Anecdotes

So I had this goal of sharing a post of anecdotes every week.

Pft.

That might have been a little optimistic.  ;)  But the kids are saying and doing so many funny things these days, it seems like it would be a shame not to write them down!  So, here's my (rather long) list of the most recent things that I don't want to forget....

Cody rarely has reason to fuss, as there are two little people who never tire of making him laugh!

Bret has always been a very observant little guy.  Lately, he's really started show his boyishness in the things that he gets excited about.  He especially likes things that are big.  Except, to Bret nothing is just "big."  It's BIG!  The word practically pops out of his mouth and you can see his eyes widen and his tummy muscles tighten and his voice deepens as he puts as much "bigness" into the word as he possibly can.  Driving down the road, he'll yell out, "I see a car!  There's a truck!  Oh!  There's another truck!  A BIG truck!"  Yes, Bret, mmhhhmmm, I see it too.  That's nice.  ;)  And then, "There's a BRIDGE!"  Oh. WOW!  Never realized just how cool bridges can be!  And when we go under them?  Now THAT is about the neatest thing ever!

While trucks and cars and bridges are pretty great, Bret really comes alive when we go over the river.  He'll be sitting back in his seat looking out the window, but when we hit the bridge that crosses the river, he suddenly yells, "There's the river!  There's the river!  Hi ducks!"  He stares down at the water and notices the boats and sea gulls and ducks.  As we pull off the bridge, he says in a disappointed tone, "Oh!  The river broke!"

We - actually, Jordan - gave the boys buzzes last week.  I just love how Jordan's hand is as big as Bret's head!

After I got Serena out of the bath, I was doing my customary exclaiming over how big she's getting, to which she replied, "I think I will go get married now.  I am so big, I think I will just get married now and not live with you and Daddy.  I will just go find someone to get married to."  I told her she'd have to wait until she was at least as big as Mommy before we'd let her get married.  Her answer?  "No, I'm going to wait till I'm as big as Grandma!"  Go right ahead, my dear!  ;)

Serena's prayers continue to be a source of entertainment.  The other night, her prayer went something like this:  "Dear God, Thank you that we had such a good day.  And thank you for Pooh and Piglet and Rabbit and Eeyore and Christopher Robin and Roo and Tigger and Pooh and Rabbit.  And why do elephants have such short tails?  Amen."  As she climbed into bed, she explained to me that she had asked God about the elephants' tails so she wouldn't have to try to remember to ask Him when she saw Him.

As Serena pretends to be different characters, she generally introduces herself as whoever she is pretending to be whenever people ask her what her name is.  This always results in very confused looks at me as people wonder if they really just hear her say her name is "Mrs. Mallard."  Or they wonder what sort of mother would name her daughter "Kanga."  So, Jordan and I recently coached Serena to introduce herself by saying, "My name is Serena but I'm pretending to be Kanga."  This has been a satisfactory arrangement for all parties involved, and she has been remarkably consistent in remembering to follow this pattern.  I have to admit I just about burst out laughing at her the other day when she introduced herself to someone by saying, "My name is Kanga but I'm pretending to be Serena."  Freudian slip, maybe?  ;)

Whenever anyone interacts with Cody (ANYONE...even siblings and Daddy), Cody usually glances over at me with this look.  Totally checking in to see what I think about it.  I'm pretty happy with myself for catching it on camera!

Bret tends to be quiet and observant in unfamiliar public settings, while Serena is extremely chatty.  Actually, Serena is extremely chatty in every setting.  In fact, she'll talk and talk till she runs out of breath, then take a breath as words are still coming out of her mouth.  Sorry, rabbit trail.  Anyway, things were "business as usual" when we were out to eat at Chili's the other day.  The restaurant was fairly busy, with the low hum of conversation hanging in the air.  Jordan and I were perusing the menus while Serena was temporarily silenced by the set of crayons and blank paper in front of her.  Suddenly and without any prelude whatsoever, Bret started belting out the "ABC" song!  It was one of those moments where Jordan demonstrated that he is truly the mature parent, since I was stifling my laughter behind my hand!  ;)

Another prayer by Serena:  "Dear God, Thank you for Pooh and Piglet and Tigger and Roo and Eeyore and Rabbit and aaaallll his relations.  Thank you for Dick and Jane. And thank you for Thing One and Thing Two. And thank you for the Cat in the Hat.  And thank you for aaallll my other babies.  Amen."

