In the eyes of a 3 year old

Aimee has had this picture hanging over her desk for well over a year. It is one of our favorite drawings by Louisa. We estimate it is about 14 months old now, but since we didn't add a date, we don't know for sure.






















What we do know though is that when she finished it, she said it was me. I'm still speechless. And now that I look at it again, I feel a tremendous urge to visit a doctor for a prostate exam.

There is the saying, "kids say the darndest things" but come on, seriously, my eyes aren't that big!

Car Accident...

Well, it could have been worse. Gus had one too many fruity drinks and he couldn't manage to get himself into the car.

He is wearing the Hawaiian shirt that Adrienne and Chris got for Louisa before she was born. Most everyone was convinced that Aimee was going to have a boy the first time around.

























































We went to a "Pirates and Princesses" birthday party for one of Louisa's best friends, Hannah Ray. She is turning four. They had a great time playing games and Louisa especially loved the "gold money" that she could eat.

Here is Hannah, Sara, Peyton (all best friends from school)and Louisa waiting for a treasure game to begin.



















Here is Louisa with Peyton (in the car) and Hannah. Unlike Gus, they were responsible with their juice box consumption.

"Nice and Yummy"

I dug out my scanner this evening and ran a few things through it. One is a Polaroid of Gus from April 24, 2008. Some think we look a lot alike. (BTW, the print is dusty and it looks a bit spotty.)

The other is Louisa's first recipe that she created with Aimee. It's Aimee's handwriting, not Louisa's. We think she is gifted and talented, but not that talented. Feel free to try the recipe. You just might find it to be "Nice and Yummy."

And the last one is another Polaroid of Louisa making brownies. I thought they were making cookies, but I was corrected after I created the scan and added the text. Either way, she is cute!

It Breaked!

At the bottom is a video, shot at 11:30 PM, after discovering Louisa in our bed with Aimee's entire assortment of makeup. Thankfully, Aimee has a meager amount of choices for Louisa to test. UGH!

"special secret treat"

During our outing to Busch Gardens, Louisa had a "special secret treat" while everyone else rode a water ride that Louisa was too small to be part of. She was very sad, but soon forgot about the ride. So, "shhhh," don't tell Mommy.

The Other Side

My family has come to visit on several occasions, including the whopper of a surprise drop-in on Christmas Day. I was speechless when I opened the door. Anyway, with my sporadic efforts to keep this updated I've neglected to add photos of our fantastically sweet nieces Halee and Mayah. When they were here for spring break I just happened to have a camera on hand during our trip to Busch Gardens.

I also had one on hand when I returned to the States from Kazakhstan 5 years ago to have dental work done. They made the trip to visit me then too.

The girls are going to strangle me for posting these pictures from the archive. It is scary how fast they grow up! These were taken in February 2002.

Photo Fix

This email arrived tonight:

"Ok Ryan,
I need a photo fix! Haven't seen the kids since January and the last photos were from March. Would really love to wake up tomorrow morning to Louisa and Gus' faces. Thank you!
Lots of love,
Carleen"

Ask and you shall receive. Well, I'm just happy to do anything but finish my statistics paper.

We broke out the home studio this afternoon and here are some (several) of the results. Plus a HUGE thanks to Uncle Bob (and Judy) for the terrifically cool buses that he hand made for our lil' Gus the Bus. They are cherished!!! THANK YOU!! You can see one of them in the photos and I'm certain the other one will appear soon considering they are now permanent fixtures in our living room.

Please note Louisa's "silly face."