The Final Insanity

Since not a single one of my siblings is showing the slightest interest in taking over this sadly-neglected blog, this may very well be the last post, unless my parents decide to exercise their supreme authority and add "blogging" to the list of school assignments for their students this fall. Thus, here are some final small scraps of insanity--

Gloria: Is your brain bigger than Ivar's?
Rosemary: Yes. It's bigger than Sylvia's.
Sylvia: My insults are coming back to haunt me. I told her the other day that she needed to get a brain.
Mom: So she got one...and it's bigger than yours? 

Cecily: Maybe Papa has two brains and they fight all the time!
Mom: That's why he gets headaches.  

Cecily: What did I click on this time? "...Criminal eavesdropping..." 

Mom: you're just so pickable!
Papa: I'd like to be DIS-pickable. ...Wait.  

Thor: Are we in Centralia?
Gloria: No; we're in Odin!
Thor: Boy; that policeman back there sure is lost!

Sylvia: Guys, what should John and I have for our first dance song?
Cecily: The chicken dance!
Thor: The bunny song!
Knut: The Imperial March.  

Sylvia: ...Your brain is so cool!!
Knut: Most people don't use that word.... 

Now, I turn my title of "Blog Moderator of Doom" over to my father and resign myself to a life of wedding planning, moving, and logistics for the next 15 days. (No, I'm not counting; why do you ask? 0:)) *exaggerated sigh* Flowers, flowers; here I come--who started all these silly traditions, anyway? Also, how many can I break before people start getting mad at me?

It's going to be a switch moving from a family of 11 to a family of 2...as I begin stocking up the house with "essential" groceries for John, while my mother shops for our family, this difference is quite glaring. For example...

Cereal for the soon-to-be Phillips family for about a month: 

Cereal for the Peterson family for about...two weeks (max):

Yeah; I don't envy Mom her grocery bill...

Anyway...goodbye to the Peterson blog; it'll be interesting to see whether anyone picks it up again.
Adventure awaits!


(Yep; I'm going out on a majorly sleep-deprived brain. I'm so sorry. I'm not sleeping till after the wedding. My sincere apologies, and I hope you haven't been mentally scarred for life.) 

Leif's New Talent

Apparently Leif has now added flying to his many other ways of scaring his mother and entertaining his siblings...

More Insanity

One does not simply convince her siblings to write a blog post.

A day may come when I manage to bribe them with enough chocolate to make them actually do it...but it is not this day! I don't wanna blow that much money on chocolate right now. So...insanity.


From Florida

Grandma: So that way, two people always win? That doesn't sound like fun!
Ethan: Yeah, 'cause then you'd have to split the money!
Sylvia: Why are Petersons so mercenary???
Camryn: Yeah! We're the only normal ones. Who can hug correctly, and who like to be on teams.
Sylvia: ...I also told you that if we won, you could have the money...
Camryn: Oh yeah. Right.

Ethan: Failing is the word of the past. Like, yesterday.

Camryn: I just shot the moon and won!!!
Ethan: That's messed up. Pass me the M&Ms.

(Leif takes the M&Ms)
Ethan: Hey! Put those back! We earned those!
Knut: Yeah! By failing!

Ethan: No, I don't need M&Ms right now. I'm not depressed. I only need M&Ms when I lose...which, knowing us, won't be long...

Ethan: If you shoot the moon, you have to use something awesome.
Knut: Like a nuke!

Knut: We need consolation fat.

Knut: Ethan, we failed so bad.
Ethan: Pass me the M&Ms.

Camryn: Did you ever get any prize money?
Ethan: Nope...
Camryn: Aww...
Ethan: Can I have a dollar?
Camryn: No.
Ethan: Can I have a hug?
Camryn: Sure.
(Later)
Ethan: I was really just trying to pickpocket her.

Camryn: My book is calling to me... It's saying, "Read me!!"
Knut: Shut up, book!

Mom (as Travis displays his pyromaniac tendencies): I think you and your brother are related.
"I want you to think about the logic of that statement," Mother...

Home...

Sylvia (memorizing Psalm 119): I look on the faceless --FAITHLESS-- with loathing...
...Yep. I have a reverse lisp.

Sylvia: I agree with you sometimes.
Cecily: No you don't.
Sylvia: Yes I do! ...Wait.
(both burst out laughing) Sylvia: YOU SET ME UP!!!!
Cecily: Of course I did.

