Schoolwork

One of my new favorite things that Anna is bringing home from school are these worksheets that have the beginning of a sentence, then she fills in the rest with her own answer and draws a picture at the top, illustrating her sentence. There's so much I love about it: seeing the way that she's spelling words on her own, seeing the way that she chooses to finish the sentence and then the picture is always interesting too.

Here's the one she brought home last week:

I have to say, I am really good at kooking. Sure looks like I'm kooking chicken in this picture, too. This worksheet is a little scary, because there are several different directions she could've gone with that prompt, such as: My mom is really good at...reading celebrity gossip on the Internet. Or my mom is really good at...yelling loudly when my brother and I are arguing in the car. Thankfully, she went the tactful route and did her old mom a "solid" this time.

My girl has quite a sense of punctuality and responsibility when it comes to the library. In fact, for the first few months of school, she refused to even bring her library book home, for fear of forgetting it at home and not returning it on time. I finally convinced her that she could bring it home, we could read it together and that I'd help her remember to return it. She begrudgingly agreed, but she still seems to be incapable of fully enjoying her library book at home, due to the overwhelming sense of urgency in returning it in a timely manner. Oh, that girl. She's mine. She's SO mine.

Anna's 6th Birthday

Anna's birthday celebration lasted for approximately 4 days straight and included her first sleepover, many dinners out, a new swingset and a trip to the trampoline park. It was tons of fun! 

("Peaches" by: Bob Schneider)

Banjo 1998-2013

Rest in peace, my sweet Banjo. You were the first cat that I ever loved. In fact, you turned me into a bonafide "cat lady." If we're being honest here, when Kevin and I saw you and your littermate, Nugget, at PetsMart that day more than 15 years ago, I didn't want you. I didn't like cats. I was a dog person, through and through. Kevin convinced me that we should get you and your brother and we took you home. I told Kevin the whole way, "these are your cats. I don't even like cats." All of that changed the second that we let you loose in our spare bathroom and you jumped into my lap. That's the day I became a "cat lady."

You were not the perfect cat. You did many things that were highly annoying...especially in your later years. You became impossible to sleep with because, even though you were never the food hound that the other cats were, you insisted upon waking us up in the early morning by marching sternly across our abdomens, making sure to stomp purposefully on our tender internal organs (and bladders). You also used your paws like hands and could open cabinets and our baby gate. You seldom meowed but instead, "gaked" which is the only word that we could come up with to explain the sound you made.

15 years with you, Banjo. I will miss you for at least 15 more. Thank you for being such a loyal friend.