snapshot

Here's my effort to freeze-frame a moment in our life. 

Fun from my cousin's wedding bash last weekend

I'll start with Marnie:

She is still as girly as they come. She requests dresses (the longer the better) and prefers to have her hair long and flowy or up in a graceful bun. She loves to dance and sing. Her favorite song to sing right now is BBBFF (Big Brother Best Friend Forever) from My Little Pony. She hosts tea parties for her stuffed animals, and puts tutus on our dog. Her favorite princess is Mulan (today) and she loves reciting her favorite scenes from the movie. She is an insanely picky eater. She hates almost everything. She starts every day with hot cocoa, apple slices, and Nutella. I can usually get her to eat PB&J, or rolled up ham, and she's always up for pizza, but that's about it. When we have salad, I have to leave some baby spinach leaves out for her so she can eat them individually. That's the only way she'll eat them. She loves her Barbie dolls. She loves doing school time with me, and is learning a lot. She is always eager to help me study too, and asks if she can "color the words" (highlight) in my book for me. She is learning a lot about Anatomy and Physiology, and reminds us all the time that if we don't get enough calcium, our bones will get "osteopuhwohtic." She does get impatient with my studying sometimes though. I guess in her mind, my job is just to play with her all day. We've been walking to the park by our house more often lately, and she has made some little friends to play with. She knows all her ABCs and most of their sounds. She likes to paint, write, and play games on the computer. She likes to go to Britt's school to help me make copies for his teacher. We usually make extras of the work that looks fun, and she amazes me with her first-grade-homework abilities. Because of this, she's into syllables and likes to count how many are in certain words. She still says the funniest things. She got mad at Britt a few days ago and told him, "fine! I guess I will just go play elsewhere!" When she grows up, she wants to be: "a princess, a fingernail artist, a mom, a nurse, and a girl who is in plays." 

Britt:

Right now, this first-grader is OBSESSED with Legos. He saves up his chore money so we can take a trip to the Lego store in Chandler. Lately he's been getting the sets recommended for 7-12 year olds, and he puts them together on his own in under an hour. He got his dad's Lego skills, that's for sure. He loves school. He has lots of little friends, and it's fun to watch them interact when I help in his class. He's in the accelerated reading program, and the advanced math group. He has homework every night, and has to read 20 minutes. He usually rushes through the homework so he can get back to his Legos. ;) The reading takes a little more encouragement, but once he starts, he could read for an hour. He still surprises me with his reading. It seems like one day, all of a sudden, he could read anything and everything. He would probably rather be drawing on paper than reading from it though. His other favorite things lately are aircrafts and hobbits. He was thrilled to discover the Lord of the Rings Legos. He enjoys flying the remote controlled helicopter he got from Santa, and our high ceilings make it even better. Recently, he discovered the fun of putting together model planes. He loves playing football (he calls it "the good footers"...not sure why) and riding his bike. He likes to jam out to Jimi Hendrix and Flight of the Conchords. He could eat Chinese food every night. He is still a huge fan of animals and bugs. Whenever we go hiking, he finds bugs and critters to "investigate." When he grows up, he wants to be, "a scientist, or a moviemaker like Peter Jackson." A few days ago I asked him what makes him happy and he said, "blank paper, pizza night, and Bob's Burgers." 

As for Justin and I: We keep busy taking care of the bambinos, and have even managed to see a few concerts in the last several months. Justin has been working in cancer treatment and research since we moved to the valley, and I recently went back to school. I'm able to do most of my 15 credits online this semester, but a few nights a week we have to tag-team parent. Jus walks in from work, and I walk out to class. It makes the weekends that much better though. We have a few concerts coming up, and that's always nice to look forward to. We're not looking forward to the heat of the summer though, so we're trying to do as much hiking and exploring as we can before the triple digits arrive.