Ta dah! I am a tricksy little hobbit, or I would be if I were a little hobbit. My brilliant scheme could only have worked better if getting them set up hadn't taken half of my power nap time.
Just looking at it gets me singing "I'm a Map, I'm a Map, I'm a Map ..." And when did she start using apostrophes? We should probably start working on spelling but it's hard to correct her when this way is SO dang cute! (For those not lucky enough to be familiar with Dora, they have a map to help them get somewhere and Dora explains the steps to get there, just like J did on these papers) And I love the teamwork. M drew the map and J wrote the directions/story line. I find maps like this drawn by M nearly daily. I will also occasionally hear little Swiper sounds behind couches. I love it.
I wanted to insert some witty caption here but the face is just too good for anything I can think of. What do you think he's saying here?
And is this not a crazy boy face? Looks like he's ready to be chasing his sisters around the playground with a worm laughing his mischevious little heart out. Fun times ahead. I can hear the squeals now.
J always had an extremely expressive face and still does actually. As a baby I remember my mom asking if I could get any normal pictures of her smiling since mostly I got crazy expressions and funny faces. While I get lots of smiles from Buddy, I don't think he's much behind her in expressiveness!
In retrospect, not the best idea to let her learn the scriptures by watching movies. Prince of Egypt is very entertaining but what she got out of it was that God yelled at Moses so loud Moses took his shoes off. We might have to review the story in more detail next week. But so cute regardless!
Why that's Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse of course. And in case you have ever wondered about their relationship, your questions are all answered here. Minnie, as you can see, is clearly pregnant. She draws a variation of this picture probably half a dozen times each week. Hey, when you find something that works, stick with it.
I especially love the last one. Very important that nobody be caught "playing dog." Who knows what would happen if we let them get away with that.
Watchin' Blazers with daddy time:
Is this not a "do-you-see-what-this-crazy-chick-is-doing-to-me" face?
Cool and knows it too:
We actually got a picture with Papa! Hurray!
He loves him his baby food! Do you see how he's attacking that spoon? Wish you could see him eating live. Before he's even swallowed he starts yelling for the next bite. It is not a pretty sight when the bowl is empty.
And no joke, he grabbed this out of my hands as I walked by. My mom was holding him and he just snatched it and then did this. How does he even know that's what you do??
We can't believe how darn fast the little peanut is growing. It's rather disturbing. He has been sitting by himself the last few days. Of course he falls if he gets distracted and quickly looks to the side or something (which makes the girls laugh hysterically), but the fact that he's doing it means he's getting big WAY too fast!
M has no such reservations. As you can see, he's nearly as tall as her and she just giggles away.
He, of course, needs a closer look.
She soon decided he was her pal and kept hugging him around the neck. In a rare moment of bravado, J ran over touched him at arms length when he was distracted, and booked it out of there. She kept repeating that she'd touched him until everyone acknowledged her great feat.
We brought him in briefly to see what Buddy's response would be since he's like the size of Bodie's head. We were hoping for some laughs or funny faces at least, but alas, he was more interested in the camera. Not having been around dogs before, it's like he didn't think he was real, and thus not worth bothering to look at. Bummer.
Then they were off on a walk, despite the frigid temperatures. M wanted to hold the leash but you don't need much of an imagination to foresee what would've happened if she had and Bodie had decided to run. Oh boy. 
So J's P.E. teacher is awesome and sends out this monthly newsletter with funny things the kids say, health and exercise tips, what they're learning, and an extra credit calendar. It is full of suggestions of fun things to do with family or friends to get "extra credit" in P.E. By that he means you get a certificate and you get to sign your name on the Fitness Star Wall of Fame poster for the month. I know, cool, huh? Well I'm new to this whole kids with school, homework, papers to have signed, remembering to send the appropriate shoe wear on P.E. days and the the library book on Thursdays, etc. etc. etc. so I've glanced at it before and thought "that would be fun if I were a little more on top of things. Maybe when she's older. Afterall, she has her whole life to be an over-achiever." But I printed it out this month and put it in her homework folder for fun. And it is fun. Last night with daddy they did this: "Build a tower of pillows and practice throwing sock balls at the top pillow. Can you knock it over?" Daddy thought this was the best homework ever. Buddy, being held by daddy, was studying the whole thing as if we were from a different planet and he needed to learn as much as he could. Today we've been working on this one: "Take five pieces of newspaper and roll into a long, tight paper tube. Tape the sides so it will stay rolled. Balance the paper tube on fingers, hand, elbow, anything." Again, who knew homework could be this fun?
Explanation of this picture by M:
the space section:
and of course, the ninety degree, splendiferous butterfly house that even Fancy Nancy would approve of:
You have to be really careful not to step on them because they land everywhere. J gets freaked out when they fly right in front of her, but loves to spot the ones at rest.
I had a little friend that landed on my head and stayed there for like 10 minutes. You're told not to remove butterflies that land on you so he just chilled with us. Buddy was a little oblivious. Butterflies would swoop by right in front of his face and then about 10 seconds later he'd turn his head to see what it was. Love the reaction time.
Then we picked Bopa up from the bus station and went to cousin Hannah's Ballroom dance competition, and to a restaurant for dinner. Then on her birthday, she was such a doll and waited until everybody was finally all there at about 5 PM to open her presents!! I can't believe she handled waiting that long! By that time she was a little worn out so she wasn't quite as excited as she would've been earlier but she was such a good little birthday girl.
Her favorite present:
I got off so easy this year! She just wanted pink cupcakes with pink frosting and pink sprinkles! Pinkalicious!
Poor buddy wanted to eat cupcakes too. Next year little man!
We're so glad M is part of our family! She gives the best hugs in the world as she "tries to squeeze your guts out." She is so good at twirling, which is her favorite part of dancing, and apart from a rather good booty shake is pretty much the only move she does. She livens things up with a crazy look when things are getting too quiet. She loves her baby brother and "helps" him roll over and read books and eat Saltine cracker crumbs when mom isn't looking. She is so cute and loves to snuggle up to you. She gets so excited for her big sister to get home so she can show her all the things she did that day. She loves fruit and is constantly asking for me to go buy her a watermelon and other such out-of-season fruit. She is obsessed with music as of late and often drags me into her room to hear her new favorite song that she has playing on her ancient CD player. She is so sweet and darling and hard to ever say no to as she bats her beautiful blue eyes up at us. We just love her to pieces! Happy Birthday!! (She just told me that this was much too long and that she was tired of listening to all that I wrote but I couldn't help but include these things we love about her even if they're too much for her attention span :) )
