FiveCrows dictionary

Ig·ven·chr
Noun: an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.
"kindergarten is full of igvenchrs"

Verb: to engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory. "they igvenchred together"

In english: adventure

Origin: Lucy's kindergarten artwork

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Ar·cave
Noun: an indoor area containing coin-operated video games.

In english: arcade

Origin: Henryism, family slang for the Avalon nickel arcade

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Lan·ter·in
Noun: a lamp with a transparent case protecting the flame or electric bulb, and typically having a handle by which it can be carried or hung.

In english: lantern

Origin: Henry-ism, Lucy-ism

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Pat·ter·in
Noun: a repeated decorative design.

In english: pattern

Origin: Henry-ism, Lucy-ism

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Paus·er
Noun: material used to mark one's place in a book

In english: bookmark

Origin: adapted from movie technology

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Bag of beau·ty
Noun: a container for cosmetics

In english: makeup bag

Origin: Lucy-ism

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Bur·ger·bills
Noun: supreme destination for burgers and fries

In english: Burgerville

Origin: Henry-ism, family slang for our favorite burger place

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Hot·cocks
Noun: word-ghost that haunts your mom's brain at any occurrence that includes frankfurters

In english: hot dogs

Origin: Lucy's one-time mispronunciation

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Lo·vie foot
Noun: game where child sits on parents foot, hugs the connected leg, and asks to be walked around

In english: n/a, similar to ball and chain restraint device. But much louder.

Origin: Henry game

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Ques·tions
Noun: game where children who are ready to leave can earn candy or points by answering trivia questions

In english: n/a, invented to catapult friends after playdates

Origin: Mom strategy

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Haunt·o·nyms
Noun: words that are pronounced the same but are "haunted" by different meanings.

In english: homonym

Origin: Henry-ism

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Trip·le dog
Noun: virgin cocktail comprised of Sprite, Rootbeer, and Orange sodas.

In english: gross

Origin: drink plan hatched by Lucy and Henry at one of our many visits to Pepino's Taco Tuesday

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Bigs
Noun: people that are not 'littles.' As in "Those are for the littles, drinks for the bigs are in the fridge."

In english: adult

Origin: Aunt Millie

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Spe·cials
Noun: something of particular treasure. As in "Put your specials away if you don't want to share."

In english: treasure

Origin: Aunt Millie

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You sho' you share
important rule of the house. One of several expressions used often enough to be programmed into any future pull-toy version of mom (along with "come on guys, it's time to go," "where are your shoes?" "marble!" and "Aw, I sure love you to miss/mister!")

In english: no hoarding

Origin: universal law

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Mar·ble!
Expletive: announcement that something good had happened earning a marble in the jar or happy points.

In english: Yay! I saw you make a good choice and I am really happy about it! I am not a complete failure as a parent and everything is going to be ok. Please do that many more times in the future so you don't have a cranky mom and we can all get a long and do something fun. (Talk about a useful word reduction!)

Origin: marble jar at home

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Mom·my tax
Noun: bite of anything tasty that mom is entitled to take if and when she so chooses.

In english: portion of treat, sampling of something that children of the household lucked into. As in "Oooo - pumpkin ice cream, I better have a mommy tax." Or later, as you became better trained, "Here mom. We got some chocolate and this is your mommy tax."

Origin: as decreed by the household monarchy (aka, me)

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Mal·i·fi·nous
Noun: fairytale character

In english: Maleficent

Origin: Lucy-ism

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Up·a·high

Noun: shiny thing in the sky

In english: star

Origin: Lucy-ism, from Twinkle Twinkle song

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Wa·wee
Noun: that wet stuff

In english: water

Origin: Lucy-ism, one of her first words

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Binks
Noun: string of beloved pieces of plastic. See "specials."

In english: some extremely well-used binkies

Origin: Mom-ism

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That's cur·i·ous
Saying: useful all the time.

In english: Useful phrase to replace "That's interesting," or "Hmm," or "Get that thing away, or "I have no idea what you just said."

Origin: Dad-ism, when is this phrase not useful?

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Ban·dits
Noun: robber

In english: One should always set booby traps for potential bandits.

Origin: Henry-ism, may he never learn more typical words

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Fluf·fy
Noun: pet

In english: Universal default pet name for all life forms such as beetles, worms, and potato bugs.

