A Year of Funnys

For Posterity...

1/30 Ali: "This is appropriate for my eyes to see."

2/1 Logan: "My imagination showed it to me!"

2/5 Logan: "I can't take my bed to my cousins' house this summer-it won't fit in the car!-so can I take my campsite?" (Sleeping bag)

2/10 And...the house is SOLD! 4 days on the market, 3 showings, 2 offers, 1 very happy and thankful Eldredge famliy!

2/12 Ali: "Uncle JD's coming?! Is he bringing his new baby girl?"
Me: "No, she's still in Aunty Lianna's belly."
Ali: "Oh, I know, she's still up in Heaven!"
2/21 Grandma and Grandpa came to visit last weekend. Ali saw Grandma sleeping and said, "Grandma, you look like a turtle!"

2/25 Logan: "I'm cold like an ice skater!"

2/26 Ali: "That light hurts my eyes. It's spikey light."

2/28 There is a man in our ward who looks a lot like a certain Jolly Man. When Ali and Logan see them, they whisper and point. Whenever Eli sees him, he very loudly says, "Hi Santa!" over and over, even if he happens to see him during Sacrament meeting:)

3/2 Ali: "Kisses have special powers."

3/4 Logan: "Mom, I love you because you do everything."

3/14 Me: "Eli sit down and eat!"
Eli: "NO! (pointing his finger) TIMEOUT!" (As in "Mom you go on timeout!")
3/15 Ali and Logan are searching our house for Leeper-Clowns, which sounds much creepier than if they were looking for Leprechauns...

3/22 Logan: "Now I have legos like Ethan. He's my cousin. I like him."

3/25 Ali: "Logan, you need to settle down, please."

3/26 Jason: "Then men who killed Jesus were wicked; they weren't keeping the commandments."
Ali: "Did they throw them away?"
4/2 Ali: "Oh! I know what germs are--it's like my cousin Germy!"

4/10 Me to Eli: "Hi, sweetheart/buddy/etc"
Eli: "NO! I Eli!"
4/18 Ali: "Girls shave their legs so their legs don't grow beards."

4/20 Logan: "Our new neighbors have a jump-o-lean!"

4/22 We pull up to our new ward building yesterday and Ali said, "Alright, guys, we don't know anyone here, so everyone make friends, OK!"

4/29 Eli: "My (I) sleep in a cage!"

5/1 Logan: "Look at my tower--it looks like Pisa!"

5/3 Ali: "Heavenly Father hears my prayers, even when I talk softly. He's magic just like Santa!" 

5/6 Logan is a little worried about the "smoke protectors" going off in the night because of a fire.

5/8 Ali: "After missionaries come home they turn into Humans again."

5/19 Ali: "I want to be a mermaid when I grow up."
Logan: "There are no mermaid schools in the whole entire country. Sorry, Ali."
5/29 Me: "I need you to try to remember and follow the rules."
Logan: "But it's hard. It makes my head dizzy."

5/31 Me: "What color is Daddy's shirt?"
Eli: "Black!" 
Me: "What color is your shirt?" 
(It was orange) Eli: "Umm...not black!"

6/9 Eli: "What's that beep?"
Me: "The Microwave."
Eli: "Oh, the crowave."
Me: "No, the MI-crowave."
Eli: "Yeah, YOUR crowave, not Daddy's crowave."
7/9 Me: "Logan, what was your favorite part of vacation?"
Logan: "Coming home."
7/10 Logan: "It's in my soupcase (suitcase)."

7/11 Eli: "I want to ride my mycycle."

7/15 I am so proud of Eli for doing great wearing what he calls his "wonderwear" underwear)!

7/17 Ali: "Look, it's a graveyard. That's where people go to die."

7/18 Ali: "My mind keeps talking all day long."

7/22 Logan: "Do you only take showers?"
Me: "Sometimes I take a bath to relax."
Logan: "Moms can't relax!"
7/24 Me: "Their family has five kids."
Logan:" It's impossible to have that many kids!"
Me: "Grandma and Grandpa Quillen have six kids, you know."
Logan: "What?! That's totally impossible!"

7/25 (Eli whining and me ignoring him):" Mommy, mommy, mommy..."
Jason: "What Eli?"
Eli: "I was talking to Mommy, Daddy!"

