June 18, 1990

Seems like it was just yesterday.
Has it really been 19 years?
Happy Birthday, Nikita...you'll always be my Baby Girl!

Ivan and Andre are 10 years old now. You'd think they'd be growing out of the "stuffed animal" stage, wouldn't you?
Well, last week while they were away at camp for three days, I took over the task of cleaning out their room, top to bottom. I ended up with two bags of trash and two and a half bags of stuff to donate to D.I. One bag was just stuffed animals and other stuffed "characters". I was sure they wouldn't miss them. They had a huge tub full of them. I know which are their favorites and kept them. I only got rid of the ones I thought they didn't play with. What do I know???

Today, they decided to play with them. And guess what?
"Mom.....Where are the 5 little dogs with the big heads? Where is the gray seal...the rainbow seahorse...the honeypot bears...the ballerina mouse...the girl duck...etc, etc, etc...........???"

Luckily I hadn't yet taken the stuff out of the house. I got the bag, looked inside, and realized that they knew exactly EACH AND EVERY ONE of the toys that I had taken!

Well, I suppose if they are all that important that they know them all individually, they deserved to keep them! Luckily they didn't ask about any of the stuff that I threw away!