Time together

Every Thursday the kids go to Mass with their school. Most Thursdays I will also attend. Sometimes Ethan will come sit with me rather than sitting with his class which I love. When I ask him why he comes to sit by me, he normally smiles and then starts playing with Cooper. It has nothing to do with me being there, it's all about his littlest brother. And I am a-ok with that ;)

Today, when he came to sit by me which he hasn't done in awhile, I asked him why he came over by me. He put his head on my shoulder and quietly said, "well, we don't get much alone time anymore." That was it. No playing with Cooper (at least not until a little later in mass). Just time with mom. I LOVE you Ethan! And what you did today means more than you will ever know!

We Love Our School

On the way to school one day, Ethan and I had this conversation...

Ethan:  Mom do they talk about Jesus at the intermediate school? (this is the public school, grades 3-5 in town)

ME: No, I don't think so Ethan.

Ethan: Oh...that's too bad.

ME: Well, hopefully those kids get to learn about Him from their mom and dad or through religion classes at their church.

Ethan: Yeah, but they don't get to learn about Jesus every day like we do.  Thank you for letting us go to our school.

ME: You're so very welcome. 

Funny Conversations

I've had these building up for quite some time in draft form and I just keep adding silly things that the boys have said to us.  Now that we had the ones from when Grandma and Grandpa were here, I figured it is time to finally post one of these (oh yeah, and Rhiannon, your post of "quotes" on your blog reminded me that I had these sitting in my drafts... so thank you!)

In no particular order...

Trevor - watching grandpa in the mirror as he was shaving..... What you doing grandpa? 
Grandpa - Coming my hair.
T - No you're not (with a little giggle to go with it)
Grandpa - Brushing my teeth.
T - No you're not
Grandpa - Well, what do you think I'm doing then?
T - Looking at your fat belly.

At the swimming pool this past week.
Trevor - Grandpa, you can go off the diving board if you want.
Grandpa - No, I'm not going to because I don't know how to swim in that deep water.
Trevor - well, you can just walk on water, can't you?

On our way to Wisconsin during one of our trips home...
Ethan - Mom, I liked living in Utah better.
Me - Why Ethan?
Ethan - Because we didn't have to take long drives like this. I like riding on airplanes a lot better!!


As we were driving past a cemetery one day...
Trev- That's where they got married.
Ethan - No Trev, that's where people get buried not married!

Trevor while driving and seeing a deer on the side of the road.
Trev - Ethan, that deer's dead.
Ethan- Yep, he is.
Trev- Ya, he runned in the road, and a car hit him. And that's why he's dead.


During breakfast one morning, Rick and I were talking about the schedule and he mentioned that he had to get to work at some point in time during the weekend...
Ethan: Dad when are you going to be done working?
Dad: You mean this week?
Ethan: No, like when are you going to be done working for good so that you can stay home with us.
Dad: Oh, in a long time. Probably 30 years. You'll be out of the house, you'll be married and maybe have your own kids.
Mom: And you'll have your own job, too, Ethan.
Ethan: Whoa... that's a long time.

As we were giving hugs and kisses for the night...
Ethan: Mom, how come we blink so much?
Mom: It helps keeps our eyes moist so that they don't get all scratchy and dry.
Ethan: He got real quiet and I could tell he was thinking about something.... They're just like windshield wipers!


Ethan - Mom, how is Ruari (his little cousin) a Chinese boy?
Me - What??
Ethan - He speaks Chinese
Me - No he doesn't, Ethan.
Ethan - Well, I can't understand him so it must be Chinese.


Talking about name initials at dinner one night.
Ethan: What are your initials, Dad?
Rick: R and H for Rick Heck
Ethan: Oh. So mine are E T H A N.
Rick: No, just E and H for Ethan Heck
Ethan: Oooohhh. (as if he had really got it). Mine are E H. Yours are R H
Rick: Yep, that's right. And Trevor's are T H. So we have R H, T H, E H, and A H (going around the dinner table in order and pointing to everyone as he said it)
Ethan: Yeah, that's neat. But we actually have RH, TH, EH and MH because it's Mom. Mom Heck.



