Numero Uno Birthday photos

The day was a success!  As I am reminded by my husband "the imperfections of the day made the day perfect".  And so it was.

opening gifts

at the zoo

happy kids

sea lions

dinner time

Oh Elinor, don't do it.

Ouch!  I don't want any cake now.

More cake for me.

We are very lucky people to have such wonderful babies.  I sometimes find myself just watching them and wonder, "Are they really mine?".  We love them so much.... and I think they like us a little too.

Birthday Morning

Aahhhhh.... we survived the first year.  Looking back it wasn't really that bad (except for the first 12 weeks).  Happy Birthday to John John and Ellie!  May every year be as  blessed as the first.  We love you to the ends of the earth and back. 

We are taking a trip to the zoo today.  I will post more pictures later. 

..I really want that balloon...

just waking up

I love the books Ben & Drake sent us

Daddy & John enjoying the marracas

John didn't like his hat.

Some Pics

Aunt Pat requested some recent pics of the twinkies.  I seemed to be a bit lax in the blogging department. Busy???? Just a tad bit.... as always.

Baby Drake

Happy First Birthday baby Drake!  How thrilled we are that you are in this world.  We all love you so much.

Hair

I noticed that John looked at Elinor the other and day and just started giggling. I am sure this was the reason:

I just don't know what to do with her hair.  It is always sticking up. It won't stay down... so I tried this:

I think I prefer it without the ponytail. 

Happy Birthday Mom

My mom would have been 70 years old today. I wish I had a picture to post. She never liked getting her picture taken… which is unfortunate for us kids. I think that there are maybe one or two baby pictures of me with my mom. Let that be a lesson to those who don’t like their picture being taken.
I miss her. We all miss her.
Cheers to Mom!

Sometimes this is all we need.

I think about friends and their families and all the activities they do on a daily/weekly basis.  Sometimes, this is all we need:

A kitchen drawer filled with placemats and picnic supplies can be so much fun.  This is how we keep quiet and busy while dinner is being made.  It made me so happy to watch them be so busy as they explored.  They were at peace and I was at peace.  That is all we need sometimes.