a jewel

Johari: Guess who my favorite person in the whole entire world is?

Me: Who?

Johari: The whole entire world is my favorite person. Even the people in countries and places I have never been....

I love you

I like to remember things Johari says sometimes. Sometimes I quickly find a scrap if paper to write something down on. Sometimes it floats out of my memory and I never get a chance to write it down. Today, I was looking at something I scribbled on a piece of paper in the car from a while ago. Here is what she had said, "Mom, guess what my favorite word is." Me, "What?" Johari replies, "'I love you'. I like to say it because it feels me with joy."

flower

Johari says to me today, "If I was a flower, I would let you pick me."

a girl, a scarf and endless creativity

Johari has been having great fun with a scarf and her imagination.

Barney bandaged in a suave style

Barney really bandaged!

We both have babies in our moby wraps....

Babushka girl!

Carrying her baby

Beautiful

circus school

Yesterday evening, Johari and I went to a performance by the staff of the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA). Johari is super excited about this place because she is going to start taking a class there in a few weeks. She likes to tell people about how she is going to be going to Circus School soon. She even has her own box of tissue as her "school supplies" because she might get a drippy or sweaty.

The show last night was great fun. During the intermission, Johari was doing flips while hanging from my arms and reenacting the tight-wire act on an old railroad track outside. After the show was over she asked me, "Do I start circus school tomorrow?"

This morning, she woke up and started doing standing balancing acts on my shoulders.

When she tells people about how she is going to circus school, she makes it sound as if she will be performing for an audience the whole time. She talks of how they will need to get a ticket scanned to come and see her at the school. I love her enthusiasm for this!

This will be her first class on her own. When I asked her if she is ready to take a class without me, she confidently let me know that she did not need me and that she can do this on her own. She is a big 4 now.

snail face

A classic snail moment from months past.

a moment in july...more to come

I am looking through all the pictures that I took in July and all that we did in that month. I hope to post more of July soon. But for now....here is a moment.

the first haircut a couple months ago at Foxy Cuts

Very serious throughout the process.

Lily blew out her hair and flat ironed it to give it an even cut. So her hair was straight for a few days after until the moisture crept in. And the eventual shower.

Hand on the hip sassiness that gets magnified with getting a hair do at the salon.

energizer bunny...

Preface: I often call Johari an "energizer bunny" because she can keep on going even when I think she must surely be tired.

Story: Today, we were walking and she asked me why I had called her "Johari" and not "daughter". We got into a discussion of all of the nicknames that I call her. She said I call her a "charged rabbit"....I realized that was her way of saying "energizer bunny."

The house that Christina and Johari built

We went to San Juan Island for the day. This was a beach we went to before we headed to the ferry home.

Christina is ready to build a house. In action!

Collecting rocks in her dress to be the carpeting inside the house

The house completed

The fire pit inside the house

Johari and Christina saying good bye to their house. She cried for a while saying that she did not want to forget her house.