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Following are some quotes that are meaningful to our family. Some are things the children have said that we found interesting or funny. Some are things we have found ourselves saying to the children that we never expected to utter. Some are more profound or just plain silly.

• "I was eating Skittles out of my purse and one of them was a Tylenol"
• - Sheryl, explaining why she suddenly jumped out of the car and started gagging and rinsing her mouth out in the parking lot!

• "H" says "huh" for pony
• - SharenRose (age 4), explaining an alphabet book to Providence.

• "Requests or reminders, and always with love"
• - A requirement for our children that has become a common mantra, stating that they are not allowed to give their siblings commands but rather may make personal requests or polite reminders about existing rules.

• "That makes my nerves wiggle"
• - Providence (age 3), referring to sour candy spray.

• Child: Is she respectable?
  Father: Yes, I believe so.
  Child: But Dad, you said that NO respectable woman has more than one earring in each ear!
• - Sheryl as a young child, having a conversation with her mortified father about (and in front of!) one of the ladies in their church--one of those times when a parent wishes they had filled their kids mouth with candy instead of letting them talk.

• "This song sounds mad"
• - Providence (age 3), referring to the opening instrumental stanza of The Via Dolorosa. We found it interesting how children are able to tell the intended emotion of instrumental music at even young ages.

• "Your honesty is the greatest part of your integrity - tell the truth and keep your word"
• - Kordel. As a high school math teacher I often told this to my students, and as a parent I often tell it to my children.

• "Tick-tock, tick-tock"
• - SharenRose (age 3), telling us what sound an alligator makes.

• "Everything started turning hazy and then I passed away"
• - Caleb (age 9), meaning to say "passed out" while describing what happened while we were taking Easter pictures.

• "No, I don't want a brownie -- I want an apple"
• - Providence (age 3) -- every parent dreams of hearing these words.

• "It must be genetic"
• - Toby (age 16), in response to me playfully asking, "What is wrong with you?" Probably one of the quickest and most witty responses I've ever heard Toby make.

• "Mommy, I found water balls"
• - Providence (age 2), to Sheryl whose half-attentive response was "yes, yes, that's nice." Shortly after Providence left the room to go back to playing with the water balls, SharenRose ran into the room saying, "Mommy! Mommy! Providence made a mess!!" Apparently Providence had learned how to open the refrigerator and found a bowl full of egg-shaped "balls" that make water when you drop them!

• "It scaring my popcorn"
• - Providence (age 2), at the movies in response to a preview for Night At The Museum 2

• "hee hee...ho ho ha...[muffled laughter]...HO HO HA HA HAAA [uncontrollable laughter]"
• - Sheryl, in response to Kory stubbing his toe; Sheryl, in response to Kory almost being devoured by a man-eating lobster; Sheryl, in response to Kory falling down 20 flights of stairs and breaking every bone in his body -- I have not yet figured out what she finds so funny about me getting hurt...

• "No, I'm 9"
• - Ezra (age 9) to a waitress who had just asked, "You're 11 and under, right?"

• "Good thing you're not a stroller"
• - Sheryl, apparently half asleep. The conversation went something like this: S: Good thing you're not a stroller. K: A stroller or a spider? [She had just made a startled jump as I kissed her goodnight before going downstairs to work late on school]. S: Either one. K: What does a stroller have to do with anything? S: Because I thought it was something [while making swiping motions with her hand]. K: um...OK, good night.

• "Uh, Dad, my sandwich is on fire..."
• - Ezra (age 9), after seeing his sandwich burst into flames in the microwave, not realizing that Wendy's wrappers are metallic!

• "That's an accident waiting to happen"
• - Kordel (or was it Gramps?). My family tells me that I say this a lot. I think it is one of those things I heard from my dad when I was young that has stuck with me.

• "I am struck by the fact that the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core. They expand slowly at first, as if contending with difficulties, and so are solidified and perfected. Such trees continue to expand with nearly equal rapidity to extreme old age."
• - Henry David Thoreau. Sheryl and I found this quote touching while considering Providence's initial developmental delays.

