Tuesday, February 12, 2013

These are few of her favorite things...

I was laying in bed the other night trying to remember all of Vienne's favorite things that I could.  I want to jot them down so that I will never forget.

Colors:  We all know they are green and blue.  Green was always her first favorite color because it is the color of her eyes.  Blue became her second favorite color after Ivy was born because Ivy's and Dadda's eyes were/are blue.  (though, now Ivy's have mysteriously turned the same color as Vienne's - a grayish green.)

(this green sweatshirt was the first garment she ever picked out for herself when shopping.  We were in Old Navy and she fell in love with this from the boys' section.  ;) )


Favorite treat:  CHOCOLATE.  Always.  A true girl.



(while Mama was away, Daddy let Vienne eat chocolate ice cream on the couch and then let her "finger paint" her tummy with the ice cream!  At least her shirt was off to protect her clothes!  Oh geez, what silly things Daddys will do!)


Favorite breakfast:  Dadda's homemade pancakes, sculpted into cool shapes like letters or dinosaurs.



Favorite Meal:  Noodles...or as she said "nuddles".  Or when we were eating out, she always loved pizza...you'd have no idea that we eat ridiculously healthy and that she was primarily fed a gluten and dairy free diet!  (Oh yes, I am that kind of mom!  But, we still enjoy ourselves.)

(Vienne often got pizza after church, with Daddy, when Mommy had to stay home with Ivy)


Favorite fruits:  Apples...the ONLY fruit she would eat, unless it was hidden in a smoothie.  This girl hated fruit.  A strange trait she inherited from her Aunt Christy.

Favorite Vegetables:  Carrots, green beans, snap peas, and snow peas.  She would get 3 carrots and 3 beans/peas on her plate at each meal.  And, then she got tons of spinach or kale in her smoothies.  ;)

Favorite snack:  Fishy Crackers...if mom allowed.  I rarely purchased them for the home, but it became a tradition to buy her the tiny snack box of them at Target each time.

Favorite song:  ABC's.  It was the only thing she would sing if we asked her to sing to her sister.

Favorite Number:  twenty hundred.  It was always the BIG number she used when describing a lot of things.  "There's like so many stars in the sky...like twenty hundred!"  Or "Hey Vienne, how many leaves, do you think, are on that tree?"..."oh probably twenty hundred".

Favorite movies:  Cars - that was at the top of the list, for sure.  Everyone knows she LOVED dinosaurs, but it has been rarely acknowledged how much she LOVED Lightning McQueen.  She named our car Lightning as well as her beta fish she once owned.  Her next favorite was How to Train Your Dragon - she actually loved dragons before she loved dinosaurs.  Toothless the Dragon was a true love and she always maintained a mission to go hunt for Toothless in the mountains.  It was her special thing she shared with her Poppy, my Dad.

(that is her fish, Lightning, and this is a card that her Aunt Kate made for her 3rd birthday of Toothless the dragon)

(dragon face painting)


Favorite Shows:  Dora the Explorer - Dora actually taught Vienne quite a bit of Spanish.  Dinosaur Train, My Little Ponies, Dragon Tales, Backyardigans, and Horseland...

Favorite Places:  Play Boutique in Beaverton.  She would request this often.  OR the Smith Berry Barn where we picked berries and fed the goats.

(at the Play Boutique on Ella's birthday)

(feeding goats at the Berry Barn)

(picking berries at the Berry Barn)


Favorite Parks:  Northview Park, behind the Albertson's at Walnut and Barrows.  She actually named this "Vienne's Park".  Visit it for her, if you live near there.  Her next favorite park was Barrows Park, which she actually named "Dragon Park" for the stone dragon sculpture they have there to sit on.

(at Northview Park)

(at Barrows Park - or "Dragon Park")


Favorite lovey she slept with at night:  Dolly (pronounced "Doe-ly" with a long O).  I now sleep with Dolly.





Favorite books:  Dinosaurumpus!  If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, Biscuit, Honk Honk Beep Beep, stories from her Bible - especially when Jesus walked on the water, and she most loved stories that Mark would make up for her - she would always request a story about Lightning McQueen and Mater.  Mark is so good at that kind of stuff.  We went to the Library every week or 2 wks. and picked out about 10 books so her favorites always changed since we were always reading something new.


Favorite clothes:  Obviously, from all the photos, her green dinosaur t-shirt.  Her favorite dress was a darling blue and white scarf-type sun dress.  She called it her "dancing dress" and wore it whenever she went somewhere special.

