber baron"

(he's not a robber baron, FYSA)

P.S. I still love Simon and Garfunkel, even after all these years.

Also, Paul Simon is shorter than me, which is neat.

Also, I now have 'Call me Al' in my head again. THANKS A LOT, FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT!!!

He's 2!

Peter kept going in the kids' bedroom today when Elizabeth was sleeping so I told him no and gave him the most pathetic swat to the bottom.
He turned around and looked at me and said, "stupid mommy," and then opened it again.

Wis-a-bip

Peter picked up my phone today and said "Daddy, Elizabeth is YUCKY"

except it sounded like "Daayee, Wis-a-bip's ucky" which made it cute.

In a dark and evil world

Picture, if you will:
I am sitting at the table eating my lunch. I hear Henry walking up the stairs and immediately realize that he is also singing. He is singing 'The Bible Stands.' I wait. He reaches the top of the stairs and walks to my side, still singing. He is holding a Bible. He completes the song and I praise him. It was flawlessly sung, no mistakes, and the prop he selected was perfect. After I told him multiple times how well he had sung he asked me, "do you know where I found the Bible?"
"No," I replied, "where did you find it?"
"In a dark place. I looked in a dark place and I saw a little bit of white."

Filthy trick

The first, very first thing my husband said to me this morning was, "I think it's a dirty trick that it's called 'zoology'" (using the correct pronunciation)
He's right. Filthy trick. "So," I replied, "I move that we give the word three 'o's and pronounce it 'zoo-ology'"
It's true. My dear Tyson and I have but one mind and one way of thinking. There is in every thing a most remarkable resemblance of character and ideas between us. We seem to have been designed for each other.

what Stephen said

Henry: "hey mom, do you know what Stephen said?"
me: "no. What did Stephen say? Did he say he likes you?"
Henry: "no. Hey said 'hey!' I think that means he likes me"

by any other name

Henry: "Mommy, did you know that Mr. Pinne's middle name is Henry?"
Me: "Yes, I did know that. His name is Franklin Henry Pinne."
Henry "Franklin Henry Pinne?"
Me: "Franklin Henry Pinne."
Henry: "I think I want to just call him Henry."
Me: "You should probably just call him Mr. Pinne."
Henry. "Flapjacks."

Girl can crawl

Elizabeth crawled today. I put her down in the living room after I fed her and then went to the kitchen to feed the boys breakfast. She'd had enough after about 20 seconds of screaming and decided to take matters into her own hands. Next thing we knew, she was in the kitchen doorway. She's mobile!

LOVE

Elizabeth gave me her first intentional love this week. Snuggled her head into my shoulder when I was carrying her. Wow. So sweet. sob sob.

Live Long and Prosper

You know when the computer asked Spock how he felt and Spock said, "irrelevant"?
Tyson: "I really feel like Spock and I bonded right at that moment."

Also, he asked if we could name our next son "Logic"

Austen's Day

Austen's class was lining up for PE and he said, "Mrs. Pinne I really want to hug you but I'm kind of shy."

She told him, "Well, come here and I will give you a hug."

He proceeded to give her a big hug right there in the hallway in front of the other kids.

She admitted to me she had tears in her eyes. So very precious!

So grateful for my kids' teacher, she loves those kids SO much!

P.S.-Austen is NOT shy!

P.P.S-Austen has a crush on Kaitlyn. He told her and her dad that he likes her dress (dad is a little worried, apparently)

P.P.P.S. Henry waits at the door every day waiting for Kaitlyn too.

He works alone

Austen forgot his lunch yesterday so Ty gave him Henner's and brought Henry home to eat lunch here. Henner was not happy about this so on the way home for lunch Henry is thinking of ways to retaliate and he says "I think I'm gonna erase Austen's game with the 4 and the 3 (43)" The meanest thing he could think of was erasing Austen's mario game! Dad asked him why "because he took my lunch" So Ty told him that he gave Austen his lunch and that he can eat Austen's when he gets home. Henry: "I can eat his lunch!? I guess I won't erase his game with the 4 and the 3"

This is what I imagined he would have looked like.
Henry/Incrediboy/Syndrome: "I learned an important lesson: You can't count on anyone. Especially your heroes."

Boy in a dress? I think not!

Elizabeth got her headbands and flowers so now daddy can't call her his "boy in a dress" anymore. For the record, mommy never thought she looked like a boy. Another new development: Elizabeth is on all fours! She can scoot backwards well and we anticipate her going forwards any day now.

