she said

spencer making her silly face in january

so, we are sitting at the table eating dinner and spencer is talking about the snapdragons in the bouquet my dad brought me. miller begins to touch them repeatedly. spencer says, "those are snap dragons. they're mean and if you touch them, they'll snap you into the face!"

moments later, she finishes her milk and slams it on the table inferring she wants more. josh looks at her disapprovingly and requests that she ask politely? spencer replies in a very sweet voice, "may I have some more?" "more what?" asks josh, expecting her to say please. "milk." states spencer.

what a mess!

"i'm a princess"

i think most girls go through a princess stage. they watch cinderella or sleeping beauty and daydream about discovering they are a princess and maybe even finding their prince. for some reason, i was a little shocked when this all began with spencer. for her, it wasn't about the story, it was about the dress.

we knew there was a hand-me-down snow white dress somewhere, but we hadn't been able to find it anywhere. i stumbled upon it one day in april while in the attic. she immediately put it on . . .  and slept in it . . . and demanded to wear it the next day. i'm talking clothes had to be removed under the dress and pulled up through in order to dress her. she wore it to bed, to preschool, to target, to everywhere she went.


while wearing her new favorite outfit on a trip downstairs in daddy's arms:
s: i'm belle.
daddy: no, you're snow white.
s: oh.
daddy: can you say mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?
s: ME!

(picture taken during an quick outing to the mall.)

while watching the royal wedding, she pointed to cate middleton and said, "look , momma, she's a princess just like me." ("yes, baby. yes, she is.")

although she doesn't wear the dress every waking moment anymore, she does still think she is a princess. "i'm a princess, too .  . ." i think every little girl should think they are a princess . . . and i think sometimes it's okay to treat them like one, too.

he said

tonight we celebrated carter's birthday with dinner at chili's (her choice, obviously). josh started talking about what we were doing 6 years ago at that moment.
miller: where was i if i wasn't in your belly?
josh: you were a distant thought.
me: we didn't know about you yet.
miller: i was in the sky with God.
josh: yes, and he sent you to us a little later.
miller: did he send me in the mail??

she said

we went to los angeles for a few days and my parents kept our kids. when we returned, i was told the following story:

carter had been tattle taling on my dad all day. she walks into my parents bedroom where my mom is and proclaims, "papaw is wrong."

my mom: "wrong about what?"

carter: "he says i am not as cute as i think i am!"



hahahahahahahahahahaha! oh, to be that confident.

art for art's sake?

each year, we have an art show at preschool. it is a fun night of family, food, entertainment and our children's art. we save pieces they have completed throughout the year and display them in various ways. the kids loved showing  their daddy all the things they have made this year. 

carter's display outside her classroom

miller's self portrait

i love that he used yellow and brown paper because he said his hair was both colors.

this is carter's self portrait from fall:

"it's me in the belly of a crocodile."

(yes, she cut it out all by herself-she has mad cutting skillz.)

many of the older classes, do another self portrait in the spring for comparison.

this is carter's self portrait from spring:

when i first saw the drawing, i asked her what was in the picture with her.

"it's a potty. that's me about to go to the bathroom."

me: "why . . . yes . . . it is."

he said

we have been sick, sick, sick. between the stomach virus that took our house by storm and the fever virus that has latched onto spencer for the last 5 days, i am over it. i have yet to take all three kids to preschool this week. luckily, my gracious parents have kept the ailing children so i could teach, and get a break from the sickies. so, today miller and spencer stayed with my parents at their home. let me set this up with a little back story:

when i was 17, i took in a stray cat while my parents were on vacation. yes, i did this occasionally much to my father's chagrin. thankfully, josh's allergy has curbed this unwelcome habit. my mother, who probably fostered such antics, took the cat to the vet and found out that he was a young cat who had been neutered and then dumped. so, we kept him. fast forward 15 years and here sit my parents with a 17 year old ailing cat who lives in the upstairs of their home do to my children's unwarranted fear of things that jump. even though they rarely saw him, they loved him and asked about him often. miller had become brave enough in the last year to help feed and care for him. this new found affection kept my parents from doing what they so desperately knew needed to be done. so, a couple of weeks before our disney trip, my mom did it, and then left town  in hopes that my children would forget. ahh . . . naivety, naivety.