• "I make things fit. What's your super power?"
• - Kordel, regarding his superhuman tetris-like ability to make 14 suitcases fit into a space designed for 8. In truth, this is a rephrasing of one of the funniest breast-feeding shirts that Sheryl has ever found: "I make milk. What's your super power?"

• "Free's my favorite price--except when I am selling."
• - Kordel.

• "We'll feed it warm milk and tuna, and it will love us forever"
• - Sheryl, regarding a wild cat that we had caught in our racoon trap. We opened the cage after bringing it into my office, only to have books, milk, and tuna sent flying through the air! That cat demolished almost half of my office before we were able to get it out of the house! (Somehow I didn't feel the love).

• "OK, we've got your child scheduled for a circumcision on the 19th--now was that for a boy or a girl?"
• - The doctor's office, while scheduling Providence's circumcision!

• "She had a filthy mouth--she kept saying the F-word!" ...[after he had our undivided attention, he went on to clarify:] "Every other word was 'fart'!"
• - Ezra (age 7), commenting on his cousin's language.

• "Rabbits make bread"
• - Ezra (age 6). The conversation went something like this: Ezra: "Mom, what do goats make? Do they make bread?" Caleb: "Bread?! Animals make meat, not bread!" Ezra: "SOME animals do! Mom, tell him rabbits make bread!"

• "Poor me"
• - Kory. This has become my favorite response when things ail Sheryl.
     The conversations generally go something like this:
     Sheryl: "I have a headache." Kory: "Poor me." OR
     Sheryl: "I haven't had enough time to get everything done today." Kory: "Poor me." OR
     Sheryl: "I just slipped and fell down the stairs and broke both of my legs and will be on bed rest for the
     next month!" Kory: "Poor me. Why do all these things seem to happen to me?"

• "Why exercise when you could be eating?"
• - Uncle Kevin, on the cruise to Alaska, upon being told at the breakfast table that Sharen was in the exercise room on the treadmill.

• "You are pretty"
• - A fortune cookie that Toby opened--by far the funniest fortune I've ever seen!

• "Donkey thought thumb was carrot"
• - Toby as a toddler, after being bitten by a donkey at a nativity scene. It was such a big experience for him then that he said it over and over again for the rest of the day, to everyone he met.

•  "I'M NOT YELLING!"
• - This is best said as loud as possible. I want to try it in a library some time, but Sheryl has forbidden me to do so.

• "You can't steer a parked car"
• - This is one of the deepest yet profoundly simple things that I have ever been told by my dad. It is one of those words of wisdom that I will eventually pass on to my children when they question God's direction for their lives...

• "It's amazing how every time we build character, you get some work done for free"
• - Caleb (age 9) upon being told that he and his brothers would need to take turns shoveling out the dirt that had washed into our driveway in Nevis during a flash flood. I had said that some good solid hard work would help them build character.

• "But I thought cooties were from girls"
• - One of the boys in response to Sheryl joking about getting "kid cooties" after sharing a drink with them.

• "Are you an owner or a steward"
• - I keep this in a number of places for me to see on regular occasions. I forget where I originally heard it, but it remains one of the most powerful reminders I've ever heard to help me to keep things in this world in their proper perspective.

• "I'll take a credit card"
• - Benji (age 7) after I was unable to find a dollar in my wallet for the tooth he had just lost.

• "Don't put that bug in your mouth!"
• - Told to Ezra (age 3) who was holding a newly captured bug in his hand, but had just been told to put away a toy that required both hands. You could see his little brain gears working as he looked around for a place to put the bug where it wouldn't get away, before his hand went for his mouth...

• "Uh-oh"
• - Toby's very first "word." We found this an ominous sign with other choice phrases to follow such as: "oops," "it broke," and "Mom and Dad, you remember that car that we used to have..."