It has begun.

After 6 hours of a fairly easy labor and delivery on Christmas Day, 2005, these following words brought a montage of images to the forefront of my mind of all that my future would hold...."IT'S A GIRL!!" I had once heard those words in my life, a short 22 months before, and now all I could think of and dream of was the childhood that I never knew about (until my teenage years)...one with a SISTER!

Sisters who were so close in age, I could only imagine, would unconditionally love one another, always get along, and share everything without hesitation. They would learn how to cook together (and then teach me :P), would backpack Europe together (sharing a toothbrush...ew), and be the Maid of Honor at each others wedding (sea-foam green taffeta horrific dress and all).

Now, almost 3 years after that momentous occasion, I can clearly see, I may have sucked back a wee too much of the laughing gas in that hospital delivery suite.

Do they love each other? Oh yes!
Last summer, the girls were bouncing in the blow up bouncy castle in Gramma's backyard when Princess B fell and began to cry. I looked out the window to see Queen S sit down beside her, place her arm around her and lay her head on her shoulder. She was whispering something in her ear and after that 30 second exchange, Princess B was up and bouncing again, showing off her famous mega-watt smile. I felt so proud of S for taking such good care of her sister, I stepped outside and called her over to praise her for her efforts. When she ran over, I told her she did such a great job of fixing her sister. At this, she shrugged, and stated matter-of-factly, "Yup. Guess all she needed was my booger to chew on. " ExCUSE me?

Do they always get along? Uh...if getting along entails hair-pulling, screaming matches, and toy stealing, then YES...they are GREAT at that! :P Of course there really ARE the rare moments when one or both of them will surprise you with a genuinely kind gesture. Like when Queen S was sincerely upset that she could not be a "circle" when she grew up, and Princess B brought her the lid of our raspberry jam jar (of course which is a circle), to cheer her up. Did I mention, she also took it OFF the jam jar...the glass jam jar...that fell on the kitchen floor...and broke into a million gooey red seedless sharp pieces. Good times.

Do they share everything? Hahaha. Right.
There's the twinkle light Barbie who's missing a head because B hid it on S just to spite her and now of course can not remember where she hid it. Then there's the pink princess flashlight that Gramma gave S, and B immediately loved, but S wouldn't share, so Gramma bought B the EXACT same one, and now we have 2 identical flashlights with their names permanently etched on them, all to AVOID the horrible thought of *gasp* sharing. (Don't worry, Gramma got a talking to. :P Thanks Mom. ;)) And as for the LATEST object of their melodramatic sharing escapades... his name is Angeo. *sigh* heart flutters* eyelashes batting* He has beautiful dirty blond locks and big gorgeous eyes, and did I mention he speaks 2 languages...HELLO!!! :P According to S, she is in love, and according to B, he is HER prince.

Two weeks ago, we were going to have a Bible study at Angeo's parent's place, and the plan was to have the girls in the playroom, watching some good ol Veggie Tales during this time. That afternoon, S informed me that if we were going to Angeo's, she couldn't go without bringing him cookies. So, I put a few Oreo's in a ziplock and gave them to her. She looked up at me with only what I can describe as utter disgust, and said, "These are not good enough for MY Angeo. I have to MAKE him some." Lucky for her, I am a *always* a patient Mommy, and lucky for me, I just happen to have half a bag of cookie mix left. An hour later, with the smell of home-made cookies filling our house, the phone rang. The Study was cancelled. Oh crap. When I told S we in fact would NOT be going over to Angeo's that night, she proceeded to try and "help" me fix the situation.

"Couldn't you just have a *little* meeting mom?"
~Hunny, the other people can't make it tonight, so we'll have to do it next week.
"Could maybe just YOU go to the meeting?"
~Babe, there IS no meeting to go to, it's not happening anymore.
"But maybe if YOU go, then the meeting will still happen?"
~Sugar, you are going to have to wait to see Angeo on another day. I'm sorry.
"But my cookies Mommy!! They'll go all MOLDY!"

Ok, so that cracked me up... and we just couldn't have moldy cookies, so I called Angeo's Mommy, and since they only live a few streets down, we decided S could bring her love gift to her beau. When I disclosed to S the good news, she bolted upstairs before I could even finish my sentence. When she returned, she had on a brown cord dress (which was a tad too small), and her hair was in a messy ponytail with 3 butterfly clips and her favorite sparkly headband. She did a quick twirl, stated, "Angeo will think I am beautiful in this," grabbed her little container of *mold-free* cookies, and skipped out the door.

Princess B, not to be upstaged, is constantly coloring pictures of "An-gee-doe", and talking on her princess phone to Angeedoe, and asking how many more sleeps till we see Angeedoe again. We celebrated Thanksgiving this weekend (yup, we're Canucks), and as per tradition, as we sat around the dinner table which was adorned with all the trimmings which I slaved all day to prepare (haha, sorry, laughing hard at that one....thank you perogies and corn on the cob :P), we go around the table saying what we are thankful for.

Daddy started with the usual...you know, mac computers and dirt bikes...oh and family too. Then, he broke into song. I'm not kidding. If you know King Daddy G, this might not surprise you. If you don't yet have the pleasure of knowing him, you might think he's fruity. Well, when I say song...it's not like Sound of Music style... it's more like The Wiggles kids program meets MC Hammer meets the the Gaithers. Quite *ahem* unique. Well, throughout this whole spectacle, I can see that B's wheels are turning as to what she will say when it's her turn. Once the home musical tones down, the spotlight is directed at her. She immediately feels the pressure of being on the spot and is deciding whether she really wants to cast her pearl in front of all to see...after looking at Mommy to the right, and then slowly turning her head and seeing Daddy on the left, she then turns her stare directly across the table from her at Queen S. Upon seeing her there, she raises her head high, collecting her new found confidence and states boldly, pronouncing every syllable, "AN-GEE-DOE. I am thankful for Angeedoe." Feeling quite proud of herself, she leans her back against her chair as to pass the baton to Mommy, because she has nothing more to say.

Later that night, at bedtime, Queen S and I were saying her bedtime prayers. Every night we say one thing we thank Jesus for, one thing we are asking Jesus for and one thing we are sorry to Jesus for. When we got to the last one, S's voice was quiet and reflective, and she said solemnly, "I'm sorry I was mad at Bree for taking mine." For taking your what, I asked? "For taking mine Angeo. That's what I was going to say, and (at this point her voice got quite a bit louder) she stole him!" She then lowered her head and said she was sorry and that she will try better to share him.

Oh. My.

It has begun.

I've heard your 3 year old is your 13 year old.
Wow.
This is going to be fun.