merry christmas

ralph: police malidod! police malidod!  i wanna wish you a merry christmas...

cecelia: i am just SO excited to go to winsconsin, i just can't wait!  i wanna go right now!
lionel: yeah!  we can just leave right now and drive for eight hours and dad can run to catch up with us!
mom: no, we can't leave without dad.  we would miss him so much over the holidays!
lionel: yeah... like his church weekend. (sweet boy!)

cecelia: there are actually people who don't believe in santa!
mom: why, on earth, would you NOT believe in santa?
cecelia: mmmmm... i dunno.  lainey and caroline don't.
mom: you know what i say?  if you don't believe in santa, he doesn't come to visit.
cecelia: yeah!  they say that parents buy the presents and eat the cookies and move the elf.
mom: there is no reason for us to buy you presents.  you know we would NEVER buy the things santa brings you.
cecelia: yeah.  like you would NEVER buy me a camera or an ipod.
mom: :)

meet your date

mom: a lunar eclipse happens every 19 years, the next lunar eclipse will be in 19 years.
cecelia: what?  what's 19 + 8?
mom: 27
cecelia: ugh!  what?!?!??
mom: i was 27 when i met your dad.
cecelia: so... i'll meet my date on the next lunar eclipse?  i'm really glad to be eight on this lunar eclipse!
lionel: i'll be like 18.
cecelia: no you won't!  you'll be like 25.
lionel: i'll be driving.
cecelia: you drive when you're like 16.  you meet your date when you're like 18!

ralph: (singing) lovely lady recipe... with her book of leprosy!

mema: lionel, do you want to go to chicago this summer?
lionel: how long will i be gone?
mema: about 2 days.
lionel: i can't be gone that long.

k-pro

ralph: is there a game with wickeds in it?
dad: wickets
lionel: what are they?
dad: the wires you push the ball under in croquet.
ralph: in that game, k-pro, what are the wickeds, again?
(it's croquet)

cecelia: green is the most popular color.
mom: it's because you were the first to like it so much, before you loved black.
dad: you've loved black for quite some time, now.
lionel: I love orange, red, and blue... in that order.
ralph: MY favorite colors are indigo and turquoise!

misc.

at the friendship club parish luncheon, ralph and i were the only ones under the age of 65.  ralph was charming the folks with his antics and his angelic smile while they all oooed and aaaahed. he scrambled up his chair, across my table place, onto my lap and whispered in my ear, "what are all these old people doing here?"

lionel won a trophy in a chess tournament today, even though the rest of the chess club had been playing since kindergarten, and it consisted of 1, 2, 3rd grades.  he skipped it a 'go-see-it' badge in cub scouts in order to play in the tournament.  you should have SEEN his face all lit up!

lately, cecelia and lainey have been struggling with the pressures of 3rd grade girls and have grown distant.  last night, i brought lainey home from school with us and the girls did their homework together, snacked together, played together.  at bedtime, cecelia and i were sitting on the couch chatting about the day and she was telling me how great it was to hang out with lainey and how they had gotten past their differences.  she became DEAD serious, looked at me, and said, "NOTHING will break our friendship, mom.  nothing will break our friendship."  and looked away, deep in thought.  *sigh* i remember those days!

prayers

cecelia and i were saying our usual nighttime prayers: thanks for... please help.... i love you, God! i give less and less guidance as the kids get older and start to understand and take over on their own.  tonight:

mom: (please help) oh!  and the inmates in leavenworth
cecelia: what?
mom: inmates... in leavenworth.
cecelia: oh, okay.  and the inmates in lemonora...

ps.
ralph cleaned his room today!

christmas lists

today was scheduled down to the second from 440AM until 8PM.  it went off without a hitch, thanks, in part, to patrick watching our kids after school.  when i got home, i was greeted by ralph, "cecelia, lionel, and caroline are upstairs playing chest!"  (chess)

lionel: today is opposite day, and i'm NOT playing!
ralph: inka binka bottle of ink, pull the plug and you stink!  i mean i stink!  hee hee, i don't really stink...

