We have this ongoing joke at home. It started because Matt and I kept on finding the same stuffed animal on the floor. No matter how many times we picked it up, it seems like it was always there. So then, we started hiding it so the other person would find it—in the car, in the fridge. Usually when one of us finds it, we hide it for the other person Well, the girls got in on the joke and they think it’s the funniest thing in the world. Ellie hid it in Matt’s drawer but Matt never got around to hiding it again and it’s driving Ellie crazy. She keeps on looking in Matt’s drawer to see if he’s found it and hid it again but it’s still there. The other day, she looked and saw it still in the drawer and said in a frustrated voice “Daddy hasn’t changed his underwear in weeks!”

The elementary school held an arts competition called “Reflections”. This year the theme was “I can make a difference by..” The deadline was early January so during the holidays, I had Sophie draw pictures, take photos and write something to enter in the competition. A week before the deadline, I also made a video of her doing a dance with Ellie to enter in the dance category. Of course the choreography was a very impromptu but so cute. Well a few weeks later we went to the awards ceremony and whe ended up with 2 medals—one for literature and one for her dance. Hers was the only entry for the dance category in the whole school so naturally she won. She was so excited. Granted most of the work was done by me trying to fill out the millions of applications required for each entry but it was worth it.