COUSIN JOE - NOW AND THEN

Two years ago was the last time the whole Putney family got together at grandma's and grandpa's. Cousin Joe (the son of papa's older brother David), who previously had hair past his shoulders, showed up with this short haircut. Mama had mentioned that we had a younger picture of him with the same cut. Ole' Joe just looked at her like 'yeah, right'. By looking at the picture to the right, I prove my point. According to his dad David, Nicole (Joe's fiance) got Joe to cut his hair. I tell you, what the Putney men (and any other man) won't do for the women they love. Bless them all.

GOODNIGHT MIMI

Usually Mimi's schedule is as follows: up at the crack of dawn (6:30 - 7:00) , 2-3 hour nap after school or gymnastics , bedtime begins around 9:00 p.m.(bedtime stories with papa) then by 10:00 p.m. she is most definitely fast asleep. She takes a nap late in the day mainly so that she will be able to spend a couple of hours with papa in the evening. He does not get home till after 7:oo p.m. The big majority of her friends do not take naps any longer. Today however she skipped naptime so by 8:30 p.m. she came into the office after brushing her teeth and flossing by herself (she always says "I can do it myself!!!") she announced "Mama, you got a sleepy kid!!!" Then proceeded to put herself to bed.

FUTURE PHOTOGRAPHER?????

When we finished with the park, Mimi decided that she wanted to take the camera and go take some pictures of our neighborhood and the backyard. She also has a goofy sense of humor, so she had to take a picture of herself and her favorite Sponge Bob shoes. Believe it or not, Mimi took all of these pictures herself. There were a whole lot more that mama erased. Thank goodness for digital cameras and the fact that one could erase the really bad pictures.

A DAY AT THE PARK

Today was amazingly gorgeous outside. When Mimi finished eating her snack of peanut butter and graham crackers, mama gave her a wagon ride over to the park. While there she played with Owen and the two of them had a grand time together.

Owen's dad Derek took it upon himself a couple of years ago to make the park into someplace where the kids can play and have fun. I have heard from the neighbor ladies that Derek and another neighbor Jim (Derek's assistant) have organized fund raisers in the past to raise money to buy the picnic tables, park bench and the playset that the kids play on. He is now in the process of trying to get a grant from the city to upgrade the park. Hopefully he/we will get the money because EVERYONE in the other housing developements also use our park.

The other day mama was pleasantly surprised at how our Mimi could cross the monkey bars without any help. Unfortunately she did not have a camera. Today she does. So therefore she took some pictures. Next thing mama knew, Mimi was up a tree. Hence the gymnastic school.

GREAT AFTER SCHOOL SNACK

Skippy peanut butter and graham crackers, YUUUMMMMY!!!

A FAMILY AFFAIR

This afternoon when the gymanstic class was over, mama and Mimi went down to Home Depot for another bush to add to mama's garden in the backyard. Next on the agenda was a stop to our local Walmart store to purchase a dvd for Mimi "Alvin and the Chipmunks". Then mama's little voice told her to inquire about the Wii game setup. As you can see they had it and mama bought it, not without consulting with papa of course. Unfortunately they did not have any extra monitors(made a boo boo, meant to say remotes) as they were flying off the shelf according to the employees there at the store. As soon as mama bought papa's early birthday gift she called her good friend Keri to let her know that it is available at Walmart. She was already on her way down to the store to buy her kids the same dvd as Mimi when mama called. She is now setting up the game at her own home. Of course papa was like a kid in a candy shop when mama came home with her purchase. He could not wait to set it up and play with it. Neither could Mimi. They both now are enjoying daddy-daughter time together watching Mimi's new movie.

MONKEY BARS

We have been having a humungous amount of strange weather. Sunshine, snow, rain and more snow, now more rain with a patch of sunshine here and there. Due to the weird weather, plus Mimi getting sick last week, we have yet to get out to our neighborhood park. That is until this afternoon. Blake and his family decided that they wanted to walk with Mimi and mama to the park before Mimi had to go to school. Once arriving at the park both Mimi and Blake went running to the playset equipted with slide, bridge and monkey bars. Much to mama's surprise, Mimi is now able to reach the bars without mama giving her a boost up. Now only that, she can cross one bar at a time by herself about half way across the length of the bars!!! She must have been practicing on the bars at school without my knowledge. Needless to say it was the highlight of my day.