Memorable

* Scarlet is very much into singing right now. We just recently mastered how to say your prayers without putting them to song. At first, singing prayers were cute, but then the notes started to get longer.. and higher. Now, she has moved onto creating her own tunes. They very in purpose from motivating "and when you fall off your bike and you get back on and you never give up and you keep on going cause you are the best and you are the prettiest..." to more mature matters, "but then my heart was broken and it was a broken heart and then it was all better and it didn't want to get broken. and then it was better because its not broken."

* Rhode had a rough morning and was not invited to join mom and sister on an adventure to the store. So, he and dad got in a little man time. Rhode spent hours outside with dad finishing our latest outdoor project. He really got into his handyman role once discovering that the head of the screw gun was magnetic. Every time dad set down the gun, Rhode was ready with a screw to stick in place. He even screwed up a couple of boards. Girltime at the store has become all that much less appealing now that he has had a taste of working in the dirt with dad.

* We have a new discussion in our home frequently, it goes like this:

Mom: Scarlet, what do you get to do when you are five years old?

Scarlet: Go to Kindergarten!

Mom: Scarlet, what do you get to do when you are eight years old?

Scarlet: Get baptized!

Mom: Scarlet, what do you get to do when you are twenty two?

Scarlet: Have babies! (short pause) but first get married (short pause) in the temple!

The conversation ensued after Scarlet begged me to let her have babies. Not dolls, babies, and soon please. So, I told her she could have babies when she was 22. She was ok with that until one day while counting, she realized how long it took her to get from 3 to 22. Not cool. So she went for a compromise.

"Mom, how about when I'm six?"

I told her instead how about mom has more babies someday and she could raise them. She thought that sounded fantastic. As did I.

* Our latest efforts with Rhode have been to teach him to say "no thank you" instead of just shouting no at us all of the time. We succeeded... kind of. Only, it sure doesn't feel like a win when your two year old spits out the words with pure venom, "NO TAINT TUE!" We're working on it...

* Along with Scarlet's new motherly instincts, she has started to inform me of the things she will do for her children. In any situation, in the store, the car, at a friend's house, walking through our house, she will share with me her future parenting strategies.

"Mom, I'm gonna watch shows with my babies and they are really gonna like Dora!"

"Mom, I think my babies are really gonna like soda."

"Mom, we have to keep all my baby clothes because my babies are going to LOVE them!"

"Mom, can we save this for my babies? (this includes food and other treats she is eating)

Then the other day she added,

"Mom, can you come over and help me when I have babies?"

And with pure delightment and absolute pleasure, I responded "Of course".

* My kids have been playing a lot of make believe lately. Scarlet's favorite one is "there's a ghost downstairs!" Rhode is always tagging along on Scarlet's adventures, and while big sister understands that there really isn't a ghost, little brother is usually terrified the entire time. The game usually ends with Rhode running to me with eyes as wide as they get and a quivering voice that says, "mama.... ghost!" He usually then refuses to go downstairs without an escort.

We have had several talks about ghosts being pretend and there being nothing to worry about, but after one exceptionally frightening day of "there's a ghost downstairs" I made a very serious mistake. During our family prayer, I prayed that the Holy Ghost would be in our home. I didn't even realize what I had done until Rhode popped up from his knees with the same wide eyes and said, "Mama... Ho-ee Ghost!"

Yes, my child is now afraid of the Holy Ghost.

* Scarlet loves flipping through the Friend magazine. She finds a picture she likes and usually requests that someone read her the story that goes along with it. It has usually inspired many great moments during our day. But the other day she picked a story called "run away". It was a story of a nine year old boy on the playground who wouldn't look at a bad picture his friend had taken from his dad's magazine.

This was a very confusing story for Scarlet. She immediately understood that the boy should not have taken a picture from his dad, but she asked me several times, "But why could he not look at a picture?" How do you explain naughty pictures to a three year old? Anyone? At one point I tried, "well it was probably of someone dressed immodestly." That didn't help as she couldn't figure out why anyone would want to look at a picture like that in the first place, much less avoid one. We stuck with the "don't steal things from your dad" message and moved on.

* And lastly, my kids love beans. Nothing very interesting about it, I just find it fascinating! Green beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, they love them all. When I make something with beans in it, the beans go first even over tomatoes, noodles and chicken (other favorites). Their absolutely favorite bean of all time is edamame. Scarlet requests "squeezer beans" every day. Rhode has even figured out how to squeeze them hard enough to get the two little beans to pop out of their casing. It's awesome.

It seems like everywhere I go, someone will stop me and remind me to cherish these moments because they go by so quickly. So, here's to a moment of stopping and cherishing, remembering and, of course, smiling.