To Infinity and Beyond...

A Little Brotherly Advice on Girls...

2012-02-14T10:50:00.000-05:00

My motley trio, Jamie, Henry, and Rosie, getting ready to deliver their Valentine roses to their friends and teachers at school this morning.

Rosie couldn't wait to carry her flowers...

("I need to hooooold them, now!")

But then used the pretty flowers as a tool to wack her brother in the head as he climbed past her to get to his seat in the van.

I think that Rosie's roses were the only flowers used as nunchucks on this national day of love.

Jamie loves Valentines day...for the past two years he has given each of the girls in his class a red rose.

(He absolutely insists they be red, in his opinion, any other color rose is "kinda lame.")

He puts a lot of energy in building up his flower delivery event before February 14th, reminding all of the 3rd grade ladies...

"I'm going to give you a red rose on Valentines Day."

He very much wanted Henry to follow in his cupid footsteps but Henry isn't quite as comfortable with this open display of affection...

"Maybe I'll just give roses to my teachers, I don't want a girlfriend.

I might want to be a priest when I grow up."

(Henry, the young Presbyterian, has been exploring his options in the priesthood lately.)

"Dude, you don't have to marry anyone, just give the girls ONE FLOWER on this ONE DAY because it makes them so happy."

And that is the very sound big brotherly advice from Jamie (age 9) to Henry (age 7) on this Valentine's morning.

Have a fantastic day- and be sure to extra kind and extra gentle to those you love, on this day especially.

Who's your Llama?

2012-02-10T12:50:00.000-05:00

Our Lily has a love of llamas.

She doesn't know any on a personal level, but admires them from afar and thinks of them as very useful creatures with big soulful eyes.

Lil just turned eleven and thought that a llama party would be the best way to celebrate her big day. She decided that she wanted to raise enough money to buy a llama, not for herself (phew!) but for a family in Peru who would be more able to host and appreciate such a beast.

She planned a llama slumber party and asked her friends to make a donation to Heifer International instead of giving her birthday gifts. Her friends agreed that it was a great idea and gave generously to her llama fund. She was able to meet her goal of $150 to buy an entire llama, (not just a share) and had $20 to spare.

So she shopped on the Heifer website for the "cheapest livestock" and was able to add some chickens to her birthday llama.

http://www.heifer.org/

Rosie enjoyed (but was not so skilled at) playing pin the tail on the llama with the cool middle school girls. Please notice behind Rosie, the completely awesome llama by Karl G aka cool dad + creator of mighty fine llama silhouettes.

These were the little llamas who came to us from Peru to serve as party favors. We found them at Lily's favorite place to shop for cool Peruvian llamas, Ten Thousand Villages.

http://cincinnati.tenthousandvillages.com/

The girls made their own llamas from yarn, Popsicle sticks and googly eyes... it turns out the googly eyes are really essential in defining the personality of popsicle stick llamas.

A Walk in the Woods.

2012-02-05T08:44:00.002-05:00

With a week of extremely mild temps, Karl, and I took three little bears + schnoodle for a walk in the nearby woods.

As the caboose, this was my view for most of the walk.

Except for the times when the two youngest bears, who on each others very last nerve, needed to complain about each other. Then this was my whiny view... you can see how troubled Karl and Lily are by the their stress.

The setting was beautiful- much like the "autumn" background at the Sears portrait studio- so I did my best to get some photos of the kids experiencing some woodsy fun.

"No... I don't want to have a nice face- I will show you my sad face instead" said Rosie happily, my least cooperative little bear.

I tried to take a happier photo of Henry on a mossy log.

"Nope- don't feel like smiling. This is my not happy, not sad face, the best I can do right now" said my tiny bit more cooperative medium size bear.

There's the happy face I was searching for!
Thank you Lily, my most agreeable and biggest bear cub of the afternoon.

Somehow, I did manage to get all three cubs plus Papa Bear, looking pleasant at the same time... well, schnoodle-bear is distracted, but the rest of the team looks happy and relaxed in the real life Sears Portrait Studio.

And so goes our two sister bears on their way home.

Mommy's Mug Shot.

2012-02-02T09:15:00.001-05:00


"Mommy" by Rosie age 3

"And so this is YOU!"

Rosie declares, holding up her whiteboard marker sketch.

"You look like a worm- but your grumpy face is really a smile!!!"

young artist at work

Breakfast Date.

