I often think of a blog post Bryan wrote shortly after Ava was born: “Dagny no longer rules the roost, but she’s still a pretty kitty.”
Pretty, yes. Also, naughty.


18 Dec
I often think of a blog post Bryan wrote shortly after Ava was born: “Dagny no longer rules the roost, but she’s still a pretty kitty.”
Pretty, yes. Also, naughty.


17 Dec
If you’ve spent any time around Ava recently, you know she’s using a lot of made-up words–just crazy little terms for which there’s never a consistent definition. Certain ones–like “schody”–keep cropping up again and again as various and seemingly unrelated nouns. They’re becoming a running joke around the house–a joke that Ava is clearly in on.
Ava: Dad, where are your feelings?
Bry: In your brain.
Ava: Oh, and your brain is inĀ your head.
Bry: Right. Where did you think your feelings were?
Ava: In your schody.
16 Dec
I’ve had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I’ve tried decorating, putting up the tree, listening to Christmas music and subsisting on a steady diet of baked goods and White Russians. Still, the stress of work and traveling and shopping has gotten the best of me.
There are a few things that are helping, though–the first is snow we’ve had this week. I was probably the only one on our street happy to see shoveled walks covered again in a matter of minutes this morning. Maybe it’s the six years we spent in Wisconsin talking, but I think it should be cold and snowy come December.

In continuing a long-standing family tradition, we bought our tree from a retail store parking lot. It was rather dark that night, so we didn’t realize it had been spray painted a lovely shade of aqua until we got it home.
Bryan anchored the tree to the wall in two places, but we decided there was a still a good chance someone would pull it over so we didn’t use the glass ornaments or the tree topper this year. It’s rather sparsely decorated thanks to some busy elves. I wonder if we’ll ever locate all of the ornaments missing from the lower half.

And speaking of the elves, the highlight of the month has been Ava bopping around in a Santa hat. Though she’s still not posing for photos much these days, I did manage to snap one quick shot.

I am getting there.
15 Dec
We spotted Warren Buffet in Borsheim’s on Saturday.
As he strolled by, Bryan noted, “There goes the richest man in the world. He made more money in the time it took him to walk through this store than we made all year.”
15 Dec
We made a very quick trip to Omaha on Saturday for Wyatt’s first birthday party.
I thought I grabbed my camera (which oddly enough, is working just fine now), but instead I picked up the one Katie lent me. It’s still out of batteries, so I had to rely on my phone–that’s why these photos are blurry(ier than normal).
Here’s the birthday boy…

…and his partner in crime.

Debbie and Jason had an adorable gingerbread man theme.


Wyatt was a huge fan of the cake, and he liked the attention that came with it, too.


Doug had his camera at the ready, so I’ll post a link to his online gallery when it’s live.

His shots may even be in focus!
13 Dec
Ava’s making good use of the 47 catalogs we receive in the mail each day.


She’s cutting out photos and pasting them on new sheets. Basically, it’s assisted reproduction, and the mail is multiplying.