O Christmas Pee, O Christmas Pee: A Tutorial.

So this is just a tiny bit super late, but I will now show you how a family might go about obtaining a tannenbaum.

First, make plans to wake up super early on your husband's premeditated sick day.* 

Be sure to get off to a lazy start upon awaking.  

2.  Rush around the house and gather snow attire.  

Husband:  You track down half of it.
Wife:  You track down the other half and extras of everything because the kids WILL get soaking wet and cry.  Wife will then carefully and intentionally divide everything into piles of round 1 clothing, round 2 clothing, and items for herself.
Husband again:  Make sure you stuff all of said piles into one tiny backpack with no sort of rhyme or reason.

3. Next, gather your cute children and stuff them into the truck and drive to the mountains, stopping once for coffee and overpriced mountain-town breakfast sandwiches.

If you cannot gather your own cute children, you can borrow mine.  You cannot, however, borrow my high-end breakfast sandwich, for I am hungry.

4.  Upon reaching your parking spot in the land of tree-cutting, pause for a family photo such as this one.  

Tailgates clearly make excellent tripods in the event you forgot yours AGAIN this year.

5.  Double-check the security of kiddos' mittens and start hiking!

(at this point, you will realize you forgot to bring sleds for the lazy-children-pulling.  AGAIN this year.)

Don't worry, you can rest a time...

or two.

A snow angel stop is permitted as well.  It's almost mandatory.

But naps are to happen on the return trip home, not during working hours.

6.  When you find your tree, you'll just KNOW it.

Or someone will dutifully point it out to you:

7.  Send in the Big Man to do the heavy cutting and lifting.  

 8. Haul it back.  It's a long way back, so just haul like you've never hauled before.

A photo shoot midway back to your truck is encouraged. 

You might be thinking they're pretty handsome.  And that's because they ARE!

 

Do not hesitate to continue the shoot long after the kids are done being cute.

she loves this moment.

 9.  Another tailgate photo, with the new member of the family.

They're so totally over this.

10.  Grab lunch in town and head home!  

 

We could end this tutorial here, on this very pleasant note.  I could tell you the kiddos slept in the car on the way home, ready and rested when we got back.  This is almost true.  What is totally true is... Two things:

1.  When we got home, we saw Howdy destroyed the bathroom Carpeting That Doesn't Belong in a Bathroom Anyway.  So I had to rip it out, as well as shreds of carpet padding.  I had to pry up tack strips and nasty nails out of the cute pine subfloor.  Bored, lonely, naughty puppy.

We should have just brought him with us, even though the rules state they must be leashed, which we all know is not going to happen with a big ol' puppy wanting to run all over the place and half the hike is straight up climbing.  But we should have brought him anyway.

Tulah, ever the biographer and illustrator, made a "note" that said, "Hade (Howdy) tor up a rug." Oh yeah smartypants?  Try illustrating THAT.


The second truth is this:
Christmas trees smell like PEE.  The fresh Frasier smell we all dream of is a lie.  A big fat Christmas lie.   At least for us.  This year's variety emits a clear urine-like tangy smell all the time and laughs at us as we start threatening to re-home that gift-with-purchase cat for spraying in the house.  Maybe a deer or 30 marked some territory all over it this summer as it sat in the woods, living a full tree life.  Maybe some law-unabiding citizens let their dogs OFF THEIR LEASHES and they staked their claim on OUR tree.  Varmints. 

It's still pretty though, and that New Pee Smell is less pungent daily. 
We decorated it a week later and didn't even bother trimming much off of it.  I could have cut branches, drilled holes in the bare spots of the trunk, branch-grafted, watered, trimmed some more, but I didn't.  We like it all wonky and Super Ultra Mountain Realistic.  So here we go.  Our Christmas tree Our Christmas tree, how lovely are your cray-cray branches and questionable fragrance...

Talk to you soon about all of the thangs we been makin'!!
Merry Christmas if I don't get to it before the big day!


.
.
.
.



.
.
.
.


*the aforementioned sick day in no way shall indicate that Mister Boree has in the past or shall again in the future make habit of such premeditation.  All counts suggested by Missus to indeed take a "day of sick" have in their utmost and complete entirety been as the French say... "Shot Down With Wild Disdain."  It must also be noted that the day in discussion was not presented to management, or any Sayer In The Matter of his failure to appear in the workplace, as a day of sickness for himself but rather his wife, who in such an event would not be able to perform her Housewifely duties, thus requiring Husband to remain home to attend to matters she would not be willing or able to insuchaclatter that she were in fact sick that particular day.  Good day sir.

