She's just the cutest, right?  Here she is all decked out in her birthday finery - ballerina princess dress (NOT a ballerina, NOT a fairy princess, a BALLERINA PRINCESS), special necklace from when she was a flower girl, birthday crown, and ballerina princess headband (so artfully arranged).

I asked her the same questions I asked John Paul on his last birthday (and I asked her the same questions then, because it was pretty funny to hear her answers at 2.5) - here are her answers from 6 months ago, and her answers from today are below:

1. What is your favorite color?  Pink
2. What is your favorite toy?  Maraca (really?)
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Apple
4. What is your favorite television show?  Diego!
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Macaroni and cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit?  Dis one! (blue floral shirt and blue polka dot skirt) (Andrew:  What about your princess dress?  Cecilia:  My pwincess dwess!!!) (PS it was only $20 when we bought it and is aaaaaaawesome so you should get one for your princess!)
7. What is your favorite game?  Um, Super Mario Galaxy (this one is really funny - Andrew plays it every once in a while and Cecilia pretends to be the princess ALL the time and she and John Paul play it on their own, running around from room to room finding stars while she dances)
8. What is your favorite snack?  Um, craisins, crackers, and apricots.
9. What is your favorite animal?  Jaguar, 'cause I saw one in one of John Paul's reference books!
10. What is your favorite song?  Immacuwate Mawwy!
11. What is your favorite book?  Diego (What about a book that we own?) My ballet book!
This one:

We Love Ballet!
12. Who is your best friend?  Um, Katherine! (who goes to our old church and is 11 years old and she's seen...  twice in the past year?)
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Cheerios
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Um, go down da swide!
15. What is your favorite drink?  Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday?  My birfday!  (John Paul:  That's not a holiday!)  Um, I dink Halloween.
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My teddy bear! (not true. She sleeps with a sheet and that's it, not even a pillow)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Joe's O's!
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Ham and potatoes and green beans (check!)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A mommy!  (Anything else?)  Um, yeah. (What else?)  Teacher!

Last night I sat down with her to ask what she wanted for her birthday breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Me:  What do you want for a special birthday breakfast, Cecilia?

Cecilia:  Um, maybe a wittle cake?

Me:  Well, the cake isn't going to be made yet...

Cecilia:  Oh, maybe a ganowa bar!!!

Here's the rest of her picks:

John Paul reminded her she needed to choose a birthday snack.  And then she chose a special birthday drink, of course.  Milk, indeed.

John Paul's face cracks me up in the background!

So excited to be 3!

What They Said: Volume 8, Cecilia-style

In honor of Cecilia's third birthday tomorrow, this edition of What They Said is dedicated solely to things she's said recently!  Remember to link any of your recent posts using the tool at the bottom :)



Me:  Cecilia, did you know that you're beautiful?
Cecilia:  Um, yeah!
Aunt Sister:  And why are you beautiful?
Cecilia:  Because of my sparkle shoes!!!
thinking hard...
Cecilia:  And God made me!!!

Cecilia, pooping:  Wook, it fell near da tissue!
Me:  Yup...
Cecilia:  Maybe da tissue is its bwanket!
Me:  Probably not...
Cecilia:  Or maybe its swimsuit?

Sigh...

...

Cecilia, sitting on the potty and leaning forward to touch my earrings:  Hey, some of my fingers aren't even wet anymore!
Me:  When did they get wet?
Cecilia:  Um, a couple of years ago.
Me:  How did they get wet a couple of years ago?
Cecilia:  ...No, dey were JUST wet!
Me:  And how did they just get wet?
Cecilia:  Um, because I dipped dem in da potty.

So glad you were just touching my face, then...

Cecilia, trying on a pair of the twins' overalls:  Dey fit me!  I can wear dem!
Me:  No, they're not your size so that won't work.
Cecilia:  What size are dey?
Me:  18 months.
Cecilia:  So when I'm 18, I can wear dem!
Me:  ...Sure...  Fine...
Cecilia:  And I'll wear a SHIRT wif dem!

