Dressing Up

Chandra loves dressing up and feeling beautiful.  She'll put every necklace she can find on, then come to Brian or me and bounce on her tip toes waiting for us to tell her how beautiful she looks.  She is such a girl, and we love it!  

She also loves dancing.  Whenever she hears music (a cell phone starts ringing, a car drives by, or during a movie) she starts bouncing and dancing.  She loves when I give her my cell phone to hold and dance to while it plays "B-I-N-G-O." It's so cute.  

She also thinks its so fun to pull all the dirty laundry out and get dressed in it.  I haven't taken a picture of that because she usually ends up with several pairs of our underwear on her arms and over her head before I find her.  Memo to me: I need to find a new spot for our laundry. Yesterday she found this hat and it's her newest accessory.  

What I've Been up to: Photo Editing Class

Bracken and Chandra spent a lot of time at my parents in Richfield this last month so they could be loved and cared for while Brian was working and my collarbone was healing.  I appreciate my parents and siblings so much for taking care of our kiddos!  I was in Richfield some of the time too, but I had a lot more "down time" on my hands than normal.  I took an awesome online class on Lightroom (image editing software), and learned a lot about what to look for and how to edit my pictures.  I feel like I have so much more control over my editing now! Anyway, just sharing a little of what I've been up to. (SOOC is straight out of camera, without any editing.)

Puddles

They love rainstorms, puddles, and just being together.  I'm so glad our kiddos are friends.

My Superhero

"Bracken, you need to get your pajamas on and brush your teeth before your babysitter gets here."

He ran off to get ready for the night.  After a while I realized it was very quiet in the bathroom.  I went to investigate and found a Superhero in sunglasses and cape, who smelled like his dad's cologne, styling his hair with a generous amount of gel.  "Whoo-hoo-hoo! I look cool, huh mom?! I'm gonna protect you and Chandra from the bad guys."

Totally made my night!

Her Typical Expression

The Hard Questions

Bracken had two blankets that he got when he was a baby that he became very attached to.  He would hold the silky tags up to his nose or lips to fall asleep. When he was two they fell apart and I gave him similar blankets to replace them, but he cried during the night for his tags, so I ripped the tags off the old blankets and sewed them onto the new Light Blue and Dark Blue.  They've gone pretty much everywhere with him.

Excerpt from Bracken't Journal:

May 21, 2012 -- "I like my blanket 'Light Blue' a lot...I lost Light Blue one day and I cried a lot.  I said a prayer we'd find it. My Daddy came home and looked for it in the darkness at SUU. I was so glad he found it.  It was cold when he found it."

The morning after Brian found 'Light Blue' Bracken told me, "Look Mom! I asked Heavenly Father to help me find Light Blue and He did! He answered my prayer!"  It was a pretty special day.

Fast forward.  Bracken lost Light Blue again...but it's been over a month and we haven't found it.  Last night he was especially sad and had big tears.  "Mom, I'm just thinking about Light Blue.  Let's say a prayer that Daddy will find it." He asked Heavenly Father to help him find his blankets, then I helped him ask for comfort and understanding too. A few minutes later after I finished singing to him he said, "Heavenly Father put a light on in my heart."

I thought things were all better, but this afternoon Bracken was sad about something and he cried to Brian, "I'm feeling sad, why didn't Heavenly Father find Light Blue for me when I asked him?" I don't remember exactly what Brian said, but he reminded Bracken that Heavenly Father helped him feel better after his prayer, and that maybe Heavenly Father gave Aunt Linsy the idea to make him a new special blanket, the one he has now, to help him feel better. That Heavenly Father loves him, but He doesn't always say "yes" when we ask for things, just like Brian and I don't always say "yes" when Bracken asks for things.

I think it's the first time I felt a little bit of panic at one of Bracken's questions.  How to answer to strengthen his testimony, not hurt it.  To comfort but strengthen him.  I'm glad Brian was around.  He's a pretty awesome Dad!  I'm sure we'll have many more hard questions come up as time goes on.