Friends

This video celebrates what we hope will be a lifelong friendship between our two girls. Yes, it is the song from "Napoleon Dynamite." It is a joy to watch them love one another, although sometimes in somewhat violent ways.

On another note, Evelyn told me tonight that she was ready for me to die so that she could become a mom. Apparently she thought only one woman in the family could hold the title, "Mom."

Happy Birthday Marianne!

Marianne turned 1 yesterday! We had a small party with our adopted college students, and we watched Marianne enjoy her cupcake. Marianne - you are such a joyful girl! You are oh so close to walking. You can say some words, "All done," "Daddy," "Mama," "Bye bye"and sign more and please. Just today you said "balloon" and something that sounds like "cat." You can clap and wave bye bye. You can give high fives and hug your teddy bear. You can point to noses and mouths, and stretch your hands out to say "So big!" You can hold up one finger to tell us you are one!

A special thank you to Miss Katie for the cute Valentine bows for the girls! And a special thank you to Granny for the adorable tutu onesie.


Marianne's cupcake before...

Thank you to Reuben for taking some pictures!


Marianne is so big!

Yummy!

I think the sugar is starting to wear her out...




Is this card for me?

Here is the third installment of our year-in-review video. It's all about Marianne. Kim found the song online, and we thought it was quite appropriate. We hope you enjoy it!

11 Months

Marianne is 11 months old! We have many pictures and videos of our Christmas trip home to post at some point, but for now this is about Marianne. She is an adventurous, climbing, clapping, happy girl. She had her first 2 ear infections during our trip to Oklahoma, and thankfully is on the mend. She loves to walk pushing her new stroller and holding hands - but has not taken a step on her own yet. She is saying "Dada" with definite purpose now - when we were apart from Brian in Oklahoma she would say it to the phone when she heard his voice. And she started signing "more" in Oklahoma! Yeah! She has 4 teeth, maybe some more on the way, and prefers finger foods to anything that resembles baby food...She loves for us to chase her, and thinks she is quite clever when she sneaks around to climb up the stairs. We have quite a few baby gates up these days. We love you Marianne!


We loved seeing family, but were glad to be out in the sunshine when we came home! This was in alumni park on campus, just after Evelyn was bitten by a duck. We tried to feed the ducks at the pond with some bread, and one duck was a little too bold! I think Evelyn was more frightened than hurt. She gave us a good smile for the picture when we told her to say "mean duck!" (Note: she has on a sleeveless 4th of July dress - anything sleeveless is her favorite. We compromised by wearing leggings, a turtleneck and a jacket too).