ralph's christmas list: baby zip with a nuk and a diaper, batman mighty beans, a lego box, and a fan.

best friends

we were in the car discussing our best friends.

ralph: i just have one best friend.  guess who it is!
mom: myles?
ralph: no.  will.
mom: it's okay to have lots of best friends.  i have more than one.
ralph: okay, okay.  i have another best friend, too.
lionel: myles?
ralph: no.  it's lionel.  because he really cares for me.

the s-word

lionel was saying good night to dad, when the s-word came up.
lionel: not the sh-word, but the one begins with s and ends with e.
dad: you mean 'stupide?'  (said with a french accent)
cecelia: *giggle*
lionel: yeah.  but in english

cecelia: you know, lionel doesn't want to say the s-word.  not just the sh-word, y'know, s-h-u-t-u-p.
mom:   :)

lionel was telling dad about a scene from annoying orange.
lionel: someone wanted to get in a tub full of mondoo
dad: what's mondoo
lionel: you know, the green soda! (mountain dew)

dad'n'daughter

jonathan and cecelia went to a father/daughter dance friday night... a sock hop.  she wore a poodle skirt (thanks to maggie!) and he had the time of his life!  he danced the night away with his little girl, went to a photo booth with her, and hung out with his friends.  she stood in line for 15 minutes with her girls to take a picture with them, but when the music started, she willingly stepped out and hit the dance floor, giving up time with her friends to be with her dad!

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this morning...
ralph: mom?  can i get my own cinnamon roll with a statula?

peter and jesus

lionel: i know who milo is.  he protected peter.  he really liked jesus.  and then a master warrior came and tried to fight jesus and milo protected jesus and blah blah blah...

ralph: i know a prayer!  hail mary, full of grace, i don't know and i don't know and i don't know.

extrasize

today, after picking ralph up, we went home before going to the zoo.  sometimes we put itunes on and do push-ups and crunches or planks for 5 songs.  we haven't done it in a really long time as i have had to teach the past few weeks :(  when we got home he yelled, "let's extrasize!"  i was putting together lunch to go to the zoo... i told him i'd be right there.  i heard little hands slapping in the other room, "ralph?  are you okay?"  with strain in his voice, "yes!  i'm just starting without you.  i did my jumping jacks (thus the hands slapping) and push ups (which are more like yoga positions) and now i'm doing this extrasize!"  i go in to look at him, he is flat on his back with his feet up in the air crossing and uncrossing his legs bent at 90 degrees at the knees, "...ugh!  and it's REALLY hard!"

venix

driving in the car, on the way home from a party-ralph: are we in venix?
lionel: what!?!??!  WHAT is venix, ralph!
ralph: i SAID, are we in VEnix!
cecelia: there's no such thing as venix, ralph!
ralph: VENIX!

mom and dad in an early morning snuggle (5AM) in lionel's bed, after being squeezed out of our own bed by two little boys, discussing upcoming events-
mom: really, it is such a pain in the A--
lionel: *GASP*
TOTALLY did not know anyone was awake!

q: what do garbage men eat?
a: garbage!

credit cards

the boys are playing something rough involving pillows in the other room while we clean up from dinner.
ralph: i have a credit caaaaaaard!
lionel: i have ten thousand credit cards... and they're all cut up!

ralph (to jenny): if i could just have three pets i would want them to be a moth, a worm, and a cricket.
brian wolfe (overhearing): ralph, we can make that happen for you!

lionel: oh sweet mother of mercy!  that's what you say, sweet mother of mercy.
ralph: what about midnight? it has storms.
lionel: not storms, snores!
ralph: i saw it on qubo.
both: moooooooooom!
lionel: ralph, let me tell you something, sometimes rupert is not true.
ralph: i'm not listening!

tuesdays with ralphie

while making oatmeal cookies, lionel was naked.  ralph 'slapped' him on his sweet buns:
lionel: mom!  ralph slapped me on my B-U-T-T
mom: ralph, time out.  take some time to think about what you have done.
(5 minutes)
mom: ralph, do you know why you were in time out?
ralph: (whispers) yes.
mom: tell me about it.
ralph: i slapped lionel on his T-O-A-R.  (he can't spell)

ralph: mom!  mr. tuohey was lying that we eat thomasita (the hamster in his classroom.)  because she is cute and i don't want to eat her!

