T-BONE HAS A BIRTHDAY

Today is Tyler's 25th birthday. I bought him a hilarious giant party hat and made him wear it. I don't know what it is about younger brothers....no matter how old we get I still like to torture him just a little bit. We had a delicious dinner and ice cream for dessert. Before I could stop her, my mom gave Stella a taste of the ice cream. Since the damage was done (Stella has only yet eaten cereal) I thought I would smile and take some pictures. She loved it, and when my mom took a bite for herself, Stella would open her mouth expecting a taste for her...it was pretty cute. Thanks Stacy for joining our family dinner, and thanks to Dad for dinner, and thanks to Tyler for having a birthday so that I could buy someone that silly hat at the dollar store!

Stella checking out the menu. She skipped dinner and went straight for dessert.

Dessert."Hey, isn't that MY bite?"

Ava debuted her Juicy Couture jumpsuit that her cool Auntie Michelle bought her for Christmas.

BEATLES FAN

I think and hope that I am the kind of parent that will allow my children to express themselves and like whatever kind of music they want (under Brent's supervision and subtle direction, of course). However, there is one band that they are going to have to like, and it is not up to them to choose. I am sure I don't have to tell you as many naturally feel the same way. It is The Beatles. So of course when Gap finally lowered their Beatles tee to a price I felt comfortable with ($7.95), I just had to buy one for my baby and her unborn siblings. It came in the mail today, and I put it on without hesitation. Then, to make her look more like a girl I added a chic pink cardigan. As usual I surprised myself with how fun it is to dress up my baby, and I had to have a photo shoot. Check out my Rock 'n' Roll princess.

BERRY INTERESTING

Last night I was cutting up some delicious strawberries and I pulled one out that made me giggle. It looked just like a mitten! I showed Brent and he said I should take a picture of it and put it on the blog. Then the craziest thing happened....I pulled out another berry and it was the OTHER mitten! How silly of these berries to grow in such a seasonally appropriate shape.

By the way...they were delicious. Just because a strawberry looks like a mitten it doesn't have to taste like a mitten! (Can you tell I love the word 'mitten'?)

By the way, when I thought about what to title this post, I laughed so hard. Sometimes the silliest things can put you in a fit of giggles!

LOOKING BACK

I have always loved babies that are six months. They start to do these adorable things, but they have yet to discover mobility so they are still a bit low maintenance. One of my favorite tricks of the six month-er is the "sitting and looking back at you" trick. Stella was doing it for me today. How stinkin' adorable is this?

PROJECT ATTIC

About a week ago, two guys came in and asked my dad if they could do a fashion photo shoot in our store. Young kids come in and ask us stuff like this ALL the time. My dad is always a sucker and says yes, then I have to be the one to take care of all of it since they aren't buying antiques. I didn't think much of the two guys except that one of them looked familiar. That happens a lot at the shop since I work with so many people helping them buy stuff, and then I generally forget about them.

Wednesday my dad called me and said that the two fellows wanted to do the shoot on Thursday, and that I had to set it up. I was totally annoyed, but I had to follow through when the designer called me to set up a time.

When I got to the shop Thursday morning I went over to introduce myself, and was again struck by this familiar face. Did I go to HS with this kid? College maybe? Had I seen him at concerts? I couldn't place him. As he starts telling me about his extensive entourage I realize that he is obviously not just some random kid wanting to do a shoot. I walked over to my dad and whispered: "Is his name Keith?" And Dad said it was. Then I tried not to shout: "Dad, he was on Project Runway!" Which as you can imagine with my love of fashion is my favorite reality competition show of them all! I love everything about that show. I can rewatch them over and over again. Plus, I love Heidi Klum, and just recently discovered that I have a crush on her.

