Dear Brownie:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it,

is to make me forget how challenging this week was.

Warning: this mission may be all-consuming.....

A preview of teenagerism...

This morning we had to get up early. Audrey doesn't do mornings.

She's asleep.

The light is on.

Glowbug is next to her face, singing.

Genny and I have had at-Genny-volume conversations.

I have patted her back.

She has not moved a single muscle.

And yes, of course she's breathing.

She's just ignoring me.

Finally she did this:

Turned glow bug back on.

And after patting her and talking to her and generally being a pest, I got this. (love the hair)

Teenage years are going to be a challenge.

Genny goes to gymnastics

Here's Genny at gymnastics with her beloved teacher Miss Brandi....

And her sister cheering her on!

Signs, signs, everywhere signs...

I put this sign on the door since we have had a fair amount of inspectors tromping through the house. Genny asked what it meant, and I could tell she was thinking hard about it. You see, when anyone shows up at the door, my dog goes berserk. And so ringing the doorbell is the least of the problems, really.

So later she drew this picture and told Robert what to write on it. She was quite certain that this was going to be much more effective than the sign I created:

It says "Daisy: Don't Bark When Audrey is Asleep!"

Audrey teaches you how to make stuff disappear

How to Make Things Disappear (By Audrey Kate):

Distract everyone with how cute you are.

Meanwhile, find a door.

Little tiny ones by the floor are easiest to reach.

Put stuff out the door.

Preferably sister's stuff.

It's like magic!

If anyone notices you, claim you were just checking the weather or looking for the dog.

Actually, the dog seems to be the only one who knows about these teeny doors near the floor.

Weird.

Continue until all the stuff has fully disappeared out the door.

This may take several tries.

Then, act like nothing happened.

No one will suspect you of anything!

a poling convention

Seriously, I've never seen so many polings in one place.

This weekend in Texline we went to a family gathering for all of the children of Robert's great grandfather. Here's the generation of Rob's dad's age people.

Genny was all snazzied up for the party. And ready to roll.

She watched everyone else get their picture made on the stairs. And then asked me (quite desperately) "MOMMY! When do I get to have my picture made on the stairs too?" So Stan and Bobbie were nice enough to pose with her for her stair picture.

Audrey behaved herself quite well.

We brought her car, and so most of the time she drove around bonking people on the leg and eating cheerios happily. It was great. She made quite a few friends that way.

Sweet Genny and her daddy!

Audrey really liked Linda. And her necklace.

Genny with Papa Stan and Bobbie.

Sister Pictures

the girls were looking pretty fancy today. And so I wanted to get a picture. This was good.

But then things started to deteriorate.
Audrey had had enough.
And tried to escape. But Genny held on valiantly.
Even though it wasn't going well.
I think in this one she was telling Audrey, "Stay HERE Audrey, Mommy said to keep you here and HUG you for the PICTURE!"

Audrey discovers Gen's tricycle

Audrey patiently watched Genny ride her tricycle around.

For quite a while.

But as soon as Genny went to a friend's house, Audrey went to check out the trike.

She was quite proud of herself.

And cute.

And fascinated by the bell.

Genny sings "Pants on the ground"

macaroni, macaroni....

Pasta was the thing today.

On Sesame Street, there was a macaroni picture. On Abby's Flying Fairy School.

So Genny got to do a macaroni craft.

She kept saying, "Mom! It's JUST LIKE on Abby's Flying Fairy School!"

Here's the finished product.

And I cooked some macaroni for Audrey to eat while Genny crafted.

And I crafted this.

And we're not even Italian!

Audrey at 11 months old

Dear Audrey,

You are 11 months old now. You have grown so much in the past month! Now you are crawling and standing like a champion. I think you will be walking soon. You have also perfected the skill of sitting up and turning around, pivoting on your bottom. It's hilarious, little one.

We got snow this month, and you were so sad that sister got to play in it and you didn't. But you enjoyed watching all the same.

You have finally started to talk! Now we hear a "mama" and a "dada" in there pretty often. Sister would like for you to learn to say "tater tot" but so far you have not. Maybe next month.

It's really wonderful to get close to that one-year milestone. We've come a long way! This month you are slightly over 16 pounds. And most of your 6-9 month clothes are starting to fit now, so I think we are catching up.

You love the Daisy dog so much. She's learned that you have quite a grip and you are talented at catching her ears, but she's very patient with you. Sister fascinates you, but you prefer to observe her from a distance. She prefers that distance to be less than two inches.... her favorite game with you is "being an ice cream cone" This means that she follows you around hugging you. She's the cone, apparently. It's not really your favorite. You very much prefer when she crawls around the house with you "being a herd of turtles."

We love you, little tater tot!

What would you do if....

Genny has a fun new game.

She likes to ask questions of "what would you do if..."

...if there was a giant in the house?

...if you had mice living in your tummy?

...if you saw a bear?

...if you didn't have a little girl named Genevieve?

...if Daisy was a bug?

...if there was a mouse in the house?