first burrito!

Beans and rice are for babies. Eloise wants burritos.

sweet dreams

It's rare that I get to watch Eloise sleeping. I usually tiptoe past her closed bedroom door with my fingers crossed that she stays asleep. Then, every once in a while, she'll have a marathon nap and I have to check on her because I just can't believe it. This was one of those naps - she was totally conked out!

happy birthday!

Happy Birthday Eloise! I can't believe she's already a WHOLE year old. What a year it's been.
We had fun times at the Chili Pepper. Don't ask what was in that birthday "cake". We're not exactly sure - it was something like industrial strength cool whip. Mmmmmm.

Grandpa Jim

We have some really sad news. Matt's Dad suddenly and unexpectedly passed away last week. It's hard to grasp the loss of someone who has so much vitality, resilience, humor, kindness, good will, and above all, love. We've spent the last few days in southern California with Matt's family looking at photos and sharing stories about Grandpa. We've all especially enjoyed reading from his hiking journal each night.

I remember how he was SUPER excited when he learned that Matt and I were going to have a baby. When I was pregnant, Jim and Sandra would sometimes call the house. I would answer the phone and he would ask me how I was doing, how I was feeling, how things were going, etc. When we were done talking I would ask if he wanted to talk to Matt. He would say "Oh no, we just wanted to talk to you about the baby." How's that for a great Grandpa.

This is a picture of Eloise and Grandpa from the last time we visited the ranch in September. Now you can see where Eloise gets those blue blue eyes.