Can't find a title...

Two days ago (February 1), Mom celebrated her birthday and, hurrah, she's finally steered away from being 39! How old she is, we shan't tell. Assume that it's between 39 and 1000. (Broad range, I know.) No presents, though. :\ HOWEVER, on the fifth, she/we will be receiving good almonds which is, you know, what everyone wants for their birthday, right? What's that? You don't want almonds for your birthday. Well, then, never invite us to a birthday party of yours, that's all I have to say.
As a side note: Not to toot my own horn, but although mother dear was given no gifts, she did receive two spectacular birthday cards from Emma and me [Abby]. She also had a wicked chocolate cake with... pause for effect... walnuts! And frosting! And... yeah, that's it. Frankly, walnuts are a big deal. To me.

Matthew James, ah, what is there to say about him that hasn't already been said?
Plenty, that's what.
To the joy of us all, Matthew is starting to TALK. He's talked for awhile now, as in, moving his lips and making sounds come out; this time when we say TALK we mean he is moving his lips and making intelligent understandable WORDS come out, which, if I may say, a very big milestone. In Mother's words he has, "...grown so much this past winter!" He's especially favoring the word "no", which is normal, according to Mom. She said something along the lines that once kids learn the word "no", that's all they say.
He, er, understands what it MEANS (that he does not want something to happen), but not necessarily WHEN to use it.
An example, Matthew and I were in Jen's room, on the computer desk. Matthew is sitting on the desk, and we have been there rummaging through paperclips for some time.
Me: Do you want to leave, Matthew?
Matthew: No.
Me: So you want to stay here?
Matthew: No.
Me: So you DO want to leave.
Matthew: No.
Me: You want to stay on the desk?
Matthew: No.
Me: You want to get off the desk, then?
Matthew: No.
And the conversation went like this until I dragged out a very upset Matthew.
He continues to be independent (both good AND bad), continues to favor junk food over "good food" (typical), and continues being a crazy little boy (average).

And guess what!
Nah, actually, don't guess, I'll tell you.
It rained today! There was sleet!
Only Dad went out.

And, for those concerned with the boring, minor aspects of our lives, Emma has a cough, Jenna is addicted with a pixel-ized plane game and Zelda, Cheryl is crocheting a red bag for herself, and my Christmas candy is almost all gone.

~ Abby