Ethan: Valentine's is a special day.
Me - Yep, it is.
Ethan - And our next special day will be Easter.
Me - It will? What's so special about Easter (thinking that maybe they learned something new about it in religion class)
Ethan - (Talking in a slow, sly-like voice) That's when the Easter Bunny comes and hides our baskets in sneaky places. He'll put it in the cupboard here or there. Hide it in the closet. Hide it in the laundry room. He might even hide it in the shower. Or... in the refrigerator!
Me - You're right, he could put it in all those places. He's a pretty sneaky little bunny isn't he.
Ethan - Or mom, he might put it in the bathroom upstairs. But it's dark in there. So he'll walk around and around. He'll bump into the wall and then fall down. And maybe we'll catch him then! Whoa-Hoo! Wouldn't that be so cool Mom?

Van Conversation

Trevor:  Did you know Jesus died so we could live? 

Me - You're right, Trevor.

Ethan: Yep.  For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son...  John 3:16.  Father Phil always tells us about that.

Trevor: And God made the birds to sing.  And God made our nose to smell, and our hands to touch, and our feet to walk, and our eyes to see, and our mouth to taste, and our neck to swallow.

Ethan: Aaaannnnnd he made our bellies and belly buttons so the umbilical cord will work.
 (we've been talking about the baby and how it grows lately).

Another Delay Tactic Conversation

Tonight Ethan was having a hard time going to sleep.  At one point he called Rick back to his room and said, "Dad, my leg itches.  I think I might have fleas!" 

Good night, Ethan.

Trevor's One-Liners

Trevor has been a man of few, no MANY, words lately.  And not just the normal 3 year old words.  He's been coming up with some doozy responses lately.  Here are just a few of them...

We were in Aldi's one day, waiting in the checkout line.  Trevor was looking at the stuff in the aisle, as he normally does, and asked for a candy bar.  Of course, being the mean mom that I am, I said, "No, you can't have one."  His response, without even looking at me (but getting up and not asking for one again) was "OK, whatever."   My mom and I (and the lady in the next aisle) could not help but laugh.

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I took one of Trevor's toys or something away that made him say, "That's not fair, Mama!"  I, being the mature mom on this particular day, responded like any good, frustrated mom would and said, "Well, that's too bad."  Trevor decided to one-up me by responding, "Yep, too bad so sad."  And then he giggled.

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When grandma asked him to pick up a paper that was on the floor in the path that they were walking, he very matter-of-factly said, "It's ok Grandma, you can just walk around it."

A Conversation with Trevor

7:30am Sunday morning.

T: Mama, I want a sucker.  Can I have one?

Me: No, Trevor.  No suckers this morning.

T: But I want just one. (in that nice whiny voice that a 3 year old can have)

Me: No, Trevor.  We're not having a sucker this early in the day.  I think we need to go through Candy Detox this week.

T:  (As we're walking away from the suckers to get dressed for church.)  Is that a city we have to go to, Mama? 

Me:  Is what a city?

T: That "tox" place. 

I couldn't help but laugh out loud at him.....

A Favorite (but Sad) Conversation

As I am home with the boys this morning this conversation took place. The set up - Ethan and I were in the loft putting together puzzles and Trevor was in the other room playing pbskids.org on the computer.

Ethan - (after finishing 3 of 4 puzzles) Mom, this is really fun.
Me - You like putting together puzzles, don't you?
Ethan - Yep. But it's fun to put them together just you and me. Just Ethan and Mom. Not Trevor.
Me - (after I quietly said, "Awe" to myself) You're absolutely right, Ethan, it is nice. We don't get to do stuff with just me and you very often, do we.
Ethan - Nope we don't. But I really like it when we do.
Me - Me too, Peanut!
(then he giggled because I called him Peanut (like he always does) and a great big hug was shared!! And then we did another puzzle.)

I loved this conversation, but yet it made me so sad to know that I'm not getting the alone time with him like I do Trevor because of the way our schedules are. 'Tis the life of a parent with more than one child, I guess....

A 3-Year Old's View on Christmas

Last night as we were getting done with dinner, Trevor decided to show Rick all the cool stuff in a new toy magazine we got that day. Here's how the exchange went...

Trev: Daddy, look at all dis stuff!
Rick: Oh, there are a lot of toys in there, aren't there?
Trev: Uh-huh. Daddy, I wan dis, an dis an dis an dis an dis.
Rick: That's a lot of stuff Trevor. Can you pick just a couple things?
Trev: Yep. I wan dis, an dis, an dis, an dis, and dat! (all the while pointing to each different thing on the page)
Rick: Trev, did you know they say it's "better to give than to receive"?
Trev: Yeah.... I wan dis, an dis, an dis, an dis an DIS!

Ok - so we have to work on the idea of "what Christmas is REALLY all about", but we couldn't help but laugh at Trevor's sheer excitement and complete misunderstanding of what Rick was trying to say!

