A Few Stories

Grace and Caleb have been playing pick-up soccer on Saturday mornings this summer. They have enjoyed getting out and running, but they have not always gone the full two hours. I have asked them about their endurance and stamina. Grace told me that she is working on her "stanima."

So, if you hear us talking about "stanima," at least you will know why.

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My cousin, Brigham, visited us this weekend. We had an enjoyable visit and the kids really like playing with him. Oliver has always pronounced "Brigham" with a hard guttural sound. Joshua decided we needed a new pronunciation. He has decided to call him "Brig Ham." (You need to wait at least a full breath to get the Joshua effect.) He spent the last few days saying "Brig Ham" at least 20 times a day.

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The other day, I cooked up some Trader Ming's Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken. Mary suggested I cut up some zucchini and cook it with the chicken. I did so, much to the chagrin of our children. The did not take to the zucchini. After a bit of complaining, we decided that Grace should start a rock group called "Death by Zucchini."

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Rebecca loves to assert her two-year oldness. She is always coming up to me and telling me that she needs a "pop" (lollipop) or that she does not like how something tastes even though she has not tried it yet. You need to keep an eye on that one.

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Last week, we took the traveling circus (our family) to the grocery store. It was going to be a big trip. When Grace and Caleb took Rebecca to look at the lobsters, we thought that would be a good distraction. Why wouldn't Joshua go with the other kids? He had found a store circular and was walking around the store behind Mary with it opened like a newspaper. Can you imagine this four-year old walking in and out of other customers while reading out loud the price of sale items and commenting on whether or not it was a good deal? That was exactly what was happening.

"Mom, corn is 5 for $1.50. That's cheap."

"Look Mom, the peppers are 2 for $1, that's not a great deal."

I don't know how he decided what was a good deal and what wasn't, but it was certainly funny. And who would want to look at live lobsters, when you could give you mom the play-by-play of the sales in the circular?

And if that is not funny enough, guess what ended up in Joshua's church box last Sunday? If you guessed the store circular, you are right. I did tell him that he had to leave it on the bench and could not hold it up like he was reading the paper in the middle of the talks and musical numbers. (At least he wasn't upset, when it "disappeared" from his box before church this morning. No. Wait. He remembered his circular and was upset that it was gone.)

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By the way, why are there only two doors on a chicken coop?