things heard around my house: February 2013

Joshua:  Have you ever heard of this thing, like where you can make up your own holiday and then celebrate it?

Me:  No, I haven’t.

Joshua:  Well, I was thinking that I would choose a “Caring for your Siblings Day” and celebrate it on February 18th ALLLL day long.

Kaylee:  NO! NO!  I have a better idea!!!!   Let’s have a “Sister’s Day.”  Like Mother’s Day, but for sisters.

Joshua:  I think “Caring for your Siblings” is a better holiday.

Kaylee: NO!  Sisters!!!!!

….and I guess that’s why there is no national “Sibling Day”.  Because siblings just can’t agree.

Kaylee:  When I grow up, I want to have a pet parrot.

Grace:  Me too!

Me:  What tricks would you teach your parrot?

Kaylee:  To play dead!

Joshua:  (in disgust)  Parrots can’t play dead.

Kaylee:  Yes they can.  They put their feet up in the air.  I’ve seen one before!

Kaylee:  Boys think that babies come out of a magic portal.

Joshua:  No I don’t!  I think they come out of your hinder.   (maybe he’s been spending time with Jen Mura, as “hinder” is her favorite word.)

Grace, looking at my engagement ring:  I like your wring, mommy.

Me:  Thanks!  Daddy gave it to me.

Grace, in awe:  In real life?

Me:  Yup!  In real life.

Things heard around my house: January 2013

Snuggling in the early morning…
Kaylee: I love you mom.
Me:  I’m pretty sure I love you more.
Kaylee:  I love you most
Me:  I love you infinity.
Kaylee:  I love you eternity.
Me:  That’s the great thing about mothers and daughters.  Their love keeps growing and growing, just like me and my mom.
Kaylee:  EVEN THOUGH GRAMMMY IS OLD??????
Me:  (smiling) Because she is old we have grown together and our love is big.

I asked Kaylee to tell me a little bit about her pets:
Moona is a green bear and she has lots of friends.  She has an orange bunny friend and she has a pink kitty friend and they all flew off together when they were free.
A blue cat with a green pokla dot bow named Lily and her friend Bodacia .
I had an orange cat, I mean a pink cat that was named Wasperi.


“THIS IS HORRIBLE!”  Gracie moaned, after getting the stomach bug for the first time.

(Brian with his “lover” cat, Tigger. Apparently, the cat doesn't mind the beard as much as I do.)

“I’m so lucky that you came to visit me. “ Grace told my mom as she left.

(Kaylee and Daddy spent hours putting together Lego Friend sets that were Christmas presents.)

Laying in bed because we both felt sick….
Me:  Will you take care of me when I’m old?
Grace, touching my face and looking deep into my eyes:  Yes. I will hold you and snuggle you always.  Even when you are little like me. And when I’m a mommy, I will paint your toe nails.

(Gracie with a blueberry face from making smoothies.  Almost everyday, I set ingredients out and she puts them in the mini blender to make us fruit smoothies.   They taste amazing, and I love her independence.)

Things heard around my house: December 2012

(Signing “Dad”)

Joshua:   Mom, I think you should sell some of my underwear.

Me:  What?

Joshua:  I have WAAAAAY too many of them in my drawer!

Here mom!  I make you a paper airplane to share with all your mommy friends! (Grace showed me a “thing” she made out of 6 pieces of paper all taped together)

( Signing Santa)

Brian:  How do you know the real Santa Clause?  There are 2 ways to tell.

Joshua and Kaylee:  Because he has a real beard and he knows sign language!!!!

Can we listen to Justin BEAVER?  Kaylee asked in the car.   (Yup.  I have Justin Bieber ‘s music.  Listening to “I believe” was just what I needed at that moment.)

(Reading a letter from Martin Elfie, our Elf on a shelf.)

On the first day of snow:

Joshua:  Whoa!  Instead of pitch black outside, it’s PITCH WHITE!

Grace:  (in complete awe)  It’s snowing in the back AND the front yard!

(This girl is SERIOUS about her crafts and projects!)

Kaylee singing improv to fit the situation:

“You better watch out, you better not pout, listen to me and I’ll tell you why:  Papa John is coming to town.”

Brian:  If you could be anything that you wanted, what would you be?

Joshua:  A math teacher.  (7yr)

Kaylee:  BFF stands for Best Brother Forever!!!!

Things heard around my house: November 2012

Me: You’re reading Kaylee’s fairy book?

Joshua:  Well, I didn’t know…(mumble..mumble)

Me:  ok, well, what book did you pick out from the library today?

