Happy birthday, Grandma Jackie!

To finish off the trio of August birthdays, today is Grandma Jackie's birthday. It's hard to believe that it has already been two years since we moved this way, but from the very start Mabes quickly bonded with her southern Grandma. We still don't see her as much as we'd like, but she's always on Mabes's list of suggestions for things to do on Saturday (right after eating waffles and going to Home Depot, so she's in good company). My mom is very thoughtful of others and there's not much that falls under "going out of her way" because she's always willing stop what she's doing to help out, especially for her kids and granddaughter.

And on to the dancing birfday-gram...

(posted by Dave)

Awesome.

My dad sometimes comes across as a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants, everything always works out kind of guy. It's fun. It's reassuring. But don't let it fool you; you don't have to look hard to see that underneath the nonchalance is a meticulous planner with a yellow legal pad.

Take, for instance, vacations. The ultimate goal is for everyone to just have a good time, socialize, be silly, relax, and enjoy family time. But to achieve those goals, he carefully plans out each day--some days have a packed itinerary to maximize fun, other days have scheduled relaxing time. But it's all planned. In the midst of dealing with clients (his real job), he just sent an email letting us know what tickets had been purchased, when we'd have downtime, and other necessary information about the hotel, flights, cars, etc. He'd make a fantastic travel agent, but I'm sure he'd only be interested in that job if he got to go on every trip he planned.

So I'm looking forward to a fun week. Mabes is looking forward to giving Grandpa a birthday squeeze. And should something happen where things don't go according to plan, he'll brush it off and simply say "everything always works out." Because it always somehow does.

Happy birthday, Pappy!

(I told her to smile, apparently she heard "squint.")

Happy birthday, Amber-Rae!

Today is Aunt Ber-Rae's birthday, so Mabes knows that means it's camera time!

Though we don't have a birthday present yet, the pressure is on and Mabes knows it. For Christmas, Amber-Rae (I'm pretty sure it was Amber-Rae, though maybe it was Jackie? Let me know if I'm wrong! I think she's giving both of you credit right now!) gave Mabes this:
She liked the songs, she'd listen to them occasionally, I thought it was a good toy. Then, a couple of weeks ago, something clicked and Mabes decided it was a great toy--she'd listen to the 20 songs that came preloaded on there nonstop for quiet time, so I added a bunch more. (By the way, you know how Amazon occasionally has those "download 99 Mozart songs for $1" deals? They had a "download 150 kids songs for $1" a couple of months ago--best dollar I've spent in a long time. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you clearly need to spend some time on slickdeals.)

Warning: There's lots of twirling in this.

And yes, she's singing "I love the dairy-o"

The downside is that now Dave and I always have "How much is that doggy in the window?" or "I've been working on the railroad" stuck in our heads, but I'll take it. Her "quiet time" has gotten so much better, she can't wait to go into her room to sing and dance. And she's singing and humming a lot more, and while I'm sure someday I'll take Jeff's approach and offer her a quarter to go the whole day without singing (Laura lasted about 5 minutes with that one), for now, I'm loving it. What's better than a singing and dancing Mabes?

Her reaction

While she wasn't as giddy as when Dave brought back the apricot jam, Mabes was still very excited. Suddenly aware of the baby boom in our ward, in the last month, Mabes decided that she really, really wanted a baby in our family. That quickly changed--as Mabes doesn't do anything halfway--and she decided that I should have 6 girl babies and 4 boy babies. Upon noticing my rounder belly a couple weeks ago (though I think that was more due to Dove bars), she excitedly yelled "Yay! You have my 6 girl babies and 4 boy babies in your tummy!" This isn't the first time this has happened, though--a few months ago, I was talking to Laura on the phone and Mabes ran over and saw what Christmas did to my abdomen and yelled "Hey! There's a baby in your tummy!" Laura laughed nervously and said "Uhhhh...did Mabes just spill the beans?" I assured Laura that the only thing she should have kept quiet was the fact that I needed to lose a few pounds--but that incident solidified my resolve to not tell Mabes until we were ready for the world, including the checker at Trader Joe's, to know.

So she knows, she's thrilled, and is telling everyone. And talking about nonstop. It's going to be a long 6 months!

Father's Day, part 2

I put together some pictures of Mabes and her Daddy for Father's Day, but I'm just getting around to posting this now. But hey--as far as Mabes is concerned, Father's Day lasts all week!

BLAAAAA!

Why, you ask? Because that's what Aunt Becca says, and it's her birthday today. In honor of this, Mabes has been saying "BLAAAA!" all day. I'm not sure exactly how it started, but I think it has to do with the Christmas when Mabes was 16 months old and Becca was making Mabes laugh so hard she threw up.

We were once teasing Becca for asking stupid questions. Someone suggested that she think before asking, and maybe she'd be able to come up with the answer on her own. Later, she started to say something, caught herself, and then her eyes got wide and she said "Hey! I thought about the question before asking it, and I figured out the answer!" Brilliant. The next day, she asked another silly question, and when my dad asked why she didn't try the "think it out" trick, she just shook her head and said "that takes too much time."

But that's why we love Becca. She's impulsive, energetic, enthusiastic, a bit crazy, and just a lot of fun to be around. She will talk until she "gets all her words out" for the day. She's got a big heart and is incredibly caring and loving, and it's been fun to see her grow in school/her career and see her interact with her nieces and nephew. Mabes thinks she's the greatest, perhaps because they're so similar. She's a fantastic aunt and we hope she has a great birthday!