Thankfully I have this blog to help me record, remember and share these beautiful moments in time. And hopefully these lovely memories will help me smile when the ugly moments of motherhood come threatening to steal my joy and deplete me of God's good grace. And believe me, we have PLENTY of ugly moments in the Horn household!
Usually it's my 3 year old, Clive, who is spouting out the cuteness and funniness. He's a natural chatterbox and his 3 year old *accent* makes {almost} every word that comes from his lips seem like utter adorableness. This boy who is ever imagining, building and racing cars spills out with pure childish joy.
Lately though, I've jotted down a few memorable exchanges from other members of the family. My husband included. :) Enjoy!
Chloe-isms (age 6)* Chloe has been up and down about the impending start of school. One VERY exciting moment happened recently at a school picnic when we discovered that her very favorite friend from Sunday school, Logan, would be in her class! Seriously, Logan and Chloe are bosom buddies. They love to play together and greet each other with hugs. But her smiles turned to furrows the next day as she thought more about it. I asked her what was bothering her and she replied, "Mom, I don't know if I want to go to school anymore. I'll be the only one in first grade with a boyfriend!" We then had a mommy lesson about what a *boyfriend* really is. In 6 year old terms that is.
* Chloe received a phone call recently from her sweet little friend, Grace. They talked on the phone for what seemed like a long time. After she hung up I asked Chloe what the conversation was about. She retorted, "Oh, nothing really. It's hard to explain." And that was that. From 6 year old to teenager in the blink of an eye!
* I asked Chloe to keep an eye on Clive in the bathtub while I put Solomon down to bed. Chloe was not happy about that and huffed her way into the bathroom. She instantly complained, "But mom, it smells in here!" (And usually she'd be right but having freshly cleaned the bathroom I knew it was sparkling clean.) I replied to Chloe, "What does it smell like?" And Chloe complained, "It smells like . . . water!" Right, because clean water is SO STINKY. The drama of this little girl is astounding at times. And I'm sure I was never that dramatic when I was her age. (No comments from the peanut gallery, please.)
* Clive put on his sunglasses as we embarked for a car ride and announced, "Sunglasses would be no good for caves!"
* One night when the kids were each watching their allotted video for the day, I slipped upstairs to take a cat nap. Clive came up crying looking for me because something went wrong with the player. He was really crying hard and when he saw me he said, "Mom?!? Where were you? I almost called 9-1-1!" I, alarmed, responded, "Why would you call 9-1-1? I was just upstairs!" Clive responded, "I almost called 9-1-1 because I had a missing mommy!" Good answer I guess. We then had a serious conversation about when to call 9-1-1 and when NOT to. Yikes!
* During playtime, Clive triumphantly came upstairs with his toy ninja turtle in one of my canning jars. He proclaimed, "Mom, I captured this turtle and now I'm going to put him in jail and do science on him!" When I inquired as to what kind of science experiment he would do Clive was obviously baffled. Not missing a beat Clive replied, "I can't tell you mommy, it's a secret experiment!" Hopefully we don't have a mad scientist in the making here!
* The other day I was fighting insanity after having braved 50 cent Monday with all three children in tow. It was in a word, HORRIFIC. Next stop was the grocery store. I put Clive in the cart to attempt the grocery shopping and felt defeated already. He promptly gave me a big hug around the neck and said, "Ah, there's nothing like a good mom!" I.love.that.boy.
Matt-isms (age 35)
* After acquiring two baskets of peaches I was researching what to do with them. I kept tossing ideas out in the air like, "Maybe I could freeze them whole like raspberries" or "Are these peaches the correct ones for canning or should I look for the freestone variety?" or "I wonder if I could freeze peach cobbler or peach pie filling". Matt finally retorted, "Or you could just make peach cobbler." And that's JUST what I did. :)
* Last week over the dinner table Matt suddenly got quiet adding weight to the words he would utter next, "Family, I want you all to know that next week at this time we'll be watching . . . . FOOTBALL." Crickets chirped. I think Matt was expecting a rousing cheer of "Go, Pack, Go!" but it did not happen. We'll be excited come Thursday though! Already got the green jello bought and Packer shirts ready to wear!
* We raised praying mantises this spring/summer and we've kept one adult close at hand to observe (we named her George). Matt's been letting her out of the cage more often and after finding her on the sunflowers, he hollered something loudly. I thought he was directing his words at me since I was standing at the kitchen window and well within earshot. I shouted back, "What was that, Matt? I didn't hear you." And he replied, "Oh nothing. I was just talking to George." And then we both laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it. Trumped by a praying mantis. Didn't think I'd see the day! :)
