Because I want to document this stuff

Braeden and Emma have an easy going companionable relationship.  He calls her E and she allows him into her room to sprawl on the floor and talk to her even though she really likes being alone.  She is horrified when her friends think Braeden is "hot" (I kind of am too) but she thinks he's pretty great.

Emma and Mark have a slightly less easy going relationship.  There's a little bit of bickering.  There's a little bit of snarling and snapping and sibling stuff.

For this reason, it makes my day when they connect.  The other day, Adam and I were at the store with Emma and Mark.  They were walking behind us and deeply engrossed in a conversation.  Adam and I smiled big smiles at each other.

One of the things they have been connecting about lately is Dr. Who.  I don't get it.  I don't really want to get it.  But they love it.

For Mark's half birthday, Emma created a tardis (it's a Dr. Who thing that I don't get) out of cardboard.

Here's a tardis:

And here's Emma's version:

When Emma makes something out of cardboard, she doesn't mess around.

Inside she wrote him a note (that is a Dr. Who reference that I don't get). 

Also she bought a Skylander character for him.  (Another thing that I don't get.  She doesn't get it either but she did lots of research with sly conversations with Mark and discovered which Skylander character he would most like.)  She put it in the box.

She instructed Mark to close his eyes:

 

She played a tardis sound that she found on the computer.  (Do I have to tell you?  I didn't get it.)

He opened his eyes and was thrilled.

It's a box made out of cardboard with a plastic toy inside.

But to the mother of these children who even though they sometimes snarl and snap at each other, truly love and value each other, it meant a lot more than you would think cardboard and plastic could mean.

It melted my heart a little.