Funny Moments

I seriously feel so blessed to stay home with my girls. I really hope and pray that I can teach my girls and raise them to be kind, hardworking, and happy adults. It has been challenging lately. My girls have been difficult and this parenting stuff has been hard. But they are also very funny and I am glad I get to enjoy and be there for all of these funny things that they say and do. Here are a few of the things they have said or done lately that make me laugh, smile, or just shake my head.

Brynlee came up to me the other day and announced, "mom, I am getting married in the morning."
Me: "O really, well who are you going to marry?"
Bryn: "Mom, I am not going to marry anyone. We is just going to eat wedding cake!"
Sounds like a great wedding to me.


Brynlee got to say the closing prayer in primary again a few Sundays ago. Her prayer went something like this; "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the food (there was no food) and please bless all of the parents that their kids wont be naughty. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." So if your kids were unusually good a few weeks ago, you can thank Brynlee.

Playing "Old Maid" with my girls has been a real challenge. Brynlee cries every time she gets the old maid and both of my girls want the ballerina cards so they fight over it. It got easier since Annalyn decided that she likes the old maid and when she gets that card she will not let anyone take it away from her. In fact last time Brynlee got the old maid card at the beginning of the game and Annalyn was more than happy to trade her for it. Then I tried to take it and Anna cried. She clearly doesn't understand how to play that game yet.

We were at my mom's house the other day when Brynlee started calling me. She was in my parent's bathroom and needed help wiping. She can do it herself but she has flooded the toilet a few times because she uses too much toilet paper. When I got in the bathroom I found that Brynlee was sitting on the actual toilet bowl instead of on the seat. I told her she was sitting on the wrong part of the toilet and that she needed to get up. Her response was "mom, the water is keeping my bum nice and cool."

When Joel gets home from work he likes to get the girls to help him take off his boots. After they take them off he likes to ask the girls if his feet stink. You think they would have learned by now but Annalyn keeps putting her nose right up to Joel's feet and taking a big whiff. So far they have not yet smelled good.

The other day we got home from grandma's house and Brynlee went inside and hurriedly ran back out announcing, "mom, I have some good news, and I have some bad news."

Me:"You do? Well what is the good news?"

Bryn:"First I want to tell you the bad news. The bad new is that we have these things (pointing to a spider web) on our house. The good new is... (said while jumping up and down in excitement) Daddy is inside sitting on THE POTTY! Isn't that so exciting."

A few weeks ago the Spanish missionaries came over for dinner. As soon as we were done eating Brynlee ran in and got a set of these Animated Scripture books that we have. She opened the book up to a page that talked about Lehi's dream and it had a picture of Lehi and the pillar of fire on one page. On the next page it showed Lehi dreaming about God. This is Brynlee's interpretation of the story and what she taught the missionaries. "This guy right here (Lehi) touched this fire and then he gotted Dead! But Jesus got some pixie dust so he could fly and he came down and saved the guy and then that guy was alive again." I think we might need to reteach that story.

Several weeks ago Brynlee found a pudding cup while we were at grandma's house and she wanted to take it home with her. I told her to put it back and I thought that she did. When I was putting the kids in the car Brynlee told me that she thought she might find come chocolate in her bed when she got home. I was really confused so I asked her, "how would chocolate get in you bed? Is it just going to appear out of nowhere?" Brynlee told me that it would and when we got home she ran to her room and came out carrying a chocolate pudding cup exclaiming how amazing it was that this chocolate just appeared in her bed. She was in big trouble. She has been telling fibs like this all the time and it is driving us all crazy.

Since Kyla has been born my girls like to pretend that they are moms or that they are babies. Even Anna has started to stuff babies in her shirt and pretend that she has a baby in her tummy. Sometimes both girls are babies and they will walk or crawl around with bibs on trying to get me to take care of them. Most of the time Brynlee is the mom while Annalyn is the baby. One day I heard the girls in the other room playing while I was feeding Kyla. Anna started to fake cry and when I asked her what was wrong Brynlee assured my that she just needed to burp her baby. Then I heard Brynlee beating on Annalyn's back. Brynlee then proceeded to lift up her shirt and say "here baby have some more milk. Now you can eat on this side." Brynlee was pretending to breastfeed Annalyn.

