Why peaches?

Kids say the dardest Things:

Bear needed a suit for his upcoming Confirmation and the boys all needed pants for Easter. I headed out with my men. At the first stop light we came to, we pulled behind a car that was sporting a bumper sticker with a message that I had not yet seen. I read it out loud to point it out to dad. "Impeach Obama" was the message. Pickle started laughing in the back seat. His laugh was contagious and we all started laughing. Then he asked the question that made Bear, dad and I laugh all the harder.

"Why peaches and not pears or apples or rocks maybe tomatoes . . . why peaches?"
"What?" I asked.
"I understand people wanting to throw something at the president if they don't like him, but why peaches and not something else?"

God went to hell

The Other night We had the visiting Shrine of Our Lady of Schoenstatt in the house. With the entire devotion that comes with her monthly visits is a the nightly rosary. In my very busy life I really struggle to sit and say this simple and beautiful prayer. I have learned to not feel guilt but desire to grow in that area. I forced the issue the other night, it is almost Holy Week.

I turned the TV off and told the big kids that they were welcome to stay and that I was praying the rosary. They didn't have to join in but I was saying it aloud. That helps me to focus. Jumba had a long nap that day so he was up still looking for attention. He climbed onto my lap and I began to pray. After the sign of the cross the next prayer is the Apostles Creed and I am suspecting that Jumba heard the words for the first time this night.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell.

"What, mom stop, mom stop, mom you said God went to HELL!" Over and over again. Until after calming down the oldest crowd that was laughing very hard, I did my best to explain this and that after he ascended into Heaven but he was stuck on that line.

The next morning while the rest of the family was at breakfast he informed everyone, "Hey guys, God went to hell!" he said it just like that, I can't even imagine what is going on in his mind. "It's all over people, why bother!" He is a nut and we will continue to teach but this made us giggle.

Funny Story

At Catholic Coffee Club last Monday I went around the class asking the teens a question. We were trying to kill time while waiting for everyone to arrive. So I posed this question to the 15 teens that were present. "What is your favorite dish served for Thanksgiving?" I got all the standard answers . . ."My mom's dressings, no the pies are the best, I love turkey and gravy." I even had one teen that told us about her family from Cuba and there tradition of serving roasted pig instead of turkey. The rice dish was her favorite.


Then it was Bear's turn. "We have this very pretty bowl that is orange and yellow. It is shaped like a leaf and mom serves potatoes out of it. It is the prettiest dish I have ever seen!" What a nut this kid is. Leave it to him to turn the question around. Bear is one of the funniest people I know.

I live with crazy people.

A few days back Bagel and I are chatting and she got my attention when she lowered her voice.
"Hey mom, remember that picture of Santa Clause that Maggie took last year. The one she took in living room?"
"OK, yes, why?"
"Well I think it as dad. It looked like his hand."
"What are you saying? Do you think your dad is Santa?" (I asked with fear of her response.)
"Are you kidding me, our dad???? Dad's not that rich. He is not fast enough to travel all over the world. And we don't even own a sleigh."
"Silly me, what was I thinking?"

Tonight's dinner was salad. I chopped three heads of lettuce and added everything I could find. I figured it was a good day because we even had croutons. Two huge bowls of pretty salad. Jumba wasn't too impressed. He crawled up to the table and saw the two huge bowls salad.
"Lettuce, no meat, what are we rabbits?" I would have expected that from dad but not from a three year old. Then Bagel walks up to the table and sees the salad bowls, "Oh man, are we poor?"

After forcing the family to sit and eat the conversation took off like it always does. The older kids got into some more adult type talk. They quickly recognized that the conversation was too mature. They hushed each other and got quiet. This is when Bagel let them know that they could say anything. "Go ahead guys, were too little we will forget anyway."

The silliest remark by far was the one that I was forced to say this afternoon. We finally got the blow up turkey out of storage and in the front yard. It is a fun decoration and we all like it. While sitting outside waiting for a friend to arrive I noticed that Pickle was sitting on the Turkey, punching it in the face. Without thinking I yelled, "Stop punching the turkey." I must have sounded like an idiot.

Serve others

"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and
the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others."

