T & J in town

Thanks to Uncle Todd and Aunt Julia for stopping in Madison on their way home from skiing. We celebrated Anna's b-day and -- as tradition now dictates -- Todd brought the "8" balloon all the way from Chicago.

Happy 5, MJ!!

The whole gang at MJ's zoo party: Isaac, Natalie, Annika, Becca, MJ, Meghan, Sarah, Charlie.

Amy helped herd kids at the zoo -- thanks, Amy!


"I want the piece with the elephant face!" (i.e. the most frosting)

MJ and Sarah, her buddy from Brownies. Sarah's mom and I lead the Brownie troop so Sarah and MJ always get to play during the meetings.

Celebrating with our birthday ring at home.

Opening all the fun presents from aunts, uncles and grandparents -- thanks, everyone!

Every year Scott writes b-day notes to the kids and does a great job of summing up their personalities and the qualities that make them special. This year's note to MJ accentuated her cheerfulness, which is almost always apparent when you're around her. As Scott said, you can't help being happy when you're around Mary Jane. So to wish her a Happy B-day is to just send back a bit of that happiness that she sends to us daily. WE LOVE YOU, peanut.

Little Scotty is 36

One score and 16 years ago today, a beautiful baby boy was born who would turn into a handsome, intelligent, successful man with important contributions to the world ... Scott was also born on this day! (tee hee) Really, Happy Birthday to my guy. I love ya. Scott's been ultra busy covering the national election, so he's ready for some birthday R & R.

Early returns show that he is leading the polls in fatherhood, marriage, friendship and all other areas. For his campaign, he receives a a subscription to Consumer Reports (from guess who?), a silk shirt, DVDs, a grill smoker, an external hard drive (nerd!), a gift certificate for Amazon.com, a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and lots of love from his girls.