Most of the time when Brynlee feeds Annalyn she puts a bib on her and spoon feeds her "baby food" that is really just water. Annalyn eats that up. Brynlee found an old soother one day and she had Annalyn laid out on a blanket doing tummy time with a soother in her mouth. I caught Brynlee trying to put a Diaper on Annalyn one day but I made her take it off. Annalyn also likes to sneak in the baby swing and use all of the baby contraptions. I hope she doesn't break them. Annalyn loves to be the baby.

Brynlee normally talks really well but she still struggles with the sp sound so she still says fecial for special, farkles for sparkles, fIder for spider, and frinkles for sprinkles. There are also a few other words that she just can's say correctly. She still says Blanklet for blanket, hair salom for hair salon, and elegator for elevator. We have this picture of Frankenstein up on our door right now and she calls him Franklinstein. I was laughing with her the other day and she told me she was feeling "jiggly." She meant giggly but I thought that jiggly was a pretty good description. She was also using the word "we" instead of us so she would say things like "do you want to come with we?"


Annalyn also says some funny stuff but mostly she is funny just because she is super expressive with her hands and face when she talks. I wish I could recreate her expressions for you. The other day I got Annalyn out of the car at my sister's house and she looked over at the neighbors house at this play set they had and it was like her jaw just dropped and she exclaimed "what in da world!" Yesterday Kyla started crying and she came up to me and said "Eww (you) baby crying Lituh (Melissa)." The facial expressions she has are really the best.

A few days ago Annalyn brought me one of her ponies and told me that the pony had an owie on her bum. Anna had covered the rear end of that pony with Desitin.

Last night Annalyn peed all over our microfiber couch. I looked online for a way to get the pee stain and smell out of the couch and found one that required a water with vinegar mixture. (Our couch still smells so if you have a suggestion that works, let me know.) I put the mixture in the girl's pink spray bottle that is broken and sprayed the couch. Both of my girls like to take that spray bottle and "drink" the water out of it by spraying the water in their mouth. I have told them several times not to do that. I sprayed the couch and started scrubbing. I went to get more spray and my water bottle was gone. Immediately I heard Brynlee crying, sputtering, and running for the kitchen. Joel and I were trying really hard not to laugh. I wonder if Brynlee learned her lesson about drinking the water out of the spray bottle?

Dentist and Doctor Visits

Last month I finally took both of the girl to see the dentist. It was Annalyn's first trip. I went to a new place but both of the girls seemed really excited about going. At least Brynlee was really excited until we went back with the dental hygienist and she told Brynlee to stand on a scale. I think this just reminded her of the doctor's office so she panicked saying that she didn't want a shot or them to take some of her blood. Even after we assured her there would be no shots she wasn't convinced. She clung to my leg and wouldn't get close to the dental chair or to all of those scary looking dental tools that looked a lot like shots. Of course since Brynlee was freaking out Annalyn ran herself into the corner and tried to make herself invisible. The hygienist finally just used a toothbrush and brushed Brynlee's teeth with that. Then she was able to slowly introduce the tools to her and Brynlee even tried some of them out. Eventually her turn was over so Brynlee ran over to Anna and assured her that everything was ok. She told her it was gonna be good and fun so after that Annalyn was very cooperative and well behaved. It helped that they turned on the movie Frozen in the middle of Brynlee's exam. The girls like that movie. Annalyn let them use all of the tools on her mouth and she was very well behaved and cooperative. They were even able to take x-rays of her teeth. Then they took pictures of Brynlee's teeth and the dentist came in.

