Mickey

Look what we found Mickey doing while The Boy was at school! P's love for his "Brudda" has not wavered and in fact their friendship has grown recently. Mick is included in everything and is left in fun and strategic places most days before P heads off for school.

She Can Do It All

A few weeks ago she wanted to be a Cheerleader and a Cowgirl . . . (let us hope she never hears about a certain group called the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders or sees the Kilgore Rangerettes).

This past week she has amended her aspirations to Ballet Teacher, Baseball Coach, Scientist, and Teacher. "I want to be everything" she says. Oh sweet Pickle, you can be anything and everything!

Sweetness

I found this photo in our picture folder . . . I had not seen it before. JP took it on the way back from Pickle's last check-up - just an annual "well" visit. We had told her that she would not need shots at this visit but it turned out she did need a few vaccinations to stay up-to-date so we threw in a flu shot for good measure. The really sad part is that New Kid was just a tag along and ended up getting flu shot as well. 

Christmas 2012

Another great Christmas and we were lucky to once again have grandparents Jay and JoJo here with us. We were also happy to have Jay's son Josh and his wife Liana here as well. It was a Lego Christmas as Santa brought Legos for all. 

A Barbie "Blackberry" from her cousin . . . .

New Kid asked Santa for "green toys" and he brought this (and a green bucket of Legos).

Mom got P an awesome book on the elements!

Winterfest 2013

Looking back at 2012 and 2011 I guess I have not posted pictures from previous Winterfests and I believe this is our 3rd year to attend the Winter Carnival at our elementary school. The concept is excellent as they bring in "snow" and create a snow field for the kids to play and there is also a snow slide for sledding. In addition to the snow there are plenty of inflatable slides, bouncers, and obstacle courses as well as a climbing wall and carnival games. This was New Kids first year to attend and I think she really enjoyed herself!

I love the flying pigtails.

Pickle also had a great time but was not as exuberant as her sister or brother; turns out she was becoming a little under the weather and spent the afternoon and evening with a fever. Both girls very much enjoyed the Cupcake Walk!

The Boy was off on his own with friends for most of the our time at Winterfest, but I was able to catch him on the snow for one last slide.

Ballerinas?

Josh says not to encourage it . . . but how can I not?

I Could See the Future (and My Past)

Last night as we were herding putting the girls to bed the phone rang - the home phone. This in itself is not an odd thing as that thing on the wall often makes noise, but this time it stopped and then started again immediately which is a pretty good sign that someone must really need to talk with us. The second round of incessant ringing usually prompts one of us to actually walk over and answer it (or at least look at caller ID more seriously). I hear Josh answer and then hand the phone to The Boy. I was a little dumbfounded as it wasn't his birthday so why would anyone call and immediately ask to speak with him? Cute and funny story so far, right? Well here is where it gets sad . . . my son has ZERO phone etiquette. Instead of simply saying "hello," he says "is this Sam*"? Josh and I stood motionless as we watched him bumble through this initial exchange and then some silly I am eight and talking on the phone nonsense." (*not his real name)

Once the laughing ended they were able to get down to business and it turns out these boys are working on a project together and needed to chat about some changes to their Dred Scott presentation. Amazingly the giggling continued and for the life of me I can't figure out what is so funny about 1) homework, 2) PowerPoint presentations, 3) Supreme Court rulings, or 4) pre-Civil War history; but then I am not in the 3rd grade. The Boy then proceeded to spend 30 minutes on the phone with his buddy while they searched for pictures and factoids to add to their project.

I snapped the picture soon after he got comfortable in front of the computer because I felt the need to capture when it all began. I wanted to be able to look back on January 16, 2013 as when talking on the telephone with friends began for him because when I look back on my childhood that is a HUGE part of what I remember. I don't think we talked about Dred Scott unless there was cute boy in one of my classes with that name and we sure didn't discuss changes to our PowerPoint presentation but times have changed as the old folks (like me) say.