Don't You Believe It!

Josie and Sadie usually start their day by watching ONE Tom & Jerry cartoon, while they wake up and I make breakfast. While this has been the source of many jokes and giggles on their part ("Is you is, or is you ain't my baby?") AND something they have in common with Lynn and Deanna, my favorite quote is by Tom, after blowing up a radioactive mouse that he was told was not dangerous:

"DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!"

You also may hear Josie saying this for no apparent reason... she just thinks it's funny, especially since she knows it makes me laugh. Well, the other night, she almost got in trouble because she wouldn't stop talking and go to sleep. I went in to tell her twice, then the third time I was done warning her. I said, "This is it. You will stop talking and you WILL go to sleep." She said, "Mommy, I just can't stop talking. God made me this way."

I left and went down the hall.

"DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!"

What Kind of a...

As I was making lunch the other day, Sadie ran in the kitchen and asked if she could have a granola bar...the kind with icing all over the top. I said no, since we were going to be eating lunch in about 5 minutes. She stomped off, sulking, then came back in a few minutes later with her hands held out, palms up: "What kind of a mother - will not give her child - something to eat - when she is hungry?!" Oh my gosh... I could not keep from laughing, sassy though it may have been.

Aunt Lydia and Uncle Darryl went to Disney World for their anniversary/birthdays last week, and they brought the girls gifts back. Aunt Lyd is the coolest - she actually called from Florida to ask which Disney characters they wanted for sure. She came over on Thursday and brought the much-anticipated presents with her. Sadie and Josie tackled her at the door, yelling, "OH... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" before she ever even gave them the gifts. When she presented them (A tiny Tinkerbell with tons of accessories for Josie, a tiny Ariel with tons of accessories for Sadie), I thought they were going to actually jump out of their skins. They LOVE these little dolls and have played with them pretty much non-stop ever since. That night when saying prayers, Sadie bowed her head and said (heart-feltly :), "And God, thank you so much for Aunt Lydia and these WONDERFUL DOLLS!"

We've Got Annie

After 2 weeks of sticking to their chore charts, getting checks the whole time -- a major accomplishment, believe me, especially since one of their chores is "be kind to my sisters," the girls finally worked their way to their big reward: Seeing "Annie" on stage.

To be honest, since it was their first real experience with live theater, I think I was as excited as they were. Grammie came over to watch Adelaide, since "only big girls can go to see plays," and we dressed up in our fancy dresses and Daddy even
donned a nice shirt and dress pants. The girls said he would be the "handsomest daddy there." We decided to make a night of it, leaving early so we could have dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Several people there commented on how pretty they looked, and even said, "Enjoy the show!" when we left (the theater was right around the corner from the restaurant). On the way, we went over different vocabulary words so they'd know what was going on - the set, the narrator, intermission, props, etc. and then - there we were. They handed over their tickets, grabbed their programs, found their seats (2nd row from the stage, on the end - woohoo!), settled in, and were hooked. I'm telling you, they did not take their eyes from the stage the entire time. When it was intermission, I had to drag them out to go potty because they were afraid they'd miss something. Luckily, they did come with me, because as luck would have it, we got to meet "Molly" and "Annie" herself in the bathroom! We let them jump line since they had more work to do. Sadie and Josie were both a little starstruck, but "Molly" told Josie she liked her dress and that she was the same age as Sadie. They were SO excited. Then we went back for the second Act and it was more of the same. They did not make a peep. They LOVED it. I was so proud of them! Josie was sad when it was over - she wanted to see more - but it was WAY past bedtime by then - almost 10:30 - so we headed home. It's been a couple of weeks now, but "It's the Hard-Knock Life" can still be heard at our house every morning when two little girls have to make their beds!

Where, Oh Where is my Toothbrush?

We were reading a bedtime story the other night while I held Adelaide, who was nursing. The story said, "Through the window, she could hear sirens wailing and horns tooting..." just then, I mean at THAT PRECISE MOMENT - Adelaide "tooted." We all cracked up, including Adelaide, who just loves to make her sisters laugh.

Well, as any of my devoted readers know by now, Sadie has her Snoopy, and Josie has her Blank. Up until now, Miss Adelaide has seemed somewhat undecided as far as choosing a "lovey," but now, much to my dismay, has chosen...drumroll, please... Toothbrush. Yes, Toothbrush is exactly what it sounds like. A toothbrush. Don't ask me why, but she LOVES her toothbrush. She wants to hold it all the time, whether it's in her mouth or not. If she's crying in the car? Give her Toothbrush. If she's fussing in the living room? Give her Toothbrush. If she's whining and holding on to your legs? You got it... Give her Toothbrush. I wonder what this means....