2012-01-31T13:49:00.000-05:00

Lately, it seems as though each of our kids would really prefer to by only children.

While that wish must remain a unobtainable fantasy, sometimes I let them pretend that they have no other siblings to compete with.

A favorite way for us to do this, is to go on a just one kid breakfast date. These dates are great... they give me a chance to focus absolutely on a single kid for a complete thirty minutes. I make it a personal rule to never ever be critical or grumpy during those dates (hey, it's only thirty minutes- I can do that) and this model works well. During our time together, I remind the kid in front of me just how completely fantastic kid they are, and they enjoy every single minute.... what's not to love?

Most of the time the conversation is pretty routine, but every now and again I learn a little snippet about the sort of people my kids are becoming.

The other morning Jamie looked up from his pancakes and told me..."I think that music is my thing."

I asked..."what do you mean by your thing?"

"The thing that I like to do when I'm not doing something I have to do, like school or homework."

I like to play piano and listen to music more then anything else. And also draw... yeah, I'd say that music and art are my thing."

I can pretty much guarantee that this little snippet of sharing was unlikely to happen at any other time or place other than over pancakes at 7:30 in the morning.

So I took a quick photo of my young musician/artist and darned if he doesn't look both musical and artistic.

I showed him the photo.

"Ok... now take a picture of me looking like I have sand in my butt so I can send it to Anna."

(the sand in his butt comment is an ongoing joke between him and his oldest sister that never fails to send them both into hysterics)

So here is a picture of my musician/artist son pretending to have a sandy bottom.
Which he thought was a far cooler photo.
Then he asked for my phone so he could text Anna that he had a sandy butt and include this photo as evidence.

Which I had to agree, is very funny in a nine year old guy sort of way.

Don't call me that!

2012-01-27T11:57:00.002-05:00

"I'm not BOSSY!
Don't call me that...
I just get so MAD when you DON'T DO what I WANT YOU TO DO!"

Rosie G... age 3 years 9 months.

Happy Birthday Dear Lily!

2012-01-25T12:42:00.001-05:00

Our Lillian happily turns 11 today!

In celebration (and admittedly, a little fit of mom nostalgia) I thought I would share her birth announcement photo from way back in 2001.
Here is the very young Miss Lily during her first few days of life.

And here is the current version of Lily during that little window of early morning following her birthday breakfast, but before she was off to school.

Happy Birthday Dear Lily- you are much loved!

Bring On the Dragon.

2012-01-23T23:50:00.000-05:00

The Gieseke family was happy to ring in the Chinese year of the Dragon with noodle bowls at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Jamie and Henry are happily wearing their dragon wear Chinese shirts, which are technically pajamas, but no one really seemed to notice or care.

The restaurant was nearly empty... all of it's Chinese clientele were at home celebrating with family, which suited us perfectly. The fewer folks around and at risk to annoy with our obnoxious family dynamics, the better. Here is Rosie twirling her chopsticks while outfitted in the most "Chinese-ish" thing she could come up with... Lily's old gymnastic leotard.

She is pretty certain that she looks pretty fabulous.

"Doodles Noodles" is our favorite restaurant to take the kids to. It's very close by and the owners are tolerant of our big rowdy family. They even gave us a gift to help us celebrate the most auspicious year of the dragon...a zhong guo jre.

I have never been given a lucky Chinese knot before and I can already feel my chi improving as it now hangs in my kitchen.

I knew I would forget what our new cool knot was called so I had our hostess write it down for me so I could google it later. This is what I learned...

"Traditionally, a Chinese knot must be bent, tied and crafted from a single red rope, to express the endless circle of happy life."

Now, how lovely is that?

Jamie is a fan of the sesame balls for dessert.

Here, he ponders them before he snarfs them down.

I just had to add this photo... our boys look too much like goofy bookends not to share :-)

To my fellow Cincinnatians looking for a great kid friendly spot with wonderful Chinese food, please visit...

http://www.doodleshydepark.com/

Big Black Monster with Teeth.

2012-01-18T15:05:00.000-05:00

Meet...
The Big Black Monster.

I always thought of it as a a pretty quiet not so scary sort of clothes hamper that doesn't generally cause a lot of problems. I never considered it to be frightening... it's kind of raggedy and old but creepy?
Not so much...
Until very recently when Rosie told me it was really a...
BIG BLACK MONSTER!