Dedus wuv da widdle chid-den

I wanted to post some pictures today.  We have had a busy week, lots of things getting done, lots of craziness to report.  I have photos to back up how lucky I am to have my sweet children and to be home with them daily.  Photos to prove I can overhaul a bathroom in two naptimes flat.  Okay... plus one movie.  And a half.  Photos that prove we cut down our own Christmas trees and bake our bread and wear whatever superhero attire we feel like channeling that day.   But I sit here, getting ze bebes down for a nap.  I check facebook and hear the worst possible news: 18 children killed in Connecticut.  CHILDREN.  Elementary school children. 22 more killed by knife in China.  By knife.  Little children. 

I just... I mean, I cannot wrap my brain around the horror.  This world is hurting.  We are in trouble.  If it's not a terrorist attack, it's a 10 year old girl going missing, and then parts of her body found in an open space park nearby.  It's a mass theater shooting at a midnight premiere of Batman.  It's attempted abductions, missing boys, a mall shooting in Oregon, local soldiers murdered or committing suicide overeas, staged car accidents set up to sexually assault the woman hit when she gets out of the car to exchange information.  This world is just plain in pain.  How can this go on.

I almost hope to see the Lord soon.  That is, as long as I have my kids in my arms and it's not all scary and armageddon-like.  When I was younger I never thought I would see the day when he arrived and took us all upstairs.  But now, I feel like it is prophesied left and right in the world, the environment, in Israel, in schools.  In intuitive ancient calendars...  You know.
It's scary, but only because it's unknown what that day will be like.
It's hopeful, because what kind of world is this anymore.
I know terror and hatred, killings etc, have been going on since man found its way to the map.  And we hear more about it anymore because social media and networking sites are full of in-your-face information overload, and everyone wants their input to be heard and 'like'd.  I get it.  But sometimes I fear we are weaker than ever and the devil is taking over.  And this is coming from someone who isn't even sure there IS a devil.  But there must be, because someone's killing our children and it certainly ain't Jesus.

This fall when a local little girl was taken and missing for far too long, then parts of her found in a field, I found myself in irrational and inexplicable fear.  I shudder just typing it out.  We had just bought our home here in Golden.  I heard of two more attempted abductions that week right out here, and more elsewhere.  There was no convincing me the killer and kidnapper wasn't the next person who walked up our new street.   I had my mom, nana, anyone, praying for some peace for me.  I wasn't sleeping.  I crawled into bed with my babies at night, or pulled them next to me in ours, so I knew they were safe.  Then I would cry because they were.  I knew that spending my days and nights on guard and in fear meant that evil was winning, but getting beyond it was very hard.  I had to be positive energy.  I had to be positivity.  I had to be positive.  I started spending ALL of my time in prayer so that fear had no place.  And not just for myself, but that little girl's family and our local terrified communities.  My God helped me.  I started researching how to talk to my kids about these kinds of things, how to teach and balance friendliness with discern.  I became thankful for their initial bashfulness upon meeting someone, whereas I used to somewhat require they say hello to someone when spoken to.  Not anymore.  They can appear untrained little snobs all they want, they don't have to trust anybody.  I sure don't.

I just sit and I cry here as if these kids involved today are my own.  I have faith that God has so much love for them that he takes a little child before they know what is happening, before they can fear or feel pain.   He has to. 


A great friend of mine told me that he totally and completely believes that if you pray over your child, God will hear it and will honor it.  It will happen.  I guess we can't pray long or loud or hard enough to give a blessing to every sweet child in the world.  We can hurt and question and try to make sense of it, but the truth is there is no sense.  There's no relief and no answers.  I don't believe God did this today, or even allowed it to happen.  Not the God I know.  I believe he's with us through the grief and pain.  I believe he wants to keep our babies in our arms and take our suffering.  There are two forces here, good and evil.  Sometimes evil wins and it shatters and it kills.  I wonder if the only time that good will truly prevail is the day God arrives and brings us all to our heavens. 