Cecily: My face is more amazing than yours. Face it: my face is more amazing.

Cecily: One time Knut was telling Thor about Dr. Who and Thor asked what it was about, and Knut said, "a doctor," and I asked, "who?" and he LAUGHED!! And it wasn't even supposed to be funny!

Cecily: He's like, "WHERE'S ALL THE FOOD? WHERE'S ALL THE FOOD?" He looks like a distressed penguin.

Papa takes photobombing to a whole new level...

Studio C trains us how to photobomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMmwjKrcANQ

However, one thing that Melvin does not teach us how to do is to photobomb a picture while taking it.

Our brilliant father has discovered a way to do so:

Need a good laugh?

There are some days which really should be videoed at our house and put on reality TV, and they would add twenty years to the lifespan of every viewer via laughter. Other days...would cause homeschool moms everywhere to groan in sympathy. Read the following and judge for yourselves the kind of day on which each of these took place...

Mom: Le pièce.

Sylvia and Knut: Le pièce.

Cecily: Ditto.

Mom: I GIVE UP!

Cecily, Knut: I give up.

Mom: Sigh.

Cecily, Knut: Sigh.

Mom: Why do you choose to repeat after me when I give up??

(Cecily and Knut repeat)

Mom (As Leif is walking around with overalls unsnapped and dragging on the ground, Cecily and Thor are goofing off, and everyone is cracking up laughing): The homeschool magazines NEVER show this stuff! 

 Mom: Reflexive verbs! Let's learn about reflexive verbs, shall we, children? A reflexive verb is something you do to yourself. NOT your mother! 

Mom: Se laver; to wash oneself.
Thor: I don't like that one.
Mom: I've noticed.

Mom: He did the wrong thing very well! 

Sylvia: Ooh, I just learned about that guy! He was... interesting. ...And he died...
Mom: Yeah; most of these historical figures died! 

Cecily: I ate Thor's math.
Sylvia: Why??
Cecily: Thor had to copy a page of his math and cut certain shapes out of it. He cut out Packman and a lightning bolt. They weren't supposed to be Packman and a lightning bolt; they were supposed to be different shapes, but they looked like Packman and a lightning bolt.
Sylvia: So you ate them?
Cecily: Well, he cut out those shapes, and then I ate the rest. 

Cecily: This brain didn't work either! :(

Sylvia: Je suis mort. (I died.)
Mom: Very good! 

Knut: Blood doesn't smell like lobster!! 

Gloria: It doesn't make sense!

Sylvia: Did you try reading the instructions?

Gloria: ...Instructions?

Sylvia: Children! What are you doing??
(Three VERY innocent faces peer over the edge of the seat)
Cecily: Talking about cereal! And cereal killers. 

Mom: Hey; what's your book doing closed?
Cecily: Taking a break.
Mom: Your book doesn't need a break. Open it up and get it done. 

Knut: Roses are red; violets are blue. That means that by the commutative property, A + B = B + A...

Sylvia: But the commutative property doesn't work in this case, because you're not adding; you're comparing. SOME roses are red; SOME red things are roses. Not all roses are red; not all red things are roses.

Knut: (wounded expression) ...You're messing up my spiel! 

Sylvia: Oh, you could never guess my passwords.

Knut: Well then, I could just get a time machine that can travel into different dimensions and get Sherlock, and he can...

Sylvia: If you let me meet Sherlock, you can HAVE all my passwords!!

Knut: Oh really now... *evil grin* I could get a lot of people, actually.

Sylvia: Ooh, could you get Agatha Christie?? And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?? They could teach me how to write good mysteries!

Knut: For that you'd just need a regular time machine, not one that can travel to different dimensions.

Sylvia: Well, get me a time machine, then!

Bjorn: Hi, Bubbies!
Gloria: What did you say?
Bjorn: I wasn't talking to you; I was talking to the wheat thins.

Knut: Okay, the first time I came  up, Sylvia was saying "And now it is time for you to die." The second time, she threw something at me. And the third time, Gloria was running away and Cecily was yelling "Eeeee!!!!"
(In context it all made sense...)  

(Knut walks up dragging a tree)
Knut: Sylvia, do you know where this goes?  