Joshua:  A “Giggle and Pig” book and a “Pinkalicous” book.

Me:  WHAT? (surprised that he picked out such easy and girly books) 

Joshua:  What?  I got them for Kaylee to read. 

Me:  (teasing) I think you like the color pink!

Joshua:  No way!

Joshua (describing what he learned about sharks)  “They travel in packs, but did you know that they can munch on one of their own if someone dies?”

 

Brian:   Hey Joshua!  Today when I tried to get dressed, I had a problem.   My foot got stuck in the underwear and wouldn’t go through!  Guess what?   It was YOUR underwear!

 

Grace:  Mom!  You beat me up!

Me:  huh?

Grace:  You beat me up the stairs.  (pout)

 

Me:  Did you brush your teeth?

Joshua: Yes.  It was 2 minutes of my life.

Joshua told the girls, “If you get scared, just let me know and I’ll give you a new hologram.”   (Overheard while the kids were playing pretend.  “Star Trek”, I guess?)

Things heard around my house: october 2012

Look what I got today!  A yo-yo!  

Watch me yo. 

Do you want a turn to yo?

I’m so good at yo-ing.

-Kaylee (age 5)

Kaylee:  What’s 9+9?

Joshua:  Easy.  18

Kaylee:  What’s 99+99?

Joshua:  (answered immediately) 198

Kaylee:  Wow!   Well, what is 70 hundred lights + 30 hundred pictures?

Joshua: 37

Kaylee:  huh?  How do you know?

Joshua:  I just do.  Trust me.

Things heard around my house: September 2012

Grace:   let’s read the “pup-cake” book.   (Her favorite book on the Kindle because it’s about different types of cupcakes AND she’s completely memorized it all!

Kaylee (right before bed):  Mom, I love you more than ANYTHING in the world!  Even more than ice cream, cake and cookies!

 

Kaylee:  I want to marry Jack when I’m 88 years old.  I hope he’ll wait that long for me.

(She’s laying on the garage can so she can “fly”)

Me:  Who did you sit with on the bus today?

Joshua: no one

Me:  I thought that you had a full bus and had to sit with a friend.

Joshua:  No no.  The bus capacity is 85 and there are 67 kids on the bus.

Things heard around my house: august 2012

“Did you get hurt?”  I asked Joshua.
“No.  I’m  99% ok and only 1% hurt.” was his reply.


“What kind of party do you want for your birthday mom?”  Kaylee asked, 2 months in advance.  We brainstormed some of the things I like:  daisies, penguins, chocolate, scissors, blankets and cupcakes.  She wrote down a plan, just like I did for her party.   It never crossed my mind that my daughter could plan a party for me….sweet!

“You have the best mommy.  I love Grammy.”  Grace told me one day. 

Grace:  (Screeching) There’s a spider on the pink hooker!  

Kaylee:  Where?

Grace:  On the pink HOOKER!!

Turns out the “hooker” is a pink plastic hanger.

A text to Brian during one of my (unusual) 10 hour work days:

Me:   Busy day, everything is running late.  Can’t get home.

Brian:  It’s ok. I took kids to Strong Museum.

Me:  There’s nothing like listening to HIV and STD presentation to make me appreciate being in a monogamous relationship. 

Brian:  LOL

 

“Mom, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news for you.”  Kaylee announced out of the blue.  “The bad news is that I haven’t been able to change Gracie’s diapers until today.  The good news is that now I can!  I will change all her wet diapers and you can change all the poopy ones.”   (Kaylee is 5, Grace will be 3 in a few months and hopefully potty trained soon.  And *THAT* will be good news!)

"I made you some carbs and coffee." I said, throwing a plate full of French toast on the table.  In one month, Brian lost 13 unwanted pounds while *I* lost none on a low carb diet.

 

“I think it’s funny we have four bedrooms, but the entire family is sleeping in our bedroom”  I commented one morning when I woke up to find one kid in our bed and the other two sprawled on the floor.

 

“I don’t like when he waggs me!”  Gracie wailed about my mom’s dog.

 

Things heard around my house: july 2012

 

 

Joshua:  I bought Kaylee’s dollhouse for 30 cents!

Me:  You mean the one I stored in your closet because she doesn’t play with it?

Joshua:  Yes.  And she included all the furniture too! For 30 cents!!!!

Me:  Sounds like a good deal.

Joshua:  “If I put a bowl of mustard in the refrigerator and it turn into delicious ice cream that would be a MIRACLE!”

