from the sublime to the ridiculous...

christmas day, bram was playing with his lego in the living room. he turned around and said, "mommy, i'm really thankful for everything i have."

a few minutes later, he opened another bag of lego pieces (apparently 3 bags were not enough). the bag exploded, and pieces flew everywhere. he looked around at the mess and said,

"well, i didn't see that coming."

then this morning, i gave him a time-out. he sat on his seat and complained,

"this is not the gateway to the good life."

yup. that's my bram.

bram's favourite colours

when talking to a woman at Little Caesar's tonight...

i like all the colours. except pink, purple, and pinky-purple.

he knows what he likes, apparently.

some random bram-ness

yes, yes, i know. it's been a while since i've posted here. my bad. so i decided to give you a couple great bram-isms from the last month or so.

on our way to asher's immunology appointment in toronto a month ago, the kids were very excited to see the CN tower. once bram saw it in the distance, he said,

"wow, the CN tower is huge! it's even bigger than my thumb!!"

ya think?

this morning during our weekly trip to the grocery store, i let the kids each get a mini pumpkin. bram, right at this very moment, is trying to balance his pumpkin on his head. he was successful for a moment, too, and said,

"mommy, look what i can do!! isn't this great? now i can be in the circus!!"

ah, brammy...

blithe's begging to watch youtube videos, asher's throwing a fit, bram says,

"mommy, i like minding my own business."

bram's new wish for himself

sorry for nothing quirky or funny today, folks, but this is so amazing, i have to share this with you.

over the last few months, bram has been asking for new toys. all. the. time. and literally, every day, it's a different toy or stuffy or something. every day.

but at bedtime last night, this is what he prayed:

"dear God the Father, thank-You for this lovely day. please give me a good sleep tonight with no scary dreams. just nice dreams... and please help me to thankful for what i have. amen."

and this afternoon, while eating chips, he got a "wish chip." so i told him to make a wish.

"what should i wish for?" he asked me.

"whatever you want. it's your chip. make a wish."

he paused for a moment, eyes closed, as he pondered his wish. and then he whispered,

"i wish i was more grateful for what i have."

i am so blown away by his maturity! and as i sit here, considering a trip to michaels so i can wander around and buy something (nothing specific, just something), i'm reminded of this, and i make my own little wish...

i wish i was more grateful for what i have.

thank-you, brammy, for your grace and wisdom. you inspire me to be a better person every day, and i love you very, very much! <3

bram's new fave song :)

throughout the day with bram...

getting ready for a walk:
"c'mon, we have to get our shoes on. except, except you already have yours on. so i guess i just need to put mine on. and i better put my jacket on, just to be on the safe side. oh, yeah! and i DEFINITELY need my sunglasses."


random comment:
"mommy... lol." (and yes, he pronounced it "lol", as a word, not individual letters.)


getting ready to play outside:
"i have all the equipment i need to play outside: i have my shoe, my sunglasses, and of course my other shoe."

sitting at the breakfast table...

my mom said, "bram, you have the coolest eyebrows. they just always make you look full of wonder."

"yes. and i'm always hungry."

then followed a conversation about bread...

"nana, do you know what the theme song is for Smart Bread?"

"no, what is it?"

"Smart Bread." (sung as two quarter notes. that's it. nothing fancy, just two quarter notes.)

bedtime prayer

"dear Jesus, please give me, blithe, asher, and my whole family a good sleep tonight --"

my mom interrupted with, "bram, asher's having his surgery tomorrow. maybe you should pray for that."

"and please help Asher not freak out, if that's what he's gonna do."

remember aqua? LOL

"Mommy, Barbie is made of plastic. and it is fantastic."

bram, on bram. and bram, on mr lunt growing up in new jersey

"i have a sweet tooth. actually, i think all my teeth are sweet. because then they're all sweet."

and i have to explain something before the mr lunt comment. mr lunt is a gourd-type character on veggie tales. he's hispanic.as for where he grew up...

quoth bram, "he's from new jersey. you can tell, because he wears a brown hat."
quoth larry the cucumber, "oh, it's all so clear now."

not sure if i should laugh or cry over this one... LOL

so, bram and i are driving in the car this afternoon (to be clear, i was driving. he's too short for that). he started talking about Jesus.

"how did Jesus die on the cross?" so i filled him in on the age-appropriate details. he thought about that for a minute, and then said,

"when people die and then come back to life, they're zombies."

oh dear.

HIT IT!!!!

this afternoon, we went a-driving for a while. the kids wanted to drive over a steep hill outside of town, so i said, "sure!"

after going over the hill (once in each direction), we turned to come home. we came to Quaker Line. the kids wanted to know why it was called that, so i explained that there was a quaker meeting house down the road. they thought we should go there one week.

"you guys would get booted out of there so fast!!!!!" i was almost crying from laughing!

they couldn't understand that. i told them that quaker worship services are very quiet. silent, in fact. the kids tried to convince me they could do it.

"alright," i said, "let's pretend we're at a quaker church." and there was silence in the car.

and i started to think that maybe, just maybe, we could do it one week. maybe they would be able to sit in silence for an extended period of time.

and then

from the backseat

came a 5 year-old voice

exclaiming,

"OK, FOLKS, HIT IT!!!!!"