while we were in disney, they mentioned continuing their vacation at the beach the following week to which one of my children said, "but who will feed sam?" uh oh.

now, back to today. my mom said she saw miller's eyes dart upstairs not long after he arrived. after a little while, he just put it out there and the following conversation occurred.

miller: where's sam?

my mom: well, he was really old and not well and he died. do you know what died means?

my dad: he went to be with Jesus.

miller: so if God took him to live with Jesus, do you think he could send a dog to live in your room?

my mom: do you think dogs are better than cats?

miller: yeah. cats sleep too much.

rest in peace, sam. rest in peace.

he said (christmas style)

on our ride home the other night, i could hear miller talking under chris cornell's ava maria (ahh, christmas music). when i turned it down to make sure he didn't need anything, he said in awe,

"look, it's the star of bethlehem!"

it was really a radio tower,
but i love that he believes he could see the star of bethlehem just as the wisemen did.

oh, the magic of christmas.

zoo trips & other issues

in early october, the weather here was beautiful when it wasn't raining (i know i keep mentioning that) so we went to the zoo a couple of times.

here is the token picture of spencer in her stroller because it is where she resides in all these escapades. we do let her out sometimes, but then that usually means the person holding the camera is now holding a baby. an adorably sweet baby.
doesn't she look so sweet? i almost hate to mention it because it looks like we may be on the upward swing out of the ugly girl 4 year old phase. if you don't know what that is, then you must be blessed with only boys. it is the i know more than you, you are wrong and no i am not 13 yet phase where you get ugly faces and disobedience and you keep thinking isn't this supposed to come later phase. apparently, it rears its ugly head in the preschool years first and then lies dormant waiting to attack later in the tweens. i am not a fan.

but, this kid, oh this kid. he makes me laugh. out. loud.

when josh and i found out we were expecting our first baby, we joked about how their name would sound with all their speech issues. why, you ask? well, because most of both sides of our family has had speech therapy to learn simple sounds like s and r. so, we expected this to be an issue. if you asked me currently, i would jump on my soapbox about developmentally appropriate and how there is an age at which these things need to be corrected but not until the developmentally appropriate time. just so you know. i am not inept, just sensitive to my children being placed on everyone else's time table. (stepping off box now.)

so, before we left for the zoo, i was feeding spencer and miller sat down on the couch and the following conversation ensued:

miller: mommy, say snee-

me: snee

miller: now say duhs

me: doors (thinking i was interpreting correctly)

miller: snee-

me: snee

miller: duhs

me: doors

miller: snee-

me: snee

miller: duhs

me: doors

miller, throwing he shoes in the floor: sneeduhs!!

me: oh, sneakers!

my little flamingo

and, another miller story. after returning from the zoo, my mom was helping miller in the bathroom. she happened to refer to his underwear as briefs. he proceeded to correct her and said, "they are not briefs, meme. they are underpants."

my mom: well, next time i will try to remember they are underpants.

miller: if you don't, then that is okay, meme. then, you can call them that.

my mom: no, miller, i will keep trying.

miller: okay, meme, that is what i do when i say something wrong, too.

ha! what a mess! it appears that someone has been working with him somewhere. just not here.

in case you are curious, the preschool does a screening for these issues in the 3s and 4s. he was just screened on friday so i should know soon what the speech therapist thinks his current issues are. these are just some funny stories that have evolved from such.

he said

the other day my parents watched the kiddies while i went to a consignment sale. upon arriving home, i was greeted at the door by carter and someone who resembled this guy . . .

or maybe it was this guy . . .

oh, no, apparently it was just miller dressed for a party. well, obviously, just look at the shorts.

oh, this kid.

