Deep thoughts with Nolan

Nolan does his deep thinking on Sunday mornings. He has asked or commented all of the following last Sunday morning and this morning. 

"What's sin?"

(while reading the announcements on the screen at the front of the sanctuary) "It's a good thing they tell you to turn your cell phone off. You shouldn't be on your phone during worship."

"What are the other 7 planets for?"

"Why aren't babies born with clothes on?" (Bill had a great answer for that. He told Nolan that God makes the babies and people make the clothes)

"Everyone has someone who is hard to love."

**And finally, this morning we were singing 'The First Noel'. As usual, Nolan was standing next to me, following along in the hymn book with his finger. I can't possibly sing unless he helps, you know. I leaned down and whispered to him that he if had been a girl, I was going to name him Noelle. Nolan looked shocked. He said, "What do you mean? Don't the moms and dads get to pick what the babies are going to be?" 

I guess he thought we ordered three boys. 

Oh....Christmas tree...

Christmas 2000. That was the year we discovered Christmas trees and pets don't mix. Cadence and Aria loved to remove ornaments from the tree and hide them behind the piano. Bill and I learned over the next few years to keep the fragile ornaments up high and to pinch ornament hooks as tightly as we could on the lower branches. That helped some, but I would still find treasures each time we moved the piano. 

Fast forward to 2008. By now, we had figured out that the best place for the tree was behind closed doors, so we put the tree in the Florida room and kept the doors shut, thus keeping the tree safe from cats and children alike. 

Christmas 2011. Tree in Florida room falls over, lands on stone floor. Huge mess, broken ornaments, upset children and Mom. Tree is relocated to living room where Katie uses certain ornaments as 'batting' practice. Get it??

Christmas 2014. Tree is assembled in the living room. Fragile ornaments up high, non-fragile, non-sentimental ornaments down low. We were worried about the cats and Copper messing with the tree. 

But they have left it alone. Instead, Copper ate my tree skirt. 

I'm not happy, but I'm not devastated either. I got it on the clearance rack adte Christmas a few years ago. I've learned not to invest too much in decor. A pet or child will just ruin it eventually anyway. 

Tie Guy

Nolan loves to dress up for church. I'm not being sarcastic, he really does love it. He is a huge fan of ties. His brothers prefer polo shirts or sweaters, but Nolan wants to rock a tie. 

This morning, I laid out a dress shirt and a sweater vest, along with his precious blue tie. Bill said Nolan came down the stairs, struggling with his apparel and asking for help with his tie. 

Bill saw him and almost lost it. Nolan had put on the sweater vest first, then the dress shirt, and was trying to clip his tie on top. Bill gently explained that Nolan had gotten the order wrong and that the shirt needed to go on before the vest. 

Nolan wasn't happy with this. "But Dad! Then no one will see my tie!"

Here he is, correctly attired. He took a look at this picture and was pleased to see that his tie is still noticeable. 

Keeping it surreal

Some days, Bill and I feel like our lives aren't real. It's like we are stuck in some sort of slapstick sitcom. 

Sunday morning, there was no Sunday school, so the boys all stayed with us for the entire service. About halfway through the sermon, Nolan decided he was dying of thirst. DYING, I say. I really want him to learn to sit and be patient, so I was trying to distract him. I kept giving him a 'look'. He eventually leaned close and said, "Mom, what is wrong with your eyes?"

At dinner that night, everyone was eating when TJ suddenly blurted out, "Llamas are nature's greatest warriors."

What?

Tonight at dinner, Sam spilled his milk. It hit the crack in the center of the table (where the leaf goes in) and rained down underneath...and all over Copper, who was in the midst of patrolling for crumbs. Her fur is crunchy now. But since it was coconut milk, I bet her skin is moisturized. 

Does anyone want to give my dog a bath?