February Quotes

Sydney:  I'm giving up on chasing.  (She means chasing the boys at school during recess.  Apparently it's a thing that she and her friends do.)

Me:  Oh yeah? No more chasing, huh?

Sydney:  Yeah, it just makes me too tired and uses up all my egernies.  (energy)

One cold night Daphne and I were talking by the fire.  We were talking about all kinds of things from crushes to mean kids to the Strength of Youth pamphlet.  She currently has a crush on a boy who isn't Mormon.  I told her I'm not really worried about that--crushes change pretty frequently and as long as she has crushes on nice boys, I'm not overly concerned that they be Mormon at this stage of the game.  The conversation went on to other things and then near the end of the conversation she said, "Whoa.  I think I don't really have a crush on 'so-n-so' anymore.  How is that even possible?  I was like completely obsessed with him at lunch time!"

Me:  Bennett, it's time to get dressed.  Would you like these clothes or these clothes?

Bennett:  Um, no thank you.  I can just wear . . . THESE! (holding up a clean pair of pajamas.)

Bennett's reaction to me putting the groceries in the cart:  GREAT JOB, MOM!

Sean and Hayden on the day of their class valentine parties were writing anonymous love notes to their crushes.  Hayden read me his:  "Hazel, I think you are nice and funny and I have a crush on you.  Love, 'Unknown.'"  Sean refused to tell me what was in his love note saying, "Well, mine goes a little bit deeper."  I said,   "What did you say, Sean?  Did you ask her to marry you??"  He did not ask her to marry him, but still wouldn't tell me what his note said.  They both planned to stealthily deliver their anonymous love notes sometime today in the confusion of the class party.  We'll see if they have the guts to actually put their notes in their valentine's boxes.

Follow up:  Hayden delivered his note.  Sean did not.  But Sean said this particular girl already knows he likes her anyway.  So a note would be redundant.

Bennett:  (about some recently acquired monster truck toys)  These trucks are beautiful, right mom?

Sydney's first time skiing the other kids were complimenting her on what a great skier she was.  Her response:  "I know."  The second time they told her that she said, "Thank you. . . . And I know."

Bennett:  Can you open your tummy and get that baby out?

Me:  Bennett!  Today is your birthday!  You turn 3 years old today! (holding up 3 fingers)

Bennett:  No, I can't be free.  I can only be 2.  (holding up 2 fingers.)

Me:  But you aren't two anymore--you are three! This many (showing him my fingers, and helping him hold up three fingers.)

Bennett:  (painstakingly puts one finger back down)  No, I am just two.

Daphne and Hayden laughing hysterically about something.  Sydney:  I wish that was really funny to me, but it's not.

Hayden:  I don't like getting older.

Me: Why not?

Hayden:  Because we don't say funny stuff anymore when we get older.

Hayden:  I'm gonna start working out my biceps more than my abs.

Me:  Oh yeah?

Hayden:  Yeah, cause it's not like I'm gonna go around school lifting up my shirt to show people my stomach muscles.

(But you can bet he'll be showing people his strong bicep muscles!)

I was downstairs and heard Bennett upstairs with the drill.  I wasn't overly concerned because he just likes to press the trigger and watch it spin.  Besides, there wasn't even a drill bit in it.  Just a screw bit.  But then he said, "Mama!  Come look!  Come look what I made!"  So I hurried upstairs and he showed me the beginnings of two holes he made in the wall.  Really, they aren't a very big deal, but he showed me where he was drilling.   "Ta-da!  Look what I made!" he said as he pointed to his work.  He was so proud.  And I now know that he's been watching and learning and I need to get that drill back outside to the garage where he can't reach it.

January Quotes

Sydney's cute antlers project

The writing says:  "If I woke up with antlers I would . . .

Sydney:  craiy and cut them off.

Drinking sparking cider on New Year's Eve, Sydney said,  "This drink makes my tongue frizzle-y."

I loved Hayden's New Year's resolutions

"My new year's resolutions is to finish the book of Mormon.  Next is to be more friendly to my sister Sydney.  I will use nicer words and not tease her.  Also help her with her homework.  Last of all to read a book to her evry night."
By Hayden Gariety

I was in another room, and overheard Bennett having this conversation with himself:

Bennett:  Hey Mom?  Can I play with you phone?

