Sometimes even Swedish can be sweet...

Mom: "Ruth stop whining."

Ruth: "I'm not whining, I'm just talking."

Mom: "Yes, you are whining; there's a whine in your voice."

Ruth: "It's not a whine, it's Swedish."

Mom: "Do you know what Swedish is?"

Ruth: "It's sweet."

A conversation on families.

Mom: "I love my family because they make me soooo happy. Ruth, why do you love your family?"

Ruth: "I love my family because I have a mom and dad who care for me."

Dad: "I love my family because they love me. Gareth, why do you love your family?"

Gareth: "I love CHEESE!!"

Garethisms

Gareth's been saying a lot of funny things lately.  One night I was putting him to bed and he said this: "I have a secret and it's too big for your ear."  He didn't want to whisper it in my ear.  What was the secret?  "I want a cup of milk with my cereal in the morning."

Sometimes at church when I can tell Gareth is right on the verge of having a meltdown I start to whisper a story into his ear.  Today, Gareth decided he wanted to help with the story.

Me: "Once upon a time there was a cowboy caterpillar.  He really wanted to ride a horse but he was too afraid because he thought the horse might step on him and squish him if he got too close.  So one day he saw a man who was about to get on a horse and the caterpillar climbed up the man's leg all the way up to his shoulder and sat there.  The caterpillar sat there on the man's shoulder as the man got up onto the horse....."
Gareth: "And then the caterpillar PUSHED the man off the horse and rode away!!!"

It wasn't quite the ending I had imagined but it was good enough for me so we left it at that.

A party and some cake...

For Gareth's birthday today, we went to a place called Jungle Jim's Playland.  It's a perfect place for kids whose parents are too cheap to actually take them to a carnival or fair.  The rides are made just for little kids to enjoy (and parents ride free!!).  Ruth and Gareth enjoyed all the rides while Ronan enjoyed crawling around and watching through the fences.

After Jungle Jim's, we went over to Grandma's house for a party!  The kids all played while Jones and I made the cake and Grandma and Aunt Bekah made the yummy spaghetti dinner.  After dinner and presents we got to eat the cake we slaved over.  We were all very full and satisfied.

Gareth was excited by all his presents. He LOVES his new remote controlled car (thanks G-ma and G-pa!) and he's excited to try out his new bike (thanks good sale at Toys R Us!) with his new Thomas helmet (thanks Robbie! (Aunt Bekah)). But the day was so fun and exciting he fell asleep in this bed right away in his new GI Joe Jammies (thanks G-ma!) dreaming about how much fun he will have with his new color changing cars (thanks Aunt Audra!) and his new Spiderman markers (thanks Robbie!).

3!

Happy Birthday Gareth!!

We love our Gare-Bear.  He's the sweetest thing to come to our family. Today he turned 3 years old.  Gareth is blossoming into such a fun, bright young man.  Here are some things we love about him:

• He's started asking lots of questions.  He'll say "listen to my question" and we listen and it's NEVER a question..it's always just something he want's to say.
• He's great at telling jokes and funny stories.  He's our comedian.  (he LOVES to come up with 'bad ideas'.  He'll say "I have a bad idea" and we'll say "what" and he'll say something like "I jumped into Ruth's backpack and she took me to school" or "I was running and I fell into a hole" and we'll say "that IS a bad idea!" and then we all laugh).  
• Gareth is great at looking out for his little brother (like alerting us when he is headed for the stairs or the toilet) and he's very patient when it comes to being Ruth's personal 'toy' (like when she decides she wants to build a sand sculpture and needs a base).  
• He's always willing to give a hug and a smile.  
• Gareth's favorite snack in the whole world is dry Ramen noodles (also his daddy's favorite snack).

We can't imagine our family without Gareth.  We are so thankful he came into our lives.