Happy Birthday Baby Rose!

Ron summed her up best when he said recently, "She's been sweet every day of her life."

He's right. All 365 of them.

Happy Birthday Ponder Sissy!

1. She answers more quickly to Sissy than to Ponder.

2. She thinks for herself.

3. You can't make Sissy do anything Sissy doesn't want to do.

4. She loves to snuggle.

5. She prefers juice, but will drink water out of her "watoo boddool."

6. Her skin is probably the softest surface on the planet.

7. "I wuv you."

8. "I baseball."

9. "I go back to church. NO! I go back to school."

10. She has the most adorable version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." You will probably never hear it though because she won't give command performances. (See #3.)

11. Like her sister Afton she loves Sleeping Beauty. She likes to pretend she is "MannyWetter" the blue fairy. (Merryweather.)

12. She can sing every word to the Sleeping Beauty song "Once Upon A Dream" and has been able to sing it all since she was just over one year old. She could sing that entire song before she was even really talking.

13. She loves to play with Afton. Just follows her around and giggles her heart out.

14. From the first moment she laid eyes on baby Rose she was smitten. She calls her Rosie. She sounds so cute when she says it I think I am going to let it stick.

15. She is fearless.

15. She is very independent.

16. She is no good after nap until she has been snuggled for at least five minutes. "Hold you." And what a delicious five minutes they are.

17. She loves her small baby doll named "Tiny Sister."

18. She also loves her bigger baby doll named "Boy."

19. She knows and understands a lot more than she lets on. Every now and then I catch her being smarter than she wants me to think she is.

20. She removed the lighting and music piece from inside her Glow Worm and uses it as a "lantern". (See #19)

21. We call her our little engineer. (See #20)

22. We think she is going to be a lefty. (See #21)

23. We have yet to find a form of discipline that deters her from anything she has her heart set on doing. Thankfully, we still have prayer.

24. She is ridiculously cute in pig tails.

25. You'll probably never see her wearing them though because she won't leave them in. (See #3)

26. She loves silly games.

27. She loves listening to "my songs" in the car.

28. Holy Holy Holy is her favorite song.

29. She calls all balls basketballs and she loves them.

30. She can already drink out of a big girl cup and sits in a big girl chair at the table.

31. She is heartbroken at the indignity of having her food cut into bite size pieces. She cries and cries and moans "Like a big girl! Like a big girl!"

32. She has a lot of nicknames. Peanut, Sweet P, Putter Butter but "Ponder Sissy" is what Afton has been calling her since she was about five months old and that is by far her most widely used nickname. Sissy doesn't seem like a nickname at all anymore. That is just who she is.

33. "I Sissy!"

34. She loves princesses.

35. "Sissy, are you a princess?" "No! I orange."

36. You have to earn her smile, but when you do it is a smile that will melt your heart.

37. She loves her princess potty Daddy got her. "I did it! Gwate job!"

38. She can build a serious "cackle"with legos and blocks. (Castle.)

39. Her favorite toy to date is a small yellow strip of plastic named "Stripe."

40. She loves Wilson the dog next door.

41. She is not easily impressed.

42. She can sit and turn the pages of books for hours.

43. She is perfectly happy to play all by herself.

44. She likes taking things apart and putting them back together. (See #21.)

45. She likes things to be just so.

46. She calls all clothing "jammies".

47. She loves all shoes and can walk quite well in adult shoes. Even boots.

48. Her favorite book is "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and she knows most of it by heart. She calls it "Tip Toe".

49. When Afton asks her when she will be done with a certain toy she always says very confidently "Five."

50. We can already tell that is going to be an athlete.

51. She will climb anything. (See # 15)

52. She can balance like nobody's business.

53. Still, I know it is just a matter of time until she falls down all of our stairs.

54. At the beginning of the summer she was terrified of water and swimming, now she can't get enough.

55. She is lost without Afton.

56. She loves riding on Daddy's shoulders.

57. She gets carsick just like Mommy.

58. She loves dressing up.

59. She turns purple when she eats or gets cold. Pretty crazy really.

60. She likes to ask Rose "You naughty? You nice? You a boy? You a girl?"

61. "I fight you!"

