Oy.

"William, please wear your black jeans to school today."

45 minutes later, as soon as Will jumps in the car as we leave at the last possible minute that we can and still have him be on time:

"Will! I remember specifically asking you to wear your BLACK jeans to school today! Why are you wearing those ones instead?"

"Well, mom, you said 'please wear your black jeans'. I thought that saying 'please' really made it more of a 'suggestion' than a 'requirement'."

Ha

"Steph, those cornbread muffins that you made tonight for dinner were really good."

"I'm glad that you liked them."

"No, I mean they were like really, really good. Like the best ones you've ever made."

(I'm laughing a little by now) "Dear, for the very first time in our almost 9 year marriage, I made the muffins from a box and not from scratch."

Clarks Are Kind

Pat, I know this will be hard for you to read, but my kids aren't perfect. They are very good most of the time, it's true. And they try extra hard when their Manga is around to "be even gooder" as Ella would say. But sadly, sometimes they fight. Sometimes they are what we in our family call "rudey".

Very often I sing some of the lines to "Let us oft speak kind words" when they start bickering with each other. Whichever kids are fighting are sure to roll their eyes, and whichever kids are not fighting are sure to join in with me in my singing to the "rudies".

Ella no longer needs me to help her with this. She hears Will and Beth fighting and she is off in a flash singing at a semi-deafening volume: "Peak all nice words to eek udder, ack home eeder ever you may beeeeeeee!"

Oh Ella, I just love you forever.

Dear Ella, You Are Only Three.

My mouth literally fell open when Ella asked me "Mom, can we talk about what I should do when I get to go on a date?" yesterday. She is obsessed with becoming a mommy and so we've talked about that enough for her to know that she should be married first. And in her 'I-need-to-know-every-detail-of-how-this-is-going-to-happen-right-now' mind (hm, wonder where she gets that from...), it makes total sense to her to be prepared. She understands that there is a process, that there are steps to be followed to reach her end goal. That, I admire. The fact that she wants to be prepared for DATING when she is only THREE is what just might give me a heart attack.

Ben Is A Cowboy Poet, And He Didn't Even Know It...

To my wife on Valentine’s Day
Nine years minus 38 days we have been together
Good and Bad days we have withstood the weather
I watch you sleep in the moon glow
But have learned not to wake you or you will blow
We fight and we yell, kiss and hold hands
It doesn’t matter that I’ve lost 3 wedding bands
We are tired and strained, our kids are all strange
You’ve made a good home out on the Range
You're kind and you're sweet, you’re my greatest blessin’
But you got me, so God must want you to learn a lesson
You are the mother of four and teach them to choose the right
It’s my genetics not you that make them all fight
You’re grumpy in the morning but I don’t mind
I know you’re faithful, caring, and really quite kind.
You’re a great wife, I love you my Darlin, I really really do
I am excited for tonight, tomorrow, next year, and the following 2 million and 2.

Oh Ella.

Beth: "Mom!! Ella hitted me!"
Ella: "Yep, me hick her. It knock my fault that she made the wong choice!"

A Question.

How sad is it that I buy acid free paper so that when Elaina chews on it I won't feel so guilty?