Not sure what I was expecting

Dave often leaves little notes for Mabes, encouraging her to be a good girl while he's traveling, telling her he loves her, etc. Mabes is always very excited to get a letter and reads it over and over to herself, often embellishing and making the two sentence note into a lengthy rambling letter.

Given her writing abilities, I'm not sure what I was expecting when she said she was going to write a letter for her horsey daddy. A heartfelt thank you for all he does? A detailed description of her day? She said it would make him happy like his letters make her happy. So for some reason, I was caught off guard when she proudly showed me her letter for daddy:

Apparently that letter was able to express both her love for her daddy as well as tell him about her day--at least that's what she says.

And she drew her first family portrait last week. I'm pretty sure it's the first, because usually the heads are so big she can't fit all three of us on one piece of paper. I'm quite proud of it, though, and if her art skills continue to improve, her artistic abilities will surpass mine in about a week or so. Dave is on the left, Mabes is in the middle, and I'm on the right.


Perhaps inspired by Mabes' art, I decided to finally make a hairbow holder for her. I figured it should be pretty easy, so I looked online and found that hairbow holders like this are selling for $60. My painting isn't the greatest (don't zoom in!), but for less than $10 in supplies, I'm happy. And Mabes was thrilled, even though it's not pink and has no ballet slippers on it.

I told Dave I might have to make one for his hats. It will be pink, of course.

Between Stake Conference, a baby shower, and Dave's dislike of a holiday where Hallmark forces him to profess his love, we didn't do much for Valentine's day. He did, however, let me sleep in (and really, what's better than that?) and he and Mabes made monkey bread. It's been a long time since he's made it, and it was Mabes' first time enjoying it. When we were eating, we realized it was 10 (!) years ago that day that he made monkey bread for me and my roommates. It was really good monkey bread though...I think I may have to go finish off the leftovers now.