Happy Birthday Maylen!

Maylen is 4! Its hard to believe that it was 4 years ago, on Feb. 27, that I delivered my sweet little baby in the middle of a snow storm in the Carolinas. She has grown to be quite a big girl!

Yesterday she woke up and said, "I'm happy because it's my birthday!" We took cupcakes to Mother's Day Out and she seem to have had a pretty fun day! We are so thankful for Maylen's life and for her spirit! She is my good helper, always great with helping mommy clean and pick up the house. She's a sweet, protective (and sometimes bossy) big sissy, who doesn't let anyone mess with her little sissy. Her favorite things are painting, stickers, being read to, changing clothes, cleaning windows, playing with friends, and going places! She loves to be on the go! She often says, "Mommy, where are we going today?" For bedtime she likes to stick to her routine--all these things and in this order--pajamas, brush teeth, 2 books, 2 songs, and prayer time. Then she asks for "new water" and a kiss and hug, and her white blankey "like a square" (which means lay her blankey flat across her). William and I laugh about how OCD she can be about things.

I thought it would be cute to asked Maylen some questions and journal them every year at her birthday.

Q. What is it like to be 4?
A. Well, I'd rather be 6, because then I wouldn't have to take naps.
Q. But, what is your favorite thing to do now that you're 4?
A. Wear panties at bedtime.

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A. A mommy! And maybe a teacher too, like Miss Rachel (her MDO teacher).
Q. How many kids do you want to have?
A. 6 girls and 5 boys
(Recently she said she wants to live in the house that we live in now. I asked her where I would live and she said in a different house, but that I can come and see her.)
Q. Who will you be married to?
A. I DONT' KNOW!

Q. What is your favorite place to go?
A. Chucky Cheese

Q. What is your favorite thing about mommy?
A. kissing and hugging me.
Q. What is your favorite thing about daddy?
A. just kissing and hugging me, just like you.
Q. What's your favorite thing about Adeline?
A. when she kisses and hugs me too.

Q. What's your favorite movie?
A. Dora

Q. What's your favorite thing to do?
A. Play on the play ground.

Q. What's your favorite color?
A. pink and purple

Q. Who's your best friend?
A. (giggle) Christopher Robin (from Winnie the Pooh)

Q. What is your favorite food?
A. Spaghetti, and um, cheese sauce

Q. What's your favorite dessert?
A. Ice Cream
Q. What kind of ice cream?
A. Chocolate chip ice cream

Q. What's your favorite thing to do with mommy?
A. Eat
Q. What's your favorite thing to do with daddy?
A. Go swimming
Q. What's your favorite thing to do with Adeline?
A. play (she then put her arm around Adeline)

Q. What's your favorite book?
A. The Jungle Book

Tornado Tuesday

On Tuesday the news called for an emergency tornado warning. I called William to find out when he was going to be traveling home from Jackson because I was worried about him driving into the storm. Thankfully he made it home just as the sirens started to sound in Cordova. The girls and I spend an hour in the bath tub while William and Javie (William's classmate) tried to be brave and watch the radar on TV and "look out" for tornados from the back door. I think the girls thought it was weird that I wanted them to stay in the bath tub with me, all fully dressed and reading books. I left the tub for a few minutes to gather coloring books and crayons and we colored for a while. By the end of it, Maylen didn't want to leave the tub because she was having fun. We are thankful to the Lord that we did not have any damage in our neighborhood. However, Union University was hit pretty badly at about 7 pm that evening. I posted some pictures of the campus, and needless to say, William is out of class for at least the next two weeks while the school tries to assess the damage and make the campus accessible for students again. Because he is out of class and not working, I'm putting him to work around the house -- he'll probably be so ready to go back by the end of it :).