Josie is Four!

Having a child like Josie is both a blessing and a curse. She completely cracks me up, but that is not a good thing when discipline is involved. Sometimes she'll be in trouble and I'll be trying to reprimand her and I'll have to leave the room so she won't see me laughing. Does anyone else have this problem? She loves life. She lives more deeply than anyone I've ever known! When she's happy, her joy is complete... you can see it in her squinchy-eyed grin and hear it in her goofy 'oyoyoyoy' laugh. When she's sad, LIFE IS OVER and she sobs her heart out and is inconsolable (ie: "I am going to my room and to my bed and I am just going to cry and I'm going to STAY THERE!"). When she's mad... well, just watch out. I honestly don't know what to do with someone that has a temper like... um... like... well, like mine.

We celebrated her birthday all week. On her actual birthday, Grammie came over and we had a special birthday breakfast. Then we went to dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant, aka the "Mariachi Band Singers' House," where she got to wear the giant sombrero. Sadie was extra nice to her all week, which she thoroughly enjoyed, and Jesse took her to Toys 'r Us to pick out anything that she wanted (within reason, of course). On another night, I asked her if she wanted anything special for dinner and she picked dinosaur chicken nuggets and organic fries. :) Funny. Anyway, she decided she wanted to have a "water party" at home, so we swam, played on the slip-n-slide, jumped in the bouncy house, had a water balloon fight, and roasted marshmallows in the backyard. My favorite quote of the party: "So, are you going to bring out my cake or what?"

Funny things since turning four:

Josie came into the kitchen in her fancy dress-up clothes, gave me a sly look, raised her eyebrows, and said, "Hey, Mommy... Guess what? I'm naked under my clothes."

Josie has decided that the new restaurant down the street is is going to be either "Shaker Slick and Doob," "Ducker Lick and Toob," or "Quaker Dick and Lube." I don't know what that last one means, but it does NOT sound good!

Wedded Bliss

Ha ha... that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one! :) Just kidding. Adelaide, my mom and I went to NC last weekend for my cousin's wedding. My BABY cousin. I cannot believe that he is old enough to get married. Sigh. It seems like just yesterday we were playing the fishing game off his front porch and he was pretending to be a Japanese chef, throwing plastic knives in the air. Time flies! Anyway, the wedding was beautiful... outside on the top of a mountain in Blowing Rock, right in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I miss those mountains so much... when I drive those winding roads and feel the cool air on my face, it's just like coming home again. We had a great time at the wedding (I got to spend some time with my Angela), and Adelaide had a great time with Amanda, who saved me by babysitting ALL DAY (the wedding lasted a good six hours). The best thing about it was that the minister's last name was "Hitch." Perfect!

Life with Sadie

-Sometimes living with Sadie is like living with Randy Jackson of American Idol. She ties a leash around Josie's waist, yanks on it, and says, "Come on, dawg."

-I asked Sadie who the first president of the United States was, and she answered without hesitation: "George Pilkington." (This is probably only funny to my immediate family :)


-We're getting a new restaurant in town, and I asked what the name of it is going to be. Sadie is convinced that it is Quaker Steak and Loo Hoob.

-I had a long talk with my Daddy last week in NC and I was telling Sadie about it. She listened for a while, then said, "And exactly when did all this talking start, anyway?"

Something Stinks

The other day I had to take the trash out because of Adelaide's poopy diaper. I put a new liner in the kitchen trash, then lit a candle because let's face it: poop stinks. Then I tossed the match in the trash and turned to leave the room. Suddenly I hear a WHOOSH! I turn around, and a FIREBALL IS COMING FROM THE TRASH CAN. I know, I know... run the match under water before you throw it away - I don't know what came over me. Maybe I just have too much on my mind or MAYBE the cheap trash bag wasn't fire retardant! Anyway, the smoke detector's beeping, Adelaide is crying, and Sadie is running down the hall yelling, "Do we need to use The Plan!?" and Josie screams, "Mommy is burning the house down!" Jesse was no help at all since he was in the shower and did not hear me yelling for help. So I kick the flaming trash can over to the kitchen sink (luckily Jesse installed a pull-out faucet for me not long ago) and stupid me turns the water ON before I pull the handle out, so I spray down a couple of the walls and the floor before I actually put the fire out. Dripping, shaking, and out of breath, I threw the smoldering trash can outside and came back in to sop up all the water. Of course, after all the commotion, Jesse comes in the kitchen, wrinkles his nose and says, "Something stinks."

Goed Crazy

Try to sing this in your best Cookie Monster impersonation and you'll hear Josie's latest rendition of this Steve Green favorite: "In my fadder's house are manee man-shuns, manee man-shuns in my fadder's house! In my fadder's house are manee man-shuns, manee man-shuns in my fadder's house!"

While eating our favorite vegetarian sushi (avocado with cucumber and cream cheese), Josie decided she wanted to use some chopsticks, too. She said, "Hey, Mommy... can I have some of those... those... those rice tweezers?"

After going potty, Josie always says "I goed pee." I always say, "You went pee?" and she always says, "Yeah, that's what I sayed. I goed pee."

Keeping it Simple

I taught the girls the secret knock "Shave and a Haircut - two bits" and they say it all the time now. Apparently, their cousin James taught them a little hand game that goes "Skunk in the barnyard, P.U.! Somebody ate it, that's you!" Josie got it a little mixed up the other day on the way home from our bike ride... she sang: Skunk in the barnyard, two bits!"

We love listening to Little House on the Prairie (we have the CDs in the car) and, as a parent, you'd think that nothing could be more wholesome, right? Imagine my surprise when Sadie came in from swimming lessons and said, "Well, the only good Indian is a dead Indian." Needless to say, we had a little history lesson. Then they both shucked corn for lunch :)

I like the way Sadie and Josie keep things simple. For instance, if they're playing pretend and need to name something, like a herd of My Little Ponies, they'll go with the simplest way: The blue one is Bluey, the green one is Greenie, the yellow one is - you guessed it - Yellowy, and if they need names for similar looking ponies, they just switch to added adjectives, ie: Bluey-Greenie or Orangey-Purpley.