Violet Turns One; Nation Celebrates

We celebrated Violet's first birthday with a major bash. There were serious preparations involved. I decided that I had to be done with the siding before Violet's big party so on Saturday I hung about three square or so of cedar shingle panels. It feels good to be totally done with that. Just another day or so of caulking and staining and the exterior will be 100% done. Rome was not built in a day, so... I will get pictures soon. I don't want to toot my own horn but it looks pretty sweet. We also got some hanging baskets for the front of the house and they are the bomb as well. After I got done with the siding we cleaned the whole house and I pre-made a whole mess of sub sandwiches since I was a former Subway sandwich artist in the early 1990s. Mama custom made a whole bunch of cupcakes and a butterfly cake. At about 11 pm we called it a day. I slammed two bloody marys with Texas-sized kosher dills and collapsed into bed.


We can't believe our little girl is already a year old. She is really developing into a ham. We have to get video footage of her laugh. She has the craziest laugh/cackle of any baby in the entire universe. It is beyond description. We have made a few half-hearted efforts to get her to laugh on camera -- but no dice so far. I will work on it.

She has just started standing on her own without holding onto furniture. I imagine walking is just a few weeks away. She is off the formula and on the whole milk. Might have to get a dairy goat soon since this three gallon per week business is getting out of hand. With consideration to the current state of the economy, we have switched from Edy's Grand to Kemps Ice Cream. Because if we stop eating ice cream the terrorists win.


The party went really well and lots of family and friends were able to come. Violet got a whole bunch of presents -- toys, clothes, an even a very large inflatable pool (pictures to come)...

Momma helped Violet open presents...

For my daughters first birthday I decided the most loving and personal gift I could give was the gift of moustache. I spent about twelve days cultivating this fine specimen. Grandma Evi seemed impressed.

Allie reads a book to Violet...

I think Henry realized he was playing second fiddle to Violet...

Violet is an Olympic caliber eater. Not dainty-- but she can sock it away...

Maddie and cousins Jada and Zoie chill at the birthday bash. Note the long train of cupcakes. Zoie is Violet and Henrys' nine-year-old cousin. She has her very own blog -- check it out.

One-year-old Violet Sophia in the grips of an all out sugar shock -- it could've gone either way at that point but she was a perfect lady the whole time.

Here is Violet basking in the glory of being a one-year-old...

Violet and Ashley partake in a free-form jam session

Here is Engie's crafty birthday bag...

Other news --

*We think Violet is starting to learn a few new words. She may have said milk the other day. So now her vocabulary consists of da-da, uh-oh, and possibly milk and thank you. Momma and I agree that Violet's language skills seem to be developing sooner that Henry's did.

*A couple days ago Henry was playing with his bubble robot in the garage (it's a little toy that you put liquid soap in and it shoots bubbles) and he said to me "dad, this is the most fun I have had in a LONG time" It was funny but at the same time it kind of implies that we are evidently running a pretty boring program over at the Johnson Ranch.

*I came up with a brilliant play time toy idea for Henry. I call it the jar of rocks. I walked around our house and driveway with Henry and we picked out a mason jar worth of unique and cool looking rocks and we washed them and and put them in a mason jar. Now we take them out and play with them. We can arrange them by color, shape, size, what not -- endless games. We make faces out of the rocks -- there is a bunch of small, white rocks to use for teeth. One of the rocks is shaped like a tooth but kind of yellow and I told Henry I was pretty sure it was an old Indian tooth. He was concerned that it must have just fallen out of someones mouth so I said it was probably from someone who drank juice all day and probably never bothered to brush or floss his teeth. It's never to early to employ smoke and mirrors.