HAJ

Since this is our last post, I am going to make it super long but hopefully not boring!

In a family, you are supposed to love everyone equally even when they get on your nerves. You're not supposed to choose favorites in a family. All of your siblings are supposed to be considered some of your "best friends". In my family though, I definitely have my favorite sibling. Don't get me wrong, I love the rest of my siblings just as much. But, I don't know what I would do if this child wasn't in my life. This child just happens to be Jan Woodward.

After Joy went to Kindergarten and before my mom got her part-time job, she started to get lonely at home. I mean who wouldn't after having some child home with them for 16 years? When my mom had originally asked my dad if they could have another one, he had said no because our family was already big enough. Well, after some serious talks and coaxing from my mom he gave in. I remember the day when she announced she was pregnant. She had taken all of us out to the family room and we were sitting on the floor while she and my dad were on the couch. We thought she was going to tell us somebody was really sick or something along those lines. Then she shocked all of us when she announced that we were going to have another baby girl. All of us started cheering and hugging them. It was like we had won the world series in a game or something. She then told us that the baby was going to be named Jan Karissa Woodward.

I was so excited because those that know me well......know that I have this obsession with babies. I don't know what it is but they are the cutest things on this earth. When my mom had the baby, she needed help with the baby because she had to take care of the rest of the kids also. I was the first one to always volunteer to help. I used to sit in the rocking chair with her and rock her to sleep. I loved picking out her clothes because she wasn't at the age where she could tell me no. I'd always help giving bathes and feeding her. I guess her and I have such a strong bond because in a weird way I was like her second mom. I really took responsibility with watching this sibling. Whether is was staying home with her while my mom went to a game with the other kids or playing with her outside. I can't believe that she is 5 years old and already in Kindergarten. The time has passed so much. I have seen her grow up like nobody's business.

So many things have happened with Jan that I don't even know where to start ha. Well, I'm going to tell some stories then. One Easter, we all went outside to have our little Easter egg hunt. Everybody found the eggs and we had filled our baskets full. I had put my basket down to go play basketball with the boys. A couple minutes later I look over and see Jan taking all of the eggs out of my bag and putting them into hers. I asked her what she was doing and she replies with, "I'm finding eggs"....it was so cute I couldn't get mad. The next was when one day my mom was going to the store and had asked some of us if we wanted anything. We all told her what we wanted and all you hear from Jan's bedroom is her screaming, "I want heels"!!!! My mom was just like okay.....as she was walking out the door, Jan comes sprinting from her room yelling, "Don't forget my heels, they are very important"! It's hard to believe the things kids say at age 4. Another story is when one day her and I were at home. She came in my room so we were sitting there watching a Disney movie. I had to leave the room to go cook food and yes, I admit I was in the kitchen for quite some time. Before I left though, I specifically said, "Jan, do NOT touch anything in my room". I come back in my room and all of drawers in my dresser and organizer were thrown open with all my stuff over the floor. I asked her, "Jan, didn't I say not to touch anything" and she goes, "Umm.....I don't remember that part". I was laughing so hard I couldn't even stay mad at her.

Jan is also known as Haj. This is because at the beginning of Kindergarten, we thought she might have had a problem with writing her name. My mom opened up her packet of papers and it has "Haj" written all over them. So my mom goes, "Jan, who is "Haj"? I think you have the wrong papers". So she sent them back to the teacher with a note and the teacher replied saying that no...that's how Jan writes her name. So Jan would write her name backwards and her "n's" would look like "h's". So we just started calling her Haj.

She got a hold of my camera and told me this was her "scary" face aha.

This is her crazy dance she was doing on the way down to the beach.

My mom made her a turkey and cheese sandwich (her 2 fav things ever) and we come back in to find her asleep on top of it ahah.

She thought she was a diva in those glasses and this is her pet dog since my parents wouldn't get her a real one.

I had to add this cause she's just so cute ha.

She told me she wanted to make the same face Jill did when she would get in trouble ha.

We told her to go get gloves and bring them to the kitchen....she comes back with them on her feet telling us she was a duck.

She wanted to be a swimmer like the rest of her siblings.

The other night I came out to the family room only to find her passed out next to my brother's dog on the ground. If this isn't the cutest thing ever aha.