For my own little ones- the two people in the world who have defined me better than I have ever been able to myself... I pray over them daily the prayer one of my high school teachers would pray over us at the beginning of each class with her.  "Dear Lord, I ask that you send your loving angels to surround and protect us, and keep us from harm."  I add my own request to keep his hand over our home and our hearts, keep us together, and keep us happy.  I thank him for their smart little brains and their kind hearts and their wonderous, infinite imaginations, and I ask that they use them as a blessing and inspiration to those around them each day.  I ask that they use them to become closer to their faith and closer to goodness.  My heaven is with my kids, watching them grow and learn, snuggle me, tell me sweet things, hold my cheeks in their hands as they kiss my face and my eyes, make a difference, change lives and start families.  If I can't watch them do that on this earth, then good God, please take me before them.

As Knox says... "Dedus wuv da widdle chiiiiid-den, all da chid-den a-da word."

my goodness.

Trimming the walls

" Instructions for living a life:
      Pay attention.
      Be astonished.
      Tell about it."
                             ~ Mary Oliver

Peanut Butter and Jelly Conversation the other day:

Knox:  "When I det bigger I will drive."

me: "To where, Bud?"

him: "I will drive a monsser truck when det bigger, I will drive it to dee akarium.  You will come with me, dere is a spot for you, right dere.  You can sit in dee back seat and I drive at dee front.  I det bigger I drive really fasser!  I drive daddy's truck and drive fasster!  Right now I not big, I am a baby?  I went in your tummy?  And I not baby anymore, I just Knox.  I just baby Knox.  Den???  Den WHAT HAPPEN??  I wobble wike dis! (insert adorable wobbling here)."

me:  "What about you Tulah, what do you want to be when you get bigger?"

her:  "A ballerina.  Um, I can drive to my ballet class. Or maybe... My daddy can drive me there."

Gosh, they are SO much alike.



Today is cozy and I'm still in my pajamas.  Knox is in his monster-feet slippers and not asleep yet, so I have some time to type as I get them down for a nap.

Yesterday I summitted the vast range of boxes in our storage to pick through whatever holiday shrapnel I could discover in the mess.  I might have rolled my ankle trying to make it happen too.  Worth it.
Guess what kind of awesome I found?  Elf!  Our elf Chippy was in there, just willing me to uncover his needleness in the 10x10 haystack of junk.  OH BUDDY, YOU ARE COMING HOME WITH US.  We have been discussing our elf a lot lately and I might have alluded to the possibility that perhaps he doesn't quite know where our new house is?  Maybe?  He wouldn't be late because Mommy simply cannot find him.  Ohhhh no no no.

I put up some lights in our windows and our huuuuuge 39" lighted star I got from Ikea the other day.  It is heavenly hanging in our window!  I need more!!  I plan on stockpiling after the holidays are over and they get Christmas clearance-happy.  We don't have a single outlet anywhere near the front of the house, but I put up a few lights around the porch anyway in hopes Husband can get that figured out for me. 
There's a family we're doing "Christmas" for this year, so we went out to get their presents last night.  When we got home, Chippy was hiding in the dining room chandelier.  I asked Tulah to turn on the light, but I had dimmed it earlier so she would have a hard time with it.  I am so clever.  She couldn't figure it out so she looked over at the light and THERE HE WAS!  Oh the joy!  Oh the screaming!!  Oh the jumping and the hugging and the shrieking!  "Mommy!  He knew how to find us because we have our Christmas lights up now!!  He knew where to go!!!!"

For today's appearance, Chippy borrowed Knox's monster truck for some off-walling.  A certain Little Brother was not too happy he didn't ask first:

I wish you could get the full effect of the pouting going on in photo 2!

Knox will soon learn that Elves just wanna have

fuh-un.









Over the weekend we started in on our trim in the living room.
We replaced all of the window and door casings and added 5" window sills too.  That was Nick's idea, I'm so proud of his handsome little mind!  Our last home had all of that big wood trim and sweet little detail everywhere, and this house has none.  We have to build it all in as we go along- thus the wall and trim project.  I didn't think about adding window sills since there is a little ledge there, but they make a huuuuge difference! 

 

  before/after:

We have decided to go ahead and do the white trim.  Frankly, there's no need to get fancy with it.  White is perty and will always, always look nice.  As long as I can keep Tulah interested in a weekly wall-washing chore :)

Baseboards are lookin' good too!  But what wall wouldn't look snazz-matazz in 7" boards.

Howdy thinks they're just fine

Tonight Roo made little presents for people.
She wrapped Grammy's and wrote on it, on her own...

