The Silly Things She Says, Part 2

"I had a grape popsicle and he had a carrot one" (Apparently orange colored things are carrot flavored).

One night I was telling Charley a story about "Princess Charlotte" and her brother "Prince Elijah." In the story, Prince Elijah bothered the Princess by taking something from her, but she said, "No thank you, No thank you!" and quickly forgave him. The story went on for a few minutes and then Charley interrupted me and said, "Hey Mommy...Can you go back to the 'page' with the "No thank you's" and put in a consequence there for the Prince?" Wow...she wants justice even in make-believe.

While touching my belly and talking real close to it... "Hey baby...I heard you kicking last Sunday. How 'bout you do it again so I can see how you do it?"

Charley often describes people by the color of the shirt they are wearing. For instance, "What is that green lady doing?" Unfortunately, she is often intrigued by people wearing black and white. The other day at CFA, she pointed to a table full of business men and loudly said, "Mommy, that is A LOT of mans, isn't it?!..... What is that white guys name?" She has also said, "What is that black man doing?" (white man in black shirt) and "Yeah, that brown guy did that." (black man in brown shirt).... I love the innocence of it...


"Mommy, may I have some water?"
"No you may not." (for the record, it was past bedtime and she had already had some)
-Long Pause-
Pointing at my belly, "Is the baby crying in there?"
"No, he doesn't cry."
"Why not?"
"Because he has everything he needs...like food and water"
"He has food and water?"
"Yes"
-Pause-Puts on puppy dog eyes-
"Well, then can I have some water since the baby does??"
(hmmm. water, no! teachable moment, yes!)

"Hey Charley...Are we having a baby cow?" No.
"A baby horse?" No.
"A baby dog?" No.
"Then what are we having?" A baby people.
"What kind?" A boy people.

The Silly Things She Says, Part 1

Every three-year-old says funny things, and that's why I must get these down before I forget them and before she's not three anymore!

I told Charley we were going to the doctor for her three-year-old checkup. Hours later, she said, "Mommy, will the chipmunk at the doctor hurt me?" She continued to talk about the "chipmunk," as I was scratching my head, until I realized she was talking about her checkup at the doctor. I then started using the word "appointment," which she then confused with getting a shot. When we left, "Mommy, that appointment HURT me!"

That same day, after her checkup was complete, the doctor left the room and Charley asked, "Mommy...what was that thing around his neck??" I explained that it was his stethoscope and that he used it to listen to her heart. Without hesitation, she replied, "And he heard God in there!" This comment wins the cute award.

We were all in the car together as a family...D was driving... We pulled onto the interstate where they were doing road work, so there were cones everywhere. We had to veer around them quickly to enter the highway, and D commented, "Gee, that was drastic" and I agreed. Charley, who had observed the orange and white striped cones, asked, "What's a giraffe stick??" We tried to explain that we were saying "drastic" and that it meant "a sudden change," but of course that answer didn't fly. She proceeded to ask if giraffe sticks were what giraffes ate, and later, why did the giraffe sticks suddenly change? Eventually we gave up.

"Mommy, maybe one day when Daddy gets old like you, he can have a baby too."

This is my dad's favorite. We were visiting my parents and my dad was reading a book to Charley. She ended up getting frustrated because he wasn't reading it exactly the way she wanted, so she brought the book to my mom and said, "Mema, can you please read this book to me because Granddaddy can't read."

Back when Granddaddy Rose was sick, we were leaving my parents to go visit him. My dad, who is also "Granddaddy" asked Charley, "Don't you call Granddaddy Rose, Granddaddy too?" and Charley replied with a confused look on her face, "No...I just call him Granddaddy" (as in, not Granddaddy 2, duh, people).

Charley pointed at an overweight lady at a store and exclaimed in her naturally loud voice, "Look Mommy! That lady has a baby in her belly just like you!" This one wins the "most embarrassing thing said to date" award.

After Granddaddy Rose died, Charley asked if he had died on the cross like Jesus. I explained that he hadn't but that he was with Jesus. She then asked how Jesus and Granddaddy "got way up there"...I don't remember what I said, but she interrupted, "But God was with them, holding their hands, so they weren't scared, right??" Tear-jerker award.

Summer Cut

So we tried using the ear-guard piece thingy on our friend's clippers that we were borrowing to cut Eli's hair...and nearly gave him a bald spot. We then had to take it allll the way down. Good-bye curls. (for like a week until they grow back). He looks like such a big boy!

Go Cocks! Nat'l Champs Back to Back! You better believe mommy watched every second of every game and nearly had several heart attacks until our defense managed to pull out of  several one-out, bases-loaded situations. Maybe I will play beatball, as I call it, for Carolina one day.

If you are thinking, "that doesn't look so short," let me remind you of this hair-do...

Big-Girl Room

Move on over crib and changing table... A big girl is moving in!
The kids and I were gone last week, so D stayed up super late every night moving furniture around so that Charley would now have a big girl room. Partly because Eli will get her old furniture and the baby will get Eli's old furniture, and partly because it is just time! Time for Charley to be out of the crib (with the side down) and time to get that changing table out of there! I won't lie, it was kinda sad for me in a way! Charley's room has looked the same since we prepared it for her before she was born! Over three years ago! But, it's just a room and I'm grateful for her growth and transition to this new stage.

