I Hear Ya Jade!...

And if there could be just one bit of grammotherly advice that I could offer you in the New Year it would be this...

MOVE SOUTH!...



Please listen to your Grammy on this one!... Do not listen to that smiling mommy or the one who's taking the picture...

A HAPPY NEW YEAR SWEETHEARTS!!!

Jade's First (Real) Christmas...

I didn't get to spend it with her... but I can still imagine the wonderment of it all... just the same.



She liked her new binkies the best!!!


Merry Christmas Schnoogle Bug!!!

She's Got The Music In Her!...

To the point that she can hardly contain herself!!!



Oh Joy Joy!

First Visit To Grammy's House!

Jade came to visit her Grammy last week and we did lots and lots of things. Mostly we just woke up a lot in the middle of the night... but luckily 'we' have earplugs.

My favorite things were watching her bounce around on the waterbed and splashing around in the bathtub. She loves water! And reading her bedtime stories and giving her a bah-bah and of course seeing her first thing in the morning. She is such a schnoogle-bug!

Her newest and most favorite word is 'Wow!'

We went to a wedding while she was here. Her very first wedding ever!... except for Daryn and Jon's.

Here she is posed in front of the gifts of popcorn poppery.



And at the wedding, we danced. She was a hoot and got SO into it!



She also danced with her mama.



She even tried to catch the bouquet!



It was a fun,fun, fun Fall visit!



And I am so glad they were able to snap this one while they were here!

Pumpkin!

She IS and she WAS...


Wow.. That must have been some quality stichery! Here's a pic of Auntie Daryn wearing the very same pumpkin 20 years ago!

Cupcake!

Her first!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Jade!

My Grandbaby Has Teeth!

clickable

And drools a bit...

Some Father's Day Quotes

The greatest gift I ever had came from God, and I call him Dad! ~ Anonymous

I felt something impossible for me to explain in words. Then, when they took her away, it hit me. I got scared all over again and began to feel giddy. Then it came to me... I was a father. ~ Nat King Cole

"Who giveth this woman?" This woman. But she's not a woman. She's still a child. And she's leaving us. What's it going to be like to come home and not find her? Not to hear her voice calling, "Hi, Pops" as I come in? I suddenly realized what I was doing. I was giving up Kay. Something inside me began to hurt. ~ Stanley T. Banks (Father of the Bride)

The most important thing that a father can do for his children is to love their mother. ~ Theodore M. Hesburgh

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~ Clarence B. Kelland

When Charles first saw our child Mary, he said all the proper things for a new father. He looked upon the poor little red thing and blurted, "She's more beautiful than the Brooklyn Bridge." ~ Helen Hayes

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it. ~ Harry S. Truman

Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is "soap-on-a-rope." ~ Bill Cosby

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection. ~ Sigmund Freud

Father I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my little hatchet. ~ George Washington

And now... here's a montage that I was planning to give to Jade for her first birthday. But that's still four months away and I'll have 1,000 more pictures by then!

And it just sort of seemed more fitting for Father's Day anyway. So Happy 1st Father's Day Aaron!

In My Arms from Chardonnay on Vimeo.

I Just Can't Believe It...

And you'll probably hear me saying that ALOT over the next few years... or at least until I can pull it together enough to move to Idaho.
Oy.
Isn't she just... well, I'll let her mommy explain. Here is Whit's totally acapella version of a very familiar and much loved song... with a twist.

Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure...














Well... isn't she?

I LOVE Mother's Day and Photoshop...

This started out as just a little Photoshop excercise but as I was working on it I had an unexpected lightbulb moment which had something to do with raising kids and going through all the little day to day moments for years on end.

Sometimes, if you're not watching carefully you can miss all those subtle little changes they are going through that will eventually bring them to the person they will become. And then one day you sit back, scratch your head and wonder how it could have possibly gone by so fast and how they got there and wish so much that you could be back there doing it all over again.

So remember to take the moments to look closely.

Thank you to Jade for assisting me in this brief (clickable) demonstration...





































Just take joy in the moment to moment. I know you do! You're such a wonderful mommy!


Oops, I don't know how that one slipped in there. But not to worry, it happens from time to time.




It's all good... and wonderful!

Happy 1st Mother's Day Whitney!!!

She Is Growing Up TOO Fast!

Slow it down a bit Jade, ok? Let me see some firsts???

Grammy's coming out in a couple of weeks and she intends to schnoogle you good.

In the meantime... What a precious!











Happy Family!

Four Months!

Isn't it just amazing how a baby can accomplish so much in the first four months of life!

In four months... my house just gets dusty...

But Jade?...in that short time well, she's already learned how:

To smile...


Roll over...


And to sit up on her own...

Sort of...

Here she is on her first plane trip (to Charleston, NC)


Where she got to meet Grandpa Brad and Grandma Jenny...


And Max the dog...


And Great-Grandma Alease...


And some fishies...


I love this picture!...



... and the sort of funny and sentimental way it reminds me of this one...