Bennett:   Well, no.

Bennett:  Why not?

Bennett:  Because it's not good.

(Can you tell we've had the exact conversation enough times that he's committed it to memory?  Although, my exact words are "It's not good for you.")

Sydney:  Mom? Why are we having another boy?

Me:  I don't know, honey, I don't get to choose what we have.  Heavenly Father chooses.

Sydney:  (tears filling her eyes) Well, that makes me feel like Heavenly Father loves boys more than girls!

So we had a little conversation about how Heavenly Father loves us the same, and some families get more girls and some families get more boys but it all evens out in the end.  She really wishes she was getting a little sister.

Bennett (in church):  We don't play with you phone in church.  Right, Mama?

Me:  RIGHT!  (I have told him that every single Sunday for the last year, and finally it sunk in!)

Later, not on a Sunday, Bennett:  We don't play with you phone in church.  BUT we can play with it at home! (handing me the phone to turn on the password. Oh boy.)

Hayden:  Mom!  I'm like totally rockin' on my cub scout stuff!

Me:  Bennett, do you need a diaper change?

Bennett:  Uh, no.  No I don't.

(He says it just like Lightning McQueen in his conversation with Sally when she asks him if "big city race cars ever just take a drive."  I'm telling you, this kid is already a natural at throwing movie quotes into daily conversation.  He was destined to come to our family!)

Me:  Bennett, there is a baby growing in my tummy right now!  He's gonna come out in the summer and you will have a new little brother.

Bennett:  There's a baby in you tummy?

Me:  Yes, there's a baby in my tummy.

Bennett:  Well get him out!  I want to see him!

Me:  He's not finished growing yet.  He has to grow for awhile in my tummy.  He will come out later.

Bennett:  But I want to see him!  I want him to play cars with me!

While watching Pride and Predjudice one night, Dallin observed that the title credits said the film was rated PG for some mild theatrical elements.  He said, "They should have just said the real reason it's PG is because it's too boring for kids."

Sydney (picking up this book off my nightstand): Hey, this looks like our piece of junk house, right Mom?

Clearly, I need to be more careful about how I speak about our home.  To be fair, I don't know if I've called our house a piece of junk.  But I've called a lot of stuff in our house a piece of junk.  This little comment just made me realize I need to speak with more gratitude about our home and the things that fill it.  

December quotes

Me:  (hearing some loud thumps and scuffling in Hayden's room) Whatchya up to, Hayden?

Hayden:  Oh just some light saber jedi training.

Bennett:  We don't eat spiders, right, Mama?

Me:  No, we don't eat spiders.

Bennett:  Yeah, that's yucky!  We eat waffles!  Yeah, that's a good idea.

(We've had that same conversation a bunch of times, and he always talks about eating waffles or macaroni instead of spiders.  I'm not sure what made him think of this in the first place, but he likes to have this conversation.)

Sydney:  Wait, why are you breaking that? (taking down the Christmas tree)

Dallin:  Cause Dad told me to put it away.

Sydney:  Why?  Is it time for Halloween or something?

Hayden:  No, it's time for the count down to New Years.

(Sadly, we don't really have any exciting decorations for awhile, which is probably what Sydney is mostly concerned with.)

Me: (Crying about something or another.)

Daphne:  Mom, are you okay?

Me:  Yeah, I'm fine.

Sydney:  I don't know what happened.  One minute she was smiling and the next minute she was crying!

(story of this pregnancy, let me tell you!)

Sydney: Something smells delicious!  I love that smell!

Me:  Tilex? I think you are smelling Tilex.

Sydney:  Well I love it!

Sydney:  Mom!  Bennett broke your green broom thing!

Me:  The swiffer?  Bennett, did you break my swiffer?

Bennett:  Yep.  I broke it really good.

Later ...  Sydney:  Mom!  Sean fixed your swiffer!  He's "Fix it Felix!"

Sydney came in from raking leaves in the backyard and showed me red hands.  She said, "I have to be done now.  Hayden was born in November so he's used to the cold, but I was born in the summer so I am used to the hot."

Bennett:  (holding up his sippy cup to clink with my cup) Cheers, Mama!

