Bec's Post

Today we have a guest post by my best friend! 

Rebecca has been my  friend since we were 5. 

We have tons of memories together, usually ones that she remembers and I've seemed to have forgotten.
But her friendship has meant the world to me. We've graduated kindergarten, 6th grade, and highschool together. Were in each others wedding, and now between the two of us, we have 5 boys and 1 girl.

Here's what happened today while we were together:

Man do I love my funny nephews!  

Sometimes the funny things they say, or even just the way they say regular things makes me laugh.  

Today, Nathan was looking over at Zoë as she lay in her bassinet.  He was talking sweetly to her and touching her hand gently, and all of a sudden she flashed him this HUGE smile.  

Nate, pleased with Zoë’s reaction, looked up at me and said, “Did you see that Aunt Bec?  She smiled at me, she always smiles for me.”  (LOVE IT)  

I coyly replied “She can smile at you all she wants, but she is betrothed to Owen.”   

(Inside joke that I want Zoë to marry Owen one day, kind of like the arranged marriages of old.   I was suspecting my comment would go WAY over Nate’s head due to my choice of words). 

But Nate looked up at me with a face that only Nate can give and replied “She likes me better”.  

I could not help but laugh.  

It was obvious that not only did he understand the context of my prior remark, but that he too could be just as cunning.  

Gotta love that kid!  He knows just how to worm his way into my heart, and maybe one day he’ll do the same to Zoë  ;-)   

Hey, one of those Johnson boys has to marry my baby-girl just so I can make Sarah my family “officially” and reap the benefits of Holiday get togethers, etc. etc.!!!

I guess my kids will have to stop calling her Aunt Bec at some point if she wants this to happen!

Love you Bec!!! 

Everybody Needs a Buddy

The older boys (Rylan and Nathan) were playing out back.

There's a little boy that lives behind us that has figured out a way to hop the fence over to our back yard. He's a two years older than Rylan.

As I told the boys it was time to say goodbye, I heard Rylan say:
"Wait! Before you leave! Will you be my best buddy? I don't have a best buddy."

He said yes to Rylan.

Nathan then said,
"I wanna be your best buddy too! I wanna be your best buddy too! Can I? Can I?"

The boy just kinda ignored him a little bit, but I think he said yeah. (But Rylan told me later that the boy whispered into Rylan's ear that Nathan's too little to be his best buddy. At least he whispered it and tried to spare his feelings.)

Then when he was making his final ascent and descent back over the fence, Nathan said,
"Can't you just come down here and give me a hug?"

The boy said, "Here, just give me five. Climb up here and give me five."

Nathan settled it with a hand shake.

Too Much TV

We were checking out at the store and I asked Ryan to pay for it, because my purse was in the bottom of the stroller.

This prompted Rylan to ask a series of questions:

"Mommy, do you have any money?
Why did you ask Daddy to pay?"

Then in a TV commercial tone of voice, he said, 

"What's in your wallet?"

Then on the way home Nate was talking about playing the Wii.  

He has this thing about repeating himself over and over and even sometimes making a song out of what he's saying.  This is what he did. (Singing: Wii, wii, wii....)

Rylan then smartly said, "What? Are you going wee, wee, wee all the way home?"

Kid=Cute

Our family was planning on recording our new video for us to explain why we are going to London. 

As we were driving in the car, I was talking to the boys and reminding them that they needed to smile for the camera while Daddy was talking and then they would be done. 

The two older boys remember doing this a year and a half ago.

The oldest, Rylan, said, "I know Mom, I'm going to smile like this, with my mouth closed, because when I smile with my teeth showing I think it looks ugly."

So of course I had to dispel this myth for my six year old.  I said, "No it's not! It's a cute smile!"

And just as soon I was finishing my sentence, he cut in and said, "I know Mom, I'm a kid, everything is cute!"

A Good Remedy for Dry Cough

It seems that I've come across a good remedy for a dry, hacking cough.  (Although it's only been tested once.)  Here it is: 2 tbsp honey and lemon and a good amount of black pepper.  Heat it in the microwave for about 10 seconds then sip. (The pepper makes your throat secrete mucus that helps soothe it.)

Now, why am I writing this in my blog you ask? Well, Rylan and I have had some good ole times these past two nights with him up with this type of cough.

We've tried gargling with salt water, saline solution in his nose, sleeping sitting up on the couch, cough medicine, sipping water, and none of these have helped.  But we've had some laughs through it all. 

Last night, as I lay awake listening to him cough every 5-10 seconds, I thought I would research and see what home remedies there were for dry coughs.  I came across this, so I tried it.

And as I tip-toed into his room to give it to him, I knew he would hate it.  But it was worth the try.  I used a dropper to squeeze about a teaspoon into his mouth. 

His face said it all.   The concoction is quite a shock to your mouth if you have no idea what's in it. 

After he swallowed (which took about 30 seconds) he said in total disgust, "Oh Mom, Gross!"

Now to the funny part of the post.  This whole episode reminded me of when he was about 2 years old.  He was just repeating everything he was hearing at that point and I was scolding those around me to be careful what they say, because little ears are listening and his little mouth repeats.

Well, I was in his room one night giving him some medicine for a cough.  He didn't want to take it of course, so I told him it tasted like juice.

He took a sip and what he said to me that night as a two year old little boy, still makes me laugh out loud today.  He said, "That's freakin' whack juice!"

Of course his father was scolded once again for his word usage, but we all laughed at this for days.  And whenever it's time to give Rylan medicine, I think of my little ghetto two year old scolding me for the whack juice I made him drink.

Catch Phrase

Well, the elves are gone. They headed back to the North Pole until next year. We had a great time with them and can't wait to see what they will do next year.

In the meantime, here's a funny story about our nephew.  He's our only nephew. We have five nieces and only one nephew.

He is eight years old; two years older than our oldest. So, naturally my boys look up to him and love hanging around with him.

He's now old enough to play the game "Catch Phrase" with us.  So while we were all together at my parents' house we played.

His turn came around, and we were all waiting to hear his clues.

He looked intently at his phrase he had and said, "Oh! I know!  This is what people do after they get married!"

So we all began yelling out things like kiss, hug, etc.  We ran out of ideas and started to look at each other with wide eyes and funny faces. I guess none of us had the guts to say it, until my brother (his father) called out sex!

And a big smile came across my nephews face and he said, "Yes. You got it."

We were all roaring with laughter. And we applauded him for saying "It's what people do after they get married."

Elves Update

So here's what the naughty elves have been up to for the last two nights. 

On Wednesday morning, we woke up to extra decorations on the Christmas tree.

Here's HonkHonk holding the toilet paper and positioning it just right.

A close up of our cute little helpers.

 

Tuti and Darth Vader dropping the toilet paper down the tree.  I think they like the cascading effect!

 

 

 

 

 

Then Thursday morning we found them surrounded by all of the boys' cars. There were 92 in attendance. It seems like the elves were trying to bring some holiday cheer to the cars!

These elves are really keeping us on our toes!