A Rare, Warm January Day

Complete with Star Wars stories in our "Story Tree" and our new "Jai Alai"-type game from Santa. Daddy was VERY impressed that both girls could catch the ball, ... and every time they would catch it, Annie would say, "Daddy, don't get so excited!" Ha!

"A" is for Alphabet Book!

Little Annie worked SO hard on this book that I've mentioned before as The Alphabet uBook! I am so proud of her for completing it! My dedication in the back says it all:

• Annie amazed her Mamma with the spectacular ability it took to make this book. Not only did Annie suggest every idea for every picture she took, cut them all herself, and glue them all herself, BUT ALSO (as an early four-year-old) wrote EVERY letter herself! I'll never forget her face looking expectantly at me, ... just waiting for the next letter so she could write it. My pride for Annie's ability grew with every letter she wrote. Annie also took all the pictures, ... except for the ones where she was the subject. And, oh, it was HARD to convince her to include the sleep ("seep") photo with her in it. Annie does NOT like the way she looks when she sleeps! it is also fun to note that most of Annie's photos are of animals, ... and t he dots on the pages were to "test" the marker. Annie is most proud of "rushing river." My favorite is "nun"! : )

Here are a few of my favorites that I put here: P is for Pond (can you believe Annie took this picture from the car?), I is for Ice Cream, (my personal favorite) N is for Nun (ha!), L is for Leia and Leaves, and H is for Hug. There were days that we worked on it at the little table, and then there were days that Annie wanted to work on it at her special desk in her room. No matter how you look at it, it was hours and hours of learning fun. So I guess I should end with "E" is for Exhaustion. Ha!

The Rooster King: An Original Musical by Leia & Annie

While Mamma & Daddy were out car shopping today, Leia and Annie created an original production called "The Rooster King." It featured Leia on the harmonica, Oma on the xylophone, and Annie on the piano. They even created a special "brthday boy char" for Daddy to sit in!

Creative Creations & Daddy's Birthday

Continuing with her affinity for the arts, Leia Rose took it on herself to make something totally unique: pop-up cards! She did these from scratch, ... the one for Daddy's birthday with a pop-up of our family! And I can't neglect Annie's special birthday garden and "bunny party," either, ... or daddy's chicken! Ha! Leia even dabbled in poetry with her bunny pop-up which says, "bunnys hop in the sun, they cudl up to you for fun." (Ah, evidence that Leia is now combining her memorized spelling words with phonetical spelling. We're on our way!)

Annie Laughing REALLY Hard

Subject? Daddy's bunnels. Ha!

Best Sledding Hill EVER

Thanks to tire tracks left by our neighbor's truck, we were able to access the most spectacular sledding hill EVER. We were able to literally sled from our neighbor's house all the way down our road. A fairly slow, steady, FUN, three-minute ride!

Re-Discovering Harry Potter

After two full years of convincing, ... we finally got Leia Rose to read Harry Potter again! This time, she's reading the first page of every chapter, ... and LOVING IT! By March we would be reading the third book! Apart from Leia Rose having to begin sleeping in our bedroom (because of a bit of fear, ... that doesn't seem to bother her when she's in Mamma's & Daddy's bed), she is living and breathing Potter. And yes, she is now claiming that she wants a Harry Potter birthday party this October! Just an interesting tidbit, ... when she was five, Leia Rose was the most afraid of Fluffy, the three-headed dog (???) and now she is rightly afraid of Voldemort the most. Just a little glimpse of five-year-old Leia and the last time she was interested in Potter:

Our Next Snow

Some fun new activities during this snow! We actually were able to break out the runner sled, not a usual thing in our area! But, of course, Annie usually con's me into pulling her back to the house eventually. (Her usual mantra is: "I can't WALK!") But we had lots of fun in front of the neighbor's house with Annie's new game: running beside Leia's tube! You can see her at the top of her "run" in the middle of the post, with Leia beside her. And, of course, we made a snow cookie. But this time, we wrote our names in the snow with the syrup! VERY fun!

Bunnies & Beads

While we were making our special "bead pets" that Santa brought, when a surprise package came from our friend Nina from Canada: a special Chinese calendar featuring "The Year of the Rabbit"!!!

Our Owl Angel

Over the course of a few icy days, our Jeep has landed in a ditch TWICE, and this is with intensely slow driving with caution. Once was just a few inches off the side of the road on the way to take Leia to school. The second instance was a bit more scary, the ditch on the north side of the mountain close to home, ... the other side of the road was a dropoff. I had just picked poor little Annie up from school, ... and it was afternoon (road still icy)! I was at a 45 degree angle, sitting sideways in the car, ... and I looked back at Annie buckled in securely, but with her eyes as big as saucers. I was able to open the door to survey the car, ... no damage. (???!!!) And as I look down at my feet there is this really strange little owl angel just sitting there. Originally a child's finger puppet, it was in pretty bad shape, so I added some accents like the button eyes. But I really felt like this was some kind of sign from God (or one of the saints?) that we are being kept safe. I spent the day trying to figure out whether Karin was partial to owls. (She wasn't.) Or whether my late Aunt Ree, who died in a car crash, was partial to owls. (She wasn't, ... only hummingbirds.) Therefore, I was unable to figure out the exact source of this blessing, but regardless, ... Our Owl Angel will remain in our car forever. Meanwhile, a kind soul with a 4x4 pickup truck pulled us out of there. Do angels wear baseball caps adorned with fishhooks, drive muddy pickups, and smoke cigarettes?

Annie's Adores Her Bunny Mittens

Let's just say that Santa searched far and wide for a pair of child-size bunny mittens, but could only find adult size ones (go figure). SO Mamma made a promise to herself that she was going to make a pair for her little Annie. Annie wanted to be there for every second of the process. It took Mamma a long time (in that she can't feel her hands very often because of some severe carpal tunnel problems), but she did it! (All out of love!) And in the meantime, Annie wanted to borrow my camera and take pictures. The result is a wonderful version of Annie's room, by Annie. (I love how she even got a shot of her horse named "Mushroom" in there!) Enjoy!



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