Bow Down to 2009!

We spent a wonderful Christmas first with Bapa and Diana in Appleton and then with Steve's extended family in Des Moines but have no pictures to show for it! (Please feel free to rectify this situation.) Highlights included Matilda's first-ever Road Trip of No Tears; watching Matilda and her three-year-old cousin Julia play together ("You tickle me, now I'll tickle you!"); seeing Pat take down the aunts and cousins with her mad Guitar Hero skillz; and rocking a poor, barf-sodden Matilda on my lap half an hour before needing to leave for the airport so I could fly out to San Francisco for some job interviews. Well, maybe that last one doesn't quite count as a highlight, but it certainly was memorable.



We all made our way back to Appleton in order to host our 7th annual New Year's Eve gathering with our friends, Mike, Sonja, Christa, and Chris (now with four kids in the mix and one more on the way). It was a wonderful long weekend of cooking (and washing many dishes), talking, playing with kids, and more talking, rounded off with a night on the town so that all the former Lawrentians could wax nostalgic. Matilda and Clara (only ten days apart) were finally the friends we imagined them when they first met at less than a month old.

This event was heavily recorded on film (including a few potentially regrettable videos of us dancing at one of Appleton's hotspots . . .) This picture captures the flavor of being at home with all the kids - chaos and swirling brightness, the fun and intensity of it.


Jasper shows off just one specimen from his collection of sweater vests.

(A lunch-time conversation between Matilda and Jasper, who will be two in April:
Matilda: I big girl!
Jasper, echoing: big girl!
Matilda, frustrated,: No, I big girl!
Jasper, echoing with even more enthusiasm: big girl!!
Matilda, about to lose it with this insubordination: NO! I. Big. Girl!
Jasper, agreeably: big girl!
Matilda: AGHHHHHH!)


Cute Celia, looking like her dad.



Pensive Matilda and Clara on their final day together.


. . . and channeling their future sorority selves.