Love, Laughter, and Lyrics

thankful for thanksgiving

2011-12-01T20:53:00.000-06:00

My brother and sister-in-law moved to Savannah, Georgia earlier this year. From the moment they told us the news of their move, David and I have been excitedly planning our Thanksgiving trip to visit them.
Mostly because it means we get to see them.
But also, because it's Savannah...y'all...

Being in Savannah with all the beautiful people, southern hospitality, historically old buildings, and Paula Deen souvenir's made me just want to say, "y'all" after every phrase.
It was kind of obnoxious.
Even looking at the photos from our trip makes me want to bust out my Scarlett O'Hara accent.

Our first day in Savannah, my brother and sister-in-law took us Downtown where we checked out beautifully ancient trees laden with Spanish Moss.

By the way - did you know that all that pretty moss is FULL OF MITES and whatnot? It's seriously a "look but not touch" situation - which is why, when Charlie tried to pick up a handful of it, I lost my ever-loving mind.

We watched the kids play for a little while before walking over to the fountain in Forsythe Park.

After walking around Forsythe Park, we took a tour of Downtown Savannah...y'all.

While downtown, we walked past the Mercer House which was used in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Look at the architecture on the building...

The next day, my brother and sister-in-law took us to Tybee Island where we spent some time playing on the beach.

And later that day, we went to see the 270 year-old Tybee Island Lighthouse.
Once we got there, we decided to just look at it.
You know, enjoy the beauty.
From outside the lighthouse.
Without walking up loads of stairs.
Because all the adults agreed that the only thing less appealing than paying tons of money to climb a million steps would be to climb a million steps while carrying 2 kids.

Then we headed to The Crab Shack to eat seafood and check out some gators.

That night, we went to City Market in Savannah to visit the Savannah Candy Kitchen.

Charlie and Avery were in Heaven.
Evidently, Heaven has a gigantic pixie stixs dispenser and barrels of candy.

On Saturday, we decided to do a little shopping downtown.
One of the places I was dying to see was The Paris Market.
Everything in that store made me drool. The prices were kind of crazy, but loveliness and inspiration was everywhere.

(Can I just tell you what Charlie would do with those pretty books if I put them on my stairs? It would be anything but pretty)

After shopping a little, we headed to the roof of The Bohemian Hotel and watched boats on the Savannah River.

We took a stroll down the most beautiful streets ever...

...in order to get to our dinner destination: The Pirate's House. It's been serving people since 1763 and is the oldest house in the state of Georgia.

The Pirate's House's big gimmick is to have a "Pirate" walk around to greet it's guests. Which, I guess is cool.
If you're not 5.

If you are 5, and told that you were going to eat at a Pirate's House, you may be expecting something like these guys:

So, when the reality looked a little more like this guy:

Avery's 5 year-old reaction was...not good.
My brother had to literally tell the guy to leave the table because Avery was clinging to my neck in total fear.

The next day, we took a marathon of a trip home. An awesomely long, terribly extended, seriously arduous journey back. In the rain.
But our trip to Savannah was totally worth all of the travel inconveniences. I can't wait to go back to Savannah... y'all.

Charlie's Superhero Party

2011-11-29T20:22:00.001-06:00

Charlie turned three on November 21.
He is unbelievably obsessed with superheros and "bad guys", so it seemed only fitting that he have a superhero themed party for him.

For this party, I decided to make the cake from scratch. Which, as it turns out, is a pretty nerve-racking decision since the only way to know if it's good or not is to serve it to everyone.
At the party.

Thankfully, Al Gore invented the internet.
And the Food Network invented Ina Garten.
And Ina Garten invented a seriously amazing chocolate cake recipe.
And included a handy video to watch while you make her amazing chocolate cake.

Bless you, Barefoot Contessa. You and your fancy scmancy parties, smugly overpriced ingredients, and fantastically intricate recipes are a-okay with me.

And - Charlie.

We rented a giant bounce house for the day which arrived at 9 or so that morning.
Charlie and Avery probably bounced in it for 7 of the 8 hours it was at our house.
The energy they have astounds me.
I bounced in it for 15 minutes and had jello legs the rest of the night.
Which either means that bouncing in a bounce house is hard, or I am seriously out of shape.
I can't be sure which...

Happily, a few months ago, I discovered that my brother Joseph is a close, personal friend of Spiderman.
Charlie insisted that he be invited to his party and talked about how "Piderman" was coming to his "bewrfday pawty" for weeks and weeks.

The next picture is what he did when he saw "Piderman" come around the corner:

After greeting him, we sprayed him down with Spidey Spray.

And Charlie opened his present from Spiderman.

Everyone loved Spiderman, but none more than our little friend Spencer.
She asked him to hold her hand and take a picture with him.
Then she sang him the Spiderman theme song.
I think it's safe to say that Spiderman's heart melted just a bit.

My Boy is Three. And announced to me the other day that he is no longer my baby, but a Big Boy.

Sorry, Kiddo. You may be a Big Boy, but you'll always be my baby.

*** Special thanks to my friend Spiderman for donning what he called a "grownup onesie" in public. I owe you one. Or two...

fall mantle

2011-11-28T21:47:00.001-06:00

It's gone now.
Because half of the pumpkins rotted. And because I'm the kind of gal who gets rid of holiday decorations the day after the holiday is over.
But here's how it looked pre-rot.

