Bree Turns Three!

"Sharing" her make-up with Uncle Vance

and Daddy

Hugs to Grandma Latham!

Listening to Daddy's head :) She understood the shot part of the dr. kit, but apparently not this part.

So many presents!

The birthday girl

Blowing out the candles! (and yes, she picked out the Christmas tree cake-no balloons for this girl!)

I LOVE MAKE-UP!

The glee on her face after coming down the hill

Heading to the TOP of the hill with Daddy

Our little "Bee" turned three a week before Christmas. It's funny, her name is Breanna, we call her Bree and now we've shortened it to Bee. Don't know why we bother giving them names. She's Bee and Emma is Goose.

Anyway, Bree kills us, in more ways than one. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to listen to her talk. She has a lisp, makes a "w" sound for her "L", and mixes words all around. "Think" is "fink", and she says "I fink" a LOT. I know she'll eventually grow out of it, so I'm enjoying it for now. She will perform I Love to See the Temple, I am Like a Star, and I am a Child of God on command. She and Emma love to play pretend Dad, Mom, kid, baby, dog and cat. And Bree will sit in her carseat and make her hands "talk" to each other. It's hilarious to hear her do a "daddy" voice.

I feel bad that I don't spend as much "teaching" time with her like I did with Emma, but in spite of that, she surprises me with her knowledge of shapes, numbers, sounds and colors! We have a Dora video in the car that she pretty much has memorized. She wears headphones when watching it and I love listening to her say it word for word, especially with her lisp :)

She is definitely our adventurer. She was the one going to the very top of the sledding hill and going down full blast. She'll jump into any pool (one thing I DON'T love) b/c she thinks she can swim. She wants to be thrown up into the air and jump through any snow pile, crunchy pile of leaves, or rain puddle. She is willing to try any and everything. She has no fear at all. Dave thought that this would mean that she wouldn't be as girly, but NO. This little one LOVES make-up, dress-ups, and dancing around to music. She does some hilarious dance moves. And she is just a funny girl-she has a sense of humor and loves joking around. A few weeks ago we had a family dinner at Aunt Julianne's and she was performing. She was making up loud songs about anything within her view-picture frames, couches, toys, socks, etc. Dave asked her to do a somersault, which she had no idea what he was talking about, so he told her to roll on her head, after which she proceeded to put her hand in a fist and "roll" her fist on top of her head. SO FUNNY. She was looking at him like he had lost his mind, but she'll satisfy him and roll on her head. So he asked her to stand on her head and she looked at him funny and patted the top of her head. The literal translations were cracking us up. And at the end...she takes a bow.

There are times when I lose my mind with her, but things have gotten a little easier as her vocabulary has increased. No matter what happens during the day, I am always able to laugh about it at night.

What has been so funny is watching our old home videos of Julianne and Kimmy and seeing my Emma and Bree-SPITTING IMAGES. Julianne and Emma were both pretty little things, cute bob haircuts-seriously-Julianne was one of the prettiest little girls I've ever known, and so is Emma. And they are both the ones that worked so hard at making sure everyone was telling the truth and being obedient, or that things were being done correctly, that everyone was being responsible, or that there was justice and fairness in everything. Then there's Kimmy and Bree-the scrawny little ragamuffins with curly, unmanageable hair. They test the limits and make us laugh while doing it. There was a video of Juju and Kimmy in the tub. Juju was telling Kimmy that she needed to wash her feet, and Kimmy says that the water takes care of it and that she doesn't really need to b/c she didn't walk outside that day. But of course, Juju calls her on it and says that she DID walk outside and that water does not clean your feet by itself. I can't tell you how many bathtime conversations I've heard between my 2 girls that sounds almost exactly alike. Sigh...it makes me smile. Even though my girls fight, I cherish the moments that they are giggling together and having fun, which has been more often lately now that Bree is able to use more words and has a tiny (TINY) bit more control of her temper :)

So, to my little Bee: I love you so much and Happy Birthday! You bring so much laughter and spazziness to our house and I wouldn't have it any other way!