Ladies Man and Guys Girl

With two big sisters, Briggs has always been very comfortable playing with girls.  Although he likes "boy" things, he's always been more than willing to play Barbies or figurines or mermaids or doll house.  Sometimes he may be a truck who talks to the Barbies or he might be building Magna Tile castles for the figurines, but he's still a part of their play.  He reads princess books and plays mermaids in the tub.  The kids his age in our neighborhood are girls.  His closest aged cousins are girls.  There are more girls than boys in his preschool class, and he generally chooses to play with the girls at school more than the boys at school.  Although there are boys he plays with at church or small group, it shouldn't surprise me that most of his friends right now are girls.

Briggs and Grace

Briggs and Keiko

Briggs and Dava

Briggs and Caroline

On the other hand, some of Adelie's closest friends are boys.  She recently told me that she has a boy at school who says he's going to marry her, another boy at school who says that she's his girlfriend, and she has been bringing home notes from yet another boy that say 'I love you!'  

Lord help us when she's a teenager!!

Briggs's Quote of the Day

"When we go to heaven, we will see Tippy and Mr. Mark and Jesus and Ronald Reagan (long pause) because Ronald Reagan died too, right?"

Love seeing how his little mind works.

Her Heart

Adelie and Staley often wait until I am walking out the door of their bedroom at night to ask me deep, theological or philosophical questions.  Lately Staley has been asking, "How will I know when I'm ready to ask Jesus into my heart?" or "What do I have to do to ask Jesus into my heart?"  Bedtime when we are all tired and Adelie is bouncing up and down on her bed and interjecting into the conversation is not necessarily the best time to have this type of discussion.  Last night before bed, Staley and I sat down on the couch together.  We discussed what it means to ask Jesus into her heart.  I explained that we just have to be sorry for our sins, believe that Jesus is the son of God and died for our sins, and try to live like he wants us to live.  After answering her questions, Staley decided that she wanted to pray with me and ask Jesus into her heart.  And that made my heart so happy!

Love this girl and her heart for Jesus.

They Say...

The other day Briggs got a haircut.  The next morning he came into my room and asked worriedly, "Is my haircut still there?"

We were talking about how long the kids would fit on their current bikes before needing new ones.  Zach said to Staley, "When you outgrow your bike, do you know what your next bike will probably be?"  (He was referring to a bike with different speeds.)  She responded, "A unicycle!"

Briggs does really well counting, but if there are too many to count or he's trying to think of the biggest number he can, he always says "a million and a billion."

My kids don't refer to the days of the week by their actual names.  They refer to the days of the week by who is watching them or what is happening that day.  Therefore, instead of Monday through Sunday, our week is:  Mommy Day, Uma Day, Grammie Day, Mommy Day, Mommy Day, Family Day, Church Day.

We are often encouraging my brother Evan and his family to move to Eureka.  A few weeks ago as we were walking through town, Staley pointed out some neat old houses and we had this conversation:
Staley:  "These are neat houses.  Maybe we could ask the owners if they would sell their house to Aunt Melissa and Uncle Evan."
Me:  "I don't think Aunt Melissa and Uncle Evan really want to move to Eureka because they both work in Bloomington."
Staley:  "They could just get jobs in Eureka.  They could work at IGA or Pizza Hut."  (In a moment of inspiration) "Oh, I know, I know!!!  They could work at the new Dollar General!"

Briggs walked out of the bathroom and announced, "I named my poop Floaty because it's just floating in there."

Our days are never dull...and neither are our conversations.

My Little Helper

There are many things I love about my days at home with Briggs, but one of my favorites is running errands together.  He is always such an eager little helper.  He is patient and fun and conversational and so easy to take.  He'll gladly help me pick out shoes for the girls or find the groceries we need at the store or choose the best kind of toilet paper.  He's generally just as happy if I tell him that we're going to Target as he is if I tell him we're going to a pumpkin farm.  He's my little helper and I love it!!

Loading up the recycling

Helping me pump gas

Enjoying lunch out after running errands

My little helper!!

Girls' Day Out

The girls and I, along with my mom, enjoyed a fun day out on Saturday when we went to see 'The Lion King' at the Civic Center.

Since the girls had just been in their 'Lion King, Jr.' production this past summer, I thought they would love to see the real thing on stage with professional actors and actresses.  Both girls enjoyed the show, although they did point out things that they thought were better about their performance.  I might have disagreed, but I do appreciate their confidence.

We got to enjoy watching the show from the privacy of our own balcony box.  It was perfect!!  The seats were no more expensive than the others I had been looking at, but there was no one in front of us, we could put our chairs wherever we wanted, and my more active child didn't bother anyone as she was moving from my lap to Grammie's.  She and Grammie even had room to play a little 'Mother May I' during intermission.  I would definitely get those seats again!

I love having these special times with my girls (and mom) and making memories.  And I loved, loved, loved the performance.  Amazing costumes.  Amazing artistry.  Amazing voices.  Amazing dancing.  I thought it was even better than the ones my girls were in.  (Shhh!!)

And, of course, we couldn't have our girl's day out without following up the performance with a dinner out.

Although the girls were voting for Culver's or Steak and Shake, I insisted that we at least eat somewhere with real menus, glass plates, and no paper hats to wear.

As long as there were milkshakes and no veggies on their plate, my girls were happy.

I loved our special outing!!  What a great play and what a fun day!

