Food is apparently scarce to misbehavers

The other night everyone was trying to be tolerant of a crabby five year old at dinnertime. She was asked to go potty before dinner, and protesting each step of the route, finally arrived in the bathroom. The family was patiently awaiting her return before saying grace. But we weren't hearing sounds that led us to believe any progress was being made, only grumbling, protesting, sounds.

We said the prayer and began eating without Mila. More grumblings could be heard from the bathroom, becoming more insistent-sounding. Suddenly the most pathetically dramatic voice was heard saying, "I'm staaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggg! I'll neeeeveeerr get to eat!"

Much as we tried not to, we all laughed heartily, IF guiltily, and waited with trepidation to see what's next!

Finally she emerged from the bathroom and joined us for dinner. A tragedy was narrowly averted and she was able to eat just in time before collapsing from hunger and starvation. I'm pretty sure she'll be nominated for an Oscar for that performance. It was definitely Oscar worthy.

Ellie's "crazy hair"

Tiffany de Berry on Facebook:

Me: "Ellie, what are you doing?"
Ellie: "Just wetting my hair so I wouldn't have crazy hair after I took out my ponytail."

What a way to wake up!

This morning I lay in bed trying to convince myself I didn't have to get up yet. (Lazy).

Then I heard Ellie at the bottom of the stairs, "Grami, are you awake?" I was silent, trying to go back to sleep. Again, "Grami, are you awake?" This one was a bit louder. Still no response. Much louder, "Grami, are you awake?" Then more footsteps and Mila announced, "Let's do it together!"

VERY loud and in unison: "Grami, are you awake?" By this time I was laughing too hard to sleep. "Yes, I'm awake." Silence. Nobody there apparently.

No, that was incorrect. A bit of whispering and then I heard the door handle being tested and a jubilant announcement, "It's unlocked!" Followed by "Let's go up!"

Miss Crazy Garfunkle Hair was the first to arrive. She immediately crawled under the covers with me. Mila must have had some momentary mission as it was about two minutes before she arrived. She, too, crawled under the covers. Followed quickly by our kitty cat guest, BA, who proceeded to lay on top of Mila's legs, which brought gales of laughter. And warm legs too.

Ellie grabbed my flashlight from my nightstand and shined it on the ceiling for several minutes pronouncing that it was a half moon and it's still nighttime. I could buy that if it meant I could go back to sleep.

The dratted alarm went off and reality arrived. Time to get ready to go to church.

But what a happy mood I'm in. I'm SO blessed.

Thank you Heavenly Father for these special little sweet beings. They are so very precious to me.

Duh!

Mila, Ellie, and I were having lunch at Chick-Fil-A today. Ellie pointed at the fire extinguisher on the wall and said, "That's a fire thing."

Seizing a "teaching moment" I said, "That 'fire thing' is called a fire extinguisher. The word extinguisher means it can be used to 'extinguish' or put out a fire. Can you say extinguisher?"

Ellie smiled and pronounced it beautifully.

So I turned to Mila and said, "Can you say extinguisher?" She replied, obviously somewhat miffed at the question, "Of course I can. It's English, isn't it?"

And more from Tiffany's Facebook

Tiffany de Berry burped and excused herself. Ellie said, "You burp a different way. You burp like a dog, right?"

More from Tiffany's Facebook!

Tiffany de Berry Last night, putting the girls to bed, I gave my normal lecture: no talking, no getting out of bed, no moving. Ellie asked her frequent follow-up: "Mommy, can we BREATHE?" ("Yes.") Then both proceeded to grill me further: "Mommy, can we YAWN?" ("Yes.") ". . . sneeze?" ("Yes.") ". . . cough?" ("Yes.") Followed, of course, by 30 to 60 seconds of feigned yawning, sneezing, and coughing.

More from Tiffany's Facebook

Tiffany de Berry Close to me, Ellie said, "You SMELL pregnant."

4 hours ago · Comment · Like

3 people like this.

Claudia

Ann

Robin

Chandra Frank at 12:21pm June 24

That's funny. She must remember what you smelled like when you were pregnant with her or she's just a silly goose!

Tiffany de Berry at 12:29pm June 24

Just a silly goose. Actually, we call her our crazy kook. A couple of weeks ago she walked in while Mila was giving my bare belly her daily kiss and hug, and she said in an exasperated tone, "Everybody's pregnant."

