To make you smile...

This past week we had Brecken's preschool welcome conference. At the end of the conference, his teacher asked him if he had any questions about preschool or if there was anything he wanted to learn this year. Brecken replied, "Well I would maybe like to learn how the inside of refrigerators work."
His teacher laughed and then said, "Oh really, and why do you want to learn about that?"
"Well just in case when I grow up I want to build refrigerators."

Oh dear, his poor teacher, has her work cut out for her! ;)

Yesterday, DJ and I attended a family wedding. Brecken knew we were starting to get ready for the wedding, and when he saw me after my shower in my sweats, he looked at me a little confused and said. "Mommy, those aren't very nice clothes for a wedding." I guess he wanted me to walk around in my dress for a couple hours before it was really time to go.

And finally a sweet story from Griffin's 2nd birthday that brought me to tears. On the morning of Griffin's birthday, we gave him his present from Mommy and Daddy, which was a water table. Well after Griffin opened it and we started to put it together, we realized it had a wrong part in the box so we didn't think he'd able to play with it until we could exchange it for one with the correct pieces. Brecken quickly grabbed some of the torn wrapping paper pieces and ran to his room to get one of his own books for Griffin. He took the pieces of wrapping paper and covered one of his books so that Griffin could have a present that he could actually use right away. That boy is just so sweet and thoughtful! Now if only they were always so kind and considerate to each other ;)

Wedding Clothing Choices

Me: Which shirt do you want to wear for the wedding this weekend?
 
Brecken: This one (points to one on left) because it's a little warmer just in case a light breeze comes up.
 
Again, Where does he come up with this stuff?


Earlier this week, I brought home some cutesie kid band-aids from the store. When I showed them to Brecken, he said, "Oh that's cool, Mom!"    By him using the word "cool" and calling me Mom instead of Mommy, he suddenly seemed about twice his age!

A few stories

Now that I am home with the boys for the summer, I catch more of their funny quotes. I have a few to share today, and I think they all happened just this week!

One night this week I went to visit a good friend's new baby. As I was heading out the door, Brecken said, "Have fun seeing the baby! Don't cough...Cover if you need to!" He is just so concerned :) The next morning, he asked me if I took any pictures of the baby to show him. (I didn't, so I guess I'm in trouble.)

I am tutoring a middle school student in math this summer, and another teacher friend is watching the boys for me while I tutor for an hour. She asked Brecken if he was going to preschool this year, and when he said yes, she asked him if he knew the name of it. He replied, "I'm not sure, but I think it's called 5th grade." He also randomly told her that his dad is bald...in some spots.

Finally tonight at dinner, Brecken said, "When you and Daddy die and go to heaven, I'm going to live in a house with Brielle." (Brielle is his very good friend from daycare and preschool.) I sure hope he's not thinking we're going to heaven anytime soon!

I'm sure there are more funnies, but I thought I better jot these lovelies down before I forget!

Happy 4th of July!

The Easter Story According to a 4-year-old...

Brecken brought home his Bible story from preschool this week, which was the beginning of the Easter story.
I asked him what happened on Easter, and he said, "Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins."

Then I asked, "What happened after he died on the cross?"

To which he replied, "He got LOST and then came back again from the tune (tomb)!"

Well at least he got the part about forgiving our sins :)



If you're looking for some great kid-friendly Easter activities:
An Easter activity to do with your kiddos:
http://www.motherhoodonadime.com/kids/resurrection-cookies-printable-recipe/
OR a simpler version for younger preschoolers:
http://www.motherhoodonadime.com/kids/journey-to-easter-day-4-resurrection/ (Brecken LOVED this last year and still talks about it!)

Quick Update & Funny Quotes

Well now that I have completely fallen apart on blogging since adding a second child to our family, I've decided to change my blog...instead of updates on what we're up to and who's sick (let's face it, that is what the majority of my posts turned into), I'm going to just post the funny things that the kids say :) I figure that is something manageable that I should actually be able to keep up with, as well as hopefully bring a smile to your face. Plus it's a great way to document all of those funny comments that I don't want to forget! Before I officially change over to a blog of kid quotes though, I thought I'd give everyone a brief update on this Hoelscher Household:

BRECKEN - He is 4 1/2 years-old and started preschool this fall. A few weeks ago I would've said that he LOVES it, but he recently has started to cry on the mornings that are school days. He fell at school on Valentine's day and got a cut on his forehead that required a trip to Children's ER and 6 stitches - I have a feeling this is partly to blame for his sudden change in his attitude towards school :( We are working on getting to the bottom of this, and I sure hope things improve soon because it is breaking my heart to walk away with him crying so hard and the teacher or assistant having to drag him away :( He quickly gains his composure though and then has a great time the rest of the half-day at school. He has continued to be sick A LOT and has had strep throat 3 times this school year, for a total of 7 times in his life - uff da!

