A Few of My Favorite Things

(1) These cute bows! OK, I'm totally not a girly-girl, but lately Ellie has been into wearing big ol' bows and flowers in her hair. So my sister told me about her friend's daughter, who makes these - and for only a buck a piece! So I sent my sis 20 bucks and told her to go shoppin' at her friend's house, and here's what she sent - now you tell me those aren't precious!

(And YESSSS, all you artsy gals out there, I KNOW I could probably make these myself. But then I'd have to (1) learn how to make them, (2) buy the barrettes, (3) buy a whole bunch of ribbon and flowers and junk, (4) try and hot glue the damn things together, then (5) spend the night in the ER after hot-gluing my fingers together. Not my idea of fun)

(2) These cool earphones - I plug them into the TV, and can hear the TV great (with no sound to wake the kiddies), and rock away on my elliptical at 5am without waking the wee little monsters! Get in my exercise and watch my recorded shows - almost makes exercise fun - well, almost


(3) The Bat Cave - we got this for Jack for his birthday, and I gotta tell you, this has bought me more Quiet Time than you can shake a stick at. He LOVES it.

Another Creeptastic Find!

OK, Brandi found this one, and now I'm addicted -

I give you .... The People of Walmart ....

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

(Don't worry, Mom, I checked it out, and confirmed that none of the people photographed are related to us.)

Block Party

We are lucky to have a great group of folks who live on our street. So for Jack's birthday, we decided to do a good old-fashioned block party. We rented a moonbounce, ordered some pizza, made about a hundred cupcakes, and let the kids go to town. You'll notice I don't have any good shots of our kids - that's because they were playing the whole stinkin' time. Can't complain about that!

Count it Out!

READY...

ONE....

TWO...

THREE...

...AND FOUR!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK!!! We love you!!!

Go, Dolphins!

Well, Jack is officially a Dolphin now. In that dolphin class at preschool, that is. His first day of school was today, and we were all thrilled that Jared managed to make it home to take him to his first day (after quite the string of transportation modes between the Middle East and here).



Off he goes!


No news on Ellie's end, but I don't want to play favorites, so here's a picture she wanted me to take in one of her "pretty princess dresses." She's very into wearing "pretty princess dresses" every day, and wearing big ol' bows and flowers in her hair. Which to my mind is slightly contradictory to her other current trend, which is going around repeating "penis, vagina, belly button, penis, vagina, belly button" over and over again because she knows it'll get a rise out of us. What a delicate little princess she is!

And you thought your family photos were awkward

You gotta check this out - you know how I do love me some awesome creepiness. Check out the Awkward Family Photos site.

A couple of these are awesome - I wonder if I can convince Jared to dress up aw Eyore for our next family photo.
http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/category/awkward-hall-of-fame/

And please check out the Nativity family photo - it's too awesome for words:
http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

And yes, I've lived through more than my share of awkward family photos, especially growing up in the 70s. Trust me, these are NOT the most awkward photos we can boast - there are far, far worse - these just happen to be on my laptop.


1. Check out Paul in the top left corner - is it just me, or are you wondering if he's about to hotwire your car? And of course John, the aspiring BeeGees in the middle, and big sister Jeanene (Marcia Brady, anyone?). Needless to say, Dad's doing his best Elvis sideburns, but please pay close attention to Matt's groovy outfit on the very right, because POOF....


2....And poor Thomas has now inherited the groovy outfit. And don't worry if you think you'll miss my and Jeanette's stylin' prairie dresses, because POOF...


3. ...We're wearing them again next year. And still as stylin'. And sorry, Baby Brother Ben, I don't happen to have a photo on my laptop with you in it. So sue me. Of course, he's an attorney, he just might do that. But you know, come to think of it, Mom looks suspiciously thin in this photo (supposedly pregnant?). Maybe Ben really WAS dropped off on our doorstep by a band of roving gypsies????