Happy Birthday Gavin!

Today is my little brother Gavin's birthday. I can NOT believe he is 20 years old! oh boy, time flies! So, we are sending out our biggest birthday wishes to Uncle Gavin, along with lots of love, joy, hope, peace, health, and happiness...and as always, a reminder that you deserve the best in life, which surely isn't free, but can't be bought.

My Little Muse

Be still my heart...

Pretty Me in My Room

Mommy just thought i looked cute in my zebra threads and wanted to share. And daddy would like to remind mommy that i'm cute AND smart. Duh!

In other news, Una is having a real hard time with food lately. The past two times i gave her solid foods she threw up. Sooooo, we're back to breast milk only for now. Today, she held her bottle and put it in her own mouth for the first time. Except it had water in it, so she wasn't real excited about it. Lastly, even though she's scoring low in the food department, Una is scoring way high in the language department. She's got Da-Da and Daddy down, but she's starting to repeat words i say to her...given, they are a little jumbled, but among a few that she's tried are cat, duck, hot, D as in "and just for fun, D is for doggie" from Anne's book, and she likes practicing her "S" sounds. No shit! True story!

Marc Too!

It was also Marc's birthday on the 23rd and him and pam came up from corvalis and cooked us dinner. How about that! Happy Birthday Marc!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Daryl!

Today is Grandpa Daryl's birthday and we want to wish him a very happy and fun filled day. Grandpa D is seen above on the right circa 1970. Not sure who "the man" is, but i love this photo!

Have a great day! We love you!

xo,

Tara, Ted and Una Meatball

Rebellion

It started innocently enough with a little test in gravity, and slowly progressed to my darling little angel's first signs of rebellion. The past couple of days, Una has been less interested in eating solid food and favoring breast milk. She was irritated that she was in the high chair, so i gave her a plastic spoon to play with. I wish i could have caught the whole thing a little better, but she got distracted by the camera. Basically, she'd pick up the spoon as soon as i put it down, squint her eyes mostly closed, hold the spoon out and drop it, which would make a loud noise. She'd then look at me for a reaction or with a little look of, "So there!" I found the whole thing rather amusing, because her little personality is starting to emerge. I probably won't find her rebellion so amusing in a few months or years...namely 12 or 13, but for now it's pretty darn cute.

Hello Sunshine!

If you hadn't seen my teeth yet, here they are! Also, we are enjoying an amaZingly sunny warm day. It's the kind of january day we don't tell people about...but i couldn't resist.

Sweet 16!

We can hardly believe our little Johnny June Bug is 16 today, but it's true...he's practically all grown up. Happy Birthday Johnny! We hope you have a wonderful day!

Wishing you the best and lots of love,

Tara, Ted and Una

p.s. if you are horrified by these pictures, don't worry...no one your age will see them! but we do think you are uber cute!

Lounging

Just lounging here in this chair...all by myself! of course my daddy is right there watching me. we had a very social weekend with lots of fun seeing laurie, ivy, serra, kenan, isaak, evelyn, robert, lisa, diane and aubrey. phew! now we are sleepy.

Bedtime Stories with Daddy

As part of our routine each night, Ted reads stories to Una. She has a few favorites including "Where's My Teddy?" which is a cute little book i bought in Yosemite right after the wedding. She always laughs at a particular page in the book, as if she's hearing it for the first time. It's very cute.

Congratulations Aunt Jude!

Aunt Jude received a service award for working 40 years at King County in Washington State. Wow, 40 years! That's impressive! the most i ever worked at one job was 4 years, but i think the one i have now is certain to last a solid 18+. Way to go Aunt Jude! Now, do they also give you a pink cadillac?

(In the photo above, the guy on the right is David Fleming, Director of Public Health and the guy on the left is Dow Constantine, newly elected King County Executive)

Growing Like Corn

Isaak and Kenan came over yesterday to hang out with us and there was amazement all ways around about how fast these kiddos are growing. Isaak is walking now and has been for a month. He turns one year next month. Plus he as 2 front teeth. Una also got teeth since the last time we hung out and is sitting up now...tho she's not walking or even crawling yet.

Also of note. i got a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for Christmas from Nana Sally. We had watched Julie and Julia (without sound) on the train coming back from Seattle over Thanksgiving. Last night i made my first dish from the book, Chicken breast with paprika, onions and cream. OOOOOH LA LA! it was so freakin' good. Both Ted and I were astonished...and i kinda felt like a bad-ass, i must say. That Julia, she knows what she's doing.

My New Chair

After much deliberation and searching on craig's list, we finally got Una a high chair. She was pretty excited about it, as you can see from the video above. Baby Belle likes being at the table with everyone else. We were pretty psyched because we had gone into Little Urbanites last week and this chair was selling for $179, but when we walked into the store on saturday, there was a big sign on this particular one that said it was on sale for $99. And even though we had wanted a different color, we immediately cried out, "SOLD!" and we took that puppy home. Ironically, this color looks fantastic in our house. Much jubilee followed.

Also, i wanted to mention that Una is finally started to get the hang of this solid food thing. I think it was the pears that turned the corner for her. Nana Sally told us that Una would like pears...and she was RIGHT! Thanks, Nana! She's also taking a strong liking to carrots, but so far peas are not very popular. Ted tasted them, and reported that in deed, they tasted like sh*t. We didn't say that to Una though.

Here Comes the Bride!

My friend Natalie, who i affectionately call my sister (long story that started during Senior Week '88), is tying the knot this saturday in the Big Apple....and i am SUPER bummed to be missing the wedding. But- I'm sending good juju your way, Sista Nat, with a tiny walk down memory lane, and wishing you and Martin the very best! IT'S YOUR DAY! Enjoy every second!

(Natalie, Kathy)

(Natalie, Sherri, Kathy, Nikki, Ra in front-my hair, what was i thinking!?)

(Kathy, Ra, Sherri, Diane)

(Sherri, Kathy, Ra and Rorrey the doggie)

(Natalie, Kathy, Ra)

(Kathy, Melissa, Sherri)

Happy New Year!

May your new year be filled with yummy food, visits from friends, nice surprises, a warm fire, a good book, love, hope and peace...and lots of memories to keep with you always along the way.