Pope John Paul II



We have had a lot of bickering in our home lately. It seams that everyone has had a case of being lazy and not wanting to do any work. It this home the work becomes overwhelming when everyone doesn't help. That is just the way it is in a big family. I have always treasured these words of John Paul II. With all of the fighting lately I started preaching the JP II words hoping that the little souls would be inspired to serve each other and to stop fighting about how "That isn't fair!"


After a brief explanation of John Paul II's words to Princess I was hopeful that she would take them to sentiment to heart and head back to her bedroom. I had hoped that she would no longer feel that cleaning her room without the help of Bagel would be a great way to "serve her family". That was not the message Princess got at all. Her response to my careful choice of words was,

"How about we let Bagel be my servant!?!"

I am pretty sure that Princess did not get the message. Once a Princess always a Princess.

We don't like Cardinals

Everyone who knows my kiddos, knows that they are huge Cub fans. I can't explain why but it began with their dad. This is hard considering we come from Cardinal territory. We had Fr. Tom Keller visiting us and he is a priest from deep within St. Louis, a.k.a. Cardinal territory. He always brings up this rival and he and J share a few jabs at each other's favorite teams. The kiddos have all grown to be a part of these "debates" about the better team. Father even sent the kiddos Cub beach towels after one of his previous visits. So around him the kids are always ready to insult the Cardinal baseball team and defend their own team the Cubbies.

So as we were doing some sight-seeing with Father Keller during his last visit. In conversation he brought up his plans to visit Rome before the year is out. He might be headed to the instillation of a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. Bagel within ear shot and not understanding the difference between the baseball team and the leaders of the Catholic Church blurted out her distain for this plan.

"I hope you don't. I hate them. Why would you ever want to go and see that junk?"

While trying to understand why she was being so vile to Father, I asked what she had against Rome.

Bagel replied with, "I don't know anything about Rome but I do know we like the Cubs a lot more than we like any of those dumb old Stinkin' Cardinals."

We all had a good laugh over that one.

Jumba and some funny bug comments

After Mass this week we walked outside while having a discussion about the bug that had attached itself to the window during Mass. It was a huge bug so it was very interesting for Jumba to watch it as Mass ended. We remembered the week before, we had spotted a lizard at the window. I remarked at how nature must love God because of HIS bugs even check in on HIM.
This is where Jumba got very upset. "The Bug doesn't belong to Jesus. He did not buy it." I responded with the logic. "God created them so they all belong to God."
"Mom this is my church, we go here and give them pennies, I own the bug, it is my bug!" I let it go. For some reason owning the bug means the world to Jumba.

So a few days later Possible was trying to get Jumba ready to go outside to play. She pulled out a can of OFF of keep the bugs away. Possible starting spraying Jumba's legs when he asked her, "What is that?" She answered, "Bug Spray baby doll now stand still." He then grabbed her arm and screamed, "What the heck do you think you are doing? I am not a bug!"

Jumba always makes us laugh!

I have the answer!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday Check out some great stories on a blogger friends website by clicking the words above. This is our Friday contributions:

My mom moved out of the house I grew up in last summer. My only issue was that I never got to see the house all cleaned up before she moved. Well as luck would have it the house has not sold. We took a quick trip to St. Louis with the little ones last weekend. I was glad to get a chance to take a quick tour of the house. Mom had accepted an offer so the house will be gone soon. It was sad to see the empty shell of where our memories came from. At the same time our mom is so much more happy in her new home that I am so glad she made the move. Two homes for 11 months has been expensive but worth every penny to see my mom's spirit so alive in her new home.

I was still very glad to tour the home. St. Louis was hot that weekend. This was their 10Th day of 95 degree plus weather. Houston wasn't even that warm. J kept pointing out to me that Houston was having better weather than St. Louis. I kept responding with how long the periods of weather last and how much I miss my family. So as we looked at the new back porch that was added to this home Bagel put her head on the banister and started to cry a little.

All of the sudden she perked up, "I've got the answer!" Bagel exclaimed, "We can buy this house and make it our summer home!"

Bagel is just so cute to think that we want a summer home and that this house would function as such if we were in the market. She just wanted to keep everyone happy. I love that about her.

Look at the time!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday Check out some great stories on a blogger friends website by clicking the words above. This is our Friday contributions:

This time it is Jumba that surprised us and made us laugh. We made a quick trip to the library while dad was gone. Pooker was at work but the rest of us were in the car. We had eaten out so everybody wanted in. This was a very hot week. Once at the library we all decided to just return books that needed to go back and not go in to look for more. We were going to opt for another afternoon at the pool instead of the library.

