I Don't Want to Forget...

Serena had so much fun reading books with Grammie during her visit!    Grammie would pretend to fall asleep in between books and Serena thought it was HILARIOUS to wake her up and surprise her with another book!

We got to see the puppies for the first time when they were two weeks old.  Serena was completely enamored with them!

The conversation Serena had with Jordan about his whiskers.  She needed to know things like why, of course.  ;)  In the end, she said in a very diplomatic voice, "I like cat whiskers better."

Whenever Cody wakes up from his naps, Serena and Bret beg me to let them go in and "get" him.  Of course, I let them, as it buys me about 10 minutes of "kids-are-all-happily-occupied" time!  They climb in and out of his crib playing with him and giving him all kinds of toys!  It's a tradition I hope to keep alive for as long as possible!  I love how excited the kids always are to see each other after naps!

We stopped at the mall one rainy morning and I let Serena bring her doll stroller and Olie in.  She loves pushing her baby while I push the boys!  ;)  As we were walking through Target, she was looking off to the side and chatting away when her stroller veered into me.  "Whoops, sorry....Jenn."  She said my name so quietly, I wasn't even sure I'd heard her right.  A couple seconds passed.  Then, "I don't live at your house.  I live in the 100-acre woods.  And I'm a mommy.  So I should probably call the other one 'Jordan' [notice she didn't call him 'Daddy'] and call you 'Jenn.'"  Trying to stifle my laughter, I replied calmly, "Um, no, Honey.  You are pretending to be Kanga and live in the 100-acre woods.  And Mommy and Daddy are okay with that; we don't mind your pretending and having fun with that.  But you are still our little girl named Serena and we are still your Mommy and Daddy, so you still need to call us 'Mommy' and 'Daddy.'"  She said "Okay" so readily that I think she was secretly hoping I'd say what I did.  Like she just wasn't sure she was ready to stop having us be her Mommy and Daddy, even though it was the next logical thing in her little fantasy.  ;)

Serena has this one silky scarf that I picked up at a thrift store and she loves it!  I think it's great when she comes down from her playroom wearing it and goes about her business as though it were completely natural for her to be wearing the scarf!  It always gives her an "I-feel-grown-up-and-beautiful" kind of disposition, too, which is completely adorable.  I just want to grab her and hold her and kiss her all over, but I restrain myself lest I offend the little lady.  ;)

Little helpers

One evening, we were planning to go for a walk after supper.  Bret, ever our Poky Little Puppy, was the last at the table.  "Finish up, Bret, so we can go!"  "Where are we going?"  he asked.  Jordan teased him that he was going to teach him how to drive the truck.  Bret finished up his food, we got everyone ready to go, and headed out the door.  In the chaos of gathering shoes and leashes and pulling out the stroller, Jordan and I had forgotten about the conversation with Bret.  But when we told Bret to hop in the stroller, he started balling!  "You were going to teach me to drive the truck!!!"  Jordan assured him he would do it later.  Of course, "later" in Jordan's mind was measured in years; but in Bret's mind, we were just putting it off till we got home.  As soon as we were home, Serena ran into the garage and into the backyard and Jordan was about to follow her with the dogs.  Once again, Bret started wailing!  Same problem, and OH!  the sadness and devastation on his face that Daddy was once again forgetting to teach him how to drive the truck!  Bret LOVES Daddy's truck, and this was a really big deal to him!!!  Plus, Bret is just such an earnest little guy.  So, Jordan said, "Okay, Bret, listen very carefully...."  Bret took a deep breath to swallow the sobs and with tears still shining in his eyes said, "K" with a big nod.  Jordan gave him the most basic explanation you can imagine of how to drive a truck, and Bret just soaked up every word like he was logging it away.  When Jordan finished, Bret was completely satisfied and ran out in the backyard.  Next thing we know, he's yelling, "I want to FWING!!!" because he needed someone to lift him up into the swing and push him.  Gotta love the irony of childhood!!!

Now that is the face of someone who is having an AWESOME time!

Bret is very conscientious about sweeping up his little spills

We took the kids to Bay Beach last "weekend" (Jordan's weekends land on Mondays and Tuesdays).  It was very fun for us all!  A little crowded, but we'll know not to go the last week of school next year!  ;)  Anyway, on the way there, we were having Serena look for water towers to help pass the time (it's about a 40-minute drive).  So, she would say, "There's a water tower!" whenever she saw one.  Suddenly, Bret started to get upset and whine, "I want some watermelon!"  Jordan and I thought it was a random thing to whine for, since we haven't had watermelon since last summer (though Bret did love it a lot!); but in an attempt to placate him and keep things light-hearted and fun, Jordan pretended to hand him some watermelon (usually this strategy goes over really well since the kids love pretending).  Bret "took" the pretend watermelon from Jordan and appeared satisfied for about three seconds before he started crying again.  Then, it dawned on me that he wanted to see a water tower, not water melon!  So I asked him, and sure enough, that's what he'd wanted.  Then he reached forward to hand the pretend watermelon back to Jordan and said, "Here Daddy, I don't want any watermelon."

Bret just had an awesome time at Bay Beach!

Ever since our adventure to Bay Beach, Serena has been begging to go back to "Baby Beach."  ;)