new year, new sledder

Happy New Year! To mark the occasion, Junie helped Jolee take her first ride on the sled…

junie turns three

From October: this was her birthday eve party. Grandma and Grandpa had to leave in the morning…

Rover was hit by some cupcake shrapnel. Grandpa was there to help…

Watching the popcorn pop for the after-cupcake dessert…

Everyone settled in for a few episodes of the Muppet Show…

On birthday morning…

this toy was a winner…

assorted grandparent photos

In the hall with Grandpa (Adrienne’s Dad)…

Jolee with Nana (my Mom)…

and Jolee with Grandma (Adrienne’s Mom)…

spoon skills

Jolee has a little ways to go, but she’ll get this eating thing figured out.

Her first attempt at getting the guacamole to her mouth via spoon missed the mark by just a smidge…

That’s more like it…

a job well done…

and some other non-spoon-skill related photos…

jolee’s first christmas

We had one heck of a nice Christmas. Molly and Phil drove up from Broomfield, and Adrienne prepared an over-the-top dinner. We were living the good life.

A few weeks ago. June performing an important task… Junie helping out with cookie production… Jolee assisting with muscle development in Adrienne’s left arm…

June asked Santa for fish and he delivered two. Adrienne and I assumed she would name them Rompo and Anko (when she’s telling a story, these are two of her favorite names for her imaginary friends), but she surprised us. After several name changes, I think she has settled on Arf and Darf. She has a gift for unique name creation…

Helping Jolee open a book…

The showstopper for Jolee was this orange ball…

Meditating on the wonders of her first Christmas…

Here I’m helping Junie open her stuffed pug from Aunt Molly and Uncle Phil. June's Aunt Lauren and Uncle Foster have a pug named Phoebe, so naturally this dog’s name is now Phoebe Dog...

Checking in on her new friends…

bouncy house

While in Michigan in July, we met up with our good friend Amanda and her son, Ajani, at a street festival in Farmington. Junie melted down pretty early, but it was fun while it lasted. I’ve been friends with Amanda since middle school, and I always have a laugh when I get to see her. And Ajani couldn’t be sweeter.

Ajani…

With Roary, the Detroit Lions mascot…