Origin: Henry-ism

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Knuc·kles
Noun: pet

In english: All-time, best name for pet spider. Ever.

Origin: Henry-ism

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Chew·bec·ca
Noun: name

In english: Name of female wookie.

Origin: Lucy-ism, from her book "Chewbacca and Chewbecca: A Star Wars Love Story"

Once Upon a "Sit Upon"

Lucy's class used "sit-upons" during field trips this year. It is a piece of tarp with duct tape around the edges - and it works brilliantly if you need a place to sit down out of the RAIN/sand/dirt/street/etc.

Now we have a family set complete with bag to hold them - just in time for summer adventures.

Answers from 8.5-yr-old Lucy

What is your favorite toy?
Stuffies

Who are some favorite friends?
Harley Quinn, Dahlia, Aga, Addy, Saylor.

What's your favorite food?
IKEA.

Favorite treat?
Gummy bears.

What is your favorite book this year?
Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. Also Lumber Janes and The Year I got Polio.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A spy.

Holiday?
My birthday.

What are you most proud of?
Brand new friends.

What do you hope to accomplish while you are 8 and half?
A mini-fridge for the playhouse.

Um - ok. If you could change something in the world, what would you change?
Price of houses.

What's your favorite school thing?
Choice.

What's your least favorite time?
Math.

If you could choose any super power, what would it be?
Able to do gymnastics.

If you could have pet in the world, what would it be?
Could it be a thing instead?

Ok, if you could have anything in the world, what would it be?
Harley's mallet.

And what would you call it?
"You Go Boom."

Where in the world do you want to go?
New York City.

Where do you want to go to college?
BYU.

What do you want to study at college?
Welding. Something like engineering

What kind of car will you drive someday?
Tecla. It hasn't been invented yet but it teams with a computer. Also has a toilet. In the back it has a mini fridge and a whole bunch of cool stuff like a microwave and food packets.

How old do you think you will be when you get married?
20.

How many kids do you think you'll want some day?
1.

When I got to choose your books

Today, for dress-as-book-character day, you dressed up as Emily from the Amulet series (main character, happens to be a girl) and Rapunzel from Rapunzels Revenge (the graphic novel with the empowered cowgirl twist).

I am realizing that all the feminist books we've had around the house are having an effect on you both. And I'm sad to say that I haven't been able to find the same selection for racial diversity.

When you were little, I went to bookstores and the Library asking "Can you help me find books that feature brown people but aren't about them *being* brown?" As you can imagine, the conversations were pretty weird. But I am constantly looking for narratives that you can really connect to. Books about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and Obama are important too - but I want you to see that regular kids (just like other characters you love) can be different races. Brown is totally great. Brown is totally normal.

When I started looking, there weren't very many options. A couple of librarians suggested animal books since they avoid the race issue altogether. That was a sad moment for me - realizing that publishing isn't as inclusive as I had always assumed.

I searched again today and I am FINDING A WHOLE BUNCH MORE! Many other families must have been seeking out diverse media because consumer demand seems to be pushing publishers to be more inclusive. I am so grateful!!

I love books and I love how much they can change what you see in the world. I will enjoy the magic of choosing books for you as long as I can.

Some of our favorites are here:

• https://www.pinterest.com/mfivecrows/irresistable-also-racially-diverse/
• https://thebrownbookshelf.com/our-books/
• http://ailanet.org/activities/american-indian-youth-literature-award/
• https://www.leeandlow.com

Your rights are not up for grabs

My dearest Lucy,

Umbrellas up, we joined nearly 5 million people across the globe in the women's march this weekend. It was possibly the largest protest in Oregon, the United States, AND world-wide history.

I brought your cat hat to the parade but I didn't give it to you until we got there. We stopped to talk because I figured you'd want to understand what "pussy" was referring to in this march before you decided whether you wanted to wear it.

You had heard part of the quote from Donald Trump so we read the whole (completely awful) thing. Then I explained that by saying "grab them by the pussy," he was referring to grabbing a woman's vulva without her permission.

Shocked and very upset, you were starting to cry when you asked, "You mean someone like him can grab me there? And that's OK? He just can?!" I said "No. It's not ok! See all these people around you...all of these hats and cat signs? Every one of them is out here to say that it is definitely NOT ok. Talking about women like that is NOT ok. Grabbing a woman like that is NOT okay. And no one should think it is ok. Ever. Again."

