"Happy"

One day sometime last month, Alessandra the Great uttered a word that sounded an awful lot like she wanted to be picked up. I obliged, yet she continued to repeat it. Not quite sure why she would continue her request after she already got her way, I just chalked it up to a talkative morning and moved on with my day.

As with all toddlers struggling to understand the nuances of our language, little by little the context of our lives has served as translation. She began to speak this very same word following an Ali-initiated cuddly hug and smooch, while whisking around in a shopping cart doing our very best people-watching, or eating a delicious treat. "Hop. EEee." as it turns out was Ali's way of telling us how she was feeling at that particular moment. So, in celebration of such a wonderful emotion, today's theme is happiness. When there is happiness in your life, then that is all that matters. I, for one, am happy to be part of that club.

Hop. Eeee.

Happy 60th birthday Grandma Jo!!! I can hardly believe that this wonderful, beautiful, kind, charismatic, lovely, and interesting woman whom I call my mother has already lived for six full decades!!! To me she will never be older than the 30-something "cool mom" who always laughed with us when we made fun of her for completely botching words to a song ("Puhleeze stop playing games with my heeeeeaaaaaaaarrrrrtttt...") and for painstakingly sewing the bustle on my yellow tap costume a little bit higher than the rest of the girls'. Okay, it was TOO high, mom. It looked ridiculous! Or what about the time in kindergarten when I hardly recognized you because you dressed as a man for Halloween when you were the room mom for our party? That was a very excellent mustache! Or the time in Tawas when I fell and rolled bare-skinned onto the gritty concrete in my little tiny 7-year-old bikini and got the worst road rash of my life? I'll never forget the panicked look on your face and the way you burst into tears because you were so afraid of seeing me in pain. And the time I told you I had no friends to play with at recess and so you went in secret, parked in the parking lot adjacent to the playground so you could watch me cavort about with the very friends that I said I didn't have? I've never been able to understand how a mother can hurt so much for her younglings no matter how trivial, but now I get it. I know that one day I, too, will cry for my daughter's road rash and God's willing that will be the worst thing that happens. Alessandra and I will always be the exact same age difference as you and I are and I hope that the similarities don't end there. I hope that one day I can be the light of her life like you are to mine. I hope that I can also encourage her to live her life with the same spirit, confidence, and love that you always fostered in me. I hope that on my 60th birthday, she will call to tell me that she loves me as much as I love you now. Happy Birthday mama, and thank you for you and all that you've made me into.

Grandma Jo...Hop. EEee. :)

By now you already know how happy my little water baby is in the tub. I have inundated you with enough tub pictures to last a lifetime but I just had to snap this one more to show you how long her hair would be sans ringlets. When this little mullet is straight, it goes down to her shoulders!

We've also been working on our passion for art. I've been working on trying to figure out whether Alessandra will be a lefty or a righty. As a member of the Southpaw Club, I'm not-so-secretly hoping for her to follow suit, but as of right now, most signs are pointing to the dreaded R. (Okay, maybe not "dreaded", but oh, so mainstream!) Here are a couple of masterpieces in the works!

Okay, so we realize the holiday is a little off, but can we at least get credit for the "Shamrock" Crayola?

Look mom! Left hand!

Christie's Auction, here we come! Starting bid $2 million dollars!

This picture is more of just a brag, let's be honest. Alessandra put this shoe on all by herself and was working on the other one as I snapped! Furthermore, please note that it is on the correct foot! Don't rain on my parade and tell me it was just a fluke. Remember, today's theme is HOP. EEEE! :)

Also happy times are playdates! Liza and I always knew that Sawyer and Alessandra would eventually make an adorable BF + GF. That makes two of us girlfriends happy.

Adorable because she likes things with wheels. And simultaneously insists on wearing necklaces every day.

I thought I'd leave you this week with a photo essay to make you giggle a little bit. I bring to you now

The Anatomy of a Perfect Flirt

You may have heard a rumor that Alessandra enjoys flirting just a little bit. Enter our Sunday trip to IKEA. Daddy loves their delicious ice cream cones for $1. Enough to wait in a very long line for one.


As Ali and I waited off to the side for him to score his num num, I decided to have a photo session with my love as she sat in the shopping cart.

In walks a tall, dark and handsome boy of about 27 years. (I have to admit...He really WAS smokin' hot. My daughter has good taste!)

She follows him walking past her...

...Until he parks his big flatbed cart right behind us.

Let the official flirting commence...

Haaaaayyyyyyy!!!

Mama, he's cuuuute!

Look how devastated she becomes when he gets up to leave!


To each and every one of you that has been following us along. Thank you! We hope that you are as happy as we are.

RAD