The dentist looked at Brynlee's teeth first and he was able to quickly put the fluoride on her teeth while he counted them. On the x-ray we could see that Brynlee is missing one of her top permanent teeth and the dentist thought she probably won't grow it. I guess that is pretty common. But that tooth was so slow to come in as a baby that I think it may just be really slow? We will see in a few years I suppose. When it was Annalyn's turn to let the dentist examine her, she wasn't interested. Then the dentist asked Annalyn if she had princess teeth. He told her he thought he could see some princess teeth in her mouth. That did the trick and Annalyn was all excited to let him look at her princess teeth. Brynlee was really jealous about that since she wanted to have princess teeth too. The girls both got a prize and a toothbrush and away we went. There were no cavities. Here is a picture of them after they went to the dentist.

A little while before that Joel had to make another visit to quick care to get something out of his eye. This time he had a splinter stuck in his upper eye lid. I tried to get it out but I couldn't see anything in his eye. It was hurting so bad the next day that he finally went in after work. Joel and his poor eyes. I believe this is the fifth time he has had to get something taken out of his eye. At least it wasn't as painful this time and it healed quickly and was fine as soon as he got home. 

Last week I took Kyla in for her four month appointment and Annalyn had to get a 30 month check-up. I wanted to get a flu shot for Bryn and Anna too but Brynlee was so freaked out by the last shot that I figured I would just have then get the nose spray. When I called on the phone they told me the nose spray wasn't available and that I would have to bring Brynlee in another day. Annalyn was not happy about having to get a shot. As soon as the nurse called her name she went running the other direction. I had to carry her in there. After everyone was weighed and measured our doctor asked if I wanted a flu shot for Brynlee too. That is when Brynlee started to panic. Dr. Bennett told her they wouldn't give her a shot, they would just do the nose spray. The person I talked to on the phone didn't really know what they were talking about. Brynlee and Annalyn were both so relieved that they didn't have to get shots that they were more than happy to do the nose spray. After the check-up Brynlee got the nose spray first, and then Anna went. They were both very cooperative for the whole thing. Kyla had to get three shots and she had to drink some medicine. She drank the medicine just fine but she screamed for those shots. Poor baby. The girls got suckers and they left the doctor's office as happy customers. I am glad I didn't have to hold them both down for shots.

Less than a week after going to the doctor's office, Kyla came down with a fever. She had a little bit of a cold for a few days but suddenly she got really congested, sleepy, fussy, and her appetite was down. I had to wait a whole day before I could take her in but I am glad I took her. Her fever was gone during that day when I took her so I was worried she was already over the sickness. It turns out she had an ear infection in her right ear. She is on some antibiotics and I will have to take her back in a few weeks to make sure the infection is gone. She already seems to be feeling better at least. I hate to see my baby sick. I feel blessed that my girls are usually pretty healthy.

Joel's Birthday

Joel turned 29 this year. He is not a big one for celebrations but I really wanted to do something for him. I decided to take a trip to the Walmart that is close to where he is building a house and buy him some presents and then me and the kids would stop and bring him lunch and eat with him. I was a little bit worried about taking Annalyn right before nap time but she hasn't been taking naps all that often so I figured she would be good. She wasn't. She was terrible.

Our trip to the store started out well. Kyla fell asleep in the moby wrap right away and Annalyn agreed to sit in the front and let me buckle her while Brynlee held onto the side of the cart. Brynlee kept wandering off and stopping in front of me so that I couldn't move. She also kept trying to put things in the cart that I didn't want.  I looked down at one time and found a stapler in our cart. Later I found some pink party hats and Brynlee tried to put some necklaces and princess things in there for dad's birthday.I wanted to put her in the cart but there was no room in there for her. Annalyn decided that she didn't want to be in the cart fairly quickly. She cried and threw a fit for several different things. 

