Erica Says "Popcorn" and Other Things to Make You Smile

My favorite selfies are the ones where my face is mostly cut off and Justin fills up the shot.

Some words Erica says with all the wrong consonants and some wrong vowels. Please don't correct her.

Last week these two were very excited about the snow (or nones as Erica says it).

Henry and his best bud Dexter played it in until Henry got super muddy. I'm still not sure how he got so muddy so fast. When I asked him where he found mud, he just shrugged.

Erica liked to watch them play.

But she didn't make a fuss about going out herself so we stayed inside. She's nice like that.

I don't have a favorite child but I do have a favorite one-year-old and that is Erica. When I'm busy cleaning or cooking, she just pulls a coloring book and crayons out of the drawer and does this nearly silently for several minutes.

I think she likes playing with crayons as much as she likes coloring with them.

Sometimes she acts like a big kid and brings everything to the table.

And then she dumps out the crayons and wanders off.

I told Sarah if she stopped biting her nails I would let her get some nail polish. She got this bottle for her birthday and wanted a picture of her painting her own nails.

I do not like the smell of nailpolish or how old she is getting.

Sarah's cousin Bella gave her a birthday present in this bag she decorated herself. I cleverly changed the message so I could use it for my mom's birthday last week.

See what I did there?

 I got my mom a new cutting board and made her hold it up just like she made us hold up our presents when we were kids. She held it in front of her face just like we did. Well played, Mom.

 Aside from the love affair with coloring books and crayons, Erica also loves packing around a bag of goldfish crackers. You'd think she'd like nursery.

  Last one of Erica, I promise. 

 And now Henry being all serious.

Speaking of Henry, I didn't take him to get his school picture taken because it's just preschool. But to be honest, I couldn't imagine Henry waiting in line, standing on the specific spot the photographer tells him to, being told how to pose, and then actually looking at the camera and smiling. I imagined there would be lots of dragging and bribery and an angry blurry face as he ran away.

I didn't think the photographers would still be there when he went to school that day a couple of weeks ago, so I let him wear his old t-shirt he slept in the night before. I was very surprised when Henry came home with this on Friday.

I can't tell you how much I wish I were a fly on the wall when this went down. I still can't imagine it. I just can't.

 I'm not buying any because I don't pay $30 for smiles like that when I can have smiles like this for free.