Seven

Bethanie celebrated her 7th birthday today. We are so grateful to have her in our family. She is such a thoughtful and fun little girl. She is also very sweet... which made this whole situation all the more difficult...
Bethanie has been anticipating this cake for her birthday for a while. She requested a figurine of herself, made of fondant. She loves that her birthday is so close to Halloween, so she said to dress her up as a witch.
Two weeks ago she told me that she wanted a big "B", for Bethanie, standing up on the cake.
I worked on those decorations all day yesterday. She was so excited.
I came home from my YW meetings last night and looked at the tray with the drying decorations. It occurred to me that on the tray was a witch... with a capital B.

Oh dear.

I finished the cake. Maybe in 10 years she will look at it and laugh. Maybe not.

The Claws Come Out

For the most part, my little Brady is a very happy man. He loves entertaining and getting smiles. He is pretty easy going, except maybe if Sadie tries to pick him up.
There is one thing that truly makes the claws come out. Bitty Babies.
My girls love their bitty babies. So does Brady. He is not afraid to do whatever it takes to get them. He LOOOVES babies.
He has pulled out a handful of Sadie's hair, and pinched Bethanie hard enough to leave marks, all to get his baby back. His face turns purple if he sees one of the girls playing with them.
If you add the baby stroller to the mix... Take cover.

The Odds Were Against You

Sadie: "Mom! I managed to live for FIVE YEARS!"

When I Am a Mom

Sadie talking to Sean and me;
"When I am a mom, I will let my kids do whatever they want. If they want to go to Chuck E. Cheese, I will let them drive my car and give them a map. If there is something fun that they want to do, I will let them do it."

Sean looked right at me and told me to put that on the blog. We want to be able to remind her when her kids are asking her for something. Bwahahahaha! (That was an evil laugh, in case you wondered.)

Where Does She Get This Stuff?

Sadie: "Mom, during today's journey, my favorite part was eating the cookie."

Diddle Diddle Dumpling

Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, my daughter Sadie. (Ok, so it doesn't have the same ring to it.)
Yesterday we ran over to the school to help with Bethanie's class Fall Party. I parked the van and prepared to get the two younger kids out when Sadie casually said, "Mom, is it a problem that I only brought one shoe? It's not, right?"

She wore one shoe to the party.

I have been thinking about what this child has done to teach me the art of patience. If Bethanie had done that two or three years ago I would have freaked out and ran back home.
I just rolled my eyes at Sadie and listened to her explain the feeling of the road under her sock.

Future Beauty Queen

My kids have already written and mailed their letters to Santa. They wanted to give him plenty of time to get it right. Santa brings each child three things, just like the wise men gave baby Jesus three gifts. Sadie decided to write down more than three items, just to give Santa plenty of options.
Bethanie's list went like this;

American Girl Doll
Skateboard
Peace on Earth

"Bubs"

We have been invaded by lady beetles. They are much like lady bugs, but they are orange and become a real problem around October. There are hundreds of them everywhere. They seem to be a problem in Indiana when the farmers start to cut down the cornstalks.
Brady likes to point out every one and call out, "Bub! Bub!" (Bug)
I think he ate about 20 for an afternoon snack yesterday. No kidding.

Your Mom Goes to College

Sadie: "Mom, I am just going to learn everything while I am a kid. I don't want to go to school when I am a grown up, like you."

Shameless Plug

Like the new blog design? My totally talented friend, Jill, got another home run! I love it!

She changes the design on her blog every month. Check it out and see the adorable stuff she has going over there.
She also did the design on the recipe blog that Danielle, Jill, and I do together.

If you would like an original look for your blog, contact Jill! She has very reasonable prices. You won't be disappointed!

(No, I am not getting paid to do this message. ;D)

The Real Reason

Sadie: "Mom, we should ALWAYS be reverent when we are at church... always. You just never know.... when someone will give you candy."

Can't Buy Me Love

Sadie wrote my to-do list on the white board today;

"Go too the stor
Git hugs an kisis"

Sadie informed me that I could kiss and hug her if I wanted, but she really wanted the chocolate kind.

Get Your Head In the Game!

After a sleepless week and many responsibilities, I was feeling pretty frustrated and sorry for myself yesterday morning. Sadie was demanding that I find her leggings. Jeff was frantically looking for his church pants. I am not quite sure why Brady was screaming. Everyone wanted me to take care of their problems. I was tired and I DIDN'T WANT TO!! (Stomping foot)
I told them all to take care of their own issues and I was going to get myself ready.

Sadie sat down on the stairs in front of me. She did her best impression of a coach trying to motivate his pathetic, loosing team.

"You are the mom. It is your job. Dad can not marry someone else today, so you have to do it."

It worked.

She Spilled the Milk

*Some "adult language" in this post.

Sadie: "Oh shucks! Oh Damn!..... Mom, is "Damn" a bad word??" (evil, knowing grin inserted here)

Me: "Yes, Sadie! It is a bad word! Where did you hear that word?"

Sadie: "It just came to me in the moment."

Priorities

Sadie: "Mom, what is more important?? Texting or making me lunch?!!"

Fashion Forward

Sadie got herself dressed today for preschool. She gave me very strict instructions on how to do her hair.

Sisters, Sisters

...There were never such devoted sisters...

Yesterday Bethanie let me in on a little secret. Skylar told Mattelyn that he thinks Bethanie is cute. (tee hee hee)
When I asked Bethanie if she thought Skylar was cute, she shyly shook her head yes. When I asked her if she had a crush on Skylar she most adamantly denied this being the case. This is how Sean and I know that she does, in fact, have a crush on Skylar.
The plot thickens... Skylar is an older man.. in the THIRD grade!
"Bless that lovely yellow school bus."

What makes matters even more interesting? Sadie also has a crush on Skylar.

Smart Aleck

Brady is the epitome of little brother. He loves to take things from his sisters, wave it in front of their faces, than run away giggling.
Brady is also becoming a little smart aleck. Last night he decided he did not want to go to bed. He was using his recently acquired escape artist skills to evade me. I was trying to persuade him by telling him that his favorite stuffed puppy missed him and really, really wanted to go to bed. Brady looked at me, grabbed the puppy dog, threw it in to his crib, than ran as fast as his short little legs could carry him.