Our lives are pretty simple.  The kids and I generally only have two things on the calendar each week:  church and storytime (at the library).  Because of our lack of busy-ness, most of the time the kids go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.  If they sleep in, it's fine, because we generally have nowhere to go.  So, when we have to actually wake them up to go somewhere, they hardly know how to cope.  Last Sunday, I had to wake up Serena to get ready for church.  She looked up at me so blearily and said, "But can I sleep in the car?" Of course, by the time we were actually in the car and on the way to church, she was her usual chatty self.  Jordan tried reminding her of her desire to sleep in the car, but she only laughed at him.

One of Serena's favorite topics is how big she is.  Jordan and I get a kick out of the irony of the situations in which she'll want to talk about how big she is.  For example, as she is being pushed in a stroller or as she is buckling herself into a carseat.  ;)  The other day it went something like this:  "I am SO big.  See, my tummy is SOOOO big!  And my HEAD is REALLY big!"  Then, after receiving affirmation from us, she said more off-handedly, "Yeah, I should probably go to school."

Matching jammies!  Cody is wearing a pair that were Kaden's (I remember getting them for him for his first birthday!  Awwwwe!), and I picked up the pair Bret is wearing on Craigslist.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to have the boys match, heehee!  I know they'll love this picture for years to come!  ...or at least I will!  ;)

Mom came to visit last weekend, and of course we had to go shopping!  :)  Mom had come with several great coupons in hand, and the kids were very accommodating while we tried to get the most bang for our buck!  Our last stop of the day happened to be Penney's.  While we shopped the boys' department, Bret was busy inspecting a row of male mannequins wearing only swim trunks.  There was a big one, a medium-sized one, and a little one.  To be quite honest, we weren't paying that close attention to him...just kind of keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't wander away.  We were pretty surprised then, when we turned to go, to find that the two smaller mannequins had their trunks around their ankles!  The little Bretster worked at getting their trunks back on while Mom and I could hardly stop laughing (we might have been a little slap-silly by this time).  ;)  We then turned to go, and walked by the girls' department on our way to the register.  Bret stopped, again (he has a way of poking along behind and then we don't always notice right away that he stopped).  He walked up to a toddler-sized girl mannequin and pulled her arms up from her sides and then walked into them, looking at each arm on either side of him.  Then, he stepped out from her "embrace" and started to put one arm back down, but it came off!  His face was priceless!  He certainly wasn't expecting that to happen!  I think it must have been magnetic, though, because he was able to stick it back on with little effort.

Bret is my considerate child.  He is very aware of social graces, cordialities, and the back-and-forth of conversation.  Much more so than his sister.  ;)  For example, if I say, "You're so cute," he'll return the favor.  Kinda handy on a day that you feel like you could use a compliment, heehee!  ;)  He also notices things that I wear and makes comments like, "I like your shoes."  He notices when I don't eat at a meal and will ask me, "Are you going to eat something?"

I had a conversation with Serena that went like this:
"Don't grow."
She answered, "But I want to have birthdays."
"Why?"
"Because I want to grow and drive," she responded.
"But why do you need to drive?"  I asked.
"So I can shop," she said.
"What do you want to shop for?"
Her answer?  "Toys and stuff.  And so I can have babies come out of my tummy."
Me, trying not to give away my desire to burst out laughing at that one, "OK, as long as you promise to have lots of babies when you grow up..."
"I will," came the confident reply.
"...and let me hold them lots and lots," I continued.
"Okay," she said.  "But you have to visit me a lot."
Oh, I will, dear little girl.  I will!

Serena said, as she stood on top of the back of our disassembled couch (which she and Bret started calling "the park" as our long winter dragged on and on, haha!), "Pretty soon we will have to move to a bigger house."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Because I am going to get bigger and bigger and I might still want to play on the park, but I will touch the ceiling."

Cody's first haircut - a buzz

Bret's buzz