Hallie-isms

I should be better about writing down the funny things Hallie says. Here are just a few Hallie-isms from the last little while:

*One day: "Mom, you're chubby like me!" (said in her most enthusiastic voice).

* Hallie likes to talk to herself and often talks about people/things that seem to come from nowhere. For example, one day she was saying something about "Becca". I asked her if she was talking about her dolls that Grandma and Grandpa brought her from Estonia (which she sleeps with every night and has named Becca and Aya). She replied, "No, mom! I am talking about Becca. You know, the Becca that lives in the United States?" Yeah, that clears it up.

*One day when we were outside, Devin came home and found us in the backyard. Hallie greeted him with the following: "Hi, Daddy!! You're so cute!" and then, under her breath she added, "He's so adorable." Uh....

*"Mom, can I call you Kim?"

*Samples of some excellent prayers lately:

            -"Please bless that I can wear these clothes I am wearing again tomorrow."
            - "Please bless that people won't bug Daddy."
            - "Help us to be good and hot for our mom."
            - "Thank you for our life-s" (said like life-es)
            - (Prayer in primary): "Please bless my mom and dad. Thank you for my mom and dad. I love my      mom and dad."

*While in Costco with me one day, I let her hold my costco card while we were in line to check out. You know that Costco is always packed with people, so it was really unfortunate when she shouted, "Mom! Why are you naked in this picture?!" She was referring to the picture on my card (and I am NOT naked in the picture, lest you worry), but hopefully the people around us didn't think she was looking at some pictures we had picked up there or anything...yikes.

*At dinner one night, I left the kitchen to get something when I heard her yell from the table, "Mom, can you get back in here? I have an ornery kid in here!" (meaning Jace who was whining.) Such a little mom.

*Today we went to the splash pad in a neighboring town, which the kids loved. As we were leaving, she said, "Mom, you need to remember to put this on your list." I asked, "What list?" and she said, "You know, the list where you put down things that you need to do...that list." Apparently attending the splash pad is a must for the to-do list. And I also apparently make too many lists.


And a short little general update on Hals:

Hals is coming up on 4 years old and it's just crazy to me. She is so grown up. She really has been forced to grow up since Flor came into our family as she is the "big sister". She is such a good help with Flor and Jace and loves to do all the little things I ask her to do. She asks to help clean the kitchen, sweep, vacuum, etc. I am so grateful that I have her as she really is such a helper. She has chores that she is required to do on her own, which are unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up the toys in the basement before bedtime, but beyond that, she really likes to help with whatever else is going on.

Hallie has kept busy this summer as she has been in 4H and is currently in swimming lessons. This fall she will start the Waterford computer classes again (they are held at our stake center and we love it-3 times per week for 45 minutes and she learned so much with them last year.) She is also going to start dance classes and she asks me pretty much every day if it is fall yet so that she can start dance. She's excited. I am sure she is going to be a riot at the recitals- I will have to get some videos.

Hallie is quite the social butterfly and makes friends easily. She plays with the neighbor girls nearly every day and then her friend Ashley once or twice a week. She has quite the memory for her friends from Ecuador too and talks about them all the time. Just this week during family home evening, we were talking about loving everyone like Jesus does, and Devin asked the question, "Who does Jesus love?" Hallie's response was "Hannah, Abby (the neighbors), Jenna and Adriana" (both friends she made in Ecuador).

We had to re-instate the sticker chart for Hals recently as she has been having some fits/tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. We asked her what she wants to earn when her sticker chart is full and she said a Happy Meal. Easy enough. She can earn three stickers per day and has to have 60 in order to get her Happy Meal (tough Daddy requiring all those stickers!). Really, though, she will probably have her Happy Meal in no time as she is usually a good girl. I feel a little bit bad that she has been forced to grow up so much in the last year, but then I realize what a blessing it is for her to recognize and see the need to help others. She really is so great with Flor and I think that she will continue to help and protect her as she grows up. She is a great sister and such a blessing to us. Heavenly Father knew that we needed her first in our family and we sure adore her.

That's it for this edition of Hallie-isms!

Update on Flor next...