7/31 Logan: "When will we be there?"
Eli: "Forty-five! Sunday!" (he was just blurting out random unit of time answers)

8/6 Ali: "Mommy, I don't like my hair like this! You can see my pokey ears and I don't like them!" 

8/10 Ali: "When are Grandma and Grandpa going to have kids?" (with the tone of voice that says "geesh, what are they waiting for?")

8/14 Logan: "Mom, have you ever heard of apostles?"
Me: (realizing that's probably not the word he means, thinking back over what the TV show he was watching was about) "You mean fossils?"
Logan: "Yes! Some are three HUNDRED years old!"
8/16 Ali's new oft-repeated phrase is "You're the best Mom ever," which I admit to liking a lot more than Logan's new oft-repeated phrase of, "You don't love me any more!"

8/18 I upset Ali and Logan yet again by telling them they would not be marrying each other someday (we have this conversation often) and reiterated that they would marry some other person they will meet some day in the future. So Ali says, "So, I'll be walking around nice and clean and some boy will come up and say, 'Do you want to get married?' and I'll say, 'Sure.'"

8/24 Logan:" Mom, I didn't like sleeping in my cousin Amanda's room. Pink just isn't my color."

8/27 Me: "That car is parked."
Eli: "Like Peter Parked!" (ie-Peter Parker)

8/31 The moment your five-year-olds realize the stories we've been reading in the Book of Mormon their whole lives are stories about things that really happened: Priceless. The fact that they think these things happened "a really long time ago-like when you (Mom and Dad) were babies": not so priceless:)

9/6 Eli: "Mommy, you are my best friend!"

9/10 I told Ali we were going mini golfing. A bit later she said, "I can't wait to go Mickey golfing!"

9/18 Eli: "I have feelings."

9/20 Ali: "I'm tired. Do I have bags in my eyes?"

9/22 Someone mentioned Sweden and Logan says, "Hey, that's where Swedish Fish come from!"

9/29 Eli: "Mmm, I like this (pizza), like I like you Mommy!"

10/5 Me to Eli (who was wearing a cowboy hat): "Hi, Cowboy!"
Eli: "No! I'm a man!"

10/7 Ali: "If I only drink pink lemonade from now on, will my bones turn pink?"

10/11 Logan: "I usually play with the boy with stinky hair or the boy who kisses all the girls--he's nasty!"

10/12 Eli: "My birthday is coming down!"

10/16 Eli: "There's our sweet home!"

10/17 Ali: "During Uncle Todd's race I saw TWO people running with NO SHIRTS ON!"
Logan: "That's because they don't know about the word of wisdom."

10/22 Me: "Are you a dinosaur Eli?" 
Eli: "No! I'm a dinoSAUR-OUS!"

10/29 Logan: (When he finishes his food quickly) "I'm a Holy Smoke!"

10/31 Me: What does the lion say?
Eli: Hi!
Me: what does the crocodile say?
Eli: Tick-tock, tick-tock!
11/8  Me: "Logan, sweet lips, please."
Logan: (pauses his chomping, grins, blows me a kiss, and then keeps chomping)
11/13 Ali lost her school library book. Logan told me to look for it in the school's "lost and fountain" for it:)

11/14 Eli: "We're going to the Booseum (that's how he pronounces museum)"
Me: "The Booseum?"
Eli: No, no. The Booseum, say BOO-seum"
Me: Museum?
Eli: "Yes, that's right, Booseum."
11/16 How I love my Grandpa Blau! He has been such a blessing in my life. When I told my kids he had passed, they said, "Oh! He's in Heaven now. How wonderful!" I am thankful to know this truth, because in knowing it I can't really be sad. He is a peace, at work, and happy. We miss him, but will see him again.