The fear on your face went away so fast and you just lit up. And all of the sudden, I was so grateful that you had learned about it HERE. You had been in THIS crowd, with THESE people to get your first glimpse into sexual violence. You are so young – I have not wanted you near the topic. But it is looming close in your future. Like me, you must soon face that being female means some people will want to intimidate, use, and control you. And like me, you must accept we have a president that said THIS and other horrible things. Among many reasons I am grateful you EXPERIENCED, in a beautiful way, that most people agree that it is NOT ok. We want women to have safety and equality. We want YOU to feel valued and safe.

Yes, we've got some big problems. But have hope. Take a look around! All kinds of people are willing to show up and work to make things better.

Love you,
Mama

(With thanks to the Pussy Hat Project and all the worldwide march participants. You changed her world. And you changed mine!)

The story of the Earth

“In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.”
~ Rachel Carson

We had our first geography play group today. I was hoping to do several this summer but we will see how it goes.

We learned about continents. And we made our own continent, complete with plants, waterways, a volcano, and a lego city.

I love this planet we live on! I hope I can we can learn more about it together this summer.

Love,
Mama

Tonight's moon portend no good to us

The car is stuffed to the gills for spring break yurt camping. I made the reservations ages and AGES ago and we've been wishing and planning ever since – until tonight, when we are FINALLY loaded and ready to go. Then oops, we realize that we've been looking at someone else's reservation these months since it's been on our calendar, and we don't actually have a place to stay until tomorrow. Ah well, that's how it goes. Glad we are finding out in the driveway and NOT at the pitch dark campground where everything is now closed.

This evening's episode of HURRY UP and get in the car (hang out in there for while, climb out and follow bigs around while you try to figure out what's happening, whine a little, now whine a lot, get sent to the car, sit in the car for a while, pretend the trip has started and start playing, remember that you haven't left the driveway yet, realize that you probably are never leaving, repeat, repeat) and wait reminds me of many a trip when I was your ages.

I hope the rest of the trip goes more smoothly. But if it doesn't - at least I can promise you some lasting memories.

xoxo,
Mama

50 BOOKS - It's game ON!

You have both read 50 books since December. YAY!!!!

To celebrate, we played some games that require reading: Quidler and Zingo Word Builder. Plus some Minecraft chess (your idea). Not sure that really fits in with the reading thing but I made it for you anyway. Good fun with mode podge!

At 100 books, we will be going to GREAT WOLF LODGE!!!! to play the great adventure games and swim like crazies. I'm' so excited to have readers!

xo,
Mama

Home, stinky home

We got home to a mountain of laundry and sour milk. But – thanks to good friends – also food in the freezer, two pots of yellow flowers (my dad's favorite), some potted succulents (my favorite), and delicious chocolate. I'm exhausted and wrung-out. But I feel so lucky and peaceful.

Your boots are the stinkiest thing I have ever met! Ever! So I washed them with bovine far, then baking sofa, then dish soup, and last oxi-clean and laundry soap. Pretty sure I'm breaking the manufacturers recommended rules. But the stink!!! Military grade tools be required to get rid of it. Luckily, I have no mustard gas or grenades handy.

The internet recommended I fill them with cotton balls soaked in alcohol. Great! But I don't have cotton balls - not so great. So now what? I'll tell you what - TAMPONS are now hanging it of your boots. Will I have to explain to out what tampons are tomorrow? Probably. Would that awkward conversation be worth ridding the buses of the STANK that is living in your boots - I sure hope so.

Love you so much, stinky feet and all.

Mama

Spoiler alert! You will grow up to be the tooth fairy

Oh yes, we have all been here.

Playing the "tooth fairy" has to be one of the strangest parts of being a parent. Sneaking in at night to take your weird, bloody teeth? For money? Who thought this was a charming idea? I don't quite get it but we're playing along anyway

For the first tooth you lost - we were on it! New toothbrush and toothpastes, cute-as-heck note from the tooth fairy, Sacagawea coins, stealthy exchange under the cover of night. We could have been gold contenders if there were Tooth Fairy Olympics!

Fast forward to tooth #5 and I am carrying on my parents' tradition of making a half-hearted effort to conceal the truth, pretty much forgetting about it unless you remind me, and giving random gifts found around the house for your prizes.

