Eliot Sayings....

Last night at Bible Time we had two Eliot moments:

• First he told me that he wanted to sit on my wap. Thinking that his lack of saying the letter L correctly, was really cute, I said, 'you want to sit on my wap?'. He was clearly annoyed that I didn't say lap, but incorrectly imitated him by saying wap. He cleverly tried to change his wording, and said 'No I want to sit on your wegs.' 
• Second, he told me that he 'had a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, and a Jack.' Too cute. 

Who is Always With You?

Tonight Addie woke up from a nightmare. Charles and I went running to her to give comfort. After we had held her for a minute and it was clear she was ready to go back to sleep,  I thought it was worth reminding her that 'It was just a dream. It isn't real, and that Jesus is always with her.'

I started to tell her these things and then prompted her, 'who is always with you?'

She responded without hesitation, 'Eliot'.

Not the answer I was looking for, but fairly true. Charles and I looked over and saw Eliot sleeping across the room from her and smiled. They are really good friends when one is asleep!

Ice Cream with Blueberries

So today we had some friends come over for a play date. I confidently offered all the kids a Popsicle and then realized I didn't have but two Popsicles and collectively we had 7 kids with us. Eliot was still in bed so I thought I would leave him there until I sorted this play date debacle out.

I decided that two kids could have Popsicles and I then enticed the older 4 kids to have vanilla ice cream with blueberries on top as a consolation dish. They were satisfied, more than satisfied.

After they all finished and I had cleaned the kitchen I went to get Eliot up. I walked in and greeted him and then said you want to get up and have a snack. He immediately said, 'Yes. Ice Cream with Blueberries.'

Three observations -

1. Our walls are thinner than I think. 
2. You cannot pass anything by this kid. 
3. He's not a baby anymore. 

The Key to a Good Marriage by Addie Anderson

A few days ago I had an interesting time trying to explain divorce to the kids. We had played at the pool with a friend who had his dad's girlfriend's son with him. On the way home Jack asked who the other little boy was. I told him it was D's dad's girlfriend's son'.

Addie immediately piped up and said 'that makes no sense.' She continued by saying that you couldn't be married and have a girlfriend. I told her that she was right, but that D's dad was not married anymore. We then had an interesting conversation about marrying someone for life and that many people go into marriage expecting happiness (instead of holiness) and then they don't know how to cope when they aren't happy.

It was one of those rare parenting moments when you realize your kids are really listening, and to be honest I probably starting preaching a bit. Well, Theo piped up from the back with confidence but also the need for a little reasurrance in his voice and said, 'But daddy does make you happy.' Realizing he needed a little reassurance about the state of his parents' marriage, I said, 'oh yes. Daddy makes me really happy.'

Without missing a beat Addie then said, 'Yeah, He makes you happy when he brings you candy.' There you have it. Addie's husband is going to have it really easy. In her five-year-old mind, candy is the key to a good marriage!  Love it.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

When we were in London I wanted to get a dress. I love shopping there because then you can be more assured that your dress won't be duplciated back in Missouri!  It didn't take long before I found a dress that I really liked and went to try it on. When I was in the dressing room, my friend Ruth came in with the same dress in Addie's size and said, 'Look you can get the same one for Addie.' I was sold. We both agreed that my opportunity for wearing matching dress was running out. It wasn't long before I was the proud owner of an adult sized and child sized dress in the same fabric.

It will come as no surprise that Addie has been dying to wear the dresses together since we showed her them. I told her that Mother's Day would be the right first time. You should have seen how excited she was to put her dress on this morning. We had a lot of fun being twins today. Here are some pictures to show - (and of course we had a little brother that wanted in on the action so we obliged).