"I love Grammy
Tulah
Grammy
From"  ... I did help her with the 'rrrr' in 'from', she was
asking about that.


On mine she wrote
"Tulah
From
Ginny
Mom
I love Ginny"

I just looooove her writing to us, so sweet.  That girl could draw and write all day if Knox didn't pounce on her writing utensils every time he lost her attention just long enough.  And over the weekend I think she started understanding reading full sentences.  I guess we always just work on words, but I thought we needed to see how they come together.  And here with the little gifts I think she's trying to write sentences out.   Maybe you noticed.

And of course, Mister Entertainment:

ha!

This is my house, and I am the Mommy.

I want to talk about Little Mommies.

You know the book... "This is my house, and I am the Mommy.  My children are Annabelle, Betsy, and Bonnie."

A little girl has three dear little dollies and is their mommy in the little Golden storybook.  My mom had it when she was little, and my Nana sent it to Tulah when she was tiny tiny.  It's memorized in my head and probably Tulah's too.  It's been packed away or hidden under other books for some time, and we just read it at nap time a few minutes ago.  A few pages are missing, but since it's committed to memory that's no big deal.  The Little Mommy cares for her little ones probably just how her mommy cares for her.  She wakes up and they say goodbye to the breadwinner of the family... She feeds the babes, they play while she sweeps and does dishes.  She bakes, has a neighbor over for tea, goes for a little peaceful stroll.  Her home is neat and tidy, and she even hand-washes the laundry. When Betsy falls ill, Mommy makes a call to the doctor who comes immediately for a house call.  It's an idyllic and precious little story.  I am jealous of the mother of that Little Mommy for giving her such great lessons on how to keep house and order and patience. 

Funny how you read an innocent little story, especially one you know well, and all of a sudden it's not a story- it's an OMEN.  Reading about a sweet little "perfect" mama at a time when you have been thinking about your home, your 'job' as a mom, your patience and your example.  My thoughts lately travel and wander and sojourn to places of resolution, resolution to be better.  Resolution to well, resolve, that it's okay to not be better sometimes and to figure out how to truly start fresh tomorrow.  Well I think every parent tries to be better, daily, or at least has the desire to try to be better.  I am a, uh, a  good mom, and I've always known I was born for this role.  But what does "good" really mean?  One thing that's hard for me is knowing if I snapped, or settled, or didn't discipline, or got jack-squat done one day, I find myself saying, "Yeah but I DID do this, that, and that."  Great.  Usually those things that did get done are of no importance to a four and two year old. 

What Little Mommy has that I don't have is simplicity.  She has one automobile that Padre took to work that day.  She has a buggy, a broom, and a doctor on speed dial call.  She has no Pandora streaming to set the mood.  No texts coming in, and she certainly hasn't received 5 phone calls from student loan collectors by lunch time the way that I have.  No errands to run on that particular day.  She did not post pictures on facebook the night before and is not curious if anyone 'liked' any of them.  She uses a cookbook to make her famous ginger cake and does not require Pinterest or Epicurious to bake a tasty treat.  After all, checking Pinterest for a recipe just inevitably leads to just peeking at your email quickly since the computer's open, which leads to checking out this crazy online coupon in your inbox which leads to remembering you better place your order NOW if you want it to arrive by Christmas, which means you have to read the reviews and compare websites to make sure you get the most bang for your few dollars... And oh yeah, what was I about to bake again?  Wait, I have children to tend to??

I had big big dreams of being the sweet Little Mommy I always thought I had inside of me.  Instead I find that some days, I'm fitting the kids into a very long list of Most Important Tasks.  Even this house... This house was supposed to be a sweet and mellow beginning for our new chapter.  I really thought that the rut I was in was because my role as Mom Of Two began so stressfully and not quite balanced.  Nick having that job out of town for 2 and a half years and having a VERY CHALLENGING newborn (and beyond) baby boy was something I never ever ever want to repeat.  Adjusting to living together has been not great too, if we're being honest.  We were probably fools to purchase such a rough house while we were just getting back into the groove, but this rough house also represents the future to us.  It's the almost-homestead we've always wanted... At least it will be eventually.  As I try to remind myself why we're here and not in our finished and lovely yellow house, I try to also remember that we will be here for decades and decades and that it's okay to pump the brakes on the projects.  While the projects do define us, the kids do MORE (usually... ;) and I don't want to get distracted.

