Inigo Montoya

We showed the boys some clips from "The Princess Bride,"

which they loved, of course.

I found Elijah like this and he said, "My name is Diego Monatoya.  Prepare to die."

That's not bad for only seeing it once.

Get ready to see it 592 more times with your Mommy, Elijah.

You'll have it memorized in no time!

Christian

One night, Elijah was walking around with his bean bag on his back

and he said, "I'm Christian!"

For those of you who aren't familiar with The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan...

Nick has been reading Dangerous Journey to the boys over the years.

Dangerous Journey is a children's version of The Pilgrim's Progress,

which is an allegory of the Christian life.

Christian, a character in the book, has a big burden on his back that can only be removed at the cross.

Elijah Says

I was telling Elijah about some details of his birthday tomorrow, and Hudson whined, "But I want it to be my birthday fiiiiiirst."
Elijah responded, "For crying out loud, Hudson, you already had your birthday!"

Who says THAT!?

What Good Brothers (And Husbands) Do

I showed Elijah a post on Callie's blog where Brentice, her brother, took her on a date. (She's married with twin girls who are almost 1!) He brought her flowers and they went to dinner and to see a movie. I showed the pictures to Elijah and told him that he could do that for Emmaline some day.

He said, "Mom! This is even better. I'm going to bring her flowers to her house when she's a big girl, then take her to see a movie and THEN ... let her sleep in!!"

HA. He's learning from the best!

Elijah Says

After leaving Harris Teeter, Emmaline's balloon came off of the string and floated up to the sky. Elijah asked, "Do you think Jesus could bring her balloon back when he comes again?"

A noisy motorcycle passed us one day. The driver was wearing a helmet that had a red mohawk on top of it. Elijah said, "Hey Mommy! It's Caesar!" (Referring to the helmets with red feathers that you often see Biblical characters wearing.)

Interviewing Elijah

I interviewed Elijah with some questions I saw on a friend's blog, and thought it might be a fun blog post.

We were eating dinner then we baked chocolate chip cookies, so Hudson chimed in a little bit,

but most of his answers were too silly. I'll 'interview' Hudson another day when Elijah's at preschool.

I asked the questions about Mommy first, then went through all of them again and asked about Daddy.

1. What is something Mommy/Daddy always says to you?

Mommy: You're a blessing in my life and that makes me remember God.

Daddy: He says God's words like...reading James...and the tax collector and scribes and they went to Jerusalem to pray.

2. What makes Mommy/Daddy happy?
Mommy: When I tell you that you're a blessing in my life.

Daddy: When I give him good food and help him make coffee.

3. What makes Mommy/Daddy sad?
Mommy: When I say "stupid." That's not a good word.

Daddy: He doesn't like it when I say bathroom words.

4. How does Mommy/Daddy make you laugh?
Mommy: She gives me good food. (?)

Daddy: When he scares us.

5. What was Mommy/Daddy like as a child?
Mommy: You were this little (stretched arms out) and I loved you.

Daddy: He was this little (stretched arms out bigger). He liked Inspector Gadget.

6. How old is Mommy/Daddy?
Mommy: You're a lot. I don't even know.

Daddy: I don't know. *whispered*

7. How tall is Mommy/Daddy?
Mommy: (stretched arms out about 12 inches tall)

Daddy: (stretched arms out really wide)

8. What is Mommy's/Daddy's favorite thing to do?
Mommy: To play with us!

Daddy: To work hard for us and drink coffee.

9. What does Mommy /Daddy do when you're not around?
Mommy: You blog and do stuff and do coupons.

Daddy: He works and helps people.

10. What is Mommy/Daddy really good at?
Mommy: Are you good at blowing up balloons? You're good at cleaning the house and making stuff.

Daddy: Building skyscrapers and towers and corn holes.

11. What is Mommy/Daddy not very good at?
Mommy: You can't climb a tree!

Daddy: He can't make magic.

12. What does Mommy/Daddy do for her job?
Mommy: You praise God. And oh, you help people with their implants.

Daddy: He helps with the offering and sometimes stands on the stage and preaches the Gospel.

