Lola's Second Birthday

Below is Lola's cake (store-bought!). My favorite detail is the cute little white frosting bones above her name. The three kids had a lot of fun playing with toys after we stopped taking pictures.

The Clifford at the top of the picture is a gigantic birthday card from Mom and Dad
Lola and her four year old friend Andy watch the cake cutting
Flash back in time to the lit candle and uncut cake
Here are Lola and Maggie (18 months) with the giant ball that Lola received from Maggie
Here's a better picture of Maggie

IKEA Loot Part Two

Below you will see the beautiful and gigantic shelves we purchased (using gift cards from relatives) for Lola's room. As you can see, stuffed animals are on the top shelves, since they are less often in play. There is a category for every cube, but I won't detail each one. However, I do plan to create a map for Josh's benefit. Oh, the joys of OCD (luckily, he inflicts his own OCD on me in other areas). Either tonight or tomorrow, I will post pictures of Lola's birthday party, a rockin' good time for three couples and their hard-playing progeny.--K

Home for the Holidays

We've had a great time over the last few days. The first picture shows the fantastic new chandelier from IKEA. For those who don't know, the design theme of our house is "What 1948 thought 2008 would look like." So you can think of it as "a cool version of the Jetsons" if this last description was too confusing.

Here is Lola enjoying her Children's Songbook from Uncle Harry and Aunt Leslie
This is a picture of our dependents, watching TV. Lola is vegging in her new chair, a gift from Grandma and Grandpa. Above her head, chillin' on the pillows from Mommy and Daddy's bed, is Star. To the right, with one eye glowing, is the stately Abdiel, 10 years old.
Here is Lola in her brandnew warm up outfit from the other grandparents.
Mock on, conservative relatives! Here's Lola in her Save-the-Whales sloganed organic cotton pjs (from Wal-mart, alas).

Christmas Glee

Merry Christmas!
Especially for all the kind relatives who sent gifts to Lola, here are pictures of her enjoying them.
This first picture shows her playing with the soccer goals and ball given to her by Santa.

Here she is with the Breyer horse from Grandpa Harry and Grandma Linda
Here she is opening the giant wagon (carrying blocks) that was her gift from Grandma Ward
Here she is entranced by the Tinkerbell plate that Aunt Gloria sent
This sort-the-shapes gator was a gift from Grandpa and Grandma
This aquadoodle mat was from Aunt Rosslyn and Uncle Brandon
I've temporarily misplaced the picture of the Children's Songbook sent by Uncle Hal and Aunt Leslie, but I will post it later. Thanks everyone for making Lola's Christmas magical!

Ready for Tree Decorating

Lola's friends Shemya (2 years old) and Britni (6 months) are coming over to help decorate our tree today. Below I have posted pictures to show how industrious our holiday has been.

These beautiful baseboards were painted by Josh after he installed toe molding in the living room and dining room.
This is Lola's gingerbread house, which she and I put together this morning.
This is the new bathroom sink, which is as huge as it looks. Josh re-hung the bathroom door so that it swings outward, which gives us a lot more room in the bathroom.

Santa Lives!

This Miracle on 34th Street-like happening is easily our best Christmas magic of the season. Today, all three of us were walking toward Barnes and Noble when Lola saw the back of a man with long white hair, wearing a dark red shirt. She said, "Santa!" Knowing he was out of earshot, I said, "No Lola, that's just an old man with white hair." We rapidly gained ground on him, because he was using a crutch, and so I held the door for him as we entered. He turned around, and we saw that beautiful, benevolent face with a kindly expression and a full white beard. Lola said, "Santa" in a low voice (after all, her mother had said that the man was not Santa). A second later, he turned around, smiled at us and said, "I guess I don't have to tell you to be good."--Merry Christmas, Kathryn

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

Here's Lola with her doting grandparents.

Daddy. Mommy and Lola by the tree.
Grandma and Lola decorating the tree.
Lola wilding with a jingle bell.
Lola finds the flamingo ornament.

We strung up some lights!

Look at the picture below. We actually have minimalist lights, and I blew away the leaf piles. It's beginning to look a lot like . . . we live here! We had a good time in Tallahassee with the grandparents. On the way home, I was driving, and Josh let fly with one of his truisms, "Watch your speed, dear." From the carseat in back fluted another voice, "Watch yo speed deah." I don't know which of us parents was more delighted.--K

Uncle Dusting and Aunt Cinders Visit

If you are appropriately modest about your own child, read no further--or prepare the air-sickness bag.

