WA...part 3, Easter!

Bug was up bright and early, ready to find some eggs.

After we helped her find one or two, she figured it out. She had a great time.

Bug read a story to Aunt Kate. It was riveting.On the way to the airport, to drop off Aunt Kate, Bug wore her new bunny sunglasses. Stylish, aren't they?

I was most excited to spot a Half-Price Books store. Of course, Bug managed to find some worker rabbits in there....and had a lovely chat.
This was one interesting bunny. Very nice and colorful.

Next up...part 4, Monday.

WA.....part 2, Saturday

On Saturday, we drove down to see Mount St. Helens. Bug was SO excited. She couldn't wait to see a volcano...."for real". It was a long drive, so we had to stop for breakfast. Once Bug spotted pancakes on the menu, nothing else existed. I took this shot for her dad, since she was licking butter off of her pancake. I told her that that would make him proud. (only joking a little bit)

We visited two different buildings with exhibits. We all found this stone quite interesting. I can't remember what it was called, of course.

Here she is, with the VOLCANO in the background. She's holding a doll in her hands that I had just finished knitting & stuffing as we pulled into the lot. She is now called "Helen". (side note: Helen liked WA so much, that she hid in the bed...she's now in the mail, heading back to us. We only had one nearly-sleepless night over it)
The one and only photo of me from the trip (unless one of my sisters got some).
Can you feel the excitement?
This was.....odd. A robot tour guide. Her eyes are closed in this shot. They'd open and she'd talk, move a bit...look around. Bug couldn't get enough. I had to take a pic to get her to leave.

Up next, part 3...Easter!

Our trip to Washington (state, not D.C.)...part 1

Bug & I traveled on the train to WA. My oldest sister was having a big birthday, so we decided to make a visit. Another one of my sisters joined us for the ride. Bug had a grand time on the train. Here she is with the best car attendant, EVER, Dani. We loved her.

Of course, Bug can't go long without drawing. She drew "the worst bad guy in the world" for Dani.

We stretched our legs in Minot ND and Shelby MT. The sun in Minot was a bit much for Bug, it seems.
Here's Bug with her favorite aunt. (sorry, the rest of you)

One of the first things Bug did upon arrival was decorate a tree with eggs. Well, a branch, anyways.

She also "helped" Uncle Craig kill dandelions.

Since we'd been on the train for a day and a half, and because it was warm and sunny, we took Bug to a playground to burn off some energy.

There was a nice path to walk around at the playground. Bug really enjoyed it.

Finally, what's a birthday without CAKE?! Lovely expression I caught, don't you think?

Part 2, coming soon...............

She's such a silly girl.

This was Bug's outfit the other day. We had a few errands to run downtown. She's trying to be fierce in the first pic.

Here she is at the shop where her daddy works. See, she's not ALWAYS smiling.

Yes, the hair is gone.

She was making "signs" on the door. There are large, white magnets that she put the magnetic letters onto. She then wanted me to read them to her.

Several new photos.

Bug & I had a lovely time out in the yard a couple of days ago. She dressed herself...see the snaps on the back? Oh well. She tried.

The artist at work. She prefers pen and paper.

Ooh...an EGG! It was crushed shortly after taking this photo.

She LOVES the mini-trampoline.

Great joy this week...Bug learned how to hop on one foot! It happened while waiting in line at the grocery store.


We got the sandbox out again. This made Bug very happy.

(the day before)St. Patrick's Day

Bug's dad has been sitting in with a local band for a little while. They played here the night before St. Patrick's Day. Bug enjoyed it VERY much.

Here's a shot of the whole band. Bug's daddy is all the way to the right, with the guitar.

Here are a few shots of Bug.

Finally, what's a St. Patrick's Day celebration without a nice, cold bottle of.....ROOT BEER?!

Some art.

The girl is still drawing every day. Here are a couple of our current favorites: a steam shovel and a skeleton.

She's a super geek....

Bug's dad found that nifty item at the Salvation Army. We found that it only stays on her head if she wears that thick, extremely long hat. That first evening, they took a walk around the block in the dark, so that she could light the way with her head.