 I only had a few things left to get when Annalyn decided she wanted to get out of the cart so she threw herself over the side. I caught her but she crushed Kyla and made Kyla cry, Anna was crying, and Brynlee was holding the cart and pushed it into a display of batteries that was hanging up and we knocked batteries all over the floor. I stuck Anna back in the cart and sternly told her she had better stay in there. Luckily she listened but she was still just a wailing away. I calmed Kyla down and then picked up the batteries. I decided to just grab us some lunch and get out of there at that point. I was halfway across the store before I realized that one of the battery display things was stuck to our cart. It was just hanging there with a whole row of batteries and the price tag sticking out. I hurriedly took them back and then got the food and went to check out. Annalyn still cried during the rest of that trip. She could not be consoled. I think she was just tired and was in meltdown mode. The cashier was very kind and helped me get everything checked out and put away and someone in the parking lot felt sorry for me and got my box of diapers put in my van and she put my cart away for me. I am so glad there are such nice people around. It made me want to try harder to help others. That was one of the worst shopping trips I have had in a long time and it made me vow to never shop with all three kids by myself ever again. I will see how long I can avoid it. I never did get all of the things I wanted to get and we ended up with several things I did want. we ended up wrapping some princess straws and some candy necklaces and giving them to Joel for his birthday. He seemed to like them. We also got him a shirt, a tie, some floss, and some candy.

Annalyn was still really fussy for most of the lunch with dad but at least she didn't cry the whole time and we were able to enjoy a nice lunch with Joel. It was fun for the us to see the house he is building and to meet the people he works with. The girls didn't want to leave but after a while we had to go. The girls had to use the bathroom so we even got to try out the porta potty the workers get to use. Annalyn fell asleep right away for that car ride. 

Joel's actual birthday wasn't for a few days so on his real birthday the girls woke up and brought Joel all of his present and had him open them right away. Then Brynlee got everyone a drink so we could try out the princess straws that we got and she made sure Joel shared his candy bracelets. Both girls were just really excited for it to be dad's birthday. I think Joel's favorite present was the floss. 

 We made a cake the day before but we ran out of powdered sugar so we planned on stopping by the store to buy some later that day. Before we could do that Annalyn helped herself to a huge piece of cake right out of the middle of the cake when no one was looking. I wanted to take Joel out to lunch with me or something and Brynlee chimed in that she wanted to take dad to McDonalds for his birthday. Joel said that was a great idea so after he spent the morning working on the yard and taking out the garden, we went to McDonalds. I suggested a trip to the park or something but Joel wanted to get ice cream from Dairy Queen. I told him would should just but an ice cream cake so we got one and ate a piece as soon as we got home and we paired it with the unfrosted cake that we made. The girls we so excited to sing to dad and celebrate his birthday with him. It was a simple celebration but I think Joel was able to tell how much we love him. We sure are glad he was born. Happy Birthday Joel!

Kyla - 4 Months

Kyla seems to have finally overcome the colic that plagued her for the first three moths. Those were some hard months. She is so much happier lately. She has been giving us lots of coos, smiles, and even some cute baby laughs. She is 26 in. tall ((96%) and weighs 15.81 lb. (80%). She has stolen all of our hearts and we are all in love with her. She sure has been such a sweet little baby lately.

Kyla is really close to rolling over but she hasn't done it yet. She scoots all over the place when we put her on her back. She is not a huge fan of being on her tummy and tends to just cry during tummy time. She likes to be on her back and has moved herself all the way off the blanket that I put her on.

Kyla sleeps through the night most of the time but we had several difficult nights with her last month where she kept waking up, wouldn't sleep in her bed, and wanted to eat several times. I think maybe it was a growth spurt? I think she would do better in her own room but for now she is still sleeping in mom and dad's room. We are still trying to figure that out but hopefully she will start sleeping through the night again because I am not liking this. I have been getting her to take some longer naps in her bed during the day so that has been really nice.

We got Kyla a little Jumper thing that she stands in and she has loved that. Her sisters like to bounce her in it so I have to ban them from being near her when she is in it. They also like to push Kyla in her baby swing and bounce her in her bouncer so Kyla isn't really safe anywhere in this house. She got hit in the head with a little pony twice this month thanks to Annalyn. Kyla is going to have to learn to be tough.