Always a good idea to wear a shirt under your overalls as an 18-year-old girl...  Goodness I hope that's something we never have to argue about!!!

...

Andrew scolds John Paul for doing something obnoxious at dinner...

Cecilia:  Um Dad, wemember dat Jesus is in your heart?

Same meal, Andrew jokes about John Paul being defective...

Cecilia:  Dad, God made him!!!

And therefore he's obviously not defective!  Parenting ftw!

Cecilia, lying under the Christmas tree: I'm sleeping under a tree so what animal am I?

Me: A bunny?
Mary Claire: Hop!

...

Cecilia:  Dere was a girl, and a bowl of cheerios, until a spider came!!!

Best. Story. Ever.

WIWS: Magic School Bus-style

You know that moment when your 4.5yo is actually doing a decent job during Mass, but then he decides he wants to pretend that the church is a bus and that it's shrinking and we're all turning into bees?   Really loudly?

Ohhh yeah, me neither.

Thankfully, Cecilia spent the entire Mass reading her Beginner's Bible, because she has learned to recognize the words Jesus, Mary, and baby and tried to find them on every page.

Seriously, best ever.  She didn't even finish the book and was totally quiet the whole time because she was working so hard!

A stellar conversation was had by all after Mass.  

JP:  Father, did you know I'm very cold?  Because it's only 18 degrees outside!

Cecilia:  Did you know it's almost my birfday?  And Gwampa and Vicki gave me dis neckwace!

Hair:  Halfhearted attempt at this pin

Scarf:  Zulily (tied according to this pin)

Cardigan:  Banana Republic via Twice

Dress:  Tommy Hilfiger via Twice (super-light and summer-weight, but with layers it works great for winter!)

Boots:  Same old, same old.

Tights:  Wal-Mart, $5 and holding up shockingly well!

Belt:  Stolen off an old pair of pants...

Crazy poses:  Courtesy of John Paul resetting the camera settings, making the auto-timer take a loooong time between each shot... We got bored. 

Linking up with Fine Linen & Purple, and don't forget to link your funny quotes up tomorrow for What They Said!

7 Quick Takes, Bribery Edition: What I Would Do for an Award

Somehow I was nominated for several categories in Bonnie's Sheenazing Awards:

Funniest Blogger

Best Looking Blog

Best Lifestyle Blog

Best Under Appreciated Blog

Best Blog by a Mom

And while I could just say, "Hey, vote for me!" I want to give you a reason to vote for me, and let you know just what the results will be, should I win:

--1--

Funniest Blogger

This one kind of baffles me, because there are so many bloggers who are funnier than I am.  I think mostly my kids are funny, so I write what they say and that's probably what gives the appearance that I'm somewhat humorous.  BUT if I win Funniest Blogger, I promise to post even more embarrassing pictures of myself so that you have something to laugh at.  I may even record a conversation with Cecilia so you can hear the inspiration behind some of these quotes.  Heck, I'll give you a conversation with Cecilia right now:

--2--

Best Looking Blog - Is it the never-ending sidebar that gets you?  Or perhaps the stark blue background?

Again, I think I have my kids to thank for this nomination - I can only assume that they are so cute that my pictures of them qualify me, in someone's mind, for the title of "Best Looking Blog."  If I win this award, I guarantee even more pictures of my gloriously beautiful progeny, AND I will put my Sheenazing Badge in my header for the entire year.



--3--

Best Lifestyle Blog - I can only guess that my amazing homeschooling experiments such as letting my kids pour out all the salt all over the table qualifies me for this one.  Sometimes we do crafts, and I cook, and try to post about fashion...  If I win this award I will continue instagramming our craft fails and science "experiments" so that you can feel better about how clean your house is and how awesome your structured homeschooling is compared to our style, which can only loosely be described as "unschooling" since even that title would require some sort of "schooling."

