The munchkin girl has taken a sudden liking to penguins. We've been reading penguin books, watching penguin shows, and playing with penguin toys.

She waddles around saying, "Honk! Honk! Mommy, I'm a baby penguin." So, as any single mother would do, I've been indulging this little obsession. While I was at Wal-Mart the other day I found a singing dancing penguin that looks an awful lot like this one.

It does an incredibly annoying rendition of "Jingle Bells", complete with giggles. The munchkin girl loves it and I've had to put a prohibition on it during certain times.

Today she was staying with Mom and Dad while daycare was closed. She took her penguin. While standing near my parents she pushed the button to start the singing, let it sing about two or three words, and then pushed the button again to stop it, saying, "OK. That's enough. Party's over."

I swear, I don't know where she gets this stuff.

The Last (Ten) Year(s)

Around the time I was three years old I decided I was going to marry Kenny Rogers. 25 years later, I brought home the man who would be the father of our daughter and would take me on the ride of my life. And sure enough, he looked a lot like Kenny.

A year ago today I lost my best friend...my Superman. I can't tell you how many times I came home from work and found Ron listening to this song. He would tear up while listening to it. The image of him sitting in his chair by the patio, head back, eyes closed, and the music around him is one that I'll never forget.

I've done a lot of thinking in the past couple of months. Would I go back and change it? Would I bring Ron back if I could? I still don't know the answer. There are a million things I would change. There are a thousand times I would turn around and give him one more hug and kiss. And there are only 86,400 times a day that I think of him and wonder what he would think of what I've become. I don't know the answers. I only know this. He loved us. All of us. And without him, the world still manages to go on. But, we're going to miss you, Ron.

The turtle next door

Last night we were invited over to the neighbors' house for dinner. The girls had found a turtle on the road sometime during the week and they took munchkin out to see it. His name is Tucker. He's a cute little painted turtle, and surprisingly, Chloe's not that much interested.

We got home and were talking to my mom on the phone. Chloe had to talk to Nana and proceeded to tell her that the girls next door had a turtle named Pecker.

She's confined to her room until she's 30.

Collective Soul

He always makes sure to let me know he's still around. And I'm sure he is feeling better now.

Pearl Cream

This still makes me laugh.

MMMMMM...soup!

Today I decided to make soup. One of my favorites is chicken and wild rice. This is my favorite recipe to use.

The soup is currently simmering away, and here are a couple of pictures. Drool if you like.

These are the veggies and oil before anything else gets added. Looks yummy just like that.

And the finished product. I'll be baking homemade bread too, once I stop at the store to get more flour. Sort of too bad I forgot that key ingredient!

Munchkin's latest

She's always got something that makes me laugh. Here are the three latest.

These...

are pinecones. As in, "Oh, Mama, look at all the pinecones!"

And then, at the horse show, she told me that this...

was a "horse bus". I've got to say, she may have a point there.

And finally, my favorite, she likes to get her toenails painted. She told me she has "smolish" on her toes. Not polish...smolish.

Gotta love a three-year-old!