Don't worry, you are making out like a bandit. The guilt from forgetting a night and not having any ready prize bumped your cash payment up to $5 - in the form of 1 dollar bill, 4 quarters, 10 dimes, 20 nickels, and a Thomas Jefferson dollar coin (pretty much what we could scrounge out of the change drawer last night at 11 pm).

What bounty!! I wish the tooth fairy had been so generous after I reminded my parents that my tooth had been under my pillow for a few days.

And now I can relate to this end of things.

Alas, Henry's first tooth should be coming out soon. We'll try to get back to our A-game for that special day.  Not sure this tooth fairy can promise anything beyond a linty sucker after that.

Love,
Mama

¡Me gustan Taco Tuesdays!

No cooking, no cleaning up, and fun times with estos animales.

It's a dream. A muy delicioso dream.

Reading's put a spell on you

Dear Lucy,

This year, you have quickly become a voracious reader. You favor fantasy series, especially ones that feature characters from fairytales or greek mythology. You have NO interest in books about typical kids; Ramona Quimby, Junie B, and the like do not capture your imagination or your interest for long.

But there is such a thing as being TOO EXCITED about a book you are reading. As in so excited that YOU CANNOT SLEEP! This has happened on and off with the Harry Potter books. You were falling asleep late, sneaking back up to read, and then waking back up at 2 pm ranting about the book and asking to listen to stories so you could get back to sleep.

So we created a new rule, NO reading anything new after 7:30 pm. If you've read it before, great. But if you don't know how it ends, you can't read it before bed! This works well if we remember to enforce it.

We forgot last night. And lo and behold,  Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban had you coming downstairs an hour past bedtime saying, "But I can't believe Sirius Black is..." I missed the rest as your dad steered you back to bed.

You're too funny girl. So happy that you love books. But we will be remembering to enforce our rule tonight.

Love you,
Mama

The Alien Game

In the "alien game," I pretend to be an alien from a distant planet, who doesn't know anything about anything. It is your job to be the ambassador conducting a tour, and introducing me to everything. I like that it is a good way to rest my brain. And it is interesting to see how you define and describe things.

Lucy is often very descriptive and specific.

Lucy: That is a cat.
Alien: What is "cat"?
Lucy: A cat is a cute little animal?
Alien: What is "cute"?
Lucy: Cute is something sweet to look at, or huggable.

Now, I have "sweet," "look," or "huggable" to ask about. Thus - without much thinking from me, we can go on forever.

Henry, on the other hand, is very concise, circular, AND fast. It is almost weird how you can define things in such easy terms.

Alien: What is "girl"?
Henry: A girl is a baby mom.
Alien: What is "mom"?
Henry: A mom is a grown girl.

Here, I'm only left with "grown." This kind of looping makes it harder for me to continue without paying careful attention. I have to work hard to keep it going.

I would say it has always been obvious that your brains work differently. But it is eerily strange how obvious it is after playing this game.

Out of the mouths of babes

Ruby Bridges - the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana during the 20th century. 

Dad was talking to you about prejudice against hispanics, blacks, and girls who like girls or boys who like boys. They were dumbfounded that people did that and asked why would anyone would think it was okay to exclude or bully someone for any such reasons.

Jeremy: "Some of them feel that way because they think it's what God wants."
Lucy: "That must be Ares [the Greek god of war] or Eris [the Greek goddess of discord] and they shouldn't be listening to those gods anyways!"

You're amazing. Humanity isn't so awful either. We sure have come a long way in 50 years. I really hope things keep getting better and better.

Today's script for The FiveCrows Show

SEASON 7, EPISODE 252 

(the one with the mouse)

OPENING CREDITS
Series of clips. Family in various cheesy situations and funny moments. Theme song and credits accompany.

FADE IN

1. BASEMENT PLAYROOM - DAY
Mom is mumbling to herself, struggling to put together a car track without instructions. Henry is several feet away, playing with toys. Mom looks exhausted.

Henry: "Hey mom, I think I just heard a mouse!"
Mom with a look of pure horror: "Really, where? What?"
Henry: "Well...or it could have been a toy."
Mom: "Do you really think it was a mouse?"
Henry: "I dunno. Maybe."
Mom: "Yikes!"

Camera zoom, fade transition to show Mom's brain is imagining a scary mouse.