(Gloria and Rosemary are supposed to be going to sleep, but they're talking.)
Sylvia: CHILDREN!!!
Gloria: Go where I send thee!
Sylvia (singing to the tune of Children, Go Where I Send Thee): Children, you're going to be in... big trouble... if you don't go to sleep RIGHT NOW!!
(All three girls [Rosemary, Gloria, and Sylvia] burst into laughter)
Sylvia: (as she takes laundry baskets downstairs) WHEN WILL I LEARN NOT TO LAUGH WHILE I'M GIVING A SCOLDING??? ...I guess it would help if I wasn't singing the scolding...
Cecily (as Sylvia's going downstairs): Sylvia, aren't you forgetting something?
Sylvia: Yes: MY SANITY! 

Knut: Yeah, I have a PhD in annoyance. I'm so annoying that I got on my own nerves. I'm just that good. 

Sylvia: I'm starting to be able to read you guys' minds and know when you haven't finished all your bedtime chores.
Thor: You have??
Sylvia: Yes. 'Cause it's every night! 

Papa: Speaking of wedding rings and socks, I called the Embassy (a ministry for college students) the other day...
(Everyone stares at him blankly)
Grandma: How did that relate?
Papa: It didn't.
(Get him to tell you the actual story that incorporated a wedding ring and a sock...)  

Knut: You know it's cold outside when you go outside and it's cold.  

Gloria: Oh, that's what all the scratching was! Ashes (the cat) was in Rosemary's top dresser drawer! 

Knut: If X marks the spot, then math teachers must be pirates! 

Insanity

I'm hoping that one of these days my siblings will get bored and post updates of our life or something; something besides insanity... but they don't seem to get bored easily. :(

Knut, you really could post about FTC... :D
Cecily and/or Thor, you really could post about the FLL mock competition... :D
Gloria, you could post about Christmas... :D
Any of you could post about all the random parties and concerts that have been going on lately... :D

My brain is currently completely filled with random Western Civ facts and the words of Judges 6, so any "sane" post I might attempt would probably have keywords underlined and be interspersed with facts about Western Civ and at the very least would make no sense whatsoever. Just like that last sentence.
(If you understood none of that, your sanity is safe!)
... Enjoy this craziness instead. ;)

Sylvia: He's gonna fall!
Papa: Then maybe he'll learn something!
Sylvia: Okay...
(A minute later, as Papa is cracking nuts...)
Papa: Ow!
Knut: Papa just learned something.
(Still later, as Thor is crushing pecans with a hammer...)
Thor: Owww!!!
Papa: Thor just learned something!

(Thor is crushing pecans with his wooden "Thor's Hammer")
Papa: Hey, Thor, this calls for crushed pecans, not pecan butter!

Gloria: Fi, fi, fo, fum; I smell the blood of an Englishman! Be he alive or be he dead, I'll throw him out the window!

Papa: "Mistress Mary, quite contrary; how does your garden grow?" "I don't know; I threw it out the window!"

Gloria: Star light, star bright; first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might throw it out the window.

Knut: When was Cecily born? 1902?

Cecily (sticking a rubber band in a candle flame): Smells like... burnt rubber band. I wonder why?

Sylvia: You crack yourself up?
Cecily: Well, I cracked the rubber band up, too... see? It's got a crack in it.

Sylvia: Right now you have ADOC. Attention deficit... ooh, candle!
~A little later~
Cecily: I have a general toss-up... *bursts out laughing*
Sylvia: You have what?
Cecily: I have ADOC... *continues laughing uncontrollably*
Yeah, folks, this is what happens when Cecily gets tired.

Knut: Sorry; we're experiencing lyrical difficulties. Please stand by.

(While playing Bibleopoly)
Papa (pretending to read): You've become a televangelist. You receive all money and property from every other player and you win the game.
~Later~
Papa: Advance by ones all around the board, acquiring all property as you go.

Papa (reading aloud the Christmas letter for approval):
Bjorn: I'M NOT CUTE!!!!!!!!

Sylvia: ...Why was there a child standing on my head?
(Knut randomly keels over)
Sylvia: ...Why did Knut just die?
Knut *reviving abruptly and beginning to bounce crazily*: THE HOBBIT IS IN TWO DAYS!!!!

Cecily: I have so many things to figure out! I have to write a story and come up with a costume... Besides, I also have to take over the world!

Papa: Hold on; hold on! I got one ear but twice the brain power of the rest of you put together, but I can't write it that fast!

Cecily: I told the garbage can that if it tipped over one more time, I'd slash it into pieces with a machete and then burn it.

