the bunny who lost his carrot

so one day a bunny had a carrot, but then the wind came and blew it away! and then the bunny dug all under the ground but he still couldn't find the carrot and then he went to bed sadly because he had never found his favorite carrot. but when the rabbit woke up he looked under his pillow and he found his carrot!!! 

the end

by jack marshall dyer

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life with archie

archie celebrated his mini golden birthday when he turned seventeen months on april 17th, so to mark the occasion here are a few of the fun things we are loving about archie right now: 

• whenever we tell him its time to eat he excitedly toddles over to his high chair and waits to be picked up

• his face lights up when he smiles and he has the best laugh [and he's always getting complimented on both]

• he loves to dance and it's hilarious to watch him spring into action with his elbows up and his signature shimmy 

• after a diaper change he's usually quick to snatch up the dirty diaper and throw it away

• he's embraced our love of sleep and goes down easily after our bedtime routine of books, songs, and snuggling up with his taggies

• he is starting to love book time and wants to hear his favorites over and over

• in the morning he's content to hang out in his bed until his big brother comes in to say good morning

• he enthusiastically waves at just about everyone he sees, and if you're lucky he'll ask for a "fiiiive" and a fist pound

we sure are glad he's ours!

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jack is five

these are ten of the things we love about you:  

1. you are unusually skilled at puzzles and have earned your title of puzzle savant

2. we know the bonus hugs you give us every night are mostly an excuse to come out of your room, but we love them anyway

3. you are learning lots of new games and becoming quite a good game player

4. you have such a genuine love for archie and are a caring big brother [and he adores you right back!]

5. your stories and pretend play are imaginative, theatrical, and often make us laugh

6. you often roll your eyes at "ding dang commercials", but you also randomly quote them and sing along with the jingles [our favorites are 'liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty' and 'paxlovid paxlovid'

7. the still life photos you take on mom's phone are surprisingly good, and you are always asking to sew with gaga dubs

8. you are genuinely kind and grateful, and you have a tender heart

9. you love playing "yellow guys" on mom's phone [which means typing emoji's into the search bar]

10. little things often bring you such delight and you are a joy to be around

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anniversary number eleven

i'm certain neither of us saw this coming, but we celebrated our eleventh anniversary up north in minnesota. 

last year my friend julie and i stumbled upon competitive puzzling and we were both excited about the idea of competing at the largest jigsaw puzzle competition in the county at the st. paul winter carnival. it happened to coincide with our anniversary weekend, so we decided to make it a family road trip adventure.

the highlight of the weekend was obviously puzzles. i enjoyed the many celebrity puzzler sightings, and with our two husbands and four boys in tow we had a great cheering section and came in 26th out of 160 teams in the pairs event. with the rest of our time we also found some delicious fried chicken, took a lovely drive along the river to minnehaha falls, strolled the mall of america, found our way through a mirror maze, watched ice scultptors in the park, navigated a snow maze, and enjoyed a chiefs afc championship win at diamond jo's casino on the drive home.

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memories of my dad

it's odd to consider how long it has been since my dad passed away. twenty years feels like a lifetime ago. my life is so different than it was then, and the place i now call home is not a place my dad ever knew. that feels strange. my kids won't get to meet him, but i hope that one day they want to know about him. my dad wasn't perfect, but despite his faults i never doubted that he loved me and was proud of me. he was convinced i had mounds of potential and could grow up to be anything i wanted to be. that's not the message everyone gets from their dad, so i am thankful for that. 

my dad spent his career as an aerospace engineer at mcdonnell douglas. he worked on lots of different planes, but the blue angels were always my favorite. whenever i see a fighter jet i always think of him. i remember the suits he wore every day to work and his 1980's plastic pocket protector of pens and such. i remember that he and my mom met for lunch every day of the the week. on sundays he sang bass in the salem choir from the back row of the balcony, and i often joined him there. during sunday school hour he went to dunkin' donuts and sometimes brought me back a bag of donut holes for the ride home. he played the trumpet during our sing-a-longs on christmas night. he had a blue riding lawn mower and loved owning a boat. i have many memories of our yearly trips to gulf shores, always towing the boat back and forth. we went to indian princesses together and he taught me kemo kimo, which i sing to my own kids now. their knowledge of their grandpa may come in bits and pieces, but they already share that song.

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