California

Last month we went out to California to attend the wedding of Aaron's cousin Jestin. It was a fun and full trip. In addition to the wedding, there was...




lots of family time,




a fun rehearsal dinner picnic by the Eel River,




a trip to the Pacific Ocean,




and magnificent redwoods.


We've also posted a photo album with more photos from the trip, if you're interested.

At the dentist

Juniper had her first visit to the dentist today, and she was fantastic. The visit was a huge success. Juniper left with clean teeth, a new toothbrush, a toy she picked out from the treasure box, and (best of all) the impression that the dentist's office is a really fun place.

All of the credit goes to the wonderful folks at Dr. Elise Ashpole's office. I don't think we've ever used our blog to advertise a product or service, but if you're looking for a dentist in the Atlanta area, we cannot recommend them highly enough.




After watching Mom get her teeth cleaned, Juniper was ready to go. She started to open wide before she was even fully settled in her chair. (Wish we could get her to do this at home!)




Miss Jennifer (the hygienist) cleans Juniper's teeth with Mr. Tickle. Not pictured are Mr. Thirsty (the water sprayer) and Mr. Slurpy (the suction hose). Jennifer did a wonderful job of explaining and demonstrating each step of the process in very toddler-friendly language.




Dr. Ashepole (or "Dr. Delise," as Juniper called her) checking out Juniper's teeth. She got a clean bill of health. 19 teeth, with another one on its way in. Notice that Juniper is happily clutching her new Piglet toothbrush.




Miss Jennifer helped Juniper to fly down the hall to the treasure box after her cleaning was over.




Showing off those pearly whites in the car on the way home!

Sad Juniper

Because not every moment is a happy one. Thankfully, we see her smiling much more than crying, but this is also a part of who Juniper is these days.

It's not always easy being two and a half.

Yellow and Pink

Juniper's two favorite colors.

Fun times at school

Juniper's classroom has lots of fun things to explore.




All together in the book nook!




Juniper reads a story with Sam.




Storytime with Miss Wendy. Storytime is always better with cool hats.




The playground has a designated "digging area" where kids are allowed to make as many holes and piles as they want.

From the archives: Juniper, Day 1

Luke's arrival got us thinking about Juniper's birth day. We were looking at photos from her birth and thought we'd share one. She's just a few hours old in this photo.

Welcome to the world, Baby Luke!

My little brother is a DAD!!!

Luke Edward Honeycutt was born early this morning. Congratulations to Mark, Katie, and Luke. Check out their blog for photos and more information.

We got to meet the little munchkin this morning, and he is perfectly adorable. Mark and Katie were happy, but exhausted. Katie was a total superstar. She did an amazing job, and we all know that she gave Luke the best possible start to his new life.

Some of you reading this have known Mark for years, so I'm posting an additional photo of him as a glowing dad. I'm thinking of some of my earliest memories of Mark as a little kid (running naked in furious circles around the living room to dry off after a bath, picking the stuffing out of his beloved bear Bo and stuffing it up his nose, running up the street to chase after me and Mom the first time I rode the bus to elementary school...) and overlaying all those images with this new one of him as a father.

7 months

I think these may be the first dedicated pregnancy photos we've taken for Baby X. Kind of shocking, given Aaron's profession.

Violet teaches Jason a little something about distribution curves

We went to Arkansas this weekend to visit Cheryl, Jason, and Violet. More photos to come, but here's a good one of Violet helping her dad at work.

Juniper's Art Project

> Juniper and her class made this today in school. A masterpiece of paint and shaving cream!>

Hey Diddle Diddle

Juniper has been enjoying reading Nursery rhymes before bed recently. This morning, she treated us to a recital:

At the Zoo

We're enjoying our new zoo membership (thanks, Janet)! Juniper has been to the zoo twice in the past week--once with Dad, and once with the whole family and some of her new friends from school.




Who needs animals when there's this really cool hand washing station? Another big hit was the recycling trash can with a button she could turn.




When Juniper and Aaron went to the zoo, they got to see a bird show with close up views of several birds.




This owl flew so close to Aaron that it brushed his hat. "The owl softed my dad!"

Beatrix Potter/DC Comics Mashup

Story told by Juniper this morning


So there was a little mouse named Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse. And then she found Superman hiding in the lily pond. And then Superman got out and went to his house. And then Superman found Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse in the lily pond! And Superman had a bathing suit on so he could go under the water. And Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse said, "No! No!" That's so silly!

Fantastic Juniper

The timing of this year's annual Dragon*Con parade was perfect for Juniper. She recently discovered comic books and has fallen madly in love with the superhero genre. One of her favorites is The Fantastic Four, so Aaron made her a Sue Storm (a.k.a. Invisible Woman) costume to wear to the parade.




She was insistent that she was Juniper, not the Invisible Woman. Once we all agreed that she was still Juniper, dressed like the Invisible Woman, she was delighted with her costume. "I look like Sue Storm!" "I'm wearing a costume!" "I look like the Invisible Woman!"





This was the right crowd to appreciate the costume. She earned lots of smiles, chuckles, and a few "Look - it's a little Sue Storm!" comments.




Juniper enjoyed people watching before the parade began.




But the highlight of the day for her was definitely the comics section of the parade. She delightfully called out the various super heroes she could see, at one point gleefully screaming, "I see all of them!"




"I see Wolverine!"




Proud dad. We try not to be the sorts of parents who want our kids to turn out just like we did, but Aaron is thrilled by Juniper's love of superheroes.




Aaron was also thrilled by this appearance of the BatMobile. I failed to be duly impressed, which Aaron attributes to my general "car blindness."




Pirates gave her the necklace, and a Starfleet Academy officer gave her the jolly rancher (her very first hard candy).




After the parade, we had a picnic lunch at Centennial Park. Mark's small stadium seat was practically a recliner for Juniper.




Our sleepy super hero. She fell asleep in the car on the way home, before her nap time would normally start. Sure sign of a good morning!

Forget babtsitting...

...Juniper is practicing for a teenage dog walking job!




Juniper enjoyed helping to walk DeeDee's two dogs while we were out in California. More California pictures to come soon. Aaron is swamped with photo work right now (yay!), and clients come before personal photo projects.