I tried to reassure her...

"No, its a big laundry basket that we put dirty clothes it... there is no such thing as monsters."

Her reply to me... "No such thing, except for that BLACK MONSTER next to your bed."

So I emptied it and let her crawl around and play in it, which she enjoyed very much.

My hope was that by playing in the big harmless hamper, Rosie would have faced her fears and no longer be freaked out by the hamper.

"See, it's not scary at all... at all" I pointed out after a few minutes of play therapy.

(I was pretty sure that she had come to terms with her irrational fear of the laundry basket.)

Rosie leveled a cool gaze a me...

"That's because it's not dark out...when it's darktime, it turns into a monster with teeth and eats people. I'm SCARED of it because it wants to EAT me."

Oh.

(ok, she has a point...totally creeeeepy)

Single White Sock Seeks Forever Partner.

2012-01-13T12:16:00.001-05:00

Behold- Sock Mountain!

Our family goes through a lot of socks... 14 a day, close to 100 a week.
And we seem to lose more.
I don't know why all of the happily married socks in my family chose to leave their matchy match partners for the single life but they sure do.
Maybe it's how we treat them....
my boys don't just take off their socks they fling them, over the head lasso style to the far corners of whatever room they please.
I guess that the over the head sock fling helps explain the loss of boy socks... but Karl and I hardly ever do that and we still suffered from sock loss...very mysterious.
That is, until very recently.
Unlike most household issues, the sock problem has a simple solution. It's called the sock clip and it's a beautiful invention. It's a simple little plastic device that binds the socks together forever and always- until death do they part. So now, the only time the socks are not clipped together, is when they are on feet... and then, they remain close enough.
So, I hope I don't sound like a complete braggy Maggie when I say that since the sock clip was introduced to our house,our sock problems are very, very limited.

In case you might have a sock mountain of your own...
https://www.sockclip.com/

Lily demonstrates correct sock clip usage.

The Very Best Camera...

2012-01-06T11:18:00.002-05:00

The very best camera to own is the one that you happen to have with you when your kid does something kind of weird but still photogenic.

Like yesterday, when Jamie happily stuck himself to the climbing wall by hooking himself from his jacket.

I was thrilled that I had my iphone with me so that I could use it's ever handy camera feature to catch my son in the act of being weird but also fun and photogenic.
I am sure that he broke about a million safety code violations, but he and I both thought he looked quite cool.

New Happy Year!

2012-01-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

While Anna and Mary celebrated the new year at the appropriate hour...Jamie, Henry, Lily (and Lil's best pal) celebrated midnight at the exact same time as western Greenland while Rosie stayed awake just long enough to see midnight in Paris before clonking out.

We didn't even bother being sneaky about bumping up our time zone... I just pulled the clock off the wall and told the kids that it was late, they were cranky and we were celebrating early.

And they were ok with that.

So we greeted 2012 (in western Greenland) with toasts and cheers right here within the glitz and glamor that is our kitchen.

The biggest excitement of the night happened at the stroke of midnight (in western Greenland) when Karl popped the cork on a bottle of champagne...woo hoo!

Jamie and Henry sharing a midnight toast (with the rest of western Greenland) and perhaps plotting their new happy year.

Henry was amazed that we took the clock off the wall and adjusted to suit our needs at the time.

"I didn't know that you could move time to whatever you felt like!" said our little H-Bomb and then asked to have his picture taken with our kitchen clock.

"This is so cool...it's like seeing time pass, up close and really big."

Wishing you all the very best, brightest and happiest new year!

Merry Christmas Day.

2011-12-26T13:32:00.000-05:00

To capture the magic of Christmas 2011, I will begin with the canine members of our family... they were the easiest and most happy to be photographed.

Turkey relished in a sunbath nap with his girl...

and Penny happily stood guard over her boys while they tested out their new games.

Every Christmas eve, our family wears new pajamas so the we look stylish and fun on Christmas morning. This year our friend Carly suggested we all wear kimonos and since Carly is extremely hip, we took her advice. Here are the dudes of the family posing. Karl is being as macho as possible while wearing a kimono and a parakeet.

Here are the women of the house... Rosie said that she was going to make a sad face in the picture and there wasn't anything I could do to cajole her into not looking glum. She had a very fun Christmas, but you could never tell from the photos of the day.

