25 Things About Me

As some of you know, the recent rage on facebook was a list of "25 things about me." They could be anything, important or not, just random facts. Well, I decided to put together a list for my kiddos as of this fine day. We'll start with Xander because when Libby wakes from her nap I'll solicit her input. :)


This is Alexander Elliot

1. I love baths.

2. I want to take a bath. Right now. And then when I'm done, let's bathe.

3. I have had my hair cut twice in the back (and I need it again), and trimmed up on top, but I still don't have any growing in on the sides. :) Still, I'm cute.

4. I like to dance. If you mention music I'll nod to a beat until you pump up the jams.

5. I like Libby's toy phone. I've got Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora on speed dial. Our conversations go like this, "Why Hello, I'm Snow White," "Heyyyo". "Hello, it's me, Cinderella!," "Heyyyo."

6. Speaking of Libby, I want to be like her. I realize I can't, so the next best thing is to steal the things that she loves best. Namely her crayons. Anyway, like any little bro, I mimic her and think she's a riot.

7. One of my favorite toys is mom's dust pan. It's bright yellow and super cool. I like to walk around with it and say "sweep, sweep, sweep." I hid mom's yellow dust pan last week in an incredibly sweet hiding spot. She has NO idea where it is.

8. I love "UP" and then "Down." The epitome of this is "up, up, up" and "down, down, down." That's what we say when going up and down stairs. I love to go up and down the stairs.

9. The other day we went to the park and played. Mom was kind of spacing off and I climbed right up to the top of the big jungle gym. Mom watched me, but didn't stop me. Duh mom. I'm up at the very top and there are lots of open spaces up there for me to fall down. But, she came to and coaxed me to the big big slide, and I went down like a champ and got hooked. Poor mom.

10. My mom is really totally the best. I prefer her to anything and everything, which is really flattering to my totally humble and amazingly wonderful mom.

11. I do not like to get buckled into my car set. Not one bit. However, bribing me with my milk may work. Wait, mom doesn't bribe, she rewards.

12. I am a thumb sucker.

13. I am also a tummy rubber. What this means is that when I'm tired, or need to soothe myself, I suck my right thumb and rub my tummy with my left hand. It's really quite sweet.

14. I'm pretty healthy now, but 2009 has been hard on me. I got my first ear infection and it wouldn't go away. I was medicated for 35 of the first 39 days of the year. My parents aren't really into that, but you should have seen me. I was a mess. Hopefully I stay well!

15. I say please when I want something. Mostly, food. "please? yesh! yesh!"

16. I have beautiful brown eyes like my daddy.

17. My dad spends his mornings with Libby and me, and I love him so. When I hear him walk through the door at night I give him a shout-out, "DADDY!"

18. My favorite book is "Wiggle, Waggle, Loop-de-Loo"

19. I really love to be tickled. Sometimes I'll remind my parents that I haven't been tickled in a while by tickling my torso and saying, "tick-uh-tick-uh-tick."

20. I can belch the alphabet. (not really, but some day he'll want to, won't he?!)

21. I'm a cuddle bug. I give my mom the cuddles she doesn't get from Libby or Daddy. Don't get me wrong, they love her to pieces, but they're just not cuddlers. Mom and I have to stick together. Let's cuddle. And rub our tummies.

22. I'm super sweet and a big time smiler. Mom thinks I'm a charmer. What can I say? People seem to love me.

23. There was a time when I was a skinny little man, in less than the 1st percentile when it came to my weight. Those times are gone, I'm up holding my own up in the 70s. Still, I am not the big eater my sister was. One of these days that will probably change and I'll eat the fam out of house and home.

24. Speaking of eat, I inherited my mom's love for fries and my uncle Mason's need for ketchup.

25. Why do mom and dad have those little white buttons on the cabinet doors? It's a nuisance to have to push them when you want to open the doors and get stuff out.

25. My mom and dad adore me.


Okay, I interviewed Libby. Sometimes I asked her, "what do you want me to type about you?" That's when you get a Libby quote. Sometimes I gave her a more probing question. You'll be able to tell the difference.

1. "I have two flowers. A purple one, and the one we got mama at Costco."