Kyla still eats really well, spits up a lot, loves to be held, and cries every time we buckle her in her car seat but is fine once it starts moving. Kyla seems to tolerate going to other people lately and will even smile and coo at them as long as she is well fed and in a good mood. She sure has come a long way. She loves to sit up and stand on my lap while holding onto my fingers. She loves watching her big sisters while they play and she stares at them so intently. She is starting to grab at things and figure out how to put things in her mouth. She has discovered her thumb and likes to suck on it. It is seriously the cutest thing but I hope it doesn't become a bad habit. At least she is learning to self soothe by sucking on her two middle fingers or her thumb. If she does suck on her thumb she usually sticks the rest of her fingers straight out.

    

September 2014

     Another month has come and gone and we are finally starting to get into a schedule and I feel like we have all adjusted to life as a family of five. Kyla has been much happier lately. My older girls are still just as busy as ever. I blocked off all of the toys and most of Annalyn's clothes and it seems to have helped a little bit with the amount of messes that they make. They still get into all kinds of things but it has helped a lot.

     This month I canned some applesauce for the first time and made some apple juice. I went to zumba twice at the church and I got to spend a fun evening with my mom and sisters out shopping. I also went and did some crafts at the church and I spent a lot of time playing with my girls and doing crafts with them.

     Joel's boss decided to get rid of the framing crew Joel was running but for right now Joel is still working for the same company. If fact, he is still framing just without most of the crew. His boss mentioned that Joel might get an office job but it hasn't happened yet. We will just have to wait and see what happens. At home he is building a shed on the side of our house so we can clean out our garage a little better and he is working on bunk beds for the girls. I tried to make Brynlee and Annalyn share a room earlier this month and it didn't work out so well so we will see how this goes. I think for now we might wait a little on the beds.

     Brynlee got to have a few friends over to play this month and she even got to play at some of her friend's houses. She loves doing that. She keeps turning into Elsa periodically throughout the day and we all get in trouble if we call her Brynlee. This seems to happen a lot when I want her to do something and then she just tells me, "no mom, I didn't make that mess, Elsa did." I know this is driving Joel crazy and it kind of makes me crazy too but I am glad she has a good imagination. She is also driving me crazy because she keeps calling me Melissa since I am not Elsa's mom.

     Brynlee's hair finally grew long enough so we cut it short and now it is even all the way around and it looks much better. She cut it in March so it took a long time to grow. Brynlee got to say her part in the primary program this month and she walked right up to the microphone and talked nice and loud. In fact I am sure that she woke everyone up if they were trying to sleep since she was so loud with her part; "principles of faith." She somehow smuggled a little stuffed bear up on the stage without me realizing and she played with the thing the whole time. She kept moving, putting the bear on her head, throwing it in the air. You just gotta love four year olds. Someone told me she was the most entertaining one since she was the only one who moved at all.

     Annalyn has really been working hard at making as many messes as possible lately. Brynlee scratched her on her nose and she has been showing everyone her owie and talking about it ever since. She took a few naps this month but most of the time she really fights going to sleep. She is still just as mischievous as ever and we sure do love her.

     Kyla has been laughing and happy lately. I just love baby laughs. She has been so much more alert, active, and attentive to what is happening around. She has been letting more people hold her and she has been more tolerant to the attention from her sisters. Which is good since they love her so much. Brynlee likes to pretend Kyla is her baby. The other day I walked in to find that Brynlee had changed Kyla's diaper and was in the process of putting Kyla's clothes back on. Brynlee put the diaper on backwards but other than that she is good at changing her. Although the next time Brynlee tried to change her I ran in because I heard Kyla crying. Brynlee just looked at me and told me that Kyla was just crying about putting on the shirt. We sure do love this baby more each day.