I'm looking forward to adding a few more gourds next year. Having a mantle to decorate has been so fun!

if i twittered

2011-11-05T00:28:00.002-05:00

I just found this post hanging out in the "drafts" section of my blog and thought I'd go ahead and post it... It was written in 2009. Remembering how life was for me just a couple of years ago makes me smile... Because now I can take a 5 minute shower with minimal consequences. Hooray.

I'm sure that most of you know what "Twittering" is, but I've just recently learned about it. If you don't, here's the definition according to Wikipedia:

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, and Feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees.

I don't have any interest in doing it, but if I did - here's what you might have read today:

- Jennifer is stirring her coffee with a baby spoon.
- Jennifer is trying to remove a penny from her CD player.
- Jennifer is changing a poopy diaper.
- Jennifer just found a moldy cheerio in the couch cushion.
- Jennifer is wondering if she'll get to take a shower today.

You get the point.

Riveting.
Fascinating.

Who wouldn't want to read that stuff?

halloween

2011-11-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

It's Fall, I'm obsessed with Pinterest, and I'm not afraid to copy a good idea from someone smarter than I am.

inspiration source

...So that's what I did.

A lot.

inspiration source.

A whole lot.

inspiration source

These guys, however, are total originals.

Happy Halloween!

avery's 5th birthday

2011-10-06T21:48:00.004-05:00

On September 14, Avery turned 5.
In the Magic Kingdom.
To celebrate, we treated her to breakfast with Cinderella and the Princesses in the Magic Kingdom.

Avery was so excited to be dining with the Princesses in the castle.

Charlie was excited about breakfast.

But was not so excited about waiting for it.

The Princesses came out one by one, and each one greeted us at our table - taking time to give Avery a hug, and pose for a picture or two.
Sometime during breakfast, the waiter brought Avery a special treat - her own lighted cupcake.

When Ariel saw her cupcake, she said, "Cupcakes for breakfast? Oh man... all I had this morning was seaweed!"

Charlie greeted every princess with the same look... which made me giggle. The Ladies make my brave little man a shy quiet guy.
Who knew?

Belle was one of our favorites. When Charlie asked her where the Beast was, she answered by saying, "The Beast went on a beastly run this morning... and he is taking a bath."

At the end of Breakfast, Avery made a special wish with her wishing star and magic wand.
Ariel helped her close her eyes to make her birthday wish...

And... Charlie got... a sword. A sword.
Giving Charlie a large object that is designed to be used as a weapon can only lead to certain disaster.
And multiple injuries requiring swift medical assistance.
They may need to reconsider that idea.
And my Charlie may be the reason for that.

It was such a fun experience for the family.
But my favorite Princess was definitely our sweet little 5 year old princess.

Days 6 and 7: disney blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon

2011-09-30T16:01:00.002-05:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the days we went to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon at Disney World... I'm too tired and too far behind in blogging to even attempt to be clever or witty.

So here 'ya go:

Charlie loved playing in the sand at Typhoon Lagoon.

We played in the wave pool, hung out in the lazy river together, and then hung out in the little kid's area of the park.

They were both worn out from their busy, busy day.

The next day, we went to Blizzard Beach (another Disney water park made to look like a Ski Resort that melted in the Florida sun). The kids really enjoyed the melting snowmen at the front of the park.

Personally, I liked Blizzard Beach a little better than Typhoon Lagoon. We spent a lot of time in the kid's area there with our little guys. The play area had lots of sand to play in and several smaller water slides that even Charlie enjoyed.

After our busy day at Blizzard Beach we headed to Downtown Disney for shopping.
Look at that Lego girl!

Then we fed another crazy squirrel like 7 french fries. He was practically eating out of our hand. I probably should have been afraid of Rabies or something, but I just couldn't get over how close the little guy was!

Plus, everyone knows that squirrels at Disney don't have Rabies. They probably have to have background checks and full physicals.
I love Disney.
I miss Disney...
Humph.

Days 4 and 5: Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom

2011-09-19T19:47:00.003-05:00

On the Saturday that Nikki stayed with us, we decided to revisit to Magic Kingdom.

When we first arrived at the Magic Kingdom, we noticed that lots of characters were on Main Street: Mary Poppins, Daisy Duck, Pluto, and Marie (from the Aristocats).

After visiting with Marie, we headed over to ride the kid's favorite ride in the park: It's a Small World. We probably rode it 4 or 5 times while we were there!

The entire Mainstreet area was decked out for Halloween. It was so lovely. The pumpkins were carved in true Disney style - with the utmost attention to detail...

Since we'd already spent a day in Fantasy Land earlier in the week, we decided to make our way to the part of the park that we hadn't really spent a lot of time in: Adventureland. We went to the Tikki room, rode the Jungle Boat Cruise, and Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride. Then we took a break for lunch at Peso Bill's for lunch. I had the Taco salad. It was really yummy. I think that the counter service food at Disney is almost better than the character meal food!

After lunch, we took the kids to Tom Sawyer's Island to play.

And then headed over to Frontierland's main street area for a good spot for the afternoon parade.

Before leaving for the day, Avery picked out her present from her Uncle Jordan and Aunt Nikki. She chose Duffy, Mickey's newest friend. It's his teddy bear that he takes on his adventures around the world. She loves it to pieces.

Charlie was super excited about having his picture taken at the end of the day. Can you tell?

Avery's favorite:
picking out her new teddy bear.