Although Briggs and Zach didn't get to enjoy the show, they both got a nice nap, played train table, drank hot chocolate, and had dinner at Briggs's restaurant of choice--Pizza Hut.

Everyone was winning that day!

Mysteries of the Universe

One would assume that the more you use a piece of silverware during a meal, the more likely you are to drop it on the floor.  We have an unusual phenomenon at our house.  All three of our kids prefer to eat without using their silverware, yet we always end up with at least a couple pieces of silverware on the floor.

Mysterious?  Or just annoying??

I think both.

Question of the Day

Does your family have a daily time when you all sit around together and everyone talks at the same time as loud as they can?

We do.  It's called dinner.

Fall Break

In honor of fall and a 4 day week-end, we decided to celebrate with a little family get-away to Madison, WI.  We had been to Madison once before (when Staley was only 18 months old), so it was fun to go back and explore a little more of the city.

Our kids love to travel.  They love to pack their own suitcases.  They love hotels.  They love going new places and doing new things.  And they are very content to ride 3 hours in the car, listening to books on tape and eating snacks.

And now that we don't have to bring a pack-and-play or a diaper bag or bags of car entertainment toys, packing and traveling is way lighter and easier than it used to be.   Who needs to bring toys when the kids can just entertain themselves with hotel furniture??

We drove up on Friday morning, stopped for a quick lunch on the road, and made it to the Madison Zoo by early afternoon.

The day was cool and overcast, and the parking lot to the zoo was practically empty.  I love a good zoo trip, and a non-crowded zoo is even better.

It was a great little (free) zoo.  Some highlights included watching the rhino play with a log (by lifting it, pushing it, and ramming it with his horn), the lions and tigers, watching the polar bear swim, the penguins, and the otters.

The kids all enjoyed the playground area in the Children's Zoo.

And, of course, we never pass up an opportunity to ride a carousel.

Briggs was most excited to ride the zoo train.  Unfortunately, the train was undergoing repairs and was temporarily closed.  Briggs handled his disappointment heroically without even any tears.  I was really proud of him since that was the one thing he was most excited to do on our trip.

And nothing tops off a great day at the zoo than a great meal at a great restaurant.

After our early dinner, we wandered around the capital building, speculating on how many rooms it might have and what it would be like if it was our house.  (Here the kids are posing like the Statue of Liberty because why not??)

After a good night's sleep and an above-average hotel breakfast, we headed to the Madison Children's Museum for the morning.

The kids all had a good time.  Briggs favorites were the dump trucks and diggers on the rooftop garden and building with the bricks and logs.  Of course, his very favorite (which he labeled his favorite thing of the entire trip) was the model train engine going around the track.

Adelie spent lots of time working with some other kids to build this fort out of bricks.  She and Staley also enjoyed painting with watercolors in the art area, playing in the shadow room, and climbing in the climber.

Staley and Adelie both LOVED the climber and labeled it their favorite activity at the museum.

After strolling through the downtown farmer's market (complete with sweet treats before lunch), we then had a yummy pizza lunch and then went for a family swim at the hotel.

We topped off another full and fun day with dinner at a great little diner, complete with milkshakes...

...and cupcakes.

Our last day in Madison was cold and rainy.  Since our only firm plans were in the afternoon, we enjoyed a morning swim after breakfast before we checked out of our hotel.  We then walked around downtown, went inside to check out the capital building (including being one of only a few people to brave the outdoor observation deck), and found a fun little coffee house for lunch.

We finished off our trip with seeing the play of 'Charlotte's Web' put on by the Madison Children's Theater.  We all really enjoyed it.  Adelie declared it her favorite thing of the whole trip.  The girls also enjoyed meeting some of the actors and getting autographs after the play.

After our exhaustingly fun trip, Briggs was asleep in the car before we had even made it out of the city.

What a fun family trip!!  I'm already looking forward to our next one.

Proud Moment

Today I was volunteering in Adelie's kindergarten classroom.  I work one-on-one with kids who need a little extra help with handwriting or fine motor skills.  For the last 5-10 minutes of my volunteer time, Mrs. Doty lets Adelie pick a friend, and Adelie and her friend get to work with me in the hallway for a little bit.  Today when it was Adelie's turn to pick a friend, a bunch of kids started raising their hands for Adelie to pick them.  She looked around and then chose a boy in her class that has many behavioral and learning difficulties.  He was thrilled!  When we got home, Adelie told me that she picked him because he's always in trouble and doesn't usually get picked to do fun things.  I couldn't have been more proud!!

I love this girl's kind heart and selfless spirit!

The Plan

The other day Staley came into the kitchen and handed me a piece of paper that she had been working on.  It was titled, "Plan to be the best best can be".  On the paper, she had 2 columns:  "exercise plans" and "to be smart plans".   She then listed out 5 things she would do in each category, followed by writing out the plan in paragraph form.  Her exercise plans included 200 push ups, 25 sit ups, wall sits, run with mom or dad, and pull ups.  Her to be smart plans included do math, read, spell, learn more vocabulary, help out.

For exercise, she wrote:  "Come home from school, do 200 push ups, 25 sit ups, wall sits, if I can run do it, if I can do pull-ups, do the same the next day."  For smart, she wrote:  "Come home from school, do math, read, spell, learn vocabulary, help out, ask mom or dad to teach me some things, teach Adelie and Briggs something because I can learn more from that to!"

Love her plan!

Love this girl!