Shut up?

Wow! I know I know it has been a long time since my last entry. I was waiting for just the right story. I know none of you care about my weekend plans, my latest purchase, pictures of my feet, what town I was in last or what things I baked this weekend. If anyone does care about that, it was chocolate chip cookies. I know a few of you do care about my children and the stories about them. Well this a very unusual story.

It all started last Sunday when one of my nephews told another one to, "shut up", in front of Ella. A discussion ensued about bad words and how we should not use them. It was decided that, "shut up" was rude and should never be used. If someone said it, that person would have to go to time out. If any of you know my wife you know, "shut up!" is one of her favorite phrases. She uses it most often when talking on the phone or when someone is telling her a story. She uses it so much it even replaced "pants on fire" several years ago.

So, last night we had my sister in-law and her boyfriend over for dinner. During dinner my sister in-law said something, I can't even remember what it was, but sure enough my wife blurted out, "SHUT UP"! Well you can imagine Ella's reaction. She came over got on my lap, and whispered softly in my ear. "Mommy said, shut up" I asked her what we should do? We both agreed that time out was appropriate. Susie was almost excited that she would get some alone time and was ecstatic that the norm was one minute for every year, until she forgot that in time out you can't talk, move or do anything. In the end, since we had guests over, we all decided that we would set the timer for one minute. I think that was one of the longest, quietest minutes of Susie's life. I'm guessing shut up is getting replaced quickly with something else!