i am 3.5!

mom and dad say that today is my three and a half birthday. i am not sure what that means, exactly, but i do know that you do not really get presents. bummer.

last week we went to indiana, and it was a good time! i acted like megaman a whole lot, and i played with some girls, and i played in a creek, and i rode in the car for a looooooooong time. elisabeth hates the car, but i do not mind it. you get to read books and play with toys and eat a lot of mcdonalds. you can pretend like you are moe, while dad is curly and elisabeth is shemp, and mom is larry. mom and betty do not play along very well, though. you can listen to strongbad and brak on the radio, and also some band called BNL. you can also draw on the door of the car with a marker, but only if you really just want to get in trouble.

here are some pictures! i really liked throwing rocks in the creek, next to the waterfall. i was not real keen on getting the water on my head, though, so i was pretty careful. in the chair, i am being megaman. oh, and elisabeth hates the grass.

my cousins

here are the pictures i promised of my cousins. they are a ton of fun. this past time i was there, we did all kinds of fun stuff. like hit each other with balloons. and eat our cheese like puppies!

elisabeth did more tame things, like look at a big ball, and bite my aunt keri.
again, i was worn out. balloons do not make very good pillows, but they will do if there is nothing else to lay your head on.

look! it's that peanut guy!

he is on our peanut jar.

he maked all those peanuts!

it was really nice to give us peanuts.

they are really brown.



mom says i should be in commercials, with product promotions like that. i agree.

my cousin becky

she cracks me up. we considered playing some scrabble but decided it was more fun to drink juice with a flourish.

i get to see all my cousins again this weekend for rachel's birthday! i am pretty excited and will be sure to post pictures.

giant cheeks

they run in my family. amber took this picture of me when i was little. people talk about elisabeth and her big cheeks, but i had big cheeks first! and also an eye infection, but that is not what you are supposed to be looking at.

i like to read

so i have always liked to read. before i could ask mom and dad what all the letters all over everything were, i would point to them so they would tell me. i did this when we were walking and passed a sign, or when we were in the parking lot and passing the cars with license plates, or when we were sitting down in the house, i would point to the letters all over all our stuff. i have always just liked it, and when i was 2, i could read several words. but now i am 3 and i can read a whole bunch of words. people seem surprised about this, but really, it is nothing new. (can everyone not read?) i like to watch cartoons with the letters on the tv (closed captioning, mom calls it), and i like to help dad read maps when we are going to silver dollar city so we do not get lost and drive to goodman or battlefield or drive into a lake or river (the blue parts that look like snakes on the map). at night before we go to bed, i read my charlie brown comic book while dad reads his book about how to speak japanese.


today i was reading my Sam and the Firefly book to Elisabeth before we took our naps. she was really paying attention, so i think maybe she will be a good reader too.

woohoo!

this picture has nothing to do with what i am going to tell you about. it is me when i was elisabeth. i mean, tiny like elisabeth!

anyway, back to the present times.
i talked about silver dollar city so much that my dad took me back AGAIN on friday. man, was it ever a good time. i am getting more and more brave. this time i rode the butterflies that go really high up and down, and i tried the frogs again. i still did not like the frogs. maybe next time. we rode the flooded mine and the train and went in grandpa's crooked house, and we walked all over the place. i did not even get tired of walking around until right before we left. dad got sunburned on his face and head. i did not get sunburned, because i wore sunscreen.

i asked dad if we can live there. he said we can only just visit.

my sister

is pretty silly. she wears penguins on her head (i have to help her out with that, as she can not reach the top of her head), and she drools.

silver dollar silly!

i mean "city," not "silly." but sometimes i say "silly," and that is silly!

we all went there to silver dollar CITY the other day. it was so cold, but we got bundled up and had some good times anyway!

we rode lots of rides. well, elisabeth only rode the train.
the train was good, but not the one where you went down the hill (fire in the hole!), because i was a little bit afraid of it. the lady bugs are my favorite because they do not jump around and do crazy stuff. they just go in a circle kinda fast. also there was a big giant fort with a lot of balls. and a boat ride where you shoot targets on people. i got 1800 points in that game, because i am pretty good. i liked the teacups until they started spinning way too fast. mom rode that one with me, and she does not know how to keep it from spinning, like daddy does.

it was world fest when we went, which means there is stuff there from lots of different places. we watched some dancers from scotland and ireland. and i learned sudoku! also, there is a bridge there named after us. we let other people use it, though, if they need to walk across.

on the way home from branson, i threw up in the van. it was the first time i have ever done that, and mom and dad say they hope i am not going to get carsick a lot. i think they meant "vansick," but i get the point. yuck.

charlie brown

i do not think i ever told you that my new favorite thing is charlie brown. he is a funny guy, and a lot of people call him "blockhead." i like to call people 'blockhead' now, so if i call you that, remember that it is a term of endearment.