Joanna Day Tate at 2:17pm June 24

LOL!!!

Gina Adams Harper at 2:31pm June 24

She is too much!!

Kate Gibbs Page at 3:10pm June 24

I can smell you all the way over here. Wow!

Tiffany de Berry at 3:48pm June 24

At lunch, I asked her to clarify. I asked how I "smelled" pregnant and she said because the baby made me pregnant. I asked if I am stinky and she said no. I asked if it was my breath, and she said, "yes, because when you open your mouth a little bit of pregnant comes out."

Claudia Rivera Bohn at 4:09pm June 24

how funny is that????

Claudia Rivera Bohn at 4:10pm June 24

lol!!!

Entries on Facebook by Tiffany

Mila said, "I was sitting in Daddy's lap last night at bedtime and he was rubbing my back, and do you know what I was thinking? I was thinking, 'I could stay like this ALL night.'"

Ellie said, "THAT'S A SAD SOUND," referring to the slurping noise made by her straw in an empty cup when the smoothie is all gone. (blueberry/açai berry/banana/cocoa/soy milk).

Conversations with Angels

8:21 am - June 6, 2009

Aunt Jen (Me): Hi Aaron, may I speak with the girls?

Aaron: Sure, who do you want first?

Me: Whoever wants me.

Aaron: Girls, it's Aunt Jen, who wants to talk with her?

Mila: MEEEEEE!!!!

(Phone shuffling)

Mila: Hi, it's Mila

Me: Hi Mila, it's Aunt Jen, what are you doing?

Mila: Playing

Me: What are you playing?

Mila: Honey and sweety with Ellie and Mommy and ice cream.

Me: Oh wow that sounds fun

Mila: Yes, but we can't find two bowls so we are using cups.

Me: Cups? For the ice cream?

Mila: Yes

Me: Well, that works! Ice cream is just as good from a cup.

Mila: Yes

Me: So are you happy it's Saturday?

Mila: Yes

Me: Are you eating breakfast right now?

Mila: No

Me: Did you already eat breakfast?

Mila: Yes

Me: Well....what did you eat?

Mila: Heart eggs, bacon and english muffins WITH butter.

Me: Oh wow that sounds yummy!

Mila: Yes. Oh and a smoothie.

Me: Delicious and nutritious!

Mila: Aunt Jen?

Me: Yes?

Mila: (In softer voice) I also had soy milk.

Me: Oh, very nice!

Mila: (silence)

Me: So, did you have a fun week at school?

Mila: Yes

Me: Did you play with your friends at school?

Mila: YES, Aunt Jen, I have friends at school! (said with the attitude like duh)

Me: Oh well that's great. So is it raining there?

Mila: No

(I should've learned by now to NOT ask just yes or no questions...ha ha).

Me: Did it rain yesterday?

Mila: No. OH, yes it DID rain yesterday. (giggles)

Me: It rained here yesterday, too, lots and lots. It was SO windy and rained so much that there were puddles of water everywhere!

Mila: Did you go in the puddles?

Me: Well, no, but when I walked Precious (my dog) she was so happy and splashed ALL through the puddles. She loves the rain.

Mila: (high pitched squeal of laughter) Ellie, Ellie, Aunt Jen said that Precious splashed through all the puddles! Ah ha ha ha. (Ellie squeals in the background too and laughs like Mila as if it's the funniest thing to imagine, ever!)

Me: So what is Ellie doing?

Mila: I don't know.

Me: Well, can she talk on the phone with me for a minute?

Mila: Ellie, Aunt Jen wants to talk to you.

Ellie: Okay.

Mila: Ellie said okay.

Me: Okay, great

Mila: (Laughing) Um, Ellie is crawling under mommy and daddy's bed.

Me: Why?

Mila: I don't know.

Me: Well, I can't talk with her if she's under there. What is she doing?

Mila: I don't know. Oh, she's playing hide and go seek. (laughs).

(I hear in the back ground Ellie scream "Oh I can't get out!" then the phone shuffles a bit, Mila laughs a little, then I hear daddy "Mila, don't pull Ellie out like that")

Mila: Hi Aunt Jen, it's Mila

Me: Hi Mila

Mila: Here is Ellie

Ellie: Hi it's Ellie

Me: Hi Ellie, it's Aunt Jen

Ellie: (silence)

Me: Are you having a fun day?

