"Shortcut"

Elly likes to refer to haircuts as "shortcuts"; you can't cut hair without it getting shorter, right? She got a new "shortcut" last week:

I didn't bother combing her hair before we went, as you can see.

long hair

While we were waiting, we got a cupcake next door.

styling

I said "Elly, show me your new haircut".

The back

The best part of getting a "shortcut" is the sucker afterward.

Boy is 1!

Boy turned 1 year old a couple of weeks ago.  He is awesome and also hilarious.  We had an awesome technology themed birthday party for him and he loved it.

The Birthday BOY

The Invitation

Some of my favorite things Boy did this year:

Get Born

Smile more than any child on earth ever has

Ask for Elly ("Eehh") the moment he wakes up, everytime

Wave "Hello" and "Goodbye" with his palm pointing to the sky like he's serving a plate in a restaurant

Learn how to say: Dog ("Dahhh"), Hi ("Ai"), Dada, Elly

Learn how to sign: Eat, Please, and More

Learn how to walk

Hug and Kiss us all whenever we want


Some of my NOT favorite things Boy did this year:

Spit up more than any newborn on earth

Shovel food into his mouth so quickly we had to do the baby Heimlich several times a day

Get Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease a few weeks ago

Lick the dustpan

Swallow an entire Jolly Rancher whole

Put his hands in the toilet

Dig through the garbage

Eat Children's Mentholatum


The Party:

Boy liked opening watching Elly open his presents

This was his absolute FAVORITE present- his OWN laptop! (Notice him looking around to make sure no one takes it away)

The party goers laughed out loud while watching him play with his new laptop for 20 minutes.

The TiVO remote Cake I made him; he LOVES the TiVO remote.

The obligatory eating of the cake shots

Fed some to Aunt Keri

This hat lasted for 5 seconds.

Elly Quotes

Elly: Mom, I love you 10.

Me: I love you, too, honey. (not wanting to put a number on my love for her.)

Elly: I love Dad 10, too.

Me: Dad loves you, too.

She runs away.

Later, I overhear her say in a whisper to Miles:

Miles, I love you 8.

Elly Quotes

While making Macaroni and Cheese...

Elly:  I want to put in the little seeds that make it taste good.

Brandon:  The seeds?

Elly:  Oh, I mean the, um, seasonings.

Brandon:  The cheese powder?

Elly:  Yeah, the cheese seasonings.

Elly and Hailey

Here are a couple of videos from last May.  Hailey was Elly's best friend during the MBA program.  They played together practically every day.  We miss you, Wankiers!

Yes, we do have two children...

Boy was asleep when I did Elly's photo shoot, but Brandon was just saying the other day how few pictures I take of him compared to the millions we have of Elly, so I tried to make him sit still for two seconds. This is the result (at the end, he got really mad when I wouldn't let him have the camera):

The Result

This is the result of the preceding Elly Quote:

Elly Quotes

Me: Elly, you are so beautiful, will you let me take your picture?

Elly: To where?

(Have I honestly never said this to her before?  That seems ridiculous.)