2. "We have yogurt drinks."

3. "I love mommy and daddy very much."

4. I like to eat..."you're going to guess this one! donuts!"

5. I like to... "make little princess notes for my family."

6. When I grow up, I want to be... "a vet."

7. I don't like... "being sick."

8. What's a good memory you have, something that made you happy? "That we went to church
to have a little party to celebrate Valentine's Day."

9. What is something you like about yourself? "I like that I have a bunny."

10. What's something you're excited for? "Thanksgiving."

11. What is something you want to do when you're 4? "I want to draw the land."

12. What do you like to do on days when we're at home? "I like to go to Kids Club."

13. What is your favorite part of the day? "I like that after naps you can have snacks."

14. Is there anything you've done that you don't ever want to do again? "no."

15. What are you excited to do when summer comes? "have my birthday. i mean, go to school. and play on the playground."

16. What do you love about Xander? "That he's my brother."

17. "I love to give my mommy 3 kisses and give my daddy 9 kisses."

18. What do you love about daddy? "That daddy's my daddy." What's the best about daddy? "That he knows everything."

19. What's the best about mommy? "That you're my mommy." Is there anything about me that's extra special? "Welllllllllll, that you're just...that my daddy knows everything and you know everything too."

20. What is a special blessing that you're thankful to God for? "My family."

21. "I love God."

22. What is something that you get in trouble for? "Nothing." Are you sure? "I'm sure." Try to think, is there anything you get in trouble for? "Not obeying you."

23. What is the worst owie you've ever had? "this owie, bleeding papercut"

24. "Are you going to send the things about me to people you know?" I'm going to put them on your website, so people can read them about you and learn about you. What do you want people to learn about you? "That I have a really bad owie and I love God."

25. This is the last thing we're going to type about you, Libbs. "okay, then you'll get me a donut? Actually, I want to write, I love Grandma Shelley. and Grandpa Mark, and all the rest of my family, oh yeah, yeah, yeah."



But I have to do my own version. 25 TidBits about Libbs. By mom.

1. I have super beautiful highlights and the ladies about town always want to know if they're natural. They're totally natural. I was born with a little circle of white hair and it stayed. Now, I have gorgeous hair and it doesn't cost me $100.

2. I am kind of a coloring and cartoon junkie. If mom would let me, I would spend the whole day sitting in the den, coloring while watching cartoon after cartoon. That's living the dream. Oh, and snacking.

3. Snacks are at 10:00 and 3:00. I really love 10:00 and 3:00.

4. I'm a tricky combination of confident and shy. When I'm with those I know well, I'm quite confident. Large and In Charge. But if I'm in a crowd, or if I don't know you reeeally well, I'm super quiet and reserved. I'm working on that. I don't want to be rude or unkind.

5. I adore Xander. I love that he's my brother. I love to hold his little cheeks in my hands and make silly faces at him, kiss him and hug him and cuddle him. I love to carry him around, but that doesn't work so well.

6. I'm a bigtime watch dog. I keep an eye on my dear little brother and if he so much as looks in the wrong direction, I gasp, "*GASP* MOM! XANDER!"

7. I decided to call Xander, "Bud." It's pretty sweet and endearing. "Come on! It's bathtime, Bud!"

8. I love to talk about things of the Lord. I will drop anything, even cartoons, to read my story Bible, and I'm really curious and have a heart to learn about God.

9. I think, if mom would let me, I could jump rope.

10. I turn 4 in 8 days. I'm counting.

11. I like to decorate, especially my bedroom. If I find or design something particularly lovely, I like to hang it on my wall. Mom put a princess canopy above my bed and I DO feel like a princess when I rest my sweet head.

12. I do not like to rest my sweet head in the afternoons. Every day I tell my mom, "I don't really want to nap." Every. Day.

13. I love to sing and dance. Especially songs about God. Right now, one of my personal faves is "Oh Little Town of Bethelehem." :)

14. I like to play games on the computer. Dora's my favorite. I'm quite computer savvy and can surf the net quite handily. I'm a natural. It's frightening.

