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Sunday Funnies

A couple of months ago, Rick and I decided to start having monthly interviews with each of our children on the first Sunday of each month.  We saw this as a way to stay connected with them and to provide opportunities to discuss things that might bother them that they wouldn't ordinarily bring up in every day conversation.  We have done these interviews for two months now and we are really enjoying the time we spend talking with our children.  Before our interviews, Rick and I decide whose turn it is to interview each child.  Last month, I had the opportunity to interview all of the kids except Reyes.  Emily was accidentally interviewed twice (by both me and Rick), but I don't think she minded all that much.

Some funny things came up in our interviews that I thought I should write down before I forget.  With each of the children, I made the point to ask them if they could think of anything Mom and Dad could do to be better parents to them.  Emily and Makayla were sweet enough to say they couldn't think of anything we could do to improve.  Ricky and Andrew, on the other hand, had a few suggestions.  Ricky would like us to teach him how to play football, play catch with him more, and do things outside.  Andrew thinks we would be better parents if we would sit with him and color pictures with him more often.  These are easy suggestions to implement and I'm sure as our children grow to be teenagers, their criticisms of us will be more severe.

After asking the kids what we could do better as parents, I asked them to tell me some things they like that we do.  Emily's and Makayla's responses made me laugh.   They weren't funny on their own--just in combination.  Neither of them knew I asked the question to each of them but both of their responses illustrate their personalities and how we interact as an entire family:

Mom:  What do you like that we do for you as parents?
Emily:  I like that you make us do the dishes after dinner.  It teaches us how to be hard workers.

Mom:  What do you like that we do for you as parents?
Makayla:  I like when you do the dishes for me after dinner when I sneak away from the kitchen.  I know I'm supposed to do them, but you are nice to me when you do them for me.

I couldn't help laughing at Makayla's response.  She is such a good girl and really works hard when she wants to, but she is honestly grateful somebody else steps in and does the work for her.  I will make a point to be sure she doesn't sneak away from kitchen duty in the future.

Besides our monthly interviews, Sundays are fun because we make it a point to do things together as a family.  We like to go on walks if the weather is right, but we also like to play games.  Below are some pictures from last week's intense game of Jenga.


During the game, Andrew and Sean were snuggling on my lap.  Andrew was so cute to put his arm around Sean.  Sean, in turn, layed his head on Andrew's shoulder.  It was a precious but fleeting moment, and by the time I got one of the kids to snap a picture, the moment has passed and Sean had had enough "snuggling" time as Andrew was pinching his ear instead of gently hugging his shoulder.
I love my family and all the good times we have together.

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