Why yes, I do believe that would qualify as a miracle.

“Mom, can you take the wrapper off this apple please?”  Grace (2 and 3/4 yr old)

I made Brian slouch down for this picture so my face wasn’t level with his armpit for once, although I absolutely love his deodorant.

When my niece Breann commented on how tall Gracie was getting, she replied “Uh-huh!  Now I can reach all the food that I want.”

Kaylee (5 yrs) : Daddy is the fastest person in the whole UNIVERSE!

Happy 4th of July!

Me, Mike and Liz at the family reunion in the Adirondack mountains. 

 

user name:  seans2345

password: super345

Joshua created his first user name and password for a superhero website.

Things heard around my house: june 2012

 

“I’m so tired, I just poured coffee into my cereal bowl.”  - Brian

*

Me:  I think I’ll go to bed early tonight.  I’m pooped!

Grace:  When I poop my diaper, my mom changes me.

*

Gracie told my mom a creative story that went something like this:

G: One time I was a bug and I flew into the playhouse.

Mom:  Really?  What color bug were you?

G:  I had red eyes and purple wings. I was beautiful! And then one time I was a tree frog and I lived in that tree. I had sticky fingers. And when I was Diego I had a power pack and I saved animals.  And then I turned into me.

*

Kaylee: I think I’ll study animals when I grow up. (almost 5 yr)

A couple days later she randomly said, “I want to be a farmer when I grow up.”

Grace:  My legs are full from that yogurt. (She jumps on my lap)  Why are you wearing glasses?

Me: So I can see.  (smooch, smooch, smooch)  Why are you so sweet?

Grace:  Because I’m full of that yogurt!

*

Kaylee commenting on a public bathroom:  “It smells like a hippopotamus went poopy in here!”

*

On Father’s Day Joshua wondered, “When is it Happy Brother’s Day?”

Kaylee:  “Everyone in the whole world has different middle names!”

Me: “Actually, some people have the same middle name, like Daddy and Joshua.”

Kaylee:  “What? You mean his name is DADDY PAUL TRAGER?”

*

Joshua to Grace:   NO!!!!  Don’t drink that!  It’s warm and you could get sick and die!!!”

Me:  Joshua, cut it out.  She can drink that if she wants.

Joshua:  No!  It really happened to me!

Me:  You died?  When you drank warm water?

Joshua:  (exasperated)  Mo-oooom, I told you I’m not like other people.

*

Grace:  Look at the moon!   It’s broken.    (it was a half moon)

*

Kaylee:  I love you *this* much!   (stretching her arms out)

Me:  I love you to the moon and back.

Kaylee:  I love you up to God and back.

*

Grace: I’m a big girl! (after a successful trip to the potty)

Brian: Do you want to be a big girl or to be “daddy’s little girl” forever?

Grace: (thought for a moment) Daddy’s girl forever!!!!

Things heard around my house: May 2012

Grammy:  What do you think Milo (the dog) is doing outside?

Gracie: I think he’s sniffing for squirrels….or zebras.

Mommy!  You are the funniest person in the whole world!-  Kaylee said when I was making up knock-knock jokes.

“I have an announcement to make!”  I yelled to get everyone’s attention.  “This has been a WONDERFUL Mother’s Day.  I have all  of my kids here, my mom, and my husband.  The weather is beautiful and it doesn’t get any better than this! I LOVE YOU ALL!”   And then we did a huge 6 person family hug.

“I’m not a baby!  I’m a PERSON.”  Gracie (2 1/2 years old)

Joshua spend some time with Brian at the RIT Imagine Festival doing all kinds of fun stuff.  We hope someday he’ll be an RIT tiger too.

“Daddy and Joshua have peanuts.  Me and Kay have

ba-jine-as”  Grace told me as I changed her diaper.   I didn’t reply and she changed the topic. (thank God)

Kaylee:  Guess what insects I hate the most.  Spiders, bees and wasps.

Joshua:  Spiders are NOT insects, right mom?

Me:  No.  Spiders are insects.

Kaylee:   Did you learn that when you were a little girls like me?

(Later that night I did a google search and darn it all!  Spiders are not insects!  They are part of a group called arachnids, which also includes mites, ticks, and scorpions.)

This is the progress to date on the playhouse that Brian is building. The kids are so excited, and I’ve seen K and G both pretend to go to the bathroom in the little house.

 

Kaylee “graduated” from pre-school.  She grinned, waved and signed “ILY” the entire time she was on stage.