15. Kids Club is my favorite favorite place to go. I get to go on Wednesday mornings and I LOVE IT.

16. I will go to preschool in the fall. My parents are still in a state of shock. I am pretty excited, though no one would be surprised if I get cold feet on the first day. Still, I have a great personality for school. I'm going to thrive.

17. I love hanging out with my family. I openly adore them and love to express my thankfulness for them. Saturday is my favorite day because after a loooong week, daddy gets to stay home. He and I make pancakes every Saturday morning, then we all spend the rest of the day together. I also love my extended family, aunts and uncles and grandparents. I like to color pictures or send cards to them whenever mom lets me.

18. I like to write and spell and sound words out. I think it's really super fun.

19. I like my hair down. If it were up to me, I'd never comb my hair and never wear it up.

20. Ice cream is one of my favorite treats. And brownies. And donuts. I have a taste for the good stuff (chocolate). Like my mom.

21. I'm a big helper to my mom during the day. I'm an easy kid. I'm largely obedient, I love to serve, I'm eager to set the table or fold laundry. However, I don't like to pick up my toys. That's BO-RING.

22. I love stickers and tatoos. I'm working on getting over my fear of bandaids. I have a love/hate relationship with bandaids. I love Dora and Care Bears on my bandaids. But I'm afraid they're going to hurt when I pull them off. But, I'm learning that if I need to remove a bandaid I need to get it wet and let it slip off. Still, I worry about it.

23. I love to pick out my clothes. Every day. I have my own sense of style. I like to layer and I don't like things to be "matchy-matchy." My philosophy is this, "if it's one of my favorites, wear it." Mom kind of likes my style so she usually lets me get away with it. :)

24. I would love to be a princess. And a ballerina. And an artist. And apparently a vet, though mom had no idea. I love to wear dresses. I love to have tea parties. I love sparkles and pink nails and perfume and shoes that make a lot of noise. I'm girl, through and through.

25. My mom and dad adore me.

Mommy Misc

Time for a new post, I suppose, so here it is with some of this and some of that. We're in the midst of our V-day celebrating, and I won't post pics until I have taken all of them, and there will be more tomorrow (not surprisingly, since tomorrow is actually Valentine's Day). So, I found some pics of our lives from the past couple of weeks when we weren't prepping for this holiday that I love, and this is what I came up with.

These are Libby's feet in her ballet slippers. She loves them. I bought them for her for Christmas, and then decided she had too many Christmas gifts, so I held them back for her birthday (coming in a few weeks). Well, she found them. :) "Mommmmmy? What is THIS?!" What could I do? Lie? Make her wait? No way. I smiled and told her they were a special gift for her and I haven't regretted it for a moment. They used to have Fancy Nancy medallions in the midst of the yellow poof, but those fell off within 12 hours of wear, but that doesn't bother me one bit. Libby seems to have forgotten. For now.

Xander and his doggie. Woof-woof-woof. (you know, he's at that stage where anytime he hears the word doggie (woof-woof-woof), or sees one, he thinks he's supposed to remind us of what the doggie (woof-woof-woof) says.) He LOVES Barns. I love hearing him tell Barns to sit. He says it with such confidence he often gets an obedient response.

Is he not just precious? Ugh! I love this little man. He is wooing me day by day. If he treats his future wife with the same unashamed adoration as he does his mama, she is going to be one happy lady. And he better.

Any picture I take of Xander must be followed by a picture of Libby. Thankfully he hasn't caught on to the even-steven way of life yet, or I'd never get anything done. :) But let's face it, she's equally adorable and just as sweet. She gets her fair share of smooches, too.

Another post-bath moment. btw, those are Libby's all time favorite jammies. Jammies are a big deal to her, and she spends precious time picking out her bedtime "look" every night. (Those of you who know her eclectic mix and match and layering style will probably not be surprised to hear that she takes the same approach to jammy wearing, unless she's wearing her one piece jams, "that zip down to the toes.") She loves them.

Thank you, Great-Grandma Sharon, for the cute little apron for Libby (and for mine as well) that protects her and her eclectic little outfits from the occasional drip. And, it makes her feel grown up, too. :)

Jammy Time

I love you two.