     There was one day this month at grandma Verna's house where my dad and the three oldest grandkids found two little frog. My girls had a blast playing with those frogs. Annalyn did not want to let them go. It was kind of funny because they wanted those frogs so bad but they seemed to be a little bit afraid of them.

       
    Life is pretty good around here and we are enjoying the cool fall weather. Brynlee can't wait for Halloween and has been talking about it all month when I mentioned that October came after September and that Halloween was in October. We are enjoying the journey of life and we are excited for what the future will bring.

Moments With My Girls

Lately I have found the daily task of parenting three girls and taking care of the house so repetitive and challenging. It seems like all three of my girls constantly want my attention at the same time, my house is a disaster, my kids wont stop making messes, the laundry is never done, and my to do list just keeps getting longer and longer. Luckily my kids are good at reminding my to stop, slow down, and to realize what the most important things are in this life. Today I just wanted to write down some of these experiences so that I remember them.

Yesterday the girls were all driving me a little bit crazy so I took them outside to play. They were having fun playing in the leaves so I tried to set them down with the baby in the bumbo chair for a quick picture. They all set down and were very cooperative (although I never did get a picture where all three of them were looking at me.) When I was almost done, Brynlee and Annalyn started to throw leaves at each other. I scolded them and told them not to get leaves on the baby. All of a sudden Annalyn jumped up, grabbed a huge handful of leaves and threw them at me. At first I told her to stop but she just laughed in the mischievous way that she does. 

Before I knew what was happening, Brynlee started grabbing some leaves and throwing them at me too. Both of my girls were trying to cover me in leaves and they were laughing with glee the whole time. I had no choice but to fight back. Before we knew it, we were all in the midst of a major leaf fight and we were all laughing and having a great time. Kyla even managed to grab a handful of leaves but I had to take them away from her because she tried to eat them. It was so fun to be able to stop and laugh with my girls. 

A few days ago I was sitting on the couch when Brynlee came up to me with her bucket of ponies and she begged me to play with her. I told her I would as soon as I was done with the laundry. Then Kyla started crying, Annalyn got into the apples and started to make a big mess and Brynlee was right at my foot waiting for me to play with her. I just wanted to be left alone so I could finish the laundry but I realized I needed to stop and pay attention to me kids. I calmed the baby down and rocked her to sleep and I called Annalyn over to come and play ponies with us. At first I tried to fold laundry while I was playing with them but every time I set the pony down, the girls would get mad at me, hand me the pony and tell me to keep playing with them. This reminded me of how I used to constantly try to get my mom to play barbies with me when I was around Brynlee's age. There is one day in particular that I have always treasured where my mom let me get out all of my barbies and she played with me for long time. I am glad my girls want to play with me. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon playing ponies with my girls. 

The other night Brynlee fell off the chair and hit her eye on the edge of the dining room table. Of course her first reaction was to cry and tell me that I should have caught her. I got her some ice and then she really wanted me to hold her. I was trying to get this kids in bed and Joel was gone so I told Brynlee I would hold her in a minute. I brushed Anna's teeth and then I sat down to rock Brynlee. She just melted right into my lap. Her eye did look pretty bad. I only held her for a few minutes when Kyla started screaming so I picked her up and rocked her too. I told Brynlee I had to get up to tuck Anna in bed and she clung to me and begged me to hold her. I called Annalyn over to us and she crawled up in my lap and I rocked her too. Annalyn fell asleep right away and Kyla fell asleep pretty quickly too. I wasn't quite sure how I would get up but I was kind of enjoying holding my babies and talking to Brynlee. I didn't think Brynlee would actually fall asleep in my lap but before long she was out too. I love rocking my girls and holding them. They smelled so good and I love that they trust me to hold them and comfort them when they are hurt and to take care of and protect them.

Despite how crazy life can sometimes be, I sure do love these three girls and I enjoy playing with them. I still get overwhelmed with the responsibility of raising three girls, but I am trying to remember to take the time to slow down and just enjoy being with them. The messes will still be there for me to clean tomorrow, today I am playing with my girls. They wont be this little forever.