Charlie's favorite:
The Enchanted Tikki Room

The next day, Nikki headed back home and we went to Animal Kingdom.
This is the picture that I made David take to prove that I actually went on the vacation with the family:

Our first stop was at the Jungle Safari.
During our trek, a giraffe stepped in front of our truck - causing a huge delay. The driver had to wait for the giraffe to decided to move to the other side of the road before she could move on with our tour. And the giraffe was in NO hurry to oblige. I loved it. We have a pretty amazing zoo in our city, but it was pretty cool to see the giraffe that close!

Later in the day, when the sun was blazing and unbearable, we made a pit stop to the Dinosaur Land area. Each park has a "play area" for little guys built in.The Dinosaur Land play area was exceptionally cool. Avery and Charlie played for at least 45 minutes in the bone digging play area - right under some misting fans.

After that, we enjoyed a little ice cream before heading to see The Lion King musical show.

I would go to Animal Kingdom again just to see that show. It was so good. We were able to sit right on the front row. It was awesome!

After the show, we headed out to get our stroller and noticed a little squirrel hanging around foraging for food. The squirrels at Disney are crazy. They are the most fearless animals I've ever seen. This little guy came right up to us and grabbed this huge cup full of Chips Ahoy cookies. We laughed our hineys off when he dragged it all the way to the bushes.

Our final stop of our long, hot, and totally exhausting day was for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Then we all went directly to sleep.

Avery's favorite:
The Jungle Safari Ride.

Charlie's favorite:
playing in the sand in Dinosaur Land.

Day 3 - epcot

2011-09-13T23:07:00.000-05:00

My sister-in-law drove down from Georgia to stay with us last weekend. We haven't seen her or my brother since their recent move there, so it was a huge treat to have her join us. As soon as she arrived, we headed to Epcot for an afternoon of fun.

Our first stop was the Character Spot where we saw Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy.

Charlie declared Goofy to be his favorite for the day.

From there, we went to the Finding Nemo ride - a huge hit with both kids and adults.

There's an aquarium-like exhibit at the end of the Finding Nemo ride...a fact that made me very, very sad...given my feelings about fish.

Clearly, Avery doesn't share the same fear of fish that her mommy does.
This picture kind of gives me hives just looking at it.

After that, we went to the Turtle Talk with Crush show.
Much to my surprise, my reserved little Avery raised her hand to ask a question to Crush.
Her question?
"How do they get bigger when they talk?"
To which Crush said, "umm... what???"
She repeated the question and he said, "ummm...they stand up?"

And that's what happens when you tell a bunch of kids to ask you whatever they want.

After talking with Crush, we went to visit Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Avery and Charlie loved it. Charlie really loved playing in the Imagination Room after the ride was over.

When we had ridden all of the Preschool Friendly rides at the front of the park, we headed to the World Showcase to get some serious education.
Unfortunately, that's when the bottom dropped out and we had to take cover in the France exhibit.

But because Disney thinks of EVERYTHING, every exhibit has a Kidcot activity for little ones to participate in. Avery and Charlie spent their time coloring a cut-out of Mickey's Teddy Bear Duffy - while David spent his time on the phone making our dinner reservations.

When the rain finally subsided, we headed out to see the other "countries".
Charlie didn't seem very interested in his first World Tour, but he really liked playing with the umbrella.
A lot.

Epcot's World Showcase area doesn't have a ton of "rides". Most of the attractions in the World Showcase are about experiencing the culture of the people of various regions. We did, however, ride Maelstrom in Norway.
A decision that I totally and completely regret because it absolutely terrified my little ones. Storms, Trolls, tumultuous boat rides, and more trolls.
Not a good combination when you're 5 and under.

In an effort to regain my credibility and trustworthiness with my little guys, we headed to Mexico to ride the 3 Amigos ride featuring Donald Duck.

Our dinner reservations were for La Hacienda De San Angel in the Mexico Exhibit. La Hacienda is a newer restaurant whose decor and ambiance was beautifully modern and authentic at the same time. The restaurant sits right on the World Showcase Lagoon in the middle of the park: the same lake that the nightly fireworks and laser display (IllumiNations) is shown from.

The hostess sat us at a table next to the large windows that overlook the lagoon. We had a delicious dinner and dessert with really great service.
They even brought Avery a special Birthday treat.

The fireworks show began at 9, and the audio was streamed directly into the restaurant. They dimmed the lights inside the restaurant and we were able to drink our coffee and watch the fireworks display from our table.
It was awesome!!!

We had a great day at Epcot.
I think I'm in love with Disney World.

Avery's Favorites:
Donald Duck and the 3 Amigos ride
Turtle Talk with Crush
Finding Nemo Ride

Charlie's Favorites:
Meeting Goofy
Holding the umbrella

stir crazy

2011-09-13T21:24:00.000-05:00

While David was at his conference, Avery, Charlie and I stayed at the condo. We did a little swimming and a lot of t.v. watching.

The following is photographic documentation of the moment that I almost went completely and certifiably insane.

Table dancing, anyone?
(by the way - notice the pants Avery is wearing? I can't get them off of her)

And here's Crazy Charlie running around the room unrolling all of the paper towels:

And finally - the money shot: it's Avery throwing a ball. At my face.

I think it's safe to say I'm glad that the conference is over.
Really glad.

Disney Day 2: Hollywood Studios

2011-09-08T12:14:00.002-05:00

On Monday, we went to Hollywood Studios where we had lunch reservations for the Play 'N Dine character meal at Hollywood and Vine.

