Tuesday, December 9, 2008 (Brian)

Carrie and Brian were having a discussion on the phone, and then they changed the subject so they would hang up happy with each other.

Carrie: So, do you want to go to bed now? Are you happy enough to go to bed?

Brian: I'm fine. I've been fine.

Carrie: Yeah, but you were angry with me. You sounded angry.

Brian: I really wasn't mad.

Carrie: But you sounded short-

Brian: I'm not short, I'm 6 foot 5.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 (Marcus)

We've been talking to Brian on the computer as often as we can, and Marcus loves to sit on Carrie's lap and wave to Daddy. This morning Carrie was on the computer, checking her email, and Marcus climbed on to her lap, pulled himself close to the monitor going, "Hi...Hi..." and waving at the screen. He even said, "Ad" a couple of times, which we're assuming is "Dad."

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 (Alyssa)

When Ethan is having a hard time going to sleep, Alyssa invites him to come lay down in her bed, then Carrie moves him to his own bed when he's sleeping.

Carrie: Thanks for letting Ethan lay down with you. It helps him go to sleep easier, and it's so nice of you. I'm so glad that you guys love each other.

Alyssa: (completely sincere) Thank you, and you are such a great Mom. You're teaching me to be good. (This is when Carrie assumes that she'll say something about Carrie being such a good example of love, or something like that.) You give me punishments when I do something bad, and it's helping me to learn to do good things. So thank you for being so good at that. I love you.

Friday, November 28, 2008 (Alyssa and Ethan)

Alyssa: I think that you guys are the bestest family I've ever had.

Ethan: Ver had.

Saturday, November 15, 2008 (Brian)

Carrie was asking Brian about Thera-Flu, and whether or not she should bother taking it before heading to bed.

Brian: What you should do, is take a egg nog, and add Thera-Flu to that. TheraFluNog!

Carrie: You want me to drink TheraFluNog?!

Thursday, October 23, 2008 (Alyssa)

Carrie fixed a heart-shaped turkey sandwich for Alyssa (her favorite) and a dinosaur-shaped turkey sandwich for Ethan (his favorite) then she heated up some leftover manicotti (which the kids didn't like) for herself.

Alyssa: (pointing to manicotti) Uugh! That's not fair. We don't even get that, and we don't even want that, but it's not fair that we don't get it.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (Ethan)

Lately Ethan has been calling himself, "I." If you have food, and he wants some too, he comes up to you and says, "I, I, I...I, I." Or if you're in the shower (with no lock on the bathroom door) and Ethan wants to come join you, he comes in, starts tugging at his clothes, and says, "I...I, I, I!" (Or sometimes he just sneaks in to the bathroom, takes off his clothes, climbs in the tub, and starts singing, like yesterday morning.)

This morning Alyssa woke up, then Ethan woke up, and they were both very cuddly and sweet. Carrie said, "I have three sweet kids. Who are my sweet kids?"

Ethan's hand shot up straight in the air, and he said, "I!"

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 (Brian)

Brian calls home every morning to talk to Carrie on his way to the hospital. This morning, when Carrie answered the phone she heard Brian singing...

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, because I live in Tacoma.
You make me happy when skies are gray, like they are today.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you!
Please don't take my sunshine away.

Monday, October 20, 2008 (Brian)

(On the phone)

Brian: So I had eight patients scheduled today, and only two of them showed up.

Carrie: What do you do all day when you don't have any patients?

Brian: Oh, today I read a book about drugs. What do you do when you don't have any patience?

Carrie/Brian: Yell at the kids.

Sunday, October 19, 2008 (Alyssa)

I took off my ring this morning when we were making doughnuts and forgot to put it back on afterward. When we were on our way to church, I said, "Oh, no! I forgot to put my ring back on!" Alyssa asked me why I wear the ring all the time. I told her that it was my wedding ring, that Daddy gave it to me when we got married, and that when I wear it, it means that I'm married to Daddy.

Alyssa: But what if, when we're at church, when you're beautiful, someone sees you and thinks, "Look at that lady with those three kids. She's not married. I think I'm going to marry her."