(she rocked this tee however she wore it...even though it was a jammy shirt!)

(here she is wearing her favorite "dancing dress" at cousin Brynn's wedding, 8/12)

(the cutest handmade t-shirt!  Aunt Kinsey made this dino tee for Vienne's 3rd bday - another fave)


Favorite craft:  painting or play dough.  She did not care for coloring, ever, or drawing.

(painting with a painter, Uncle Donny)


(dinos making footprints in the play dough "snow")


Favorite toys:  Obviously, T-Rex, Alice, and Toronado (2 dinos and a horse) whom she played with each and every day during her last summer.  Also, her Little Ponies - Party and Sparkle (whose real names are Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie, as we later learned from the show).  Polly the Pony was another favorite tag-along.  Polly is a stuffed horse head on a stick that she would bring everywhere and ride through the stores and down the side walk.  She got a lot of attention with that one.  It was ridiculously cute to watch her and listen to her make whinnying sounds.  She had the PERFECT horse sounds down pat - she would whinny as well as shake her head and "snort/grunt" like a horse does.

(here is "Sparkle" or Apple Jack and Cera the triceratops)

(you can barely see Polly in the bottom of this pic)


Favorite Animals:  Horse.  She always asked to own a horse.  And puppies - she loved dogs, always and was never afraid of them.  The two animals she ever pretended to be were either a horse or a puppy.

(in absolute Heaven, riding Abby the pony at the Pumpkin farm, age 3 1/2)


(our puppy)

(loving on Gaia, our good friends' amazing dog)

(laying with one of her most favorite puppies, Bob - my mom's dog)


Favorite summer activity:  Anything having to do with water.  Swimming or going to a water park.  She was our little fish.  She would swim for hours if she could.  Her swim lessons were something she counted down the days for, each week.


(pregnant mama teaching Vienne to swim in a river)

(swim class - this day they were teaching "water safety" with life jackets and boats)





Favorite time of the day:  5:00pm - when Dadda got home.  I would watch for his truck to drive down the street and I would let her know.  She would run to the window or the slider and wait and watch.  I would open the slider and she would stand on the balcony and, like a princess to her prince, she would call out to him.  I know it made his day each and every time.



Favorite Thing to do:  ANYTHING with you.  If you would do it with her, she was game for anything!  She loved new friends and she loved new games.  She was so fun.    

("Play with me!")


Favorite People:  These guys.  Of course.  







14 comments:

  1. Loved this post, thanks Jenny. She was so sweet and fun...creative and easy going; always an absolute joy to be around. You and Mark are SUCH GOOD PARENTS!!! I could actually hear Mark's laugh in that chocolate ice cream picture...I bet he was so stoked to take that picture so that he could show it to you later ;)

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    1. Oh, when you come to visit...remind me to show you the actual VIDEO of her painting her belly with the chocolate ice cream!! It wasn't so appropriate for the blog...she got a little carried away. :) But it is hilarious for friends and family.

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  2. Love how can remember every detail and that you document everything with pictures! Pictures are so precious because it keeps that particular moment alive. I hope I can capture as many memories with my daughter as you have with yours. So.Much.Love!!!
    ♥Allie

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    1. Memories are all we have and I, too, am so thankful that I took note of every single detail about her. I was obsessed, I tell you! I didn't realize how rare it was for parents to capture so much on video until now...but I am so grateful that we did.

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  3. Thanks Jenny. I love this idea. I might do it for my kids too.

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    1. I'm glad this served as a fun inspiration, Jodi.

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  4. You really captured her essence with this post. Her personality and life just jumped off the screen as I read this...she just felt so alive to me (tears). Beautiful.

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  5. A cutie for sure!!! I love the two sisters on the swings :) and the water fountain pictures :) the picture of her waiting for daddy to come home, so so sweet. So wonderful you have these "favorites" memories.... what a beautiful little girl
    -jaimee

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  6. Again...she takes my breath away. Love the first pic of "Favorite treat: Chocolate" She looks slightly mischievious. So beautiful...so full of joy. And laying with Bob on the couch. She smiles...he's annoyed, as usual. Painting with Donny...fabulous. And standing with her hands on her thighs in the water park (a younger age) fabulous, so full of adventure. And finally...sitting on the bench on your little deck, waiting for Daddy to come home at 5. Simply takes my breath away. And it's true...her favorite thing to do was just to simply "play" with you...anything. She was joyful and content with the simplest of pleasures. May we all take note.

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  7. I love this post! I agree with Julie above, "may we all take note". I am. Thank you, Vienne!!

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