The seven stages of descent into sugar shock

#1: Normalcy. Assume that mama is just offering you a normal meal and obediently open wide for the fork.


#2: Wonder.  Receive first-ever taste of chocolate and refined sugar.


#3: Curiosity.  Go in for a closer examination.


#4: Bliss.  Savor the wondrous taste of sweet, sweet sugar.


#5: CAAAAKE!!


#5a. Interlude while mama asks daddy to grab a bib...


#5b.  Stare longingly at cake while mama tries to keep you tidy.


#6: Double-fisted enjoyment.  Two hands means cake gets in twice as fast, right?


#7: CAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!



All photos taken by our friend Jason -- thanks for taking camera duty during the cake!

The best birthday party ever!

Yesterday was Joshua's joint first birthday party with his nine-days-older buddy Caleb.  And oh, wow, did we all have a blast!!

Andréa (Caleb's mom) and I decided that we wanted to do a Canaan theme, because our sons' names are Joshua and Caleb, and because we've joked about the confluence in names for the whole year that they've been alive.  :)  (See Numbers 13-14, Joshua 1-2, and Joshua 5-6.)  So in keeping with the theme, we sent out these invitations:


Front (with address info removed) and back
Caleb had just learned how to point the week before we took these photos, so I was THRILLED when he held up his one finger -- how perfect for a first birthday party invitation?  :)  And just to explain all the cheesy little Canaan-themed elements: a map of Canaan as divided by the 12 tribes on the front, and the walls of Jericho along the bottom of the back, complete with Rabab's red rope.

Also -- look at how tiny our boys were!

We continued the theme in our party decorations.  One of the things the spies brought back from their exploration of Canaan was a cluster of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it.  So we used artificial ivy and purple balloons to create giant grape clusters.  :)



And our cake was made in the shape of a castle, to represent the walls of Jericho.  Before singing "Happy Birthday" to the boys, we passed out party horns and noisemakers (our "trumpets"), especially to the little kids, but most of the grown-ups got into it, too.  And the sound of trumpets and shouts caused the walls of Jericho to fall down.  Into nice, chocolatey pieces.  :)




And oh, my, did Joshua love his piece of cake!  I'm going to write up a whole post devoted to Joshua's reaction to his first taste of chocolate and refined sugar, but for now, here's one of my favorite photos of our little guy double-fisting it in an attempt to get it all in his mouth as quickly as possible (taken by Jason -- thanks!!):


SO many dear friends came to celebrate with us.  I think we had something like 37 adults and 15 kids?  It was so wonderful celebrating our boys with all of these friends.  And our boys really enjoyed it, too!  Both Caleb and Joshua did really, really well the entire time, despite the crowd and noise and new faces.  Caleb was a master at crawling in and through different groups, sharing his toys, and charming all of the guests.  And Joshua was such a sweet host, toddling up to each new arrival with a big excited grin, flapping his arms in welcome, and charming all of the guests.  :)






And just a few cute ones of the boys playing together after all of the guests had left:




How incredibly fun it was to celebrate Joshua and Caleb's birthdays together!  We're so thankful to have such wonderful friends standing alongside us in this journey of parenthood.  Thank you all for loving our sons so!

Introducing The Colonel

Not everyone knows this, since we didn't blog about it or post it on Facebook, but just before Christmas, David was in a car accident.  He was fine (with the exception of a nasty bruise on his thigh from the seatbelt buckle), and the other driver was fine, but our poor car was mangled.  And we found out last week that dear Rosie was totaled.

Alas, poor Rosie!  (I knew her, Horatio...)


Rosie right after the crash (yes, David ended up on the median); Rosie at the mechanic's
So it became clear that we needed a new car.  We'd been doing tons of research (because yes, that is how we respond to every new situation), and basically concluded that we didn't want a minivan or an SUV -- we don't need all that space just yet, and it wouldn't be a wise financial move to spend all that money on such a big car (and on gas, and insurance, etc.) when a smaller car would do.  But at the same time, we do hope to have more children within the lifetime of this new car, so something bigger than a sedan would make the most sense...

Enter the Mazda5.  :)  It's one of the only "mini-minivans" on the market in the US, and it was Consumer Reports' top "family hauler" this year.  (And let's take a moment to marvel at the fact that we are in need of a "family hauler" now...)  We test drove one last week, and it's as good in person and on the road as it is on paper -- so we bought it!

We'd decided long ago that our first "family" car would be named The Colonel.  Because it would be the Keddie Family Car, or KFC -- get it?  Get it??  :)

So here he is in all his glory!  (And yes, perhaps it is a bit odd to refer to our car as a "he" instead of a "she" -- but come on, it's an homage to Colonel Sanders, so I can't very well call him a her...)



We'll miss dear Rosie, but we're excited about The Colonel.  And we're taking him up to the winter retreat in just over a week, so he'll get his first real test at hauling people through the snow!

Some new year cuteness

Just wanted to share some of our first photos of 2011!

Our boy has very good taste in TV shows...


(No worries, we put Firefly away before Joshua could do any serious damage!)

He also really, really, really loves cheese.  (It took him a few tries, out in Indianapolis, to get used to it -- perhaps we shouldn't have started him out with extra sharp cheddar and a very smoky Gouda...)



[Nerdy photography note: all of the above taken with the 24mm f/1.4L -- SO incredibly excited about this lens!!  Thanks for selling it to us, John and Lucy -- we'll take very good care of the precious.  :)]