Carrie: Well, I think everyone at church knows I'm married to Daddy. Besides, usually you date someone for a while before you get married. And if anyone asked me on a date I would tell them that I'm already married and that I love Daddy.

Alyssa: But what if they still think, "Oooh, I want to marry her. She looks very nice, and she's being nice to those kids. I think I'll marry her?"

Carrie: I think everything going to be fine, honey.

She actually asked a couple more times, worried that someone would want to marry me. I think it's cute to see her concept of dating and marriage, and that she just didn't get that it was going to be okay.

June 10, 2008 (Alyssa)

Carrie: Do you know what else we bought at the store?...Cherries!

Alyssa: Are they like the cherries that Grandpa Jacks gets? The ones that are red and round and they have a pupil in the middle that you spit out?

June 10, 2008 (Alyssa)

Mama, do you know my cousin Michael? The one who's in the hospital because he broke his arm? Well, I think that he is into sports and plays a lot of sports, because he likes video games, and video games are a sport, aren't they?

June 6, 2008 (I Really Don't Know)

Ethan was in the car, making battle noises.

Brian: Are your hands fighting each other?
Ethan: (Nods yes)
Carrie: Only a guy can say that to another guy, and have it make sense.

June 6, 2008 (Brian)

As they say, with age comes wisdom. When I'm older, I'll know exactly when to shut up. As it is...

May 7, 2008 (Brian)

It was windy outside, so Carrie stood in front of Brian to be out of the wind.

Brian: What? Am I breaking wind? ...(he waited a few seconds until he realized what he said)...Normally I get in trouble for breaking wind.

May 5, 2008 (Alyssa)

Alyssa, Ethan, Marcus and Carrie were walking to school and as they entered the school yard, kids were coming out to the playground from lunch.

Alyssa: Oh look! They're coming out of the bacteria!

April 30, 2008 (Carrie)

(Mostly, I'm proud of the alliteration.)

Brian was relaxing with his laptop on our bed now that finals are over. Carrie came in, laid down beside him, unconsciously put her foot in the air, and gave him a kiss.

Brian: Ooh, a foot pop. That must have been a good kiss.

Carrie: Actually, I popped my foot before the kiss. It was a preparatory pop.

April 30, 2008 (Alyssa)

Alyssa was dancing to the Meet the Robinsons cd, when she came to Carrie to say she had a tummy ache.

Carrie: I think you've been dancing too hard. Why don't you take a rest?

Alyssa: But Mom, I don't have a dancing-ache, I have a tummy ache!

April 30, 2008 (Ethan)

Ethan still isn't really talking yet, but he does say, "stsssssss" for the word yes.

This afternoon he wanted his Cars vitamin, which he usually gets at bedtime. Since it was just before dinner, I told him that he could have one while we were eating dinner. So he took the bottle over to Brian, who said, "Ethan, what did Mommy say?" To this, Ethan said,

"Stsssssssss."

Then, we were having graham crackers for dessert, and Ethan wanted a second one. He came up to me and grunted. "Do you want more?" I asked. He nodded, and started skipping toward the table. "Wait Ethan," I said, "Come here." I wanted him to try saying more, but instead he came right up to my face and said,

"Stsssssssss."

April 30, 2008 (Brian)

Brian gave gave Marcus some powdered sugar from breakfast.

Brian: You know that second tooth that just came in?...It's a sweet one.

April 10, 2008 (Brian)

Brian was studying in bed this morning before school.

Carrie: Your hair looks really good. It's nice and curly.

Brian: I did it for you. I moved my head around in circles all night long to make it curly.

Carrie: That's so sweet of you.

April 9, 2008 (Alyssa)

Alyssa and Carrie were discussing 'clogs' (like the shoes) on the walk to kindergarten. Carrie happened to be wearing clogs, so she showed them to Alyssa to give a visual to the discussion.

Alyssa: Do clogs come in any color?

Carrie: Yeah, they can come in any color.

Alyssa: Not ugly colors like brown or black, but pretty colors...

(Carrie's clogs were brown. Oh well.)