13. What is Mommy's/Daddy's favorite food?

Mommy: You like everything. That's a trick question. (Asked again.) Ok, chinese, pizza and lasagna.

Daddy: Pizza and the TN Vols. Oh, that's not a food! (Laughed hysterically.)

14. What makes you proud of Mommy/Daddy?
Mommy: Making me chocolate chip cookies. (He was eating some as I asked questions.)

Daddy: (Asked a thousand times, but his mouth was too full and he was too distracted.)

15. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she/he be?
Mommy: Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel

Daddy: Tarzan!

16. What do you and Mommy/Daddy do together?
Mommy: Go to parks and stores.

Daddy: We make smores.

17. How are you and Mommy/Daddy the same?
Mommy: We have the same ears and the same skin.

Daddy: We both have thick hair! (Excitedly!)

18. How are you and Mommy/Daddy different?
Mommy: We are different because our hair is a little bit different.

Daddy: We are not different. We are both boys.

20. How do you know Mommy/Daddy loves you?

Mommy: I know you love me because you ask good questions. Could you get me another cookie?

(Asked again.) You show me by loving God.

Daddy: He loves me by preaching the Gospel.

21. Where is Mommy's/Daddy's favorite place to go?
Mommy: ChickFilA?

Daddy: Target? Five Guys?

Grow Some Kids

We were having a convo with Elijah about getting married today.

He still doesn't really grasp it. At all.

He said that he was going to get married one day and grow some kids.

And that 'her' name would be Mommy too.

(He didn't know the word for "wife.")

Why Do We Celebrate Christmas?

Elijah's teacher sent home the Ridge Road Baptist Church newsletter in his backpack this week with a note to look inside...

Elijah Says

I took Elijah to Emma's roller skating party this morning. It was his first time to skate, and it was my first time in oh, 20 years. I also took him to Brad and Jen's wedding (Nick officiated) so we spent the whole day together, just the two of us. It was the sweetest day. I loved every minute of it. Anyway, I was tucking him in tonight and telling him how much I loved the memories we made together today and recounted all of the fun things we did. I accidentally said that we went ice skating instead of roller skating, which led to a conversation about going to Disney on Ice again. Hudson asked what it was, so I asked Elijah to explain it to him.

He said: It's when you go to the RBC Center and there are characters that skate on ice. Our friends, like Chip, dress up like Mickey Mouse. And like Carson and Caitlin are TinkerBell and Peter Pan...and Taylor, she's Beauty.

(Does that make Brentice the Beast?!)

I LOVE that he thinks it's our friends inside of those costumes!

The wedding today was his first wedding. I just haven't taken him before since I have never taken all three, so if a sitter comes, they just stay with all three. Well, since he's going to be a ring bearer in March, I thought it would be perfect for him to watch the wedding today since it wasn't a late night wedding. It was so precious to hear his comments.

Jen had just walked down the aisle to (an emotional) Brad. It's such a tender moment, everyone is in place, and Nick starts talking. Elijah leans over and whispers with a very distraught expression, "Why is her dress dragging on the ground?!"

He kept saying, "I can't wait for them to kiss because that's when they'll be married."

At the reception, he was showing me how he could tap his toe to the beat of the music. (It took all of his concentration to do it too.) He would sometimes dance without really realizing he was doing it, so I kept encouraging him to dance. He said, "But I can't tap my toe at the same time that I'm rockin it out."

Table Talk

Before dinner, Hudson said: We need to pray for Jesus to come back. And for my mosquito bite.

Priorities, huh?

Nick asked Elijah who rode a donkey into Jerusalem. Elijah answered, "David and Jesus!"

UH-mazing.

Today, a woman at the mall asked me if I was a college student. I had Emmaline and Hudson in the double stroller. She said she thought I was their nanny.

Apparently Nick and I are kids who have kids. (Remember the magazine salesman?)

Pledge and Prayer

One day, we realized that Elijah had learned the pledge of allegiance at preschool. We had no idea, and got a kick out of well he could recite it. After the pledge, they sing a little prayer.





