Daddy's mini me

Kateri Loring

Kateri Loring Speier arrived on August 29th. She was 9 pounds even, 23 inches long, and looks just like her Daddy! It didn't take long for everyone to fall in love with the newest member of the family.

"Labor Day"

Here is Lili's quote of the week.
She can't wait to go back to school, which doesn't start until Sept. 2nd, and we are of course all anxiously awaiting the arrival of her new sibling, who is due on August 22nd. This was our conversation this morning:
Lili "So I start school the day after Labor Day, right?"
Me: "Yes"
Lili: "The day right after Labor Day?"
Me: "Yes,"
Lili: "I really hope the baby comes tonight so I can go to school tomorrow."

Here's hoping our own personal "labor day" comes before Sept. 1st!!!

In honor of the Olympics

Today the Burch kids paid us a visit and Emily, being the great mom that she is, came bearing supplies for the kids to make tissue paper torches and aluminum foil medals...it is way too hot to do anything outside other than swim, so arts and crafts are always a hit. (On a side note, the girls have started cheering everytime we go somewhere that happens to have covered parking) Everyone had a great time until Lili decided to create a new event- running with your eyes closed, which Audrey adapted into running with your hands over your eyes and smacking into poor defenseless Finn. I think we need to form a committee to decide if she should be stripped of her foil medal.

The Star Wars Table at Borders

Lili is on a play date today, so Audrey and I had some one-on-one time. We went into Borders, and as we entered the Children's section Audrey was sucked in by a cartoon poster of Yoda to a large display table full of Star Wars books. Of course we had to read them all. Audrey reminded me of her godfather Uncle Joe when she found the "I can read" version of Darth Vader's life. The pages were black with white letters and as she opened it she exclaimed gleefully, "Ooooh yeah, nice and dark!" But the crown jewels of the table were the cookbooks, which combined two of Audrey's favorite things; food and Star Wars. I think what attracted her to "Wookie Cookies" and "Darth Malts" were the glossy photos, which featured Star Wars action figures posed among the prepared recipes. Some of them looked pretty tasty, and they all had catchy names, like Qui-Gon Jin-ger snaps and Boba Fett-ucine. I think these books might be making it onto a wish list next Christmas...

Lili is Six!

Lili turned six this Monday. She popped right up at 6:30, excited to open a few presents and have some pancakes with Audrey before we headed out to the AZ science center to see the Narnia exhibition. She wore a new birthday outfit from Grandpa...I think I am going to be washing that pink "It's a Girl's World" superheroine T shirt every day for a while. When she first opened it, she said, "I am DEFINITELY going to wear this the next time I see Uncle Jon." So Jon, if you are reading this, you'll be happy to know that you have passed your love of snug-fitting superhero T shirts down to your goddaughter, along with your love of Star Wars and U2 and the spotlight...Anyway, it was a great day!!

Recent Quotes

1. Lili saw the cover of the most recent Everyday Food and asked me, "Is that Emeril's wife or his mom?" I'm sure Martha Stewart would love to know that she could pass for Emeril's mother. I guess doing time really ages you...

2. We swam with the Burch kids and Audrey had her first experience with a diving board...Jack kept announcing his fancy dives before demonstrating them and after he executed "A pencil," Audrey got up there and yelled, "I am a crayon!" and did her best to copy him, which was actually pretty appropriate: compared to Jack, her chubby little body is definitely more of a crayon than a pencil.

3. This was actually from when we were watching the Angels' game in Anaheim. Audrey asks me, "Do you know who OUR Angel is...? Justin."