Knut: Please do not take my jam. ...Or the bread that the jam happens to be attached to.

Sylvia: If we make it, we'll be amazing.
Knut: If you don't, I will come to your funeral. Unless we happen to have FTC that day.

Knut: We just make sure not to kill him permanently, 'cause that would be demoralizing... 'cause then we couldn't kill him anymore!

Sylvia: Wow, THAT'S an unpardonable sin. I mean, it's ICE CREAM!
Knut: And not just ANY ice cream, it's MY ice cream!

Cecily: Hi, Rosemary. Happy birthday.
Rosemary: It's my birthday, so you don't have to say hi.
Cecily: What?
Rosemary: You can't say hi on my birthday.
Cecily: Okay. Bye, Rosemary.
Rosemary: No, wait. Come back!

(Cecily walks into room)
Cecily: I need to learn about nukes.
(Sylvia looks at her.)
Cecily: And how to activate and deactivate them.
*pause*
I wonder if there's a website for that.
*pause*
"All about nukes for kids" maybe?
*pause*
Oh! I forgot it downstairs!
(leaves room; comes back)
I wonder what would happen if I googled "all about nukes?"

Sylvia (studying): "But the LORD said to Gideon, 'Peace be to you, you shall not die.'"
Yet.
(Knut bursts out laughing)
Sylvia: No! "Yet" wasn't in there! That was my little commentary.
Knut: "Peace be to you; you shall not die..." yet. BUT, in two minutes, there will come a rabid squirrel...
Sylvia: RABID SQUIRREL???
Knut: Or an evil bunny. BEWARE THE EVIL BUNNIES!!!

Knut: Sylvia, where does the cornstarch go?
Sylvia (studying Judges 6 and washing dishes): "Bring out your son, that he may die."
Knut: That is not a valid answer. Now where DOES the cornstarch go? 

(^I told you my brain was filled with the words of Judges 6!  That particular phrase is from verse 30, if you want to read it in context. ;))

Leif loitering under Cecily's "no loitering" sign

Cecily and Leif listening to Piano Guys

All right, so I have been slacking...

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING POST WAS WRITTEN BY A SLEEP-DEPRIVED NANOWRIMO PARTICIPANT WHO WAS RECENTLY INTERRUPTED IN THE MIDST OF WRITING HER NOVEL. A perilous venture indeed; don't try it unless you're either bringing her a cup of tea or making her laugh so hard she can't attack you. Anyway... READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

As my brother has very kindly informed me, I have been slacking off on this blog lately.

The reason? Well, partially... it's November. :D And everyone should know what that means: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/ (or http://nanowrimo.org/ if you're brave and amazing... *cough* Jael *cough*)

And as I have been attempting to write 30,000 words and keep on top of school and other stuff, another "interesting" aspect of life has been my very entertaining bunch of siblings!

A few days ago, I was innocently sitting at my desk studying, when I looked up to see this:



Yeah, well, I'm afraid Gloria may have ruined the drama of the moment. ;)

Then, this evening, I was working on my novel, when my sisters started doing this:

And they kept it up for about half an hour... I finally just tuned them out and kept on writing. I'm not sure how coherent that writing was; it's hard to tune them out completely...

Right before that, this conversation happened between Cecily and me:

Cecily: Um... Sylvia, can I have my rubber band?
Sylvia: *looking up from her laptop* Oh, is that what just flew over my head?
Cecily: ...Yeah.
(Sylvia tries to shoot the rubber band back at Cecily, but misses by about three feet. She's only sitting about five feet away from Cecily.)
Sylvia: ...Ow.
(Cecily bursts out laughing)
Sylvia: Yeah, that's typical me... try to shoot a rubber band; end up harming myself but completely missing the target.
Cecily: Yeah, you missed me by three or four feet...

And just because you so need more Peterson craziness...

(French assignment, filling in comparative or superlative forms.  The assignment: "Je mange ___ Henri." (Literally, "I ate __ Henry.")
Mom: You may do "I ate MORE THAN Henry" or "I ate LESS THAN Henry," but you may NOT do "I ate the most of Henry!"
Cecily: But Henry was the name of my apple yesterday! And I ate most of it!

Bjorn: It's boring.
Mom: BORING? Good; it's almost 10:00 at night! Go to sleep!

Sylvia: Or better yet, coat them with red duct tape!
Cecily: ...Cook them with red duct tape? O_O

Mom: There was some mold on the cantaloupe in the fridge... I should have saved it for Knut's Biology assignment.