Accompanying sound bite: classic screams from Psycho

{LAUGHTER}

2. KITCHEN - DAY
Mom and Blanca tidying kitchen, conversing in English/Spanish.

Blanca: "I'm sorry but I could not take care of the mouse."
Mom looking alarmed: "What? Where?"
Blanca: "You didn't see it? It is in Henry's room."
Mom with look of pure horror: "Dead?"
Blanca: "Yes."

Camera zooms, fade transition to show Mom's brain is imagining a mice infestation.

Accompanying sound byte: the Jaws theme song

{LAUGHTER}

3. BACKDOOR ENTRANCE - DAY
Kids and parents coming in the door after a long day. Parents look exhausted.

Mom: "I think we had better nip this in the but ASAP. I say traps, poison, and anything else they got."
Jeremy: "OK. I'll walk down with Harry and get some supplies."
Lucy: "But mom. I don't want to kill mice!"

Camera follows Jeremy and Henry down the block, emotional conversation between mom and Lucy fading into the background.

CLIP TO: Dad and Henry walking home, carrying huge bags of supplies.

Accompanying sound bite: primary song/dirge, "Pioneer children sang as they walked"

{LAUGHTER}

4. INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
Camera tight on the family going through table of mice extermination info and products. Lucy is clearly upset about killing mice. Henry is clearly excited about setting traps. Parents look exhausted.

Jeremy: "OK. I put them in the attic, crawl space and all over the house."
Henry: "Dad, let's do some more." Lucy: "I'm going to my room!"
Mom: "OK. Just be careful on your way there."

Zoom out to show that the table is surrounded by a giant game of house trap.

Accompanying sound bite: Mouse Trap™ jingle, circa 1985

{LAUGHTER}

5. INT. KITCHEN - DAY
Mom is cutting vegetables and doing other food preparation. Dad enters room to find her. Parents look exhausted.

Jeremy: "Did you look at the dead mouse in Henry's room?"
Mom: "It's behind his bed. I peeked in there and then ran away."

PREGNANT PAUSE

Mom: "Why? What is it?"
Jeremy: "The 'mouse' is just a wad of hair and lint."

Mom looks sheepish. Dad looks even more exhausted than before (is that possible?).

{LAUGHTER}

6. PARTY IN CLOUD HEAVEN - DAY
Greek gods are looking down at the FiveCrows family, laughing, and lounging with a glass of wine.

Hera: "That was classic!!!"
Hermes: "Who knew I could cause so much trouble with lint.
Athena: "Humans are crazy."
Hades: "Well you know...cerberus sheds. A LOT."
All: celebratory toasts and laughing maniacally

{LAUGHTER}

Camera zooms out.

FADE OUT - ROLL CREDITS

Accompanying sound bite: Mouse Trap™ jingle, circa 1985

Turns out, Siri doesn't swim

"The cure for anything* is salt water–sweat, tears, or the sea."
~Isak Dinesen
*Does not apply to iPhones

We've been in Manzanita for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Amazing. Lovely. So mellow and calm. Days go like this: bike ride, park, beach, hot tub, library, candy store, games, movie, repeat.

Sadly, I killed both your dad's and my phones by placing them in the way of a sneaker wave. Water + iPhone + hot sun that I placed them in to dry = VERY DEAD electronics. Your poor dad was as mad as I have ever seen him, which is to say very quiet and not making eye contact for a half an hour. I had never busted or lost a cell phone before and I hope I never do again! We didn't let it ruin our trip but we did stop for rice treatment and a short vigil.

From your dad:

"*sob* After 24 hours in an Intensive Care rice bag, Siri was pronounced dead at 6:27 PM 07/13/2015. I can't help but wonder if had I used basmati rice to try and dry her out instead of plain white rice, she might be with us still today. *sob* ‪#‎goodbyeSiri‬"

No phones = no photos. So this photo of you in the hot tub will have to suffice for two weeks of glorious beach adventures. Hopefully you will remember jumping in the surf, hunting through tide pools, and playing umpteen games of the Jumanji board game we bought here at a yard sale. I'm pretty sure you have memorized most of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Land Before Time II after watching the VHS tapes over a few times. "What do you mean it has to rewind?" You hadn't come into contact with anything that needed REWINDING before. Gad, I'm old.

