Emily has managed to amaze me more and more in the last six months. As her verbal skills have moved along, she can finally verbalize her giant imagination and mind at work. I know they say girls speak much better much earlier than boys but I imagine her having an older sibling around exponentially increases all her skills. That being said, some of what she comes up with is hard to explain.

Last night as I was putting her to bed, she asked me for all her babies - she has 4 that she always wants in her bed with her. The one she got for Christmas was named on Christmas morning by her as "Baby Sunny." As I handed them to her, I realized they didn't have names. So I asked her what all of their names were. She pointed to the boy baby (not sure it is a boy but it has no hair and wears a dark outfit...so sure, a boy) and said this is "Nolie." (not real sure how to spell that) Then she pointed to the oversized giant baby and said it was "Mommy." Then pointed to the last baby girl...the one Christian and I call "Ghetto baby" because she has had her the longest and it looks it...and the pants never stayed on so she is pantless and dirty...She said this is "Miriam Cansey." I shook my head and said "What?" And plain as day, she said "Mommy, her name is Miriam Cansey. Yea, that's right." I have NO IDEA where this name came from and have never heard her say Miriam or Cansey before and know we haven't said those names. Seems really strange to me where in her mind that may have come from...such an old-timey name. So you know me...I tried to google it and came up with not much...an equine dentist in England. ha ha!

Saturday, we took a trip to Target to buy her church sandals. As Christian was trying her white sandals on she looked across the aisle and saw the brightest, most shiny pink shoes you've ever seen. I'm sure to a toddler, they must be like a giant shiny lollipop of shoe heaven. In her not indoor voice, she screamed to Christian "Daddy, I want the dancing shoes!" We laughed it off but she didn't, she was dead serious. So I found her size just for fun to let her try them on. As soon as she put them on, she got this giant smile and started swinging her hips to whatever pretend music she was hearing and saying how pretty they were on her feet. That certainly sealed the fate of those shoes....Guess who brought home "dancing shoes?"
Moving on to tonight with her imagination. I put her to bed with Baby Sunny, Nolie, Miriam Cansey, and Mommy...as well as her ladybug and Violet...full bed! So I hear her talking in there for about 20 minutes...per usual, no biggie. But then I hear a thump and her say "Smile!" So I peek inside the door to the funniest thing yet! She has lined up all 4 babies, the ladybug pillow, and Violet in a group all facing the same way and she is positioned behind them with her arms around them all facing the same direction and saying "SMILE." She has posed them for an imaginary group/family picture. I wish I had the video camera. ha ha ha ha! She's awesome!

Finally...an Easter Blog Post. Easter pretty much snuck up on us this year. :) So, therefore...we didn't have time to dye easter eggs at all. I did manage to buy the kit which still sits unopened on the shelf. Lovely Mothering on my part. Hey...what do they say? It is the thought that counts. But thank goodness for the Easter Egg Hunts at school...

Bo will be 10 on May 31 this year. So reluctantly, I am admitting he is an elder dog at this point...as you can see from his gray muzzle above. I got Bo in July of 2000 when I lived alone in Suwanee and before I began dating Christian...it was just Bo and I. How his life has changed over 10 years...first came Christian, then came my little condo, then came a big backyard in our current house, then came Seth...a few years later, he welcomed Emily...whom he seems to consider his baby. Over the last few months, Bo has gotten a tad slower to get up and a bit less likely to run after his soccer ball. Then he started dragging his back paws a bit when he walks. We knew he had arthritis in his front legs and with boxers carrying 80% of their weight in their front legs, he has more pressure on those. We managed to get him to lose about 8 lbs which helps the weight he has to carry on those joints.

We took him to the vet on Monday and had some x-rays done. The goods news is that his hips are in decent shape, given his size and age. Boxers are very prone to hip dysplasia so this made me happy to know it wasn't that. However, he does have Spondylosis - basically, older dogs can be susceptible to this condition meaning their back is fusing together which causes less flexibility and hind-leg weakness. There is a surgery that could help him but given his age and weight, I do not want to put him through that surgery or recovery. So we are treating the symptoms...pain pills and he seems to be happy with these. The doctor also wants to test him for Cushings Disease but we are waiting a bit for this test to see how the current meds work with his body first.

We love our Bo here and want him to have the best rest of his life so we will just keep loving him and hugging him. He seems to really enjoy these from Emmy as she pretends to paint his toenails and pretends to put eyeshadow on him. I keep trying to get this on video but it hasn't happened yet.

Well...just as we finished updating and renovating EVERYTHING in our house...It is time to move on...WHAT? I know!!! We absolutely love our house and yard. We bought this house in 2003 when we got married and have brought both of our babies home here. We literally doubled as a family in this house and grew into every room. So we are very sad to have to put it on the market. However, the schools the kids will attend are very important to us and we are looking for something better.

So after renovating the kitchen counters, backsplash, new appliances, floors, roof, piping, the entire backyard...regrading, adding a retaining wall, privacy fence, a backdeck made just for cookouts and hangouts, outdoor speakers, a playfort. I can honestly say that the next family that moves in is really getting a great bargain as have taken a lot of pride into this house.

You can see the house on the market if you click here.

I have been so busy lately that I never got to post on Seth's 5th Birthday. :( He turned 5 years old on March 20th. I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown and how much has changed in 5 years. In honor of Seth turning 5, I figured I would make a list of my Favorite Seth-isms.

1. "That's the deal on the table..." He has always been the negotiator in the household and so I have always said "That's the deal, Seth." But when he popped out the "...deal on the table." I thought I would lose it. He cracks me up every day!
2. "I'm your hero?" We have been teaching the kids that you should always do nice things for people...not for a reward but because it is the right thing to do. I suppose in his head, he has equated "the right thing to do" as heroic. For example, when I spilled all the mail on the floor, he ran over to help me pick it up then gave me a smile and said "Mommy, am I your hero?" Or when Juju left one day, he helped close her car door when she got in. He turned to me and said "See, I'm Juju's hero." ha ha!
3. Extra prayers at night. After our bedtime prayer, he always has "extra prayers" for people. The other night, he prayed for Bo's legs to get better. Then followed that thoughtful prayer up with a prayer for "a bigger bowl to hold more ice-cream."
4. "On this day." This is Seth's phrase for "Today." When we explain something we are doing or somewhere we are going, his answer is always "On this day?" He hasn't quite grasped just simply saying "today?"
5. Rich Dad, Poor Dad. When Seth sees daddy hanging his pants or emptying his pockets, he beelines over to steal whatever change he can find for his piggy bank. It is so funny how fast he can grab some change and then we hear in his room the clinking of change into his piggy bank. ha!

A few weeks back, we had Seth's friend, Seth, come over to help us make pizza for dinner. Seth Heidler is actually the son of Christian's high school friend, Christopher. Such a small world that their son and ours are the same age and have the same name. They have a blast together. So Lauren and Christopher dropped him off and the 3 kids and I made home-made biscuit pizzas.