Bug has discovered the joys of Looney Tunes. Somehow, we hadn't gotten around to sharing too much of the old cartoons with her. One of her dad's customers loaned him the DVD collection, so she's been watching. She's got a favorite episode...she was laughing SO hard watching it...then she remembered the "back" button and watched it again. We stood back and watched her. We may have to videotape this. We've not seen her laugh quite like that before.

Bug & I watched an old Batman movie the other day. SOooo cheesy. She now goes around saying "holy horshoes". What a nut. She's decided she needs to take that DVD with us when we go to WA in April. She's sure that Uncle Craig would enjoy watching it with her.

Speaking of Uncle Craig...we'll be seeing him and Aunt Mary in April. We're hopping on the train again. Bug is so excited. She wants to see REAL VOLCANOES. There will be photos...lots of photos.

A new story by Bug

Once again, Bug got out her Pocket Ref book and "read" me a story. Like all others in that book, it's "by Mercer Mayer".


Rocket by Mercer Mayer

One day a dog wanted to go up into space for REAL and he asked his papa if he could go into space.
And there's a wolf by their house that letted the little dog go up into space for REAL to see all the planets because he thought it looked interesting to look up into space.
And then there was a rocket by their house because a wolf lifted a huge rocket.
That wolf was a coyote.
Now it's time to experiment rockets for REAL.
(looking at pages of numbers in book) These numbers are for experimenting rockets.

Books, books and more books!

Just before Christmas we finished reading The Wizard of Oz. In early January we got the DVD from the library and watched it. Bug LOVES the story. Our next chapter book was The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Bug was drawing a lot of swans during that. We just finished it last night, so we had to pick a new book today. We're going for something lighter/sillier. We've just finished the first chapter of Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary. Since "Ramona" is 4, like Bug, she thinks it's pretty cool.

Besides the chapter books, we've been reading lots of books about volcanoes, caves and bats. We're especially hitting the volcano books, because Bug will be seeing a REAL VOLCANO in April. The two of us are taking the train to visit my oldest sister for her birthday. While there, we'll be seeing Mount St. Helens. Bug can hardly wait.

Bug's current favorite video is Pinnochio 3000 (aka P3K). It's a computer-generated cartoon. Instead of a wooden puppet, Pinnochio starts out as a robot. It's really well done and we all love it.

Last Friday, the three of us went out of town to hear/see Garnet Rogers perform. We had a great time. Bug's first comment, when we walked in and she saw him getting his gear set up on stage was "is that what he looks like?" He laughed. He mentioned that later (after telling the audience her name) and said "she's just another in a long line of women that I've disappointed." The next night he was playing in the town where Bug's daddy works. He was visiting the guitar shop and was talking to one of the salesmen. He told him that he'd met a great little kid the night before and that had he been guaranteed one like her, that maybe he and his wife would have had kids. Wow.
Bug drew a picture for him and I took a couple of photos of them together. I hope that they turn out. In one, he's helping her hold a very small 12-string guitar.

Post-Christmas update

We're mostly recovered from the holidays. Bug got to see a lot of cousins and aunts & uncles on Christmas Eve at Aunt Peggy & Uncle Bryan's house. They ONLY had a 14' tree this year. Sadly, Bug had a sore knee and wasn't able to run around and play. She did a lot of drawing and crying. By the time we got home and gave her some medicine we realized we had to make a trip to urgent care. We didn't get back home until 10PM or so. Bug got her first xrays. She even drew them on her magna doodle. She saw them and said "oh no, I broke my patella!" We assured her that it was fine. They couldn't find anything wrong. By morning she was fine. It flared up again on Tuesday night. We're thinking it's growing pains. Bug's dad had them really bad when he was little.
Because of the crazy night, we got a late start for Milwaukee on Christmas morning. Uncle Scott & Aunt Tammy were there, along with Grandma Margie & Auntie Sharon. Uncle Larry & Cousin Emily came to visit before bedtime. Such fun. Oh, and Santa remembered to stop there. He left a remote controlled triceratops!
Bug opted to spend time with Grandma while we went to Half Price Books to use up our gift certificates. Always a fun time.
We got together with two other couples and their kids on Thursday night. Great beef stew and lots of fun.
By Saturday morning, we were all ready to be home. We stopped and visited Aunt Susan, Aunt Ella & Cousin Larry before leaving town. We stopped for Chinese food for lunch and then stopped for frozen custard for dessert.
Bug went knitting with me on Sunday, so her daddy could practice for the gig on Saturday.
Today we woke to a bit of snow, so after lunch I'm going to take her out to play in it. Her daddy is at band practice.

