Mixed bag...

A puzzling picture to start with. Go ahead and put your "I'm-almost-three" imagination cap on and take a stab at what you think this might have been a picture of last night. I'll give you a hint. It is not the tray to Joshua's toolbox with drumsticks along the side as you might have been tempted to guess.

We'll let the Jeopardy theme song ring in your ears for a few seconds while you ponder this one.

This was, in case you didn't get it right, our campfire last night that Joshua built. Go ahead and look again. It really was a campfire.

Here you'll see our little pyromaniac wearing his protective fire proof gloves (his socks) while he and Bear waited for our s'mores to finish cooking. (The s'mores were the little green and yellow squares from his wooden tool kit that had the plastic bolts from his tool bench on top of them). The Handy Manny power drill behind him was our coffee maker that made a few very yummy cups of coffee for us to enjoy while we warmed up by the fire. I could not make this up if I tried.

Here you'll see Joshua putting some glue on our fire (his sippy cup amazingly went from having water in it after the grass cutting last night to being a container of glue). Because I don't know about you, but every time I've sat around a campfire, the occasional addition of glue made all the difference in the world.

Have I mentioned how much fun it is to watch his imagination at work? This stage is awesome!

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In other news, guess who I got to spend the day with yesterday? One adorable, almost one-year-old little princess who could not possibly have been any sweeter. She now knows how to say "Bye Bye" with an excellent wave, can stand up unassisted from a sitting position, babbles incessantly and does a far better version of the Hot Dog dance than even Mickey Mouse himself.

My "hooky days" have become some of our favorite days over the course of the past year. They started soon after Brooke was born, and I was a new aunt having a terrible time with the fact that I never got to see my niece. When I did get to see her, it was as part of a family weekend when Joshua was very much along and very much NOT into me having any cuddle time with this little baby girl who I so loved. And so the hooky day was born. Over the past 12 months, there have probably been 5 or 6 of these days where I take off in the morning and return home at the end of the work day. But I high-tail it to Lewistown, park myself at Libby's house, eat a yummy lunch and spend time just enjoying Brooke and my sister. Sometimes Nana even gets to join in on the fun. I get back in the car at 3:30 and make it home by 5. We almost have it down to a science.

Yesterday was extra special because we got to visit with Stacie and new baby Anna. I can't believe that she's a month old today, but she was so sweet. Stacie's doing a bang up job as a new mom. I was smitten with Anna, as you can't help but be with a brand new little bundle. I was amazed at just how miniature she is and found myself looking back and forth between her and Brooke, who still looks small to me compared to Joshua. Needless to say, I thought I was the mother of a giant when I got home and picked up Joshua after having had the baby in my arms for a little while. I almost could imagine for a second what it was going to be like to hold our own daughter, except that I'm sure I have no idea. I just know that I'm looking forward to it now more than ever as the time gets closer and closer.

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And as a final note, I would highly recommend the new Selah CD that was just released yesterday. Jason says I have a problem, but I just really LOVE Selah. That CD is like an amazing church service on a little portable CD. Touching. Perfect. Hymns. Beautiful music. It's fantastic. I can't see it getting replaced as the prime occupant in my CD player for quite some time.