Happy Tuesday, folks!!! Enjoy our last summertime funnies- it’s back to school next week!
Me, looking at J’s art: You are such a great artist! (To hubby) Did you see how great he did?!
J: I love it when you say that, Mom! Keep saying it! It makes me feel like the greatest artist ever!
D, seeing red spray painted lines on the grass: The grass is bleeeeeeeding!
J: I’m feeling a little drowsy in my nose.
EK has been sick, and J asked: Yeah, and remember that time I had the flute? (He meant flu, and no, he’s never had it.)
D and J were helping me cook, and D purposefully smeared food on J, who then said: Well, I guess you’ll have to eat me now.
J: That is not a playing bucket. That is a lego-holding bucket and he just keeps playing in it. Ugh.
J: Thank you, thank you, ever so thank you!
D, saying bedtime prayers: Dear God, thank you for casserole, da horses, and mud I jump in. And mama, in Jesus names, amen!
EK: I had a dream last night, and it was like a regular day except Dad was taking Oreos out of the oven and I was like, “Yummy! But they’re all melted!”
Happy Tuesday, friends! It’s been a great week over at our house getting back into a little bit of normal, with a splash of Vacation Bible School, and EK going to FARM CAMP this week! So fun! Here are a few goodies for your enjoyment. Hope you laugh like I did!
Playing a game…
J: I’m on D’s team.
EK: There aren’t teams!
J: Yeah, there’s no such thing as friends.
Me: …..?
J, jumping from my headboard to my mattress: Canyonball!
EK, singing at VBS: This is better than Disney!
J, speaking truth: It is dumb hot out here.
D, wakes up from a nap super hard.
Me: Good morning!
D: ….yeah….
J, dressed in a winter coat and dragon wings: Feast your eyes on this!
D, pointing to the backyard: I saw a sheep, mom! Like a ghost!
EK, witnessing a glitter spill at VBS: This is wonderful!
D, praying at dinner: Dear God, thank you for dis family, for EK and J and mama and daddy and in God’s names, amen!
Me: *all the heart eyes*
EK, after attending one day of farm camp: Mom! Can we please, please, please make a farm?!?! I mean, we have the space for it….
Me, talking about something random: …a stupid lot. (Like, a lot a lot)
J: Why’d you say “stupid”?! You’re gonna go to jail!
Well, what are the funny things your kids have said recently? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Tuesday! Here are our funnies for this week (including D’s birthday!) – Enjoy!
EK: Can we have spaghetti tonight? We haven’t had it in like eight months!
J: Yeah, it’s been like a hundred years.
EK, with longing in her voice: J, do you ever wander what you’re gonna be when you grow up?
J: I already know! I’m gonna be a fisherman!
EK: well sometimes you don’t end up being it. Like mom really wanted to be an astronaut.
D, while celebrating a friend’s bday a few days before his: This is so fun!
J: I tooted ’cause I ate those corn chips.
D, randomly: Guess what! There’s a scary dream in my room.
D, holding a stuffed animal: Dis is my baby. Could you be sweet to my baby?
J: I’m always sweet to babies.
Since we are on vacation with family, J and D shared a room with Hubby and me the first two nights. On D’s bday (very early) I heard this…
J, whispering: D! You know what? It’s your birthday!
D: *gasp* We’re gonna have a cuhcake!
J, running in angrily: EK chose me a choice! And she’s not the one to give me a choice!
Hubby to EK: How do you spell lava?
EK: L….
J: Ahhhh. Laaaaahvah. Laaaah….
EK: A!
J: Lavvvvvvva. Vah, vah, vah.
EK: V!
J: Lavaaaaah.
EK: A!
Me: He’s never heard us help her spell something before, has he?
And a zinger from a friend…
A, pointing at her dad’s nipple: Mole?
I don’t know about y’all, but I went through a few weeks where I was a little nervous about summer.
You know what I mean, right? No schedule, no plans, wide open space… sometimes that’s a little scary for a mom with three younguns, who also tends to get frustrated sometimes (on my best days) or get full-on angry (on my worst days) about stupid little stuff. I don’t like getting angry or being frustrated with my children, and so having all that unstructured time with any number of options as how to fill it? Lord Jesus come quickly.
So I signed them up for some camps, went ahead and put our VBS on the schedule, and looked at a good time to go visit my parents in Georgia. We’ve recently renewed our children’s museum membership and our pool membership, so things are already looking a little bit less boring. You know what else I did? I came totally clean about my fear and anxiety about the summer with a friend. I asked her to pray for me and with me about multiplying my patience and dividing my frustration. I shared with her something I’d heard recently about how we pray so often for God to GIVE us things… stuff, people, jobs, circumstances… and how it might be that sometimes, we need to pray for God to take some things away.
So this summer, I’m asking God to take some things away – right here on the internet so y’all can see and keep me accountable if you notice I’m trying to hang on to them.
