Last night when I was on my moderate tirade about all the slacking that was going on, Lane could hardly contain a smile and a laugh. I was NOT about to ask him in that moment what he found humorous about it all. So I asked him later. "You looked so funny," was his answer.

"Mom, I know how to spell pernicious," Eliza disclosed at breakfast. "Really?" I queried. "P-e-r-n-i-c-i-o-u-s," she gave. "Where did you learn to spell pernicious?" I furthered. "Gabby's mom taught us memory strategies. I chose 'People eat ramen noodles in Canada. I often use spoons.' " Wow. Good morning!

Today I read Tacky the Penguin to Anna. As I closed the book, she said, "I'm a nice bird."

After recounting a humorous story from school, Peter concluded, "It just makes my funny bone stick out!"

I had just started reading my scriptures this morning in my room (still in my pjs and robe) when Anna knocked on my door. "Can I come in?" she asked in her morning voice. "Yes." I said. She walked in, heading straight to my lap. Spying a book nearby, she asked those words that often come out of her mouth first thing in the morning: "Can you read this to me?" Guess what the book was: Five Minutes' Peace. 

Don't you love being tongue-twisted as a mom? This morning I called out to Nate after dropping him off for school, "Call me on my cell phone, but call me twice in case I can't answer it the first time. Sometimes I just can't get it that fastly!"Fastly?!

Peter just came upstairs after waking up in the morning. "I just sounded out 'cupcakes:' c-u-p-c-a-t-i? No, e-s!"

ALL of our children have been in this trend the last few months of saying, "Yesssssss!" when they are excited about something, such as Sarah today: "Mom, can I have a donut?" (I give the affirmative answer...) "Yessssssss!" I think it is funny to hear everyone from Anna to Sarah use this expression. Guess it's the new "cool" for our family!

Julia: "Mommy, what do you do when you're on page 19 of a book that has 279 pages, and it's due in the morning?"

Rebecca: "READ."

We were looking at Jenny's blog and saw their family all dressed up as a farm family. I saw her husband's outfit and said, "What a hoot!" Anna asked, "Was he a hoot for Halloween?"

"What do witches put on their hair?" Peter asked.

"What?" I asked (after being so prompted by P.)

"SCAREspray!"

Anna decided to take a turn:

"What do witches put on their feet?" She questioned.

"What?" I asked (I'm a quick learner).

"I don't know. YOU guess."

After Julia got her princess ball gown on, Peter said in sincere awe, "You look SUPER, Julia!"

I am always amazed at the way children's minds gather information. Sometimes at night I put on some children's stories in French, from a series called Martine, for Anna to go to listen to while going to sleep. Today I was listening to the Relief Society General Meeting in French when Anna, who was by me, commented, "This sounds like Martine!"

Anna asked me this morning, "Can I have some hot cocoa for breakfast since it's snowing?" I made her some. She came to me before lunch and asked, "Can I have some hot cocoa for lunch since it's snowing?" I think I see a pattern here...

Anna to Sarah this morning: "When you are grown up, I'll come babysit your babies for you so you can go on a LONG trip with your dad [husband]."

Peter lay in bed tonight. "How long is night? 10 hours?" he asked, semi-frustrated. "Yep," I answered. "Enjoy it now." "It's too long!" he cried.

When I asked Peter where his socks where this morning as he was putting on his shoes, he said to me, "I don't know where they go! It's just like magic!"

"You know what I want to be for Halloween? St. Louis!" (Anna means Esther, played by Judy Garland in the musical movie, Meet Me in St. Louis)

"Mark my words. You're going to marry a potato farmer from Idaho who loves to camp." Lane, to Sarah