Burrowing Brooklyn Beth!

Sometime last night Brooklyn snuck into our room and made a bed on the floor. I discovered her this morning when I got up to make Chad's coffee, and she had the whole top half of her body under the bed!! I left her there mainly because I was only half awake, and so it was a couple of minutes later when I heard her call for me, sounding slightly panicked. I went into the room and there she was, still tucked half under the bed. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "Mommy, I don't know where I am." I laughed and laughed!! Man, these children of mine sure do make me laugh! I pulled her out gently and she giggled too when she realized she was under our bed! Priceless :)

Was That Applause?! :0

So I was helping my precious Sydney pick out which jeans she could wear to school the other day, sitting on the floor in her room in front of her pants drawer. We picked the best pair, and Sydney started to pull them on, turning her backside towards me and bending over to pull them up, effectively sticking her bottom in my face! (she is rather cheeky!!)
When this sweet, sweet child had her butt about four inches from my face, and while I had my hand halfway to it to give her a good smack, she farted!! Not just any old run of the mill toot either, but one of those forceful ones that makes your butt cheeks clap!! I was stunned into silence, but not Sydney. She stood up lightning fast and turned around to face me. We stared at each other in mutual shock for a second, and then she burst into a fit of sobbing!! "I AM SO SORRY!", she screamed into my face, "PLEASE DON'T SPANK ME, I AM SOOOOOO SORRY!" I couldn't resist, I had to burst out laughing. She had only meant to be sassy and flash her behind at me as she got those pants on, and had not planned the perfectly timed execution of gas passing!
I was so irritated, and yet I could not stop giggling, rolling over into a heap on the floor as my tear stained daughter stood there and fretted about her fate. When I had finally composed myself somewhat, I told her she was done for, that she wouldn't know when or where, but the revenge would be oh so sweet!! I have to say that when it comes to surprising me with unexpected bodily functions, that girl takes the cake!! Just ask Marianne(my sister-in-law) about the' "It's in my eyes!!" incident! hahaha

Parental Partiality!

My poor, sweet husband is very very sick! He had a fever of 104 for 32 hours, and even now it is staying at about 102. Why do men try to act like they can work through anything? I won't have any of his back talk about this though, and so I have quarantined our bedroom and ordered him down for the weekend, but the twins are having a hard time with this.
Payton lays down in front of the closed door and asks Daddy how he is doing, squinting as though if she just tries hard enough she can see him. I catch her repeatedly trying to sneak in when she thinks I am occupied!
Sydney is allowed into the room since she was the initial carrier monkey, and so she is mainly unaffected. Except maybe by the fact that she is his designated "fetcher" :)
Brooklyn Beth; well, Brookie is not handling the separation well, and in normal Diva fashion after complaining all day that she "needed" to see him, arranged a boycott of dinner tonight.
She proclaimed to her devoted masses(us) that she would not eat without her Father. Now, she did say Father, which implied her seriousness regarding the subject along with making her sound very big and grown up. I sat her plate down and turned back to the counter, telling her Daddy is sick(for the thousandth time today) and he has to eat in the bedroom.
"SICK?!" she cried out, making me drop the pot holder I was putting away. I turned to say yes, but the child was already at my feet. "Mom, Daddy is sick?", she asked, and then before I could answer, "I need to tell you something in your ear." I crouched down and offered up my ear for the whisper(none of my children whisper though, so it is always just more moist than quiet) and she pulled me down further and leaned in and asked, "What color is it?"
What?!
I laughed and laughed, and she stalked away quite offended by my rudeness, but how could I not? The things a four year old finds fascinating are usually very entertaining, but what color someone is retching up has to take the cake! :)-

My Amazing Firstborn!

Sydney Rae started her first day of third grade last week, and as always I am a little sad. She had a great week, "spectacular" was the term she used to describe it, but for me it just means she is growing up. It seems like with Sydney I couldn't wait for her to hit that next milestone, grow that next inch. I didn't really sit back and appreciate each stage as it came with her, because I was always so excited for the next one. Now I regret that. I am sure that every mother in existence has all kinds of regrets when it comes to their children, but please bear with me as I lament a little about mine!

We have taken the time to cherish the little things with the twins, and they have stayed little for so long. I think knowing they were my last gave me the desire to really hold on to their baby and toddler years, which in some cases was priceless, and in others just silly and prolonged :) So far with them my biggest sadness was only being able to rock them to sleep a handful of times because there are two of them and it simply wasn't going to be feasible very often. So far. With my Sydney I am constantly worried I haven't done right by her, that there may be something I missed, some opportunity I passed up. She is such an amazing person, this little girl that is growing up so fast. Her heart is so strong and kind, and she has such an amazing and childlike faith in God, that sometimes I am in awe of her. She will be a far better woman than I am, thank goodness.

Yesterday we were talking about a girl in her class that is sometimes mean for what seems to be no reason. I asked Sydney what she did when the girl was rude to her. She said, " Mom, I figured the best thing to do was just be quiet and walk away, because when someone is mean for no reason, there is ALWAYS a reason, and maybe she just needs attention from her parents, or a friend. We should pray for her." Now I have tried to teach her about people and the reasons they do things, but at 8 to have actively applied it at school was pretty impressive. I was so proud of her, and so very, very thankful she has God in her heart. That girl has had a grasp of Jesus that has taken me 29 years to build since the day she could communicate it, and yet still she surprises me with it. She makes me want to be a better person. I love my girl!!