Guns and Roses

My children are a lot alike. They look alike, their personalities are a lot alike, they are super strong willed and they are very bull headed. I wonder where they got those traits from? (yep from BOTH of us). They are independent, inquisitive and determined. Emma is a tom-boy. She loves being outside, she wears her cow boots and she is very active. She also plays with her boy cousins a lot mostly because the one she gets along the best lives right across the street. Her and her Weston play a ton together. Not so much lately because summer has been busy with vacations and things, but when they play together they have such a good time. They love to stay busy "working" for their play time. I just love it.E and B at G'ma's with their saggy bottom pj's and their "cow boots" on.

So, all up until Burke was old enough to walk and play I thought Emma was a lot like what raising a boy would be like. I loved it because I thought I was going to get out of the drama that comes with a little girl. Oh was I wrong, and in many ways! Burke is a BOY through and through. This kid was born with a natural sense of what little boys should grow up doing! He was more mellow as a baby but recently he has come into his own and is obsessed with "shooters" and swords and sticks that can become "shooters" and life cereal that when broken into pieces become "shooters"! I am not kidding! This kid was born to make the shooting sound. And he's good at it too. I can barely even do it.

This fetish came awhile ago, but really took on a life of its own when we moved back to Boise when Burke was playing with his four boy cousins across the street. Boy was he in BOY heaven! They had "shooters" and light sabers (I don't even know if that's the way that word is spelled) and fake swords and nerf guns and so on. He soon took some home back to grandmas and it was all over from there. I gave in a few weeks ago and bought him his first "shooter" because the ones he borrow from his cousins soon became damaged and broken. I brought him a cap gun. Hey, I did not buy him the caps though! Tyler said when I told him it was a fake cap gun he said, hey you didn't buy any caps, come on!! I think our two year old better not play with those until he is older. I am putting my foot down on that one! He loves it and he puts it in his pockets and in his Peter Pan costume pocket so he can shoot Captain Hook. Burke in his "Peter Pan Costume"! love it.

To sum it up. Emma is still a tom boy- which I love because I was a big tom boy when I was younger. Yet she still has her girlie girl side. She loves to cook, to put on my makeup including mascara- by herself, she loves to dress up and have tea parties, and sew, yes sew, and do all the little girlie things that little 4 years old's should do. Burke is boy through and through. Oh man it is in his blood and I love it!! Shooters, and monsters and bad guys and captain hook vs. Peter pan is all we hear about from him. He is black and white. Good guy bad guy. Good vs. Evil. I love it. Yet, there is a little sweet Burke still in there who will cuddle with his blanket. And love his baby that G&G Bates found that we left at their house way back in May! Yes, that is right my little boy plays with a baby doll. It is a cute cabbage patch baby that I got a DI. It cleaned up nicely in the washing machine and it has been his baby for over a year now. I love it because now more than ever, with his fetish with super boy things, he can still be sensitive and loving towards something when he otherwise would be shooting at everyone and everything in sight!

Just tonight when I was putting him down in his bed, he found his baby and said to it,"Ooh baby, I love you baby. I love you baby. It's okay baby, don't cry. Mom, baby was crying down here all alone. You should have come down and held my baby when he was crying." I guess we still need to work on the whole taking responsibility thing. Oh well.Burke and his cute little naked baby.

Emma and her cute little dressed baby.

I love my kids and their personalities different and alike even when they can be unreal and out- of- this- world- super- hard- to- handle. I still love them and I am grateful for who they are and their spirits and personalities that they came into this world with! I can't wait to add more little kids to our family and when the Lord sees that that needs to happen it will and I am just trusting in him that it will happen when it needs to. But until then, over here in our neck of the woods we will be continually fighting Captain Hook and singing made-up Smee and Captain Hook songs for bed time lullaby's. We will be continually overseeing the makeup application and the baby doll dressing and the sewing projects. We got the best of both worlds- the guns and the roses!

The picture above reminds me of two people. First, of Tyler of course. Any of his family would know that Ty lived in cow boy boots as a child. He would try on anyone's cow boot and he loved it. But then the second person it reminds me of is my older brother Dave. In high school Dave thought he was pretty cool and so did the girls. He was into himself so much that when he got out of the shower- which he did like 3 or 4 times a day because of sports- he would stand in front of the mirror and flex his muscles! I would always thought he was so funny to do that. He is so not like that anymore, but in high school he was all about how big his muscles looked! When I really looked at this picture I had to chuckle because I instantly thought of both Tyler and Dave. It's ironic too because they are both the same age. Funny.

Pictures of Emma posing. She was so cute that day wearing her new fourth of July bow that I made just the day before.

Emma and Evie her little cousin in Grandma J's dress ups. All the grandkids dress up when they come over to grandmas. There is a wide variety of dress ups for both boy and girls. And sometimes the boys even come out sporting the girl dresses with matching wigs- it's pretty fun to see their creativity at work!