And that's the truth

So Sadie and Josie could stay up a little longer to play with their Polly Pocket dolls upstairs, I let Adelaide snuggle in bed with me for a while. I thought she would conk out immediately, but of course she just snuggles next to me and stays AWAKE. And awake. And awake. I pretended to be asleep because I thought she might give in and fall out, but then I felt her little hand on mine and heard her little voice right next to my ear -
Adelaide: "Mommy, are you asleep yet?"
Me: "Yes."
Adelaide: "Oh. Okay."
Then she gave up and went to sleep!

I asked Josie about the cupcakes she made with Grandma Beth on Friday night and she told me they were "eggnog cupcakes." I said, "Really?" She said, surprised that I doubted her, "YES! I tell ya what's the TRUTH, Mommy!"

One of the most surprising things about my kids is that they love to hear the Bible read. Not just Bible stories, mind you, but from the real, actual BIBLE. They actually beg me to read it to them at breakfast each morning. It's strange, I think, in this day and age, to have someone beg you to read the Bible to them. Strange, yet humbling, in a way. I love that about them. They both try to shush Adelaide, too, while I'm reading: "HUSH, ADELAIDE! You do NOT talk while Mommy is reading the BIBLE!" It's funny. This week we finished the story of Noah. As we were talking about all the people who probably were banging on the door, trying to get in the ark when the flood started, Josie said, "Well, Noah couldn't have opened the door even if he WANTED to, because GOD shut that door!" Josie is a very perceptive child. :)

Mommy Guilt

I'm feeling guilty about not doing a baby calendar for Jedidiah. For Sadie and Josie, I kept meticulous calendars about their every move for their first whole year, complete with stickers for special occasions. Adelaide got a little bit less of the royal treatment regarding calendars... hers wasn't nearly as filled in, and it didn't have stickers, either. Poor Jedidiah has no calendar at all. I just do not have the time to do it! So I'm writing this down in my blog for him - Jedidiah, you are so cute and scrumptious and your chubby little cheeks make me want to kiss them EVERYDAY. You get cuter EVERY day, and you are learning and growing right before our eyes. When you "talk" to us, saying "goo" and "doo" and "ahhh" we all just melt and we love to hear your sweet little voice (except when you're crying)! You like looking at your yellow duck, watching the bluebirds in your crib, staring at the jungle mobile, and being held by your sisters (especially Josie, at this point). You talk to Daddy the most...apparently, the two of you are kindred spirits, including your stinky baby-gas issues! You are a serious toot machine, kid! I love you so much and the fact that you don't have a calendar has NO reflection whatsoever on the amount of love I feel for you! You are my sweet sweet baby boy... and at least you have a baby book of your own. :)

In a Teapot?

The kids were in a hurry to get to Grammie's house the other day. On the highway, there were different traffic patterns because of road construction. Different ANYthing is noticed by my kids, so of course they assumed it was a totally different road. Since they KNOW the way to Grammie's, Sadie asked me three or four times why I was going this way. I said, "Because I'm going to Grammie's!" She said, "Well, don't you know the right way?" I said, "Of course I know the right way to go." She said, "Well, then, why are you going THIS way?"

Adelaide: "Does God have a cane?"

Today Adelaide was playing with her Little People Toys. Keep in mind that we have a Little People Nativity set. This is what I overheard: "Hey! I am Tinkerbell! See dese wings? Now get outta da way. Here comes Baby Jesus in a teapot!"

For Christmas, I got the girls a beautiful star shaped nightlite with cutouts in it to hang from their ceiling. Every night, one of them gets to turn on their "starlight." Last night, Josie said, "Hey! It really is our star LIGHT. Star Light, star bright, first star I see tonight, because it IS the first star I see tonight!"

Trouble

This morning when Grandpa Roy left our house, he said, "See ya later, alligator" to Josie. She responded, "See YOU later, Grampalator!"

Yesterday, I was trying to teach Adelaide The Sharing Song. "It's mine but you can have some, with you I'd like to share it, cause if I share it with you... you'll have some too!" After we finished singing it, she looked at me and said very seriously, "Hey... can you teach Josie that song?"

Sadie was singing the song Trouble by Ray LaMontagne... "Trouble...trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble..." When Grammie interrupted and asked how long trouble had been dogging her soul, Sadie replied, "Since the day I was born!"

Sadie has been practicing Checkers over the past couple of months. She likes playing with Grammie (she always wins) and with me (she usually wins) but the other night she played THREE games with Jesse and he beat her every time. He was trying to teach her the ins and outs of the game and some tricks to winning, but she wasn't happy to lose! However, last night they played and SHE WON! She was so excited (and proud that she'd beaten an actual opponent) that she came running to find me and said, "I beat the KING OF CHECKERS! That makes me the QUEEN OF CHECKERS! See? I'm going to sit in my royal seat right now!"

Josie was holding Jedidiah after his bath (he LOVES his bath) and he turned his head and looked RIGHT into her eyes and said, "Goo!" She was beyond thrilled, and said, "He talked to me! He really talked to me! Hooray! I think he said 'Jo.'"

Three Little Ladies and One Little Man

Two and Two

Yesterday morning I caught Adelaide red-handed in the laundry room with an open bag full of those Christmas peppermint nougat things (like my earrings)...minus one, which was shoved in her in her slobbery mouth. Before I said ANYthing at all to her, she blurted out, mouth full: "I didn't mess with the mints, Mommy! I DIDN'T!"

Then, last night, she found a huge bag full of snacks that I bought to go in the nursery at church. She said, "What what what are dose?" When I told her they were for church, she got all excited and yelled, "We are going to church! We are going to church!" Josie said, "No we are not. They are for SUNDAY." Adelaide looked at me and said, "I guess we will just haf to go widout HER."

Our New Year... much like the old!

We continued our annual New Year's Eve tradition by going to bed at 10:00pm last night. Exciting! Josie and Adelaide and Jedidiah and I went to eat at Bob Evans and then to see Tangled at the movies on Thursday night, so that was as much fun as we could handle. We had to turn in early on New Year's!

Sadie got to go on a big adventure right after Christmas and she's still gone... a trip to NC with Grammie and Grampie Don ALL BY HERSELF. We've been missing her terribly - it was heartbreaking when she left... we waved and waved until she was out of sight and I just had an awful empty feeling in my heart as they pulled away! It's true what they say about having children and having your heart forever walk around outside your body, isn't it? She's having a good time, though... she got to spend the night with Cameron and Caleb and play up there all day, she has Great Grandma's AND Grammie's attention all to herself, and she's been taken out for pizza, ice cream, AND shopping with Mamaw and Papaw. She did call me and leave a sad message yesterday: "Hey Mommy. I just wanted to talk to someone from my family. Great Grandma Genevieve says I can't talk long because it costs too much but I wanted to leave a message because I miss you A LOT. Okay, bye."

This morning Josie sang this sweet little song to her baby brother:
"Hush little baby, you're safe as can be... close your eyes and snore happily!"

Giving Adelaide a plate of turkey bacon for breakfast, I said, "Can you go share this with Josie?" She answered, "NO!" I said, "Why not?" She answered, "Because I'm MEAN!" Well, at least she's honest.