Birthday Boy!

We're celebrating Will's first year today! Will was born at 1:12 a.m. on December 31, 2005 - he was caught by our midwife Connie at the Cambridge Birth Center. We'll have a small party tomorrow afternoon, but today is the official holiday. Matt and Ollie are sleeping in so I had a little photo shoot with Will after his bath this morning.

Here's the birthday boy in his birthday suit.... I can't believe that exactly 1 year ago we were just getting to know this little squirt!










Here are some family photos of the past year for nostalgia!

First Pictures
Second Show
May Trip to Oregon
Oregon Part 2 (Annie's Graduation)


Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve, and we look forward to sharing more great times with everyone next year!

Mad Martha

I just had to post about my new favorite earrings... they're made by Matt's sister Ruthann Grazier (aka Mad Martha).

You can buy your very own pair here, or email Ruth directly to commission a special piece.

James Brown - Rest In Peace

Thank you for sharing your moves and your voice with the world - you'll be missed.

Will's First Christmas

Here's a pic of Will's very favorite gift... he found it in the bottom of his Christmas stocking, and was perfectly content to gnaw on it through the whole morning.

Hmmmm.... shall I be naughty or shall I be nice...?


Ollie, meanwhile, tore through all the gifts like a fiend until he found this one from Grandpa Fred and Grandma Sue... thanks to some pretty crazy sound effects the fire engine wins not only the "Ollie's Favorite Christmas Gift" award, but also the "Most Annoying Sound Effects" award of the year (topping Grandma Grazier's Dancing Pengiuns, and her Easter Bunny Hatching a Singing Egg submissions to this category).


Here are a few more fun pictures from Christmas morning...

Ollie's new backpack from Aunt Cassandra and Uncle Takeshi (and his fake camera smile):

Ollie took this one:


And Will taking his new percussion instruments for a test drive:

Feeding Santa

Okay... we decided to open one of our gifts early this year because for some reason we thought there were cookies in the package. Well, there weren't any cookies, but it's a good thing we opened it early because Emily and Spencer sent us this cool plate and cup for Santa. Ollie frosted some cookies and we left them out on Christmas eve and you can tell the cookies were pretty yummy because they are ALL GONE.

Happiness

The current issue of Utne Reader has a great article on seeking and finding happiness (though 'happiness' is not the word used in the article). In this final week of 2006, this article makes great reading if you're still trying to figure out your new year's resolution. After all, whatever that resolution is, your end goal is probably happiness, right?

The article is not available for online reading but I'm sure you can find it at your nearest natural food store.

Article Title: The Deeper Meaning of Mindfulness by Thubten Chodron, from Shambhala Sun

No More Hand-Colored Roses

... was the subject line of the email we just received from Sara and Jason. Matt was honored with an award in the Portrait category of the Wedding Photojournalist Association's Artistic Guild for his portrait of Sara and Jason kissing (see the main photo on our home page).

Sara and Jason (both artistic folk) sent us this awesome photo of us... I have to say I look absolutely stunning with wavy auburn hair.



Sara and Jason we love you!

Music Man

Will and I took a trip to Washington DC to visit my best friend from the 2nd grade, Cassandra Kennedy. She and her husband Takeshi are expecting their first baby in the next few weeks, so we flew down to surprise Cass and attend her shower. Takeshi gave Will his very first music lesson... Will banged out some very sophisticated chords on the guitar, cello, violin, and keyboard.






Here's a picture of Cassie's beautiful tummy:

Thanksgiving

This is a belated post with pics of our trip to Maine for Thanksgiving. We drove to the easternmost tip of the US to visit Aunt Terry and Uncle Greg in Machias. They always do a cozy Thanksgiving with interesting friends and delicious food. We had about 10 pies for 5 adults, which is just the way I like Thanksgiving.

Greg Henderson has written and illustrated several wonderful stories that have yet to be published. Matt and I helped him photograph some of them during our visit: