who's eleven?

It's Lydia's birthday.

She used to be about the nuttiest squirrel in the house.




Not anymore.

Since she turned ten last year she's become extremely civilized.

She never hypes out, smarts off, or causes trouble.

She's good-natured, responsible, and calm.

I mean, we knew this would happen eventually, but already???

When she was born, we named her Lydia Karina. We named her after Jay's grandma--my mother in law's mom.

And then we nicknamed her Kari because Lydia's an old name, and it seemed like it'd be useful to also have a kid name since she was a kid.


But Grandma names are in style now, though I didn't realize it at the time. So she goes by both, interchangeably. A friend's daughter who seldom sees us all together was confused. She thought Lydia and Kari were two different people.

Nope. Same. All at once it made sense.

Here's a picture of the grandparents, John and Lydia, with Dan tucked between them. I love these two so much--looking at the picture, I can almost reach out and touch them, including little Dan.

It's been over twenty-five years since this picture was taken, and gosh we still miss them.


But love doesn't ever end.


Here are some pictures for fun.



Lydia, darling, you are truly lovely. From the days when you were a small lump and spent your evenings crossly bleating in my ear, "baaa, baaa," to the funny, quirky kid you were, to the graceful girl you are now, we are nothing but lucky having you.



Obviously this whole family is way better because you're in it. Happy, happy birthday. love you always, Mom and Dad