Pancakes, Pretend, and Parties-Turning 4

We had Journey's birthday party a couple weeks ago. LOTS of family at our house for Italian food and yummy cake. As Journey opened up EACH and EVERY one of her gifts she said the EXACT same thing "JUST WHAT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED!" Fun. As Journey turns from 3 to 4, I'll note some of the past year. Give the girl a pancake anytime and she'll like you-put some chocolate chips in them and she'll LOVE YOU FOREVER! Journey loves to play pretend as I've mentioned before and many times she is a puppy (lately she wants to be a weiner dog named Butterfly-yes that specific). Journey also likes to pretend to be Strawberry Shortcake (and I'm Orange Blossom) and have me over for "parties" and serve food. She loved helping decorate her star-shaped Tinkerbell cupcakes for her REAL PARTY! Journey's third year of life was definitely more challenging for me as a mom than the first two in handling behavior. Her fourth year is starting much the same way. I am not a patient person and this is usually the root of some "knock down drag outs" as she is about as easy to corral as a crazed cat sometimes!! Like when it is bedtime or time to go somewhere and we want her to get ready and she gets that look in her eye, giggles, and then runs away VERY FAST yelling "Mommy, Daddy catch me!" And Wright is watching it all and learning every trick-UGH! Journey can be very sweet to her little brother too and that is FUN to watch. He loves his big sister too!! I foresee much wrestling soon! Here's to another WONDERFUL year with our JOURNEY!!!!

Ah-Memories!

We took Journey and Wright with us rollerskating a few weeks ago-went with some of my family. (NO PICS) Jeff's not that great at skating, Journey is still a little on the young side, and Wright is just a tag along, but it brought back some very nice memories for ME. Mom used to take us the the Moberly roller rink some on Sunday afternoons. I don't know how many times, but enough that I remember it well and I can skate around the rink now without falling down even though I haven't skated in MANY YEARS (only forwards though, can't do backwards). I really like skating and I think I'll definitely take the kids more as they get older. There weren't alot of people there when we were and it made me wonder why? I guess it's obvious-Maybe they don't like going around feeling utterly and completely awkward with a bunch of strangers trying to look like they are really comfortable (must bring back memories of junior high). Or maybe it's the ultimate lesson in humility that a new skater (or even an experienced one) gets with the inevitable fall on that part of your body that you would have sworn moments ago had way more padding! Oh well-I'll take that risk to enjoy "zooming" across the floor a few times! HAPPY SKATING!!!!!!

Chasing Wright (The Fast and Curious)

Here are just a few of the places we've been finding Wright lately!! What are we going to do when he can ACTUALLY WALK?????

Dinner Theatre

Here are a couple pics of the performance I enjoyed watching while finishing my supper tonight. Journey is ALL ABOUT PRETEND right now. Whenever she is pretending to sing she always has me introduce her-so I try to make it pretty good like, "and now the amazing, wonderful, super spectacular, awesomely fantastic. . .JOURNEY!" She then sings very loud, very random words for a few minutes then wants to be introduced again. Several times throughout most days, she will announce to me, "Mom, I'm a dog named Sparkle/Princess/Flower/Rainbow" (name depends on the day). She will then only talk to me in ruffs and bow wows and if I call her "Journey" by accident she reminds me of her name. Whenever Journey plays pretend and she wants me to play she always lets me know what I "should say". I told her she could write books or plays when she grows up!

Questions, Questions Everywhere and some Answers

I've noticed Journey asking alot of questions lately! Just in the tub the other night was "Are aliens for real life?" and then "Does the sky ever stop?" I asked "Stop what?" to which she replied "Does it ever stop changing weather?" I'm definitely getting some insight to some of the things she is thinking in a day and I try to answer the best I can. She is definitely asking for more word meanings now too-yesterday she wanted to know what "destroy" meant. We've also noticed Journey listening closely to conversations and if we pause too long in what we are saying-she will finish the sentence for us! We were traveling last weekend and if you've ever traveled with Jeff and I, you may know we can get irritated with each other on a trip. (I'm told we're not the only ones who do this) We happened to be having one of those moments and as we became quiet-I looked over at Journey who was listening and she said matter of factly, "Sometimes things are frustrating." Good summation of the situation-which we quickly eased out of. Hopefully she can apply that easy-going summation to some of her own situations too!