GRIFFIN - is 19-months-old and now likes to run at any chance he gets. After several trips to a pediatric chiropractor this summer without any changes to the fluid in his ears, he got ear tubes put in this fall but so far we've only seen minimal improvements. We recently took a family vacation to Florida, and both ears became infected while we were there - that was the 3rd or 4th (I've lost count) ear infection since his tubes in October :( However, at least the chronic fluid is gone and no longer affecting his hearing! Griffin definitely is at the stage where he knows what he wants and does his best to communicate that with us. His vocabulary is constantly growing right now, and it is so fun to watch!

The boys  are really starting to act like brothers now that Griffin is old enough to actually play - they have a real love-hate relationship, as most brothers do. They're either helping each other and hugging...or wrestling ;) It is SO fun to watch them interact with each other and see their friendship develop. We are so grateful for these two boys, and it's a true joy to watch them grow up and learn new things.

DJ - has been working FROM HOME for Oracle for about a year-and-a-half now. It is wonderful to have him working at home without a long commute, and he's able to go at lunch on preschool days to pickup  Brecken and take him to daycare for the afternoon (We're still at the same home daycare that we've had since Brecken was a baby :)

LAURA - Last spring, I took a new position at my school for this school year and am only working PART-TIME this year. It has been WONDERFUL and I can't even begin to tell you how much less stress I have in my life, but I've been told you can see it in my face :) I left the regular classroom and am now teaching Title I Reading to small groups of students. I am really enjoying working with 4 primary students at a time instead of 30-35 fifth graders! This new position has allowed me to have more time with the boys because I only work Monday-Thursday, and it's shorter days too. I am SO grateful that we were able to make this change possible as it really has had a positive impact on the entire family. Our life is still crazy, but at least now I know which way is up!

OK, I'm not sure how "brief" that update was, but now on to those funny kid quotes because kids really do say the darndest things:

*Some of these quotes are from quite some time ago, but I just don't want to forget them.

• Last summer, DJ and Brecken had taken a couple bike rides (DJ has a bike, and I don't). Well one night I decided that I wanted to have some one-on-one time with Brecken and would use DJ's bike to go for a ride with Brecken. When we were making plans at the dinner table, Brecken said in all seriousness, "Mommy, do you know how to use the kickstand so the bike doesn't fall down? Do you need training wheels?" He was so serious, too! Then while on the bike ride we got to a small hill, and he said, "Mommy, just stand up if you need to. It'll help you get up the hill." (Such a little encourager :)

• This fall, I was asking Brecken about his day at daycare. In the car on the way home, he shared, "We had liquors today for a special treat."

          I replied, "Liquors?"

        And he said, "Yeah, John's liquors!" (John is the husband of our daycare provider.)

         I knew our daycare lady enough to know that this was simply not true, so I calmly said, "Oh really? And what's that?"

        Well it didn't take long to figure out that Brecken actually meant that they had had John's LICORICE for their special treat! :)

• This winter, we attended the church where Brecken goes to preschool because the kids were all singing during the service. At the end of the sermon, the pastor said, "Amen" to which Brecken immediately said, "Well that was a long prayer!" The people in the row in front of us cracked up laughing (Thankfully we knew the family from daycare!)

•  Also, this winter I had a minor accident and cracked the bumper on the front of my car. My high school friends work at a body shop, so they ordered the new part and installed it for me so that I wouldn't have to have an insurance claim. Brecken was there watching when they put the new bumper on, so the very next day we were driving home from daycare, and he kindly said , "Mommy, be careful driving on the ice so you don't wreck the bumper Dan put on for us. Can you do that for me, Mommy?"

• LAST ONE: The other night Brecken and I were standing at the side of Griffin's crib and JUST about ready to start his bedtime prayers when all of a sudden Brecken starts yelling, "Wait, wait, I have to go potty. Don't start praying until I'm done peein'!" Bahahaha!

See, kids really do say the darndest things :)

From here on out, there will probably only be one quote at a time, and I'll just post them as they happen. Soon enough Griffin will be adding funny quotes of his own, too. :)

Until next time,
Laura