grandpa & grandma thomson!

since we now live 5 hours away from grandpa & grandma thomson, we don't get to see them nearly as often as we want to. last week, they came up and we got to spend a couple of days with them. lots of snuggles, and coloring, and reading books, and giggles - from everyone involved.

grandpa was talking with camden about "principles" while we reviewed luke 6:45. it was so fun to hear camden talking about putting good stuff in his heart, and having good stuff come out. and that if you put yucky stuff in your heart, yucky stuff comes out. (thank you lisa for that fun illustration.)

dave and i both know full well that camden didn't "get it." and won't for a while. he loves repeating, and having fun playing games with scripture memory. one day, i pray that what is being carved into his foundation right now, will be The Light that guides his path. i love having my sons stand on their grandpa's wisdom, standing on scripture, from generation to generation. may it be so for generations to come.

right here with us?

a couple of nights ago, as we were getting the boys all snuggled into bed for the night, camden asked, "mom, where's God?"

i said that God was in heaven.

camden crinkled up his forehead, and twisted up his mouth, really confused.

camden: "is God right here with us?"

me: "ahh sweetie. yes, God is right here with us. right here on the bed. He's here loving us and keeping us safe."

camden: "so we don't have to go get him in the car?"

me: "nope. he's right here with us."

camden: "so we don't have to get our watza or shutza (socks & shoes) on?"

me: "nope. He's right here with us. isn't that amazing?"

camden: "yeah. pretty much."

sticky chewios

the new, long awaited, sprouts natural food store opened last weekend. they had great sales. it was way too crowded. but we got the good sales, and balloons.

among the sales were large boxes of the healthy brand of honey nut cheerios for $1.

camden has renamed them "sticky chewios". a week out, sadly, sticky chewios are long gone. back to the generic, plain jane chewios. with rice milk, mangos and blueberries, of course. they just go down better that way.

safe from tigers

i walked into the dining room, to find the boys all huddled under the table, munching on their cheerios snack.

me: "hey boys, whatcha doing?"

quin: "we're safe under here from tigers."

camden: "that's okay, cause the rabbits are coming."

declan: deep gutteral laugh.

huh? i guess the appropriate response is "tzuga" or "gzzzzzzz".

i cannot get enough of their imaginations. they make me giggle.

the prince and the little boy with good manners

yesterday, quin was sporting a crown 'o thomas tracks, and was going around the house declaring, "i'm a prince. i'm a prince. i'm a prince!"

camden was sitting on my lap. i asked him if he was a prince also. to which he replied, "no mommy, i'm not a prince. i'm just a little boy with good manners."

well, delightful little boys, i think we still have a bit of work to do. but you are catching the vision!

new meeting time

since daddy works from home, the boys frequently hear him "needing to go work at starbucks," (pretty legit when there are 3 little boys running around our 950 s.f. apmt, and he's trying to make phone calls) or that he's "leaving to go to a meeting."

this afternoon, after sean had left for a meeting, and the younger two were down for a nap, camden plopped down in my lap and said, "mommy, i need to go to a meeting with daddy."

low and behold, a slot opened up, and daddy did need to meet with his little boy. you should have seen how quickly camden could get his socks & shoes on! he certainly didn't want to be late for that meeting!

DO NOT correct my children

my boys have several words that are unique to their own vocabulary. words that are mispronounced and dear to their mother's heart.

camden says, "banama" and "honor my spect" (attempting to say, "give me some respect and honor my wish")

quin puts a short "a" sound at the end of verbs "pass-a me some water" "don't hit-a me with that" "i want-a some water" - how is it that he can make every sentence into a song? i love it!

and speaking of cute things they say, declan has a new word (if you can call it that). he points and jumps when he wants to talk with you about something, and says, "gzzzzzzzzzzz!!!" "gzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!"

camden had a similar word he used in similar situations. he would point to the object and say, "tzuga. tzuga" later, "tzuga" became his word for fan. then, when quin came into our lives, "tzuga" became part of their "twin language". somehow as a 2 yr. old & a 1 1/2 yr. old, both with limited vocabulary, "tzuga" communicated everything that needed to be said. they would be playing, and then one would say, "tzuga" and they would run off and start playing with the next thing - completely understood.

one thing's for sure. these are things we will allow them to say incorrectly until necessary for correct pronunciation. i'm sure that will be around the time they turn 17. does that qualify as a rule? lol!

camden heard from God today

the boys have three basic "no touch" rules in the house.
a) don't ever touch a computer
b) don't ever touch daddy's desk
c) don't ever touch things on the kitchen counter

we've known camden has been in training to become a lawyer for quite a while. today, he crossed the line into doctrinal manipulation.

i walked into the room to see camden smiling like the chesire cat.
me: "hey, buddy what are you doing?"
camden: "i'm praising God"
me: "you are? why are you praising God?"
camden: "He spoke to me"
me: "He did? what did He say?"
camden: "to touch the computer."

i don't think camden factored in the whole, "honor your mother and father" bit when he was formulating his new approach to computer access. gonna have to stay on top of this little guy. ;)

my little bao bei

last night as i was "nuggling" in with the boys to read scripture, and give a round of kisses, i asked camden, "do you know what a treasure you are?" to which he replied, "no mama, i am not your treasure, i am your bao bei!!" true true camden, you are not a treasure like any other found, you are my little chinese treasure, my bao bei.