last saturday was nate’s birthday, and to celebrate his 29th, we took magei and sam to the reading festival downtown at the columbus expo center.

magei and winnie the pooh:

the balloon clown making a flower for magei:

nate and magei trying out the monster slide:

magei got to have a flower painted on her face:

magei decked out in all her reading festival gear:

we’ve hit the remodeling hard again now that things have slowed down a bit for nate. we just got finished replacing all the doors and now nate is working on the tile in the kitchen. here is magei helping nate take up the old tile:

and finally, sam is LOVING his new chair. he wanders off into his bedroom all the time just to have a moment to himself enjoying a good book!

sometimes i think sam looks like brad and angie’s daughter…can you see it?

what a good looking family! we hope L is feeling better!!

when magei turned one, we had THREE different parties for her. we struggled to throw sam just one. it was very low key and just the four of us. we ordered french fries since it is his favorite food, opened presents (magei was beside herself with envy) and had a little cake.

and speaking of firsts, sam got his first haircut just a couple days before his birthday.

i know…it doesn’t look like he needs one, but trust me. it was nasty. it was all long around his ears. he looks very handsome now after his little buzz.

…but just in case you’ve ever wondered, here’s some more fascinating facts about me:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? National Treasure 2
4. What is your favorite TV show? My Name is Earl, Office, Scrubbs, Carpoolers

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? yogurt
6. What is your middle name? don’t have one
7. What food do you dislike? Red meat, walnuts
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I’ve been loving the Hairspray soundtrack; Josh Groban
9. What kind of car do you drive? Huyndia Santa Fe
10. Favorite sandwich? Vegetable with avocado
11. What characteristic do you despise? braggy
12. What is your favorite item of clothing? My black sweat pants
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Back to Europe

14. What color is your bathroom? Gray – I can’t wait to change it
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Page premium denim…awesome jeans!
16. Where would you retire to? 6 months in Ohio, 6 months in Europe
17. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Well, I remember my last birthday…we ordered Don Pablo take out and watched tv.

18. Favorite sport to watch? football
20. Are you a morning person or a night person? morning
21. What is your shoe size? 8
22. Pets? Our last was Toby
23. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with us? Sam’s going to be a walker any day now!
24. What did you want to be when you were little? I don’t know…but I wanted my name to be michelle or tracy.
25. How are you today? tired - ready for the weekend
26. What is your favorite candy? rollos

27. What is your favorite flower? Roses, maybe?
28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Magei’s birthday on 2/25
29. What church do you attend? LDS
30. What are you listening to right now? Office noises
31. What was the last thing you ate? Baked potato
32. Do you wish on stars? No
33. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? orange
34. How is the weather right now? Torrential down pour!
35. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Nate
36. Favorite soft drink? Diet coke I guess…but I don’t really drink soda
37. Favorite restaurant? Bravo and Fish Market
38. Hair color? Blond!
39. Sibling(s)? 1 sister 2 brothers
40. Favorite day of the year? Christmas
41. Summer or winter? Summer

42. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
43. Coffee or tea? Vanilla crème from Starbucks
44. Chocolate or Vanilla? swirl
45. When was the last time you cried? I don’t remember
46. What is under your bed? pillows
47. Who is the friend you have had the longest? I’ve known Janie practically since birth
48. What did you do last night? Went to see the broadway version of Wedding Singer
49. Favorite smell? Dirt in a spud cellar
50. What are you afraid of? Fish touching me…and snakes
51. Salty or sweet? salty
52. How many keys on your key ring? 5
53. How many years at your current job? 3.5 years
54. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
55. How many towns have you lived in? 9

56. Do you make friends easily? I hope so

i fully intended to post while on christmas vacation in idaho, but it turned out i was too busy being lazy to have any time to do it. Nate will be putting new pictures up on our website tonight while i am at school, so you can check our homepage for about 1,000 candids! we had a great time, and the weather cooperated. it snowed just about every day except our travel days, leaving us tons to play in! santa was good to us this year…here’s a run down:

nate’s been wanting noise canceling headphones for quite a while, so bose and i finally surprised him with his very own pair. boy, these things are amazing! the white noise seriously works! his other favorite gifts had to be the best buy gift card and Simpsons movie from my parents.

i had a feeling this is what nate got for me, and i was right! thanks, honey, for getting up at 5:00 a.m. the day after thanksgiving to stand in line at Michael’s to get this great deal! i’ve used it a few times already and it’s pretty awesome. a special thanks to my mom for giving me a makeover while i was in idaho. she bought me a gap gift card, nicole miller makeup, and a new hair cut a color at my favorite salon! i don’t even recognize myself!

magei was in heaven with the belle tea-time doll from my parents. she was begging to play with it the whole trip, but we were afraid she’d lose the pieces. it’s a pretty smart little toy. it sings songs and she’ll take a sip of tea when you do. nate tried to convince her that it was hot chocolate, but that hasn’t caught on too well. we’ll just settle for herbal tea! i couldn’t find a picture of her puppets from nate’s parents, but she’s been loving those as well. she took the princess to school for show-and-tell before we left.

sam also had a good time. he was mostly interested in the gold fish that santa put in his stocking, but i had fun playing with the train from my parents and magei’s been playing with his little touch leap pad…so i guess we’ll call it a success!

what a great christmas! of course, magei’s been impossible since we’ve been home, having been completely spoiled ROTTEN in idaho. typical conversation as of late:

magei: why can’t i just have everything i want?

nate: because you’re not with grandma anymore!