A Birthday Hat

Mermaid Of Dreams

Aunt Dani makes the nicest gifts

She's A Rose, She's A Pearl

the best gift no one knew I was getting

A Published Daughter For Father's Day

it's the only book I've read since

Cups Are Hard

it actually turned out to be quite lovely

Pot-Painter

Doesn't Emit A Blood-Curdling Screech

Christmas is coming and this is the ONLY thing on my list. Why did it take so long for someone to make these. I need one in every room. 

And This Is How We Know

Yuula performed a few numbers for us last Sunday/Laura's birthday, Father's day. I think this was everyone's favorite.

Not Braver Than I Thought

Tell Laura to wear this shirt I bought her already

The Return Of Kojima

This rattle was Yuula's. Now it's Aesop's. Kayoko sent it to me. We love Kojima.

They're Moving To The Cape

 Ready for company, looking his very best...

It was only after they arrived that we found out it was Fatih's birthday. The cake they brought gave away the surprise.

But they came bearing gifts. Yuula finally found the perfect combination of noise and sparkle to wear around her waist. 

they'll be here til Tuesday folks...

New Toys From The South

Yuula is gonna be good at chemistry someday

thanks Barb & Bill

Good Luck Chia Love

We got her a Hello Kitty chia pet for Valentine's Day, but all it's done is make us yearn for spring all the more

None of us have ever had a chia pet, so it will probably die

How New England And Eminem Had A Hand In It

Gifts from the Fallons, and the continuing suspicion that somehow Eminem is the boys father. Always good for a laugh, but also a significant point of reference for the story with some slight coincidences that may or (most definitely) may not be worth mentioning...

The Fallons are from Boston, where I worked when I got the job in Georgia, which I moved to and met Laura, and then Kheli Fallon (then Sweeney) moved down to work with me and we used to listen to Eminem on the way to teach, pretty much everyday. So, Wicked Smaaht will remind me of that every time he wears it. Kismet.

Remember The Name Slee Tweedles

On Christmas Eve we also received a mysterious package at our door. Mysteriously large. Mysteriously unexpected. Mysteriously from New Hampshire. Opened up to find...

My mind raced thru a shortlist of who in the hell would send us such a treasure and thought back to a text exchange I had with good ol' Tom who queried what kind of sled Yuula was rocking these days. 

After a short exchange followed by a holiday phone conversation, it was confirmed, and I was full of Christmas cheer. Oh Tom, why are you so good to us?

And Yuula didn't want to wait for the snow.

When we explained to her the fate of one Charles Foster Kane she thought long and hard about a name to utter on her deathbed and thought the best fit would be, are you ready?...

Slee Tweedles.

Your Neck Will Never Be The Same

Yuula was pretty excited to be able to wear a nice warm scarf like Mommy & Daddy. Add the Hello Kitty shirt and there hasn't been this much excitement over an ensemble since the diapers came off.

U-Nee-Korn The Unicorn

Front-runner for favorite gift

Every Scrap Of Wrap A Map

Yuula "helped" me wrap gifts yesterday. She took a great likening to the scraps of wrapping paper I was tossing aside, using them as full fledged treasure maps that took her on quite the adventure around the dining room. So I lost my tape fairy, but our decision to have Santa get her a pirate scope/headband/eye patch/treasure map for Christmas was verified.

Christmas Sasquatch Gets Meta

 Someone in this family better be getting this beauty for Christmas

This is a close representation of what I'm look like sporting it

Snow Lady And Snow Baby

Hehe, I had to give her this gift early