This winter break has been a lot of fun. I mean, the kids were fun when they were babies and all, but nothing beats being able to test my athletic abilities against the children while sledding in subzero weather (guess who crashed every time), or test my patience against theirs while doing a 1000 piece puzzle (which is actually a 998 piece puzzle now) or test their spelling skills against mine in a good game of scrabble (imagine my surprise when Jared beat me with a word he didn't even know was real!). And in all this fun, I've learned some interesting things about our kids as well; for instance, they have nicknamed many of the rooms in our house - the school room is called "the goo room" (Thanks to Amber's mispronunciation), the living room is called "the lizarding room" (Thanks to Clarissa's mispronunciation), and the bathroom in called "the poo room" (no explanation needed I hope).
But not all the funny word usages come from the girls; when Jared and Chris were out sledding yesterday, Jared informed Chris that the snow must be full of MSG because he just couldn't get enough of it. Then, tonight while we were tucking him into bed he started talking about what he wants to do for his New Years Revolution. We got a good laugh while we teased him about revolting against chores, schoolwork, his sisters and of course MSG, then let him explain that for his New Years Resolution he would like to resolve, not revolt, to make his room look like a space shuttle. We told him to go ahead and design it which was followed by a query as to whether or not we had a Hamlet down in the basement. We had to explain that although we have a stage for performing Hamlet in the basement, we are not in the habit of keeping Shakespearean characters in our basement. We finally figured out that he meant a hammock, not Hamlet and that he wanted it for his space shuttle bedroom.
I wish that every day could be this perfect and I wish our kids would never grow up. I will be sad when the days of "goo rooms", "lizarding rooms", revolutions and Hamlets are gone and my children will always beat me at games of athleticism, patience, and spelling. But until then, I will try to enjoy every moment. I sure do love these kids.