Bennett:  (sitting on the hearth) This is so very cozy!

Bennett:  Uh. Huh! (he responds with Uh-huh, but puts such a big space between the two syllables that it sounds like two sentences.)

Me or Arthur or anybody really:  Hey, how's your diaper?  Do you need a diaper change?

Bennett:  Nope. Still good.

(even if its clearly NOT still good.)

September Quotes

Sean:  I have a question:  What do you do once you run out of toothpaste on your mission?

Sean:  (Was asked to list qualities about himself in a primary class)  Can I list "Attractive?"

Sydney:  Is my birthday in the fall?

Me:  No, it's in the summer.  We just had it.

Sydney:  But is my NEXT birthday in the fall?

Me:  No, it's always summer.

Syd:  WHAT?? Why is my birthday always in the summer!?!

Sean:  I pledge for the radiation  (Raider Nation)

We have a teacher at the Elementary School who is a huge Raiders fan and will give his students a big candy bar if they can recite the Raider Pledge. I guess Sean was practicing.

Dallin:  Aren't heathens people who don't eat any animal products.

Me:  Uh, no. Those would be vegans.

Bennett:  (Referring to my vocal warmups) I don't like that scary fire truck.

Hayden:  If you have a day to spend, you should spend it fully and happy.

Me:  Sydney, are you listening to your teacher at school?

Syd:  Not really.

Me: Well why not?

Syd:  Because I can't stop talking to my friends when Mrs. Sanchez is talking.

Family:  BEN-NETT, time for prayer!

Bennett:  Okay, Okay, I'm coming guys! (Little feet pitter pattering down hall.)

Sean:  I wish I had hearing aids.

Me:  Why?

Sean: Because then when people are being obnoxious I could turn them off.

Hayden (doing a dangerous stunt with Bennett):  Don't worry Bennett, I have a six-pack.

Me:  Bennett, thank you for drinking out of my cup.

Bennett:  (wiping his peanut butter face with his peanut butter hands) A welcome.

Bennett:  I have a reprise for you! (surprise)

Bennett was "tucking" Dallin and Sean into bed one night and asked, "You boys like a ba-ba?"  (bottle)

Bennett (as we arrived at a store):  I don't like Hobby Lobby!  I don't like Hobby Lobby! (kicking his legs and crying.)

August Quotes

Hayden:  (legos) I don't know how I built it.  I guess I'm just a master builder.

Sydney:  Bennett!  How could you?!?

Me: Sydney, calm down, I'm sure we can fix it.

Sydney:  You don't know how to fix rocket boosters!

Hayden:  I don't like lick gel.  Dad did it to me once.  At family pictures.

Sydney:  What is daring?

Me:  It's when you try new things even if they are a little scary.

Sydney:  Oh.

Me:  Do you think you are daring?

Sydney:  I fink sometimes.

Me:  I think I am daring sometimes too.

Sydney:  No, I don't fink you are daring.

Sydney:  Hayden, I told you a millions times:  Mater DOESN'T have kids!!

Dallin:  Well, that was less cool than I envisioned.  (mentos in soda)

Sydney: (trying to say something but can't spit it out) I fink I'm just a little bit drunk.

Dallin was doing Sydney's hair one day and asked for a fancy braid.  Dallin offered her pigtails instead.  Arthur said, "You don't know how to braid? Come on!"  Dallin responded, "Hey, my braiding skills are WAY more advanced than most boys my age."

Sean:  When I grow up, I am getting a convertible and I'll drive all around town with my top down.

Sean:  Someone messed up my world!! (Mario Bros.)

Sydney:  Um, this smells like zebra.  (? random)

Hayden:  We were being a little too silly, but now we are stopping.

Sydney:  Grand Old Flag is more fun than this song.

Dallin:  Are you my friend, Daphne?

Daphne:  Yeah!  Wait, why?  What do you want?

Hayden:  Come on legos, we can DO this!

Sean:  Hayden, I'd say you're a medium in charisma.

Bennett:  I want to ride the lellow bus!

Sydney:  Whatchya doin' Bennett?  Oh!  Makin' a pancake tower?

Daphne:  Aunt Emma is getting married?!