Anna is 2 and 1/2

Little Anna is officially 2 and 1/2 years old and she sure is growing and has for sure hit the "terrible two" stage. She just knows what she wants and is pretty determined to get it. She weights 31.4 lb. (79%) and she is 35.75 in. (59%). She loves playing with Brynlee, holding her baby sister, singing songs, playing with toys, and playing dress-up. Her favorite outfit is a swimming suit or a pajama shirt with a fancy skirt. She loves shoes and wearing Brynlee's clothes and my make-up. She has a serious sweet tooth and could eat sweets all day. She loves to watch movies and play on the ipad. She tries to do everything Brynlee does and she likes to tease her. most of the time they get along great since Anna is usually pretty easy going and just goes along with whatever Brynlee tells her to do. Anna does like to take the toys Brynlee is playing with and then she runs away with them. When Anna plays with kids that are the same age as her or younger than her she is really bossy and she does not like to share, which surprises me. She used to do great in nursery at church but lately she doesn't want to share so she has had a hard time.

Anna has done great with potty training and can go all by herself. She gets herself dressed every morning and she can climb to get almost anything she wants. She is usually pretty happy and easy going and she laughs easily. She can still throw a good little temper tantrum. Annalyn loves the color pink (which makes Brynlee really mad) and she can name and identify most of her colors. She can count to 13 but most of the time she skips 5 or 4. She doesn't like to help clean up anymore and she is figuring out how to get Brynlee to clean up her messes. She just told me her favorite movie is Tinkebell but she will watch any movie that Brynlee wants to watch.

Annalyn talks in full sentences and she talks a lot. She tends to annunciate each and every syllable in her words sometimes which can make it hard to understand her. I love her little voice. My favorite is when she uses her deep, scary voice and tells me she wants to watch a "cary doomie" (scary movie). She calls Kyla "baby Ty-uh." She talks about wearing her "twimming tuit (swimming suit)."

Anna only takes an occasional nap when she is really tired. She just doesn't want to sleep during the day when Brynlee is awake and playing. She is usually the first one awake in the mornings too. Usually she comes into my bed around 6 in the morning telling me " I want See-E-Oh (cereal) mom. I want see-E-oh." I think cereal is probably her favorite food.

Annalyn sure has been super mischievous lately. It must be the age because she is doing a lot of the same naughty things Brynlee used to do at this age. Luckily Brynlee outgrew it but she hasn't made any effort to stop Anna from destroying things. Now that Annalyn is potty trained, she is obsessed with washing her hands in the bathroom sink and playing with the soap and the toilet paper. One day while I was feeding the baby she covered both of her legs and the entire bathroom floor in soap. The floor was so slippery that neither of us could walk in there without falling. I had to stick her in the bath so I could get all of the soap off. She got into a bottle of lotion the other day and covered all of her block and her whole body in lotion. We went to the church one morning and I was doing zumba while Anna and Brynlee were playing on the stage. One of the other ladies informed me that Anna had some hand sanitizer. It turns out that she found it in the nursery and used it to clean the toys and she washed herself off with it. I caught her and Brynlee with the little baby bathtub in Annalyn's room another day. They were both wearing swimsuits and trying to sneak water in there so they could go swimming. I am glad I put a stop to that quickly.

 Annalyn also likes to play with the food. Yesterday she got out several sticks of butter and she was carrying them in a bag around the house. She told me she was going to eat them. She took almost an entire loaf of bread and tore the bread into pieces. On another day she covered herself in peanut butter. She covered Kyla's bumbo chair in applesauce another day. She loves to crumble up crackers and eat apples. She doesn't like the peel on her apple so she spits it out on the carpet. Annalyn got ahold of the chocolate milk powder one day and she was eating it like it was candy while she sat on top of the kitchen table. We were eating lunch and I left to feed the baby and I had no idea they had the chocolate milk powder. Anna had a runny nose that day so she was covered in it. It was all over her face, clothes and my kitchen table. In the middle of this fiasco Anna informed me that she needed to go potty. I hurried as fast as I could but she ended up peeing all over the table in the midst of the chocolate powder. It was not a fun mess to clean up but it did make for a good, although kind of gross picture. I have been thinking about blocking off all access to the kitchen for both of my girls. I just don't know that I could really come up with a way to keep them out.

