one.

I can hardly believe that one year ago today Jude was born. A year sounds like such a long time for him to have been with us, but then I also think "He's still such a baby! Can he really be a whole year old?" And what a wonderful baby he is. He's so calm and sweet and (if I do say so my self) cute as a bug's ear. We love him to bits! I'm so happy to have him in our family.

To celebrate we had a nice little lunch party with our friends, The Warings (Ashley made the cool cut-out at left!), before Brooke left for a business trip this afternoon.
















I think we'll leave the photo garland up for about a week, and then I'll dismantle it and put it in a photo album. I did the same thing for Isobel's first and second birthdays. I forgot to do it for her third birthday. Yeah, I'm a bad mom. So maybe it'll just be a baby thing. Actually, I think it'd be cool to do it as a New Year decoration, with the family's best photos from the previous year.
Those cupcakes are nutella flavored, and they were delicious. I have no idea why they're concave, though. Can any of you master bakers explain that to me? I followed the recipe to a T, honest!














Good times were had, especially by Jude. Can you imagine what it would be like to experience cupcakes for the first time? Talk about a red letter day for him. The only other time he's had sugar (to my knowledge) was about a week ago when Isobel sneaked him an Oreo. And he only had it for, like, 30 seconds before I snatched it away from him.

Happy birthday, little loverboy.

Catch Up

At the beginning of this month, we had a visit from some of our very favorite people in the whole wide world. It was fun, and crazy, and fun. I'm not sure why I didn't take very many pictures. Might've been because we spent a lot of time indoors and I don't feel confident about the photos I take without natural light, so I didn't even bother. These are Nicole's beautiful captures:


























We got to celebrate Brooke's birthday with NicoBob & Co. Brace yourself; this photo doesn't feature a delicious and lovely birthday cake.
Brooke doesn't particularly like cake (or any manner of sweets, really) so he requested his favorite cookies. They are known affectionately in my family as "Gorilla Turds." Nicole's family calls them "Poo Burgers." I like how both names are sort of the opposite of euphemisms. Which moniker is less appetizing?
And lastly, a photo of everyone squinting into the sun. Thanks for the memories, guys! Come again SOON!
(Oh, and if that wasn't enough Shiffler family excitement for you, you can check out Nicole's posts about the trip: 1, 2, and 3.)

Bald Head Island, Ft. Fisher, Kure Beach

Last weekend, we went down to the shore. Instead of babbling about the good times we had, I'm just going to post a bunch of photos. Enjoy!