"I assure you"

Last night, about 3 minutes after she ate a huge dinner, Bug came up to me and asked for something to eat because, as she puts it "I don't have a taste in my mouth"....
I told her that she JUST ate and really didn't need more food right now.
"But I'm hungry" she says.
I reply with "I assure you that you won't starve to death if you don't eat more food right this minute."
The girl comes back with "I assure YOU that I'm very hungry."
She got a hug and was not starving after that.


Nearly every morning, if Bug's dad has time, he & Bug have to go down to the basement. They'll be at the table and Bug will start saying "help, help" in different voices. "We need to save the baby dragons!" one of them will say. On go their boots and they head on down. Today she said they saved 7 of them. I have NO idea where this came from or even how it started...I had to bring some up one day when I was doing laundry, as they couldn't "carry" them all. Even had one in my hood.

2 new "friends"

Bug has often pretended that different characters are visiting her. They're always from cartoons or bands (The Beatles). As of this week, we have 2 REAL imaginary friends....first is Sanny. She's a 3 year old girl and, according to Bug, "she will never, ever die" (Bug is concerned about death these days). The other is Nabbit. Nabbit is a 5 year old boy. First she told me that he's 5 and died a long, long time ago, but later decided that he will never, ever die, either. She drew pictures of them for me. Nabbit wears a striped baseball cap. Sanny is much smaller than him but they are good friends, according to Bug.

A story by Bug

Bug has a small Pocket Ref book from the hardware store. She brings it to our bed in thte morning and reads stories to us. Sometimes I'm able to write them down. Here is todays' story:

Mr. Mosquito by Bug

Once upon a time there was a mosquito that was all left alone. He followed the street and there was nobody on the street to play with him. He said "Huh...there's no friends here".

He came across the fire department. And then he went in. He said "Hi". There was a naughty look in his eyes and and then a flashlight went on him. Then there was a machine on him and it was not a very nice machine. Then a heart appeared on him. He put on a hat. Then he thought he was a firefighter and he belonged there.

THE END

A felted bag, some funny stories (I think), and FLY SOUP

So...that bag up there...I knit and felted it as a 30th b-day gift for Julie Patchouli. She & her husband play really great acoustic music and call themselves Patchouli. This is their logo. I didn't know if I could do it, but it turned out really well. She LOVES it.

This girl cracks me up. Yesterday I saw her lean towards the doorframe. I was about to ask her if she was licking it (?!) when she looked up and said "You know, this is pitch. I was sniffing it to see if it has a smell. It doesn't. Isn't that unfortunate?" (she and her daddy spend a lot of time at Menard's looking/touching/smelling wood)

Bug has discovered SLUGS. Her cousing gave her a stack of old "Your Big Backyard" magazines. She found a slug in one and has been drawing them. She also decided that her pink fleece jester-esque hat (only had 2 short points with tassels on top) is a "slug hat". She wears it and "slithers" across the floor. I really need to aget a picture.



I made a new soup with, among other things, carrots, barley and chicken. Since Bug had just watched Charlotte's Web (we read it a while back) she decided that it was FLY SOUP WITH MOSQUITOES....yummy. She also acts out Charlotte's death scene regularly...

Bug can now say hello, thank you and goodbye in Chinese. The owners & workers at our favorite Chinese buffet are thrilled. They help her with her pronounciation. They say she's doing well. They're trying to teach her more workds. I got a book from the library and that's helping, too.