Here is the whole Christmas kimono team on Christmas morning. Jamie is showing off his favorite gift, a Harry Potter wand and Henry got his new favorite game..."SORRY!"

Happy Birthday Jesus Christ.

2011-12-22T19:08:00.001-05:00

Rosie has been doing her best to wrap her mind around Christmas but it's been a challenge for her to piece it all together. The one thing she is certain of is that Jesus Christ is someone who is important and that he is having a birthday party very soon and she is invited to it. So quite conversationally she has been asking people... "were you invited to Jesus Christ's birthday party?"Henry got especially frustrated with Rosie acting as though she was invited to an exclusive "A" list party and I overheard him trying to set her straight.

"It's Christmas! Jesus' birthday is called Christmas and it's not just for you and your friends, everyone can come to Christmas, Rose... stop acting like you're the only one in our family invited somewhere... The whole world could celebrate Christmas if they felt like it, not just you!

Lily explaining the first Christmas to Rosie.

While the whole world (if they felt like it) celebrating one birthday is too big for Rosie to imagine, choosing the perfect birthday gift for Jesus is a task she feels she is up for.

She would like to buy Jesus a Princess Barbie doll... in Rosie's world Jesus is an almost 4 year old girl. Lily has explained to her that we celebrate Christmas by being really nice to each other and we give each other gifts because Jesus wanted us to be really nice on his birthday, but Rosie prefers the enormous birthday party concept instead.

Lily tried to explain again when we went to visit the nativity at the conservatory... "we celebrate Christmas because that little baby named Jesus was born."

Rosie was alarmed that there was a real donkey and a cow so close to the faux Holy Family... "Jesus Christ looks nervous because that cow might bite him."
Which Lily thought was the funniest comment ever.

And then we bumped into Santa who gave her a candy cane and asked what she wanted for Christmas,
"Jesus Christ wants a princess Barbie doll," is what she told the big guy.
Fortunately this Santa was the nod and smile kind of Santa who seemed to be a bit hard of hearing and didn't ask her to explain. Lily told her that Santa Claus is the guy who brings presents on Christmas eve to celebrate Jesus's birthday, which Rosie thought was the funniest, goofiest, thing she ever heard.

Counting Down.

2011-12-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

4 days
12 hours

22 mins

21 seconds.
You can see how excited Santa is about this on Lily's countdown to Christmas clock.
He's fairly bursting from his snowy chimney.
Santa is completely and totally ready for Christmas.

There have been times during the past few weeks when I felt a smidge like the deliriously happy Santa-
but mostly I feel more like "Elfy" our kinda creepy little Elf on a Shelf.

Here he is posing on our kitchen clock.
Elfy spent his first couple of weeks in December lamely shuffling between a couple high ledges around the kitchen. Now that Anna is home he has turned into adventure elf and doesn't mind taking a few scotch tape risks.

Bee-ing Brave.

2011-12-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

Immediately following the middle school spelling bee today, our school principal thanked all of the spellers for participating and reminded them of their bravery.
He told them all that it took a lot of courage to stand up and take a risk of being wrong, especially in front of your class, and he thanked them for their courage in taking that risk.

Lily was one of the students who represented her 5th grade class in the bee. She maintained a calm exterior, but afterwards she told me that she was really nervous and had "like, a whole flock of butterflies" in her belly.

She was fortunate in that she had a ton of telepathic support. When it was Lily's turn to spell, I noticed that a few of her friends in the audience had closed their eyes and crossed their fingers in order to send her some good spelling vibes. It was a nice display of 5th grade solidarity and Lily was quite touched by this... me too.

She did really well and hung on until the 4th round... the tough word that stumped her was ~~damagable~~, oops... I mean... "damageable."

Holy Cow...and sheep.

2011-12-11T22:02:00.001-05:00

Jamie and Henry got to play the very holy livestock who witnessed the birth of Christ in our church Christmas pageant. They both did a convincing job... Jamie was a poised and serene spotted cow and Henry a wooly sheep.

They stayed in character and posed attentively as the story of the first Christmas unfolded around them. They was a bit of excitement when the sudden great host of many angels appeared all around and things got pretty intense. A few of the more expressive little angels needed more space to flap their wings and weren't too shy about it. They were boisterous and quite determined, and to be fair, the livestock really did need to scootch over a bit so they could make their most important point. One kind mom apologized to me afterwards for her little angel daughter throwing a roller derby style elbow at my sheep. My little sheep didn't really seem to notice and afterwards the sheep and roller derby angel remained friends and enjoyed post show cookies together.

