Genetics

 A few years ago in Japan Athena was convinced that she was related to her friend Aria! Reason being that they both had the same color of hair and eyes as well as a love for dogs. She was young then and didn't understand. 

This morning she wore her Japanese kimono to church. She asked me "Do I look Japanese?"

I responded "No, your hair is too light and your eyes are blue."

She said "There are blonde Japanese people." I think she believes the Americans we knew in Japan were Japanese simply because they lived in Japan. 

She then said "Well, I am part Japanese!" 

Lol. Maybe she still doesn't understand how this works. 

 At Tiberias' birthday party he heard a friend say a word he isn't used to. Wussy. 

Tiberias responded "What does 'wussy' mean?!...Nevermind. I don't think I want to know." lol. Wussy means weak and scared person but I guess Ty isn't familiar with that one. 

Tall Boy!

In every bedroom there is a ceiling fan with light fixtures.  Luke has gotten so tall that last night when we called him for dinner he somehow broke a light bulb , with his head, trying to hurry to the dinner! haha

The bulb shattered and was likely in his hair because it ended up spreading out down the hallway. It was a bit of a mess to clean up but it was also pretty funny.

Communication

 Our kids don't communicate very well with each other. For example, when Sterling and I are away from the house we will get texts with the same question. If Luke asks "What's for dinner?" and I answer him Athena might ask the same question via text an hour later. 

Or worse, one time I texted Luke saying "Tell the other kids...do not eat dinner. I am bringing home Wendy's." When I arrived home the kids were eating dinner and I asked why. Ty responded "Luke said to eat dinner." He must have read the text wrong because he was so confused. 

Luke's Trick

 Lately Luke has been sneaky. Whenever we are out and about and we get up to leave Luke will observe to make sure nothing gets left behind. If something is not picked up he will grab it. But...instead of handing it to the person who owns it he will stick it in his pocket. And say nothing.

Then when we are almost home and someone realizes they are missing something Luke will watch the reactions a little and then reveal that he has the item. Usually it is Athena's phone or Tiberias' glasses.

Leaving the hair salon Luke swiped Ty's glasses before he had a chance to leave them behind. "Where are my glasses?" Ty asked.

An hour later leaving Cafe Zuppa's Athena left her phone. Luke swiped it and she did not know it was missing until we pulled into Grandma's driveway. 

"Swiper, no swiping." Although, it's a good thing he doesn't let us leave items behind. 

Cute Stories

 

It's cute how my 13 and a 1/2 year old still finds his mom for a hug before bed each night. If Mom is already asleep he finds dad for a hug. We love this boy so much!

Today the kids had distance learning, school from home. Athena started her math worksheet saying "This is so easy! It's just demonic fractions."

"Decimals and fractions" Mom corrected.

Idaho Trip

 During our Idaho trip to visit Jon and his family a few funny things happened.

1) Athena

We were gifted magic wands that Jon personally made. Emily personally made the certificates to make them authentic. When a person tried out a wand there would either be a crashing or other bad sound if the wand was not meant for that person. If Potter music began it was a match and they had found their wand.

Emily controlled the sound but it was so cool that Athena became too convinced. After the ceremony was over and all five of our family had wands Athena exclaimed "My wand isn't working!"  Jon, I believe, was the first to say "Wizards are not allowed wands until they are eleven years old. So, it won't work until you turn 11."
That convinced Athena. Now she goes around saying "My wand wont work until I'm eleven." But she doesn't think to ask us to show her our magic? lol

In her defense...we did take her to Universal Studios last year and the wands we bought there were magic (within the Potter town atleast). And she has a great imagination.

2) Luke claimed the hall outside of Ben and Spencer's room as his own. He called it his "Hall of Depression." He was sad about moving away from Japan and all of his friends.
One day I walked past Luke who was laying on the soft, tall carpet in his hall of depression. His Luigi hat still on his head. His long curly hair sprawled out perfectly. And dark sunglasses on his eyes. It was picture perfect and nobody ever looked as cool wallowing as Luke did at that moment!

I wanted to get my phone and take a picture. But that would be bad parenting..."My son is so cute when he is depressed."  lol...no.
This is one of those stories that are sensitive when raw. But in a couple years I will read it to Luke and he will find it to be funny. They always do.

3) Tiberias was able to see different talents of Jon while we were there. Cooking, pen making, wand making. And when we returned to Provo from the trip Ty said "My uncle is so cool!!" He was very impressed.