April 5, 2008 (Alyssa)

Brian was finally helping Carrie clean the garage (although helping for him meant attacking the closed lockers with a crowbar and a hammer (with permission from the landlord) that have been sitting in our garage and it turns out there was nothing exciting in them anyway) while Alyssa and Ethan were eating lunch.

Alyssa: Mom, it looks to me like you're making Daddy be like your slave, and that's not fair.

April 2, 2008 (Carrie)

Carrie: Ethan, we don't throw bagels about the house!

April 2, 2008 (Carrie)

Ethan doesn't like wearing clothes. This morning Carrie found him without any clothes on, and he got very angry when she tried to get him dressed.

Carrie: (to Ethan) You can join a nudist colony if you want to, but you have to be potty trained first.

March 12, 2008 (Alyssa and Brian)

Alyssa thinks that root beer floats are called "root beer flows." At dinner Brian asked if he could have a root beer.

Alyssa: I want a root beer flow. Can I have a root beer flow?

Brian: Her name isn't Flo.

And I can not remember what happened next. I mean, that was a little funny. But what Alyssa and Brian said next was really funny, and I can't even remember it. Shoot.

February 26, 2008 (Alyssa)

Alyssa was playing doctor with Marcus. She was using her markers as shots.

Alyssa: There! That wasn't so bad, was it?.....Only 25 more to go!

February 13, 2008 (Alyssa)

Driving home last night, Alyssa yawned, and then I yawned. She noticed, and thought it was funny that we yawned together, and we told her that yawns were contageous.

This morning, at breakfast:

Alyssa: Mom, you just gave me a compliment! Remember, last night you said that when you yawn after someone, you're giving a compliment, and I just yawned, and you just yawned, so you gave me a compliment!

January 30, 2008 (About Marcus)

Lady at the fabric store: That baby has the longest eyelashes I have ever seen! I'm half blind and I can see them from here!

January 28, 2008 (Alyssa)

Alyssa had the flu in the morning, and she was still feeling pretty bad in the evening.

Alyssa: All morning long I wanted to ask dad for a priesthood.

Carrie: Do you mean a blessing?

Alyssa: Uh-huh.

February 5, 2008 (Brian)

Alyssa asked for some water quite rudely, so we told her to try again. Later, that same meal...

Brian: Alyssa, you asked for drinks three different times, and you didn't say please with any of them. I don't think you're going to get anything else to drink for dinner tonight.

Alyssa: Daddy can I please have a drink?

Daddy: No Alyssa, you've lost your chance. Sometimes you only get one or two or three chances.

The funniest thing, is that I started to bust up laughing, and it took Brian about 10 seconds before he realized what he had said. Apparently, we're pretty lenient in our family.

January 26, 2008 (Alyssa)

Alyssa: It wasn't me!

Carrie: Alyssa, you always say that.

Alyssa: Well, it's always me, but I never want to get in trouble, so that's why I do it.

January 22, 2008 (Alyssa)

(sob, sob) Mom, I'm so sad that...well, I don't remember what's sad...(sob)...but I'm sad that I remembered that there's a reason to be sad (sob, sob)

All The Time (Ethan)

Here's an example of Ethan's prayers.

Brian/Carrie: Dear Heavenly Father,

Ethan: Heht,

Brian/Carrie: Thank you for this day.

Ethan: Heht.

Brian/Carrie: We're thankful for the food.

Ethan: Heht.

Brian/Carrie: Please bless it.

Ethan: Heht.

Brian/Carrie: In the name of Jesus Christ,

Ethan: Heht,

Brian/Carrie: Amen.

Ethan: Humph.

(We need to get it on video.)

January 7, 2008 (Alyssa)

Brian: Alyssa, do you know what a bikini is?

Alyssa: Yes.

Brian: What is it?

Alyssa: Um, it's like a cucumber.

Brian: Right...a zucchini.

December 2007 (Alyssa)

(At Brian's parent's house)

Carrie: Ethan you need to drink your milk at the table.

(Ethan stomps foot and grunts.)

Carrie: Ethan, you're disobeying.

Alyssa: (to Brian's mom) Grandma, Ethan is disobeying. I'm so sorry we brought a disobeyer to your house.