Happy Birthday Big Daddy and Thoughts on Justee

Today is my Dad's birthday as well as Ashlee and Gerry's anniversary. (Is it 14 or 15 years Ash?) I hope you all have a great day! Vicki has some great pics of my Dad as a kid and of Ash and Ger at their reception. They really are worth a look, just click here.



I wanted to write some things down about Justee because she is changing so fast. She is learning more words everyday. She loves to copy her sisters and does a pretty good job of mimicking them. Words Justee says on a regular basis: kitty, cat, doggy, Doedoe (Dozer), Ninny (Sydnee), mama, daddy, shoes, what (if you say Justee, she says "What?"), good girl, hi, bye, mine, cheese (for pics and for the food), baba (sippy cup), baby, ishy (fish), go, cookie, cracker, ouwie (she cries ouwie ouwie), uh-oh, no, popsicle (it doesn't sound like it's spelled but I can't spell what she says, it's like ockisle) and makes the kissing sound mmmuh. Justee loves to sing and sings along with a lot of the Dora songs that we hear over and over. Her favorite is Co-key (I know that's not how you spell it, but I don't know the right way.) The one about the frog. She gets so happy and just sings out Co-key, Co-key. She will repeat almost anything if she is in the mood, but these are words that she knows and uses over and over. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

Justee has been on a "throw away" kick. She loves to put things in the garbage, but usually it is something that shouldn't be thrown away. If I can't find something that I know was just sitting there...I check the garbage.
If she is hungry, she will go get into the pantry and bring me something to open for her or fix her.
When I am doing the girls hair, she runs over and sits in front of me. Too bad she doesn't want to stay long.
In the car there is one sure way to get her to stop crying...I reach back and hold her foot. Sydnee liked to hold my hair or hold my hand. Charlee liked her foot held too. I just remembered about Char when Justee started liking it, one day just a couple months ago Justee was screaming and wouldn't stop. I reached back and grabbed her foot and instantly she was quiet. The only bad thing about this is that it is hard to reach back for very long (especially if I am driving.)
Justee loves all animals. She gets very excited when she spots a cat, dog or squirrel. I'm glad that we have such patient pets because Justee works them over.
Dozer has been inside for the past couple of days because there is a big hole in our fence. The fireworks freaked him out and he bulldozed right through the wood. (Justin fixed it last night, so now he can't get out.) Justee just likes to sit by him or on him. Justee was taking a bath and the cat was trying to see what was going on. Justee reached out and grabbed him to give him a better view. I thought for sure Justee was going to get scratched up...I've never seen a cat pulled into water and not frantically try to get out. Cash just sat there, never extracted a claw. He was eager to get out when I pried him away from Justee, but he never scratched her.
At bedtime, Justee and Cash were sitting on my lap and Justee was just holding his paw. I thought it was so cute.
Then Justee decided that his paw wasn't enough and pulled him a little closer...because they were on my lap, the pictures are from a strange view.

After I got up, the two of them continued to cuddle: I don't like to see animals tortured by little kids, so as soon as I can tell Cash has had enough, I make Justee leave him alone. Most of the attention Justee gives him, he really enjoys.