2 Churchlynn Stories

I lost my wedding ring a couple of weeks ago. Each night I take it off and place it on our dresser next to the bed. My hands get so dry during the winter I have to lather them in eucerin before bed so they don't crack and bleed- and I just don't like the greasy stuff on my ring. So around noon one day I realized I hadn't put my ring back on yet. I went directly to the dresser and found it was gone. Immediately I called Jo and Tic to my room, asking if they'd seen my ring or taken it somewhere. I assured them they weren't in trouble. They swore they didn't have a clue where the ring was. I wasn't too worried because I was 99.9999532% positive one of them had taken it and the ring was still in the house somewhere. Only a matter of time before I found it. So 2 days ago I'm looking under our couch and Jo comes waltzing by, "What are you doing Mama?"
"I'm looking for my ring," pointing to my ring finger, "remember?"
"You're looking for your ring again?"
"Yep! If you ever see my ring make sure to bring it right to Mama, okay?" bending back down to keep looking.
Jo pauses for a minute. "Probably it's in your light." I stop.
"What?"
"Probably it's in your light by your bed." Both of us take off down the hall. Ryan and I have an old fashioned style of lamp by our bed, sort of like this:

It's not an oil lamp but looks a bit like one. I pull out the glass covering around the bulb finding the following locked inside: 4 sewing pins, 1 paper clip, and 1 diamond ring! According to the Jo Tic likes to drop things in the lamp. Probably he was the guilty party. So if you lose anything ask Jo. Probably she'll know where it Probably is.

Yesterday after playing outside for about 5 minutes Jo was cold and wanted to go back in. Atticus was still having a grand time so I let Jo go in by herself and said, "Just poke you're head out the door and call me if you need anything!"
Within a couple of minutes I heard her muffled voice calling me behind the still, closed door. I opened it slightly. "What do you need?"
"I need to go potty!"
I helped Jo with her business and went to leave.
"So Mom?"
"Yes?"
"If I need you again I just poke my head and stand by the door and call you and you'll come again?"
Such a great image! Jo repeatedly poking herself in the head with her index finger behind the closed front door and calling for me! I love how her mind works:).

Things

I'm sad. I've lost my cord to transfer pictures to the computer. Lame, lame, lame, lame, LAME.

This morning Ryan left for work and quickly realized he had a flat tire. So he turned around and came home. Atticus was the only one awake at this point so I turned on "dinosaurs" (Land before Time) , put on my coat, and went out to try and help. I've never changed a flat. I don't know if Ryan had. The car manual came in handy! After about 10 minutes I came back inside, finding two little churchlynns holding each other behind the couch with big, rolling tears on their cheeks. I realized very quickly that Jo had woken up and the two had searched our apartment for me, deciding they'd been abandoned by their mother. They looked at me with such relief! As if they never could have hoped for so much! The look on their faces was heartbreaking. I quickly knelt down and threw my arms around them telling them over and over again that Daddy and Mama would never ever leave them alone. They were quickly reassured. I, on the other hand, had to kiss them and squeeze them every minute for the next hour- such guilt for causing so much fear!

Jo just asked me, "Mama, are girls idiots or are boys idiots?" Pause. How to answer...

A moment like this

Some people wait a lifetime

for a moment like this!

Today as Atticus and Jo were playing some game, running up and down our hallway, I could not help but smile. I hear Jo, "Akus! Akus! Stop. Akus, I love you." And then in reply, "audge ou, Jo." And then more running and laughing. SO SWEET.

Answers to the vocab quiz.

churchlynn- a baby animal, but we call the kids churchlynns just to make them mad. "No! I'm not a churchlynn, Mom!" Ha ha.
waa-ting- sword
wan hold ju- I want you to hold me
bottle- sippy cup
porphas- pretzels
squeeze- hug
cars- anything with singular or plural wheels
purpits- we honestly don't know. I was hoping someone could shed some light for me. We know they are something Jo keeps under her shirt and we know Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh) is one.
baa- sheep
make- cook food
boop- belly button
mooBee- movie
bubba- little brown dog Jo sleeps with
loves- kisses and hugs together
saucy- not exactly sure on this one. But it's refering to food that tastes good. That's all I've been able to conclude. (Jo at dinner) "Mom, this is SAUCY!" Pretty cute.
rhar- anything with teeth: tiger, lion, rhino, dinosaur, monster, shark, etc.

Fishystat- Jo
Peeleaf- Me
Worschrystat- Ryan
Lehi- Atticus
Decoin- Casey
Snugglie- Andrew
Dobby- Jane
Hinjolt- Me again

I'll tell you what, not just anyone gets a name. Jo is very particular about who she bestows them on. Be offended if you're not on the list. And let her know that you need to be. Christy is definitely the winner. And her prize... is... um... a play date. With said churchlynns. All by herself (I mean she'll still have her kids and household duties and everything). So we'll drop them off, leave for a few hours, go do something inconsequential (like a hot date). That means she'll get to entertain and feed them. I know what you're thinking, "Sounds a lot like babysitting." But it's not. See, you volunteer to babysit. This is a prize bestowed on you. So be grateful, Chris:).

Vocabulary Quiz

How confident do you feel communicating with Jo and Atticus? This is a list of words they've made up or substituted for other words. You're job is to define each one as the identified child would. You will receive your score by mail within 10 business days. All sales final. We do not guarantee your satisfaction. The end.