While we were waiting to be seated Avery and Charlie found a way to peek inside. They kept yelling, "oooh! I see Oso!" and "There's Handy Manny!".

When were finally seated, Avery and Charlie were greeted by some of their favorite Disney Junior characters.

The lunch was an "American style buffet".

The food was good, but not awesome.

Avery and Charlie got lots of mac and cheese and chicken nuggets, so they were happy.

David and I agreed that while the food wasn't out of this world, the dining experience and atmosphere was. Overall, we definitely felt like we got our money's worth.

Each character came to the table throughout the meal to spend time interacting with our kids. Every 15 minutes or so, a cast member would come out and sing and dance with the kids. They sang lots of songs from the Disney Junior t.v. shows.

It was a huge hit with my little guys.

After lunch, we went to the park to check out the Disney Junior show.

Then we let the kids play in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.

Avery loved the rope web so much that she decided to do it on her own.

Without telling us.

She just disappeared.

David and I finally found her at the top of the web.

It was the most terrifying 1 and a half minutes of my life.

That's when we decided that maybe it was time for a crash course on stranger danger and what to do when you can't find your mom and dad. Just remembering it makes me a little sick to my stomach. Ugh.

Later, we saw the Beauty and the Beast stage show.

But by that time, it was hot, hot, hot. And raining. And hot.

So unbelievably hot.

So we decided that maybe it was time for an ice cream break.

After ice cream, we thought that a visit with Woody and Buzz would do us good.

While we waited in line, Avery and Charlie posed for the camera.

Charlie thought the line was way too long.

But cheered up when he saw his friends Woody and Buzz.

We rode the Toy Story Mania ride and then had dinner at Pizza Planet before heading home for the evening.

Charlie was definitely worn out.

Avery's favorites:

All of it. I just asked her and she said that she loved all of it.

Charlie's favorites:

Toy Story Mania and The Disney Junior show.

back to school

2011-09-02T07:55:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again. My favorite time of the year... A time for new backpacks, school supplies and (to quote my favorite movie) bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils.

Avery and I made a special banner to celebrate the start of the school year.

And, like her Momma, Avery could barely contain her excitement for the start of a new school year.

Here's how Charlie felt about it.

sweet.

georgia on my mind.

2011-08-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to Atlanta with our friends The Malahy's.

The trip there was unbelievably long. Due, in part, to the actual mileage from our home to our destination, but mainly because we made approximately one bathroom stop every 20 minutes.
No seriously.
No. Seriously.

Thank you, God for Crackerbarrel.
And portable DVD players.

And...washable markers.

By the way - Take a good look at the stylin' outfit Avery has on in the next picture. It's from The Avery Tillman Summer Traveling Collection.

Four-year-olds have some amazing taste in clothing, don't you think?

I'm guessing that those pants are like 2 sizes too small. At least.
They are supposed to be full-length pants.
Niiiice.

She was so happy to be wearing it.
And if I would let her, she'd be wearing it every day of the year. Rain, shine, sleet, hail - those pants would be on her body.
In fact, she's wearing those pants at this very moment - sitting right next to me here on the couch.
Hey, Pants. Good to see 'ya again...

When we arrived in Atlanta, we went straight to Hotel De Malahy. Josh's parents were super generous to allow our motley crew to stay in their home during our visit and we tried our best to keep our kids from totally destroying it.
I'd say that we were mildly successful regarding the non-destruction of said home, but I'm not sure that we were able to do the same for their sense of peace and quiet.
That was definitely destroyed within the first 5 seconds of our arrival.

My friend Maribeth and I had one main objective for our trip: to go to the famed Scott Antique Market.
So, early one morning, we left the kids and the husbands to their own devices and took the hour long drive to the market.
The market did not disappoint.
Not only did it not disappoint... it was just a little bit of Heaven here on Earth.
It was the mecca of antiquiness...the utopia of vintage...and a bunch of other analogies I'm not smart enough to come up with.

Normally, there are 3300 vendor booths.
That's three THOUSAND three HUNDRED vendor booths.
There are two gigantic buildings full of lovelies. In order to go from one gigantic building to the next one, you have to get on a shuttle.
on. a. shuttle.
In addition to the two gigantic buildings, there's a large outdoor space that houses tons more vendors and a big 'ol building full of fabulously rusty and dusty junky stuff.
Maribeth and I were totally overwhelmed. I think we looked at each other in total disbelief and said, "oh. my. goodness" at least 15 times.

And, oh, what I would have given for a U-Haul to carry one of these home...

Here's a few pictures of what I could fit into my SUV - and my budget...

While the mommas' main objective was to do a little antiquing, the little ladies' had a different objective.

Avery was beside herself with excitement.

She took no time to pick out her very first American Girl doll.

And look! Charlie found his doppelganger there. Kinda eerie, huh?

Here he is feeding a sweet little baby doll...

And here he is banging the sweet baby doll's head against the wall while grunting, "Ugh! Argh! Ouch!".

That's Charlie.

Avery was completely thrilled to take her new doll out of the store.

And Charlie was completely thrilled to take off his shoes.

In the middle of the mall.

During our trip, we did a little outlet mall shopping, ate some good food, spent the day at Ikea, and went to visit Passion City church.

Where---stop it --- Matt Redman was leading worship that night.

