the last supper

Since my dad is scheduled for surgery tomorrow, we went to Verde's to enjoy one last supper.

A trip to Verde's means that I get to run about on the large back lawn with one parent while the other eats alone. Since my dad's football career is over, I am now captain of the team.

my new monster truck

Since my sister moved away, we were not sure how we would spend Easter. We had a busy day and the Easter bunny managed to find my house.

We woke up quite early for a Sunday. When I say "we" got up early, I mean that my mom and I woke up at our normal early time but we dragged my dad out of bed too. There was a children's festival at my school. The second photo is me playing in my nest at school.

After the festival, we went home to see what the Easter bunny brought me. I lucked out.

But nothing was as nice as the Easter basket Lisa and Victor brought me. It had sidewalk chalk, a monster truck, chocolate (which I helped myself to throughout the evening and got progressively crazier), and some things for the bath. Did I mention that she brought me a monster truck? It is my new best friend. I have always loved Lisa but now more so than ever.

Dinner was lovely.

flowers

The one thing we can count on every spring is that our irises will bloom beautifully. The bulbs were a gift from Ellen several years ago when her aunt, a world-famous iris farmer, died. When she died, Ellen spent countless hours digging every single bulb out of the farm.

Since we finally had some rain this fall, this has been the best year yet for wildflowers. My school is covered in flowers. Of all of the first ladies, Lady Bird Johnson did the most good. And it has lasted for decades. Don't be disappointed but I may not pose for a wildflower photo this year. Well, if you can catch me, I might. The days are running out. It has been in the 90s this weekend. The flowers are about to shrivel and die. Everything is about to die.

I have finally started to ride my tractor. It was a Christmas gift from my grandmothers in 2010. I was terrified of how loud the tractor was until just this week. While I was afraid of it, I would just sit on it inside the house; sometimes I would be brave enough to honk the horn. Now I tear around the yard.

very busy day

Summer is definitely here and I know this because, not only is it unbearably hot, we have had our first tarantula sighting of the year. My dad and I found it several days ago hiding under a rock in the front yard. Luckily my mom had just gone in the house. I cried about the tarantula but then I befriended it from afar. I named her Spidey. This morning when we left the house to go to the bus roadeo, Spidey was sprawled out in all of her fuzzy glory on my front walkway. She was quite sickly and did not survive the day. In the late afternoon, my dad helped me dig a big hole so I could bury her. Goodbye Spidey.

Let's not even talk about our hours-long journey to the bus roadeo (let's just chalk it up to some bad directions, worse mislabeled maps, and the inability - not my mom's - to distinguish left from right) but I had fun while I was there though I did not behave very well. I was hot, tired, and hungry and I kept trying to run away. I would have behaved perfectly if people (namely my parents) would have just let me do whatever I wanted to do . . . and chased me for miles and miles in the hot sun. I am getting faster by the day.

In the first photo, I am taking a ride around the lot on a paratransit bus. Normally I like the green buses best but not today.

I met a sweet miniature horse named Little Wanderer and I got to brush her. She tried to eat my golden hay hair right off of my head. And I tried to feed it to her.

le dentiste

Since my visit to the dentist last spring, I have been impatiently awaiting my next appointment. Today was my lucky day. We had planned on waking up on time and arriving to my appointment very early to allow me enough time to play. We slept in. I got to my appointment barely on time . . . except they had no record of my appointment but they squeezed me in. And that allowed me ample time to play. I played before. I played after. They have such a wonderful selection of toys in the waiting room.

There was one mother there with three toddlers and she had to hold each of them down for the dentist. She was a mean mother and put the kids in time out right there in the dentist office for fussing and refused to let them pick prizes and told her kids they are bad and mean. Being a pediatric dentist might be one of the least fun jobs in the world. But I might refuse service to a mother like her though.

I was the perfect patient today. I sat still for the hygienist and also for the dentist. They marveled at my perfect teeth. You might recall that, last year, the dentist insisted that night nursing would decay my teeth. NO! We were right; he was wrong. My sister is jealous that it appears as though I will have such straight teeth.

I am teething right now and should have three new molars any day now. One has already broken through the gums. ouch.

After the nap that I didn't have, I mastered the art of somersaults. I bent down to smell a flower in the front yard and toppled over; that is how I discovered I could do somersaults.

790,390 minus 2

My sister and Hector left for Seattle today. This is me parting ways with Trinity last night after we spent a nice day together (and before she put my mom to work cleaning her apartment and packing her car until 1:00am). We are all tired today as the last days, maybe even weeks, have been frantic. Trinity will spend tonight somewhere in New Mexico. By Thursday night, she will live in Seattle.

More on the move soon once I understand what it means not to have my sister living nearby. All I really know is there was a moving van, her bed is gone, and she went to Seattle but not on the airplane.

construction

Since we are quickly running out of days before we see nothing but 100 degrees for months and neverending months, I have embarked on a huge construction project. I am building some roads and digging ditches all through my front yard. I even bought a new shovel since I broke my last one.

Best of all, I have decided that I should unearth the house. My dad was initially uneasy about this ambitious project but we reassured him that 1) it sure makes me sleep soundly and 2) well, there is no number two.