If you have been chosen to be one of a family of 11 children, you are very blessed!!
Especially when you're not the oldest. I'm second oldest, and I have determined there is no better status position. High up enough in the ranks of authority to hold a great deal of weight in said authority ranks, yet without the responsibility of being the oldest oldest. That tria- privilege is reserved for my sister, and God sure knew what He was doing when He made her the oldest! She holds this position with dignity, level-headedness, and trustworthy responsibility. Mama's right arm since the age of 8 or 9, senior representative of our sibling-sitting duo, peace maker between the other two members of the 3 C's, amazing caretaker, watcher-out-for, encouraging older sister to the ten of us who weren't born the oldest. She was first up in the Thomas tribe to become a teenager, own a pet, work a job, drive a vehicle, back a trailer, vote and venture into the exciting unknowns (actually, very well-known, but much more dramatic the other way) past the end of our gravel road by her lonesome; and all I can say is, it's a good thing she went first to set the mold, and I didn't have to pave the way. I'm not that great at clay and I don't like pouring concrete.
Corrie Faith is my best friend, and I'm so glad that I get to live with my best friend! I like to brag on her, and I have an extra good reason for it this weekend, because this weekend she is starting a path into another 'first'. She's breaking a trail into the 20's, and I know it will be a good, steady trail to follow in.
Happy 20th birthday, Corrie! I love you so much and I pray that God directs this new path in a way that is full of close relationships with both our Father in Heaven and our 'siblings' on earth, good music, hugs and smiles, peacocks and dogs, lots of laughin' and a bird sighting list a mile long!
For the rest of this post, I thought I'd share some of the highlights of having little siblings. "L.K.Q." stands for "Little Kid Quotes." Just some quotes that I've remembered to write down after we stop laughing. Maybe they'll make you smile too! If you have any funny quotes or sayings from your family, post them in the comments and share the smiles!
Cecily, talking to her siblings, “Verity doesn’t like millet. I don’t know why. I like millet.”
She paused, then turned to me with a little frown and asked, “What is millet?”
- Cecily, age 5
Question: “Where is the snow coming from?”
Trysten’s answer: “From God. God’s up there all over in the sky letting it down.”
-Trysten, age 3
It was lunchtime and we were having PB and honey and chocolate chip sandwiches. Since William and I can’t have the peanut butter and honey part, we were eating turkey sandwiches and got to have a little pile of chocolate chips on our plate to eat plain.
I was slowly eating my chocolate chips with a spoon, to make them last longer. Nathan was sitting on my right. I was turning to look at Daddy when I noticed that Nathan was staring at my chocolate chips. I waved my hand in front of his face.
“Christiana,” he said quietly, still staring at my chocolate chips. “Hurry up and eat those fast. You’re watering my eyes.”
-Nathan, age 8
This morning we were looking at the glorious sunrise over the hill. Cecily was a little confused and asked, “Is it a sunset?”
“Sunrise Cecily, sunrise,” Mama corrected her.
“Oh yes,” said Trysten matter-o’-factly. “Sunrice. I eat.”
- Trysten, age 3
Dinner time. Molly was sitting down at the table when I walked by and snitched some cheese from the bowl. Molly looked at me with a little frown that spoke clearly of disapproval and said in a quiet but instructive way, “’Nana, no.”
– Molly, age 2
It was Saturday night. Daddy and Mama were both in town. That left the kids at home eating dinner. Somehow the boys got onto the subject of body build-up, and they were bragging about how many push-ups and pull-ups they could do. They were performing imaginary pull-ups at the table, with their arms pumping up and down instead of their bodies. While the boys were arguing about how many they could do per second, I heard Trysten trying to talk.
“Guys!” he said.
Corrie and I turned and looked at him. He and Molly were copying their older brothers, pulling their arms up and down, up and down, trying to do pull-ups.
“Guys,” Trysten said, and Molly copied him. “Now let’s do diapers!”