my dad used to read charlie brown books when he was a kid, and so now we read them together! i also watch the movies. Snoopy Come Home and A Boy Named Charlie Brown are my favorites, followed closely by the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Dad said Netflix might be calling soon to ask for their movies back. i refuse.

mom even made me a blanket with snoopy and linus and lucy and charlie brown on it! and dad let me play with his collectible charlie brown action figure that our friends jeremy and kathleen bought him a long time ago.

grandma and papa

we just got back from going somewhere else! elisabeth and mom and i went to see grandma and papa in clarksville, since we did not get to see them on spring break.

it is always a good time at their house. they got me a bike! it is a schwinn. i even let elisabeth ride.

grandma and i invented a game called "Spiders!" first the spiders have to do push-ups to get real strong, then they attack! either they can fly or tickle or run. it is a fun game.

they also have a whole bunch of flowers and a garden and a dog that i told you about before, named sugar. i remembered not to hold her by the neck this time, but i also slapped her a couple times. you guessed it; i got in trouble.

so many boundaries.

last week

this past week my dad went down to mississippi because his job was there. he was building houses for people who did not have houses anymore because of a hurricane. my dad told me he would be back in seven days.

instead of staying around the house being sad and missing dad, mom and elisabeth and i decided to take some road trip adventures!

we had a really fun time, but i asked about my dad 873 times, at least. i missed him a whole lot, and i even pretended to call him one time on the phone and demand that he come back. he said he never wants to be away from all of us that long again, but i think he had a good time too.

anyway, here are some stories and pictures from our journey!

Adventure Stop #1: Grandpa!

first, we drove down to my grandpa's house. he has a boat and a four wheeler, and i got to ride on both! he is a lot of fun!!!


i learned a whole bunch of things at his house. some of them may or may not be true, as my grandpa is a real kidder.

1. there is a lion that lives in the closet. he is a nice lion, as long as you keep the door closed, and he is sleeping. if you open the door, he gets really mad!

2. there is a bomb on the screen door, and if people grandpa does not want in there try to get in, the bomb goes off and scares them!

3. i like my eggs scrambled, but grandpa likes to fry his and then cut the top open and let the yellow egg blood come out.

4. it is polite to wave to the boats when you pass them. when people do not wave, it makes grandpa angry.



i also got to go to the buxtons' house and sit by the fire and throw paperwads in there and roast marshmallows. they have three dogs, sassy, bo, and winston. sassy is a beagle like snoopy! maybe they are related.

on the way out of town, we stopped at the post office where my grandpa works. he took me to the back and weighed me and elisabeth on the big scale. i weigh 42 or 43. elisabeth weighs 14 or 15. mom would not get on that scale for some reason.

here's me dancing on the boat to some classic rock!

Adventure Stop #2: Misty and Larry!

next, we went and stayed at larry and misty's house, while mom learned how to make a quilt for elisabeth.

i liked to run down the sidewalk behind their house and do interpretive dances for my sister, for the dogs, and for whatever else they could think of. here is a picture of me really getting into it.

we also went to family park while we were in town, and i climbed the monkey bars!

they have dogs that are super fun, named abby and pearl. pearl is sugar's sister! i told you about sugar a while back. she is the dog that lives at my grandma and papa's house that you do not hold by the neck. i learned that with pearl, you can not kick her in the head. or you go to time out, and time out is no fun. there are a lot of rules with dogs! but they are really fun to run around with. even though i got in trouble with misty, she is one of my favorite friends!

Adventure Stop #3: Grandma, Pappy, and Nany

next, we drove six whole hours in the car to see my grandparents and nany.
let me tell you some things about these grandparents, so you do not get confused about which ones they are.

grandma is my friend; she colors with me.
pappy throws the shoe. (at the ceiling. long story, ask me about it sometime.)
nany sat in the chair and ate food. (she has a little stash of candy that we eat when we watch tom and jerry!)

on this trip to their house, we went to eat at a restaurant called luigi's. that was pretty exciting to me, because luigi is mario's brother. turns out, he makes good spaghetti.

also, pappy and i played baseball in the yard. here is a picture of him pitching whiffle balls to me. check out my form!

i got a bubble bath from nany and watched cartoons with her, too!

Adventure Stop #4: Cousins!

for our final stop, we went down to see my cousins. there are five of them, and it is a really really really good time to go to their house.

we played with swords. we jumped on the trampoline. i drove isaac down to the pond in the tractor, and then the battery died, so we got stuck! then the new battery made it go super fast, so i could not steer right, and i ran into the fence. nobody got hurt, though. apparently it is just a kids' tractor.

here is a picture of the seven of us! rachel is almost ten, jacob is almost seven, becky is almost six, daniel just turned three, isaac just turned one, and then of course there are my sister and me.

