Thank you, Anna!

We had our Christmas get-together this weekend (I know, I know...it is February) and the kids finally got to open their exchange gifts from cousins. Jake (in his mind) came out with the prize. A story book. Not just any story book however. This one was written by his creative cousin Anna and personalized to fit Jakey and Max. AND...this one came with room for him to write his OWN stories (which he has been busily at work on since he opened it (literally).

Thank you, Anna. You made his "Christmas."

The funny thing (at least I can laugh) is that Jake drags his feet when we practice writing...or reading. Not his favorite thing; I have tried just about everything (including stapling pages together for him to make a story of his own. However, as I went to check on him, there he was coloring away and writing the words "The T-Rex is in the Jungle" (okay...it was backwards...but hey! He was writing the letters!)

It is now refered to as simply "My Book" and prases such as "Mom, where's My Book" and "Please don't use My Book" and "Have I showed you My Book?" have been common this weekend

Thank you again, Anna.

Oh...and Max is very possessive of the other dinosaur books. I have already read them more times than I can count. You girls got to know my boys well while you were here and hit the proverbial nail on the head with your gift.

The other success of the night was the appre-ciation of Dominic for his new friend, Buddy. I must admit, from the moment his face came together on my needles I was thinking, "This is the scariest monkey I have ever seen." It got called names such as "deranged, possessed, and horrifying." Maybe that stems from my lingering fear of monkeys caused by a certain brother's teasing of "monkeys in the trees" following my exposure to The Wizard of Oz.
However, once the ears, smile and eyeballs were in place it lost its need for an exorcist and became a nice little buddy. Whew!

We miss you, Balsbaugh family, and hope to see you soon