Ellie: Yes

Me: What are you doing today?

Ellie: I don't know.

Me: Oh, okay, well I hope it's fun!

(Phone shuffles then I hear Ellie running off saying something but I'm not sure what)

Mila: Hi Aunt Jen, it's Mila

Me: Hi Mila. Well, I guess I will let you two go have fun together and play honey and sweety. I am coming over tomorrow to play, okay?

Mila: (screams) ELLIE ELLIE AUNT JEN SAID SHE'S COMING OVER TOMORROW! (the happiest screaming I've heard ever, such excitement in her voice).

Ellie: (Happy squeal and possibly said something cute but I couldn't hear - she was in another room at that point from what it sounded like).

Me: We are going to have lots of fun, I am really excited!

Mila: Where are we going tomorrow, Aunt Jen?

Me: Your house, we can just play and maybe bake cookies and play games.

Mila: No, Aunt Jen, where are we GOING tomorrow?

Me: Well, I'm not sure we are going anywhere, but we will see. Let's definitely play around the house, okay.

Mila: Okay. You will play honey and sweety with us and mommy?

Me: Yes, of course.

Mila: I will be mommy, Ellie will be sweety.

Me: Who will I be?

Mila: You will be Aunt.

Me: Ok. ;-)

Mila: (silence and possible distraction)

Me: Okay, Mila, I better go now and walk Precious for her morning walk.

Mila: Okay, I love you Aunt Jen.

Me: I love you more, Mila. Have a fun day.

Mila: Okay. Bye.

Me: (patiently listening for the hang up)

Mila: (carrying phone around I guess) Ellie, here is the cup.

Me: Mila?

Mila: Yes?

Me: Remember we said goodbye?

Mila: Yes

Me: Okay, well don't forget to hang up the phone.

