In case you missed my first post about my life history, you can read it here.

Okay, so what came next…

I had a little brother. Well, I guess my mom had him. Isn’t he cute?! I remember mom saying that he was the happiest easiest baby she’d had. He has continued to be easy (compared to his high maintenance dramatic sisters (ha ha, that does not include me.) He is in longer my “little” brother seeing that he is near the size of a sky scrapper topping out at 6′5, I hardly recognize him these days. I still expect him to be the sweet little boy who totally rocked at putting up with 3 sisters.

This is the best picture I have of my beloved tiger swimsuit. I guess I lived in it. At a closer look I realized that it is actually a cheetah or something like that printed on it but I called it my “Tiger suit.” One of my favorite summer activities was to go play in the gutter. We had this section in our drive way that always filled with water, either from rain or the sprinklers. It was heaven. It was my little lakeside retreat. I think the neighbors thought I was crazy… going to die from some disease floating around in those dirty waters. But I survived… thumb and all.

Yes, I continued to suck my thumb. I remember getting old enough to get teased. Around first or second grade some tow headed kid made some rude comment that stopped me from sucking at school. I also remember some primary teacher (yes, I remember exactly who) telling me straight out that I was far too old for that. Being quite embarrassed, it did make me stop sucking… at least in public places. It continued to be a comfort to me through most of my childhood at home though. I eventually quit but it was always a quiet secret we kept in our household. I think everyone thought it just normal Mandy behavior and didn’t pay much attention to it. I think it is more common than people realize though. I should start a club — The Thumb Sucker of America Unite — Haw, wouldn’t that be ridiculous! I tend to think that if I have a child that wants to suck I’ll just let them but I did have to get braces (don’t most people?) so I ask myself how long I’d actually allow a child to do it…

Next came my little sister. She grew up to be a real beauty (we should get her to start a blog.) I don’t have such a great memory of my childhood. Most of my memories come from these pictures or stories I’ve hear. I never was a big journal writer (unlike my big sis who claims that every little intimate and humiliating moment of her life is documented in the precious pages of those blue plastic books.) I don’t remember mom bring babies home or ever caring that there was an addition to the family but little sis has defiantly been great addition to the family. Love ya, girl.

This kind of fake smile on my face shows up in a lot of pictures -a little trademark of mine, I guess. This awesome red/orange velvety couch became the stage for my acrobats and Jessica’s theatrics. Little bro and little sis would tag along and we would put on great shows. Can anyone say “KIDS CLUB ATTENTION!”

Here is the crew all together. We maxed out at 4 kiddos. Each of us are quite different in many ways. Most of you know Jessica, she is artistic, dramatic and lots of laughs. Me, I love physical things, love to have fun and never talk about very many serious things. Little Bro is a major computer nerd and loves to swing dance. Little Sis is so caring and nurturing, wants to work with children and is very, very musical. All so different. That must be what makes family life so much fun. I guess the bro and I look most alike and the 2 sisters have the silky brunette hair. A fun little bunch, eh? There is that silly smile again, dimples where there shouldn’t be.

When I turned 5 I got this awesome blue bonnet bike. LOVED IT. Check out the blue wheels and super cooshy seat. Banana bikes were the best. I wish my mountain bike had a seat like that, then I wouldn’t get so saddle sore after a long break from riding. Anyway, I was determined to learn to ride all by myself. No training wheels whatsoever. My mom notes in my baby book that I was athletic and coordinated. I think physical activities have always been a love of mine.

I did tap and ballet for a while. If I remember correctly I really loved it. Mom was a dancer in her youth and so I felt inspired to be great. It didn’t last to long though. I’m not sure why but I think Dad didn’t like some costume we were going to wear or something like that. Looking back at the group photos of dance class, I ended up going to high school with a bunch of the girls in those pictures. Kind of funny because we didn’t know it then.

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I think that is all for now. I need to scan in the next batch of photos. I wonder if I should worry about confessing my deep dark secret of being a thumb sucker for so many years? — Na, I’ve got nothing to hide. Maybe it’ll start a major world wide upheaval and my club will really be started. LOL. Totally! I never write those lame-o, overused, abbreviated letters but I just couldn’t help it. It’s ridiculous. Seriously ridiculous.