It's all good.

Because the pageant actors did double duty as the choir, the holy cow and sheep stood up to sing after little lord Jesus was born. This might be my favorite photo ever of a singing sheep.

There was some down time too... show business isn't always glamorous and glitzy.

Lily played Silent Night post pageant and I didn't realize that her soft and fuzzy red holiday scarf looks exactly like a red feather boa until just now.

Holy cow post pageant, noshing on cocoa and cookies.

Tiny Sneaky Toothbrusher

2011-12-06T10:47:00.001-05:00

Rosie the Riveter looking every bit the tiny + maniacal dental hygienist.

Rosie got a brand new mermaid tooth brush that she loves very much.

She loves it so much, in fact that she wants to share it.

But she doesn't really want anyone else to touch it because she really doesn't trust anyone with her "new beautiful tooth brusher."

Her solution is to sneak up on unsuspecting family members and brush their teeth while they aren't looking.
Which isn't cool and only served in annoying her siblings.

The other night, I awoke from deep sleep with my dear girl trying to brush my teeth.
As you can imagine, this is intrusive and weird, but I really wasn't surprised.

What I find most interesting is her process of thought.
She must have woke up at 3:00 in very early morning (late night?) and thought to herself
"hmmm... right now seems like a really good time to brush my mom's teeth?"
And then, what fascinates me the most, is that she had the follow through to get up and go find her new "beautiful tooth brusher" in the bathroom and try to sneak in some parental dental hygiene in the wee hours.
So I guess that how her mind works...
She has a new cool toothbrush and wants to brush someones teeth, but doesn't really want to share it.
Mom is sound asleep in the next room.
Connect the dots and... BINGO!
Rosie's best 3:00 am idea ever.

And the Band Played On...

2011-12-01T09:12:00.001-05:00

Lily and about 29 of her fellow 5th graders had their very first band concert last night.

It was the most impressive concert I have ever attended.

The band played 11 songs all together... all at the same time.

To be clear... as a group, these 30 began playing their trumpets, clarinets, flutes, trombones and one baritone, all on the same note... and then, remarkably, they all stopped at the exact same time.
It was amazing.

Everyone in the band is new to their instrument. In September, during her first few weeks of band, Lily could only play her flute for a few minutes before she would get dizzy and come close to fainting. This seemed like a problem to me, but Ms. Nowlin took it as a matter of course and taught her some different breathing techniques.
And offered a ton of encouragement.
And then, 12 weeks later, this one intrepid band teacher gave a concert where 30 ten year olds played eleven different songs on five different instruments.
I really can't wrap my mind around how a mere mortal does something like this.
I am pretty sure that Ms. Nowlin is some sort of a band teaching genius.
With the patience of a saint.
And a sense of humor like no other.
From breathy squeaks to Jingle Bells in just 3 months.

Bravo, Ms. Nowlin....total standing ovation to you.
As the mom of a fifth grade flutist,
I very much appreciate your optimism, talent and kindly perseverance.

Lily post show, playing a solo encore for an audience of one mom.

Young Patriot

2011-11-26T13:30:00.000-05:00

Henry was asked to carry the American flag in the procession for his school's Thanksgiving mass.

He was honored.

In fact that's just what he told me when he first told me his big news.

He said "I am honored to carry the big American flag in church."

I asked him why his teacher asked him, he told me it was because she trusted him and thought he would do a good job...the ultimate compliment for Henry.

He was very excited to do his part but also very serious.

And a little bit solemn.

Just as a proud flag bearer should be.

He was asked to wear his boy scout uniform, and was thrilled that he got "special permission"from the higher ups (school principal) to be out of school uniform for the day.

This was a really big deal for our little guy and he dutifully led the procession while the congregation sang "God Bless America." There is something really adorable about a very serious 7 year old bearing the flag.

I learned that part of the responsibility of carrying the flag is that you need to be mindful of the candles. Catching the flag on fire in front of his classmates and teachers was a scenario that I didn't consider until Henry's teacher gave him a last minute reminder to watch out for the candles.

As a mom, worst case scenario (in church, public flag burning) flashed through my mind as I advised Henry to keep the flag high and his eyes on it when he passed the candles.

He followed through and thankfully, there were no accidental fires in mass.

