Braska Bear

Today is my angel friend Laynee's birthday. She would have been 4 today, and I bet we would have had so much fun at her party. But don't worry, she had a GREAT party today in Heaven. God MADE fun in the first place, so he throws the best parties! (Remember the princess party we had last year for her?? If you missed it, you just have to go see all my princess friends !) We talked about Laynee while we were eating our dinner tonight, and did Happy Birthday for her. I wish she could have been here to laugh at us singing... but maybe she sang with us from up there! (Of course Mommy forgot to take pictures. Oh my gravy...) Happy Birthday, Laynee Grace!

Twelve days ago, I pulled out the flashcards that go with the Meet the Sight Words videos that the girls got for Christmas a couple weeks before. The girls have become slightly obsessed with their sight words flashcards over the past couple of weeks. They ask to “do flashcards” about 10 times a day, and we actually get them out and go through at least some of them 3 or 4 times a day, more if we’re home all day. The result, combined with the clear slant towards loving to learn that these girls have, is that they’ve got them all down. There are more than 45 words in the flashcard set , and the 3 coordinating videos go over the same words. (These words are from the Dolch list , in case you wonder how they chose these particular words.) And no, this is not a paid endorsement for Preschool Prep Company . But I’d be happy to do one! Yesterday, the girls wanted to do them again after lunch, but Kinlee quickly melted to mush as she was very ready for nap. So I thought it would be a good ...

Last week we got LOTS of snow. Here’s our backyard. And our front yard. They said we got about 10 inches. And that’s more than we usually get where I live. We like when it snows, but we like to stay inside and watch it, not really get all in it and stuff. But a couple weeks ago KiKi learned that she liked to walk around in the snow . So she kept asking to go out in the snow and walk around. Mommy told us it would be way to high for us to walk around, but if we wanted to get bundled up, we could go out and see if we liked to play. I didn’t really like getting all dressed up in all the stuff to keep me warm, but we went out anyway. First we just looked around. It was pretty much white everywhere. KiKi stepped in and then fell down on her knees. She thought it was pretty fun. I didn’t want to get in, but Mommy sat me down anyway. I don’t know why she did that. Then KiKi wanted to shovel, since that’s what Mommy was doing while we were playing. But she didn’t want to help very long,...

We had Thanksgiving a couple months ago at Auntie Rachel and Uncle Patrick’s house.  They just moved to a new house so we all went there to see it and have plenty of room to run around. First we had to get dressed, though. It was a special day so we put on extra cute clothes. And that always means we have to take pictures. But not TOO many. I did my AHA! face for Mommy. Hey… I see you in that computer… yeah, you. Hi! KiKi didn’t want to smile, so she just stood still. We had a good day with our family, with lots of football and good food.  I ate some mashed potatoes and they were sure yummy.  We all gave Grammy and Papa a special present because they have been married for 40 years and that’s pretty great.  It has pictures of all of us and some neat things that Mommy and her brothers and sisters said about them. While everyone else watched more football, me and KiKi went in and watched TV in Auntie Rachel’s room....

KiKi wants to help Mommy with everything now.  Everything.  She wants to do all the jobs around the house that Mommy or Daddy usually does. One of those things that she likes to do is to help put milk in my belly.  One day she decided to give me some all by herself.  I was just resting on the couch and she thought she would come and give me some milk.  She found my tube in the cabinet.  She got the wrong piece for the milk to go in, but that’s ok. She’s still learning. Then she has to find my button under my shirt. And she knows how to plug it in, too. And after she did my pretend milk, she tried to find her button for some milk in HER belly.  But she only has one.  And she always wants it to fit in there… She wants to have a second belly button just like me, but nope…KiKi, that’s MY thing!

I love to do opposites. Up and down. Big and small. But my favorite is fast and slow. I love to do all kinds of fun things fast and slow. When Jack was here a few months ago, we practiced our fast and slow after we had lunch. Here's a little movie of our fun...

Well it’s been two months ago today.  I kept thinking I was going to get to tell you all about my birthday, but then I found out that being 4 is a lot of work and keeps me pretty busy!  There’s school and reading books and playing games and reading books and practicing my eating and reading books.  That’s a lot every day! On my birthday, it was a Sunday. So we were at Grandma C’s for football like always.  Before we went, I had to take my picture by the door. Then we went and watched some football games, even though the Bears weren’t playing that day.  We always have fun playing with our cousin Shay. Miss Cheryl gave me my present before the party so we could read it and play with it during the day while we were waiting.  It’s a good one.  Elmo, of course! Then it was finally time for cake and presents! (you can see more pictures of the cake here and here … ELMO!!!) First, I got to check out my new pink princess couch!...

I’m gonna try to share some stories of things I forgot to tell you about when they happened.  It’s been pretty busy, but we are doing better about getting things done, so we’re going to try to do better on our story telling. And of course…lots of pictures!! Jack spent a few weeks at our house in the daytime while Miss Julie was gone to get Dashlyn a few months ago.  We had SO SO much fun!! Jack liked to type emails to his mommy.  KiKi is nosy so she wanted to watch. Who was Jack missing so much??  Mommy! (That’s Miss Julie to the rest of us…) We did lots of things together. All 3 of us. Jack and KiKi played a lot of very silly games. They both can run fast and they like to tackle each other. But when KiKi went to nap, Jack and I would do quieter things, like flashcards, and reading books, and watching Signing Time. Then it would be time for me and Jack to nap too.  I let him use my bed, and he slept ...