Yes. That's what I said.

And Christy Nockels was singing background vocals.

And Louie Giglio gave an awesome message.

I can't even say how cool it was.

It was so cool.

So unbelievably cool.

On the drive home, we stopped at one of our favorite places to eat in Nashville - Loveless Cafe . I had ~~every single bit~~ some of this...

(fried green tomato BLT)

David got their ahh-mazing fried chicken, the kid's got the mac and cheese, and everyone had way too many homemade biscuits and a little of this...

oh my.

Loveless makes my heart happy...but my arteries are glad that we don't live in Nashville.

Our Atlanta trip was just what the doctor ordered. We totally needed this great little getaway....and Maribeth and I are already planning our next trip to Scott Antique Market- and devising a plan for getting our hands on a gigantic U-Haul or two.

the 4th

2011-07-12T21:59:00.004-05:00

Independence Day is such a fun and happy holiday. I just adore it.

And, after moving to our new home, we discovered that we can see our town's fireworks display from our cove.

Stop. It.

To quote the star of my new favorite train-wreck of a show to watch...

It was "pearrrfect".

So - we invited a few friends and my parents to join us for an impromptu gathering at our house.

If you know me, you know that I'm pretty much an impromptu kind of gal.

Some of my friends are impromptu kind of folks like me, and others prefer - and need - time to plan things a little more; a fact that may have contributed to making our gathering of friends much more "intimate" than it would have been had I given my friends a bit more notice.
Noted.

There are those that may argue that a small gathering of friends and family does not an official "party" make, but I consider any time that I can be with the people I love a reason to celebrate.

And decorate.

The week before the 4th, the kiddos made rockets to hang on our chandelier (idea from alphamom)

And I brought out the cookie cutter star garland Avery made last year.

I added a little something to our mantle.

But as the 4th approached, it was clear that the screened-in porch could not - and should not - be ignored. It would definitely be the center of all the action, and must be pretty.

Because, as my friend Sonya says, "pretty is important."

Despite all the important prettiness, it was the food that was the true the star of the show - at least until the fireworks started.

Ok - so take a quick look at the cupcakes in the next photo.

Those were the 4 cupcakes that my mom brought.
Four.
Quatro.
To be divided among approximately one million children.

In her defense, she only brought them because they were left over from another event. She brought them to our house for my kids but I decided that we should stick them on the cake plate. Because pretty is important.
Not my best idea.

Can I just say that every child there was obsessed with those cupcakes?
Obsessed.
I think we told them 100 times that they would have to wait until after dinner to even think about touching those cupcakes.
At least 100 times.
And when dinner was finally over, each child got 1/2 of one.

Mental note: make lots of cupcakes next year. And don't bring them out until AFTER dinner.

The kids played super hard outside all night. Our neighbors, cousins, and friends made quite a scene in our quiet little cove.

Avery and our neighbor - "little" chris.
Isn't he too cute?
Avery just loves bossing him around. And having him do her bidding.
Oh goodness.

Before the fireworks started, we made a little food craft from an idea I found online.

While Avery loved it, Charlie ignored it.

Because it involved bananas.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the world he thinks is more unappetizing than bananas.

Our little friend Carter took her work quite seriously.

And Spencer was just...cute. As usual.

The finished product!

I've decided that the 4th may be my favorite holiday of the year. And I can't wait to do it again next year.

Ok, Dear, Sweet, Planning Friends: consider that your official notice.
One year in advance.

completely two.

2011-07-02T23:47:00.001-05:00

Charlie brought this to me the other day.

Just handed it to me.

I think I said, "What is this?"

To which he responded with the usual, "Nuffing."

It looks like I arrived just in time to save his favorite racing car from being lost forever. Who knows what else is in there.

He's so two.

And totally inquisitive.

And curious.

He's fearless and adventurous.

And a total mess.

Sometimes, his curiousity can be kind of expensive.

But mostly, it's just really, really messy.

breaking the new house in.

2011-06-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

There's only one word to describe the following photo:
Charlie.

And today, after I walked in the kitchen and surveyed his latest handiwork, I said that word more like...
CHAR-LIEE!!!!

Immediately I started cleaning up the millions of tiny glass shards on the back porch. And as I emptied the dust pan into the trash, this is what I found:

It's a 3 lb. weight.
In my trashcan.

It didn't take too long for me to put 2 and 2 together.
Broken glass...heavy banging instrument thrown into the trashcan...
I know. Just call me Matlock.

After some questioning, he totally fessed up.
Readily fessed up.
Shamelessly fessed up.
And dare I say proudly fessed up?

Awesome.
Thank goodness he's cute.

Summertime makes me feel fine

2011-06-05T02:57:00.004-05:00

I'm looking forward to a summer filled with Daisy Chains,

discovering new things,

doing daring new moves,

and dancing in the park

Hooray for Summer!

paci's are not forever. or ARE they?

2011-06-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

This guy loves some paci's.
A lot.

And the closer he gets to 3, the more worrisome his love becomes to me.
Because I know something that he doesn't know.
I know that the Day of Reckoning is coming.
The Day of Doom.
The Day of No. More. Pacifiers.

How am I going to get up the nerve to separate him from his one, true love?
I may just break his sweet little heart right in two.

It's been weighing heavily on David's mind too.

The other day when we took the kids to the Library, I ran across this book.

