Tidbits

It's been a while (again) and these have piled up (again) so this will be a long one. I promise it will be worth it though! These girls are a non-stop source of entertainment.

Right in front of my parents, Ireland let out a huge belch. Without apologizing or excusing herself, she went about what she was doing, so Brent intervened, "What do you say Ireland?" She turned to my parents and matter-of-factually said, "I burp a lot."

Just found these beauties on the camera I rarely use:

I don't know why, but this one just cracks me up! Banana selfie.

Every now and again I'll give Sydney my phone to distract her. Lately her favorite thing is to just press that main button until Siri answers. Sydney will babble to her until she says something like, "Sorry, I didn't quite get that." Then Sydney presses the button again and babbles even louder. Siri responds with something like, "I didn't understand you." After a few minutes, she gets pretty frustrated and is out and out screaming at the phone while Siri suggests web searches. Oh Sydney, it's not just you; we've all had problems with Siri not understanding us.

We stopped in the Visitor's Center in Independence, MO while we were in town for a baby blessing. I wanted to get a picture of the girls in front of the Christus. As I worried about the composition of the picture and getting everyone to look at me and smile, Liesel said, "Everyone say 'I love Jesus!'" And then this picture just happened.

Sydney has the annoying habit of twisting around when I'm trying to change her. After a stomach bug, she had some diarrhea I was trying to deal with. I wiped the bulk of the mess off with the front of the diaper and then set it on the shelf above so she wouldn't re-dirty herself. As I cleaned off the rest of her little bum, the diaper slipped from the shelf and fell crap-side-open right on her face. Turns out the one thing Sydney hates more than getting changed, is having diarrhea on her face. At least she held still while I wiped her off!

This is how Ireland's part in the Primary Program went:
Ireland: Heavenly Father *pause* has prepared a way *pause* for us *bursts into tears* It's scary! She ran into the arms of the member of the Primary Presidency who was feeding her the line (even though she had it memorized) and then Ireland spent the rest of the program on her teacher's lap.

 Brigitta apparently got out of bed and only made it partway down the hall before crashing again. I found her like this. 

Liesel and I were hanging out on my bed one Saturday afternoon when I started feeling snackish. I did sparkle fingers towards my forehead while saying, "Bring me a snack." and then threw my sparkle fingers towards the door. Liesel looked at me funny and asked why I did that. I told her I was sending Brent a mental message. A few minutes later, Brent appeared and asked if there was anything he could bring me (even after 8 years of marriage he does this often). When I told him I could use a snack, a wide-eyed Liesel said, "WOW! That was like, magic or something." I told her that when she's been married for as long as we have, she'll be able to send mental messages to her husband too.

I know Jeanne isn't overly fond of this photo, but I absolutely adore it. From the curlers to Gita's cheesy smile, it just makes me happy. Can't you just feel how much these two love each other?

I'm so grateful for the grandparents these girls have in their lives. 

We were getting pretty near 100% success in potty training with Brigitta. I was folding laundry when Ireland hollered from downstairs that Brigitta was peeing. When I reached the landing, I found my toddler midway up the marble stairs with urine dripping down 4 or 5 steps. Incredulous, I asked her what she was doing. She grinned and proudly said, "I make a waterfall!" Potty training has not progressed one bit since that day.

With two unusual names, I'm used to getting mail with one-off spelling, but this totally chaps my hide. 

I mean, come on!

After the Family Library Night at Liesel's school, I was telling Brent about the drawing for free books at the end. I couldn't remember what the order was... the first drawing was for K-2 and then 3-4 and then 5? No, it was just K and then 1-3 and then 4-5? Wait, that wasn't right. I looked at Liesel who had been silently listening and she gently said, "Let me help you out..." and proceeded to tell Brent the proper order of the book drawing. She's such a grown up sometimes!

This was taken 10 minutes after Ireland insisted she didn't need a nap.

I read that instead of telling children to pray for what they are grateful or thankful for, encourage them to focus on things in their life that make them happy. It's the same principle, just an easier way for young minds to comprehend it. Ireland's prayers are very rote and very short. After telling her to think of things that make her happy, she said the following prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank thee for this day and for the food and... *whispers* Jesus Christ? I have something to tell you. I love presents and Christmas and stockings. *almost shouting* In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!

I was changing Brigitta's wet pull-up and once off, I handed it to her to throw away. Running across the room, she threw it 5 feet from the basket and made it!!! I don't think I could have made that shot while running!