Henry defines himself as an American who was born in Guatemala.

It seems fitting then that he should help honor Thanksgiving, the only holiday that is distinctly American.

This is a photo of the day (six years almost exactly) of our little guy in court. The day he officially became a proud citizen of the United States of America.

Well done Henry.

Shiny Stones of Strength.

2011-11-24T10:15:00.000-05:00

Jamie, Lily and Henry with their strength stones

Not long ago, the pastor of our very fine Presbyterian church gave each of the children a stone inscribed with the word strength on it. He told the kids that they could use the stone as a reminder to thankful for all those people in their life who gave them strength. Reverend York very recently lost his dear wife Barb to Lou Gehrig disease and told the children how grateful he was to all of those who offered he and Barb strength during her illness. He recounted how he and Barb would squeeze their own stone and give thanks to the people that they would see that day who would bring them strength and support. He shared that whenever he was feeling scared and alone, he would remind himself of the many people who were there to help him and Barb, and thinking of those folks would make him feel better.

Along with the other children, my kids were invited to squeeze their own stones and think of those who give them strength when they are frightened or unsure. They really like their shiny stones of strength and I like that they have a tangible reminder of the many people in their lives who surround them with love and support.

My family and I would like to offer a heartfelt thank you to Rev. Tom York as well as the many other people in our lives who offer us strength and remind us that we are never, ever alone.

Thank you all very much for helping us to be strong.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Creepy Joker Turkey

2011-11-23T00:19:00.001-05:00

The third graders in Jamie's school were asked to decorate turkeys for a Thanksgiving display. Jamie dressed his bird as though it was the creepy Joker in the Batman movies. This makes perfect sense, because really, nothing says Happy Thanksgiving more then the creepy joker.

Agreed?

Ninja Bats.

2011-11-20T21:09:00.001-05:00

Jamie and Henry spent about two hours on a rainy Sunday afternoon energetically jumping off our staircase landing.

Quite obviously, they were Ninja Bats.

And after the first few minutes of leaping, they were very sweaty Ninja Bats.

Jamie has enjoyed many hours of good times from his very own set of vulture wings... a fortuitous impulse buy from out summertime visit to the National Aviary.

Henry's wings were borrowed from Turkey, our near blind and much beloved Boston terrier.

Henry didn't mind the tiny terrier sized wings and happily called himself

"Baby-Ninja-Bat-Boy."

Thankfully, Turkey is a very good sharer and was happy to loan out his bat costume to one of his favorite kids.

Warning:

If you happen to find yourself in our messy foyer-

please beware of the leaping Ninja Bats.
They can be a little bit dangerous.

Pink Suit.

2011-11-16T09:41:00.001-05:00

Rosie is in love with this outfit.

She calls it her Pink Suit and is sure that she looks fabulous in it.
She says..."it's pink and sparkly and very beautiful."
What's not to love?

She is so sure of just how damn good she looks, that shortly after she put it on that she decided that she should never ever again wear anything else.

Her feelings for her fabulous pink suit are so strong that I think I might need to be on the lookout for larger sizes of her beloved pink leotard.

Will she wear it to college?

I don't know for sure, but I thought it would be a good idea to photo document her favorite fashion piece while it lasted, so for fun, I took a daily photo of my- caught in a fashion rut- daughter last week.

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

I Stole Your Heart and Put it in My Light Saber.

2011-11-13T21:00:00.001-05:00

Henry- Thief of Hearts

Henry's more violent and disturbing version of "gotchyer nose"

Henry is 7 years old, Rosie is 3.

Henry- "I stole your heart and I put it in the handle of my light saber."

Rosie- "How did you steal it? I want it back!"
Henry- "No! It's mine now, you can't have it back.

"R. "I need my heart!"

H. "You can't have it!"

Rosie (in anguish)..."My blood needs my heart- my brain needs my heart- GIVE IT BACK!"

Henry "Nope."

Rosie "GIVE MY THAT LIGHT SABER AND I WILL PUT MY HEART BACK INSIDE ME BY MYSELF!"

Henry to his little sister..."Ring the doorbell three times and give me your M&M's then I will give you back your heart."

Rosie- "Fine then."
Rosie proceeds to ring the doorbell 3 times and fork over her Halloween M&M's, only when the M&M's were in Henry's hand was she able to retrieve her heart from the light saber.

Tough afternoon.