earlier that day, he was eating cereal and walked through the kitchen with a spoon in his mouth. he removed the spoon from his mouth and dropped it back in the utensil drawer. my mom witnessed the entire scene and said, "miller, you can't do that." to which he responded, "it's okay, meme. i cleaned it with my mouth."

personality. he is full of it.

she said

this week we are doing the swim lessons thing. yesterday was starting to look a little like last year. i was starting to panic. i told josh i couldn't do it . . . i couldn't have two children freaking out about the deep dark evil of the water while toting an infant while other mothers glare at me. 

so, last night, in an attempt to not have to go to bed, carter went into hysterics about the horror of the deep end and how she is sure to drown. (if you think i am exaggerating, you must have boys.) then miller started saying he doesn't want to go, that he wants to watch her like yesterday (last year). josh calms them down somehow and they eventually fall asleep.

then, this morning on our way, miller is starting to fret and i am telling him don't worry, you don't even know if you will have to go to the deep end yet (knowing that they always go on day 2). carter speaks up and says:

"but, y'all don't even know what i prayered last night. i prayered that it would be so hot that all the water would dry up. it is going to be so hot that all the water will dry up and we will only have to swim where we already do (shallow end)."

i couldn't stop laughing. she was so confident (i love that) that it was going to be answered. what she "prayered" for was such a different request than i would have asked for (take my fear). 

the day went much better even though the deep end was still there. but, tomorrow if it is so hot, you think the sun is melting, you can blame carter.

he said

when i was looking through pictures on the computer recently, i found a few things i never posted. i will be posting them randomly. this picture was taken one morning before preschool. i usually open the door to the car and let the kids crawl in and buckle their straps while i load the car. on this particular morning, as i headed out the door for the last time, i found miller sitting at the bottom of the steps. 

me: why are you not in your seat?

miller: i'm frustrating.

me: (thinking why yes you are?) you mean frustrated.

miller: yeah.

me: why?

miller: because i can't open the door.

he meant the door on his side. i usually just open the one on spencer's side. now i open both.

he said

"i need a magazine."

easter sunday

goodies from the bunny. 

cookie . . .

and candy

then, we headed to church. after church, we went to my parents' house for an egg hunt and lunch. it was supposed to be the other way around, but we hurried out before the rain came. i promised the kids they would get to have their own egg hunt at meme and papaw's house and i wasn't about to make them miss that one, too. so, off they ran . . .

miller found a blue egg with money didn't want it-what?

note, he is doing his best chevy chase in caddyshack.

he put it back. then, proclaimed to all, "hey, i no want money in my egg."

guess who did! until miller realized he did want money in his egg. watch out, girl!

spencer spent the time blowing bubbles and freezing her tail off while they hunted.

then, a family portrait

lunch, please! we spent the rest of the day like most of you did, i assume-watching golf and hanging out with family. it was nice to just sit and not have to be anywhere. i feel like the only time we observe like the sabbath is intended to be observed is on holidays when everything is closed. 

by the way, the following conversation occurred in the car on the way to my parents' house:

me: what did you learn about in sunday school today?

miller: a cross and a tomb

me: who was on the cross

carter: jesus

miller: and the tomb. and two women were sad and crying. 

me: then what happened?

carter: he is alive!

the easter story told by my children in its simplest form. and, that is all you need to know.

word world

carter has always had her own vocabulary. she mispronounces words or creates her own. i know we should correct them, but i know one day they will all be pronounced correctly and i will miss each one. now, don't fret, we don't perpetuate the situation by pronouncing them the way she does. we just allow her to make the correlation on her own. but, some are so cute, i just have to share. 

hamptry (n): a room designated for storing non perishable food products and the washing machine, clothes dryer and any such materials.

created from a combination of the words hamper and pantry.

for those of you with a large house, you are thinking how can this be one. in our tiny house, we are just thankful to have our washer and dryer indoors and next to one another. in our first house, the washer was in the kitchen next to the stove and the dryer was in the pantry. so, if you have a hamptry in your house, consider yourself lucky!