11/18 Ali: "Mom, what did I spell?"
Me: Looking at her letters--pecame--I say, "Nothing, not all letters spell words."
Ali: "Doesn't it spell 'Piece-a-Me' like from the song?"
Me: Realizing she is talking about the line from the song 'Clarity' that says 'You are the Piece of me I wish I didn't need,' I say, "Oh, you mean piece of me, that's three different words."
Ali: "No! It's pecame! I heard it!"
Me: "No, it sounds like that but really is three words."
Ali: "No it's not!"
Me: "Fine. You're right. Great job, you spelled pecame."
11/19 Upon hearing that if you get the lucky side of the wishbone you get to make a wish, Logan said, "Will my wish really come true?"
Me: "It might."
Logan: "So if I wished my lovey (the thing he sleeps with at night) would come alive and talk to me, that might really happen!?!"
Me: "Um, no...probably not."
Logan: "Dang."
Poor little guy was truly disappointed!
11/26 Logan: "I have a FANTASTIC idea! Let's live at the bank! Then we'll have all the money we want. And we'll put caution tape on the doors so no one else comes in to take any away!"

11/27 Frequently when I ask Eli to do something for me he says, "Me busy." Logan's usual response makes me much happier but is still funny, he says "Yes, Sir!" often with a salute.

12/8 Logan was a little distressed to find out that Santa brings coal instead of toys to naughty kids. I have heard him mutter "I don't think I'm going to have a happy Christmas..." several times lately!

12/10 Continuing with the Santa theme, top items on Logan's wish list are not actually toys, but things he's seen in movies or books. When I told him this, that they don't actually sell those things in stores, Logan said "Mom, Santa MAKES the toys!" There was a clear "duh" implied. I might be in trouble...

12/11 We drove over the broader into Wisconsin, and when I mentioned that to the kids Ali said, "We're in Nonsense?" at the same time Eli said, "We're in Conference?"

12/13 Some funny comments about "Bad Words" in the Eldredge Home:
Logan was telling me about a "bad" song he heard on the radio: "Santa Baby". "Baby" is not allowed in our house, because they always use it ugly.
I told Ali I didn't like the words in a song we were listening to and she said, "Oh, does it say (whispers) "stupid"?
If Eli is REALLY mad at you he will call you the meanest thing he can think of: "You are a Stinky Diaper!"

12/17 Eli pointed to the Christmas tree and said, "Look! It's a Ritz cracker!" Curious I look where he is pointing and see a Nutcracker ornament:)

12/28 Eli is wandering around singing "Frosting the Snowman" and "Christmas Bells are Reindeers."

Happy New Year!

To celebrate New Year's Eve we had family over--what else?! We are truly grateful to have family around and we are taking the chance to see them and play with them at every opportunity. Aunty Lianna had a cool chocolate fountain that she brought over for us to enjoy, which we did--thoroughly!

The New Year's alarm went off at 7:15 and we celebrated!

Logan made his Mommy these pretty flowers as a New Year's gift; what a sweetheart!

Me and my favorite guy. What a lucky girl I am to get to spend this year and many to come with him!

Boxes

In true kid fashion, this big box was played with more than some of the new toys they got. It was a boat, a race car, a puppet theater, and a house before they had fun literally tearing it apart.

Parents for Christmas

Did I mention my parents came for Christmas? We so loved having them here.

And a few of our family, for good measure.

Christmas Week

We had such a fun Christmas week playing with our extended family. We had a dinner at JD's house the night my parents and Jesse arrived. I was amazed at how unfazed Korrali was with all of us in her house. We sure love that little girl!

Even with my eyes closed, I kind of love this picture.

My mom, Jesse and I went to the temple one morning. Our Chicago temple was the first one Jesse did baptisms in nine years ago and it was fun to think back on that day and all that has happened between then and now.

We always love trips to the Children's Museum, and it is even more fun when we go with other family!

Logan made the most fantastic statue at one of the new exhibits.

Uncle Jesse was just so much fun to play with. Every once in awhile we had to call a five minute break:)

Even Teo got to join in on the fun. He is such a great dog.

Christmas Morning

This Christmas is officially my favorite one as an adult. The kids were all excited but not overwhelmed. They were grateful and cheerful. They shared and played so nicely. Add to that all the wonderful guests we had, and it is the clear winner for me. I loved every minute.

Checking out the Santa loot:

Eli loved his guns and "light saber" from Santa so much he would have been fine if there were not other presents for him. In fact, the last few for him were opened by Ali or Logan because he just couldn't be distracted:

Logan saw this army truck from Santa and said, "I got my wish!" Ah, music to my ears!

Ali loved her Lala Loopsie and Monster High dolls, but also enjoyed this little tent Eli got.