It was like a sign.
And I actually found myself entertaining the totally delusional thought that this book could be the key to ending my 2 year old's serious paci addiction.
I just knew that the words of the book would speak to him so clearly that he would have no choice but to get rid of his paci forever.

Looking at David, (and feeling quite proud of my lucky little find) I said, "Hey, Daddy - let's read this one."
I could be wrong, but I thought I sensed in David's eyes a little glimmer of hope too.
The story/crucial life lesson started out really well.
Charlie was super engaged.
He happily and eagerly pointed to the pacifier on each page we read.
Then, we got to the good stuff...
Here's how it went:

me (reading): ...Goodbye paci. Let's throw our paci in the trash-y.

Charlie (looks at me in utter disbelief, like I had just read the silliest book known to man): Noooo... we don't throw our paci's in the trash-y.

Then he promptly walked off.

Clearly, this is going to be more difficult than I'd hoped.

d is for dance party

2011-06-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

My sister Katharine is in college...and just recently decided to pursue a degree in Education.

Something that I could not be more thrilled about.

So, since she got out for summer break a few days before we did, I decided to give her a little taste of what one can really do with a hard earned degree in Early Childhood Education.

I think I'm doing some sort of hillbilly move in this next picture...

Dancing is serious business in my class.

Good times were had by all. As usual.

I'm pretty sure she left feeling the weightiness of her decision.

almost wordless wednesday

2011-06-01T02:01:00.001-05:00

Something tells me we're not quite ready to potty train.

feathering my nest and other nonsense

2011-05-31T01:26:00.006-05:00

May was a whirlwind of a month for me.
I wrapped up a very busy Preschool year with a Water Day party, 15 sweet little scrapbooks, an end of the year music program and parent/teacher conferences.
And as if that wasn't quite enough, I agreed to host David's grandparent's 65th wedding anniversary party at our house.
I'm a glutton for punishment.
For reals.

Honestly though, we were totally honored to host the party here. And the it gave us the perfect excuse to get all the little projects completed that we had on our gigantic check-list.

So - in an attempt to ready my house for the big partay, I re-arranged things millions of times, eye-balled blank walls, hung things up and took them down again, stared at magazines, sewed a few things, cleaned a LOT of things, and painted some others...

With each picture I hung, each piece of furniture I found the perfect place for, each nasty cabinet I cleaned, I watched what was once somebody else's house slowly transform into our home.

It's kind of magical how that happens...

Anyway - One of the things that I've really been super excited about was being re-united with my porch swing. The porch swing that David bought for me when we were dating.

It got a new, darker coat of stain on it and I'm happy to say, has not collapsed.
Yet.
Nice work, David.
He's a whiz with the power drill, that one.

Another check-list item for me was to make some pillows for our Living Room couch.

And while some gals get jewelry or chocolates for Mother's day, my sweet husband knows that beautiful fabric will make me just plain giddy. So - that's what I got. Some really awesome, really beautiful fabric.

Originally, I discovered the awesome, beautiful fabric at a really snooty place here in town.

After what could only be described as a horrible, no good, very bad shopping experience, I decided that giving my hard earned Mother's Day cash to a snooty place wasn't really what I wanted to do.

And since Shopping Necessity is the Mother of Creativity ... and Snootiness is the Mother of Desire-to-Stick-it-to-the-Man-ness, I opted to try my luck with the world wide web.

Lady Internet was kind to me.

I found both fabrics I loved for waaaay less money.

So there, mean 'ol snooty fabric store.

I used some of the fabric to make these little lovely ladies:

I was hoping that they would turn our pumpkin of a couch into a beautiful coach.
Or at least make the toddler stainage less noticeable.
They didn't.
But I love them anyway.

I used some of the extra fabric to recover a lamp shade. And I painted my formerly red lamp robin's egg blue.

Next up, I recovered the seat cushions in my kitchen.

They used to look like this:

And now they look like this:

And this...

The fabric is called Hip Dove by P Kaufman. I want to stare at it all the time.
I want to decorate every room in my house with it. I just loooove it.

This was the chandelier in my dining room when we first moved in.

David said it reminded him of the chandelier in Beauty and the Beast.

I'm thinking he meant this one.

...not this one.

She's creepy.

Anyway, now it looks like neither.

Just a regular, Oil Rubbed bronzish one.

After a can or two of spray paint.

When we first saw the house, the kitchen looked like this:

Pretty range hood, eh?

Now it looks like this.

I know, I know, it's a subtle difference, but I painted the cabinets white (they were dark cream before) and changed the knobs.

Thankfully, the bank who owned the property put a microwave in place of the range hood before we moved in.
Hooray for that.

Cause y'all know I'm not even trying to living in a house sans microwave.

May is over.
I made lots of little checks all over my huge list.
And I feel totally happy.
And inspired to rest.
A lot.
But not until I finish just a few more things...
Specifically, Avery's bedroom.

She requested a purple room, but I talked her into a subtle lilac-y color instead.

Does that make me a control freak?

Don't answer that.

house love

2011-05-07T22:37:00.007-05:00

I'm enjoying our house so much.

Look what bloomed in our yard during the month of April...

I only wish the blooms would have stayed longer...
It's been so fun to discover the things we have growing in our yard.

These little guys like our yard too.

I bought them at Hobby Lobby one day after Avery and Charlie completely freaked out over them. The boy gnome was quickly claimed by Charlie while the girl was scooped up by Avery. Charlie was totally confused and nooooot pleased about the "putting them in the garden" part. It was a real battle to get him to leave them outside.