62. "And then....and then....and then."

63. "Thas rude!"

64. She has best lion roar I have ever heard!

65. She has an iron will.

66. She is not easily impressed.

67. "I no like it."

69. She likes to be with her people.

70. She has been finding a way to tip over her car seat since she was an infant.

71. She doesn't like help going to the potty.

72. She doesn't like help with pretty much anything.

73. "No, I help!"

74. She likes to help others though.

75. She loves to push the button on the coffee pot in the mornings.

76. She loves Woody (also called "Toy Movie) and Buzz Lightyear (also called "Buzz Light").

77. She is a watcher and a listener.

78. She loves buckling and unbuckling any kind of buckle.

79. She loves coloring on the walls. If she can't do it with crayons she will do it with painted blocks or something like that.

80. She likes Little Einsteins.

81. She loves animals.

83. She loves pointing at things and telling you what they are.

84. She doesn't really like snow, grass, or sand.

85. She loves balloons.

86. She is our pickiest eater. We used to have to put a little bit of orange juice in her milk to get her to drink it. Yuck!

87. She is a quick and quiet learner.

88. She claps her hands to tell you she wants something.

89. When we are eating at Chipotle she starts off using a fork but usually resorts to finishing her burrito bowl with her fingers.

90. She can make a pretty big mess when she is eating but it will all be on her hands and face and the table and floor. Her clothes seem to always make it out unscathed.

91. "It's not easy being Sissy." and "That's just Sissy being Sissy." have become common phrases around here to describe life with Sissy.

92. Lately when she sees Rose she points at her and says, "Mommy, what's that? That Rosie Posie."

93. "Right, Mommy?"

94. When we are in the car and I smile at her in the rear view mirror she melts into one of the cutest smiles I have ever seen. It never fails.

95. It may not be easy being Sissy, but she does a great job at it.

96. She has also done a great job at capturing all our hearts.

97. She makes each of our lives richer and more beautiful. So happy God chose to add her to our family.

98. She is one of the sweetest blessings He has ever given us.

99. Happy Birthday Ponder Sissy! Can't believe we have only known you for two years.

100. Looking forward to many more years of seeing you grow in grace and beauty and just spending everyday watching Sissy being Sissy.

Happy Birthday Afton Adele

1. Afton has a preciously tender heart.

2. She loves her sister.

3. She loves "teaching."

4. She loves eating "jewee" and watching her shows. This is her weekend treat with Daddy.

5. She doesn't like to see anyone sad.

6. She wants to understand EVERYTHING.

7. She likes to wear her "unnies only".

8. She hates not being able to brush her hair like Mommy and Sissy do, but she knows it is because she has beautiful curly hair.

9. If she wants to praise someone she often tells them the have beautiful curly hair no matter what kind of hair they have.

10. One of her favorite phases of late is "Not at all." which she says in a hilarious mysterious whisper.

11. She knows one way to always crack Mommy up is to say pretty much anything in that mysterious whisper of hers.

12. Her default response to anyone she meets is to LOVE them.

13. Every morning when Daddy is leaving for work she says "Daddy, I need to tell you a question. You need to find apples." We have no idea what she means, but now I am pretty sure he couldn't leave without hearing it.