My mom was counting her toes the other day (Adelaide's toes, that is, not my MOM's toes :) and when she got to five on one foot, she stopped, then Adelaide says, "Six!" My mom nearly fell over. I was not surprised, though, since I figure all of my girls are genius. Genii. However you spell that word. :)

Also, Adelaide has discovered the joys of twirling. Last week she figured out how to do it, arms stretched out and yelling, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" until she got dizzy and fell down. She refused to do it in the grass, where her fall would be cushioned, though. Apparently, twirling is always more fun on pavement. At least until you fall down.

Treasures

After much yelling of "Duice! Duice! MMMMmmmm! Duice!" and pointing at Josie's, I reluctantly gave Adelaide her own popsicle to hold while they were riding in the bike trailer. A few minutes later, after much slurping, I hear Josie saying, "AAHHH! EWW! Don't touch me! You're GWOSS!"

Sadie moved up to the next Sunday School class a couple of weeks ago. It made me a little sad, since she's no longer in the "Lambs" class, where the youngest kids are... but she was super excited about going into "Treasures", even though she got a little nervous on the first day. We journaled about it in her little notebook later in the week, and she told me all about her day. In her words:

"When you're 5, you move up to Treasures Class. Since I was 5, I moved up. I thought you had to pay to move up. It was a funny feeling. I was a little bit shy at first. I didn't really want to move up because it seemed so different and scary. Mommy held my hand and walked in class with me and I saw that James and Teagan were both in my class too! That made me feel a lot better. I found out it was a lot more fun with my cousins. My teacher was very nice and kind to me. I made a book with her - a little Jesus book about Jesus healing leprechauns -- leprosy. He healed them! We don't eat snacks in class. I would rather have a snack, but that's okay. It's still pretty fun."

Should Have Known

You would think that after having two 15 month olds before her, I would have EXPECTED this from Adelaide. You would think, but apparently, one doesn't always learn from their mistakes.

Yesterday we went over to Aunt Becky's to have some school time and cousin time in the park. Adelaide had on a little sundress with cute bright green pants on under it because I'm trying to protect her little knees from getting scraped all the time. After lots of fun in the park (Sadie had a good time running Lexy the dog on her leash, hanging upside down on the monkey bars, and racing bikes with James, & Josie tried her best to pedal her bike with her short little legs and had a good time climbing and 'tandem-sliding' with Teagan) we packed up to go home. Adelaide's pants were covered in mulch and dirt, so I stripped them off of her and loaded her in her carseat. When we got home, it was naptime, so I plunked her down in her bed, turned on her lullaby CD, and closed the door. Seems routine, right?

I FORGOT THAT SHE DIDN'T HAVE ON ANY PANTS! SHE ONLY HAD ON HER DIAPER UNDER HER DRESS! 15 MONTH OLD BABIES CAN TAKE OFF THEIR DIAPERS!

Veteran mothers are probably shaking their heads and laughing here, since they know what happens next. Heck, I knew what would happen next, too, but I totally didn't even think about it. Yep, Poop. Poop, and lots of it. I went in to get her up from her nap, and WHAM! The smell hit me in the face as soon as I opened the door, and there she stood... poop from one end of the crib to the other, ON THE CRIB SLATS, on her hands, on her HEAD, EVERYWHERE. I just left her there, called Jesse for backup (I yelled, "JESSE! Come downstairs RIGHT NOW!" He didn't ask any questions... just ran down the stairs to the poop bomb. I started the tub, he grabbed the screaming wailing poop-monster and started the first round of scrubbing, and I (yuck) began the long, Clorox-ridden clean up of the crib. Sadie and Josie didn't know WHAT to do with themselves, except run up and down the hall and point out poop that fell off Adelaide on the way to the bathroom.

It was not pretty. After I finished the crib, opened the windows, and turned on the air purifier, I accepted the stinkpot from Jesse and ran her through the bath again. Ugh. I think she could've stood a third round.