It really was a magical, merry Christmas.

The Night Before Christmas...

It has become our tradition to make sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and I had two enthusiastic helpers this year.

We had to test some, of course:

We got the stamp of approval from Korrali:

And the reindeer were not forgotten. "How many reindeer are there?" Ali asked. Notice the nine carrots, one for each. It was fun to have a fireplace for Santa this year.

We always go to Jason's Parents' house for dinner on Christmas Eve, and this year they were gracious enough to host not only our family of five, but my parents, my brother Jesse, and my brother JD along with his wife Lianna and daughter Korrali. "We want to see them too!" was Tina's protest when I suggested that we five would come over and my family would do something else. It really was fun to have them all together. Mine and Jason's families are some of my favorite people in the world, and I love that they love each other too.

Christmas Eve was an epic sleep-over: we were lucky enough to have my parents, two of my brothers and a sister-in-law, a niece, and a dog all sleep over. That's four kids, seven adults, and one dog. It was so much fun! And so nice that with our basement it didn't even feel cramped. We could have fit a few more people, I think, so anyone is welcome next year!

Nativity

Eli's Joy School group practiced and performed a little nativity skit for a nursing home in the area. Eli was pleased to get to be the Shepard...so pleased, in fact, that when we tried to start the program with some songs they had learned to share, he threw a huge fit and pretty much screamed and cried the whole time we were there. Ah, the joys of Christmastime. He he is with Damon and Joshua before the fit.

Then on Christmas Eve we acted it out again so siblings and cousins could take part. Emily was Mary, Ali her donkey, Eli was Joseph, Ethan a Shepard, Korrali his sheep, Logan an angel. They were adorable.

Eli wanted to take a turn holding the "baby Jesus" and carried him around for quite awhile afterwards.

Acting out the nativity was always a big part of my Christmas as a kid and I am glad the tradition is continuing with my children. I love the reminder of the reason for the season.

Ward Party

The kids were so excited for our ward Christmas party this year, which probably had to do with the fact that Jason and I had been helping to plan it for about three months. The night before the party,  the kids told me they wanted to look really special and dress up, which was fine with me because right after the party was a ward baptism, which I also planned and organized:) Notice the red in Logan's pocket--he specifically requested a flower to put in his pocket. I have no idea where he saw or heard about that idea, but it was so cute!

They brought their Santa letters, knowing The Man himself would be there. And one benefit of being there early to finish setting up was that they had as much time to chat with him as they wanted!

Possibly their favorite part of the party were these elves hidden all around the church. When bordem struck while we finished setting up, I sent them away with my camera to find them all. And even better was that Ali and Logan each got to take one home with them. "Elfee" is Ali's new favorite toy, and they both sleep with them at night.

The finishing touch of the party was a very well-done nativity. There was no narration, instead a couple girls in the ward sang a lovely song. Somehow that made it seem even more reverent and beautiful to me. Please notice the camel and imagine the sheep and donkey that were by the shepherds that I made and the amazing stable that Jason set up:)

Apart from the hour of hysteria when Logan lost his flower, the kids did great and had fun during the eight hours we were there. Success.

Grinch

Logan was SO EXCITED for Grinch day at school.

Snowman

Ali and Logan have been loving all the snow this winter, and I have been loving our fenced yard that I can send them out into for as long as their frozen selves desire. I think they have probably already spent more time playing in our backyard this winter than they did all summer long.

One evening Logan asked me to help him make a snowman. This cold-hating Mommy was glad to point out there really wasn't enough snow for a snowman. A few minutes later he excitedly told me he had made one all by himself:

I guess he showed me. And his is cuter than anything I would have come up with!

Tent

My kids, like all kids before them, have discovered the joy of a well-constructed tent!

Joy

Every few weeks I get to have these four cute boys in my house for a couple of hours, and during that time I teach them about the joys of life. This day we were learning the joy of service, and they reminded me that service is always a lot more fun with a friend (or four!).

Snuggle me!

These two are snugglers, and I often will hear them call out, "Mom, snuggle me!" Um, yes please!

Shoot

This guy is more into guns and "shooting things" than any of our other kids have been, which is why we don't have very many gun toys. But don't worry, he makes do. (And he has the tough guy look DOWN!)