Hmmm....I think I like this...but I'm not sure.

Ooooo! Daddy set up the hope chest that had been in the guest room so that it now holds all of Charley's dress up clothes. So sweet.

Here's the big-girl bed. Thanks to our niece, Salley Kate, for passing down her quilt to Charley! The bed was my Mema's (Charlotte Blair) from before she married my grandfather in the 40's. My mom slept in it at some point in her childhood too.

Reading in my big girl bed.

 

Reading with daddy. The bed is now up against the wall instead of jutting out in the room. More floor space!

Cowboys and Princesses

Summertime=More time with Emrick!

"I think I'll round up a booger," says the cowboy.

Pretty pretty princesses

Please dance with me, Mam.

Memorial Day 2011

One of my favorite things about Memorial Day Weekend is the war movies that are on TV. This weekend we watched (parts of) Pearl Harbor, Kelley's Heroes, a Vietnam documentary, and recorded Midway. D and I both love war movies, and I'm definitely super super grateful that I get to watch them on the comfort of my couch and never have had to experience them in real life. Sooo grateful to those who have fought for my freedom! We watched The Pacific a couple of weekends ago, so right now I am just extra aware of the atrocity of war (although I know I have no idea when it actually comes down to it. Grateful for that too).

Sooo....what better way to celebrate our war heroes than with hot air balloons!!? Freedom Weekend Aloft was this weekend, and we've never participated, or even heard of it. We decided to take the kids down to see the balloons so we went down to the park at 8am on Monday morning (because the balloons were to be in the air from 7am-9am). Well.... when we got there, everyone was leaving! We saw one balloon disappear behind the trees while we were heading that way, but didn't realize it was ending so early! We walked around the fairgrounds anyway and eventually found where the balloon people were (as they were driving away, all packed up). Oh well. We decided to drive to the airport and watch the planes land and take off...just as exciting I suppose.
That evening was the big-time party at the balloon festival with the band and fireworks and another balloon launching. It was free that day to go to the festival, so we figured the place would be swamped. D decided that he could find a place for us to watch outside of the gate (since we are somewhat party poopers when it comes to fighting large crowds of people in nasty heat with small children at bedtime). The balloons were to be up from 6pm-8pm so we found an empty, abandoned parking lot at 5:55pm. It was perfect! But, then 5:55pm turned into 6:15 which turned into 6:45 etc etc. We finally found out from a car who had joined us at the lot that the balloons would be up between 6pm-8pm. Ahhhh! Gotcha. "Between" was the word we had missed. So we waited some more and at 7:15ish, the balloons started appearing above the tree tops. And boy, was it worth it! The kids were soooo excited! It was all said and done ten minutes later, but I'm so glad we did it. Here are some pictures of our adventures...

Picnic in the back of the van.

We played some ball to kill some time.

It was a scorcher! (and Eli found mommy's water)

Our parking lot had an old rail road track next to it, so D took the kids on a mini adventure

"THE BALLOONS!!! THE BALLOONS!!!" This was after the first ones appeared. She was excited.

The first one.

"Wook!!"

There were like 15-20 balloons (we lost count) but it was hard to get them in one shot. By the time the last ones came up, the first ones were way far away!

In Africa...

Charley likes talking about Africa. Actually, she likes telling us what is going on there, in her little mind. D has had several opportunities to serve in Africa in Charley's short little life, so she has heard us talk of it quite often. She used to think Africa was at the top of the elevator at the GSP Airport, because that is where we last saw daddy as he left for his last trip. When we returned to get him, we rode the escalator to the second floor and Charley said, "Hey! We're in Africa now. Where's daddy?!"
Anyways, more recently, she has randomly said the following "enlightening" things about Africa:

Me: "Charley please shut the door"
Charley (while shutting the door): "why do we have doors? In Africa, people don't have doors on their houses."

Charley (out of the blue): "in Africa, Daddy's friends don't have mommies or daddies."

Charley: "hey Mommy! There's Eli's doctor!... In Africa, the boys and girls don't have doctors"

Charley (at the dinner table): "In Africa, the boys and girls don't have any food."
Me: Exactly! So we should eat all of ours and be grateful for what God has blessed us with!" (hey, can you blame me?)

Charley turned three last week, and my parents gave her a toy cash register, which she calls her "pay thing." The night she got it, she pretended to fly to Africa to give the boys and girls all of her money so they could buy some food at her pay thing. She left the basket of food on the table when she went to bed so they could come out from their hiding places and get it. She was very concerned that Eli was going to take it, but I assured her it would be okay. Other than hating on her brother, this act of generosity was refreshing to see, even if it was pretend! Putting others first isn't high on her list, which we are constantly working on. "Me" paired with "First" are bad words in our house!

For the things she says that aren't entirely true (no doors, no mommies, no food), we try to correct her but also use it as an opportunity to point her towards generosity, sacrifice, service, etc. Donald wants to take us all there one day, so hopefully Charley will be able to see that there are some doors and mommies and food, but more importantly, give her real money away so the boys and girls can buy real food at the pay thing!