Finally a lost tooth

Nina was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with her when she went all the way through kindergarten without losing a tooth. Apparently "everyone" else lost one that year and it was so embarrassing that she never did. Because I know that 5 year olds get a lot more street cred when they are missing teeth. So I'm glad things are looking brighter for Nina. We all love a happy Nina.

editor's note. I can't remember which day she lost her tooth. This picture was a week or two after the fact. Poor third child.

A Fab New Hat

I was loading pictures onto my computer today when I came across this:

I'm pleased to see that she isn't always getting into trouble when I'm not around. I'm also pleased that she knows when she's looking good in a fab new hat.

Quite lovely

When I saw Nina walk by, my first thought was that she looked like she belonged in Egypt with her uncle Randell. Then she showed me her lovely make-up job and I'm not sure if that's allowed in Egypt, Randell will have to let me know.

You can guarantee that when these two get together, they will explore and push the fashion limits.

She is quite an interesting girl with an interesting way of expressing herself.

Determined to eat fish

This girl is a mystery to me in so many ways. Here is one example. Nina loves fish. She loves to watch them swim, she loves to try to catch them, and when she catches them, she loves to put them in a pool or a bath and swim with them. She holds them, cuddles them, talks to them and I've even seen her kiss one. And then she will stand right by Matt's side as he cuts off the head and guts it. She watches him as he disects the stomach to see what it's been eating. And she does this with so much curiosity and interest. So she has no problem building a loving relationshihp with a fish and then killing it and eating it. That seems weird to me, but who am I to judge? So anyway, when our family went out fishing last night and didn't catch anything, Nina was quite upset because she really wanted to take a fish home to eat. Matt, being the dedicated father that he is, took Nina out the next day to catch a fish to bring home. I guess they didn't have the best luck because these are all they caught:

You might notice the little worm below the fish. Nina lovingly placed it there in case the fish wanted to eat it. The dead fish. And to give youa little perspective, here is how big those little fishies are:

But that didn't matter to Nina because that girl was determined to eat fish!

Cookie Sunday

A while back we started a yummy little tradition called Cookie Sunday. We made a schedule so that each sweet child of mine would have the chance to be alone with me in the kitchen making the cookies of their choice. I liked the idea of getting to spend some fun, individual time with the kids while providing us with good treats every week. And really, they are doing a great job learning how to bake. Some of the kids have made cookies all by themselves. Nina is really fun to bake with. At least when she's in a good mood. She is funny, curious, careful, and extremely chatty. Today she did a great job making these cookies:

The nightly rounds

Like we do every night, we made the rounds before we went to bed and checked on our babies. I know I've said this before, but the stop at Nina's room is always exciting. We never know what we'll find. Tonight we had to laugh:

Nina put collars on her pet dog "Millie" and her pet horse "Snowflake" and made sure they were secured to her dresser before she went to bed.

Resourceful

I'm not really sure what else to say about this outfit.

Sleeping Beauty

So often it's reassuring to have Nina sleeping. You know that nothing fishy is going on. But sometimes even when she is sleeping, you just wonder....

What she does in her free time....

and I just like Cameron's face in this one.

"I cut my tongue"

so naturally she would need to put a bandaid on it.