We were on the way back feeling full and a little sleepy from all the hot air blowing around the big van even with the air going full blast. It was around 95 and humid outside so it just takes a while for the big van to cool off. As we were driving along,

Jumba says, "Hey Sugar!"

"Yes dear?" Sugar responded

"Do you know what time it is?" he asked as he made the gesture of tapping his wrist were a watch will be worn we he grows up and is no longer 2 years old.

Already giggling because of how grown up the question was Sugar, replies, "No Jumba, what time is it?"

Jumba in a serious adult voice stated, "I think it is Bon Jovi time!"



We all laughed the rest of the way home. Dad makes sure that each of his kiddos are huge Bon Jovi fans. All the kiddos sing along to every song. They all will compare the older and newer sounds. I just never expect to hear the 2 year old act so grown up when requesting music in the car.

It's like hating Sunshine!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday Check out some great stories on a blogger friends website by clicking the words above. This is our Friday contributions:


I admit that I stole this one from Pooker. She heard it not me. I heard her laughing at it and realized why when it became her facebook status a few hours later.


We had gone to get ice cream as a family after our big BBQ dinner on Memorial Day. "Yes" to you next question. It does cost a fortune to get ice cream for a family our size. The good news is that it is worth it. That special time watching them interact and giggle is worth all the money in the world. The kids were playing songs off of one to the phones and singing along. At one point they all got up from our seats outside and while holding their ice creams began dancing. They were laughing the entire time. At one point the song changed. The kids all got quiet and then nothing but laughter. Apparently there was a discussion about the song in which everyone liked the song except Pickle. This is when Princess asked the question.

"How can you not like that song? It's like not liking
sunshine!"

I was discontinued!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday

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My kiddos are all on the Cuda's swim team again this year. It is always a mile stone when they get to step up from the 6 and unders into the 7-8 group. The younger group only gets to swim two strokes and 7-8's get three strokes in a meet. Our Princess went from 6 and unders this year into the coveted 7-8's where she would spend her first meet with 3 events. She was so excited and tad nervous. When planning the meet out the week before I asked which event she wanted to swim in. The debate included her big sister Pooker who is also one of the team's coaches. They decided that this week she would try the Breast Stroke for the first time. Princess knew that she did have the stroke mastered but sometimes the best way to learn is to just dive right in and try.

Sunday after the meet Coach Pooker went up to her baby sister and asked her if she was happy with how she did. Pooker knew that Princess had been disqualified but that she had done extremely well. DQed, as we call it, is hard for the kids but when they know they aren't perfect yet if doesn't bother them as much. It just means that even if they were the fastest in their age group their time would not earn points because they were not doing the stroke correctly. Princess has never earned a point for her team anyway so we didn't think it would bother her too much.

Her response made Pooker giggle and we all realized that Princess was a tad more upset than we thought.

Coach Pooker, "Are you happy with how you swam yesterday?"
Princess, "NO, I was horrible."
Coach Pooker, "You were not horrible you just need a little more
practice."
Princess, "Oh Yah, then how come they DISCONTINUED me!?!"

I can't wait for June to be over!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday
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Pickle: I can't wait for June to be over!

This statement was made the other evening, out of the clear blue. The older kiddos were all in the room and we turned to Pickle in a completely confused state. Our biggest issue being that it isn't even June yet and another issue was how random the comment was to the rest of us.
Finally someone asked what he was talking about . . .

"I just can't wait for all those June Bugs to go away again."

Made much more sense now that we could understand where the thought came from.

"Mom will you fix my house, please?"

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday
Check out some great stories on a blogger friends website by clicking the words above. This is our Friday contributions:We have enjoyed reading the Chronicles of Narnia as of late. We just finished the Last Battle and plan to post on those adventures separately. It was a wonderful literary adventure for this family and I strongly recommend it for others. One of the ways that I found to keep the little ones busy and quiet while we read out loud was to offer them action figures that might resemble the characters in the book. We found an old castle in a resale shop and it a "best buy" for this family. I have added the mythological characters, animals and more knights as I ventured out around town. This has added so much to our stories. The boys especially have enjoyed replaying battle scenes with our little figures.This castle is used non stop and like any loved toy it doesn't last too long under those conditions. It was brought to be yesterday with a crack in the wall. It was with great love in his eyes when my loving 2 and 1/2 year old son Jumba walked up to me last night. He reached up and held my face in his hands, to get my attention, no doubt. "Mom will you fix my house, please?"

