Brinley: “Dad, how would we live without hands? Would we grab stuff with our mouths?”

Brinley on the changing seasons: “Fall is coming in a week of a week of a week of a week of a half.”

After eating some cake to celebrate my birthday, we move outside to put Brin in the swing. In a few minutes she springs a question on me.

“Dad, what did you wish for?”

“Well”, I say, hesitating, “if I tell you it might not come true.”

“It’s ok, Dad. I’ll make it come true.” she says, sweetly.

After a pause I tell her, “My wish was to have many, many more birthdays with my wonderful family.”

Brinley closes her eyes for a bit.

With a smile she opens her eyes and says, “There, now it’s come true.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

I am beginning to get misty-eyed when she follows up with, “But you might die pretty soon because you’re getting really, really old.”

“Dad!” Brinley yells as she runs full-tilt into the room I’m in. “We’ve got a big, no-good problem.”

She stares hard at me, pausing for dramatic effect to let the news sink in.

“We’re out of cookie cereal.”

Sarah and I are leaving to run an errand while the kids are with a babysitter. As we’re pulling away, Brin yells, “See you soon, you two!”

Brin is trying to move a small shelf in an attempt to rearrange her room. When it too proves too much of a challenge, she says in exasperation, “This shelf is rubbish!”

Brinley leans in to give me a kiss and ends up sneezing open-mouthed on the bridge of my nose.

“That was a achoo-kiss!“

Micah, Brin, and I are out on an evening drive when Brin notices that we’ve started to turn toward home.

“Aww…” she laments. “I didn’t want to go home yet.”

“Tell ya what,” I concede. “How about we take the long way home instead?”

“But dad! I want to take the fast way farther.”