Skylerism: Thanksgiving

My family put on an amazing Thanksgiving dinner this year. Mom and Janna made mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, yams, squash, stuffing,rolls, and like nine amazing pies including an apple caramel pie(yum!); and my brother Tim made a completely awe-inspiring turducken! Seriously, the turducken was amazing-it had three different stuffings and it took him 2 whole days to make. It was SO delicious!! I made nothing at the request of family members who've had my cooking before. My brother Steve was also in town, as well as Janna's husband Shawn, whom we haven't seen in months as he's been traveling for work.
After filling ourselves senseless, we all sat around the table, satiated and unable to move. Skyler got up to put his dishes away, and pausing mid-way to the kitchen,tilted his head to the side and commented rather sentimentally:

S: "A better meal, I've never had. This is a Thanksgiving to remember. Thanksgiving two-thousand nine."

and continued on his way.

Ariaism: smart

Aria's sounding out words in a book, I'm doing dishes.

M: "Wow, Aria! You're doing great at reading. You're so smart. I know you'll go to college one day and be able to learn even more!"

A: (beaming) "I'm as smart as a college-er?"

Xanderism: hiccups

X: "Hc-up! Hc-up!

D: "Hey, Xander buddy! Are you okay?"

X: "Hc-up! Hc-up! Oh no, Daddy! I have the make-ups!"

Ariaism: shopping

Aria, with her grandparents at KOHL's:

A: "I'm easy to shop for because I want everything."

Skylerism: kitty love

The kids are eating a very healthy lunch of mac n' cheese, with a redeeming home-jarred grape juice beverage.

S: "Mom, I shouldn't kiss Jonny on the lips." (Jonny is our cat).

M: "That's true. Did Daddy tell you that?"

S: "No, I figured it out for myself."

M: "Really? How?"

S: "Well, there's germs on his lips...plus, he doesn't like grape juice."

Skylerism: Patronus

S: "Mom, you can't cast a patronus. Dad can and so can I, but not you."

M: "What? Why not?"

S: "Well, in order to cast a patronus you need to not only focus on casting the patronus, but you also need to think of a really happy memory, like maybe the day you were born or something like that."

M: "I think I can do that. If both you and Daddy can do it, then why can't I?"

S: "Well, you know how--, well, you're always saying you can only do one thing at a time."

Ariaism: sore

Aria, showing me the sore in her mouth :"Mom, look? See it? Oww!! It hurts, see? See my cranker?"

My ride home today.

S: "I have great news! Something really great happened today. I made friends with my enemy!"
(His enemy is a cute little girl who's never done anything wrong to him as far as I know but he's talked about her the whole year-even writing a story about a monster who eats her).

M: "Really?! Skyler, that's fantastic! How did you do it? What happened?"

S: "Well, I was doing a cool science experiment during recess and she wanted to join me, so I let her."

M: "Cool, buddy! What kind of experiment was it?"

S: "Well, it's probably against school rules, but I gathered some leaves and I used my magnifying paper to try to start a small fire, but we couldn't. I got really close though, I think. They got really hot and I was hoping to burn holes through them. Don't worry though, I also put some small rocks around the leaves so the fire wouldn't spread. Anyway, she thought it was cool, so I let her watch. I also let her look at the prisms through the magnifying paper and she thought they were pretty."

M: "Wow, buddy! That was a pretty clever experiment and, though I'm generally not in favor of starting fires at school, I'm proud of you for being safe about it by surrounding the leaves with rocks and also for making friends with your enemy."

S: "Yeah, it's probably the first time in the history of the world that someone made friends with their enemy by participating with them in a simple activity."

M: "Huh. Well-. Well, maybe, Sky!"

S: "Anyway, all I can think about is food. I'm really hungry."

M: "You're hungry?"

S: "I'm starving! You know, I did make a new friend today and that takes A LOT of energy! You know, I can also feel my heart beating really fast."

A: "You know what? I think that means you fell in love with your enemy!"

S: "Huh, well...no. But maybe I have a crush. She is a little bit cute, I think."

A: "What's a crush?"

S: "It's a piece of fatuous love. You know, if you're infatuated with someone. But I don't want to be famous for knowing the word fatuous even though I'm so young."

A: "You're going to be famous?"

S: "Well, I could be if people know that I know what fatuous means. You know, I just don't want the stress of being famous; people always following you around in crowds taking pictures and wanting to know what your doing all the time."

A: "Yeah, you DON'T want to go around feeling famous."

S: "Harry Potter knows how I feel."

Xanderism: Candy

Xander and I had a sweet moment the day after Halloween. We both sat snuggling on my bed with his bag of candy in between us, sampling a few different sugary snacks. Whoppers, Milky Ways.
Xander pulled out a box of DOTS.

X: "What's deese?"

M: "D-O-T-S. DOTS!"

X: (Chewing a red one). "Mmm, yum! Yummy! Dat's good!"

M: "Ooh, yeah. Those are good! What do they taste like?"

X: "...Dots."

Xanderism: crazy Sunday

It was a crazy Sunday. Xander would not go to Nursery and would not hold still nor be quiet during sacrament meeting. After our final meeting, I chased him (reverently) through the chapel until, thanks to a trick move, I finally caught up with him. I grabbed him by the wrist, slung him, screaming and crying, up over my shoulder, and walked (in my high heels, with heavy church bag, stuffed with toys, snacks, and probably bricks) to our car which was parked quite a distance away. With a final heave, I slung/wrestled him into his car seat and against much resistance, managed to buckle his heiny in.

Suddenly, Xander stopped screaming, turned and looked at me.

X: "PHEW!!"

Skylerism:Mom, did you know?

The other day I was putting a screw into the wall. Skyler, passing through, stopped, looked, then commented.

S: "Mom, did you know that a screw is a series of spiraling inclined planes that can hold materials together more securely than nails?"

M: "Well--------ummm, no. Not in those terms, no."

S: "Well, it's true."

Then off he went.

Ariaism: Jokes

A: "Knock knock."

M: "Who's there?"

A: "Orange."

M: "Orange who?"

A:" Orange ate the American flag."

M: (silence).

A: "Mom, how come I can never get a grown-up to laugh?"