Me:  Yes she is!

Daphne:   Whoa! when did she meet him?

Me: This summer up at Aunt Jewel's house.

Daphne:  Whoa! That kinda reminds me of Anna and Hans.  Except hopefully Sam is nicer than Hans.

Bennett dumped a plate of blueberries on the floor and I told him to pick up the berries and throw them in the trash.  "Otay, otay," he said.  I went back to what I was doing and hear him saying, "Oops, squished!" and "Uh-oh, I missed," as he was hurling blueberries in the direction of the trash can from a distance.  Guess I should have told him to PUT the blueberries in the trashcan instead of throw them in.

Sydney to Lucy:  Looks like a great day to swim in your pool!

Hayden:  Mom, can you get me that yellow thing that spins around really fast?

Me:  The drill??

Hayden:  Yeah!

Me:  Uh, no.

July Quotes

Hayden:  Mom, can we go to Inside Out after lunch?

Dallin:  No, when we get home, we should do something productive.

Hayden:  We just did a SWIM MEET!

Daphne: Yeah, that's like 4 hours of production.

Sydney on the way home from church:  I thought we were going to the La Cueva ward!

Me:  We did.  That's where we just were.

Sydney:  What?  That was it?  Hayden said it was gonna be fun.  But it WASN'T!

(Hayden probably meant primary, and we went home after sacrament, since it was our second sacrament meeting of the day!  three hours of church is about all we can take round these parts.)

Sean:  I think it's impossible for me to ever get all my wiggles out.

Me: (waking up from a nap and hearing someone in my bathroom)  Who's in there?  Bennett?  Is that you?

Bennett:  Doe bat to sleep, Mom!  (Go back to sleep, Mom)

Oh, that can NOT be good.  Sure enough, he had gotten into my make-up and dumped it everywhere. And that's how I keep Mary Kay in business.

Me: No more snacks; Daddy is picking up some dinner for us.

Sydney:  Dinner?  I LOVE dinner.  It's way better than . . . . working.  I love eating and playing.  That's all.

(me too, syd.  me too!)

Sydney was sobbing today after church because she was in the car that got home second.  She wailed, "I hate losing!"

While I was making dinner, Bennett was taking all the cans out of the cupboard and putting them on the counter.  I said, "Are you helping me?" He said, "Mm hmm.  I matin' breatfast." (makin' breakfast)

While riding home from a friends house, Sydney spilled a bowl leftover watermelon/juice on the seat of the car.  Everyone started moaning, "Oh, Sydney!"

Sean: Gross it looks like barf!

Daphne: NO, it does not . . .  uh yeah, it does actually.

And from henceforth, the name of that seat is "Barf."  He's actually a pretty popular seat to claim.

Sydney:  Why are you brothers so mean??!!  You keep eating all the fruit snacks!

After Sean and Bennett accidentally bonked heads, Bennett said, "Sean, I just want to bont your head adain! (*bonk/again.)

I recently overheard Sean encouraging Bennet to eat some food off the floor.  He said, "Bennett, come eat this fruit snack!  It'll build up your immune system."

Bennett:  one, two, SEVEN!!!

Hayden (while camping):  Have you ever noticed that the nights are longer when you are camping?

Sean:  Hayden, they aren't longer, it's just that you're awake for most of it so it SEEMS longer.

Bennett (while hiking):  My legs making STRONGER!

Dallin kept talking to Daphne while Sydney was trying to sleep.  After awhile she said, "Can you stop getting the sleepiness out of me?"

Sydney:  BENNETT!! We're all going TO DIE!

(not sure what Bennett was doing, but apparently something quite fatal.)

Fighting over who had to sit in the back seat, Sean tried this tactic to get Syd to move back:  "Sydney, you need to learn not think about yourself so much."

Bennett is picking up on the bad whining habits of some of his siblings who "never get" this or that.  At dinner one night when he was given a plastic plate instead of a glass plate he moaned, "I neber det a plate!"  (I never get a plate.)

Hayden:  I have lots of sides, Mom.  A good side, a bad side, happy side, mad side, sad side.  And hooligan side.

(boy isn't that the truth?)