pictographer (n): a person who takes pictures

created from a combination of the words picture and photographer.

carter's preschool class is currently discussing community helpers. she came home saying her friend's dad is a dentist. he is actually a lawyer, but i am not sure how the confusion began. she talked about dentists several times before i asked her if she knew what josh and i did. she said, "yes, daddy is a pictographer."

babing suit (n): a item of clothing typically worn in the warmer summer months when at the beach, pool or sprinkler park. 

mispronunciation of the words bathing suit,

or created from a combination of the words babe and bathing suit.

this is one of her first word creations. it started two summers ago. we relished in it thinking it would be corrected the next summer, but it wasn't. and, deep down, it made us happy. 

a visit with santa 12.23

each year we go visit santa on the first day that josh is off work for the holiday season. this year, even though it was closer to christmas day than usual, the line was shorter than usual. while we waited, miller spent his time watching santa.

then, miller waited with me while he watched santa.

and, finally . . .

we got our turn with santa. miller ran and gave him a hug before telling him the same thing, "i wanna choo-choo twain you can wide on an say 'all-are-born!'" and, carter just shrugged her shoulders and said, "i don't know." pitiful! you can tell from the picture she doesn't feel good. approximately an hour later she began to complain about her ear. bless her heart!

boys will be boys take 2

the older miller gets, the more i am often astounded by how much testosterone is in his little body already. see, as a girl, there are some things i will never understand, but know he only does because he is male. having a girl first, i sometimes forget i need to heed a warning rather than assume his common sense will step in and intercede for me. two recent examples are below.

one:

what i said was: "sure, you can color your baby Jesus picture on the way home." 

and i frequently say: "we color on . . . " and they answer, "paper!"

what i should have said: " sure, you can color your baby Jesus picture on the way home, but do not, under any circumstances, color your shoe!"

picture taken by iphone

ugh! live and learn. i would just like to thank the wonderful sunday school teachers at our church who so graciously gave my two year old a set of non-washable crayons and a reusable picture of baby Jesus to color on our 30 minute ride home.

two:

picture taken by iphone

what is that, you ask? that is miller's christmas tree. 

and, what is that on the tree? miller's self made ornament. see, we recently bought ornaments to hang on the tree, but miller go upset that i punched holes in them to hang them by. therefore, his tree sat empty until he took it upon himself to make ornaments out of string cheese. that's right, i said string cheese. 

once again, live and learn. next year, i will say, "we cannot use the following foods to decorate with: cheese . . ."

what?!?

it has actually become a joke with my blogging buddies when something funny or out of the ordinary occurs, someone will say, "oh, you have to blog about that" or "that's one for the blog!" well, i am the worst at these types of events because i am perpetually behind in blogging. i blame that partially on my husband and the fact that he does not release photos to me until he is pleased with them, and partially on me because i just don't feel like there are enough hours in the day to get done everything i want to get done. so, here are a few stories from the past couple of weeks.

* i know anyone who has ever been visibly preggers understands that it somehow gives anyone the right to comment on your body whether appropriate or not. like the random man in his forties shopping alone at target who recently told me how cute my belly was-inappropriate! or, last week when i was shopping alone at a major dept store and a woman shopping next to me looked up and said, "oh, look honey, it's mary!" no, she didn't know me from the doctor's office, she meant as in the mother of Jesus! once again, inappropriate!