So now, whenever Charlie walks out the door and sees the gnomes, he pulls the "Juliet" gnome out of the ground and throws her down on our driveway. Her head has been broken off and glued back at least 4 times now. I'm pretty sure he does it just to tick Avery off.
And it works.

He's a tender, gentle lamb, my Charlie Boy.

Should you be tempted to feel the slightest bit of jealousy over my lovely front yard, allow me to take you on a tour of the back.

This is our super awesome pool.
That's filled with super awesome frogs.
And surrounded by our super awesome dilapidated fence...
Which a gigantic, super awesome tree branch is lying across.
That's still there after our last crazy bought of super awesome storms.

Like that broken diving board? It's still hanging out in my backyard if you'd like to have it.

We've affectionately named our pretty little swimming hole the "Frankenstein Pool". Since, after several diagnosis from various pool experts, it'd been discovered to be a total and complete enigma. One man who has been in the pool business for over 20 years told us that he'd never seen anything like it before.
Awesome.

Bottom line: It's a hodge podge, crazy nightmare of a pool.
A breeding ground for Botulism and the Black Plague.
And it must go.
Next year. When we have more money.
But for now, we've decided that we'll just clean it, cover it, and pretend it doesn't exist.
So that my kids don't get Malaria this summer.

Gross.

We've been working like crazy around this place to get things in order and livable. Look for pictures soon.

katie.

2011-04-07T21:39:00.004-05:00

Avery has a new friend.
Her name is Katie.
She's 19.
And has a purple car.
And a cat.
And lives a couple of houses away from our house.
In the brown house, I think.
Katie is full of useful information.
She loves the same things that Avery loves and hates the same things that she hates.
Avery talks about her constantly.
She talks with her constantly.
They go everywhere together.
They are total BFF's.

It would probably be a little weird if she weren't imaginary.

Here she is (on what was clearly a very windy afternoon) sitting next to Katie after I asked her to pose with her.

Here she is taking a little walk with her...

and pushing her on the swings (while talking to her about how she shouldn't be scared to swing high).

Avery even has Charlie talking about Katie from time to time.
Oh Goodness.

almost wordless wednesday

2011-04-06T09:16:00.022-05:00

a freshly painted blue door.

a new place to sit and relax.

an afternoon in the park.

springtime in the south.

...just a few of my favorite things.

something positive...and encouraging...

2011-04-05T20:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, we were all driving in the car listening to the only safe radio station in the country (Klove) when one of the 5 songs they play came on the air.

No, it wasn't something by Third Day.
Or something by Toby Mac.
Or even something by The Newsboys.
I know.
Shocking, right?
2 more guesses...
Nope. Not Casting Crowns.
Come on... you're so close...
Seriously? Steve Green? Now you're not even trying.
It was Chris Tomlin.
Duh.

Anyway - we were driving along when Avery started singing along with the song "Indescribable" . If you've never heard the song, you may not know that it's full of words like "incomparable", "uncontainable", and "awestruck".
Big 'ol churchy SAT words.
Words that no normal 4 year-old could possibly pronounce - much less understand the meanings of.
So, as you can probably imagine, much of Avery's singing involved mumbling through those crazy big words... but she was plugging along just the same.
It makes my heart happy when she does that.

When the song got to the chorus, I heard her sing:
you see the depths of my heart and you love me the same...
you're an amazing guy.
...and a huuuge smile spread across my face.
Because it's so true.
Who needs big 'ol SAT words?
God is an amazing guy.

happy birthday to yooooou

2011-04-04T20:19:00.001-05:00

March is Birthday Month for David and me. We have birthdays exactly 10 days and 3 years apart.

March is also the time of year that I like to rag on David for being SOOOO much older than me. 'Cause I'm a super sweet wifey.

This year, we celebrated Birthday Month surrounded by boxes in our new house. By the way - have I mentioned that we have a NEW house????? Have I???? Because we do. Oh we do.

Anyway - Partly to escape Box Land for a bit, and partly to do something different and fun, I took Avery and Charlie to a pottery painting studio to make David's birthday gift.

I totally loved watching my little guys at work...

My precocious and not-so-shockingly perfectionistic Avery took her time, chose her colors thoughtfully, and carefully painted each ring on her plate slowly and methodically.

That's my girl.

Charlie painted for approximately 2.5 seconds with several random colors using several random brushes at once, before deciding that pulling pottery pieces from the wall and playing in the dirty paint water was way more fun.

That's my boy.

I have to say, I think they turned out just perfect.

Another Birthday Month came and went and I spent every second with the people I love most in the world.

Life is pretty awesome.

there's no place like home

2011-04-03T21:57:00.002-05:00

I've been happily enjoying an amazing, awesome, incredible, and totally over-the- top gift from God during the last month.

It's been...beautiful.

At least once a day, David and I look at each other and say in disbelief, "...this is our house...".

I'm going to go ahead and say that the moment our Realtor handed us the keys to our new home was one of the top 10 best moments of my life.

The house we bought was a foreclosure, so there was definitely some work that we had to do to get things up to par. Especially in the cleanliness department.

Cleaning up someone else's mess is not fun.
Especially a total stranger's mess.
Every single drawer, cabinet, shelf and corner was covered in dirt and/or hair...and stuff.

Gross.

Groooooosss.

Thank you God for shelf-liner.