May/June Quotes

Sean:  I'm having my 30 minutes of creativity.
(one of the requirements to earn screen time)

Dallin:  I've pretty much mastered the art of getting up and getting dressed every morning.  I didn't go to school in my pajamas once last year.

Sean (at an archery range with a dinosaur target):  Let's kill this dinosaur til he's dead!

Hayden:  What's the air force?

Carter:  It's these guys who fly around shooting people.

Kyrie:  Aunt Jen, I need a bandaid.

Jen:  Oh no, where are you bleeding?

Kyrie:  Um, on my foot.

Jen:  Can I see it?

Kyrie: Well, it's kind of small

Jen:  That's okay, where is it?

Kyrie:  Well it might be kind-of fake (pointing to a red circle on her toe.)

Jen:  Oh yeah, that's a marker.

Sydney:  Red means stop, and yellow means slow down.  What does blue mean?

Me:  I don't know--we don't use blue for driving.

Sydney:  Does it mean drive backwards?!

Carter:  I'm Cinderella and I'm cleaning up so I can go to the ball.

Dallin:  You're going to a ball?

Carter:  YEAH, I'm going to a ball!

Sydney:  What if we put hanzitizer on our arms?  Would it be armzitizer?

Bennettisms:

We love Bennet's cute little voice and expanding vocabulary.  He doesn't say his K's or G's and replaces them instead with T and D sounds.

 I tum, I tum! (I come, I come!)

  I lite totonut.  (I like coconut)

 Day-doo so much!  (Thank you so much)

 I play tomputer.  (computer)

 Read to me!  Read it adain! (again)

Otay! (okay)

Bennett is the family nomad when it comes to bedtime.  In any given night he will request several different beds: 
I want to sleep Dada's bed.  I want to sleep Hayden's bed.  I want to sleep Da-nee's bed.

Disney Quotes:

Sydney after Space Mountain:  Mom, some people like rides that other people DON'T like. 

Arthur:  Bennett, do you want to go to Disneyland?
Bennett:  Yeah!!!  Mater und Lightning McQueen, und FIREWORKS!

Hayden: (first time on Indiana Jones, he was a little nervous) Be QUIET! I can't hear the instructions!

Bennett:  Mom, get in stroller?  Go to Buzz Lightyear ride und Ariel Ride und Tractor ride?

Me:  Hey Bennett, want to come to the store with me?

Bennett:  (thinking for a minute) Well... how 'bout....DISNEYLAND?!?

Bennett:  Tom on Mom, det in stroller!  Buzz Lightyear ride!!
(Can you tell that Disneyland was a HUGE hit with Bennett?)

April Quotes

Sydney asked me one day which prince I liked better from Into the Woods:  Cinderella's prince or Rapunzel's prince.  I said I thought they were both handsome, and which did she prefer?  

Sydney: I don't really fink Rapunzel's prince is handsome.  I fink Cinderella's prince is handsome because he has stubble. 

Me:  Oh, you like it when princes have some facial hair?

Syd:  I like princes who have stubble on their face, like Dad.  Do you fink Dad is handsome when he has stubble on his face?

Me:  Yep, I do.

While watching Star Wars Episode 5, Arthur explained to Sydney that the snow beast was just eating a sandwich.  (A nasty bloody sandwich, I guess?)

Years ago, we made up silly words to the song, "Oh Mister Sun, please shine down on me."  Dallin was a baby and he had pooped in the tub and we started singing, "Oh Mr. Dallin, Dallin, Mi-ster Dallin, likes to poop in the tub, boom, boom, boom. . . " etc, you get the picture.  Well it caught on and we've sung it every time a baby poops in the tub.  So it tickled me the other day when I heard Bennett singing, "Mr. Mama, Mama, Mr. Mama likes to poop tub."

Bennett had a diaper rash that I was treating with Desitin.  One day I was changing his diaper and didn't put it on, so he pointed to his bum and said, "What about sour cream?"  

Mom:  Sour cream? (confused)

Bennett:  Sour cream, bum bum.

Mom:  Oh!  You need some sour cream on your bum? (holding up the desitin)

Bennett:  Yeah!! Sour cream!

One day, Sydney was playing with the dust on my dresser.  

Me:  I really need to dust that, huh, Sydney?

Sydney:  Well I like making smiley faces in it.

