in which an unwanted picture becomes a treasure

when stover dad took an unwanted picture of my backside, i unexpectedly treasured it because it showcases a moment that is becoming more and more rare. (rare for a couple of reasons- #1: stover girl is almost 6 and though she still admits to wanting to live with me well into adulthood, she does NOT want anyone seeing us show affection to one another!  reason #2 being that stover girl can commonly be a bit surly or silly after a hard days' work.  and #3 i blame on a lack of time together with so much of our time interrupted by a school clock.)  that said, i'll hold this visual treasure (minus the humongous behind of course) close to my heart when reasons #1, 2, and 3 pop up again.

 

two wheel travel

the proof is in the medal

kindergarten had put a damper in the relationship stover kids once had.  it seemed that christmas magic rekindled the harmonious feelings that once existed- over the past two weeks, stover girl and boy were sporadically caught holding hands and they compromised on activity of choice much more frequently.  stover girl has now returned to school but i'm happy to report that they've maintained positive interactions and here's the proof: 

proudly sporting a handmade medal from his sister

   

7:00, 11:00, and 4:00

i adore the three times a day i open the door to discover this two-toothed grin!
 

stover babe greets us with a smile every time- even though her schedule is of the less than perfect, third-child type and her sleeping conditions are of the less than perfect, third-child type!
 

      
ps. all other hours of the day, she practices a variety of loud noises and uses 'dada' discriminately, practices her wave, scoots around the furniture, and begs for table (or kitchen floor) food.  

stinky book motivations part 2

stover girl continues to beg for as much time as can be afforded to the little house on the prairie.  ironically,what stover mother remembers so fondly and wanted as part of her kids' repertoire is in reality a bit of nightly torture for her.   a bit of torture to read about the intracacies of a log cabin door; a bit of torture to read the litany of jack, pet, and patti stories; and a bit of torture to explain the complicated relationship that existed between the indians and the ingalls. 
...how can stover girl possibly be enjoying this?  whatever her motivation, mom's motivation is simply to finish the task and move on to the much more recently previewed 'secret garden'.
  

the year of the jeep

christmas 2011 will forever be remembered as the year of the jeep.  in a roundabout sort of way, it encompassed the spirit of christmas at it's finest: the ghost of christmas past (aka stover mom) changed her economical, practical, and space-saving ways to allow a dream big kind of christmas and the man with a childhood twinkle in his eye (aka stover dad) gave christmas a bit more anonymously and let 'santa' get the credit.   

other christmas 2011 highlights:

a girl who is growing up too fast loves her rollerskates - but only in the backyard so the neighbors don't see!

successfully matched cousins, unsuccessfully photographed cousins

stover boy attempts an unsupervised 4 foot jump from the pool table but escapes serious injury

stover dad gets some playtime in at the cabin

a baby's first christmas

and her first snow!

and a who knew it favorite- mittens!