(We love how he says "and too many blessings" instead of "your many blessings."

Elijah Says

I was eating a cookie that we've never tried before. Right before he took a bite of his cookie, Elijah asked, "Does it taste like a lily in a summer field?"

Elijah Says

On the way home from preschool today, Elijah said, "Mommy, this is very important. I need you to listen to me very carefully. (HA!) I met a new friend today named Cross. He wants me to come to his house to play ninjas. He needs you to write a note so that I can go to his house. And he told me he lives in North Carolina so that's not very far."

Elijah told me and Marty that he knew what was for dinner (tacos), and said, "Sometimes I have eagle eyes but since I knew what was for dinner, I have an eagle mind."

Elijah is really into the extremes. "I haven't seen that movie in ages." "I won't be able to go there in years." "I haven't eaten ice cream in hours." You get the idea. He also says things like "for real" at the end of his sentences. Or sometimes he'll go all out and say, "for real life."

"I'm going to dress up like Buzz Lightyear and blast off. For real life."

Pushing the Envelope

The boys were in the tub together.

H: The hippo is poooooping!
(Both laugh hysterically.)

Me: Guys, we don't use bathroom words to tell jokes. That's bad manners. We just use them when we have to go to the bathroom.

E: But we're IN the bathroom.

Funnies

Hudson, climbing out of booster seat after dinner: "I'm outta here."

As Nick was tucking the boys in for the night, Hudson asks Nick to call Batman on the bat phone to see if he will come over to play. He asks Nick to call Superman too. Nick says he doesn't know Superman's number. Elijah says, "Call Batman and see if he has his email address."

Nick asked Elijah if Hudson was going to share a room with him one day when he is married. Elijah says "yeah" as if it were very obvious. Then, behind Hudson's back, he points and whispers, "I'm going to marry him."

The R Says "Ruh"

Elijah used to never say the "r" sound. He'd replace it with "w" like most kids do. But now, I find it funny that he puts an "r" sound in front of a lot of words. Here are a few I want to remember:

ramerican
regyptian
repartment (apartment)
rennoying (annoying)
requipment

(And you're definitely a young mom if you know what I'm referring to in the title.)

The Real Deal

Today, for the first time ever, Elijah said "I want some juice without water in it."

Uh oh. Busted.

Elijah Says

Elijah and his preschool friends are really into bugs right now. They want to kill every ant they see. Mrs. Janet reminds them that they are God's creatures and the outdoors is their home, but if they are inside, we can kill them inside. So I hear Elijah say this often. Yesterday, he pulled out a big acorn top (shaped like a hat) out of his pocket. He said, "This is our ant trap." Wonder which of his preschool buddies taught him that?

Yesterday, we asked Elijah what he ate first out of his lunchbox at Lunch Bunch. I know he eats his dessert first, and I certainly don't blame him. Hee. But I love asking him. Nick asked him in the car as we were going to meet the Allens for dinner. He said, "I ate the Oreos first." We laughed and told him we didn't blame him, and we would have done the same thing. He responded, "I saw my hand just pick it up."

This morning, we were painting on some watercolor tablets the Allens gave the boys. Elijah's hands were covered in paint. He said, "Mommy, when you have paint on your hands, that means you're having fun."

I bought a roll of cookie dough at the store - a little treat. I usually buy the break-apart packages, but opted for the roll this time. I asked Elijah if he wanted a little bite after he finished his lunch. He said, "No! That's sausage!"

Elijah Says

On the way to preschool, I told Elijah that I was going to go by the store to use some coupons while he was at school. He told me, "Yeah, we ran out of money so we need to use coupons."

Pretty accurate, actually.

I think he meant that I would "pay" with coupons instead of paper money.

Overheard

I overheard Hudson say to Elijah, "that's ridiculous."

Elijah spilled a little bit of juice on the carpet. He came to tell me and said, "I don't know what happened. I was totally out of it and accidentally spilled my juice."

"totally out of it" and "that's ridiculous" -- when did they become teenagers?