On Valentines Day we couldn't agree which movie to watch, so the girls went upstairs for a chick flick, (Ever After--the Cinderella story with Drew Barrymore) and the boys stayed down and watched Ender's Game.  Then for some reason a couple of months later, it came up in a dinner conversation:

Daphne:  On Valentines Day we chose to watch an appropriate movie.

Dallin:  Well, Ender's Game is totally appropriate for Valentines day because Ender's sister's name is VALENTINE!

Daphne:  Well our movie didn't have barf in it.

Dallin:  Well your movie had a nasty dude who tries to lick Cinderella's face.

Daphne:  Well that's how they kiss in France!

March Quotes

Daphne handed the ringing phone to me and said, "It's Nona!"  As I took the phone Bennett protested, "No! MY Nona!"

One Saturday morning Bennett was the first one up and was making noise in his crib.  After awhile he started calling people's names hoping someone would come rescue him from his crib.    Here's what I heard: "Mama?  Dada? Da-ney (daphne) Non, (Sean). Ni-ney (Sydney).  Mama, w' aaaarrrre you?  Mama! Dada! Stinky poo-poo!"  (The funny thing is that he was not stinky, but he has figured out that we will come to change him if he tells us that.)

Hayden to Sydney: It's bad manners to eat popcorn like that.

Syd: How do you know everything?  Mom, Hayden thinks he's the king of me!

Hayden to Daphne:  Why are you thinking about your wedding right now? If I was a girl, I would plan my wedding when I'm about to get married.  Not at the age that you are right now.

Bennett:  Lellow tar! (yellow car) I win!

At Aunt Julianne's house, the kids found a fuzzy caterpillar in the driveway.  Caleb promptly stepped on it, and Hayden replied with,  "Caleb! Why do you gotta kill everything?!?" (Caterpillar)

On a hike in Washington Hayden held up a big wad of moss and said, "This is a growing place!"

Bennett pointing to the Southwest plane we were about to board:  Bid, bid, ba-loo (blue) airplane!

Jan/Feb Quotes

Good quotes from the last few months (plus some that I missed from last year.)

On the car ride home from Northstar, we were discussing where we all want to live when we grow up.  Here are some snippets of that conversation:

Daphne: I'm gonna live on a ranch in New York's countryside, and I'll vacation in Marcus's Vineyard. 

Dallin: What do you want your husband's job to be?

Daphne: Whatever pays more so we can have lots of money to do fun stuff.

Dallin: I bet none of this stuff is gonna happen.

Daph: I bet mine will because Dreams come true!

Sean: I want to live in Florida, design my own house, and live next to Universal Studios and be a dentist.

Hayden: I'm gonna live in Hawaii and buy that Kona plantation. 

Me: How are you gonna pay for it?

Daph: Sean's money!

Hayden: oh, oh, oh!  I'll be a doctor.

Dallin: And Bennett will be a professional golfer.

Dallin:  I guess I'll live wherever Heavenly Father wants me to go.

Daphne: Well I hope Heavenly Father tells me to live in New York.

Sydney: I wanna go to the car wash!  They have lollipops at the car wash!  

Me: they do?

Syd: uh, actually no.

Sean: (appalled) Hayden, why did you take your shirt off on a SUNDAY??

Sydney to me:  I think you need to get up now because it really feels like morning.

Sean: Mom can you please sew my bear patch on because I look like a wimp next to all the other bears.

Sydney: My daddy gots to shave.  He has hairy legs!

Me to Sydney:  You and Daphne are the best ones in our family at keeping your room clean.  The boys have a hard time keeping their rooms clean.

Syd: And you and daddy have a very, very, VERY hard time keeping your room clean.

Sydney's preschool friend, Audrey: Sydney, here is a joke--why did the elephant cross the road?

Sydney:  hahaha!  That's a good one!

Hayden: What's a pipe bomb?

Me: Hey Sydney, we should probably do your laundry.

Syd: sigh...okay.  I hate doing laundry.

(Because she's the one that does it??)

Listening to hobbit music in the car.  

Syd: I LOVE hobbit music!

Sean: Wouldn't it be great if we WERE hobbits?

Hayden: Yeah, I'd want to live at Bag End.

