the devil

so, yesterday we went to the mall with lauren, my sister and my friend melani. kurtis was in a horrible grumpy mood. it all started after school, he asked if we were going to go swimming today. i told him no because jared still has a cough, but that we were going to the mall. my plan was to shop, and then let them play at the play yard thing in the mall, and maybe get them a little treat. well, lets just say, things didn't go as planned. things just weren't going kurtis' way at all. he and blake couldn't stop picking at each other...they seem to fight and argue more and more. that alone is driving me nuts!! now, on a side note....two weeks ago, we went to my parent's stake conference with them. a woman that we've known for years, was one of the speakers. she started out talking about one summer years ago that her kids were just driving her crazy with their fighting. i immediately listened closer. she proceeded to tell this story. her kids were fighting and so she went to them and asked them..."who are you serving when you fight?" they told her, "the devil". and so she talked to them about who they wanted to serve...Heavenly Father...and so forth. so that week, i tested this out on my kids. lo and behold, we had the exact same outcome. same answers and all. ok, so back to the mall story. while we were eating a snack, kurtis and blake were playing on these old arcade games. something happened and kurtis hit blake. blake told on him. i had just had it! i excused myself with kurtis. well, while we were gone, blake stayed with lauren. when i came back, this is the conversation she told me they had together.

Blake: "Isn't Kurtis mean?"
Lala: "No, he's just having a hard day."
Blake: "Kurtis is mean to me. He hit me. Do you know who Kurtis is serving?"
Lala: "Huh?"
Blake: "DO YOU KNOW WHO KURTIS IS SERVING?" [said more clearly with bulging eyes looking up at me this time]
Lala: "No, who?"
Blake: "Kurtis is serving the Devil."
Lala: "What?"
Blake: "Kurtis is serving the Devil because he hit me. When you do bad things, you're serving the Devil. When you do good things, you're serving Jesus. So, Kurtis is serving the Devil today."
And I just smiled, trying to keep the laugh in. This was a serious conversation for him. No laughs or smiles on his party. Very matter-of-fact. He's so funny!!!!

well, at least it's sinking in with one of them!!! that's all i have to say about that!!

now, while we were in macy's, lauren and i were looking in the little girls section. kurtis is always on the look out for a place to sit down. so he finds a spot on the manican platform. he was coming out of his grumpiness and just chillin'. so after i check out, i walk over to him and i see him kneeling on the floor and he looked at me coming and dropped the end of one the manican's dresses. "no way" i think to myself. no way he was looking up their dresses. so i casually asked, "what are you doing?" with a guilty look, he just shrugged his shoulders. so i just came out and asked, "were you looking up the dresses?" and he shrugged his shoulders and with the most serious look on his face said, "yeah, i just wondered if they put underwear on them."
oh geez....it's beginning!!!! not yet!!!!
now, i know this was in all innocence, but still...come on.