Hayden

Here are some things this guy has said lately that I want to remember:

Earlier this week at lunch time, I asked Hayden, "Would you like some chips 'n' dip?"
Hayden said, "Yeah, I yike chicken git."

On Saturday morning, we slept in a bit.  It's really hard for Hayden when Mom and Dad want to sleep in because as soon as he's awake, he's ravenous.  So when I came downstairs around 8, and the kitchen was quiet, I was a little suspicious.  I found him out on the back porch pouring a special sand/water batter in my good waffle iron.  He looked up at me and said,

"Mom, I so hungry."

poor little guy--he was just trying to make some breakfast!

Last night the kids were playing Harry Potter, and were all running around with magic wands,

yelling out spells:

"Expelliarmus! 

Stupify! 

Wingardium Leviosa!

Protego! "

Then Hayden pointed his wand and enthusiastically shouted, 

"Potato!" 

"Banana!"

I should add a note about that red t-shirt he's wearing.  I think he's worn it in the last three posts that he's been in--This is his favorite shirt.  We got it from Dion's Pizza on a fieldtrip there, and he calls it his pizza shirt.  He puts it on by himself, and it's always backwards. 

Love this boy.

A Modest Mermaid

Earlier this year, Daphne was coloring some ocean scenery with a mermaid on a rock. The mermaid was, as all mermaids are, immodest, wearing only seashells on top. When Dallin observed this atrocity, he said, "You should put a shirt on that mermaid, Daphne, because modest is hottest, and you don't have to show flesh to flash." (I was so surprised that Dallin remembered those modesty catch-phrases from clear back in the fall when one of the young women in our ward did a "Modest is Hottest" fashion show!) So Daphne agreeably added a shirt to her mermaid, depicting, perhaps, the first-ever modest mermaid.

Here are a couple of other quotables from the kids recently:

Sean: Dallin! Hayden is estroying your thing! He's ESTROYING IT!!!

Sean: Would you like to lodge a complaint with star command?

(name the movie)

Here's one that Hayden says on a regular basis:

How ya makin' Mom?

(code for what are you making, and can I lick the beaters?)

And this is why . . .

. . . you might want to think twice about eating homemade treats from the Garietys:

Happy Easter!

Dying eggs--I've had this special "marble" egg dying kit in my cupboard for a few years, and this year we finally used it.  You rub on the dye with this plastic glove and it's supposed to be "marbley."  Kind of fun and different, I guess.  

These guys LOVE boiled eggs, and Hayden peeled one and started eating as soon as we were done coloring the eggs.

Sugar Cookies

We ran out of frosting before we ran out of cookies, thanks to this kid.

Ready to hunt for Easter eggs!

Hayden kept trying to crack these eggs open like real eggs.  

It made us all laugh because he would say, "One, Two, Three, Hack!"

Sean retrieving one from on top of the playhouse.

That's me with my 6-month belly.  This little girl of ours is really stretching out my ribs.

Daphne being goofy

Enjoying their spoils.

I don't have pictures of these, but we also did some cool stuff to reinforce the true meaning of Easter.  We read a cute book called "The Easter Walk" and went on a search for our own Easter Treasures for Family Home Evening.  And later in the week we had a "Jerusalem Dinner" which turned out better than last year's dinner-- probably because we had lamb instead of lentil stew.  We had lamb, cous-cous, melon & berries, bitter herbs with goat cheese and olives and cucumbers, mediterranean flatbread (basically pita bread) and white grape juice.  Surprisingly, the kids were really good at trying the new things.  I guess none of them looked like "throw-up" like my lentil soup did last year.  One of these years, it would be fun to dress up, but it didn't happen this time.  

We are so thankful for our Savior who came to the earth to redeem us from sin and death.  Because of his infinite atonement, we can repent, and because he was resurrected, we too can live again!  I am so thankful for this knowledge, and for this special time of year when we celebrate the most glorious event in the history of the world.  Happy Easter!

Scrapbooking Retreat

Last weekend, I got to get away with these eight fabulous ladies to do a little scrapbooking.  I look forward to this every year--sometimes twice a year, and it's just about the only time I actually get any scrapbooking done.  We go up to a conference center in Glorietta (just an hour and a half away from Albuquerque) and set up all our scrapbooking gear and snacks to share in a big room.  We sleep in rooms on site that are like hotel rooms, and eat at the cafeteria.  And for two and a half days, we scrapbook, eat, sleep, talk, laugh, and share supplies and ideas.  It's great!

My friend, Erin--she has so much stuff, it's unbelievable.  She was almost barricaded in her workspace surrounded by boxes and piles of paper and embellishments.  She is so great to help us think of clever titles for our pages, and supply us with whatever color paper we find we are missing.  Hurray for Erin!

This is a side shot of my work space.  I sat here working for two and a half days, and came up with the following 10 layouts!  I also got three others partially done.  Yahoo!

Knock-Knock

During breakfast today, the kids proceeded to tell me every joke they've ever heard.  We had lots of knock-knock jokes and lots of courtesy laughs, and a few genuine laughs, which were usually not about the jokes.  :)  Here are a few, in case you're looking to expand your repertoire:

Dallin:  What's the biggest ant in the world?
Me:  Um, a giant?
Dallin:  NO!  ANTARTICA!

That joke inspired this one from Daphne:

Daphne:  Why was the beaver at the North Pole?
Me:  I don't know--why?
Daphne:  Because he was lost! . . . . That wasn't very funny, was it?
I started laughing out loud when she made that last comment.

Sean:  Knock-Knock
Me:  Who's there?
Sean:  Banana
Me: Banana who?
Sean: Knock-Knock
Me: Who's there?
Sean: Banana
Me: Banana who?
Sean: Mom?  There are lots of bananas in this joke.
Me:  Thanks for the warning.

He then proceeded to do at least five more bananas, until he got to the punch line when, of course,  he said "Orange" instead of "banana."  When I said, "Orange who?" He said, "Aren't you glad I didn't say banana?"  Dallin immediately corrected him with, "No, Sean, it's ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana?"  So poor Sean tried over and over, and finally came up with "Aren't ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana?"

Then Hayden piped in with, "Knock-knock!"
Me:  Who's there?
Hayden: Banana-who
Me: Banana-who who?
Hayden: BANANA-WHO!

Good times.