Dallin: Come on Daphne, I'm getting all these hashtags ready for you to play tic tac toe with me.

Sydney: Do princesses go to the bafroom?

Me: Yep.  Everyone goes to the bathroom.

Syd: Oh.  I didn't fink princesses went to the bathroom.

During dinner one night, Syd took one bite of asparagus, chewed slowly for awhile, then said with distaste:  This is NOT good for my body.

Daphne:  Mom, we should have parties more often.  It gets us more clean and civilized.

Sydney:  What does a yellow light mean?
Me:  That depends on who's driving.

October/November/December quotes

It's been awhile, but here are some Gariety quotes from the end of last year, for your reading enjoyment. (Hoping to get back to "current-status" within the month.  Who can believe it's March already??)

Sydney:  Please pass the handzitizer. (hand sanitizer)

One night at the dinner table we were having a conversation about popularity.  It went something like this:

Dallin:  When I'm in High School I want to be sort of popular.  I want lots of friends, but only good ones.  Not snotty kids or kids who do drugs.

Daphne:  Yeah, me too.  

Sean:  Well I don't want to be popular.  I don't want any friends.  Well, maybe just one friend.  Wait--there's no recess in High School, right?  Nevermind.  I won't need any friends.  

Sydney: Mom, I think you're popular.

Hayden:  No, Sydney, Mom is NOT popular.

Dallin:  Mom, I'm really good at talking.  Sometimes I'm so good, my teachers get annoyed at me.

One day we were having a conversation about marriage and who was going to marry who when they grow up.  I said, "Guys, honestly, the chances of you marrying someone you already know are pretty slim."

Sydney:  Well, I know who I'm going to marry.

Me:  Who?

Sydney:  Cooper.  I have a crush on him.

Sean:  I don't know why but Hayden gets mad at me because I draw better than him.

Sydney:  I should not be scared of snails.  I shouldn't.

Me:  I get so annoyed when people in both lanes are going EXACTLY the speed limit! Somebody needs to speed up!

I made something for dinner that Sydney didn't like and her response was classic Sydney:  "Ugh, can't we just have some vegetables?"  (That girls LOVES salad and other veggie sides.  It's awesome!)

Me:  Guys, if you all work hard and get your jobs done quick, I'll make some pancakes for breakfast!

Bennnett:  Tootee? (cookie)

Me:  Cookie?  No, we're not having cookies for breakfast.

Bennett:  Whyyyyy?

Daphne:  Sydney, do you have a boyfriend?

Syd:  Yes.

Daphne:  Is he from your preschool?

Syd:  Yes.

Daphne:  What's his name?

Syd:  Cooper.

Daphne:  Have you kissed him?

Syd: Ew, no!  That's gross!

During callbacks for King and I,  I was asked to sing for two supporting roles, as well as the lead.  When they asked me to sing for Tuptim, I felt a little deflated because I knew that meant they were considering someone else for Anna.  Well, the next morning as I was talking about it, Sean said, "Why didn't you just mess up on purpose so they wouldn't pick you for that part?"

One night while I was trying to get Hayden to go to bed he said, "Mom, there are girls at my school who have crushes on me!  I mean, I don't think I'm bad-I think I'm, you know, good.  But I don't think I'm HOT!  It's crazy."

Sydney: Can Aelyn come play?

Me:  I'm not sure today is the best day.  I could bring her here today, but I can't take her home.

Sydney:  (eyes getting very wide) You mean, she could stay here FOREVER????

Sydney crying because their snowman was melting.

Sean:  No wondering he's melting.  You guys used Flamin' Hot Cheetos on his face!

June/July/August Quotes

Me:  Sydney, it's time for bed.

Syd:  Well who will go to bed with me?

Me:  Daphne is in bed already.

Syd:  Well, who is going to clean this up?

Arthur:  Uh,  how about you?  Since you got those blocks out.

Syd:  (holding back tears) Well, I don't want to clean them up.

Hayden:  It's totally metaphracturous.

Me:  What do you think that word means?

Hayden:  What word?

Me:  metaphracturous.

Hayden:  I don't know.  I totally made it up right now.

Sean:  What are you putting in that?