For the first time I can remember, Bug had a gift request for Christmas....a ROBOT DINOSAUR. Of course, she's drooling over this huge, $100 thing...but she DID mention that it really should be a TRICERATOPS. Woo....I looked to my left and spotted a National Geographic remote-controlled triceratops for TWENTY DOLLARS. Guess which one she's getting?

What to read next?

We just finished reading "Paddington on Top"...not sure what we'll read next. Maybe some fairy tales or Alice in Wonderland...or something by Roald Dahl. The Bug is napping right now (took a hike up the bluff with Daddy) so I'll look through some books after she wakes.

Bug to go to her first play the other day. We saw "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Other Stories". It was GREAT. We were in the front row. She said her favorite story from the play was "Master Man", so I guess we'll check the library for that this week.

We'll be going to a local art studio for "open studio time" on most Tuesdays for the rest of the year. It's $3 for an hour and a half. She gets to use whatever materials she wants. (there's an extra fee if they use REALLY expensive stuff, I guess)
Pre-school storytime at the library starts on Wednesday. Always a good time.

We're learning about animals this month. We studied mammals last week.
She's doing great with the calendar. It's the first thing we do after breakfast.
We've been learning lots of poems/nursery rhymes. I put a bunch of them into a tiny book that we made. As she memorizes them, she draws a picture on the opposite page. She's enjoying that quite a bit.
We're learning about the artist, Jackson Pollock, this month. She's not too sure about throwing paint around. We'll be doing some drip-painting this week. Wish me luck!
The girl has been getting a lot of hiking in with her dad. We're ALL going up the bluff tomorrow. She's also enjoying riding her bike and walking downtown with me. She's also so very brave at the playground now. At the beginning of the summer, she wouldn't go down the "twisty slide" without Daddy. Now, he gets to stay with me and watch her. She's climbing on everything.
Bug is also learning about children in other countries. When we do our weekly Five in a Row book, we get out our "Children Like Us" book and look up the country that the story takes place in. So far we've looked at kids from France, Spain and China. We see their houses, schools, food, families, how they write their names.

A few photos to share.

Bug has discovered that she has the ability to make different letters with her body. Here she is demonstrating the letters X and R. (R likes to walk through our house. It's quite entertaining)






The Bug is very much in love with Superman these days...she's only seen some 1940s Superman cartoons, but he's on all the store shelves now, and it's driving her crazy.
We just finished reading Flat Stanley (since we have one visiting us, she thought we needed to read it again). Tomorrow night we'll pick out the next bedtime book. Not sure what it will be.

We have a visitor!

Flat Stanley is visiting us from Kentucky. He seems to be having a grand time. He's seen the Missisippi River and has toured our town. Bug has decided that we need to read te book, "Flat Stanley", again, so we'll be starting that tonight. We finished Paddington and just read The Velveteen Rabbit. We'll pick a longer book after "Flat Stanley".
We're starting "school" this week....which just means that we'll have a bit of structure in our day. We're learning stuff all day, everyday. Bug is most excited to learn math....which is good, becuase it appears to be her weak spot. We've got lots of small, colorful things to count, sort and make patterns with. Should be fun. She's also got a blank calendar that she's been filling in each day.
She got to see her "big brother", Mikey (15), on Saturday. He took us all out for lunch. He was at our house for a bit, then went across the street to visit with his great-grandma. Right before they headed home, he came back to say good-bye. Bug was in tears, saying "but aren't you going to the playground with us?" he promised to visit us on Tuesdays, when he can.

Another book down...

The Bug and I finished reading "Stuart LIttle" last night. We read picture books during the day, but almost every night, before she goes to bed, we'll read a chapter or three. Next up is "A Bear Called Paddington", which I've never read...I hope it's good!

Bug is going to a "Pajama Party" at the library tonight. She's extra excited because we found a pair of SUPERMAN jammies for 50% off. She's already got them on...they have a CAPE and everything. Here's a bit of what I've been hearing for the last 30 minutes: "look, i have a cape...what do you think that means?" Then she sticks out her chest "look...it's an S...what do you think that means? It's SUPERMAN" We'll see if I get any "looks" for buying "boys jammies" for my girl. Whatever.