First Sewing Project

"This is the hammock picture for my rats. Its so fuzzy and so thick they might be too warm. Me and mom helped me.

"I sewed it myself. We sewed the fuzzy fabric together. Then we added the edging to the top. Then we sewed it all together and pinned it all together. And then we put the lanyard hooks on to hang it up on the cage. Then we put it in the rat cage.

"I hope you love this picture. If you do, thank-you."

Bajini Soccer Girl

"It was Wednesdays. It was fun. I like kicking the ball because I kicked it back and forth to Jordan and Conner. We took a lot of water breaks. I love drinking water. I liked getting my turquoise shirt from soccer. I loved playing all the games. My favorite was the animal finder game. How about you try it.

"I love you.

"Thanks.

"Bye."

S Swims!

I am very excited to report my biggest achievement of the summer. Bigger than trying out martial arts at my best friends birthday party. Bigger than going to the water park wave pool and down their big water slides. Even bigger than milking a goat at the state fair.

I can swim!
I took lessons at school all summer (just like last year) and at the last lesson dad came to watch my progress. I was splashing around, spinning and bobbing, when dad came over to me and remarked "do you realize that you're swimming?"

I thought it was exciting that at the beginning of the summer I could touch the bottom. Now, though, I can kick my straight legs, put my face in the water, and "reach and pull" my hands to make a rudimentary swimming motion. The photo shows an instructor supporting me, but I can move about 15ft without any help at all! Mom and dad are very excited by this and I'm finding myself enjoying the water more and more as my skills improve.

Easter Sunday

Easter had a little bit of something for both of us girls.

S loves to dress up and the more 'fancy' things the better. Yesterday, she wore her prettiest flower dress. Then she borrowed both a necklace and two broaches from her mom (like I said, the S is into quantity when it comes to fancy). Even better, we curled S's hair for the first time ever.

All the way to church, S talked about being a princess and how wonderful it was.

A has a different priority. She prefers the tasty treasures. While she also enjoys dressing up, she is much more excited when she is included in the play of others who are excited as well.

With that in mind, it will come as no surprise that A was very happy to play with her sister while hunting for eggs and wearing her new Hello Kitty back pack. Best of all for her, she ate as much candy as she wanted.

Fancy Hair - Crazy Eyes

I love fancy hair. You may not be able to tell, but on this day I wore four pony tail holders, five fancy barrettes, and my headband. The more the merrier.

Here I added my "crazy eyes" look. This isn't just mom catching me by surprise. This is me posing especially for this picture.

Birthday Parties

I had a wonderful time turning four years old. My birthday was Feb 28 and on that day I had a big birthday party with a bunch of my friends from school. We held it at little gym (one of my favorite places) and one of my favorite teachers ran the class. We got to do everything I wanted. We jumped on the air track, played with hula hoops, and played Red Rover. I was even able to go into the closet where they store all the good toys and pick out which piece of equipment we could play with next.

After playing, we ate cookie cake. This was my parents idea. I didn't really like the cookie cake but Miss K (my preschool teacher) told my dad that kids don't really like cupcakes. She said we like cookies and frosting but not cupcakes.

So, against my protests, my parents decided to get a huge cookie cake for my birthday. It was a huge hit! All my friends started chanting "cook-ee-cake, cook-ee-cake" as the adults debated the best way to cut and serve the odd thing.

Finally, I opened presents. That was also very exciting, but despite all the excitement, I worked very hard to remember all my thank-yous.

At the end I did a very good job thanking everyone again for coming and we all went home for a nap.

That night, grandma and grandpa took us out with my aunt and cousin for a birthday dinner. I didn't eat much, but I loved the presents I got then too.

On Monday, I brought frozen fruit pops into school. We were going to celebrate at school on the Friday before my birthday, but a big snow storm hit so we waited until Monday. The delay meant I could wear the beautiful blue wings, crown, and magic wand I received as presents.

Finally, we did one more small bowling party with a couple of family friends. That is when I got to eat the shark cake I started asking for back in July with my sister's birthday. My mom was very proud of this cake too.

It is fabulous being 4.

Winter Sculpture

Last week, we put together a Snow-Duck. After shaping it, we decided it needed a bill, then wings, and finally a tail and four (yes, 4) webbed feet. Finally we added a little color. We used icicles for the eyes but they don't show up well on the photo.

Our sculpture is now buried under this weekend's snow storm. Perhaps it is good that our duck is hibernating.

Mickey Mouse

I drew this picture of Mickey Mouse.

I used a cup and plate to make the circles and added the face, arms, legs, and a hat.

After drawing it, I wanted to share it with everyone, particularly her grandma and gramps so here it is.

Merry Christmas Everyone

We all hope everyone enjoyed a very wonderful day.

Corn Maze

For our Labor Day Sunday we went to the Corn Maze. Yesterday A was up until 11pm and I was up until almost 1am so we were both very tired. A rode in the stroller and I spent most of my time on mom or dad's hip.

It was pretty fun still, though. I kept track of where we were in the maze and dad put me in charge of finding the final route out.

But more important than the maze was getting back to the goats so I could feed them. They looked very hungry and I had to buy a fair amount of goat food to make sure they were properly tended to.
The photo is of me with my famous "funny face" and A attempting to imitate me. She's learning a lot of my tricks pretty quickly, but she still needs to work on that funny face some.

