Books, Bigwigs, Bushes, and Bill

Stuart and I were lucky enough to attend the George and Barbara Bush Celebration of Reading event at the Hobby Center as the guests of the Herzstein Foundation (thanks Uncle Ricky and Aunt Cynthia!). The evening was truly thrilling, with readings and presentations by CBS sportscaster/author Jim Nantz, singer/author Amy Grant, Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza, and author of the Sweet Potato Queens book series Jill Connor Browne. But the most exciting part of the evening was the appearance by surprise author Bill Clinton!!

The event was so fancy, it even made it into Shelby Hodge's society column in the Chronicle. Even though we were one of the lucky few who got to attend the private reception and dinner with 41, Barb, and the authors, the Millers (unbelievably!) didn't make it on Ms. Hodge's list of A-List attendees. No matter--we have proof of our VIP status:

Us with Barbara Bush

Us with Amy Grant

Laina with Jill Conner Browne

Happy Passover and Happy Birthday Poppy!

We all enjoyed a beautiful Passover seder at Nana & Papa's house. And as an added treat, we had cake (kosher for Passover...mmm!) to celebrate Poppy Len's birthday. Little J truly enjoyed her second Pesach.

Fun With Aunt Lindsay!

Julia absolutely loved spending time with her Aunt Lindsay during Lindz's recent trip home. They had a blast...and Aunt Lindsay was nice enough to take some fabulous videos memorializing the visit. The links to some of the videos are below. Thanks Aunt Lindsay!

To see "Julia Colors and Reads" click here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1771814152811862157&hl=en

To see "Julia Loves to Laugh" click here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6793947559855114791&hl=en

To see "Roll Call" click here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5966294355224007050&hl=en

Foot Fetish?

Lil Bug has developed an intense fascination with her feet, or more particularly, her toes. She can happily spend hours examining every inch of every one her tiny toes. One of her new favorite games is "piggy." This involves grabbing an adult, forcing their hand to her little foot and demanding "piggy! piggy!" which means the piggy player is to, of course, wiggle each of her toes chanting, "this little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, etc." After the littlest piggy goes wee wee wee all the way home, J usually insists upon a repeat, and then another, and then another...

Reading

Julia's Friends

Julia has become very close to her stuffed animal friends, who sleep in her crib with her each night. Her current favorites are Puppy, Bay (Bear), and Socks, who she now carries around with her everywhere and asks for (in that order) when she's misplaced them. Given how important these friends have become to J, we thought it was time for us to formally introduce them to those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure of their acquaintance.

Pictured (from L-R): Bunny, Pink Teddy, Dolly, Faux (short for Faux Dolly), Puppy, Socks, Bay (not very creative names, we know)

What?! I can't take my friends in the bath with me?

Swings!

The big news at 1115 Briarmead this week was the addition of 2 swings hanging from the big oak tree in our backyard. Julia loves having her very own swings (1 for her and 1 for a friend) conveniently located just outside her back door! And she's quickly figured out how to lead mommy or daddy (or any other willing grown-up) by the hand to the back door commanding "Wing! Wing!"

I've noticed that swinging is like Julia's form of yoga or meditation--a couple minutes on that swing and she's able to zone out and clear her head of the many stresses of her little toddler life. The only "challenge" the swings have presented is how to get Julia off of them before she's decided she's totally ready (this tends to involve tears and some form of distraction/bribery). All in all, the swings are a big hit!


Here's Julia testing the swings out for the first time: