ten things.

one. Hi there!! Happy Wednesday to you, dear person!

first things first, you know.

Also, I should warn you that this post is entirely and completely random, with no semblance of order or proper segues whatsoever.

two. Annabelle is sick today. And while she is a poor sad little creature (she's hardly ever sick), and I feel badly for her of course (sick kids always make a mother's heart sad), I must say that today has been just what we needed. I cancelled all of my piano lessons, we stayed in our pj's and cuddled and watched movies on the couch, Emma and I did schoolwork while Annabelle slept, and I won't be rushing off to choir tonight. Usually Wednesdays are rush rush rush from one thing to the next, and today simply wasn't that way. A nice change of pace. Now if only my little pixie wasn't sick, it would have been perfect...

three. my brother Elijah sent me a box from Afghanistan which I received on Valentine's Day. Inside were SEVENTEEN beautiful hand-made scarves he bought over there. If you know me at all, you know how I love scarves, and the fact that these were from another country? and handmade? and from my little brother whom I miss dreadfully? Well, let's just say I was thrilled. absolutely thrilled. They're so lovely and gorgeous, and I love them all.

just a few of my favorites from the bunch.

four. that same brother gets to come home in LESS THAN A MONTH!! He's been in Afghanistan for nearly six months now, as a contracting officer for the Air Force, and I've been able to speak to him all of one time since he's been there. I haven't actually seen him since July of 2009. I miss him. A lot. I'm SOOOOO EXCITED TO SEEEEE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

no, really, this sort of excitement merits capitalization and many exclamation points. Trust me.

five. When I fold laundry, I stack all of the bigger girls' underwear in their respective piles. Rosalie's new favorite thing to do is come along and take each of those pairs of underwear and put them on, one by one. Last night when I picked her up to put her in her seat for dinner, she had on no less than 12 pairs of underwear.

I'm not even sure how she managed that.

six. Confession: I am addicted to the show Psych. Shawn and Gus are one of my favorite duos of all time. Watching an episode on Netflix is the perfect little comedic indulgence while I fold laundry. They always make me laugh. "My name is Shawn Spencer, and this is my partner, Ovaltine Jenkins." Classic.

seven. My sister is getting married in thirty days! Not only am I so excited for that fact alone, but this also means I will be seeing all of my family (ALL of them!) in less than thirty days! happy dance!

eight. this:

she loves to draw on herself.

nine. and this:

this is the silly pose I got when I asked her to smile. hehe.

ten. and finally, last but not least, this:

blurry, but oh-so-darling. She was looking at family pictures and got really excited!

and voil`a! with those three (taken yesterday, when Annabelle wasn't a sickie), there's your cuteness dose for the day. tr`es bien.

eleven. (what. I felt like adding one more.) I like French. Someday I would like to learn how to speak it.

bonjour, mon ami. je m`appelle Claude. oui.

the end!