Who Is That Masked Man?

Django wears a knight mask and tilts at windmills.

Just Ducky

Soothing lullaby or expert sleeper hold--whichever the cause, it led to this duckling taking a wee nap in Tillie's arms.

New Tat

If Tillie were to go into the tattoo business, this is what Scott would get:

The Chicken Cycle

My little chicken fed Karin's little chickens who in turn fed my little chicken right back.

Toddling Tall

He's walking now...just thought I'd warn you in case you planned on putting something breakable on that counter top.

Jumpoline

Our little neighbor friend got a trampoline for christmas. Tillie calls it a jumpoline. Her joy in this picture is so cute that it transcends focus standards.

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)