Quiet Summer

Actually, it is anything but a quiet summer. Between a first birthday, canoeing up the creek, visiting numerous friends, and swimming as often as possible the entire family is very busy.

But I hope to get back to blogging regularly this month.

Wild Animal Park

Our yard is a wild animal park. I went outside with dad last Saturday and was running around in my standard high-energy way. Suddenly I rounded the corner of the house and found this turtle in the grass!

I bolted back to tell dad. I'm not sure he believed me, though. He took his time coming over to the front yard as I quickly collected my gloves, my bucket, and opened the door to the house to yell at mom telling her to come quick and bring the camera.

But I was right. There was a turtle visiting us! Dad decided he must have come from the retention pond and become lost. We offered him to a neighbor who has a small decorative pond in his yard but he turned us down, so after a lengthy play-time, we brought him back to the pond.

At first we set him down about 10 yards away from the water but dad decided the weeds looked free of poison ivy so we brought him down right next to the water's edge. We briefly discussed the size of the pond and some lilies growing on the other side and looked back down to say good-bye to the turtle. He had disappeared!

Mom said that I was a very good zookeeper. She said she could tell because obviously the turtle was very happy that I brought him back home.

Gardening

After two years of neglect, the entire family is working hard at improving the gardens. We spent a lot of time weeding, planting new flowers, and adding annuals. Now we have a variety of colorful gardens that are mostly weed free... and we have the reason for all the time spent with frogs and other animals.

Sofia and Toad are Friends

I had a toady last few days. On Saturday, dad found me the toad I have in my hands in this photo. On Monday I found a toad in the playground at school. Yesterday we found another toad in the garden at home. And I love them all.

Young Biker

I love my new bike. I love my knee and elbow guards too, but I love my bike.

Every Friday at school is bike day and I spend all my time outside biking around and around the bike circle. Over the weekend, mom let me bike all the way around the block twice! Then later that day dad let me bike around and around the cul-de-sac. Although I kept saying "my knees are going to be sooo sore." and the air was pretty chilly, I still didn't want to come inside.

Biking is sooo fun.

Easter

We had a great Easter. It all started with baskets of candy. S received lots of chocolates and jelly beans (a favorite) while A's basket was filled with milk chocolate chips.

Then we dressed up in pretty spring outfits complete with stockings and "church shoes" that click across the floor as you walk.

Church was pretty interested. S really wanted to see the organ but was able to watch a trumpet player instead. A slept through the first half and enjoyed the music through the second half.

We returned home to finish the hunt for eggs (we only found one before church). That bunny wasn't very tricky. I found 6 of the 7 right away. There was one hiding on top of my play kitchen that took a very long time for me to find but otherwise the bunny was easy on me.

Then we went with grandma, grandpa, our aunt, and our cousin to a brunch buffet. The food was okay. The chocolate fountain was fun. The best part, though, was the visit from the Easter bunny and playing with presents from my aunt.

Once again, A slept through most of the fun stuff. Silly baby.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.

We dyed over 30 eggs and I already ate 2 of them. Yum yum! Tomorrow I get to wear a special bunny pin on my Easter dress when we go to church and then we will eat lots of wonderful and tasty foods at a big Easter brunch. It should be a very good time.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their holiday as well.

Dentist

I visited the dentist today. I was a little scared last night, but it was a lot of fun!

They let me touch all their toys including "Mr. Thirsty" (which sucked all the juice out of my mouth) and the buffer which they used to shine my fingernail before using on my teeth.

I chose grape for my toothpaste flavor and it tasted very good. Then I got a new toothbrush, my very own toothpaste, some floss and a pretty pink flosser, a sticker, and a squishy salamander toy.

All day I've told everyone how I was very good for the dentist and how I have pretty teeth.

The photo, by the way, is of my espresso maker (the special toy I wanted for my birthday). I guess all that coffee I've made isn't so bad for my teeth after all.

Trouble

Dad tucks me in at night. Each night he lets me choose a stuffed 'buddy' to sleep with. Some of my buddies, though, are too large or have too many odd parts. For example, I have a large Elmo that lounges, but is too large for me to sleep with at night.

Tonight I was feeling particularly precocious. When dad asked what buddy I wanted to sleep with I asked, "Can I sleep with Elmo?"

"No, you cannot sleep with Elmo."

I picked up my yellow duck (an old stand-by) and stated, "This is Elmo. Can I sleep with Elmo?"

He said "Yes, you can sleep with your duck."

"Can I sleep with Elmo?" I repeated holding up the duck.

With a smile, he said, "Yes, you can sleep with Elmo."

Ah, just the words I was waiting for. I grabbed my big Elmo and climbed into bed.

In the end, I fell asleep holding my green and white puppy dog, but it was worth a try.

Melted Snow

These photos are from Feb 17th, one of the first warm days we had. Since then the last brave ice fishermen packed up, the crocuses bloomed and now that they are past prime the hyacinth are starting to flower. The tulips are growing taller and the weeping cherry is starting to bud leaves.

Through all of this, the mountain of snow kept clinging onto it's own frozen core, refusing to allow the sun to beat it back. Last night as we all settled into bed, a small patch remained watching over our houses.
The light spring showers that rained all night finally melted all that remained. Spring must be here.