Papa: What's the second law of thermodynamics?
Cecily: the Law of Splat.

Knut: Stevie did it!
Sylvia: Which Steve?
Knut: Stevie.
Sylvia: The monkey?
Knut: Not necessarily...
Sylvia: Which Stevie, then?
Knut: Stevie.
Sylvia: Who's Stevie?
Knut: ...I don't know, but he did it!

Papa: Sylvia, could you... uh... um... *tries to say something, but can't find the words*
(Sylvia starts raking up the leaves by the curb)
Papa: It's lovely when you can read my mind.

Knut: When I was 4 and Thor had just been born, when Thor hit me with his hammer, my brain died. Fortunately, I had made a replacement brain, 'cause I wasn't quite sure to expect, since I'd never had a little brother before. Good thing I took precautions. So when my brain died 'cause Thor hit it with the hammer, the replacement one took over. But it's kinda weird, since... I made it... and it needs chocolate to work.
Papa: It works??
Knut: Sort of. And it would die if I didn't have chocolate at least once a week.
Sylvia: Only once a week?
Knut: At LEAST once a week. But if it's only once a week, then it... fades and deteriorates and doesn't work very well. I have to have chocolate at least four times a day for it to function at its full capacity.

Mom: Like, I gave up on getting Sylvia to switch to cursive. But then after I gave up, she switched.
Mom and Sylvia together: ...Story of my life.

Mom: Knut, you should have most of this already in your own personal computer... called your brain.

Papa: You know, we always used to have quiet children... right up until the time Knut was born. 

Mom: If he gets out the jug of milk, stop him.
Sylvia: Slap him!?!?
...Cecily: Ooh, don't warn him! I wanna do it!

Cecily: No dead people allowed in the house???
Sylvia: WHAT!?
Cecily: Gloria just said that...
Sylvia: Oh... I thought it was a French sentence you were trying to translate!

Thor: It's number A of letter 2.

Knut: New rule! Thou shalt eat like a civilized human being.
Papa: What's that? Thou shalt eat the civilized human being?
Mom: There has been way too much talk about "eaters of men" around here...

Rosemary: The ice cream truck is a runaway chicken.
Bjorn: No, the ice cream MAN!

Bjorn: This is how you eat.
Cecily: That's how YOU eat; it's not how I eat.

Cecily: We were playing outside being Ninjas and hoping nobody called the police on us.

 Cecily: Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a pony; stuck a feather in his cat... um... I meant hat... and threw it out the window.
Sylvia: You are so strange.
Cecily: I really like "Old McDonald had a farm and threw it out the window."


Anyway... back to studying and writing and coming up with ways to take over the world... um, in my novel, of course... *very innocent expression*

A Typical Day for the Peterson Family (video)

Our family performed this skit for the SCCCHE meeting last night:



Everything in this video is true! The following things happened as we were writing it:
-The call about Grandpa shooting squirrels after having eye surgery
-The call from Papa about inviting people over to lunch on Sunday (people whom we didn't know previously)
-Leif tried to escape upstairs

A couple days after we wrote this skit, we forgot that we were supposed to bring snacks for FLL, so the team went without snacks (and somehow survived, thankfully...).

Although Knut doesn't order electrical fence wire and have it shipped to our house, he does buy it to work on his chain mail armor and brings his chain mail making supplies EVERYWHERE he goes!

The argument about 10:00 or midnight for English Country dance practice is an ongoing discussion/debate... ;)

The sword fighting happens quite regularly... during school.

And... trust me; everything else is completely true as well!

EDIT: Jael brought the one incongruency with real life to my attention: we've never had the problem of the CLEP testing center being closed on a Monday. It was closed over the summer, but we were able to go to the other testing center nearby, so it wasn't a problem. ;)
EDIT #2: ...Then I found out that the usual CLEP testing center really IS closed on Mondays, and Monday is when I was hoping to text next.


Thanks to John for being our impromptu videographer.

Florida Vacation, Day 5 (the Family)

All I know about this day is what I can figure out from the pictures... :P 

Playing at the community playground

Rosemary and Isaac "playing Risk"

The boys in the game room

Sloan and Gloria "sleeping" in their fort

Gloria in the fort

The TeenPacters' Day

Florida Vacation, Day 4 (The Family)

According to Cecily's pictures, Wednesday was a stay-at-home-and-play-games day for the gang.

