"K" and American Flags

If you tell Brandt something and then say "okay", his response is always "k", and it sounds so sweet coming from his little mouth.

A few weeks ago, I was trying to teach Lucy the Pledge of Allegiance. So she then started pointing out all the flags around town as we would drive by. So she decided that whenever we see a flag we have to say "hooray for God and American flags." It makes me smile every time I hear it, which is quite often.

Lucy and Brandt have had big weeks in the pool. Lucy is swimming without floaties and Brandt is swimming with floaties, and they both enjoy a good belly flop into the pool, except to Lucy it is diving and to Brandt it is jumping in.

Wild Boy

I took Brandt to have his 18 month picture and Lucy's 4 year old picture. Well, Lucy did great. She sat so nice and was so patient as Brandt ran circles around her. So then we decided to just try Brandt, well, the boy was out of control. I'm not really sure whose child that was because he would stop for a second, say "cheese" (no idea where he got that from) and then take off running around again. I really had no idea what to do. I kept telling the photographer that she needed something more than a duck to keep his attention, but she didn't know what to use. So she asked if he would sit in a chair, I said let's try it. So he saw the chair and headed right towards it, sat in it like a champ smiling because he was excited. Well, she then takes the time to do something to her camera and by the time she was ready the moment had passed and he was not interested in the chair anymore. I think at one point he leaned back against the drop back and slid down it. I just laughed because #1 it was funny and #2 he was tired and hungry and I knew she could try all she wanted but Brandt was not having his picture that day. The funny thing, when we got there, he sat on my lap looking around while we waited and waited and waited some more... a good 1/2 hour or more. So if we didn't have to wait, I bet he would have taken some nice pictures because he wasn't familiar with the place and had to take it all in.

He's a wild boy at times... if you lie on the floor, Brandt will jump on you, but he is such a sweet boy because if I am bending down by the dryer, he will wrap his arms around me and give me a big squeeze. He's quite the mama's boy and will let me love and kiss on him a lot. He gets super excited at night when it is time for his monkey vitamin. If you ask him if he wants a monkey vitamin, he will take his binky (if it's in his mouth) and throw it down and run for the kitchen and stand by the cabinets and say "yea, yea, yea." Anytime he gets excited he says "yea, yea, yea." He's stinken cute!

Cute conversations

So this week I've had some cute conversations with Lucy...

Conversation #1
Lucy: Mommy, do ants have names?
Mommy: They don't have names, they are just called ants because they can't talk so they can't give one another names.
Lucy: They can't talk, so do they do sign language or something?

That conversation went from talking about ants and how they sleep in ant hills which are dirty to talking about the homeless.

Conversation #2
Lucy: Mommy, if you and Daddy die me and Brandt won't have a mommy and daddy anymore because you'll be in heaven.
Mommy: Well, I hope that doesn't happen for a long time.
Lucy: I want to see heaven, but I like our house.
Mommy: Heaven will have all the things you like, but none of the bad things that earth has.
Lucy: Oh, you mean like bears and pokey bushes.
Mommy: I bet there won't be any pokey bushes.

I just love that girl!!

Vinoculars

It was a warm day today, so I went and got the pool and blew it up. Lucy was so excited that she didn't even care that the water was so cold. I got their swimsuits on and brought some pool toys out and then Lucy said to me, "Mommy, I think I will need my vinoculars too." I had to think for a minute and then she said "so I can look at the bottom of the pool." I said, do you mean goggles. She said, "oh yes, goggles." So I went and got them and while her and Brandt were playing in the pool, she kept telling him about her vinoculars. So, if you swim with us this summer, we don't use goggles, we use vinoculars. It just made me sit and smile at such cute things they say. It was also amazing to see Brandt splashing in that freezing water, even dumping it on his head. He and Lucy come by it honestly, I never cared if the water was cold, I just wanted to swim. I even pushed a block of ice out of my way once at our cottage one Memorial Day, so that we could jump off the pier.

Pictures that make me smile...

Lucy was the only one who would say "giddy up" to the horsey. I was so shocked because usually she is the quiet shy one, but she just smiled the whole time she was riding.

Brandt was chasing the dog around the barn. He loves animals and gets so excited to see them that he just wants to squeeze them.

I put a baby Einstein movie on while I went to make dinner, and I looked in the living room and found them like this. Too cute! They will also sit on the chair together, and one time Brandt was lying on Lucy's lap. Melt my heart.

Brandt loves Lucy's new rain boots. He can usually get one boot on and then he carries the other one to me saying

"mama, mama, mama" which means, please put this other one on for me. He'll walk a few steps, sit down, take them off and we start all over again.

Elmo

Oh how Brandt loves Elmo. The funny thing is that we don't even watch Sesame Street. It's just from books and his cups that he has learned about Elmo, but Elmo has evolved into more than just Elmo. He will yell "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo, Elmo" for any character that he may see. So if we are in the mall and walking by the Disney Store, he just goes crazy, and it's Mickey, not Elmo. He just makes me laugh. I don't even know how many times a day I hear "Elmo", or how many times a day I hear "what" from Lucy. Oh my! I think she just says it out of habit because once I've said it twice, I will just look at her and wait, and then she will realize what I said. She must have a lot going on in that pretty head to take in all that a mama has to say.

The other day Lucy asked me what I thought heaven would be like, so I started describing it how I picture it and she sat there starring off into space with this grin on her face and small giggles. Then all of a sudden she said "I think I like that." I think I do too, Lucy, and it's going to be more than we could ever possibly imagine.

4 years old

My sweet girl turned 4. I can't believe it. We kept telling her that she couldn't turn 4, and that we would go backwards now and celebrate 2 again. She told me, that if she woke up on her birthday and she was bigger than she would be 4. If she woke up and she was smaller than she would be 2. She's too smart for her own good. So she turned 4 and we had a great day celebrating! It was such an answer to prayer to be blessed with an absolute perfect day. We rented an inflatable, and it was dropped off around lunch. Lucy jumped from the time we got it until it was picked up around 8:30, only to stop and eat and open presents. We were all exhausted. We had most of our in town family, plus my parents and my aunt and uncle, over to play. We had spaghetti, broccoli and garlic bread requested by the birthday girl, and an Ariel in a pink dress birthday cake. I always tell people that Lucy will love any gift, and she showed that when she opened one of the gifts from my parents that had clothes in it with the hangers. She pulled out the hangers and said very excitedly, "I got my own hangers." I almost cried because I feel so blessed to have such a joyful little girl. It was such a fun day, I was sad to see it end. I think birthday's are just as special for the mama as it is for the child.

In honor of turning 4, here are 4 things that you learned this year:

1. How to read - you can read pre-level reading books and some level 1 books. You just amaze Daddy and me at your desire to learn and how quick you catch on to things. The Lord has great things planned for you. The first book you read, Daddy and I just kept glancing at each other in amazement that you were reading. It was so fun!!

2. You learned how to make your bed.

3. You've become a big helper. You can do small jobs for me and help Brandt. I don't know what I would do without you.

4. How to write quite nice. You love to write notes to me and leave them around. If you know someone is coming over you will make a card for them or draw a picture. You're just a sweetheart of a girl and I am so proud to be your mama.

Lucy, my sweet girl, we love you so much! You bring joy to everyone you meet, and you make us smile just looking at you. We can't imagine a more precious daughter. It's an honor to be your Mommy and Daddy.

Happy 4th Birthday!!