Friday, April 5, 2019

7 Quick Takes about Butternut Squash, Unconventional Instruments to Play Your Wedding Processional, and Alternative Uses for Googly Eyes

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

1


I completely forgot Monday was April Fool's Day. That afternoon, my first grader came home from school with a little rectangle of foil. Practically giggling out of her pants, she said it was a brownie for me.

I opened it, only to find it stuffed with some pom-poms for volume and... a brown E.

Laughing my head off at these funny 7 Quick Takes, my new favorite weekend recap of a big family who finds the humor in just about everything. #7quicktakes #funny
Womp, womp.

Even after I opened it, I didn't make the connection about what day it was (it didn't help that she forgot to say "April Fool's,") so I was more confused than anything.

2


My 13-year-old hates squash. She thinks everything about it is revolting, including (but not limited to) its taste, texture, and smell. So we don't eat it at every meal, but we also don't avoid it.

This week she offered to help cook dinner, only to find out too late that we were having butternut squash risotto.

She agreed to stay after she found out what we were having, but even so she couldn't help but make some comments (with maybe a few retching noises thrown in for good measure.) "Ugh, who invented butternut squash, anyway? And why?"

"God did," I said, chopping away. "Because He loves us."

Shaking her head, she said, "Well, He needs to show His love for me in a different way."

I guess I won't argue.

3


Sometimes the Internet is like a cesspool of utter nonsense, and if you have kids you've probably seen YouTube videos so annoying and pointless they make you want to scream "WHYYYYY?!?" and possibly become Amish.

At first glance this might appear to be one of them, but keep watching this guy play Canon in D on the rubber chicken and you will change your mind.


To me, the best part of this video is the guy's face. He is SO SERIOUS. He looks like he's defusing a bomb.

And honestly, I'm jealous. If I could approach my life with even half the focus that he brings to a rubber chicken quartet, I'd probably be president right now.

4


My 2-year-old is going through a "coloring on everything" phase. (As a matter of fact, as I write this the couch cushion covers are in the washing machine after he attacked yet again earlier today.)

Laughing my head off at these funny 7 Quick Takes, my new favorite weekend recap of a big family who finds the humor in just about everything. #7quicktakes #funny
At least his weapon of choice is washable markers.

When some of my older kids went through this, I stressed about it a lot. But the beauty of having parented five kids already is that now I understand it's just a phase he'll grow out of, pretty much regardless of anything I do (or don't do.)

I've actually been saying out loud to myself this week It's not like he's going to be drawing on the walls when he's a teenager.

Then we took a walk and saw this on the underside of a bridge we passed. It made quite an impression on my 2-year-old and he couldn't stop talking about it.

Laughing my head off at these funny 7 Quick Takes, my new favorite weekend recap of a big family who finds the humor in just about everything. #7quicktakes #funny
My impressionable 2-year-old, just formulating his life choices.

I guess he didn't realize his favorite hobby was actually a long-term option, but in this picture I really get the sense that he's exploring all the possibilities.

5


My kids like to give me a hard time, but sometimes I overhear conversations that make me relieved that at least they like to give everyone else a hard time, too.

My 13-year-old was talking to two friends (let's call them A and B for creativity's sake) and the conversation went like this:

Friend A: Guys, I know a lot of songs. Give me a word and I bet I can sing a song with that word in it.

13yo: 'Wobbly.'

Friend A: Uh... I mean, give me a word that would actually, you know, be in a song.

Friend B: 'Brick!'

Friend A: This is... actually a lot harder than I thought.

13yo: Do you want to quit?

Friend A: Yeah.

Friend B: Okay, because my next one was gonna be 'stapler.'

6


In case you didn't know it, kids are weird. The other night just before bedtime, we were herding cats calling all the kids to the living room for family scriptures and prayer. No 2-year-old, though.

It was weird that he didn't come, because if he knows something is going on he's usually the first to be there. He doesn't want to be left out of anything.

I guess he was absorbed in more important matters, though, because when I went to go look for him I found him in the mudroom painstakingly gluing a googly eye on his belly.

Do you ever wish you could look inside a child's mind to see the thought process that led up to a particular moment? I know I do.

7


Lastly, I wanted to let you know what I'll be doing this weekend and cordially invite all of you to join me. Virtually, of course.

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and even though we aren't living and traveling en masse anymore like the Israelites following Moses, we believe the church is led by a modern-day prophet just like him.

That's why twice a year, we get excited to watch general conference, a worldwide broadcast from our prophet President Nelson and other church leaders. I personally love it because as I listen, it helps me remember what's important and I can hear my inner spiritual GPS saying "Recalculating."

No matter what church (if any) you belong to, you're invited. I highly recommend it to anyone who's curious about Latter-day Saints, feels stuck in a rut, or just needs something uplifting to listen to while they're washing dishes. Conference times and ways to tune in are here.

Happy weekend, you guys!

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4 comments:

AnneMarie said...

Oh my, #6! How do kids come up with those kinds of thing?!?!?! That's hilarious.
I hope you guys have a good General Conference!

Diana Dye said...

Dear Friend A, there's a little Ben Folds Five song that goes: She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly. Off the coast and I'm heading nowhere.

I'm terrible at song lyrics and I had to ask my husband who sang it but you're welcome.

Jenny Evans said...

I love Ben Folds. I was mildly obsessed with Ben Folds Five in high school. Actually, our wedding song was "The Luckiest." So naturally I knew that right away. Those poor kids were just born in the wrong generation.

Jenny Evans said...

Thanks, and I have no idea. Kids are so weird.