O Christmas Tree

Mr. John played tackle-the-Christmas-tree this afternoon and lost.  According to him, he was involved in some sort of Christmas tree promotion at Mary Star.  But according to this picture leaked out by an unknown source, polar bears attacked the San Pedro campus and bit his finger.  Miss Jill didn't seem to believe him but who knows what happens when Christmas trees appear.  Heck, I know someone who had a sister who was bitten by a moose once...

Birthday Visitors

Mary Jane and Grampa

Betsy with Aunt Nita

 With Mary Jane turning one this week, her grandparents and an aunt sneaked into town from Arizona to say Hello.  Gramma and Grampa Kendall along with Aunt Nita have graced their presence in Chez Erb and have done a great job cheering up both Mary Jane and Betsy Jo.

Miss Jill and Mister John (aka Mommy and Daddy) actually could give Mary Jane a walk around the neighborhood this evening to look at Christmas lights on the houses.  That's always been a tradition for the two of them and they'd love to pass it onto their girls as soon as they are old enough to stay up late to see them.  At least the sun sets early enough now that Mary Jane gets an hour or so of outdoor darkness before she goes to sleep.

Meanwhile Cherry Bugg is not amused.  But is she ever?

Not to Be Forgotten

Betsy Jo has had her own monthday recently.  While she has not reached one full rotational cycle of the Earth around the Sun, she has at least managed to make it through three rotations of the moon about the Earth (and a little more!).

Happy little Betsy is now over three months old.  She's no longer that little girl who keeps us up all night with random cries and desires for more milk.  She's now the big girl who sleeps from a bit past 6 all the way to 5 the following morning!  Good for you, Betsy!  Mommy and Daddy get in much more sleep now which makes them much more productive at home and work.  Even the amount of detentions has gone down.  Good job, Mr. Erb.

Down below are both girls with Daddy.  Mary Jane will smile for any photo.  Meanwhile Betsy is wondering what her big sister is up to.

Happy Birthday, Mary Jane!

One year ago Miss Jill and I were sitting around in Victorville... waiting, waiting, and waiting for the word.  Finally hearing a late afternoon update that the birthmother would be delivering in the evening.  So in a wise move, we actually went to sleep around 6pm and then around 9pm we were awakened by a call from the hospital.  Off to Desert Valley Hospital we went...

Just before midnight, Mary Jane came into the world... I don't have any pictures on this computer with those but if you scroll back to last year at this time, I should have some.

We held her three minutes after she was born.  When she instinctively grabbed my finger when I touched her hand, I knew that she was ours.  O happy girl!

Betsy and Mary Jane at the Swing Seat Together

Ah, nothing like seeing the two sisters get along.  Betsy Jo likes to rock back and forth from time to time.  Mary Jane likes to be wherever the action -- and the camera -- seem to be.

Meanwhile, Cherry Bugg who is off to the side is miffed by this whole interaction.  Nothing irritates the Chee more than children.  If she were reincarnated into a human, she'd be a grumpy old man yelling, "Get off my lawn!"  At least she won't go all Gran Torino on them.

Thinking of Last Year

Last year Jill and I drove up to Victorville in expectation of being parents that night.  Not so fast, my friends!  We waited for another full day.  But not before we had our last non-parental dinner together at Outback Steakhouse.  There's the answer to a trivia question some day.

I'm sure this is a dark day in the bunny history lore.  Even Cherry Bugg right now stares at Mary Jane and sulks as she realizes she has moved down a notch -- now two -- in the family pecking order.  Poor Chee.

Happy Girls Rest, Daddy Gets a Few Minutes of Sunday Football Time

Alas for Daddy, most of his players were in action during Thumpsgiving so this morning's action is fairly meaningless.  But Betsy and Mary Jane did make a wonderful guest appearance during Mass this morning.  Poor Betsy had a bit of a fit early on but she calmed down by the end of it.

The Santa Ana winds are blowing today which always makes it a bit drier outside.  I hope sore noses and throats don't arise from it.

Meanwhile, Daddy walks back and forth between sleeping girls ensuring that their "white noise" giraffe is on and keeping them napping for just a little bit more. 

Mommy is napping too.  Daddy is making sure that Gilmore Girls is on in the background so she can nap for a little bit more too.

Smile!

Someone's taking a picture of you!

Awesomely Cute Video of Mary Jane ("Babu")

Not exactly "Performance Art with Mary Jane" but close enough.

Mary Jane was out and about in the back yard this afternoon.  Right after she started to walk oh so gingerly on the grass, she turned around and performed a little for me.  She's great at tilting her head to the side these days.  Nothing like saying, "Bad cough" and seeing her replying with a cough.  She doesn't do it here as I was hoping she'd say "Babu" which is her current word for "Bunny."



Mary Jane admiring the bunnies

 Her walking on the grass still needs a little work but that's not a problem for us.  She's just as happy to stand there and watch the airplanes take off from Santa Monica Airport.  Zoom!

Thumpsgiving Is upon Us Again

It's Thumpsgiving once again, that time of year when all rabbits come together and thump about what truly displeases them.  Yes, this goes all the way back to the earliest days of our heritage when Pilgrims and Indians when they shared their first big supper... and then gave none of the delicious salad leftovers to the rabbits.  The indigenous rabbits of the New England region thumped at those careless humans and the tradition has carried on ever since.

Today Cherry Bugg clearly celebrated Thumpsgiving as an unhappy indoor bunny.  The other members of the Erb clan all managed to hop outside while she stayed indoors.  Nevermind that it was comfy and warm inside with Miss Jill, Mister John, and the two little girls away for most of the day.  She still needs to find something to the thump about.  And she always does!

The two sisters, Root Beer Float (seen above) and Ruby Jane, thumped that they were not allowed to hop in the back yard for the entire day.  They were rounded up by noon and neither were happy about it.  Again nevermind that they grazed for hours on the recently rain-rejuvenated grass.  Thumpsgiving is for thumping and not for appreciation.

Phillip clearly thumped at the handyman who was in our back yard creating an extra fence between us and the neighbors to our west.  Phillip does not like anyone in his territory; he is the alpha rabbit afterall.  Furthermore, he despises any extra interior decoration without his initial approval... in triplicate.

As for Miss Jill and Mister John, it's been a long year since last Thumpsgiving.  Two baby girls, an occasionally messy hours, and less hours of sleep have pervaded into their lives.  But they would never thump at their lovely two daughters who have brought so much joy (and again lack of sleep) into their lives.  Maybe Mister John will thump at the McRib going away so soon... but he barely even knew it was here.

Don't forget: it's only one month until Thumpmas.