*my children have been on a roll lately. josh and i were discussing a possible present in the fisher price little people nativity we own. i told him i was hesitant because the newer one played music and the star lights up. josh said, "what does it play, away in a manger?" and began to hum in an extremely obnoxious manner. carter perks up from where she is playing and says, "no, daddy, they do it in a pretty voice, like this." and begins to hum herself!

grateful cooking

ms. emily brought these incredible chocolate pumpkin balls to school around halloween. they were so yummy and she said her little girl helped make them. i thought they would be a great contribution to our thanksgiving and a fun time with daddy, because we all know i don't cook!

well, let's just say that it didn't go as easily as emily said or photographed on her blog. everything was going as planned until it was time to roll the dough into balls. first, josh couldn't get them to cooperate without lots of flour and the kids were sad because that pretty much meant they were out of the cooking process. then, after letting them set for a while in the refrigerator, he attempted to dip them in the melted chocolate, but it still wasn't working very well. so, he used a skewer to dip them, hence the large hole in the top of each one. after much frustration, he ended up partially dipping the last half of the batch and left them in the refrigerator overnight.

so, the next morning as we are packing up to head to my parents' house for thanksgiving, josh is placing the pumpkin balls on a plate and wrapping them up when miller enters the kitchen. he asks josh, "what is that?" josh responds, "pumpkin balls." to which miller says, "pumpkin balls? can we throw them?" 

preschool theology

every year we have a four year old program the last day before thanksgiving break. this year, that also meant that carter would be in that program. due to a weird schedule this year we were very limited in the number of days we had to learn the songs, so we tried to pick up the slack in our classrooms and use the songs in whatever way we could. one of the songs we chose to do was the doxology. as a child, i grew up singing this song every sunday in church. i loved the way you heard the entire church meld together as the words were sung in prayer to God-no instruments, just voices praising our heavenly Father. so, one of the places we practiced was at chapel time by closing with the doxology. i told the children this song is a prayer to God praising Him for who He is. in my own classroom, we used it as the prayer before lunch as well. before long, the kids picked up on all the words and while not loud, it was definitely sweet to hear them sing the words together. 

well, apparently, all mommy's talk at school followed me home and carter requested to sing the doxology at bedtime instead of praying in our usual manner. we, of course, obliged and miller would follow with a separate prayer as he doesn't know the words. so, every night we pile into carter's twin size bed and try to settle everyone down as they decide who will pray first. carter usually stakes her claim and begins singing at the top of her lungs. 

"praise God from whom all blessings flow,

praise Him all creatures here below,

praise Him above He(it is supposed to be "ye" but she says "he") heaven-al-ly Host,

praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen"

and then, miller whispers "God bless mommy (as he touches me), daddy (as he touches Josh), sister (as he touches carter), (sometimes he will include the baby as he touches my stomach), and ruthie (he shouts because he knows how much it annoys his sister that he prays for her american girl doll)! amen!" 

then, we try to maneuver everyone into the proper bed with the most beloved "friends" of the day and get everyone tucked in before heading out the door. one night, carter was in a particularly feisty mood and declared, "miller, you can't pray that way!" what she meant was that miller couldn't pray for ruthie because she is carter's doll, not his. josh quickly replies, "there is no wrong way to pray carter. you are more liturgical and miller is more charismatic."

"whos" on the grinch

so, i had this whole post planned about what a crazy mother i have become hunting down my daughter's numero uno christmas request which was already on backorder before thanksgiving until a week before d-day when i realized my children are way funnier than i am. so, because i am sure you are curious, yes, i did track down the gift and it arrived today. who doesn't love getting a package in the mail, especially when it will make your little girl's eyes light up on christmas day!!

so, last night, i went for a little visit with my favorite newborn and josh kept the kids who had taken really late naps. i had promised them they could watch shrek the halls and how the grinch stole christmas. fast forward, josh has put the kids down in their room for the night and, as usual, carter yells "daddy?!?" seconds after josh sits down in the living room. the following conversation occurs while josh is sitting in the living room and carter is in their bedroom:

josh: "go to sleep!"

carter: "what are the name of the people on the grinch?"

josh: "whos!"

(pause)

carter: "the people on the grinch?"

(pause)

josh: "whos!"

(pause)

carter: "the people on the grinch??"

josh: "that's what they are called, whos!"

(even longer pause)

carter: "what do they sing?"

josh: "i don't know. go to sleep!"

although every night ends the same way, rarely is the preceding conversation as amusing!