My Loves: December and January

Stu:
-stress, stress, STRESS with school work, job, finals, business travel, plus family...but somehow you're still calm and collected (I'd be a wreck!)
- being super dad on our long travel days at Christmas time - and always making sure we stick to our floss-brush-bedtime schedule with the kids. Always.
- getting out a cookbook and whipping up some oatmeal-raisin cookies Sunday morning just because you felt domestic...and they were pretty good too!

Little Bear:
- ferociously reading at every possible moment and devouring your entire Roald Dahl collection...I thought those books would last a little longer.
- hysterical laughter over your newest toy: a whoopie cushion
- proving your maturity daily by practicing piano and doing your homework with little-to-no prompting
- in a last push to get the kids in the car tonight I was rushing around collecting last-minute items when I couldn't find the baby...I rushed out to the garage and found the boys already in the car and Walker was buckling FK into her seat!

Boo-boo:
- concentrating so hard on stringing colored pasta onto some twine...over and over again (Why didn't I discover this sooner?)
- your constant chatter is a little window into a creative mind. There are all kinds of fun stories you tell me about sharks, cars, oceans and space ships.
- using every old purse you can find to load up toys and goodies for your pretend trips then piling everything into laundry baskets so you and Walker can scoot around the house to destinations unknown
- frequent reminders of our fun times: "Mom, remember when we went to Mexico? I loved playing in the ocean (on the beach, in the wave pool...)."
- calling Walker's new whoopie cushion a "wimpy cushion" or "toot-y cushion" (in between squeals of laughter, of course)
- after opening a birthday card from your Great-grandma Walker you were so excited about the generous check inside, "Walker, you can have half of it!" Later I snatched the check out of your hands as you were attempting to rip it in half to share with your big brother. Soooooo sweet!

Cupcake:
- two words: fishy face
- my tough baby girl who keeps falling on your face without complaint...unless there's blood, then there are a few tears.
- running onto the beach for the first time and immediately doing a face plant - on purpose this time - to get a mouthful of sand. Yummmm.
- making up your own sign for 'shaving cream' when you saw dad's fluffy white face this morning
- trying to say so many things but it mostly comes out garbled. At least your mom understands...sometimes.
- first words (usually accompanied by the sign or we'd have no idea what you're saying): apple, ball, daddy, all done, please, thank you, bye, banana, Drew, water.
- newest trick: "noooooo" (eg. Do you want more ice cream? noooooo. Do you want to get down from the cart? nooooooo. It's always a guess whether you actually mean 'no' or 'yes'.)
- squeals of delight when Drew chases you around the house
- the sonic, superpower shriek is still in full-force and this time you let it loose on precisely 6 airplane rides in the last two months (oh, those poor passengers). All anyone can say is, "She sure has a good set of lungs!" We're hoping for another Kathleen or Barbara opera singer!