"Careful the things you say...

...children will listen." These are the lines from a song I love from INTO THE WOODS. Don't mistake me loving this song to mean I love this musical. I don't. But I was reminded of it's lyrics the other night during auditions and it brought me to this post. So, now, parents, for YOUR listening pleasure:

The other night we went for a Family Home Evening bike ride. Just the four of us. Phillip, Joy, Cassidy, and Eli. As we were riding down the road I casually commented, "We shouldn't all ride side by side or it blocks the cars from coming through." Phillip adds his two cents worth. "You're right. Let's not ride abreast." Eli, not skipping a beat, asks, "What's a breast?" And then proceeds to laugh so hard we almost collide in a heap of 4 FHE bike riders. My boy. My heart. My mini-king-of clever vocab. His other sister would've been proud had she been here. I'm wondering when he will learn the joke, "Dad, your shoes are under there." just so Phillip will answer "Under where?" and Eli will finish it with, "Ha! Made you say underwear!" Careful the things you say...children will listen!

*In case you are wondering when our family became so photogenically beautiful and so much younger, it happened right after we stopped drinking Coke and eating ice cream! Seriously, you don't think I was going to post a picture of the REAL topic of this blog, now do you?

Hope It Gives You *!+#

Yesterday Eli had two friends from school over to spend the day. They are, respectively, Christopher and Hannah, who are, coincidentally, twins. We went to McDonald's for Happy Meals and then to the local park for a picnic and some playing. On the way there a popular song came on the radio. You may or may not be familiar with this particular tune. It's by one of Cassidy's all-time favorite groups, The All-American Rejects. The cd was given to her a few months ago as a thank you gift. One of the songs is called, "Gives You Hell" (only using this term once, so from here on out, fill in that blank with this *!+#) Eli has never liked this song. Whenever we listen to it he asks us to turn it off. He doesn't like the "H" word. Growing up with lots of car-singing in our family, I have always told the girls, "If the word is innappropriate, just don't sing it!" Apparently, Eli doesn't even want to hear it. So, when it came on the radio he hurriedly told his friends, "We are turning this off. It says the "H" word." Our little friend Hannah didn't skip a beat, but continued the conversation. "Eli, let me just demonstrate how you can sing this song without saying *!+#. Whenever you hear the word, just open your mouth and make a loud noise like this--HONK!" She then proceeded to HONK throughout the entire song, accompanied by two boys, both deciding that if honking sounds are good for girls to use in place of the "H" word, then of course, belching and farting sounds would be just right for boys to use! I'd be willing to bet that The All-American Rejects won't be calling us anytime soon to replace their back-up singers. And for the record, I think that I, too, will now be turning it off when I hear it on the radio. I'm not sure I can stand another chorus of "Hope it gives you (HONK-FART-BELCH) *!+#

"Can't Buy Me Love"

" Money can't buy me love." Unless it starts and ends with these four words. Rock Band. Beatles Edition. Arriving soon at a store near you. 9-9-09. If My Love knows what's good for him, we'll be celebrating my 47th year singing, 'na na na na na na, Today is your Birthday...na na na na na na" with my new toy. Everyone should Come Together and play with us. I. Can't. Wait. The only thing that would make it better would be if John and Paul could join us. Oh, yeah. John is dead. I'll settle for Paul. If anyone can arrange that, just let me know. In the meantime, brush up on your Beatles lyrics and get ready to sing-a-long with the Fab Four! (Joy, Phil, Eli, and Cassidy)I'm fairly certain that with A Little Help From My Friends we will be using this wii game Eight Days A Week!