God, please take away my anxiety about unstructured time. Take away the fear that it won’t be “fun” or “easy” without a few hours of school each day. Take away the anxiety about sibling fights or complaints or whines that get under my skin quickly. Take away my concern for filling every moment of time with fun or learning, and allow me to just go with the flow.
God, please take away my need for control. I don’t need to micromanage as many things as I think I do. So take away my desire to control every variable of every situation. Take away my tendency towards being in charge of my children, instead of letting them tell me what they need and want, or DON’T need or want.
God, please take away my short temper. Take it right away, because this mama ain’t got time to get mad about stupid little stuff, or to just to conclusions that make me angry, when I haven’t checked out the situation fully. Take away my frustration and anger that creep out, even when I don’t want them to.
Lastly, please take away any expectations I have about how the summer will go. Anytime I have a perfect vision in my head, it doesn’t come to pass quite like I think it will. That isn’t always a bad thing, but there is disappointment even if it still goes well. So take away any ideas I have of perfect park picnics or easy trips to the pool. My children are small and unpredictable, and I want to enjoy them in this way instead of expecting them to ask like they’re older.
Sometimes, all it takes to dispel your fears is a little vulnerability, coupled with prayer. In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together, he says much about how praying for each other is an essential part of living in community. Take your anxieties and fears to a friend or mentor, and ask them to pray with you. That first step might be the hardest, but it’s also the most effective.
Hey y’all, and happy Tues…Wednesday! Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind with a lot of work, and then a concert out of town… we saw I’m With Her and they were INCREDIBLE and inspiring and I cried a lot. Anyway, between those things, I just completely forgot it was Tuesday, and didn’t remember I hadn’t put up the funnies until this afternoon. My apologies!!
J, giving compliments: You’re a genius!
EK: Or you could say rock star.
EK: Oh! My foot’s asleep!
Me: Oh no! *I rub her foot*
EK: It’s okay. It’s time for the rest of me to go to sleep too.
Me: That was easy.
J, seeing a Harley Davidson commercial: They look American!
We clearly have a little more to teach D about gardening…
D, watering the kale: Look! I planting tomatoes!
Shooting the water in the air: I watering the sky!
J with a scratch: This hurts even badder!
Me: …than what?
EK: The pool is close to our school. There’s only one school, one restaurant, and a Reynolda House till we get there.
Well I hope you enjoyed the Wednesday Edition of Toddler Tuesday! Leave a comment to tell me what your kids are saying these days!
Happy Tuesday! Sorry so late, but we just hopped up to the mountains yesterday and today, and got home around dinnertime tonight. We are so full of mountain love right now – with no plans for the 4th! What are you doing??
Here are some funnies from our week… we took two days away for our anniversary (Praise Him!) and then internet was spotty in the mountains, and we were unplugged there for a couple of days (thank goodness!) so this is what I’ve got! Enjoy!
EK: D doesn’t weigh that much.
Me: He’s actually pretty heavy, just not as heavy as you and J.
EK: Yeah, cause we been working out a lot.
Me: Did you miss me and daddy while we were gone?
D: Yeah! And I had fun at Meta Kate (our sitter)!
J: Wanna be a fisher girl and I’ll be a fisher man?
EK: I’m thinking of working at Disney.
Hubby trying to put goggles on D…
D: I got a big noggit. (Noggin)
D, at the Asian restaurant: How about we could our dumplings?!
D, exclaiming: Holy mammoth!
EK, remarking on the weather: What is it, like, a hundred twenties out here?!
Friend: Is that sandwich good?
J: You knew it was.
J: A popsicle a day makes the future a gooder one!
J: Can I walk the dog?
Friend: Well… she’s big. How much do you weigh?
*pause*
J: I didn’t eat that much this morning….
Friend: I just meant she’s way heavier than you are!
What is it that your kids say to make you laugh?! Tell us in the comments!
Happy Tuesday, friends! We had a little trip to the lake last week (where I was mostly unplugged, and it was great!), and the kiddos are in summer camp this week, so we are fully launched into summer! We’ve picked our first squashes and zucchinis, and eaten our first tomato. It’s a good time of year at the Hsu house! Here are some funnies – enjoy!
Driving to Lake Norman, and we see the (Marshall) power plant’s steam drifting up in clouds…
EK: I see Marshall!
D: Yeah! I see da marsha-mellow!
J and D sharing a bed and trundle…
J to D: If you get scared, you can come get in my bed instead of bothering mommy and daddy.
Me: What do you want for dinner?
J: Chicken wings!
Me: Chicken wings?
J: Yeah! Hot, roasted chicken wings!
When D is asking for things, he begins with “I need you to say….” as in, “I need you to say I want some jelly beans!”
J: Hey, D?
D: I don’t want you to talk, ‘tupid!
Me: You may not call your brother stupid!
D: But I don’t want him to talk!
J: *laughing*
J, shouting in the car.
