Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Happy 1st Birthday, Maryn!


Miss Maryn, formerly of Zhangshu, China and now residing in Kentucky, was feted on the occasion of her first birthday by a small but very stylish group of family members including Mama, Baba, Carlyn, and Nana. Also in attendance were several local felines who observed the festivities through the glass doors.

A light dinner was followed by the evening's entertainment: Jie Jie's performance of numerous cartwheels and round-offs. Cake was served. To the pasty chef's delight, Maryn pronounced it to be very worthy of squishing in her fists.

Following dessert, the party adjourned to the living room floor where Carlyn opened Maryn's gifts, and Maryn tasted the wrapping paper, cards, and each gift in turn. Especially delectable were the farm-themed bathtub toys.

The revelry concluded with a warm bath, bottle of milk, and bedtime by 8:30 p.m. Fun was had by all.

Farm toys! In a mesh bag! With suction cups! So much to bite!

The tractor is perfectly al dente.

She always reads the cards first.

I will take pictures now, Baba, thank you very much.

Nana demonstrates the new ABC abacus toy. Maryn just wants to taste it.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Our Six Month Anniversary

Six months and two days ago, we met sweet Maryn in a hotel room in China, and it went something like this:


Friday, January 7, 2011

Someone has been walking for almost a month!

But she was pretty shaky and unpredictable at first. And what a difference a week makes. The clip above was shot on December 30th; the one below was on January 5th.

p.s. I couldn't help but notice that my standard response to her tipping over is apparently a Homer-Simpson-sounding, "Oh!"

Sunday, January 2, 2011

A Merry Christmas, Indeed!

Well, I've had these photos uploaded and ready to go for about a week now but have been too busy with my sabbatical project and another proposal to put any acceptable prose in the post. So, here are my sweethearts, who made our Christmas utterly and perfectly complete! Thank you, God, for all of your gifts!

Before the Christmas Eve service.



Christmas morning.


Thank goodness for this soft lamb; gift-opening is exhausting!