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Saturday night Drew and I watched Soul Surfer (true story of pro girl-surfer getting her arm bitten off by a shark), and to her credit, she sat through the whole thing, pretty absorbed. We talked about her helping the tsunami victims, we talked about having a bad day (I'm of course in tears through most of the movie) and I wanted to see how much had sunk in and what she had processed. I asked her what she thought Bethany had learned at the end of the movie. Drew thought about it and confidently answered "going in the water is not so bad after all." Not exactly one of the hundreds of morals preached through the movie, but I may have had my hopes set a little high for this 4-year-old.

Last night I made Rachel Ray's Crispy Lemony Chicken and as Drew sat up to the table she said "I don't like lemon chicken. It's Chinese food." (we always order her lemon chicken from Stix, she fights it, then she eats it). I told her it wasn't Chinese, that I made it and I'm sure she would like it. She takes a few bites, chews, swallows, says nothing. I asked her what she thought of the chicken and she takes another bite, chews it slowly, dramatically pauses to look down at her plate solemnly then says "BEST CHICKEN EVER, MOM!"

"What a drama queen."

Our favorite Megamind quote for Drew as of late.

Quotes

Drew has been reminding us halfway through dinner that we forgot to pray prior to dinner. So she has us all stop eating and have Jeremy and I each say a prayer before her -- ours are pretty standard, thanking God for our family, our food, our home and the new baby. Last night. when it's Drew's turn she says:
"Dear God, thank you for Mommy and Daddy, thank you for everything, and thank you for having the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with love to guide us in the right direction." Jeremy and I have to step up our prayers.

Jeremy and I were bellyaching today about our bad night's sleep and our aching backs when Drew said "I had the most horriblest day of any of the guys in our house. I flipped off the couch and hurt my back, I bumped my knee, and I fell going up the stairs."

One day this week while Drew was at my parents' house, my dad said he heard the washing machine go off. Awhile later when he went to switch the clothes to the dryer the clothes weren't there. The only person in the house was Drew so when he asked her what happened, she told him she moved the clothes from the washer to the dryer and started the dryer. Even more impressive, this is the new dryer that looks more like a spaceship than an appliance and I have yet to figure it out. Today she told me "I wish we had Grammy's washer and dryer." So do I Drew, so do I.

An Easter post right after Easter!

Good Friday and we finally decorated eggs! 

 She was into it for 15 minutes and got bored.

Posing in Grammy's garden.

 The Easter Bunny must have left hundreds of pieces of candy at Aunt Nancy and Uncle Don's. The Boys were looking for HOURS.

 She's getting so big...

 Grammy and her girl. Boppa stayed behind this Easter due to back spasms.

 The little kids' table.

 Cade and Drew had such a fun time together, they were so cute.

 Drew and her auntie.

Catching Up

February:

 -had a little lunch date with mom at the Spectrum and rode the ferris wheel.

-dinner at Chili's with mom and dad

-hockey game with mom

-Chuck E. Cheese with Boppa...jackpot!

-Regional Park with mom and dad

-climbing the wall American-Gladiator-style

-the reveal of the new baby...took a little while to sink in for Drew.

March:

-working on the music video for Sidney and Whiplash

-taking 5 with Sidney and Charlotte at the beach

-getting hair done

-preparing for the princess scene

-one of the last scenes...makes me tear up just thinking about it

-Happy 33rd Birthday, Jeremy! We got to be cool and sit in the BET box for the Grizzlies vs. Clippers.

-Jeremy and his girls at the game...the bright side to the Grizzlies getting humiliated by Blake Griffin.

ChChChChanges!

Blogging has obviously taken a backseat in the last couple months, and so has picture-taking of Drew (who now prefers to be called Gabriella), so I don't have many pictures to go with our updates, but here they are: we've moved (which has taken 4 separate weekends and is still not complete), Drew was asked to be in a music video by a friend and it should be uploaded to YouTube and/or Facebook within a few weeks, I just crossed the first trimester mark of Baby #2 (yay!), and most important of all.....Hunger Games comes out tonight!

Mixed up

I love that we are at the age where Jeremy and I can speak Drew-language fluently.

"Mom, do I have critis brown?"
"Yes Drew, you have bronchitis."

Seriousness

As mom and I were trying to get Drew dressed and moving on Monday, she told us she had to make a phone call, here's how it went:

on the phone: "Yes? Ok then. That's fine. My daughter? And big sister too? Yes, it's bring your daughter to work day. I will bring them. Thank you. See you then."

to mom and me: "I have to go to work now in the game room with my daughter and her big sister."

me: "What do you do for work?"

Drew: "Well, I make phone calls, talk on the phone. Computer. And send emails. Here's how you send an email: to Buh..Buh...Buh, mom, who's name starts with Buh...Beth and Baby Lauren!" (who we were meeting at the park that day)

What I took away from that conversation was that we talk a lot about work at home. And that we make a lot of letter sounds.

Singer-Songwriter

They are now at the age where you can vaguely guess what they are trying to sing. Meghan apparently is a fan of Daniel Powter. Drew prefers to write her own lyrics on the fly.

New Year's Eve

 All photos but this first one were taken by Drew. Thanks for making us all look so glamourous!

Christmas 2011

For the first time in my lifetime, Christmas Eve was not at my mom's or at aunt Nancy's. The torch was passed to Tim and Renae, and it was fabulous. We started off at church where Drew used her Sing and Shout skills to sing Angels We Have Heard on High...she's singing Gloria here.

She was so excited to see her Boys. She had told us the day before that she wants to marry Carson. We're a little afraid to break the news to Cade.

The traditional family photo.

 The eyebrows say it all.

 Drew and Kels in their beautiful dresses.

 Papa always happiest sitting next to his dolly.

 The kids' table...Cole was moved up to the adult table this year, he probably would rather be at the kids' table next year.

 Drew and 2 of the 3 boys.

 Good Lord look at all that loot.

 Drew showing Papa the calendar we made for him.

 A trumpet that has already gotten a lot of use.

 An ornament from auntie Kels of the Rockettes.

 Obliging Mom for another picture.

 We always love getting new books from Cindy, Dan and Sierra.

 A pillow pet from Tim, Renae and the boys that Drew has been sleeping on ever since.

 Kels trying to remain ladylike while opening her new panini maker from us...hoping for her to do a little more home cooking ;)

 Showing Papa how her LeapPad works.

Papa: "not sure why this trumpet has 4 valves, a real one has 3."

Me: "Grandpa, the trumpet was $11"

 Drew took my camera and snapped a few photos of her favorite guys: Papa....

 Tim and Cars....

 and Boppa photobombing a picture of Kels.

 Way past Cade's bedtime, Grandpa Don is trying to keep him awake for dessert!

 We left some cookies out for Santa to eat...it looks like he nibbled on some!

 Checking out the new gifts from Santa!

 Yo Yo Drew.

 A beautiful new Princess castle from Grandma and Pa!

 Daddy and his new Tiger-fied corn hole game.

 Auntie Kels got a new bike for Christmas and Drew wanted to go cruising around the neighborhood with her.

 Testing out the new boards...they definitely needed some breaking in.

 Drew did her best to help out too.

 Opening up the Rainbow in my Room from Great Grandpa, definitely a favorite gift. Now she has to have it on when she goes to sleep at night.

 Steve, Emily, Great Grandpa, Amy, Jerry & Josh

 ...and the rest of us! Merry Christmas to all!