--4--

Best Under Appreciated Blog - What I really want is not to even qualify for this one!  If you're on Google+ or on Blogger, could you click that little "Join this Site" button with Google Friend Connect?  I've gotta have more than 87 followers, right?  Riiiiight?  If I win this one, I promise to badger you every single day with a reminder to click that little "join" button so that I can soon become the winner of a NEW category (currently occupied alone by one Kelly Mantoan), "Best Blog that was ONCE Under-appreciated but now boasts enough followers to gain the status of Appreciated!"

So vote for me!!!  Do you love my little Under-Appreciated blog?  DO YOU???  APPRECIATE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--5--

Best Blog by a Mom - I know I've got no chance, friends.  I'm in this category (and others!) with some seriously big guns, but iiiiif I somehow win this one, I promise to continue giving you far too many details about our crazy life, including yet another "day in the life" post in which I bore you with the minute-by-minute details of how we get through a day.  You're so excited for this one, I promise!

--6--

And my sister was nominated too!

Most Inspiring Blog

Smartest Blog

Funniest Blogger

I guarantee you that if you vote for her, she will start posting more often so that she can live up to the hype!  Really, two posts in January?  It's like she was helping me take care of a million kids and THEN went to Hawaii or something.  No idea why she's not willing to sit in front of the computer instead of like, hanging out on the beach.  Lame.  Seriously lame.

--7--

So what are you waiting for?  Go here and vote!

But in all seriousness, I know it's unlikely that I'll win any category - I'm just so touched that any of you enjoy reading this blog enough to nominate me for anything!  You can only vote once, and I totally understand if you choose someone else - thanks for thinking of me :)

And quick reminder - What They Said is coming back as a link-up on Monday - be prepared for some awesome quotes from the kids, and link up your own!

Linking up with Conversion Diary (Ms. Coolest Blogger 2013) - check out more Quick Takes there!

Theme Thursday: Catching People Unaware

There we were, on our second snow day of the week.

Snow day in Virginia, my friends, means "there is snow visible on some pavement somewhere in the state."

Anyway, I was a really good mom on Saturday and let the kids do TWO science experiments (baking soda & vinegar volcanos and cornstarch goop - the only science experiments we've ever done and I repeat them aaaaaall the time...), so apparently that means they expect a craft or a science experiment or something structured while the babies nap.

Ugh.

This is why people send their kids to preschool!  Not cool.  I offered up watercolor painting (because I enjoy it and wanted to try out their new paints...).  Nope.  I told them they could make a craft from the 25-cent craft book I picked up at the library book sale.  Nope.



Science experiment.

Soooo I thought fast and set things up for a "melting" experiment.  Three bowls of snow (scooped from our steps - no way was I going outside!), and a bowl each of salt, pepper, and sugar.

If they were older than 4.5 and (almost) 3, we would have made charts of our hypotheses, controls, results, etc.

But since they're 4.5 and (almost) 3, Cecilia started eating the snow before we could even mix it...

So we tried it out - they mixed it with all three substances and shocker, salt melted the snow the fastest!  However, sugar mixed with snow was the most delicious.  Pepper, not so much.

And there I left them as I headed downstairs to get dressed.  I'm not crazy, I've left them unattended with their crafts and science experiments for minutes at a time and they've been totally fine.  And they had *maybe* a tablespoon of each substance - what could go wrong?

I blame Cari.

Yup, they caught me unaware.

I returned, teeth brushed, hair combed, fully clothed, to this:

That would be all of our salt (the remainder of a 2 lb box of Kosher salt), all our pepper (NOT a 2 lb box), and at least two cups of the fancy organic sugar (bought in bulk from Costco soooo it could be worse...).

Because they needed to make a mixture.

Yeah.

You can tell how mad I wasn't by the fact that I took pictures before making them clean up.  And they actually cleaned most of it up on their own, thank goodness!

But yeah, "Catching People Unaware."  Check.  Thanks for that.  I can still smell the pepper.

Today they want to make "Rainbow Snow," whatever that means.  All I know is that they're doing it in the bathtub. 

Aaaand check out more at Clan Donaldson!