A Sad Goodbye

Lu's bestest friend in the whole world, Ilan, is moving to Copenhagen by way of North Carolina.  We said goodbye to Ilan and his parents Noa and JP today, but are taking "next year in Jerusalem" literally and are planning to meet them in Israel later this year!  This pic of the two pals was taken by JP at one of Allen's soccer games a few weeks ago.

9 Months Old!!

Time for another yellow chair pic!!

You can find her seven month photo here, five month photo here, her three month photo here, and her one month photo here.

Big Mouth Luella

When we were in Austin for Smithers and Joy's wedding, we ran into Marcia Ball's son, who mentioned that his mother had a song about a girl named Luella.  He cautioned us that it might not be the most flattering song... Marcia was inspired to write it when she found the phrase "Why'd you go and tell Luella?" written in the margin of an old hymnal.

We looked it up on YouTube this morning, and it's fantastic!

Happy belated Mother's Day!

We celebrated Mother's Day with giddy excitement last year while Lu was still in my belly, but this was my first official Mother's Day, and it was fantastic.  Ben Sollee just happened to be playing an outdoor show in Knoxville (for real! the timing was incredible!) so we went and Lu not only stayed awake for but enjoyed the whole show!  And we went to say thanks afterwards, and she was quite keen to touch his cello...  here's hoping that she wants to play it - a lot - for me - in a few years.

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to my mom for never really understanding how important Mother's Day is.  I know, I know, it's a holiday dreamed up by the greeting card industry, but man oh man!  All gifts, cards, flowers, etc aside, it's wonderful to have a day that recognizes what a great thing it is to be a mama. And it's truly an honor to be Lu's.

First Camping Trip!!

After our time in Texas, we went on our first camping trip since Lu's arrived. We packed up the car and drove into the mountains of West Virginia to camp at the New River Gorge (an NPS unit, of course!).

Despite a rainy night on Saturday, we had a fantastic time hiking, hanging out with friends, and relaxing in the woods. As always, you can find more photos of Lu's adventures on flickr.

Granddaddy, get better!

We took an unexpected trip to Texas last week to visit my dad ("Granddaddy" to Lu) in the hospital. Dad was very lucky, and I'm glad that we could be there with him and the rest of my family. I think Lu hugs were the best possible medicine for him.

We hope that he's feeling better and getting healthy so that he can keep up with Lu for years to come! (This sweet pic was taken a few weeks ago when we saw him in Austin under less worrisome circumstances.)