If you don't watch the show, Keith was from Utah, which is how I finally figured out who he was. I went over and had a little starstruck moment with him, and then it was back to business. (Except for the time I snuck into the back warehouse to tell Heidi and freak out with her on the phone.) Keith is doing a show during Sundance and these pictures were for that event. The outfits were of course NOT anything you would ever actually wear, but the models looked amazing. Completely out of the pages of a magazine. Their hair was all up Marie Antoinette-like with deer antlers...yes, deer antlers.

They shot in the attic of the shop, and it looked really great. Here are some pictures that I took. I only took a couple because I didn't want to be too annoying. And being around people that know so much about photography can be a tiny bit intimidating.

CHEERS!

I sat down with Stella and explained to her what a New Year's resolution was. I told her that Mommy didn't ever make any because she doesn't want to invest in something that she will just lose interest in after a few weeks. However, since Stella is so young and innocent she insisted on making some resolutions for herself. Here they are in random order (I helped her a little bit):

• Roll over more than twice in my life.
• Free my overhead toys from a life of bondage and immobility.
• Acquire a taste for apple juice.
• Be open to trying out new foods.
  
• Give walking a try.
  
• Say "Mama" before saying "Dada."
• Expand my reading list.
  
• Finish my first album in the studio before Dad does.
• Eat a cupcake!
  

Good Luck Stella! We will help you try and reach those goals!
Happy 2009!

HOLIDAY DRESS

We had a photo shoot in November for our Christmas cards. I thought I should post some so you could see Stella in her beautiful holiday dress just one more time. Ashley and Ava came with us. If I am in the picture then Ashley took it, and if I am not, then it was me. Enjoy Christmas without snow...my kind of holiday!

HO, HO, HO

Well everyone, it is official--Stella has had her first Christmas! By the end of the day, I was surprised at Stella's unwrapping skills. Of course, she was all about the paper, with every gift. We spent the morning at our house, where Stella opened her one gift from Mom and Dad. Then we went over to my parents' house and spent the rest of the evening with them. It took a very long time to open all the gifts, what with all of the baby (and other) interruptions. But we finally got our few gifts opened and received.

We hope that all of you had a wonderful day and can look forward to the coming year with anticipation and joy. We have been so blessed to have the most awesome baby in the world join our home, and we hope that everyone can be as lucky as we are. Merry day-after-Christmas!

Stella with her new toy--play keys with pictures of Mom, Dad, and aunt Heidi--on Christmas morning. Grandma's tree with all of the unopened gifts.

Checking out the Sallay family stocking from Santa.

My mom gave me this ornament, and then told me that it wasn't mine to keep and that I had to put it on her tree. So I took a picture.

FIRST CHRISTMAS EVE

Stella is WAY too young to have any idea what all this Christmas business is about. Yet, she seemed to enjoy opening up a few gifts on Christmas Eve. Aunt Valerie, who does hair, styled Stella with a holiday look, and it made her appear quite festive the rest of the evening.

Stella has a wish list that is managed by her DVD-addicted father, full of movies that Brent feels are important to a child's development. He put the Blu-ray version of WALL·E on the wish list with this comment: "If someone does not get me this, I will cry real tears. And I have a blocked tear duct. Please buy me this, my life is hard enough already." Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa Sallay responded and gave Stella the movie she was so desperate to own. Aunt Valerie and Uncle John got her The Fox and the Hound, and Aunt Kathy gave her a teddy bear since Kathy also got a teddy bear on her first Christmas. Thanks everyone for their great gifts!

"What is this pretty thing? A present? What is a present?"

"Yay! The Fox and the Hound, a gift from my wishlist!"

"Everyone keep your distance...this is MY copy of WALL·E, and I REALLY wanted it!"

"A soft Teddy bear to cuddle with! Thanks Aunt Kathy!"

CLASSIC SANTA

While we were over at the Sallays for Christmas Eve, Brent's mom brought out this picture. It is of Brent and his younger brother Dave. They were living in Turkey at the time so Brent is about 7 or 8 in this picture. I just had to share. The only way I could like this picture more is if Brent were screaming and crying, but I guess he was too old to be scared of Santa.