Playing "Nuke Risk"... just like normal Risk, but with their own touch (aka, nukes) added just to make the game a little more exciting. ;) 

Papa playing video games

Leify and The Chicken  (yes, the one about which there are so many stories...)

Doctor Sloan bandaging Rosemary's broken leg

Freda playing video games

Gloria playing outside

Princess Rosemary

Don't tell him I said this, but... this little guy is SO CUTE!

Goofiness

Crafts

Isaac and Rosemary doing crafts

Am I the only one who finds this picture highly disturbing???

These moustaches look MUCH better on the fridge than on the girls' faces!

"Graduating"

EDIT: And I just checked Papa's Facebook... apparently they went disc golfing as well. ;)  Stealing his pictures...

The TeenPacters' Day

Drama, Babies, Pinochle, Insanity... (such random post titles this blog has!)

Drama Club auditions were May 31st, and meetings have been every Friday since. We have an awesome group this year! Well, we always have an awesome group. ;)  We're doing three plays: Patients Need Patience (by Shelby R. Swogger), Cinderella and Steve (by Louise Aden), and one whose title is yet to be determined (written by the actors themselves). They're all fairly short plays, so we've had plenty of time for games this year! 

During "Out of Your Box": President Mike is being protected from Thor by his bodyguard Caris. 

Another "Out of Your Box" situation: Abi, the babysitter, is trying to put the crying baby Sophia to bed. 

Telephone- Team #1 

Listening to instructions for the next game

Playing "Freeze"

One of my wonderfully mature co-leaders... ;) 

Sophia

Leify is quickly turning into a "big boy"... he has 5 teeth, is starting to eat solid food, and is just beginning to learn to crawl! He's very impatient with his (seemingly, to him) slow progress... he wants to get around and DO stuff!!!  He definitely has a mind of his own and clamors for independence already. With seven older siblings around the house, he seems to think that unless he states his opinion very loudly and clearly, no one will pay attention to him! 

We spent this afternoon playing an "Ultimate Pinochle Tournament." Since we now have SIX pinochle players (joy!), we had three teams rotating (two playing, one sitting out) until each team had played each other team. And each team won one game and lost one game, so we just called a tie. ;D 

Papa went to the store and stocked up on sugary snacks, so we found out exactly what happens when everyone is hyped up on sugar and playing "to the death" in a pinochle tournament...:

Sylvia: (talking about the cards!) Knut, can we trade marriages?
Knut: I wish. (pauses) ...That just sounded wrong...

Papa: (laughing uncontrollably)
Knut: Sylvia, what's the number for the nuthouse?
Papa: (still laughing) 1-800-SEND-JOSH.

Papa: Knut, what color was George Washington's white horse?
Knut: ...White...
Papa: Oh, he really IS smart!
Cecily: Actually, white isn't a color...
Knut: Yes it is; it's a color that's made up of all other colors.
(A long debate ensues.)

Knut: I purge all unnecessary information from my brain to keep it from interfering with my brilliance.
Sylvia: But your brain should have plenty of space! Remember that "the average human being only uses 10% of their brain capacity during their entire lifetime"...
Knut: That's the AVERAGE human being. I use 110% of my total brainpower.
Papa: So what would take 10% of a normal person's brain takes 110% of yours?

Sylvia: What was the question again?
Knut: What question?
Sylvia: The one I was supposed to answer.
Knut: My brain discarded it because it was useless.
Papa: What's useless: your brain or the question?


Why stop there? Here's the rest of the insanity that has been building up lately. ;) 

(Knut blows out his candles, but one is stubborn and doesn't go out.)
Sylvia: *laughing* Trick candles!
(All candles relight)
Grandma: Oh, they really ARE trick candles!
(Thor bursts out laughing)

(Guessing what Knut's smallest birthday gift is)
Cecily: It's a flea!
Knut: No, it's a JUMPING flea.
Sylvia: It's a single airsoft BB!
Papa: It's some extra air for his airsoft gun!
(Knut opens the gift)
...It really IS a single airsoft BB...
(Thor bursts out laughing- again.)


Knut: Does my shirt smell like chloroform to you?

(Talking about the merits of The Princess Bride)
Cecily: We could learn about how to avenge our father's death?
Knut: Wait, that would mean our father has to be dead first...

