Sister Love, Flipped Turtle Syndrome, and the Like

These girls. Oh, they are funny. They love to be sisters. This is a picture of Madeline's first day of preschool. Madeline was so excited to be there and Violet was so excited for her, and they just couldn't stop hugging and being happy together. Lately they love to give each other "sister hugs," which at home usually ends up with them wrestling on the floor. And yes! Madeline is going to preschool this year. I'm really glad we didn't worry about it last year, and I'm also glad that we found a good situation for her this year. She is going two days a week in the afternoon, and she absolutely loves it. Lots of art projects and exploration.

One awesome thing about Madeline lately: she loves to write. She will just write and write and write. Sometimes she'll copy phrases or passages out of books. Sometimes she'll write notes to other people, like Dave or Violet. Sometimes she'll write down something she wants to ask me or that she wants me to know and then hand me the note instead of telling me. (Such as "Mommy, where's the measuring tape?" or "Mommy, I will be a pig for Halloween.") It's all just for fun and I love that she's so into it. She also loves to sign everything with either her initials or what she calls her "real name"---which turns out to be "Leroy Encyclopedia Brown." Apparently we thought Madeline was her real name all these years, but it wasn't actually true. My mistake. She has even signed preschool drawings "Leroy."

One awesome thing about Violet lately: she still loves to sing and sing and sing. Nothing stops her, and she is remarkably good at learning lyrics and carrying a tune. There is something really amusing about a two-year-old cutie eating peanut butter and singing "When an Austrian Went Yodeling" between each bite. Of course she doesn't always get all the lyrics right, although she's pretty darn good. Tonight she was singing "Nephi's Courage" and I was delighted to hear her sing, "Laman and Laughing were both afraid to try . . ." So sweet.

One awesome thing about me lately: I am now thirty-eight weeks along and am feeling pretty good mentally and physically (although of course I have my moments), but definitely getting awkward. Last night I had a really awful but funny moment. Dave came to bed really really really late, and I woke up and needed to go to the bathroom. Although I always try to sleep on my side, somehow I had ended up on my back and could not get out of bed for the life of me. I was really still mostly asleep but trying SO HARD to get out of bed, and just ended up desperately rolling back and forth on my back several times like a turtle that had gotten flipped over. I was just about to ask Dave for a big shove when I woke up enough to do it on my own.

One awesome thing about Dave lately: he is now known as "Chief Brown" around our house and wears his title well. Also he has been functioning on not-nearly-enough-sleep for quite a while now (he's been pretty busy with his full-time job, his part-time freelance job, his church responsibilities, and life), but he still manages to be an amazingly fun dad whom the girls absolutely and completely adore. Also he manages to get the girls to church not only on time, but early whenever I have to be at the church for meetings, a feat I can never accomplish on my own. And although their hair may not be perfectly groomed, he's a man who knows enough to throw a bow and a brush in his pocket so I can do my thing.