Scholarship money

Readers of the blog know we have raised the kids to be value shoppers and save money for college. When we go shopping and the kids want something, they pick it up, look at me and ask "go to college?" If I say yes, then they put it in the basket; otherwise, they put it back on the shelf. It's a great system.

Last weekend I bought a giant package of hot dogs to take to a cookout. It was on the countertop and Emmy saw it. She picked it up, her eyes got huge, and she said "Mama, this is a big one!" "Are we still going to college?"

Biology lesson

Colleen recently asked Marin how her day at school was. Marin talked and talked about the new boy at school named Michael. All about Michael - his hair color, how tall, what games he liked on the playground, what was in his lunchbox, and on and on and on.

During this entire monologue, Emmy sat quietly and attentively, hanging on Marin's every word. When Marin finally finished, Emmy looked right at her with this deadpan expression and asked "So Marin, did him have a penis?"

I had to sprint to the other room so Emmy did not see me laughing. Marin had a total fit. "Emmy. No potty talk in the kitchen. That's gross. That's disgusting. We don't talk that way here. You need a time out."

And Emmy said "Did him?"

Koo Koo Loo hit and run

This morning, as we were leaving, there was an enormous ball of feathers smack in the middle of our driveway. It looked strangely familiar, but utterly foreign. I finally figured out it was a dead chicken or rooster. (the guy across the street keeps a flock) By the way, kookooloo is the amharic word for rooster.

I had been staring at it long enough that the kids saw it........and the questions began. We're talking torrential questions.

What is it, Daddy? Kookooloo?
Him dead? Why him dead?
He in heaven?
How you know that?
Can we see him?
He gonna wake up tomorrow?
His mama know?
Is he bleeding?
Call the doctor? Medicine? Bandaids?
Is the kookooloo a him or a her?
Can we eat him?
How we gonna have eggs now?

Marin's Secrets

Last night I was lying down with Marin trying to get her settled to sleep. She was so excited. She said she had a lot of secrets to tell. She pulled her sheet up over her face and began whispering her secrets into the sheet.

" I love Mama. She's too pretty. She makes my chicken nuggets and potato tots. I love it when she does that, and when she hugs me."

"I love Emmy. I love to play with her. She so cute. She my favorite sister."

"I love Daddy. He a big boy. He take good care of me. He so handsome, too."

And on and on about her grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends at school. She had something really thoughtful and nice to say about everybody. She is such a sweet kid.