Mom: Knut, I told the kids they could have the little pieces. So Sylvia dropped the cookie container...

Thor: So why are people coming over?
Mom: Because they want to try to give their kids chicken pox.

Daniel: Hurry up and kill me so we can continue killing each other!
Knut: Checkmate.
Daniel: Yay!! *jumps up and heads for his sword*

Sylvia: Rosemary, where are Mommy's keys?
Rosemary: I don't know.
Sylvia: You were playing with them; what did you do with them?
Rosemary: Lost them.
Sylvia: Where?
Rosemary: Somewhere.

Knut: Bjorn, how can you not like raspberries?
Sylvia: Knut, how can you not like blueberries?
Knut: (in a "superior" tone of voice) They disagree with me.

Knut: HE is Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror. YOU are Thor, son of Josh, son of Grover.
Sylvia: And you should be helping to clean up the kitchen, O Thor-Son-of-Josh-Son-of-Grover.
Knut: Yeah. Thorin kills orcs. Thor cleans up the kitchen.
Sylvia: ..................just clean up.

Insanity

(After Gloria has asked six knock-knock jokes)
Gloria: Knock, knock.
Cecily: WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW??
Gloria: Little old lady.
Cecily: I don't have any little old ladies!!

Thor: He's got Africa- in his mouth; he's got Africa- in his mouth... (Leif eating a toy globe)

Sylvia: Camera card, please.
(Papa hands her his car keys)
Sylvia: Um... camera card, please.
Papa: *blink, blink* "Can I have your car keys..." "Camera card, please..."
Sylvia: Wow.

Sylvia: Have Thor sweep the floor.
Thor: *listening to a different conversation* YESSSS!!!!!
Cecily: *stares at him* Yes, you want to sweep the floor?
Thor: NOOOO!!!! *runs in the opposite direction*

Uncle Noah: If you don't want to know about it, stop talking about it!

Knut: Uncle Noah eats little kids! Oh, that's why you don't have any kids!
Uncle Noah: Yeah.
Aunt Marina: We ate them all already.
Papa: My grandpa always told me never to raise anything I couldn't eat...
Knut: My grandpa always told me never to raise anything I couldn't eat. I raised kids. I don't have no kids no more.

(While playing "Things;" Thor is "It")
Thor: *reading* Knut yourself.
Knut: THOR!!! You just gave it away!!!
Thor: Oh, wait... that was the name?

Uncle Noah: Who likes Uncle Noah's fire pit?
(everyone raises hands, including Cecily)
Cecily: Wait, what did he say?
Uncle Noah: I said, "Who wants to be burned up in Uncle Noah's fire pit?"

Paul: You know, that's wrong in so many ways, but it's still funny. Kind of like Knut.

Sylvia: His imaginary friend?
Mom: Yeah... or enemy.

Rosemary: We're the chicken pock girls! :D

Cecily (singing): Let us go to the house of the Lord...
Gloria: But it's not Sunday!
Cecily: True, but you can always die...
Gloria: Oh, yeah...

Thor: What other food do we have?
Knut: SQUIRREL!!!

Gloria: All I need is a roly-poly and I'll be happy for hours! Maybe.

Thor (eating a messy pulled pork sandwich): Pretty soon this may be dropping bombs...
Sylvia: Bombs??
Knut: Barbecued pork; same difference.

Knut: There's facepalm and headdesk.
Cecily: I know, but there could be a lot more, like face-plate...
Thor: Face-pulled pork sandwich...
Cecily: Or Face-book...

Cecily: Why is it "blimey cow" anyway? What does "blimey" even mean; is it a real word?
Sylvia: I don't know. For that matter, why "cow?"
Cecily: Someone was thinking of Chick-Fil-A.
~A little later~
Cecily: Slimy cow. But for some reason they wanted to have a "b" in there.

Gloria: Smart shoppers know. Stop n' shave.

If you give a big sister the task of putting her little sister to bed...

