Fifteen

This special trip to Amarillo was made to celebrate my sweet Mamaw's 90th birthday. From beginning to end the days were filled with surprises. One of the first was the arrival of my brother, Mike, from Oregon. These pictures were taken during the first few minutes after he walked into her home. It had been 15 years.

John Michael is the 1st grandchild in a string of 13 spanning from 44 to 17 years old. The great grandbabies keep coming. Let me count ... 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 14 (plus two buns).

380

My sister went out of her way (literally) to fetch us for a 380 mile trip to Amarillo. Since giving birth to children that truly despise the car we typically make this road trip in the dead of night. Daylight was a nice change. Company was an even nicer change. The adventure was notably uneventful. Luka only let out a blood curtailing scream for 1 hour.

The Texas panhandle is beautiful. There is something about the miles & miles of open farmland & decades of memories. There are also amazing canyons. I've been making this particular journey since forever. Some of the most important people in my life live here. I do realize how blessed we are that our own children now have the chance to know these very same people. Family.

Carrot Top

This boy, in general, comes off orange. I actually have people alert me to this fact. It's not lost on me either. He has an orange cast to his hair. And in some cases that mug looks a little orange too (not in this picture). I know. I know. I'm aware that feeding him too much beta-carotene can do this. I know this. And I've been avoiding feeding him orange vegetables for quite sometime. Hey, our kid is orange. And he's incredibly cute.

Family Photo

Be Sweep

Priceless

Now you see her. Now you don't.

Yes, Mel, this is how Cole responds when you aren't holding him. You'd have thought he was abducted by aliens. Hum. That's probably pretty close to how it felt being away from his mama (for a whole three minutes).

Foster Edward

Foster made his appearance into this world on March 22, 2008. This past Thursday was my first time to see this little guy. He doesn't look anything like a newborn to me. He is big & beautiful. Not that newborns aren't beautiful ... you know what I mean, people. Both Foster & Cole pretty much slept & ate their way through the evening all swaddled close to their mamas. What a life!

Kaiser Cole

Cole looks like a little man. He has him some cheeks I can gobble up. Everyone says Cole looks very much like his daddy. I agree but I see Kiley when I look at his face. At least that is the first thought that crosses my mind. To me it's clear they are siblings (guess that's a good thing!). Cole is starting to stay awake more. Darn those babies. And Mel says he's starting to fight sleep. Well, good golly, I hope I fight sleep that good one day.

Our Kids

More Birthday

We celebrated Luka's birthday with Deda & Baba on Sunday. You'd have thought Danijela was turning 1 again. She could hardly contain herself when the cake hit the table. Luka, on the other hand, woke from a long winter's nap to find himself being sung to. He wasn't thrilled about the singing & definitely wanted nothing to do with the cake.

Notice the pig clock over Tata's shoulder. Baba collects pigs, or at least used to, and has thousands in her home. We have already inherited a good number of stuffed animal pigs since Danijela was born. People who know me know I don't collect anything. I don't let paper from yesterday collect on the countertop for goodness sakes. It's amazing how different people are wired.

Birthday Boy

Our boy is 1 year old. I find that to be really weird. His first year passed in the blink of an eye. Yes, that's a cliche but also very true. We love you, Luka. Things I don't want to forget are that you fooled us. We thought you were a happy mellow boy. Little did we know you'd get fired up quickly when you didn't get what you want. And, darn, your scream is piercing. You did & still do smile a lot. You crawl incredibly fast. You're starting to walk more & more. We can get you to giggle very easily. You love your sister. You don't like the doctor. You also don't like to have your diaper changed. You like to clap & point. You haven't said any words we understand but you babble on and on as though we do. You are awesome, buddy.

Silver Fox

Ouch! Wouldn't you know it. Mom arrived today & promptly plucked a gray hair from my head. It's official. I'm gray. Don't you know our kids are going to be forced to explain that we aren't their grandparents. I could also blame it on them.

Zoo Keeper

This is not a joke.

Art de Danijela

Art by Danijela for Tata.

Sand Park

Walking

We're prepared to announce Luka is walking. Granted he's walking & plopping down. He is such a fast crawler that I'm surprised when he chooses to walk. His record (when we are watching) is 9 steps. The bigger news is our boy has 10x more will in his little body than the rest of us put together. Not sure what to do about that just yet. Oh, the bed in the background is mine. I've been sleeping on the couch / blow up mattress for Luka's lifetime. Sweet Danny sleeps in the same room as Luka because Tata would miss a tornado passing through while he is sleeping. I, on the other hand, wake to every movement, delayed breath, moth ... The blue house will bring about changes for EVERYONE.