Sorry for missing last week. Mostly I am sorry to Mary whose only request from me for her mission was to be able to read the blog. So here it is, Mary. I hope you know I love you and that I think of you even while you are far away.

I don’t feel like there is much of anything super momentous to report for the past little bit, but my kids continue to be cute and Josh and I continue to amuse ourselves making stuff, etc. So here’s what’s up.

Josh was practicing the banjo the other evening and Carter decided he needed to play something too. He had the idea of adding a strap to the ukulele all by himself and Josh made it a reality.

Then, of course, Fay had to have a turn, too.

Cute little musicians!

Carter came down with a cough early this past week and so we took a sick day. Sick days are some of the only days where the kids actually get to watch an entire movie in one go, so it was fun. Carter chose Cars 3. Here they all are watching it. It made me happy to watch them smile at it.

If you haven’t been around Portia lately you don’t know that she talks like CRAZY! She has always been a “communicator” and we are happy that she has now mostly exchanged words and simple sentences for the shrieks and screaming she used to use to communicate. She loves to talk about her birthday. She will frequently declare “My birthday coming up March!” And though I’m pretty sure she doesn’t really understand what it all means, it is still fun to hear her talk about it. Here is a glimpse of her and her chatting.

As for Josh and me: the other evening, Kathryn called us and asked how we felt about recreating this little dangle toy she found on Etsy. She was going to buy it and Steve told her he thought we could make it and it would be more fun to pay us to do it than to pay Etsy people to do it. So we made it! Josh did the construction, I helped with sanding and specifics about the design and made the dangles. We were pleased with how it turned out, but were even more pleased to see that Kathryn and Daniel were pleased. Plus, it was fun to make.