FINALLY, we went home to see daddy at new house in rogers. i had a whole lot of fun on my trip, but i was really really really really super glad to see my dad.

i fell asleep in the car on the way home.
the end.

worst thing EVER

so, i do not know if you can tell from this picture, but i got a hair cut yesterday.

mom put a garbage bag around my neck and taped it there, and she got the clippers going. it was okay for most of the back, but it got close to my ear and made this loud noise, and i flipped completely out. i howled and screamed, and there was snot running out of my nose, and i went to wipe the snot, and i got hair and snot on my hands. the more i wiped, the more hair i got all over the place.

she called my dad so he could talk to me and calm me down, but really it was a trick so she could cut the bottom part and over my ears with scissors while i talked to him. i told dad to not let her cut my neck. she did not cut my neck, but the whole experience was pretty much the worst thing that has ever happened to me. not really, but that is what mom says i acted like. she said she was also afraid that someone was going to call the cops or something, because i sounded like i was being tortured. well, it was torture. maybe calling the cops is not a bad idea. next time i hear the clippers, i am calling 911.

me and my sister

here are a few pictures of me and that little sister i talk about all the time. (i am the one getting gradually more upside down.)
we have a good time. she talks to me and smiles at me a lot, and i help her do her exercises to make her legs strong. mom says ellie might be a catcher someday, while i play short stop. or maybe she will play short, and i will catch.

we got a new van, which is super exciting. it is a lot of room to play and really big windows to look out of.

also our church moved buildings, and i have had a really good time going with dad to the new church a lot and helping "unpack" toys. last week at church we made maps, and i drew the chrysler building on mine!

do not hold sugar by the neck!

we went to see grandma and papa and mine aunt michelle for a few days, and it was a good time. we ate green beans and shrimp and "okla" (or was it broccoli?) and something called "yasanla." this is apparently michelle's favorite. we also played basketball in the yard and rode my new bike and drove to the gas station in the rain and watched cartoons.

this is sugar, my grandma and papa's dog. she is a schnauzer. she is pretty cute, except for when she barks. i request that she be put in her room when she starts yapping, because it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too loud.

happy valentines day!

this is the day for love, they say. as you can see, i love my sister elisabeth. i kiss her all the time. sometimes too much, like when she is sleeping. i can not resist the cheeks. i even nicknamed her "cheeks," and i call her that a lot! that, or "beef." it just sounded funny.

wario!

wario is my best friend! he is very ugly. he is also very angry!
here is me making a wario face. i am pretty good at faces, i must admit.

i am advanced

in many ways, but in this case i am talking technology.

my favorite game on the gamecube, currently, is WarioWare. it is a good time. mom and dad play it with me, and i am almost better than mom. keep that quiet, though, because it makes her a little sad. anyway, if i can not talk them into playing 15 rounds or so, i can play it by myself for all of us. come on, people, this takes talent.

and one day i drew this on the computer. i call this work of art "Cherry Friend."

snow!

snow is cold!
snow is crunchy under your feet!
snow is good to throw at trash cans and garage doors!
snow really can be caught on your tongue, like they do in the charlie brown movie.
snow is super fun, in case you did not already know.

mom and i put on our snow clothes and went outside to play. we ran around and did snow dances and walked really far and pretended it was a race! but along the way, we had to roast some marshmallows. that was my idea. globs of snow make really good pretend marshmallows. if you walk in your old footprints, it is a good time. also, you can't be tracked as easy. mom and dad say i will be even happier about snow when i get older and get to miss school because of it.

here are a few snapshots of snowdancing, and snow megaman, and snow happiness.

hayv

"hayv" is very calm and nice.
"hayv" keeps you out of trouble.
"hayv" is when you do what your mom and dad tell you to do.
mom and dad tell me to be hayv a lot. i tell them that i AM being hayv. they usually do not believe me.



here is a picture from when i hung out with my cousins. daniel is almost my age. he'll be 3 in a couple weeks. becky is 5, and jacob is 6. they have a tree house and everything. i told mom that me and jacob live in the tree house together. that day was a super fun day! mom and dad say maybe i can stay there a WHOLE WEEK in march, if mom and elisabeth go to mississippi for spring break. i hope they do!!! when is march??


also here is a picture from when mom and i took elisabeth for a walk in her new stroller. i helped push, and i told mom when to do yellow light and red light and green light so she would stay out of traffic and not get hit by cars. lucky for her, she beed hayv.

let me tell you another story

there was a little boy named "daddy."
he drived his own tractor.
one day he saw elisabeth.
he said to elisabeth, "let's play together!" and they played.
daddy was a great guy.
he was a super great guy.
and he was huuuuuuuge.
(pretend like you can see my putting my arms out really wide)


the end

i hope you like it. it is a samuel miller original story, by me.
soon i must post my picture that i drew of the family.