November 24-25, 2011- Thanksgiving Cute Kid Quotes!

     Today we are celebrating Thanksgiving (although here it is actually Friday the 25^th on Kwajalein), so that we are on track with everyone else in the states and can watch football and the Thanksgiving Day Parade with the rest of the world as tomorrow we have to go back to work one more day before the weekend. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my children and the funny things they say.  Usually, my stories of funny quotes come from my youngest, as he is my “class clown,” but this time, I have a few stories that came from my oldest that I wanted to share.  A few weeks ago, I had mentioned to a co-worker who was over having dinner with us that our boss said she was going home after work to have a glass of wine. It was just one of those comments that was part of the story I was telling, but before I could finish, my son (who was just introduced to the D.A.R.E. program at school) stopped me and said, “She needs to be in the D.A.R.E. program!” Of course, we had to explain that there’s a difference between having one glass of wine after work than being addicted to drugs or alcohol, but thank goodness, my boss got a kick out of the joke. It’s interesting how literally children take everything we say. That’s why we parents have to be very conscious of our speech at all times (unless we want to do a lot more explaining what we mean all the time). J 

     That next week, my son and I got some ice cream from the local Baskin Robbins, and as we were enjoying it, he said, “Hey mom, this is not hot!”  I said, “What? It’s not supposed to be hot” to which he replied, “but look…” and he showed me where it was written on the container, “Caution-Hot!!” It was actually a macaroni and cheese container. That’s life on Kwaj. When the ice cream shops runs out of ice cream containers, they use the food containers from other restaurants in the food court to get by until the boat comes in with supplies. 

    Finally, my co-worker dressed up as a girl from the 1960’s for Halloween, and as we were walking to one of the kid’s Halloween parties, my son called out to his friends, “Hey, look at the 80’s girl!”  I guess today’s 80’s is like yesterday’s 60’s. J  At any rate, Thanksgiving, for me, is a time to enjoy the blessings of family, friends, the abundance of food we have been given as well as the joy of life on an atoll.  We are very lucky today to have jobs, to have a roof over our heads, and to have food and water (as my youngest son has taken to thanking God for each night). We are lucky enough to be able to enjoy luxuries such as a good glass of wine, a scoop of ice cream, and a fun filled Halloween party. So many in our world never have a chance to experience any of these treats or events in life. Today, I will strive to remember those things whenever I am tempted to complain about there not being any fresh green beans at the grocery store yesterday for the green bean casserole or that I have to clean up after my son for the third time today because he keeps sharpening his new colored pencils at the table and drops the shavings on the carpet underneath him.  Today is a day for being thankful that we will have turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin and sweet potato pie, and that my son was able to purchase those new colored pencils with his own money from his birthday presents.  Today is a day to be thankful for life and everything that comes with it! Happy Thanksgiving!!