I told a student recently that I have discovered that everything about parenting is a trade-off: having a gorgeous little girl means you are privileged to look at Beauty all day, but in return you must be cast in her shade in every photograph. Cindy and Dustin, behold the photographic "Lola Effect." No, your vacation photos and your own eyes have not deceived you: you are in reality as beautiful as Beau Brummell. But you must pose next to Lola and take your lickin'. Yours gleefully, The Victim of a Hundred Family Portraits (K)

Creative Porch Decoration in the Land of Featherston

Hi all,
My daughter, Countess Featherston, received the Featherston Heights Newsletter on top of her mailbox this afternoon. There is a house decorating contest being held on December 18th. Here are some of the suggestions from the contest judges.
"In this competition, winners will be those who do something extra in the way of creativity to set themselves apart. Some ideas to use include: reindeer, teddy bears, stars, fruit, geese, snowmen, Santas, elves, sleighs, doves . . . and tropical Christmas decor. . . . Please have a Spotlight centered on your front door in order that it be well lighted to be judged."
If Countess Featherston's mom were not a career woman, she would be following these suggestions with glee. However, she hopes the judges will look kindly on her traditional "red wreath and dried leaves" arrangement (in the picture below, look to the lawn for the dried leaf part).--Kathryn

Lola Achieves A New Level of Consciousness

Tonight Josh was lying on the floor, and Lola came over and flopped down on top of his chest. Josh raised his head to look at her, and asked one of his usual rhetorical questions: "Whaddaya want?" Instead of saying nothing, as was her previous habit, Lola fixed her gaze on his, stuck out her lower lip, and said in a deep and clear voice, "Candy."--Kathryn

Thanksgiving with Aunt Leslie and Uncle Harry

Hi everyone,
For Thanksgiving we traveled to Illinois to spend time with Kathryn's brother Harry, his wife Leslie, and Grandpa and Grandma, who flew in from Louisiana. Here are some pictures. Thanks to Uncle Harry and Aunt Leslie for their warm hospitality!

Here is the kind and multitalented Aunt Leslie at the piano with Lola.

Here is Leslie's Thanksgiving table.
Lola at the piano.
Kathryn with Lola and family.
Josh with Lola and family.
Lola with her favorite Indian food: naan bread.
Josh's old elementary school (coincidentally, he grew up in this Illinois town).

The New Curtains from IKEA!

Hi,
These curtains may look vanilla to you, but we are celebrating the retirement of the gauzy transparencies that every night exposed our living room to our neighbors' eyes. Only at IKEA: 4 panels of real drapes for $30 TOTAL cost.--K

The Grandparents Drop By

Grandpa Linda and Grandpa Terry "dropped by" last weekend, making a five-hour-each way trip to see Lola (and her parents). This first photo shows how she greeted their arrival.--K

Lola's First Parody of Mom

On Tuesday night, Lola achieved her first significant though unintentional parody of her mom. When Josh and I told her to "vacuum" with the corn-popper, she suddenly understood its resemblance to the sublime force of the vacuum. She ferociously "vacuumed" the rug with an expression of concentration, and then set the vacuum to the side, saying, "I'm ti-ired." Too true to life, I'm afraid!

Halloween

Hi everyone,
Here's the star of the hour in her special angel-mosquito pose. See more below.

Here's Lola with Josh outside the assisted living place that hosts trick-or-treat.
This little girl looked just like Snow White!
Here I am with Lola.
Here's Lola breaking away from the apron strings.
Here are some rude uncostumed kids with their embarrassed handlers, who dressed up to (over)compensate!
Believe it or not, this pirate ship belongs to our three-blocks -away neighbor. The house behind it is real, though.
Here's Lola enjoying the afterparty, held in her carseat.

Lola with Broom; Abdiel's Leap

Today we had wonderful weather, and we all went for a walk at about 4:30 p.m. We ended up at the elementary school playground, where Lola enjoyed the slides. Lola asked if her dog Abdiel could come up and slide too. Abdiel is eleven years old, but he has always been an Olympian, and certainly puts to shame our three year old fatty-dog Star. Abdiel walked up the stairs with Josh's aid, and then slid about a meter down the slide. From about four feet up, he launched himself with his hind legs, in perfect form, six feet forward and down to a landing in the playground sand. As Bela would say, "He stuck it."--Kathryn