Unhappy Valentine's Day?

As Tillie and I were busily making valentines for the holiday exchange at school, I looked down and noticed that she had drawn sad faces on all 19 construction paper hearts. Of course, I didn't want to tell her that sad faces are "wrong" for valentines, as this is supposed to be her creative effort and her interpretation of an expressive tradition--not a strict directive from The Man to be enforced by a draconian mother with no sense of artistic voice. Plus, she very happily draws mostly sad faces these days, and I have been suspecting that she did not know that her smiles looked like frowns. Thinking that this could be a great teaching moment, I said, "Tillie, are those sad faces or happy faces?" She replied with a maniacal expression, "Some of them are sad and some of them are angry!" Apparently this was a teaching moment, and I was the student. Hence, all 19 of Tillie's beloved schoolmates will receive sad/angry-faced valentines this year.

Time Capsule

Found these in an old book I was about to throw away until Scott protested:

The latter is a picture of my younger brother during high school - hah look at that baby face! The former is a check my grandma wrote me for my 19th birthday--the last gift she gave me before she died a couple of months later. I'm glad I saved it rather than using it to buy a month's worth of Top Ramen. I wish I could know you now Grandma Winnie.

Balloonicorn

This is actually just a picture of Tillie's best friend Freddy the Unicorn wearing a beautiful "princess ring" (btw, thank you Eva for the beloved princess jewelry!). However, the previous week she had tied a helium balloon to her horn and dubbed her "Balloonicorn" which made her pun-loving mama very proud.

Dog-o-vision

Snow Day!

Tillie finds out how fun snow is until your hands get painfully cold.

1 Year Ago Today...

...I received the most precious gift anyone has ever given me.

Playful

Django loves to chase around a wind-up ladybug.

Question

What if when I met you so long ago, I could see the future us and know that you would someday leave me? Leave me hurting, leave me lonely, leave me frightened, leave me with a clutter of memories whose clarity fades so quickly that I doubt the truth of it, leave me with regrets, leave me feeling that time and resources were wasted, leave me unable to apologize for my offenses, leave me without answers, leave me with cavernous doubts about the balance of nature, the existence of higher powers, the import of meaningful moments, and the possibility of an afterlife—at a time in my life when I thought I had finally sorted out all of these things. Would the young me wisely have walked away in search of a surer bet at complacency and peaceful ignorance?
No.

Stop!

Note to self: Stop baking and eating cookies. (Especially white-chocolate, cranberry, pistachio cookies--they are impossible to ignore!)

Admiring

Fairy wings and a purple helium balloon--I wish my happiness formula were as simple as it used to be.

Leafy

Weee! (Part 3)

Weee! (Part 2)

Weee! (Part 1)

The Tiniest Zookeeper

Tillie loved this little roadside petting zoo we visited the other day. She got particularly attached to a little bantam chicken named Polly and carried it around for probably half an hour. She cried when we said we had to leave Polly in order to go see Santa. Poor Santa--no wonder he seemed so suspicious.

hedghog

bunny

chinchilla

guinea pig

the lovely Polly

PS. That chinchilla was very soft!

Big Boy

Django has had a couple of firsts these past couple of weeks:
--first sign in baby sign language ("dog")
--first couple of steps (into Dada's arms at daycare pickup)
--first word ("hola")
He's still got a ways before he can keep up with Tillie, but the gap is closing fast.

Pink Christmas II

It seems to be a christmas tradition with my kiddos to get pink eye for the holiday break. Last year it was Tillie--this year Django. Yuck!

Even with the contagion, Django still looks killer in his christmas suit:

Present Day

Tillie directed holiday operations this morning, having placed herself in charge of distribution, handling, unwrapping, and testing of all products from last night's delivery. DJD contributed to product testing and public relations with the 60-and-older demographic.

This is one of two very special hand-me-down dolls that used to belong to my friend Camile. Django thinks the nose is a fun button to press. Thank you Brigitte--our family will cherish them always.

New Construction

Suspicious Santa

I thought this guy seemed kind of charming, but Tillie and Django found him to be a little suspicious.

Trim

Tillie and her grandma decorated the tree a while back. Every once in a while, I'll catch her staring at the tree and she'll say, "It is so pretty."

My favorite part is the over-decorated section that was right in front of Tillie's chair--the only branch she could reach:

Nerdiness Is Contagious

Children will do what you do. If that means wearing glasses, donning clothes from Target, and hauling around an extra special toolbox that organizes all of your science experiment equipment--then your children will do just that. It has nothing to do with how cool said activity/outfit actually is.

Hairdo

Django's new do