The Bedtime Story

I just had to share with you the monologue which my sweet princess delivered to me tonight, as she was procrastinating her task at hand:  bedtime.

There are times when I just kindof gawk at her, astonished at how much this little person who looks nothing like me can be so VERY MUCH EXACTLY LIKE ME…. with her ADD-induced tangeants, and yet, with her father's uncanny ability to deliver full "sermons" that no one really cares to hear.   She cracks me up so much.  After she finished reading me her own bedtime story, I literally could not squeeze a word in during her stream-of-consciousness rant!  Believe me when I tell you:  this is the GREATLY CONDENSED version of her 7-minute soliloquy:

"Mom, I had kindof a quiet day, because I was feeling a little sick to my tummy so I had to go lay on a mat and it had red stripes on one side and blue on the other and I picked blue because it's my favorite, well, except for pink which is really my favorite and then Mrs. Nelson said I had to wake up and I got a little crabby and I told Morgan to stop talking to me and she got mad at me but she never stops talking and I was feeling tired 'cuz you guys woke me up too early and I couldn't sleep last night because I was so worried about you and I am really nervous about being a Raccoon and why in the world do they say "wash your hands"? if you tried to wash a raccoon you'd get all scratched up and they'd hiss at you, also, Dad said he's gonna help with the set but then how I am gonna get home because Noah needs a nap and are you even gonna make my own costume or what and is your video camera charged because grama said to tape the show... hey, when are you gonna get my swim pass because we need to sew it on to my new swimsuit and did you order me a new bed because this one is really squeaky but then if I get a new bed can we paint my walls because I really want pink but maybe we should just paint it green and then Noah could sleep in here sometimes too are you even gonna eat tonight you should because Dad made cheesy ranch hamburger helper and it was so good Noah even ate some and didn't throw a fit and get in timeout which is good because then he got to watch a movie and he always picks how to Train Your Dragon but I don't like that one I wanted to watch Mary Poppins instead, hey, 'member when Noah used to say "Fox and the Howard" instead of Hound? He's so funny...*yaaawwn* I'm not very tired, can I stay up and read the rest of "If I Ran the Circus" because I have to take that back to school on library day which is Thursday..wait...is it Thursday yet?"

"Nope, not yet.  Go to sleep, Noodle."

Big, sleepy, toothless grin, "But I'm not even tired Mom."

I love that kid.

Cuteness Overload

We got the opportunity to spend some time this Christmas getting to know the newest member of the Franzen family, Miss Josey Dell.  When we last saw her in August, Asha was a huge fan - Noah, not so much.  In fact, after placing her on his lap his exact words were "I don't like her", as he hastily handed the little bundle back to her Mama (yup, he's got his father's tact).  But this time around was quite different for Bam Bam -- he really took to his very smiley little cousin, and right away asked if he could hold her.  The "awwwww" factor went through the roof...

These two could be a lot of trouble in the very near future...

They became fast friends -- mostly because when Noah asked her "Hey Josey, do you like dragons?", she just beamed -- leading him to the conclusion of course that she does indeed like dragons.


If you thought getting two kids to sit still for a nice picture was tough...

 

Auntie Shanna snuck in some snuggle time with the babes

 

Even Uncle Jordy stole a smooch or two on those chubby cheeks

And these sweet blue-eyed girls -- Asha was in 7th heaven snuggling and playing with her little cousin (but who wouldn't be, how adorable is this babykins!?)  Ash was quite the good little helper too, and took full advantage of every moment she was allowed to hold Josey and spoil her! 

I found these insanely cute Viking beanies on Etsy, and had one custom-made for each of our little Nordic  babies.  I should have tried to get a pic of all three of them, but well, easier said than done...

Such a smiley little nugget - a very good little girl with plenty of grins & giggles to go around in spite of her extremely noisy and busy older cousins

We had a very merry Viking Christmas!