I realize that most of the women of that time, the Little Mommy time, were brought up to become mothers and homemakers.  One thing I always think about is Nick's grandma, Pat.  Our yellow house was hers and was the first and only home that Nick's grandparents ever had as a family.  Yes, we sold it, and the regret is so huge sometimes I can hardly stand it.  Anyway, that special house held a lot of lessons, but one I always remember is how Pat was not allowed to paint.  At least that's how we understand it.  Grandma Pat was a FABULOUSLY talented painter.  I will post some pictures of the paintings we ended up with of hers.  Prized and adored possessions.  She had a skill that is hard to find.  Well, Robert The Man Of The House thought that her painting was a waste of time.  So she just plain didn't do it, really.  And if you look at the dates of the paintings we know of, a lot of them are from after the kids were grown and after Robert passed away.  What a funny thing anymore to not be allowed to do your passion, and be a mother, and make the home.  What a funny thing to just... Cook.  And grocery shop.  And feed faces and mend and iron clothing.  Boy I would be "mending" clothing every day!!  Those clothes would have some pretty far-out and fancy mend-age if I were the Mom.  Hubby would be all, "You're mending clothes again???  Why do my dinner rolls have notes tucked in them?  Why are all my socks embroidered with teal flowers and red polkadots??"

What did Grandma Pat feel like she was born to do?  Did she ONLY want to be a mother and a wife?  Is that what a Little Mommy was?  Did she want to find the balance between her family/home and her skills and passions?  How did she feel when she wasn't allowed to do her art?  I set out to Colorado 8 or so years ago to get my dream degree, be a crazy and super successful product designer until my late 20's, at which point I would proceed to have 3 or 4 lovely children and stay home with them, freelancing my way around for some balance and extra money.  I would have been so wildly successful that my loans would have been paid off in 6 years- nothing to worry about.  Well I didn't finish that degree, I had a precious baby girl instead.  I have no way of paying for day care, so I stay home (LUCKY ME!!  Truly!!).  But that creative road was truncated before I was really ready.  I am always fighting the urge to just spend a day MAKING STUFF and feeling successful... Networking and finding treasures and conversing with adults and accomplishing things I'm GREAT at.  Sometimes this just takes over and I find myself yearning for it, as opposed to embracing my true role as homemaker.  And I feel so guilty for wanting it so badly!!  Sometimes I lie my head down at night, wondering how many times I told my kids, "Hang on just another minute guys, Mommy needs to wrap up just one more thing" that day.  I know it's not like that every day... But...  But how does a mother find balance and simplicity in today's world full of a zillion different definitions of success?  I have everything I've ever wanted so why would I want MORE. 

This house has been alive and connecting for me and the kiddos.  While it is busy, I find myself at a place where most times I am able to include them much much more than before in my tasks.  I have a little Tulah helper when it comes to dishes and baking and laundry and totally worth the 50 cents I pay her :)  I started this journal to keep you up to date on the progress, but actually it's been really nice to see how I'm doing as a mom too.  I go through a day and I think, "If I wouldn't want in in my journal, then we're staying away from it."  I won't be able to be one of those writers that make everything look like sunshine and rainbows, because that's not life and I don't trust people who won't allow themselves to be real, and vulnerable, and relate-able. I'll never make you feel like you're the only one with problems, I promise.  I probably don't always say when we've had just a super-cranky awful day, which is probably due to the fact that I do not write every day.  But sometimes I do and after all, this journal is a celebration of what IS working.

I have some new goals I'm hoping to accomplish in my ever-continuing list of GinnImprovements.  Maybe instead of listing them, I'll discuss them as I succeed.  Less pressure :)  I think I'm almost the mom I want to be so what's a little more fine-tuning right??  I want the simplicity of the little "homestead" we wanted to create here to happen and I think it is, in its own time.

It's not MORE that I want, I've realized.  It's ME I'm after.  My best me.  Truly celebrating where and who I am, and giving my greatest to my home and my sweets. 

This is my house, and I am the {improving} mommy.

Thankful hiney rolls

I would like to state, for the record, that we purchased prime sunset-capturing property here.  Look at the view we had from our little balcony the other night!!  Unedited photos.

 So lively.

 mellow finish

 And oh the Thanksgiving sunrise in our backyard was a beaut too.  I don't really know how to capture the magnificence, and it wasn't as dynamic as the sunset two nights ago, but it was a lovely wake-up :)

such a rustic Almost-Acre, isn't it!

