From the mouths of babes

"The oldest child in Egypt had to die. I don't want that to happen in this house cause I'm the oldest! "

"We need to eat all our meat so we can be strong like Jesus..." said with a serious look and then very matter of fact , "and strawberries."

- Tori 4 yrs

If you Didn't Know

Well so we haven't been so faithful at posting on our blog as we intended in the begining! But I guess I should have figured. Just in case anyone didn't know, we are eexpecting an unexpected 3rd daughter in a couple of weeks! Yup, due date is August 29, and the ultrasound is showing it to be another girl! So the blog title lives, All Girls and a Daddy! We look forward to sharing new adventures of a house of 3 daughters, 2 girl dogs, 1 Mom, and the token Male- the Daddy! Or as we are teaching Tori- the King, since Mommy is the Queen and all the girls are princesses! In the meantime check out the maternity photos Zoombug took of us at http://zoombugphotos.com/blog/?p=503 . We are getting so close to earning a free 5x7 so please leave your comments!

Enough to melt a daddy's heart...

Last night Tori and I had a daddy date, nothing special, just baking some cookies for dessert and playing and dancing. As I was putting her to bed, she was playing with my wedding ring. We were talking about weddings and I explained that when she loved a boy very much and was MUCH older, she could get married.

Tori stated with a 3 year old matter of factness and sweetness, "Daddy, I love you very much." I could tell where her thought process was going.

"Tori, you can't marry Daddy. I'm married to Mommy."

"I don't want to get married then."

Talk about making me a puddle of mush!

Throw her away

So I guess there always comes the time that sibling riverly rears its head. But I never expected it quite this way . . . On our way home from North Carolina (our thanksgiving desitination), Tori so matter of factly tells us.
Tori: I want to Throw Ariana away . . . (Hmmmm . . How do we as parents navigate this one. )
Mommy:Tori, we can't throw her away.
Tori:But I didn't want a Baby Sister . .
Mommy: Well Tori, you have a baby sister. We can't undo that.
Tori: But I wanted Twins.
Mommy: Really twins? You wanted 2 babies instead of one?
Tori: Yes, I want to throw Ariana away. Cause I want a baby sister and a baby brother.
Mommy: Oh my Tori. Well we can't throw Ariana away, she is your baby sister.

Mind you Ariana is screaming her head off during this whole interaction, so who could blame a 3 year old. But the fact that she wants to replace her with twins . . . Would twins somehow be quiet? One could dream right . . . .

No More Naps

Everyone with a 2 plus year old knows there comes a point when their children no longer want to Nap. Well in this house we still do a "Quiet Time" for 1 hour. No sleeping required, but it is to be spent alone, in one's room, doing "quiet" activity such as reading or coloring. Often times we enforce an In the bed rule too, which almost always ends up with a snoring Tori. But yesterday was not such a day, a babysitter put her in her "quiet time" in her room with her lap desk, markers, and coloring book. When she went to check on her, this is what she found! But Tori still swears, I DIDN'T SLEEP! She was like this for at least 3 hours! I wish I had thought enough to get the after waking up picture of Red Marker all over her face. It would have been a perfect compliment to the Green Marker that got all over her face purposefully (see earlier blog post here).

Santa before Thanksgiving?

Ok, so I used to wonder why on earth the malls started having Santa before Thanksgiving. I mean come on doesn't it seem like Christmas gets earlier and earlier every year? Well, now I am a Mom. Not just any Mom, but the Mom to a 3 year old who is petrified of Santa. At least for the last 2 years she has been. Last year we made several attempts to meet Santa, once even waiting in line for over 30 minutes, slowly inching our way forward, I would bend down and ask Tori "Are you sure you want to meet Santa ?" Yes was always her answer. Well her turn finally came, and guess what? She didn't want to do anything other than wave at him. She did actually stretch her arm out as far as she could, making Santa also reach his arm as far out as he could to pass on a coloring book. So all this to say, that I am not so keen on the whole waiting until after Thanksgiving, when everyone else will be waiting in line for my 3 year old to get to Santa and not even tell him what she wants for Christmas! (Never mind that we make it very clear in our house that Santa is not the one who gives the gifts). So on Monday of this week, a full week and a half before Thanksgiving, what did this Mom do? I took my child to see Santa of course! No lines, no wasted time, and great bribery for getting good behavior through the doctor's office! Well, I am glad I did, because Santa was able to take his time with us and warm Tori up. No she still didn't sit on his lap, but she did walk right up to him and give him High Five! Santa asked what she wanted for Christmas, and this is where things begin to turn for the worse. She walks herself behind me, acting her 3 year old shy self, won't talk and looks all nervous. Through both Santa and I we finally convince her to stand right in front of me, next to Santa, with Ariana in Santa's lap for the picture! Good thing I thought ahead and wore red too! Next year, maybe just maybe Tori will be in the lap too. Oh yeah, and in case your wondering. Tori did finally tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas, A Pink Ballerina Dress. So Santa promised he would tell his elves (AKA Mom and Dad) to get a Pink Ballerina Dress and put her name on it for Christmas. I think this Mom can accommodate this request, though the wrapping will not say from Santa, but the dress may just actually have her name on it!

Not to leave Ariana out of this story. Ariana is 6 months old now. And as most 6 months old, she loves to grab anything and everything within her reach. Especially things such as plastic bags (no wonder they have those labels - Tori never did this), paper, jewelry (I have already parted with wearing long dangle earrings, and 1 necklace bit the dust on my birthday), and well you guessed it, HAIR! Well where does Santa have hair? On his face of course, his long white beard. Poor Santa subjected to my 6 month olds tight and STRONG grasp through the whole ordeal of talking Tori into a picture. Look closely in the photo, and you will see what Ariana is clutching in her hand!

My House Continued - By Tori

So yet again, Tori matter-a-factly informed us of her house and her children! If you missed episode one of this story you can find it here

Tori: I have truck at my house.
Daddy: You have a truck at your house?
Tori: Yes, my house in the jungle. My son drove it there.
Daddy: Really? You have son?
Tori: Yeah.
Daddy: Your son is old enough to drive?
Tori: Yeah.
Daddy: Do you have any other children?
Tori: I have two.
DaddY: You have a son and what else?
Tori: A daughter.
Daddy: How old are they?
Tori: 4 months years old.