Julie, Grace, Joyce & John.

Julie = my older sister, who is doing a PhD at IU and having babies, all at the same time.
John = my brother-in-law, who is the bomb.
Joyce = pigtails extraordinaire - the entertainment and delight.
Grace = new little soul, a bundle that requires restraint (from squeezing too hard; Joyce knows what I mean).

Joyce Nally.

On the phone this weekend, my sister Julie narrated, "When Joyce and I were in our prenatal belly dancing class this morning, I was doing a shimmy-shake shoulder thing while squatting really low to the ground. Joyce came over right by me and pulled up my shirt so that my belly was showing and started chatting with the baby, telling the baby she loves it and giving my belly kisses."



Joyce also high fives the baby through the womb. Today Joyce turns two. Happy birthday my little niece! Joyce's little sibling will be born in March and we all can't wait for Joyce to be doling out the real high fives to the little newborn.

Little girls in the grass.

Marguerite (step-daughter) loves Joyce (niece). Joyce loves Marguerite. Recently, Joyce has figured out how to say 'high-five' (which ends up coming out more like 'hi-pi'), which, incidentally, is one of Marguerite's favorite American activities. High-fives multiply 'round these two.



Marguerite has also convinced herself that Joyce is her 'petite-soeur' - her little sister. So, she calls her so and wishes it were so.





At times they get aggressive with each other and we flip out a bit, but it seems they have a mutual agreement about small portions of acceptable violence between them. They don't flip out.















Oh and how we all love Sammy. Marguerite came with a fear of dogs. She is going to leave stripped of that for sure. Sam just wags his tail and lets anybody pull his fur anywhere or steal his tennis ball or tackle him in the grass. He laps it all up. He was the perfect choice for ridding a child of her dog-chickenheartedness.

Joyce Series II

Stephen, Emilie, Julie together again. We took niece Joyce to Stephen's office and she charmed the whole team. Roosted on the center of a table, co-workers thronged around, smiling with glee at Joyce's baby capers - throwing things on the ground, smiling, waving and orchestrating the clapping around her. She was a such a star.

Joyce Series I