Jo- churchlynn
Atticus- waa-ting
Both- wan hold ju
Both- bottle
Jo- porphas
Both- squeeze
Atticus- cars
Jo- purpits
Atticus- baa
Both- make
Atticus- boop
Atticus- mooBee
Jo (but stolen from Sophie)- bubba
Both- loves
Jo- saucy
Atticus- rhar

And these are names Jo's given people. I think mostly we use these names just when we're fighting monsters. Who are they? (hint: one person is used more than once.)

Fishystat
Peeleaf
Worschrystat
Lehi
Decoin
Snugglie
Dobby
Hinjolt

"May-be some-day you could be...as spiritual as me!"

This is a song from Sons of Provo (which I think is one of the funniest movies EVER made- hey, it's just my opinion) which I have been thinking about today. I feel like my shorties running around the house have been humming it as they play.

The other day Jo got out her doll with a Velcro body- you know, one of those you can dress yourself. She carefully thumbed through the available clothes and pulled out a little tennis outfit.

"Now my doll needs to go to the temple!"

"She does?"

"Yeah. She needs to go to the temple and get married." I guess since the tennis outfit had a skirt it could double as a wedding gown.

So Jo gallops Ms. doll over to our bookcase behind Maggie's swing. This bookcase is wonderful. I love it. Ryan made if for me a couple of years ago. The chillins also love the bookcase. It serves as anything and everything they might need. The doctor's, school, work, hiding place, the long level plains in which their dinosaurs roam. ETC. This particular day it was the temple. Jo said a few words for her doll and then announced, "She needs a prince!"

Well of course she does! So Jo rummaged through her toys and came bounding back out with a prince.

There's the handsome devil. All ready for his wedding of the century. Jo is no respecter of species.

I couldn't hear the ceremony but after it was over Jo announced that her doll could go home. And she did, leaving her prince forgotten at the temple. I'm not sure she understands marriage... we'll keep working on that! All laughs aside, I was so happy that she knows people should be married in temples. That's where she plans to get married. And she can absolutely recognize a picture of a temple.

Yesterday evening we watched The Testaments together as a family. The kids really paid attention, asking very important questions which Ryan and I answered as best we could. We were impressed at the light their spirits came with and the light they eagerly seek already. This morning after Jo woke up and had breakfast she turned to me, "Can we watch the Jesus movie?"

Of course they could. I turned it on and they watched almost the entire thing without moving. Again, they would occasionally ask me questions. They were especially concerned when the Nephite prophet was murdered and, even more so, when the Savior was crucified. Why were the people hurting them? It is a difficult thing to explain to myself let alone my young children. I feel so strongly the need to teach Jo and Atticus who Christ is, what He did for us, and why we need Him. For them to know He loves us. That He loves them. I am grateful to have the gospel. We have every answer available. The Truth available. My hope is that I can come to know that Truth more fully, that I may teach these sweeties Who to look to.

Halloween 2010

Halloween was a blast. The weather was unfortunate. In fact, I started to cry when I thought we weren't going to go trick or treating. Cry. Like a 7 year old. I really like Halloween apparently:). But the rain eventually let up and I was smiling again.

Jo's been saying for the past 3 weeks that she wanted to be a Panda Bear Princess for Halloween. A panda bear princess is a panda bear who then dresses up for Halloween as a princess. The costume has Jo's name all over it. Then about a week ago we mentioned painting her face to look like the panda bear and Jo was all done. All done with the costume and with trick or treating. For some reason she's really scarred of paint and make up on her. After a lot of explaining and practicing she finally struck a compromise with us. She would be a panda bear princess and go trick or treating if we did not paint her face or make her hair look like panda ears. So she would just PRETEND to be a panda bear but actually look like a princess. Here she is, pretend panda bear dressed like an actual princess (Did you follow all of that?).

Atticus was a car of course. I made the costume. I thought it was pretty cute. Thanks to Jen for the idea!

And Maggie was a toothless but still predator-like tiger.

I know exactly what you're thinking- run! hide!

Ready to Go!

I was Davey Crockett. Ryan didn't think the pictures captured the scruff very well, but I assure you, there was facial hair.

Aiming for the kill.

And Ryan went as himself.

We debated whether or not the machete could come. Finally we concluded that as long as he didn't actually use it, the weapon would be alright on his back.

The kids had SO much fun trick or treating! And Ryan and I had a lot of laughs. We ended up going around with their friend, Pearson, who lives across the street. Atticus was a machine. He just ran, pushing through anyone in his way. Unfortunately his high-quality, homemade costume broke down almost immediately. The muffler fell off on the way out the door, the first string broke after the first house, a wheel rolled away two more houses down the block, then the next string went, then 2 more wheels. Finally I took it off and just let him be a cute little boy in an orange sweater (eventually I stopped back at home and got him a cape and sword). It was awesome watching Tic though as the car fell apart. After the second string broke he just picked the box up and carried it (still around his body) while running to the next house. Ry and I were laughing pretty hard. It was very cute and so Atticus- strong and determined, strongly determined, determined to be strong! Jo was also excellent to watch. When the door would open Jo would say "trick or treat" as quick as she could, drop her bucket in front of the person, and step back. Like she was saying - Fill me up! Loved it. Loved it all. Happy Halloween!