Amel got through the boys’ heads that pink is strictly for girls.  As a matter of fact, I remember when Ricky was just 2 1/2 years old, in Noah’s Ark class (church preschool class), when someone handed him a pink crayon and he threw it across the room!

Imagine their surprise when they saw a picture of DADDY wearing a…you guessed it, a pink shirt!

Joshy: Mommy, Daddy’s wearing pink??

Me: Oh, that’s not pink, that’s SALMON.  (I DO have Amel’s back afterall.)

Joshy: Oh, salmon…is that boy pink?

Me: Yeah, that’s right, salmon is boy pink.  *snicker*

So this is what I hear the other day:

Joshy: Zokey, do you like girl pink or boy pink?

Zokey: I like girl pink.

Joshy: Oh, I like salmon coz that’s boy pink.

Zokey: Okay.

For those of you who don’t know, I am a bookworm.  I’ve always read for fun ever since elementary school.  The highlight of my month was getting my books from my class book orders.  I was into several teenybop series like Sweet Valley Twins, Babysitters Club, etc.

Now that I’m older I would like to say that my taste in books have become more sophisticated, but I’m not going to lie, it’s not.    I still browse through the young adult series in bookstores and libraries.  I enjoy the books that my middle school son is into and you just gotta love the toddler section of the library.    Don’t get me wrong, I love my books that deal with my Christian faith and I have to read books for school too, so I’m not THAT juvenile.

Anyway, all that to say that I bring my kiddos to the library on a regular basis.  Although none of them, with the exception of Joshy, has ever truly enjoyed storytime, I’m just hoping that they make going to the library a part of their lives one day.  Needless to say, I allow each of the kiddos to check out several books each week.  Oh, and I allow them to pick out one movie each, even though they charge $1 per movie per week.

Well, a few months ago this is what Zokey tells me:

Zokey: Mommy, guess what???  With her eyes wide open.

Me: What?

Zokey: There’s this place where you gets books, pay for it, and you get to KEEP IT!!  Did you know that?

Do I have to tell you that I don’t buy books for my kiddos since we could pretty much get them at the library?

Me: Yeah, I know, it’s called a bookstore.

Zokey: How come we never go there?

Me: Sure we have…you’ve been to Borders and Barnes and Noble.

Zokey: THOSE are bookstores?? 

Now that I think about it, we don’t ever buy books at Barnes and Noble…I don’t even  know why we go in there in the first place. 

I don’t even know how to intro this quote so I’m just going to go right into it.

Zokey: Mommy, I have a problem.

Me: What is it?

Zokey: Well, I think my good brain is melting and my bad brain is coming up.

Me: What do you mean?

Zokey: Everytime I close my eyes, I see scary stuff.  So, my good brain is melting.

Me: Well, God tells us to pray and ask Him to replace bad thoughts with good thoughts.

Zokey: Okay…I can do that…but can you buy me more princess movies?  Like right now?  Or tomorrow?

I don’t think I’ve recorded this yet, but a couple months ago, the kiddos were arguing over something (as usual) and I hear Joshy say this:

Joshy: Buggy!  You a meanie-bo-peenie!

He looked really angry when he said it.  But he sounded so cute that the girls stopped arguing and started laughing…which made him madder.

Zokey: Actually, it’s meanie-bo-FEENIE, Joshy.

Joshy: Zokey, you meanie-bo-peenie too.

Sadly, he didn’t realize that HE was now being the meanie-bo-peenie/feenie. 

Zokey LOVES clothes.  She rarely wears jeans and t-shirts opting to wear dresses and skirts.  After she discovered boots this past December, she hasn’t worn her slippahs in two weeks!

Yesterday, Zokey wore a golden dress that was kindly given to us by our friends. 

Zokey: Mommy, can I wear my boots with this dress?

Me: Which ones?  (She has three pairs!)

Zokey: The brown ones.

Me: Sure, why not?

Buggy: Boots?  With a dress?  That looks weird.

Zokey: Buggy!  I have GOOD fashion.

Yeah, Buggy, she has good fashion.  Better than Mommy!!

For the past month or so, we’ve had several power outages.  Which is weird because we’ve never had so many until Amel started working for them…hmmm.  Anyway, with candles lit and flashlights in hand, we couldn’t think of a better setting to tell “scary” stories.

Amel did a good job of scaring the kiddos by telling his story in a hushed voice and suddenly yelling at the end.  Ricky did a good job as well because I found myself getting scared until he said, “but in 2011 scientists proved that they were lying!”

Buggy was fast asleep, if you can believe that and surprisingly Zokey had nothing to say!  So that left Joshy.  Here’s the story he told us last night:

Joshy: Once upon a time, there was a big, big giant.  He did something.  The end.

What do you think?  Do we have a future storyteller on our hands? 

The kiddos have been playing truth or dare for several weeks now.  To be honest, I don’t know WHAT kinds of questions they’re asking each other or WHAT types of dares they are making each other do.  With so many other issues to worry about, I figure if they aren’t crying or bleeding, I don’t really see the need to regulate this game, you know what I mean?

Today, they were playing in the van, so I had no choice but to listen in on their game.

Joshy: I want to play!

Ricky: Okay, go ahead.

Joshy: Toos or dare, Rix?

Ricky: Dare.

Joshy: Okaaay.  I dare you to kiss your belly button.

Everyone: *Cracking up*

Ricky: Joshy, that’s impossible!

Joshy immediately lifts his shirt up, kisses his right pointer finger and then touches his belly button.

Joshy: See?

Yeah, Rix, see?

Joshy has a little jealous streak in him.  Whenever one of the other kiddos gives me a hug or kiss, sure enough, Joshy comes in right after them and gives me a really big hug and kiss.  The other day after he gave me an especially big hug and kiss I ask him:

Me: Joshy, do you love Mommy a little bit or a lot?

Joshy: I love Mommy….a big, big, big bit!

Isn’t that so sweet?  I love him..and my other kiddos a big, big, big bit too.

This just happened five minutes ago as the girls were eating their afterschool snack.

Buggy: People can’t call you Zozo at school, they have to call you Zoey.

Zokey: But it’s confusing!  There’s a boy named Joey and I think they’re saying my name!  Only my friends Nanea and Joy call me Zozo.  Oh well, I think I will tell them to call me Principessa.

Me: No…not Principessa.

Zokey: ANYWAY, Buggy, I wish I had your skin and face.  I also want your hair…but not your clothes.

Is this funny to anybody else?

This was yesterday, after school:

Me: Hey Zo, how was school?

Zokey: Good.

Me: Did anything interesting happen today?

Zokey: Yeah, we listened to music.  You know, sometimes the music makes me feel sad, or want to come home, or eat cookies.

Me: Eat cookies?

Zokey: Yup!

I was so flabberghasted that I didn’t think to ask which song that was.  When I find out, I”LL be sure not to listen to it!!