Major and Mary Alice

About Major:

1) He loves lots of girly things right now (Mary Alice's dolls, new dollhouse, shoes, etc.) Mary Alice was given some two inch Cinderella figurines for Christmas. Major walked around playing with them for a while. He said, "Mommy, I change Cinderella's diaper." He ran to the other room and brought back one of his diapers. He proceeded to talk to the figurine. "Lay down, Cinderella." Then he said, "Need some wipes." He went and got a wipe and washed off the Cinderella figurine. Then he looked at the fairy Godmother and said, "Lay down, Gramma. (Grandma). Change your diaper." He "changed" the diapers of all of the figurines. What a silly buddy. He is going to be a great dad one day if this keeps up!

2) He and Mary Alice sing that hymn "I Shall Not Be Moved" together. They act it out. Major has quite a voice. He can really belt out the tunes. I especially love when he sings Jesus Loves Me and Silent Night. Maybe a future as a song leader?

3) Mary Alice has been memorizing Psalm 1. Last week I realized that Major can quote it right along with her. We review that week's memory verse over breakfast each morning. Little did I know that Major was learning the verses right along with her. It is very sweet to hear my precious babies quoting from the Bible. I especially love to hear Major say "Not so the wicked!" in his enthusiastic voice.

4) He loves to play with my preschool felt. He says, "play preschool" and uses my little felt pieces, singing about Jesus and referring to the felt people as "Jesus", "Angels", and "boys".

5) Despite his love for girly toys, Major does act like a boy. He loves to be outside and loves his trains, trucks, and balls. He has a newfound love for rocks and dirt. He and Mary Alice play outside in their playhouse and make lots of mud creations.

6) Major loves his bed. Each night he tells everyone and everything "night night". I have been singing through this list of songs with him every night before bed. Lately, he cuts me off at about the third verse of the Creation song with, "Night night, mommy." He's been known to say things like, "Night night baketball. Night night tain. Night night Sissy. Night night Daddy. Love you too. See you later. Bye bye." before he runs to get into his bed each night. Such a blessing.

7) We say prayers at meals. After the prayer is finished, Major says, "Amen Sissy. Amen Daddy. Amen Mommy." We respond with "Amen Major." He also melts my heart when he says things like, "Yes Ma'am" and "Thank you Mommy." He is such a joy to me!

8) He loves to play a little keyboard that I have. He sings so loudly and dances with the music he makes. It is quite hilarious. He loves music!


About Mary Alice:

1) She is growing and changing so much each day. She is such a pleasant little girl. I can see her growing into such a kind and thoughtful person. Who would've thought that my daughter would be so nice to her brother? (I was one of the meanest sisters around.) This can only be an answer to prayer. Mary Alice loves her brother and wants to protect him and play with him (most of the time). Many times I am surprised at how loving she is towards him. She translates for him and humors him. Sometimes, she gets mad when he tries to ruin or break her toys, or worst of all, mess up her room. Most of the time she is a jewel.

2) Josh has been reading The Chronicles of Narnia with her. They just finished up "The Magician's Nephew". She is entralled with stories of all kinds and especially enjoys made up stories that people tell her. Yesterday, she asked me to tell her about "when you were a little girl and were very bad". Stories about me being bad as a child are plentiful. A story from my childhood is always a quick and easy standby if I'm not feeling creative.

3)She loves to use big words, like delightful, terrific, and appropriate. She continually amazes me with how she absorbs the world around her-- and with her AMAZING memory. I think she gets this from her Dad. Just the other day she was telling me something about the last time it snowed. When I didn't remember what she was talking about she said, "It was when I was wearing the pink velvet dress and we went to Kendyll's birthday party". Ok. That was- like- in February of 2004. Hopefully she won't remember every bad thing I do as a parent and remind me of it again and again.

4)She loves the cheesiest things. Twice a year, I take her down and buy her new tennis shoes. Every time her eyes go to the UGLIEST, tackiest shoes. She thinks they are just beautiful. So, each time we've looked, the hideous light up tennis shoes have been the first thing she's seen. Every time we shop for shoes she always asks for the light up shoes. I despise light up shoes and always tell her no, that they are tacky. Today, I took her to buy some new tennis shoes, on sale. As usual, she said, "I LOVE the beautiful light up shoes, mom. Those are so beautiful! Are they on sale?" I looked. They were on sale. I said, "Yes, but they are tacky." Remember, this is probably the 6th or 7th time this has happened. She put them back on the shelf. I thought to myself, "Does this really matter? She obviously loves the light up shoes." I told her that she could get them if they were in her size. I have yet to see her so excited about a pair of shoes. Her eyes lit up, just like the shoes she wore out of the store. I am proud of my little girls' joy as she wears her "beautiful" new shoes. I need to practice a little more patience with her childlike love for all things busy and sparkly---and light up. :)

5) She loves playing outside with her brother, especially cooking. They have some cups, measuring cups, bowls, and an old muffin tin outside that they can play with. I gave them each some kitchen ingredients (oatmeal, water, etc.) Yesterday, Mary Alice used the oatmeal, mud, dirt, water, rocks, etc. to make her own concoction. She brought it up to me, proudly proclaiming, "Look Mom, I made some Turkish Delight!"

6) Her Uncle Chad and Aunt Miranda taught her a fun game, "Would you rather??" You know, "Would you rather (insert negative experience here) or would you rather (insert option two negative experience)?" She LOVES to play this game. The other day, we were laughing because she doesn't know how to say the word pierced. Instead of correct her, I thought it funnier to let her go on saying it, just because it is so cute. She said something like this, "Would you rather have your nose pierched or your arm pierched?" We were rolling with laughter.

7) She also really likes people to play with her, especially if they are playing dolls or with her new dollhouse. I think it is really amazing what you can learn about a child just by playing with them. Mary Alice loves to talk in an English accent whenever we play dolls, tea party, or any kind of make believe game. Playing with her tells me how she is feeling and what she thinks about certain issues. (sometimes better than she could tell me herself) I also notice a closeness with her when we play together. I can tell she appreciates someone taking time to just be with her and get into her world.


As you can see, I do love to blog about my kids. I am so proud of them. They are little gifts from God and I am constantly amazed at how they are changing and growing towards Him, despite my shortcomings. I can attribute their sweet little personalities to the fact that they have a godly and wonderful daddy and to fervent prayer. We are truly blessed!