ralph: (singing a song by the dameans) spefor, are you listening?
actual words: speak, Lord!  i'm listening.

levels

lionel is on the couch playing on the ipod telling us all about his levels when he is interrupted by ralph.
ralph: i am SO going to ground him! (his balloon from "short clips" named strucula)
dad: what does it mean to ground somebody?  is it when you keep them on the ground?
ralph: no, it's when you get mad at them and then you get happy at someone else and, and....
lionel: no it's not, ralph!  it's when you get sent to your bed for a day or a week or...
cecelia: (from the other room, doing a book report) ...or a month.

lionel is singing loudly and baritone-y.
dad: lionel, why are you singing oferetto?
ralph: it's ofra, dad.
lionel: who is alfred?
cecelia: it's opera!
ralph: no, it's not!  it's OFRA!!

dreams

ralph: uh, dad!  i'm going to dream about things that i like tonight. like nice insects, dressing up, fun stuff!
dad: fun stuff like what?
ralph: uh, i forgot.

lionel: hey guys!  cecelia's allergic to soup!   (he means addicted!)

tonight jonathan and i looked at professional pics taken from the weekend celebration of the first 100 years of rockhurst.  his favorite picture is of four people we encounter pretty regularly who have no idea who we are!  (tee hee)

centennial celebrations

today we went to the rockroom for breakfast.  there were free video games, pool tables, shuffleboard, and foosball.  the kids were in 80's hog heaven.  breakfast was continental, ralph thought that a cheese bagel was a donut.  it took one bite for him to realize it wasn't.  he tried to sneak the bagel with one bite missing into the harvester's bin, on his tippy toes, looking around suspiciously, hand teetering above the opening to the bin.  fortunately, for harvester's, dad lead him in the right direction just in time.  then we loaded up on a bus and headed to harvester's.  we organized the breads into boxes and ALL the kids helped.  it was awesome and they can't wait to go back for each of their birthday parties!!!  on the bus the boys were pointing out bodies of water, cars, trucks, piles of dirt, ducks...

lionel: look at all those ducks!
ralph: what if all the ducks came onto the bus with us?
lionel: that would not be good at all.  they would just peck us!

pizza and poker

tonight, for the first night in many many nights, we were just a family.  so we celebrated with pizza outside and poker.  mom taught dad and cecelia and lionel how to play 5 or 7 card draw or stud.  tonight we introduced the ideas of chips, antes, and poker faces.  cecelia put us all to shame with her EXCELLENT use of a poker face!

lionel threw a chip in for mom, who was running LOW.
cecelia: why did lionel give you a chip?
mom: because he loves me!
cecelia: oh! in that case... (throws a chip at lionel)
lionel: BIG toothless smile!

ralph showed off his friday folder.  he REALLY loves school now!  he also has a black eye.  he fought with the playground equipment and lost :(  BUT... he did get to bring home the 'mystery can' tonight.

lionel got to bring home curious george and the various stories to be read this weekend.  hope we can find time between all our centennial celebrations at rockhurst: breakfast, service project, mass, dinner/dancing, brunch...

mom played itunes throughout.  the song 'say' by john mayer came on.  ralph decided to sing along, "samwich you need to say..."

God's creation

last night, my little God's creations and i were sitting on the porch enjoying dessert.  the crickets were singing, the breeze was blowing, the air was cooling down.  Lionel pipes up about how he loves this time of night.  "I can hear God's creations, the crickets, chirping.  Are those crickets?" "yes." "oh. 'cause i thought maybe it was a nocturnal animal."

the boys proceeded to turn their bed into a 'birnnest,' and sleep in it!  the next morning, they came bounding into our room, acting like birds, flying from their birnnest into our bed!  what will mornings be like when they decide they are too old to snuggle with us? :(