Ethan's Bedtime Saga ... again

After talking to him multiple times after the original bedtime and trying to make him realize that every time he called out for us or was singing loudly, he was keeping Trevor awake as well, the Mean Mom came out. I told him that if I heard another peep from him, he would loose his football for the entire day on Sunday. (Now to a normal family, that might not seem like too mean of a thing; however, for my boys, no football to play with on a Sunday during NFL season would be like taking shoes away from a Midwesterner who needs to walk outside during the month of January.... torture, shear torture!)

He went back to bed, covered himself up and was very very quiet. Until.... Rick and I heard his door squeak. He can't get away with much since his door has the loudest squeak ever when just starting to open it. I didn't go to his door, Rick did... and here's the conversation they had.

R - Ethan, what's up?
E - I forgot my bear in the bathroom. (that was during his last time out of bed...said he had to "go poop", and of course, didn't go!)
R - Go back in bed and I'll get it for you. (Rick goes to get the bear and returns it to Ethan in his room)
E - Thank you, Daddy.
R - You're welcome, Ethan.
E - I tried not to yell for you, but my door made a noise. Good thing Mama didn't hear that, huh?

Mean Mom is going to just make believe that she didn't hear the squeak or him being out of bed again. Instead, she will reward the fact that he did not yell for us and hasn't made a peep since getting his bear back!
Good night, Ethan.

Funny Things from Ethan's Mouth

Ethan has had some doosie conversations lately.  This kid just makes us laugh!!!

***Upon talking about his birthday two days ago Ethan informed Rick and I that "When it's my birthday I'm going to grow. You know, because you have to grow to turn 5. So, on my birthday I'm going to grow. Landon (one of his classmates) grew on his birthday and now he's 5, too!"

***At school he has a "girlfriend" who I'll name Sue.
E - Mom, Sue's my girlfriend. She's really nice. And really tall (Sue's an 8th grader and is quite tall for her age... a cute little blonde - so he's got good taste at an early age...)
Me - Really? Does she know that she's your girlfriend?
E - Well, yes, because she's a girl. And I'm a boy. So that means, I'm a boyfriend. Because I'm a boy. And she's a girl.

Ethan told us that one of his classmates came back from the bathroom and expressed to the entire class that he had a wedgie. Ethan, the sports fanatic, spoke up and said, "Oh, cool.... I have one of those clubs at home!" And according to Ethan's teacher, he was looking at his classmate very questioningly as if to be asking, "Well, where's your golf club?"

Delay Tactic Conversation

Once again, Ethan was trying to delay the inevitable chore of going to sleep tonight.

Ethan: Moooommmmm. Moooooommmmmmm. (calling me from his room)
Me: (after going to his room and poking my head in) Yes, Ethan.
Ethan: Mom. Do you know what?
Me: What, Ethan?
Ethan: Mom, did you know that we speak English?
Me: Yes. Yes, we do Ethan. Good night.
Ethan: Good night, Mama (as he rolls back over in bed)

Seriously, when do kids learn that going to sleep is such a wonderful thing at the end of a long day?

Packing - Day 1

As promised here is my update after the first day of packing the house up. It ended up being a bit more stressful than anticipated due to the fact that both boys were home all day. I intended for them to be at a friend's house; however, Trevor coming down with strep throat yesterday put that idea to rest very quickly since you're contagious until you have the antibiotics in your system for 24 hours.

Despite the change in plans, the boys did well. They were rather excited to see the packing start (or maybe it was just that a big moving truck was parked in our driveway). They helped one of the packers, April, put some of their games in a box which I was happy to see. Better that they helped rather than screaming because all their toys were put in boxes, right!?!

Here are some of things that kept us busy and how the house looks now at 8:30pm after the first day of packing...

Sliding match-box cars down the unmade boxes

Coloring on the packing paper

Our Kitchen-Maze of boxes

Our Bedroom - Single Lane Walking

The Toy room - Just a pyramid of boxes filled with toys

It was a long day overall, but we can check Day 1 off the chart now. Ethan summed up the day when he went to bed with a few of this comments. Even though he was excited to help and to see the big truck he said, "Mom, I don't like seeing all my stuff packed up." (wait til tomorrow when they actually do his bedroom.) And I have to agree with him. We are excited to become a family once again and all be in the same house; however, it's extremely sad to see this chapter coming to an end.