14. She loves dancing.

15. Her favorite pretend friends are the characters from Little House on the Prairie, particularly Mr. Edwards.

16. Anytime she falls down she says, "I fall down like Carrie!"

17. She knows lots of songs.

18. She loves listening to "her songs" in the car.

19. She is a good sharer.

20. She has a teachable heart.

21. She works really hard at learning to be patient and brave.

22. She knows all of the Lord's Prayer and Psalm 23.

23. She loves to catechize her sister.

24. After she finishes every meal she asks for "sumpin else."

25. She still loves her matesie and she still sucks her thumb. Mickey Mouse, not so much.

26. She wants to do everything her cousin Scout does.

27. She scares kinda easily and runs to Mommy says "Take care of me!"

28. She is full speed ahead.

29. She is really good at drinking out of a big girl cups but sometimes she still asks for an "ippy" cup.

30. She loves going to church.

31. She loves other kids all of whom she calls "friends."

33. She loves all of her family members and speaks of them often.

34. She copies Mommy all day long.

35. She listens well.

36. She is in a phase of saying lots of nonsense words.

37. She loves playing "driver's game" with Daddy. (Wii Mario Cart)

39. She calls ice skating "icing" and she does a hilarious imitation of it.

40. Her favorite song is "Once Upon A Dream" from Sicka Booty only she calls it "I Know You".

41. Sicka Booty is what she has called Sleeping Beauty since she was about a year and a half old and no matter how old she gets I will never let her stop.

42. She has a huge arsenal of bedtime stalling tactics.

43. She loves weddings and asks me all the time who she is going to marry and what her wedding is going to be like. A wedding to her is not the ceremony but the dress. "Who is going to put my wedding on me, Mommy?" is a question I am asked at least once a day.

44. Right now Silas Walker is the number one contender of who she will marry. She wants to marry Sissy, but I told her it needs to be a boy and it needs to be someone from a different family.

45. One of her favorite times of day is "watie" time with Sissy and Daddy.

46. She loves the library. (Too bad we can never go back. Don't ask.)

47. "Daddy, I berry love you."

48. She loves to hold Mommy's shopping list and to remind me what we need to buy. It can actually be quite helpful.

49. She loves to carry bags around and to pretend she is going on trips.

50. If you seem sick she will immediately cover you with a blanket and say, "Aww, what's the matter sweetheart?"

51. "If You Listen" is her favorite song to be sang to her when she is having a hard time going to sleep at night.

52. It takes her about 30 seconds to fall asleep for her nap. For bedtime it is a lot, lot longer.

52. Her favorite two restaurants are Chickie A and PoteYay.

53. She loves grocery stores that have cars instead of carts.

54. Target and Kroger are Targret and Krogret. I love that.

55. We have adopted so much of her baby talk into our family vocabulary that words like yotes and watie are all Ponder has ever heard and Afton continues to use them even though the real words are in her reach now.

56. She is trying to learn how to dress herself. She is so eager to do so that sometimes she get very frustrated.

57. She is very cuddly after naps and very happy when she sees how happy I am to see her.

58. She sits in a big girl chair at the dinner table now and at all restaurants.

59. She loves "reading" her Bible.

60. She loves actually walking on walks now instead of riding in the stroller.

61. She gets really sad and scared when reading the story of The Fall and Adam and Eve disobey.

62. She calls Adam and Eve Adam and Steve. (We have a Papa Steve and Uncle Adam in the family.)

63. She loves watching videos of herself.

64. She loves watching "Oww Charlie."

65. She loves making suggestions and ending them with "That's a great idea?!"

66. If you suggest something she doesn't like she says, "That not be a great idea."

67. She loves routine.

68. She loves Bible Story Time.

69. The lyrics "I've got the wonderful love of my blessed redeemer way down in the depths of my heart" genuinely crack her up.

70. She can keep a melody surprisingly well.

71. "That's a yucky one!" is her all-purpose phrase of dislike.

72. She tells us that things she doesn't want to do or use are "nigh nigh." (Carrots are nigh nigh. Toothbrush is nigh nigh.)

73. "I don't want tickled."

