Sunday, February 28, 2016

Pictures from a birthday

Here are a few pictures from Jamie's fourth birthday celebration. It was a gorgeous weekend! Last year at this time the snow was several feet deep. This year, the daffodils are already emerging.


Jamie didn't need his hat and mittens - but he looks cute in them!

Lots of room renovations going on!  New furniture and curtains and decal wallpaper in the baby's room, and new decorations in Jamie's.  He painted these, but what are they?


Aha.

Last time I saw him,I asked him when he was going to start sleeping in a big-boy bed instead of his crib, he said, "When I'm a teenager."  But on his birthday eve, Peggy and I ganged up on him a little bit.  Under gentle grandmother pressure, he decided that it would be cool to wake up on his fourth birthday in his bed instead of a crib.  So there was a last-minute scramble of basements and screwdrivers and Allen wrenches, and Jamie said goodbye to his crib and hello to his new bed.  The next morning, when I praised him for spending the whole night in a big-boy bed, he said matter-of-factly, "Well, I'm four now."

A last moment in the crib:

Everybody puts together the new bed.


Testing out the replacement!


 After a full day of work and an evening of putting beds together and taking cribs apart, Kate still had a cake to bake and decorate.


It was worth it.  That's a Moorish Idolfish, I think.


First thing Sunday morning, we took a trip to the New England Aquarium with Nana and the McDowells.





Then lunch at Shake Shack, where Peggy and I successfully staked out a table big enough for all of us in the midst of the noonday crowd, and then home for cake, presents and a story about squid with Ruth.


Happy birthday!

I know I'm behind on posting pics of Jamie's birthday

but look what a sweet picture this is.  Even if Luke IS asleep.

Monday, February 15, 2016

A letter to my mother from Jayne Mansfield





Here's her sad biography. It explains that Ottaviano was the last name of her third husband.  It's a little hard to tell from these pictures, but the letter and envelope are pink, which was apparently her signature color. 

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Happy birthday, Laura!

How we spent your birthday - and our 30th anniversary as the parents of a daughter:

We poured concrete.


We have moved the basement bathroom, which meant digging a trench for the new plumbing and then filling it back in.  Who knew I could mix concrete?

Then we took a walk in the almost-warm February sunlight to the waterfalls on the creek just past our property line.  Spectacular.