In addition, Ethan told me, "Mom, tomorrow I want to take a nap so I'm not so tired at bedtime." This being said after not napping today and breaking down in tears because he "was just so tired." That totally sums up the day. We didn't do a whole lot to make us tired, but the stress of moving has finally caught up with us all!

Till tomorrow...Day 2

Pioneer Day Parade

Today started as a slow day. It is a "no school day" since it's Pioneer Day (a holiday celebrated by the LDS community) so we were just going to make it a lazy day and do things around the house. You know, laundry, cut the lawn, clean up the kitchen, play outside, etc.

However, once again, my neighbor, Julie, had a MUCH BETTER idea for us. She was venturing to our city's pancake breakfast and parade this morning with her kids. It didn't take me long to say, "We're coming, too." So, we got dressed, brushed our teeth and away we went. It was a little parade, but just big enough to keep the kids entertained without getting bored and wanting more. More candy that is! Before the parade we found a great little spot on someone's lawn right on the parade route and not too far from the vehicles. It didn't look like anyone was home so we figured they wouldn't mind. And by golly - they didn't! Thank you whomever you are. And the kicker of it and why we ended up with enough candy for 4 families is because no one else sat near us. Hopefully it wasn't because we were stinky or something. But seriously, there was no one else near us on our side of the street. So, the floats went by seeing these 6 adorably cute kids waving at them and saying "hi" and the candy kept flying our way. Way too much candy. But they all had a blast, they all behaved, and did very well with our rule of "not running on these nice people's yard".

On our ride home, I asked Ethan what his favorite part of the parade was and his response was, "The pretty girls and the candy!" I had to laugh out loud at that. And then I thought, "Your Daddy would be proud of that response!" Ethan then continued by saying that he also liked the fancy cars and the remote control cars. Trevor's favorite part was the person in the gorilla costume and the horses (go figure our Animal Lover would say that.)

All in all, it was a great morning even though I did come home to cut the lawn and put laundry in. Thanks for another fun outing Allen Family! When's the next one?

Silly Conversations

I've been saving these up for awhile so I could just make one larger post with them... kids say the darnedest things, now don't they.

Upon me going into Ethan's room at night when he called me.

Me - What do you want Ethan?
Ethan - My feet are killing me, Mom.
Me - What? Why are your feet killing you?
Ethan - You know, like the elephants in Jungle Book, my feet are killing me!
Me - Good night, Ethan.
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Trev - Mama, Chomp, Chomp.
Me - What are you doing Trev?
Trev - Just eating yer arm.
Me - What? Why would you do that?
Trev - Well, I awigator, Mama!
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Ethan - It's not raining anymore, Mom. It's just drippin'!
Me - From where?
Ethan - The clouds. (apparently drippin' from the clouds is different than raining.)
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Trev - Efan, are we? (meaning, where are we?)
Ethan - We're on Earth, Trev (said like - "duh, why don't you know that")
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Upon driving into our subdivision where a new house was being built

Ethan - Look, they put green on that house. We have a white house.
Me or Rick (not sure which one) - Yes, we do.
Ethan - Yeah, just like Barack Obama.
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While watching the kids golf outside...

Trev - Mama. Daddy. Watch me!
Rick & Me - Ok, Trev, we're watching.
Trev - I, Tiger Woods. (as he swings, misses and swings again and misses again.)
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For the NASCAR fans...

Ethan- Moooommmmmm - there's something wrong with Jeff Gordon?
Me - Why? What's wrong?
Ethan - He keeps crashing...
(this as they boys were racing their Jeff Gordon & Jimmie Johnson race cars)
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Ethan - Happy Mother's Day, Mom! (as he hands me a homemade card and tells me that he and Daddy are making me breakfast)
Me - Thank you so much, Ethan. (lots of hugs and kisses being given)
Ethan stands there as I read the card. I can tell he's thinking something.
Ethan - Mom, when is there a Kids Day?
Me - Huh? A Kids Day?
Ethan - Yeah, you know. When you make breakfast and lunch for US. On Kids Day.
Me - Ethan, you have a Kids' Day EVERYDAY!
Ethan - Oh yeah. (As he giggles and walks away)
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One day we went to Rick's work and one of Rick's co-workers gave Trevor a candy bar. Upon leaving the parking lot Trevor and I had the following conversation.

Trev - Mama, what's his name?
Me - Who Trevor?
Trev - That man.
Me - What man, Trevor?
Trev - That little man? Man with candy?
Me - After I stopped laughing. His name is Derek.
Trev - I like Derek. He's my friend!