Just so I don't forget

Hey you two,

Just wanted you both to know that at my morning Recess today Austen played kickball – for the very first time! And he did AWESOME! I have a rule that when a new kindergartener or new student plays – especially the littler ones – that the opposing team are not allowed to get them out for the first day or two until they can learn and grasp how to play. So many of the older kids – 4th – 6th graders really pitched in and helped him.

Well, I didn’t even have to remind my older kids of that this year so when I was watching them play, they would let Austen get to the base even if they could have gotten him out. But Austen picked up on the game SO fast, he did great and he was all smiles!! :):):)

Just wanted to share that blessing with you today! :)

Ann

open open open open open it

just spent 3 minutes being implored to "open the bundt" by Aaron until I realized he wanted me to unbutton his pants so he could go potty. Funny part is, his pants velcro instead of button.

First day of school

where to start?

Me: "What's wrong with Aaron?"

Chris: "You want me to shrink your kid?"

Me: "Yes."

Chris: "I don't know where to start."

Henry answering the question he wishes was asked

Drew: "Henry, is this the best day on earth?"

Henry: "I don't care what planet we're on."

An Online Conversation

I HAD to have white chicken chili yesterday

so I took all of them to the store

which I keep vowing never to do again

they were so good

7:13 PM there was this family there at the same time

had the same # of kids

and the mom and dad were both there

all they did was yell and the kids were ALL over the place

this woman was openly scowling at them

meanwhile, my angels stood calmly by my side or sat quietly in their seats

she stood there and stared at us for a minute

it was neat

Rachel: good job boys!

7:14 PM me: she got a major kick out of Aaron because we were picking the ice cream and I was reading the flavors to Austen and Henner

and every time I said "fudge" Aaron would give her the thumbs up

so we got fudgeRachel: lol!!!!I love him!!!!

Austen washed and chopped a garbage bag sized load of rhubarb that was got from the Woods with me. He's been working the whole time. Now he's stirring the glaze for the rhubarb crunch we're making He had to stop and go pray for "kids who eat junk food and who's parents don't know that home made is best" Crazy kid. I didn't have the heart to tell him that with the amount of sugar in this recipe that it's probably junk food too.

Henner to Elizabeth

Henner to Elizabeth: "Yeah, you're cute but you're not smart and you're zero and you're beautiful"

Literature vs. Science

You may or may not have heard about our Edgar Allan Poe action figure (A souvenir from a March Meeting held in Baltimore) WELL... It was of late rediscovered. Henry has again been carrying the thing around. He was showing me some of the features and components to "Eggar" or "The Black Guy" when (Edgar wears black because as we all know, he was kind of a macabre character) I decided to ask him, finally, "Why do you like that toy?"
He replied, "I like him because he's black and he's Eggar and he's not the white guy."
The white guy?
Einstein.
Yes, we have an Einstein action figure too.
Literary Win
General Relativity FAIL! Take it.

too many brothers

I was holding Elizabeth yesterday and Henner kept saying "I like him a lot, do you like him too?"

I couldn't figure it out- him who??

WHO IS HIM? So I asked.

Elizabeth.

He still doesn't know that babies come in two genders.

Too many brothers.

"A skunk can look the same only if they put their stripes away."

-Austen Olheiser

Dr. Olheiser

Austen and Henner are playing ''doctor.''

Austen has pens in his shirt pocket (this is what distinguishes him from regular boys in dress shirts)

He has a small notepad and one of those face masks.

the funniest part:

He wrote a ''prescription'' with a little diagram of where Henry's ''small break'' is in his leg.

The "prescription" is a picture of his cast with "HenrY" at the top.

He showed me all of this.

Then I hear this:

"Henry, this is a picture of your cast. You have your cast on now? Okay, I made this picture of your small break. See the small break? I will give this picture to your mother, Rebekah. Rebekah Olheiser"

Dressing up is fun

Mobbed!

Meeting The New Baby

Our Girl

Getting ready to go to the hospital. I was "not thinking good" and for some reason woke Tyson up when we should have been leaving to get there at the time L&D said to arrive. Fortunately we were preceded by mommies in labor already and so it was irrelevant that we were late. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

In Labor. Looking pretty happy, must have been after the eipdural.

Joy!

The Lovely Elizabeth, all nice and pink

So happy to meet you, Elizabeth! (Tyson was saying something snarky, I'm sure of it)

Mom & Dad & Girl!

Ready to bring her home...

Special Robot Place

According to Henner, there's no robots allowed in Heaven. So there is a "Special Robot Place."

He has drawn this picture of what this "Special Robot Place" looks like.

This is a robot in the "Special Robot Place"

This is a more elaborate depiction of Special Robot Place. Robot is holding a "spray," the T's are flowers, and the marks on the upper right hand side are the "waters that make the plants grow up"

Four Big Brothers!