Me:  Sea salt

Sean:  Aw, man, why are you ruining our dinner with sea salt?

Hayden:  (at Mt. Rushmore) I feel so close to the presidents right now.  I can see their nostrils REALLY good!

Sean:  I've never seen Sydney wear jeans in my entire life.

Sydney:  I tripped on somefing and hurt myself.  I fink a princess movie will feel me better.

Sydney:  You are messing up my talking!

Hayden:  Sydney you don't have to be the only person in the whole house talking.  It's okay if other people are talking besides you!

Hayden:  I saw a guy with a calculator sneaking around by our trash cans.

Me:  Oh, that was probably the water meter guy.  He's checking how much water we used so he can tell us how much money we owe.

Hayden: You're not gonna PAY him are you?

Dallin: I have to be a business man this week.

Daphne:  Oh yeah?

Dallin:  Yeah, I have to collect money from all the big people.  First person I'm hitting' up is Obama.

(regarding show choir sponsors)

Sydney: What does "that" mean?

Me: That?  what does "that" mean?  Hmm, I'm not sure how to explain it.

Sydney:  Oh come on, Mom, yes you do.

Hayden:  So Mom, what did you do in Puerto Rico today?
Me:  We hiked through the jungle and went swimming in a secret lagoon by a waterfall.
Hayden:  Oh Mom!  Stop telling me!  I'm so jealous!

Me:  It's so great when I make a dinner that everyone loves.

Dallin: Aw, Mom, we love all the dinners you make.  It's just that sometimes we get full after the first bite.

April/May Quotes

Okay, I'm really behind on the quotes here.  And unfortunately, I don't even have that many collected.  But we'll have a go at it anyway. 

One day during family prayer, we kept smelling something gross.  After the preliminary olfactory investigation, it was discovered that the smell was emanating from two persons in our family.  It was Sean and Hayden.  The Smelly Boys.  They were gently reprimanded by the entire showering population in our family (only 4 of us, actually) by questions and statements such as: "When was the last time you guys showered?!?"  "You guys stink!"   The most offensive smell was narrowed down to Hayden's socks.  After Sean smelled those socks, he said, "So THAT'S what that smell on the bus was!"  Oh how embarrassing.  We are that family.  The family with smelly kids whose essence permeates the entire bus.  And yes, we are working on some better hygiene habits for certain members of the family.

During our drive to church in Florida, we drove through a very wealthy country club area.  Daphne said, "I want to live in one of these expensive houses!   I like expensive stuff."  

Again, in Florida, Hayden was disappointed when we got to Gatorland and saw the gators in their exhibits.  He said, "I want to go to some random swamp and find some wild alligators.  I like a little bit of danger."

Me: (At church) Church snacks are for babies.

Sydney: But they are also for big humans too, right?

Sean: Can I drain your iPad battery?

After a month of waiting for the tooth fairy to show up, I heard Daphne exclaim one morning, "Our tooth fairy is the WORST!"

One of the songs on the CMT rehearsal CD is "Elegance" from Hello Dolly.  As we were listening to that one day, Sean asked, "What does elegance mean?"   I said, "It kind of means you are poised, and in-style and feel sure of yourself."  Sean replied,  "Oh, I guess I'm pretty elegant."

Hayden and Sean were playing catch one day.  Hayden got hit in the head with the ball and started crying.  So I said,  "Hayden if the ball looks like its gonna hit your head, just duck and get out of the way."  Arthur hearing me, ran outside yelling, "NO, NO, NO!!! Don't listen to Mommy!  She doesn't know how to play catch!  If the ball is coming at your head, you CATCH it!"  

Hayden:  Yesterday was the last day of school, so I know everything there is to know in Kindergarten.

Sean:  (about a cockroach) I didn't kill it because God made it.

Hayden: (to a pigeon eating our cherries)  Yeah, you BETTER run!

We spent Easter Sunday in a ward in Florida.  Sydney refused to go to their primary, so she came with me to Relief Society.  During RS we watched a video depicting the Savior's crucifixion and resurrection.  When it was over, Sydney turned and whispered in my ear, "Is He alive?"  I felt a beautiful confirming spirit as I said, "Yes, Sydney.  Yes, He came alive again!  He is alive."