Now, to Derek's defense, he's not a "little person". He happened to be standing next to Rick and is a little shorter than Rick... but not by a much. However, in Trevor's eyes, he was the little man at that moment! (sorry Derek)
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Thanks kiddos for making us laugh each and every day!!

Funny Things Today

Ethan was riding in an area of the neighborhood that is just a big dirt bike track.  As he was riding by me he exclaimed, "Hey Mom, did you know that my bike can ride on dirt? How cool, Mom!!" Proceeded to tell me umpteen times that he was going to tell Daddy that his bike could go on dirt.  In addition, after we got home and he told everyone that went past our house no matter if they stopped to talk or not.

"Mom, did you see that shot? It was unbeliebable!"
What a mouthful that was coming out of his mouth -- way too many 'b's' in "unbeliebable".

As I was fixing a baby spinach salad to go with dinner, ethan exclaimed, "Mom, I don't want leafs for my salad!"

Bedtime Story

One day a couple weeks ago as Rick and I were turning in for the night, Rick got into bed and said, "What in the heck?" He was feeling a few "less than pleasant" things underneath him. As he looked, he realized it was a crumb from a Goldfish. ummmm... I wonder how that got there.

As it so happened, I allowed the kids to eat their Goldfish snack on our bed as I was folding clothes earlier in the day. Now, I was planning on changing sheets which is why the bed wasn't made AND why I let them eat snacks on our bed. Otherwise, that is typically a no-no. However, since I am telling this story, I obviously didn't get to changing the sheets. As Rick continued to swipe away the crumbs, his only comment (while giggling a little) was, "Nothing like sleeping on a gravel road!"

Sorry, Rick. Next time I'll make sure to change the sheets after snacks - or at least wipe the crumbs out for you.

Yuck - Girl Germs

As we were picking up toys this morning, Ethan informed me that doesn't like girls anymore. Just boys. Much to my dismay I asked, "Does that mean you don't like me?" He responded by explaining to me, "I just don't like kid girls, but I like you, Grandma Cathy and Grandma Carol, my aunts, and all other older girls. It's just the kids girls that I don't like."

Whew... that's a relief!

But I do have to admit that I'm a bit confused being that yesterday he played with his friends Chloe and Lily (who are both girls) and was visibly sad when I came to pick him up and he had to leave. Guess it must be a thing of today...tomorrow we'll be back to liking both boys AND girls!

This Week's Conversations

Just some random conversations that we've had with the kids this week.  Amazing what comes out of their mouths or what is in their minds...

Trevor: Ethan, are we? (meaning "where are we?")

Ethan: We're on Earth.

Trevor: Mama, no workin'.
Mom: What's not working, Trevor.
Trevor: Window no go down. Change bad-deries.  (as he is trying to get the window down in the van... thank goodness for childproof locks)

As we're driving to Lowe's....
Ethan: Dad, where's heaven?

Mom (interjecting before Dad's response): Heaven's way up above us in the sky.

Dad: Heaven is where ever you want it to be, Ethan.

Ethan: It's way out in outer space isn't it, Dad?

Dad: Yep...

Ethan: Dad. We're not on our way to Heaven now, are we.

Trevor: I want big bed like Ethan (when he was still in his crib)

Trevor: Mama, you take my crib down?

Mom: yes, we did. Now you have a big boy bed.

Trevor: Want crib back. Go get nother one, Mama.

Let the Games Begin

The time has come. The games of March Madness have started. What does that mean around our house?? Pretty much that nothing will get done. Well, I shouldn't say that. Little things will get done. Laundry will continue to be loaded, unloaded and folded. The dishes will get put away and things will get picked up. But these are all things that can be stopped and started several times while a "game break" is taken to see who's winning. However, large projects that take concentration and uninterrupted time - not going to happen! It's just fun to watch the excitement and determination that these college kids have during the tournament time.

This year Rick and I are once again doing brackets with our crew from WI, and Ethan even picked his bracket again this year. I do have to say though, that Ethan's bracket last year was much more accurate. This year being that he knows more teams and state names and is a true Aggie (USU) fan, his bracket got a bit skewed! His final four picks include - Louisville, USU, Pitt and Gonzaga. His champion USU. (I'd like to see USU go further into the tourney too, however, I just don't think they're going to make it to the championship -- sorry).

Now, here are some of his reasons for the picks he made. He picked American because "We live there." He picked Minnesota because "We have to fly there when we go to WI." And USU got picked because, "I just like them!"

Time will tell who the eventual winner is.... Go March Madness!