Mila: Oh, okay. (CLICK).

~~~~~End of chat with my angels~~~~~

I think this was the best 6 minutes of my 33 years on this earth.
I love you girls.
Love,
AuntJen <3

Memorial Day 2009

Today was a great Memorial Day.

One of the first things I saw upon waking was the American flag flying outside my window. I always think of all the military personnel on this day as well as on Veterans Day. Their contribution to our safe lives is immeasurable.

Aunt Jen and I had the delightful privilege of spending the day with the girls. We ate lunch at Applebee’s and I am constantly amazed at how good they are in restaurants, and what good manners they have. I was also proud that they chose applesauce over french fries.

Next we played a bit of a trick on them. We pretended we were headed to Wal-Mart and Publix - - neither of which sounded appealing to the girls. When we arrived at our true destination, Aunt Jen announced that something might be wrong with the car and that we were going to turn into the nearest parking lot so we could check it out.

The girls detected we were at Playmobil Fun Park as we pulled in and squealed with delight. They had wanted to go there again for a long time - - Ellie in particular.

We spent two and a half hours there. Mila and Ellie were playing as hard and fast as they could manage. They even participated in some organized activities (beach ball bouncing among the crowd and tug of war between the boys and girls). Mila danced a little to the chicken dance but Ellie just watched.

Then back to work (play). There appeared to be a new hospital area in the birthday pit and they played with it diligently for about 45 minutes. Jen and I were playing rummy in the refreshment area and would walk up between hands to check on them but they were playing so intently, they never noticed us.

A good time was had by all!

GrandpaEd and the red chicken

This past Sunday I spent most of the afternoon with the girls.
We played upstairs with Grami's cats, then down in their pink room, on the patio and then in the living room.

It was so much fun!
They truly make my heart and soul laugh hysterically with joy.

At some point Ellie and I were talking about GrandpaEd and she said "Grami used to ride a bike and GrandpaEd rode really silly but Grami didn't." ;-)

I said "Oh really?" then asked her how she knew that and she replied, "Um, I don't know..." (with her high pitched shy voice). So I asked, "Did Grami tell you?" and she tilted her head slightly, smirked then giggled a bit and confessed, "yes...". It was so adorable. I can just imagine the motorcycle adventure stories that Grami shared.

So then later on Ellie kept insisting that I read her the new Dora books that Peggy and GrandpaEd sent (thank you) and one of the books was about a "Chilly Day" and what Dora and her friends would do on a chilly day outside.
Half way through I turn the page and one of Dora's friends is a big red chicken. So, I pointed to it and asked Mila and Ellie, "Who does this look like?" - - a bit of hesitation, confused tilt of the head as they focused in more closely on the image, then Mila burst out "It looks like you, AuntJen!!!".

I guess I asked for it. Ha. I always knew I had a purpose in this world. :-) <3

Or something

Ellie sometimes sounds like Cheech and/or Chong: "No, Mila, don't be around me or something."

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Jesus loves the little children.

All the children of the world.

Red and yellow, black and white,

They are precious in His sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

I added this song to my repertoire a few weeks ago and sing it to the girls when I'm putting them to bed. 

Ellie is obsessed with Aunt Jen. 

Aunt Jen's dog is named Precious.

Ergo she refers to this as the "Aunt Jen song."

No problem-o. Until tonight.

She asked for the "Aunt Jen song." I complied by singing the lyrics listed above.

She screamed out as if she'd been knifed in the ribs and flung herself from my lap onto the floor and began crying hysterically.

After some questioning I discovered that she now believes the "Aunt Jen song" to include this phrase (which of course I did not include):

They are Aunt Jen in his sight.

Sometimes I just cannot get from A to B without getting into trouble.

Ellie: YUM! Buckwheat!

YUM! Buckwheat!Share
Facebook entry by Tiffany de Berry Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 10:25am
Context: Ellie drinks her first sip of a smoothie that Aaron and Mila concocted this morning.

Ellie: YUM! Buckwheat!

The Rest of Us: (uncontrollable giggling)

Aaron: We didn't put any buckwheat in it, right, Mila?

Mila: No, Daddy, I think she means flax seed.

In Ellie's defense, it DEFINITELY DID look like the color of the chocolate chip buckwheat pancakes Aaron makes and the soba noodles I made Friday night. I believe that the smoothie ingredients included kale, banana, and flax seed; if you ever attempt to re-create that gorgeous hue, contact Daddy for further details.

Comment:

Michelle Romney Tanner at 6:00pm March 15
LOL! Now that would be a healthy drink!

Mila is reading!

Tonight I got a turn to put the girls to bed. As usual, a book was chosen to read just before sleep. I read my book. Cute book, but an unexciting event.

Then Mila got out three books of her own and proceeded to read each one of them aloud. She asked what a few words were (asked, wanted) but knew all of the others! I knew she had been learning words for a couple of months but this was the first time I actually experienced her reading an actual story.

Impressive! And she's SO pleased with herself. She truly loves learning.

A song by Ellie

Facebook entry by Tiffany de Berry
A song by Ellie
Tonight, after dinner, before bath time, the girls were singing songs (like Itsy Bitsy Spider) and then started making up their own. This is my favorite, mostly composed by Ellie, age 3:

Ellie:
You forgot to quose your curtains,
and you forgot to quose your door to the patio.
And it was opened all day wong,
and the rain was full evewywhere.
And it felt wike a pool.

Mila:
Yeah, inside your house!

Ellie:
And it was wike doo-doo soup!

Yesterday at 10:35pm · Comment · Like · Share

