Chair Time

A certain someone can't wait for her daddy to get home today!

Happy Birthday!

Wishing you a lovely rain free day to celebrate and wishing we could be there to help you eat cake! Happy Birthday, Aunt Jude! Much love, TUT!

Shoes

Someone likes shoes ALOT! Here she is in Laurie's.

Bird

Daddy's teaching a workshop in Santa Fe and staying at the Bee House. And he found a friend.

More Birds

Last night we went to see the Chapman Swifts. It's hard to capture those little guys on film, but Una enjoyed them and our little picnic. It's becoming quite an event. They were selling t-shirts and pizza this year, and the hill was packed.

New New

Recently, Una has received a bunch of "news". Michael brought over her first tricycle which she likes, but approached with caution; and we went to Ikea and bought her a push cart (she adores it) and a little table and chairs for the studio. Mostly, she is using them as her latest climbing adventure, but we have started to read books and draw there as well.

My little baby girl is growing up quickly. I recently discovered that she can count to 3. We were at the bank and walking up steps and i said one, and she said two, so i said two and she said three. The policeman standing next to us said, "Wow, that was really cool!" A few days later, we were walking up steps in the neighborhood, doing our little counting thing. But this time when i got to seven, she said eight as clear as a bell. Then i said 9 and she said 10. I think that's pretty freakin' amazing. She's just like Ted, she remembers everything.

She's also just like me in some ways too (of course). She's sensitive, for example. The other night i was holding her before i went to dance and i had told her that daddy would blow bubbles with her while i was gone. So she tried to tell her daddy where the bubbles were by pointing behind her and stabbed me right in the eyebrow which hurt a lot with her sharp little nails. I couldn't help but yell out, "Ouch!" and Una looked at me and burst out crying. She was crying so much, i thought her finger was hurt, but then she put her arms around my neck and said, "Oh no, mama! I soddy, I soddy (sorry)!" and then caressed my face with both her hands still crying, which just about ripped my heart out and made me start crying. I just couldn't believe she is old enough to understand those kind of emotions, already. Especially since two weeks earlier she scratched the living poop out of my face for no good reason, leaving a nice scab down my forehead. But obviously, she's growing up fast, almost the speed of light it seems. I try to remember this and enjoy every single day, and each moment. Not always easy, but worth it.

Keeping Her Eyes on the Art

"Someday (soon) this will all be mine," she thinks. And she's right. The studio is getting smaller and smaller with each passing day. Look out, world!

Sunshine

Not much sun or tomatoes this year, but we have lots of sun flowers....thank goodness!

Happy B!

We had a little BBQ on saturday, for my birthday. I wanted to finally bust out our BBQ that we got 2 years ago. It was awesome. Ted did an outstanding job grilling BBQ chicken, dogs, garden burgers and people brought yummy sides. Ted also baked cup cakes, made vanilla sauce, cleaned up the back yard and made everything look pretty and festive. He went all out. Thank you so much, babe! I can't tell you how much that meant to me.

it was nice getting to catch up with some friends, especially our Corvalis friends, Diane, Aubrey, Marc and Pam, as we don't get to see them very often. Alex also made ALOT of pie. Really GOOD pie. She also went all out for my birthday. Thanks, sweetie! And, she made sure the wee ones had fun playing telephone and what not. Patty brought twinkie cake, and Ivy brought me pink champagne, so i will say no more. We had good times. Thanks everyone!

p.s. i get the award for being THE WORST candle blower EVER. I cannot blow out birthday candles to save my life. Go figure.