12.26.2007

Gutter Ball

I had a great time bowling today with my nieces and nephews, Scott, my brother-in-law, and father-in-law. But I lost. Horribly. No, really - I bowled for a total score of 44. Part way through the game (around the 4th or 5th round), after I had consistently knocked down less than 5 pins each time, my niece Rachel gave me some advice:
"Well, Tarythe," she said matter-of-factly, "you might as well just throw it in the gutter. That way you wouldn't have to worry about it all the way down the lane."

12.25.2007

The...Stripping Warrior?

My 6-year-old cousin, Jacob, is a trip. He likes to tuck his pillowcase into his underwear in front like a loincloth and pretend he's a Stripling Warrior from the Book of Mormon. Last night Audrey, Sarah, and I were over at his house, picking up stuff from my Aunt Melody. He desperately wanted to show us his room (as all children do when people come over), so we obliged. Jacob jumped up and down excitedly. He then picked up a pillow case, held it in front of his waist, and pronounced,
"When I take off all my clothes I tuck the pillowcase in here! Wanna see?"

We declined and hurried back downstairs, but he stripped and ran after us, showing us his loincloth and muscles anyway. It was all I could do not to bust up laughing.

12.24.2007

Not Pretty Enough

I was playing what I thought was a pretty song on the piano at my mother's house yesterday, when my 6-year-old cousin, Jacob, came up to me. He tapped me on the shoulder and said,
"Excuse me, do you mind if I play some different notes so it will sound prettier?"

Apparently the song wasn't as pleasant as I'd thought.

12.22.2007

Who Am I Again?

We picked up my sister-in-law, Leslie, and her family from the Austin airport the other day. This is the very first conversation I had with Taylor (5):

Me: Hi, Taylor-my-nephew!
Taylor: I'm not your nephew! I'm your cousin.
Scott: Taylor, are you my cousin or my nephew?
Taylor (confused): I don't have any nephews.

You're right, Taylor. But that wasn't really the question. :)

12.15.2007

The Babies

Well since I don't have any new stories I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the babies I watch every Monday. They're not old enough to say anything funny, but they often make me laugh. They get cuter every week.


Calista doesn't quite crawl yet, but she gets halfway up on her knees and scoots backwards pretty well. Here she has backed herself up underneath the futon - all on her own. After she did that, Calista looked up at me like, "Well, now what?"


Calista and Timothy spend 3 days a week together, so they're pretty good friends...

Most of the time.

12.08.2007

She's using a cell phone already

So this story isn't really funny, per se, but it's cute and made my day.

My sister-in-law, Leslie, called Scott on his phone but he didn't answer because he had left it at home (we were on our way home from the library). My 2-year-old niece, Sarah Ann, said to her, "Now I talk Aunt Tith ." (that's how she pronounces my name) Leslie responded, "Well, why don't we call Daddy? Aunt Tarythe is probably studying." But Sarah Ann was adamant. "No. Aunt Tith."

So Leslie called me and told me that Sarah Ann really wanted to talk to me, and I laughed and agreed. I could hear Leslie prompting Sarah Ann's responses in the background. I also got her to sing the ABC song and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", all by herself with no prompting from Leslie.

My niece is so cute.

12.02.2007

"When I grow up..."

September 2007
Porter always knows what he's going to be when he grows up, though it usually changes every couple of months at least. His choices have ranged everywhere from a stomach doctor to herpetologist. He can also tell you at any given moment what his sister Penelope (she's a year and a few months old now) is going to be - often her destiny is to work as his assistant. Recently he informed me that he was going to be a zoologist, and so of course I asked job Penelope would have. Without missing a beat, he said:
"Penelope's going to be a person who makes computers, printers, air conditioners, and other electronic stuff."

Of course. Why hadn't I guessed?

The Meaning of Wild

September 2007
I was watching Planet Earth with Porter one evening while his parents were out, before it was time for him to go to bed. Porter loves animals, and knows more about them than most adults do. We were watching the segment about the Tibetan Plateau, where yaks and wild asses live.

"Aunt Tarythe, do you know what 'wild' means?" Porter asked me. Then, before I could respond, he answered his own question.
"It's short for 'rascally'."

Ah. I never knew.

Two Percent Money

Utah Trip, 27 July - 4 Aug 2007
I spent a week in Utah with Scott's family this summer - there was a reunion on his father's side first, then his mother's side. After that, my sister-in-law, Leslie, spoke at a genealogy conference at BYU so we stayed in Provo for a couple of days. There were a lot of funny conversations between the cousins during that trip.

1. Porter, 4: (after losing his toy chameleon and getting little caterpillars to replace it) "I'll play with these until I get a new chameleon. Then I'll give them up and play with my chameleon for the rest of my life." Well, at least he's loyal.

2. Cassy told Porter and Taylor (5), who had been arguing, that they were both right. After a pause, Taylor said, "Yeah, but I'm righter, right?"

3. Porter: "I used to drink Mama's milk. Now I drink 2%."
Grandpa Albrecht: "What does 'two percent' stand for?"
Taylor, without missing a beat: "Two percent money!"

4. Porter: "Cheetahs hunt all the African animals in the world!"

Highly Effective Habit #8: 'Get a Head Start'

June 2007
My 7-year-old niece Rachel was busily making a Mother's Day card (for next year), when her mother, Leslie, queried as to why she was making a card 11 months early. This was Rachel's reply, in all seriousness and sincerity:
"Well, my schedule gets kind of tight that time of year, so I thought I'd get a head start."

Oh, to have the tight schedule of a 7 year old.

This is For Them.

I'm not ashamed to profess that I have the cutest nieces and nephews in the world. I'm not biased; it's simply a fact. One of the things I was most excited about when I got engaged to be married was the idea of being an aunt. The only thing that made me more happy was when I met them and discovered that not only was I gaining nieces and nephews, but that they were the cutest ones ever. And the things that those kids say sometimes just crack me up. I want to share them with the world (the anecdotes, not the kids).

This blog is mostly dedicated to my nieces and nephews, and the hysterical things they say and do - if I don't keep track of them, I'll likely forget what they were. And trust me, they're worth remembering. For the first little bit, I'll be posting some anecdotes from the past - I've just got to dig up the bits of paper I've been keeping track of these things on so far. Hopefully I can get all caught up before Christmas - I'll be visiting my nieces and nephews and no doubt they'll give me fresh stuff to write about. I'll also add here other funny stuff as appropriate, like stuff from kids at church or things I overhear on the street.

Enjoy.