Me: You’re being a little too loud for the car.
J, still shouting: I lost my inside voice!
I’ve spent the last few weeks praying about our summer.
I’m so nervous that my kids will think it’s boring, or lame, or both, or whatever. What do kids even think these days? I don’t mind my kids being bored, really. I think it builds character and creativity for them to just figure something out to entertain themselves. I also LOVE to make them get outside. Go ride a bike, pull some weeds in the garden, blow bubbles, or draw with chalk. I don’t care, but don’t tell me you don’t feel like doing it.
There’s a lot of Pinterest and Instagram pressure to make summer an “epic” experience for your kids. But what I really want to do is lowball it as hard as I can, and make them make their own plans. Sure, they’re 2, 4, and 6, but they can tell me what they want to do! We’ve got chore charts intact, complete with a reward system. I have a ready answer to “I’m bored.”
Otherwise, to tell the truth, I enjoy having fun, too! I WANT to go to the pool, and to the park, and the mountains, which blessedly aren’t that far away. I WANT to see our friends and live music and whatever other events are going on. But we just can’t do everything, and I need to take the pressure off of myself NOW or else I’ll drown in it. The pressure is stifling to those of us who just don’t “do” what everyone else seems to do. I’m spontaneous, which is sometimes a great thing with kids, and sometimes not so much. We never sit around the house for too many hours in a row, but there are times that I get an idea in my head, and it’s just too late to make it work.
The other thing that may save my life is the YMCA. We (re)joined a month ago, and so far, beginning my mornings there with my kids in a safe and fun childcare (with lots of their friends!) has been a big stress reliever. Now, my workout doesn’t depend on the weather or on whether the baby takes a nap at the time he’s supposed to. I can get up, make everyone a nice breakfast, and head to the gym to get the endorphins blasting, and then I feel GREAT about whatever else we get – or don’t get – accomplished.
What is saving you this summer? Letting go of your expectations? Making a weekly plan? Lots of vacation or none at all? Tell me all the things that you do to survive and thrive in summer!
Hello there, June! I can hardly believe it’s already time to go to the pool, for school to be out (well, it’s out for my littles and only a few more days for my kindergartener!) and for front porch sitting with a book and a cocktail in my hand. (Just me? Surely not!) I’m linking up with Anne in Residence and Sarah over at Total Basset Case. Here are a few things we’re planning for the month of June. Comment or link up and tell me what you’re up to currently!
Traveling || not very much this summer. We will go to Georgia to see my family, and to the lake (only an hour away) to Hubby’s family’s place, but other than that, we may not travel at all. It’s kinda freeing to not have any big plans! Our next big trip is September, and Hubby and I are headed to Colorado WITHOUT the kids! We’re seeing the Punch Brothers at Red Rocks and I’m beside myself with excitement!
Grilling || Hmm. Hubby is the chef, and therefore the griller, but when we had a gas line run to our porch so we could grill without go big through propane tanks, we still haven’t gotten the last piece we need to hook it all up. So, no grilling right now!
Exploring || our local hiking venues! My plan this month is to get the kids to several local (under an hour in the car) places to hike, now that they do okay without naps and eating picnic-style works pretty well. I can’t wait to have them out on the trails – I hope they love it, because it’s exercise that I really enjoy! (If you’re local, I’m thinking Salem Lake, Hanging Rock, and Pilot Mountain for our starters!)
Planting || lots and lots of things! We’re growing so many different things, it’s hard to name them all! Tomatoes, tomatillos, kale, squashes, beans, peas, asparagus, blueberries, strawberries, and more! We are pretty pleased with how everything is going so far, and my plan is to try my hand at canning this summer, one of those weeks where we have so many tomatoes I can’t begin to think how we’ll use them all.
J taking care of his blueberries.
Playing || dominoes, Candy Land, and Snug as a Bug! Those are all games my kids can get their heads around (the older two, at least). They’re also okay at Go Fish! but it’s tough for them to hold all those cards. Even the clothespin trick is a little too much for them at the moment. But Hubby and I LOVE playing games, and so I hope that they’ll continue to love it, too!
Reading || some beachy reads, even without the beach! I just finished The Turquoise Table (Kristin Schell) and Keeper of Lost Things (Ruth Hogan) last month. This month, I’m working on Everybody Always (the newest from Bob Goff), The Nix (Nathan Hill), A Wind in the Door (Madeleine L’Engle’s sequel to A Wrinkle in Time), Saturate (Jeff Vanderstelt), and Glimpses of Grace (Gloria Furman). I’m doing studies of the last two with some friends, so we’re working on it all summer, but the others I should have finished by the end of the month, I hope! Do you have any book suggestions for me?! My “to be read” list is always a mile long, so I never mind adding to it!
A sampling of what my nightstand looks like on any given day!
Well, that’s about it for now. What are you up to currently?
J, above, looking through the “scopa-tella” (telescope)
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