Chandra Frank at 7:53pm March 19
Awesome! You need to record the audio to those sessions.

Sarah Zepeda at 7:59pm March 19
DOO-DOO SOUP! LOL i LOVE it!

Joanna Day Tate at 8:22pm March 19
Now how come I couldn't have come up with that one?

Gina Adams Harper at 9:02pm March 19
ROFL!! I LOVE it!!! I love the things these little minds come up with.

Paulette Reese Hart at 9:24pm March 19
Doo doo soup, nice.

Veronica Macias at 12:35pm March 20
such a cutie!

The Story of My Life!

Ellie is upstairs with me while Mommy is running errands and Mila is at school. She brought her breakfast up with her. She is sitting in the little chair at the little table I bought for them.

She decided she wanted to play pretend. She told me, "Pretend you're my Mommy." Chomp, chomp.

A couple of minutes later, "Pretend  you have long hair." Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. Slurp."

Then came the inevitable, "Pretend your face doesn't look like that."

Woe is me, the story of my life.

Ellie's views on life

Apparently while in Utah someone must have said something to Ellie indicating that it wouldn't be long before she would be grown and be a Mommy as there have been several separate but hilarious views on life escaping her cute little mouth since her return.

The first was when she told me that when she's a Mommy, she wants me to come to her house and watch her babies play so she can type on the computer.

Later she was holding one of her larger baby dolls and looked at me and asked, "Grami, how can I get this baby back in my tummy cause she's not born yet?"

Yesterday she told me she was going to have three babies. I said, "Really?" to which she replied, "Yes, three babies, three brothers and three big girls." Then she added, "And three daddies to help take care of them."

They're HOME!

At 11:30P just after I drove up, Tiff brought the girls out of the airport building, and when they saw me they broke into a run, yelling “Grami!” I picked them up simultaneously and hugged and kissed them until I was sure they would probably beg me to release them, but bless their hearts, they didn’t.

I got them into the passenger seat to get out of the cold while Aaron and Tiff retrieved their bags and set up the car seats. They jabbered constantly, Ellie completely nonstop from then until she finally was asleep at home at 12:45. While in the front seat and later from their carseats on the ride home, they told me many things about their trip’s adventures. Occasionally Mila would say “stop talking, I’m trying to go to sleep.” But then she’d pipe in again herself.

When they first entered the house, Ellie looked around like she didn’t recognize the place. She finally said, “Look, the ladybug stayed here!” (pointing to her ladybug beanbag chair). She was really, really hyper, running around the house a million miles an hour.

We visited for a few minutes and they had soy milk, brushed their teeth, got on their jammies, then were so excited to get into their own beds. Mila asked Mommy if I could put them to bed and she said yes. Mila just beamed! Me too.

We sat in the dark for a few minutes, Ellie had asked me to rock her and sing “Hush little baby,” which I messed up and started over three times. She wasn’t happy with my leaving out the horse and cart and Mila told me we should get the book to see what the words were, Ellie added we could go to the library to find the book. I'm out of practice.

I finally completed the song successfully, but by then Ellie had decided she wanted her Daddy to snuggle with her so she could go to sleep. She told me I should snuggle with Mila. I told her we needed to let Mila have her turn rocking first, and she cheerfully agreed.

Mila has grown so much we had trouble getting her to fit in my lap where I must sit on the edge of her bed (the space leftover after the railing on the side). We never really got that comfortable but she hugged me for two songs then crawled up onto her pillow by her own choosing.

Ellie again asked for Daddy and I told her I would go get him after the next song, but after the next song she was still wide awake, so I told her he was in the bathroom and would come in a few minutes. She accepted that and finally settled down, after jabbering again for a couple of minutes (she was really, really, really hyper) and I finally heard her snoring. 

I waited a couple of minutes to be sure everyone was really asleep, then left, with a huge smile on my face and in my heart.

I’m so glad they’re home!!!!!!

Utah Vacation 2009

Tiff just called  and they got there safely - - it was quite an ordeal though, had to alter flight plans when they checked in at PBI (some sort of anticipated problem with the second leg of the trip), and instead flew to Atlanta, had to change planes there, had no checked luggage so had four carryon suitcases, four backpacks, two car seats, and two toddlers for the change of planes!

They got in at 12:30 Utah time (2:30 our time). She said the girls slept on the second flight about 3 hours, Ellie woke up a few minutes before they were to land and was able to watch the landing, which was a thrill for her.

Mila woke up as people were leaving the plane so both girls were able to walk off the plane which was a huge help with all the luggage/car seats and not having to carry sleeping girls too. They both slept intermittently during the rental car ride to Laura's, waking up and talking about the snow a few times. Tiff said they were very excited!

The girls woke up at 7 am (Utah time, funny how that worked!) and are headed outside now to make snowballs!

Yippee!

Mila and Ellie perform!

Mila & Ellie,
Grandpa Ed and Peggy came to visit this Christmas and brought down so many wonderful gifts from Santa for you!
Two of the gifts are magical harps that play the most beautiful music and as you will see below you have fallen in love with them! Look at the two of you dance!
I sure do love you, angels.
Love, AuntJen :-)

Channukah Chanukah Hanukia Hanukkah and Veronica

Quoting Tiffany via text message today:

Mila learned about Channukah in preschool. Now whenever we see a menorah, I ask what it's called and she thinks hard and says, it's its's it's . . .  a veronica!