Alas, it was a great adventure with lots of time to just BE together. As we leave for home, my bucket is FULL.

Love you both,
Mama

Magic is happening

Henry with four books he can read by himself!

I remember bringing Lucy home from the hostpital and realizing that she didn't know anything. ANYTHING. She didn't know the word spoon. Or how to wave goodbye. Or which Star Wars movie is the absolute best one (Empire Strikes Back, of course). The universe had put me in charge of teaching her everything! It was a moment of complete terror. I called my mom in a panic and she calmly reassured me that it would all happen over time. Every day would teach her something new and before I knew it, she would know how to make friends, do algebraic equations, and make heart-shaped pancakes.

And slowly, time has proven her right. You have both learned to talk and walk and make friends and swim. And so many other things. But it still feels somewhat magical to me. Not like Harry Potter and pumpkin coach magical. But more like WiFi magical. I understand basics of the science behind the technology. But when I sit here typing and listening to music that is *magically* floating down to my ears from space, it feels like there is definitely some hocus pocus happening.

I felt the same thing when your brains somehow started processing letters into words. You are READING. I've read to you a lot. And we've looked at letters. But I don't feel like I taught you this. I feel like you were WIRED for it and somehow, at just the right moment, it came online all by itself.

It happened first with Lucy and now Henry has caught the bug. One day you are sounding out "fan." The next time I turn around you are reading full sentences and accepting the non-logic that through and threw sound the exact same but mean two totally different things. English. It is crazy!! Always seemed way too (not to, or two) complicated a thing for me to teach you. So it's a good thing that you are both absolutely, fantastically, magic.

Losing my marbles

Spring fever has brought out the crazy in you both. I have been at my wits end trying to get through our days without any shouting or breakdowns. Maybe it's because we are so busy with year-end activities. Maybe it's because you are going through growth spurts. Whatever the cause, you were both girl-with-a-curl HORRID. If we had a Whip Man and Whip Woman to call, they would be top of my speed dial! Or maybe I'd just invite them to move in.

Enter, the marble jar.

A marble moves from "trouble" into the "happy family on earth" jar (you named them both at our family meeting) when wonderful behavior is noticed by me or dad. When the happy jar is full, we decide on an activity or treat to enjoy together.

This has worked very well and this week we got through another set of marbles so we could go to Swirl for frozen yogurt. The only problem here is that Lucy has the habit of eating slowly and enjoying her sweets (VERY GOOD!) and Henry has the habit of snarfing through his dessert like Fabulous Mr. Fox and then proceeding to steal bites from Lucy's when she isn't looking (VERY BAD!).

We decided to turn the tables on him tonight and instead of leaving a dish of delicious ice cream for him to plunder, Lucy was carrying about a veritable mix of allum, milk, mayo, and jam ("edible" items that together, looked like ice cream but were obviously going to TASTE TERRIBLE). It didn't take long for the scene to play out. We know this kid.

He went off with a face not far from Sylvester's allum-related pucker.

It reminded me of Lynda's story about giving Jarrod the ice cream cone topped with a scoop of crisco on top after he had skipped to the front of the line and demanded to be first at treats one too many times. BOOM! Wise as Yoda, Lynda is a jedi master or parenting trickery. I am still in training.

xo,
Mama

7 years of Lucy

I sigh that kiss you,

For I must own

That I shall miss you

When you have grown.

~ Yeats
(echoed in the heart of every parent in the world)

Lucy, I can't believe it's already been seven years since you were born!

In the thousands of days that we have spent together since then, you've changed me in thousands of ways. I am a new person because of you. Our life is totally different because of you.

It has not been easy and we have had some horrible days here and there. But I would not trade you all the uninterrupted sleep in the world.

I am thankful for seven years of visiting every which place across town where we can art and create together.

Seven years of exploring books and nature, finding all kinds to new things to do. Along with new ways to dirty So. Much. Laundry.

Seven years of hugs and kisses and laughing at all your crazy ideas. Countless moments when my heart has swollen so large, I picture it busting out of its frame, just like the Grinch's.

Seven years of growing into being (hopefully) the Mama you will need for the next seven years and beyond.

Yours forever,
Mama

Going for it

I love this photo of you attacking the sugar bits at the 82nd Avenue of Roses parade. You certainly love this yearly event because, well - CANDY.