74. She is not a princess, she is Tinkerbell.

75. She puts a crook finger up to her head to "think about it."

76. She loves helping with "Munion" at church.

77. She loves playing with "fudoe" (Play Do).

78. She loves coloring.

79. She loves going to class and bringing home pictures for Daddy.

80. She loves Sunday School.

81. She is getting pretty good at helping pick up the front room.

82. She wrote a song about picking up and it goes like this "Clean up! Clean up! Clean up, everybody, and share."

83. She doesn't like to be left alone ever for a second.

84. She loves birthday parties and is already looking forward to turning four.

85. She is very protective of her Sissy.

86. She loves being read to.

87. She loves the idea of helping Sissy learn potty.

88. She can go potty with no help at all and hasn't had an accident in nine months.

89. She presses her boundaries to find out what is and is not okay, but for the most part is very obedient.

90. She is quite impressionable.

91. She has an amazing command of words for her age.

92. She knows all her animals and colors very well.

93. She knows her ABCs.

94. She can count to 20.

95. She is kind.

96. She experiences everything very intensely.

97. She has great zeal.

98. She cares for others.

99. She is three years old.

100. She will always be our baby girl.

Afton is One

First a couple or item of business:
1. I am unabashedly copying this idea from my sister-in-law .
2. Afton turned one almost two months ago. It has taken me a while to get to this.
Dear Afton~
My sweet girl. I cannot believe it has been a year since you caught my eye from across the operating room. I whispered to your Daddy, "Look, there she is!" I know most experts will tell me that newborns can't see very far, certainly not all the way across the room like you were from us that night. All I can say to those experts is that I don't know about most newborns, but I know you were looking right at us. Your facial expression was something I know I will never forget. You had the look of an old man who had just been roused from his bed in the middle of the night. You greeted life with a look on your face that said, "This had better be good!"

I didn't get to hold you right away. You had had a real hard time being born and the pediatricians were making sure you were okay. I could tell by the look you gave us from their station that you were in fact okay. It actually looked like you were just humoring them. You were so expressive right from the start. I knew we were all going to be fast friends and that you would fit in with us perfectly.

And, oh my sweet girl, you certainly have. You have more than fit in. You have embellished and beautified our simple little life in ways we never knew possible. Your father and I adore you. You seemed to take to your life with us right away too. You cried and cried and cried in the car on the way home from the hospital, but as soon as we walked through the door of our building you immediately stopped. It was like you knew you were home. You knew you were where you belonged.

One of the the first things we discovered about you was that you are very adaptable. It doesn't take much to please you. As long as you are with your people and are having your basic needs met you never make a fuss. People are always commenting on how lucky we are to have such and easy-going baby. This personality trait came in very handy for you during the first weeks of your life. Due to several family emergencies you had flown five times by the time you were three months old. All the changes and travel never seemed to bother you. You seemed born to go with the flow.

Another thing that was unique about you was that you had very mature facial expressions. People would say that you looked at them just an adult would. It was really funny. Sometimes your faces were so serious that I felt like you were more mature that I was. It really sometimes seemed like I was caring for a very small adult.

Just because you could make some very serious faces, didn't mean you did not know how to have a good time. Actually, I would say that has been your most defining characteristic so far. Happiness. You are a very happy baby. You are a package of sunshine and smiles. Your zest for life lights up our home everyday. You love almost everything. Your joy is contagious. Your happiness makes us happy. Some of the sweetest moments of my days are coming into you room to get you from your nap and seeing your huge smile when you see me. The smile you give me when I kiss you goodnight is even sweeter. I pray that the gentle happiness that has been your trademark during your first year will be yours for the rest of your life.

You love cell phones. You hold them up to your ear and talk and talk. You love your pink and green blanky that Maw Maw made you. Everytime you come across it throughout your day you put your thumb in your mouth and snuggle it for a few seconds before you continue playing. You love to have a diaper wipe to play with each day. You use it to wipe all your babies' noses and to clean your toys. You love to wipe Mommy and Daddy's noses as well. You love people. Anytime a new person walks up you greet them with "Hi!" in the sweetest voice I have ever heard. You love babies. You call them "Ba". You love to carry your clean diaper for Mommy. You call it "di". You love to push buttons in the elevator and can say "Up" and "Down". You get so happy when Daddy comes home at night. You can hear him in the hall sometimes even before I do. I know that seeing how happy you are to see him makes his whole day worthwhile.

We love you so much Sweet Afton and are so dumbfoundedly grateful to God for lending you to us. I pray that He will give us the grace to love and care for you as He loves and cares for us.

Happy Birthday!