Too Cute!

I have realized this weekend that I say the adjective "cute" too often. There are many things in my life that are cute, as you can imagine with Caleb's wit and Hannah's smiles, but I think my labeling things as "cute" is out of hand. Yesterday (Saturday), I went "school clothes shopping" with my mom and brother. The clothes were not for Caleb, although he did get a couple of adorable things, as did Hannah, but for my brother who is 16 years old and about to start his junior year in high school. He has a hard time finding clothes that he likes so whatever he would find on our shopping adventure was a treasure. This said, I'm sure I inadvertently talked him out of several shirts. We went to Old Navy (always a favorite!) and when he would express interest in a shirt, I would make two very bad mistakes.
#1: I would call the shirt a "top". "That's a great top!" I might as well have called it a "blouse" because apparently, guys don't wear "tops".
#2: I would say "That is SO CUTE!" 16-year old boys do not want to look "cute". As soon as the "cute" word came out, the shirt went right back on the rack, no matter how badly he wanted it. I thwarted a few "tops" that would have looked very nice and therefore, I am sorry. I only hope I made up for it with my opinion on shoes... (Is "rad" still an positive adjective? Just Kidding!!)

The second and third red flags with "cute" came today. Out of the blue, Caleb said "Hannah learned baby sign language. She learned it at baby class." Ummm....I wish Hannah knew baby sign language but I'm not that ambitious. I suggested, instead, that Caleb learn some "on the spot" sign language. I sang the "ABC's" while doing the signs for it. Caleb was fascinated and in the end said "That is such a cute little sign language ABC's." He then proceeded to pick up his crawling sister and say "Hannie, you are so cute!" Now, as a man, Chris doesn't use the word "cute" on a daily basis. Therefore, Caleb had to have learned this from me. What other words will I use instead of "cute", I wonder? I don't think I know any...

On a random note, we ended up having a wonderful weekend despite Chris' absence. A few people took pity on us and decided to spend some quality time with me and the kids. On Saturday, we had lunch with my mom and Ben, then did some shopping (as I mentioned) then hung out with a good movie and some great Chinese food. Always a great way to spend a Saturday night! On Sunday (today), we got to spend some time with Heather (big shout out to Heather and another apology for the lack of dessert!). We walked around the man-made lake in Edina and it was WONDERFUL! Now I can't wait for it to snow since I heard they have ice skating on that lake in the winter. Fall, are you here yet???

P.S. Pictures still on the way. "Someone" just said that my blog has had too much text lately. :P