Merry Christmas from the Byrds!

Christmas2006_004 Originally uploaded by narrowcaster.
Caleb and Ellie received 20″ bikes from Santa this morning. Caleb sat on his bike to try it out and promptly fell over into the Christmas tree. Fortunately, Caleb, the tree and the presents beneath him were unharmed.

This is the kind of thing that makes me mad

I confess, after I ran across this book today, I spent way too much time reading about it, including notes from this NY Daily News article about it.

Other people hate my kids. Not all other people, mind you. Just some of them.

The really ironic thing is that sometimes they have a good reason, and sometimes [...]

My mom, aka Grandma Joy, wanted to create a special experience for Ellie’s 6th birthday. She hand-painted a tea set for Ellie several years ago, when Ellie was 2 1/2 and they were still living in Decatur.

Photo Story: Ellie’s 6th birthday

Grandma Joy waited until Ellie was old enough to appreciate the tea set and take care of it to give it to her. She looked forward to giving it to her for 3 years, so it was really special for her to present the tea set to Ellie and throw her a tea party.

Photo Story: Ellie’s 6th birthday

Grandma Joy gave Ellie an American Girl doll (named Elizabeth) that she bought in New York. Ellie invited all of the girls that came to her tea party to bring their dolls, too.

Photo Story: Ellie’s 6th birthday

Ellie and her friends brought their dolls to the tea party and dressed up in fancy hats and dresses from the consignment shop. They drank tea (aka pink lemonade) and had a fabulous time!