Saturday Here in the Park

Adelaide has begun talking quite a bit in the past few weeks. Her favorite words, up to now, have been "Mommy Mommy Mommy," "doot," and "Tat du" (thank you). Recently, she's begun expanding her vocabulary, which now includes "Buh-booooooo," "dirt," "duice," and "DadDAD!" She's never said "Dada," but always seems to use an exclamation when she says it, maybe because she's always so happy to see Jesse. It's cute... "DadDAD!" she yells when he comes home from work or when he gets her up from her nap. Love it. I also love the way she puts her little head down on my shoulder when she's tired or just wants a good snuggle... I don't remember the other two doing that, and I just eat it up!

Last week we went to this cool safari park place where you could drive through a big enclosure full of deer, moose, buffalo, giraffes, zebras, etc. It was an experience! Sadie and Jesse were fearless, letting the animals stick their heads RIGHT INTO THE CAR and eat from their cups of carrots and grain. Josie and I took a different route...dodging, yelling, hiding, and trying to keep the windows rolled up. It was a little scary, especially when a big old moose grabbed my cup of oats and ran away with it. Well! I wasn't going after him! Adelaide was in the back with Grammie, and she was a little scared at first (Adelaide, not my mom :) but then she got all excited and REALLY liked it when the giraffe stuck his head in. I have to admit that was pretty cool. At one point Jesse had TWO buffalos' heads stuck in his car window at the same time, not to mention disgusting buffalo slobber and other drainage smeared all over the windows and the rest of the car. Ick.

Yesterday we had a Saturday when we actually had nothing to do. It was a gift! Usually there are people to see and places to go; you know how it is. Yesterday, though, Jesse's & Sadie's fishing plans fell through and so we had the whole day off together. Jesse slept late (I tried, but it just didn't work out), the kids got to watch 2 cartoons instead of their usual one, we made pancake men and turkey bacon for breakfast, goofed around the house for a while, then went to ride our bikes at the park. We took a picnic and Josie's owl kite and it was a gorgeous day... I seriously had to use serious leg muscles while trying to pull my two younger children in the bike trailer, though. I think they've both hit a growth spurt, because it felt like I was trying to haul two buffalos behind me or something. Sheesh. Sadie stomped around in the river a while, and Josie pushed Adelaide in the baby swing... it was just a nice day. Then Grandma picked Josie up for her special "Josie Night" with Grandma and Grandpa (she got to eat at Cracker Barrel, get a giant sucker, watch Tarzan, and take a bath ALL BY HERSELF), and Sadie and Adelaide went with me and Jesse to a little festival where Sadie played a fishing game (with real fishing poles and real fish) and caught the biggest fish they'd had all day. Everyone applauded for her!

I found out today that when Sadie went to Illinois last weekend with Grandma, Aunt Lyd, and Teagan, she was an excellent cousin, traveler, and example. I was so proud! Aunt Lydia told me how Sadie shared and shared without complaining (she had a backpack full of snacks and activities for the 8 hour trip) and was very kind and loving to Teagan... except for the end when she said, "Hey, why don't you eat some of your own snacks?" But, it WAS an 8 hour ride; no one is perfect. Her Grandma told me that the girls had a little tiff and Teagan spluttered in Sadie's face because she was mad. Later Grandma found a distraught Teagan sobbing alone in the bedroom. When asked what was the matter, Teagan confessed that she had spit at Sadie and that she wanted to apologize. When she hugged her and fell against Sadie's chest, crying and saying she was sorry, Sadie very graciously said, "That's okay. Want a piggy-back ride?" What a forgiving spirit! I'm proud of both of them for acting so kindly toward each other. Ahh... the love of cousins. I don't know what I'd do without mine!

Skunky

Usually I get up around 7:15 in the mornings and bring Adelaide to our bed so she can nurse (it's our favorite cuddle-time, too) and sometimes (not often) go back to sleep. Sadie usually follows, asking, "Can I snuggle and play with Adelaide?" (she likes to hold her hand and make faces at her while she's nursing) then Josie, whose first words are always, "Can I watch Tom & Jerry in your bed and will you get me some chocolate milk?" Last week, this very scene had materialized, and we were laying in this order: Sadie, Adelaide, me, Josie, Jesse. Jesse had his back turned to Josie, and while we were all snuggling and being very quiet, Jesse had a morning, 'ahem,' "Toot," we shall call it. A LOUD one. Right on Josie! Adelaide laughed, because she thinks that sound is SO funny; Josie said, "AAAHH! Daddy tooted on my leg!" And Sadie said, "Well, Mommy, I guess you'll have to give Josie a tomato juice bath."