Smoochies!

Her design for the Trashion Show

That would be her cup of pudding

I said LEMME IN!

Let me IN!

Do you think he wants a room? Return Student Housing doesn't begin until next week, buddy!

Let Sleeping Babies Lie

I didn't realize how many pictures I've taken of Lexy sleeping. She is awfully cute asleep and awake.

Walrus invasion!!

I don't remember posting these. PRECIOUS!

Pictures from our walk

Bed Head

I couldn't help it. Her hair was everywhere. EVERYWHERE!

Robots Rule!

The 4's class has been working hard on their class robot and it made quite the impression on Lexy:

Trust me, it's not lemonade

Every so often we play this little game where he pulls the Lemon juice concentrate from the fridge and dares me to dare him to drink it. The dare usually doesn't work but this time it did. I like to call this set, "Sucking my face inside out." It kind of reminds me of when my brother used to eat Baker's Chocolate.

It's official!

Welcome back! Your application for admission to return to the University of Nevada, Reno has been approved.

You have been assigned a university email account than will be used to communicate official university correspondence. Please activate this account and note that you are responsible for the content of all messages sent to you. Instructions for activating this account can be found at www.it.unr.edu. You may forward mail from this account to another e-mail account.

Those born after 1956 must submit records of two doses of MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) in their lifetime. All students must show records of a TD (tetanus/diphtheria) dose in the past tem years. A registration hold will be placed on your record if you did not submit MMR and TD documentation. The MMR and TD vaccine is available at the Student Health Center for a small fee. If you have questions regarding the fulfillment of this requirement or any other questions regarding your enrollment at the University please call us at (775) 784-4700, option 2.

If you feel your residency has been classified incorrectly, please visit our residency website and download the correct application at http://www.ss.unr.edu/residency. If you have any questions, please contact us at (775)784-4700, option 2.

We are glad you have returned to the university and wish you every success in your future studies.

Being 4 is rough

She's so tired that she couldn't even make it through a small cookie

That's not supposed to be there!

Princess Alexia & horse

It's me!!

This blows

Lexy and I have been sick and at home for the past two days. She refuses to take medicine so it becomes a fight to let her feel better. There is no amount of persuasion that will work with her to make her drink the medicine. So she coughs. And we both run fevers.

I'm fixin' to get more excited

I met with the secretary in the Anthropology Department yesterday and it all just gets to much better. I didn't realize it but the department also offers a minor in Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology. She had gone over my DARS report and was happy to report that if I switched my minor to Cultural Anthropology then my minor was fulfilled. I have already taken so many Cultural classes it was enough for a minor--that's 12 additional credits I didn't need to take! So let's recap, shall we?

• Math 120 for 3 credits (ick)
• Geology 103 lab for 1 credit (I still think the advisor meant 101 lab but I'll check)
• German 212 for 3 credits
• Anthropology 281 for 3 credits (Linguistics--which I can take through Independent Learning as English 281)
• Anthropology 480 for 3 credits (Second semester Linguistics)

But with 110 credits, the additional 13 won't be enough to get me to the 128 credits I need to graduate. So if I take 2 more Archaeology classes I'll have enough for a 2nd minor and will have enough to graduate! I'm going to start in the fall by auditing German 211 to get ready for German 212. I figure, I have to at least get a D in 212 to pass. It's been 6 years since I was last in 212 and it's going to be rough. The alternative is to wait and then the German Department gets axed during the budget cuts and I have to take another 2 years taking a different language. I'm tempted to start the English 281 soon and I'm also tempted to take Math 120 through Independent Learning and have Mike help me.

I'm excited!!!

My house: Where the past & present collide

I have very fond memories of my grandparents farm in Dixie outside of Walla Walla, Washington. My brother and I spent weeks there every summer from the time I was 6 until 15. And every summer I would spend the beginning of my visit almost ritualisically going through their house and over the property looking at playthings and pictures that had made an impression on me in past years. We moved so much when I was younger that it was a nice feeling to know that their farm was frozen in time. Heck, when I was in college they still had pictures of chickens I had drawn and taped real chicken feathers to on their fridge. Over time I would stop checking in on certain toys I had outgrown in favor of more grown up things but it was a nice feeling to know that I could go to those stuffed animals and games anytime I wanted. One of those things, silly as it sounds, was 3 different decks of playing cards. Why playing cards you ask? My gramma didn't have just any old playing card decks. Being from Reno, I was used to casino decks with the edges notched off and plain, old boring casino backs. My gramma's decks had a boy dressed almost like the famous "Blue Boy" painting (except not in blue) with his puppy in a fancy garden, a candle in a unusual candleholder with a little deer standing next to it and this one, a beautiful little blond cherub girl.
When I was little I didn't dare do anything but hold these cards and look at them. They were so crisp and shiny that they were more like works of art then a game. And every year I would open the cabinet they sat in (in their unusual card holder--a two sectioned box with a lift away lid, not at all like the holder you slid your cards into and closed the lid on) to see if they looked like they had been used. I think if they had shown any signs of wear I would have picked them up and played with them. When I got older I would pick up the decks, weed out the ones with the little girl and play Solitaire with them.

My grampa died in 2001 and I made the trek up with my family to clean out the house. My gramma was in a nursing home at this point and wasn't able to give us much in the way of direction as to what to do with her belongings. So we went through and tried to decide what was junk and what meant something to us. And it was hard because I had become attached to a lot of junk in their place over the years. I opened the drawer where she kept her cards. They aren't junk I told myself and scooped them up to put in my box. They're here in my house now and of the three decks, there isn't one complete set. I should throw them away. And they're still there.

So, Lexy saw the two sectioned card holder for the first time a few weeks ago and started to dig. She comes to me with the little girl, "Mommy, is this me?" HA! It *does* look like her. I find it ironic that for years I was drawn to the beautiful little blond girl on the playing card and now the beautiful little blond girl lives with me.