-Trysten, age 3
My Mama took Trysten and Molly with her on an outing one evening. In the midst of their nonstop chatter on the drive, this snippet occurred. (Insert proper Molly accent and Trysten enthusiastic tones.)
Trysten: “Know what? You’re going to stay up past your bedtime tonight.
Molly: *gasp*
Trysten: (with authority) “Yep! You’re going to be up past your bedtime.” Molly: “No way!”
Trysten: “Uh-HUH!”
Molly: (tone of shocked disbelief) “C’mon!”
Trysten: (matter-o-factly) “It’s true.”
Silence.
Molly: (resignedly) “Oh, dear.”
-Trysten, age 4; Molly, age 3
William, Molly and I were doing laundry. Molly was in the closet, and while William and I were at the machines, we could hear her singing the hymn, ‘Power in the Blood.’ We couldn’t hear her words, but the tune was obvious.
Molly exited the closet and marched back to the dryers to get more clothes to put away, singing away at the top of her lungs. William and I barely kept our composure and nearly split our sides to keep from laughing like crazy. Here is Molly Joy’s rendition of the chorus of ‘Power in the Blood’:
“There is bower! Bower! What-are-you-thinking bower;
in the blo-od of the La-md,
There is bower! Bower! What-are-you-thinking bower
In the precious blood of the Lamd!!”
- Molly, age 5
Here’s a snippet of country life to make you smile that I observed out the window 60 seconds ago. It’s time to put the ducks and chickens in bed, so the boys who have that chore were out in the garden/chicken coop. Something caught my eye and I looked up to see 7 year old Trysten running up the driveway in flip-flops, pajama shorts, no shirt, the 3 year old's winter coat complete with hood and an egg basket full of eggs swinging at his side!
Molly, instructing an older girl with an important but casual ‘nonchalant air’ on the origins of our house.
“Daddy built this house.
“That’s what people tell me.
“Our people.
“The Thomases.”
-Molly, age 5
(This isn't a sibling funny quote - this is something that happened to me when I was 15.)
*Our extended family was at Seaside, OR for our traditional long weekend vacation.*
It was Saturday morning. The Daddies and the older kids had gone out to play tennis, and the four Mamas were preparing breakfast burritos for a brunch later on. I could have been helping them, but with four ladies working, each with a baby hanging onto their legs, the small kitchen was very crowded!
Instead I emptied the beach house of most of the kids still hanging around with nothing to do. I was pushing Molly in the stroller up the steep hill to the prom as we started off; Verity, Tate, Elise, Cecily, Trysten, Liam and Judah trailing on behind. I had eight kids total to keep track of.
I love taking walks on the prom early morning. There are people constantly passing you as they enjoy their morning run, and people you are constantly passing: little old ladies with their walkers and canes and tiny little dogs, folks sitting on the benches staring out over the ocean, and a few very early birds, dawn watchers, returning from a walk on the beach with that wide awake look the ocean gives to them. There are people on the porches of the hotels too. Ladies in pink robes and hair curlers and men who are constantly yawning, looking like they just stumbled out of bed to sit on their porches high above. I think that they think that somehow people down below can’t see them. Somebody should really inform hotel-porch-sitters that the people passing below have a front row seat to every snore, yawn and cup of coffee that goes on up there.
Well, we were passing one of the hotels (with an echo-y courtyard) when a man who had been reading a book with a great big St. Bernard by his side leaned over the railing. He was only on the second floor, not the fourth or fifth, but still, everybody around could hear him. We were walking briskly past when he waved and said, “Hey!”
We stopped and looked up at him. He smiled at us and then spoke to me. “Are all those kids yours?”
Last year I thought being mistaken for the mother of four was bad! Oh well. I suppose next year will be the mother of ten!
Of course I've missed many funny memories - 'cause life is made up of myriads of bits and pieces of opportunities to laugh, if only we watch for them!
Share some of your laughable moments in the comments!!