Here are a few stories about Annalyn from this summer that I never wrote down. One day I had just changed Anna's diaper and we were getting in the car to go somewhere. As I was buckling her into her car seat I could tell her diaper was wet so I asked her. "You didn't just pee in this new diaper I put on you now did you?"
Annalyn shook her head and told me "no, I didn't pee in my diaper."
"Well somebody did," I told her.
Anna was quick to respond "Yeah, Daddy did!"

Right before and after Kyla was born, Annalyn was obsessed with being a baby. She still has a little squeaky baby voice that sounds like a little mouse that she uses when she wants to be a baby or when she just needs more attention. It comes out a lot around new people. Brynlee took full advantage of Annalyn's desire to be a baby and had her crawling around the floor, sucking on pacifiers, and drinking milk out of Kyla's baby bottles. Annalyn loved it. Brynlee would cover Anna up in blankets and she would just snuggle right in. Yesterday Brynlee even put a diaper on her and got her dressed in her pajamas. Anna took the baby roll very seriously. She even came up to me one day with drool all down her chin exclaiming, "I am spitting up mom! Look I am spitting up!"

Anna is usually pretty girly. She still loves stuffed animals and sleeps with several of them every night. She loves purses and dressing up but she also likes to pretend to be zombies and be scary. She likes to help dad with his project and one day I discovered that Annalyn had slept with her little purse in her bed and the purse was full of screws that she stole while Joel was doing one of his projects.

Annalyn loves giving the baby kisses and she seems to think that she needs to kiss Kyla right on the lips. A lot of times they both have their mouths wide open too. The other day Annalyn gave Kyla a kiss right after Kyla had just spit up and Anna walked away from that kiss frantically wiping her mouth. Joel and I just had to laugh. The next time she kissed her she held Kyla's mouth shut before she gave her a kiss. We are trying to teach her to just kiss her on the cheek but Annalyn doesn't like that idea.

The other day my family was over and the girls were playing with their kitchen stuff. Annalyn wanted real water to play with but I told her no. She tried to sneak it out of the bathroom and my sister Alesha told her she had better put the water back before she got in trouble. You should have seen the glare Alesha got. Anna was so mad. Alesha told her she had to listen to her mom and Anna gave her another glare and shouted, "I ate (hate) Esha (alesha)!" Then Annalyn tried to get the water again and my mom told her to get out of the water. Annalyn called out again, "I ate grandma! I ate grandma and I ate Esha!" She threw a major temper tantrum when I made her get out of the bathroom but her anger was still geared towards my mom and Alesha. I was kind of funny but I wish she wouldn't tell people she hates them. She can be so sweet and cuddly but she can all be a little stinker.

Just this week one of our kitchen drawers that holds all of our spatulas broke. Joel set it on the kitchen table and then it sat there all week since Joel didn't have time to fix it. Annalyn used the opportunity to crunch up some crackers, mix them up with water, and play with it in that drawer. She also found a tube of glue and covered several of my spatulas with glue. Where does she come up with these ideas?

Annalyn was helping me to make scrambled eggs one day. She loves to try and carry the eggs around the house and play with them. Annalyn got the eggs out of the fridge before I was even in the kitchen and she dropped an egg on the ground. She just looked at me, picked up another egg and assured me, "don't worry mom. I not break this one. Otay?" Then she dropped that one and it cracked on the floor too. I told her to leave the eggs along but she just picked up a third egg and promised me she wouldn't drop it. It wasn't much longer until there was another broken egg on my floor.

This girl sure does make me laugh. We love her so much.