How was your Thanksgiving??
Don't you wish we could have all been together?  I do.  If you're reading this I'm betting I wish we were closer together than we are.  Except I know my sweet Ma-in-Law reads up on our happenings, so to you I say, thank you for a wonderful cozy day!

So Thanksgiving started off with the majesty and artistry only God and his friend Mama Natura can provide.  I got to work on my contributions to dinner at Grammy's house.  I made sweet potatoes with bacon, homemade mac-n-cheese, "thankful" rolls, and apple cider floats that I forgot to bring with me.  I guess we'll have to find a way to enjoy them at home.



Roo helped me with the thankful rolls... I saw them on Pinterest: the only place in the world where little rolls stuffed with a note in the middle does not look embarrassingly like tiny hineys with a letter in the mailbox.  Like ours--------->

awkward.









BUT!  Inside, Tulah wrote down what she was thankful for, and listed everyone who was going to be at dinner.  Plus homes and friends and pets.  She sounded out all of the words on her own, no help from mama. 


trisha, eric
(I love that... Trish-uh :)
jaxson, nick
lois, ginny
grammy, knox
tulah, pets
friends, homes














Our anniversary was the next day, so the kids spent the night with Grammy a couple of nights.  Thank you Grammy!  We said good-night after the turkey shenanigans ended, not knowing what to do with our time.  So we went to the new James Bond where I learned that PG-13 is NOT what it used to be!  Yikes.

Friday we went to our FAAAAAAVORITE surplus building supply store, Extras, and picked out ALL OF OUR TRIMMINGS FOR THE BOARD AND BATTEN WALLS WE'RE DOING IN THE LIVING ROOM!!!!  For TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OFF of the already thrift-improvement-store prices.  Happy anniversary to us!  We went home with a truck full of baseboards, battens, top rails, and new 4" door/window casings too.  Oh, and a new storm door that Hubby is thrilled about installing :)  Whatever, it was a $100 Anderson door (normally $400) and fits right in with the look of our windows, and this one won't blow and bang all over the place when those prevailing westerlies blow through!

In this house we really don't want to use new materials if we don't have to, we don't want synthetic junk if we can avoid it, and definitely don't want mdf and particle board when we could use less chemical-laden and formaldehyde-free alternatives.  Like wood for example.  Which tends to be oh so pricey when you have to buy it new... Except at Extras! Want to know how stinking affordable it all was?  A hint.  7" baseboards of lovely alder wood (yes that's right... SEVEN INCH BASE!!) we ended up getting for around $1.60 a foot.  That might sound like a fourth of the price elsewhere, and that's because it IS. 

The board and battens are gonna be great in our living room because I DESPISE the knock-down texture in there.  Ready to get it covered up, and add character to the big, quick-built box.  Now that we could finally gather and afford what we needed to do the wainscoting, we thought it would be a cinch to get started.  Unfortunately, that lovely wood grain and innocent little knot holes are begging not to be covered in paint.  Like in pathetic little voices, mere whispers in the night.  I was wanting originally to do white board and batten to about 6 ft high, and paint black on the wall above it (even though I get a lot of weird looks when I mention that...)  Anyway, now found all the wood we need, we are thinking twice about painting it all.  We've got a plan in our heads to do some alternative staining, but it's a bold risk and will be a lot of work to redo if we don't loooove it.  I'd like to share the two or three ideas with you, but I also just want to post a bunch of "after" photos when it's all done and knock your socks off.

The weather has been beautiful up until today.  Today has its perks too, the gloom and drear and drizzle inviting me and my sweets to stay in and be the laziest of all lazies, watching way too many PBS shows while I clean and prepare the living room for the future wainscoting mess. But last week... weather worth posting about.  70's and sunny, boldly daring us to venture out.  Winter, you are super late.  Al Gore nailed it I guess.

Wore his goggles everywhere last week.  He had two pairs, and I asked him one day if he could let Roo have one.  He said, "No, dese Iron Man doddles (goggles) and they have iron in dem, they fo my fwiends not Tuwah, she my sister."

love her.  And thankful she let me get some pictures-- always playing hard to get

Those cheeks look kissable because they ARE!!!

And this is why I call her my little Sparkle.

This mama is a lucky one.  A thankful one.