Well hello there Buckaroo!
How do you like my caterpillar? Pretty nice, huh?

If you like that, then get a load of this!

What kind of week starts with plastic caterpillars and ends up with real live horsies? A good one!
This week, I had a special picnic with Daddy, Mommy and Mina at school. I got some special cuddle time with the world's best teacher, Mrs. Nicky.


I can't believe that Tuesday is my last day until September... It's a good thing I've got a fun little sister to keep me busy all summer long!


And I also have Hartley to play with down the street!

Hartley and I are such good friends. We do EVERYTHING together!

Hee Hee. We're learning this potty thing at the same time. So far, so good. As you can see, I've been making good progress.

I make the potty flowers grow!
When Hartley and I aren't using the potty, we do other stuff. Hartley slept over on Friday and Saturday night, so we got to spend lots of time together. We had a blast!
At a strawberry farm, we picked some strawberries and played with the horsies. Then, we ate some strawberry ice cream.


When we were home, we focused on making stuff, which is what us toddlers do best!


Mina tries to cut in on the action. Soon baby!

Mother's Day

Seventy five is A LOT of years! That's about seventy three more than I've got, and seventy four more than Mina. But, that is how old my grandpa was on Saturday! Happy Birthday Grandpa! Thanks for the cake!!

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday at his house with Grandma, Aunt Ann, Uncle David and Michaela. We had FUN!


We played and played... until we heard a BOOM BOOM! Thunder!
We got scared (or, Michaela and Mina got scared...) and we jumped up on the couch with Daddy. Michaela was extra careful. She hid behind that pillow so the thunder couldn't find her! Good thinking Michaela!


I LOVE birthdays!
And I also love my Mommy. On Sunday morning, I went into Mommy and Daddy's room with Daddy and brought Mommy breakfast in bed! Mina showed Mommy her new skill- MaMaMaMa. Mommy ate it up! I said now Mina, watch this! "Happy Mother's Day!!" Hee hee. I'm still the big girl around here!
Then, we went downstairs and spent a little quality time with Mommy.

I spent some time working on my big sister skills and taught Mina all about the markers!

Mina decided the day was so much fun, she didn't want to stay asleep at nap time, so she woke up early and played some more! Look how much FUN Mina has when her big sister is upstairs asleep!

It turns out, that wasn't such a good plan, as you can see. By dinner time, Mina had had it! Luckily she got her second wind and woke up enough to get her bath and go to bed.

Happy Mother's day to my Mommy and to my Grandmas!

Not A Total Loss!

Hey there everyone! Mommy was right. We were all pretty sick last week but we did manage to scrape together a handful of photos.

Being stuck in the house all week has rough since I didn't get to play with my friends Mallory, Katie, Jack, Hartley or Michaela. But, it's really made me come to appreciate my little sister more. She's getting SOOOOOO big and fun to play with.


Even she got a little sick of being stuck in the house though. C'mon Mina. The choker hold wasn't that bad, was it?


Well, it wasn't all bad inside. It also gave me time to practice some big girl stuff, like going on the potty! Every time I go pee-pee on my potty, I get DORA STICKERS!! And now, they EVEN let me wear my Dora underwear sometimes if I'm doing REALLY well. I just gotta work on the whole poopie thing now.


That's all for our short week. We'll have lots more to tell you about in the coming weeks as Grampa is turning 75 this weekend, Hartley is sleeping over the next weekend, then Daddy's birthday and then a visit to Uncle Donald and Aunt Kim's house to see Grandma and Pop-Pop. I can't wait!!

Strep Throat

Last week, Mommy and Daddy got strep throat. It was very, very sad, because we didn't get to do anything or have any fun on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Sunday was better, but Mommy and Daddy were so happy to be able to swallow and eat food again, that they forgot to take any pictures.
You'll be happy to know that, according to Mommy's doctor, Mina and I are just a wee bit too little to catch something that nasty. It's a good thing!
See you next week!

My name is Mina, and I've got something to say!
Look at me!
I can pull up on almost anything!

I can even balance on one hand! Wheeee!

My big sister is the best. She is so big and happy almost all the time, but not on Friday. She had a stomach bug! I haven't gotten one of those yet (which is amazing, when you consider how many times in a day that Maddie sticks my pacifier in her mouth...)
Anyway, I tried to make her smile on Saturday morning, and eventually, she felt good enough to go with us to pick some strawberries at a farm near where we live!
She kept saying, "I love to pick the strawberries!"
Me too!
Even though her tummy was upset, she still couldn't help taking a bite outta a big JUICY strawberry. It was OK, though, because it turned out she wasn't sick anymore. Maddie is my big sister, and Maddie knows best.


I LOOOOVE to pick the strawberries!!!


And then, since everyone was all better, we met up with Hartley at a park near us and played, played, played. Or at least they did. Everyone kept trying to keep me in the shade, or swing me in a baby bucket swing...
I can't wait until I'm big enough keep up!

To be a Hokie

We took some time on Friday to think about what it means to be a Hokie. Being a Hokie means a lot to me and my daddy. We know that it means a lot everywhere, to everyone. To me, it means you have a heart big enough to love your neighbor (and Hartley especially) and your friends (and Hartley especially), and remember what matters in this world. So, Mina and I wore our colors on Friday and with Mommy and Daddy, we thought about all the people who haven't been as lucky as we are. And we are so lucky.


It was a good week to keep your friends and family close. And so that is just what I did. I said to Hartley, we're not getting any younger here, let's go ride the train and the carousel and jump and catch bubbles and play.





Being a Hokie isn't just about football (although Daddy would argue it's the biggest part of it), it's about being the best Hokie bird you can be, when Mommy and Daddy are watching, and when they're not. It's also about forgiving your classmate when they beat you up for no reason, and about being happy for your sister when she starts pulling up for the first time (but only on stuff that's not very tall).


I am very happy to be a Hokie.

This week, our thoughts, prayers and hearts have been in Blacksburg.
Such an awful, senseless tradgedy... Our hearts break for every family, every classmate, every student and every friend.