This struck his older siblings as funny because he does prance around like a prince, maybe he feels that his other house really is a castle.

Are they going to put it back in?/Are we going to Ballet the car?

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday
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Our poor five year old Bagel changed the family plans on Good Friday when we realized that she was having an appendicitis. We reacted as quickly as we could after realizing this kid has an incredible tolerance for pain. She was able to leave the hospital by Monday afternoon but we were given strict instructions to look for fever. When one showed up the next Saturday afternoon (7 days after surgery) we took her back to the hospital. She in fact had developed another huge pocket of infection that only began to effect her physically after an abscess grew to the size of a tennis ball. To combat that they give a different form on antibiotics and insert a drain tube. This procedure is done with ultrasound and x-ray while the child is under mild sedation.


While this precious child was being put into a wheel chair to escort her to the procedure she panicked and looked at me with her big green eyes. We talked all week about how taking her appendix out had helped her feel better. "What are they doing mom, their not going to put my 'pendix' back in, are they?"

So we were headed to Texas Children's Hospital to visit with Bagel for the boys night also letting Princess come again. This girl knew that we would show up at the hospital and then let the car be valet parked. Honestly I have found it to be a wonderful service at Texas Children's Hospital, it is only $1 more and so much more convenient when your mind is on a million other things. As we approached the hospital she knew the routine.

"Hey mom, do we need to get ready, are we going to "ballet" the car?" Princess asked. Without missing a beat Pickle responded, "What are you talking about, we can't teach the car to dance."

"I didn't nessisarowly think it would wook"

Kids Say the Darnedest Things!
Friday Check out some great stories on a blogger friends website by clicking the words above. This is our Friday contribution:

Monday is always a fun day around our home. Mom is tired from the weekend. The kiddos have been yelled at all day for not sitting still. It is so hard to pay attention on Mondays. My home school kiddos were also wiped out from the day, we were busy like all Mondays. We caught up on chores, worked on our school stuff, and dad was out of town. Pooker's car (another post) is gone so we were dropping her off at work after having picked her up from her college classes.

Pooker needed to be dropped off at 6:15 and the older kiddos needed to visit the bank. We all piled into the car, I grabbed the latest Narnia book and we headed out without having had dinner. This is when I heard Bagel whispering to Goobers. Apparently she had decided to tell the other children not to ask for dinner before we left to take Pookers to work. Her plan was to mention McDonalds in passing after mom realized that everyone was hungry. She was hoping then maybe if the timing was just right mom might cave in and offer that special treat of fast food.

Mom's plan all along was to get them fast food, as I was not that hungry and just wanted to catch up on our reading after having taken such a long pause over Spring Break. Pooker jumps out of the car and as I turn the car around I ask the crowd, "So if you promise to be quiet and listen while I read our book I will treat you to McDonald, what do you think?"

Bagel sat with her mouth open at first, she looked as if she had just won the academy award. She then blurted out loud in her very cute adorable 5 year old accent (not all words pronounced correctly but she still tries the big words - too cute!) "Oh my gosh, I didn't nessisarowly (necessarily) think that it would wook (work)!"

"Can we afford to pay it?"

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday
Check out some great stories on a blogger friends website by clicking the words above. This is our Friday contribution:

"Did dad pay the health care bill last night?" Pickle, our serious 9 year old son, asked Monday morning when dad wasn't listening.

I stopped what I was doing to try to understand his question better. I knew that the "health care bill" known as Obama-Care passed on Sunday afternoon but was a little surprised at the tone of his question.

"What are you worried about, Hon?" I asked as I turned to him. The poor child looked scared to death.

"Dad was really upset last night about some 'health care bill'. He said it was going to cost a fortune and ruin everything. I just wondered if he had to pay it last night, or do we not have enough money for it? Mom what will happen, can we afford to pay it?"

Needless to say one of our lessons that day included watching "I'm Just a Bill!" from School House Rock to try to explain the difference between a bill - meant to become a law, and bill - as in money owed.