If you give a big sister the task of putting her little sister to bed, that little sister will ask her big sister for a pacifier. The big sister will find the pink one, but the little sister will want the yellow one, claiming that it's in the kitchen. The big sister will go downstairs to find it. On the way, she’ll notice that her little sister’s dinner dishes are still on the high chair, so she’ll put them in the dishwasher. While she’s by the sink, she’ll notice that there are about five dishes to be washed, so she’ll wash them. She’ll also notice that the sink drain is dirty, so she’ll clean it out. After sponging down the sink and rinsing it thoroughly, she’ll dry her hands and go into the next room, where she’ll notice that there are books on the couch, the pillows are crooked, and there’s a toy gun on the chair. She’ll straighten the couch cushions, put away the books, pick up the toy gun, and gather a few other random items that are out of place. As she goes to put them away, she’ll notice her sister’s pacifier on the dining room table and suddenly remember why she was down there in the first place! She’ll probably smack herself in the face for her stupidity and forgetfulness (or at least be tempted to do so), grab up all the items she still needs to put away and the pacifier, and run upstairs. She’ll drop off the toy gun in the boys’ room, give her sister the pacifier, wish her goodnight, and by now be laughing at herself for being so absent-minded. She’ll come to her room to type up the whole story on the computer. As she’s doing this, her sister will call from the other room saying she needs a Kleenex. After the older sister gets it for her, she’ll notice that her younger brother isn’t in bed. She’ll escort him to his room, pray with him, and tell him to stay in bed. And chances are, as she goes through her little sister’s room, she’ll notice several things that really should be cleaned up…

And she'll ignore them. >:D

True story. ;) 

News

What have we been up to in 2013 thus far?

Bright Lights...

His Lighthouse...

FLL...

Lyceum...

Church...

(In choir rehearsal, as Mom is accompanying... Papa is directing; the choir is waiting for his signal to come in. He's telling a stupid joke.)
Mom: (playing last measure over and over) How long are you going to beat??
Papa: I don't know; I'm telling something stupid!

Leify sleeping through the Wednesday night Lenten service

Time with friends...

Jael: You are such a literalist! You've been around Sylvia too long.
Sophi: ...we love you, Sylvia!
Kira: Jael loves you, too!
Abi: Can you tell? 

Fun at home...

Sewing...

Reading...

Music...

Interesting dinner conversations...

Mom: You HAD a brain.
Papa: What, you mean I don't anymore?
Mom: No; now you have two brains: your internal brain and your external brain.
Cecily: What, his moustache?
Mom: No, his iPhone.

School...

Sylvia: Thor, please use your brains. I know you have them and they're very good.
Thor: Actually, I only have one, and I left it up in my room. And it's very small.
Knut: I left mine at the last FLL competition.
(I found out several days later that they were talking about little toy rubber brains.)

Gloria: Where's my pencil?
Mom: We need to weld it to a chain around your neck so you don't lose it.
Sylvia: Good idea... except that if you try to weld a pencil, it will die.

Mom: Knut, do you want to participate in the 8th grade graduation?
Knut: ...I thought I was in 7th grade.

Knut: Haven't you ever heard the story of how the Penguins launched Penguin Books? 

Mom: When YOU have to write your essay about how life experience is helpful, you can write about...
Knut: TOAST!!!
Mom: ...whatever. *sighs*

Mom: Okay; as long as what you're doing is brainless.

Mom: Wow... um... I'm glad I asked this question!
Knut: I'm brilliant.
Mom: No, that was totally wrong!
Knut: Glad you liked my joke! Now do you wanna hear the real answer?

Knut: The first full-length American movie was Birth of a Toaster. (It was "Birth of a Nation")

Mom: Don't leave yet! You still need to listen to this book.
Knut: Mom, since I can multitask... *picks up comic book*
Mom: NOT Calvin and Hobbes. 

Knut: Nooo!!! Think, think, think, think, think, Vern!
Sylvia: *starts laughing*
Knut: WHAT!?
Sylvia: Other than the fact that you're telling VERN to think when YOU'RE taking a French test?
Knut: But he can tell me the answer!
Sylvia: That would be cheating.
Mom: At least when homeschoolers cheat it's only because their imaginary friend helps them!
Knut: But Vern's not imaginary.
Sylvia: That's for sure!

Sylvia: Stop sitting around doing nothing! Or... I'll start asking you random questions.
Cecily: *jumps up and runs away* 

Planning...

Knut: We'll head out from here...
Sylvia: Well, where else would we head out from?
Knut: Mars. Anyway, then we'll...

Disc golf...

Randomness...

Cecily: There's a loose baby lying around! 

Thor: C'mon, Knut; what are you doing?
Knut: I'm taking over the world; just give me a second!
Thor: Hurry up!

Cecily: I'm broke. No, wait, I'm not broke! I found 75 cents!
Mom: Where'd you find it? In my purse?