And rubber gloves.

The fans in our screened in porch had at least 2 inches of black dirt caked on top of each blade.

Some Krud Kutter, a grout brush, and some serious elbow grease later and...

It's safe to breathe in my screened in porch again.

I have an unrealistic amount of soap scum on the shower doors of our bathrooms upstairs. I've really never seen anything like it. It has to be from years of build up. It grosses me out. Really bad.

I've tried everything to get rid of it.

After getting Chemical Pneumonia a few times, I decided to check out my other options.

Did you know that you can literally watch hours of you tube videos just on cleaning a shower door?

Unreal.

Still no success. My final solution may end up involving a large jack hammer. I'll keep you posted.

Cleaning was bumming me out, so I decided to move on to to something more challenging...Furniture refinishing.

Last year, I spilled some bug spray on my kitchen table. In case you were wondering, bug spray and wood don't really mix...

I've wanted to refinish it forever... and our new move seemed like the perfect excuse.

Here's the before pictures:

and after...

We've still got a few boxes sitting around, and a seriously daunting to-do list, but I've never been more thrilled to be working my hiney off.

Cause... "this is our house..."

sweet hearts.

2011-02-11T20:49:00.005-06:00

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, Avery and I decided to make Rice Krispie Treats for her friends at school.

Avery's been watching a lot of Food Network shows lately. Her favorites are Cake Boss and The Barefoot Contessa. She's also a big fan of The Neely's.

Recently, I left her playing games on Sprout Online. When I went to check on her a few moments later, I noticed that she had accidentally maneuvered her way to You Tube and was watching an instructional birthday cake video. When I asked her what she was watching she said, "Mom...Look at this. We've GOT to make one of these."

To which I responded with something vague and cryptic I think like, "Oh. Wow. That's really cool. We'll have to see."
What I was actually thinking was, "Riiiiiight... cause I totally want to spent 4 hours making a ridiculously detailed firetruck cake for no reason at all...I'll be sure to get right to that."

With Avery's new found culinary love in mind, you can imagine how seriously excited she was when I explained what I had in mind for her friend's Valentine Treats.

While Avery and I stirred away, Charlie decided to do his part to by providing a little background music.

I'm not sure my ear drums will recover.
Thank goodness he's cute.
It helps.
A lot.

As all projects do, the excitement wore off after approximately 2 minutes.
It was up to mommy to finish up.

Later, we prepared Avery's Valentine cards for her friends. Her fine motor skills are really progressing these days. She worked very hard to write her name herself. For about 2 minutes.

Then... Mommy finished up.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Charlie's Second BIrthday Party

2011-01-17T02:00:00.003-06:00

We celebrated Charlie's 2nd birthday in November.
I still can't believe that he's two.
My sweet, cuddly, silly, wild, totally crazy, busy little boy is...two.

Charlie's favorite place on Earth is the zoo.

His favorite toys are trains.

It seemed fitting to celebrate his second birthday doing things he loves, in the place he loves, with the people he loves.

So - we rented out a large room at the zoo. There wasn't a whole lot of decor to work with, and I was on strict orders by David NOT to go too crazy...for my sanity's sake. I complied with David's wishes and, I have to admit - the evening was really enjoyable.
Maybe David had the right idea afterall.

The table decor:

Guest Table decorations

A garland I made from scrapbook papers:

Here's a picture of the totally adorable cupcakes that I almost ruined by dropping them 10 seconds after picking them up from the baker. I almost had a heart attack. I did my best to mend them, but you can see that a couple of them were still kinda smooshed-ish.

Drink container decorated with zoo animal train cut-outs made with my cricut.

Another banner I made out of the pages of a vintage animal train book I bought on etsy.

Animal crackers for our friends:

Another picture of the cute, smooshed-ish, cupcakes:

Charlie checking out the chickens on our tour of the zoo:

Blowing out the candle:

Really enjoying the cute, smooshed-ish cupcakes:

Charlie wore pants I made out of zoo animal fabric I bought from a shop on esty.

Opening presents:

Such a fun time. Such a sweet boy.
I'm one lucky mommy.

And, one lucky friend. All the fantastic photos posted in this post were taken by my friend Sonya.
Thanks, Lady!

how to build a snowman...southern style.

2011-01-14T23:19:00.007-06:00

When it snows down here, people completely freak out.
Schools close.
Grocery stores become flooded with people rushing to buy bread and milk and eggs.
Weather Reporters stand on "treacherous" highways chomping at the bit for the first hint of slippery wet stuff, and - with any luck -the real glory shot: an actual bonafide snow-induced collision.

It's crazy.

I tend to be pretty cynical about all the snow hype, but even I have to admit that a real, true, snow is just about as close to Heaven on Earth as you can get.

And even though David and I spent 3 years living in Ohio (where it can snow as late as May), building a snowman is something that we've never done together. Ever. In fact, I think the last time I built a snowman was in Elementary School. It's not that building a snowman didn't sound fun to me, it's just that my nice, warm house, comfy jammies, and Alias re-runs sounded like way more fun.

But now, we have kids.

And live in the South.
Where it never snows...

SO - this year, we built a snowman. With two very excited little guys in tow.

We've been back in the South for 4 years. Which - as it turns out - is just enough time to become totally unprepared for any type of freezing precipitation.

Commence Operation Improvisation.
or Operation Southern Rookies Build a Snowman.
or Operation Freeze Your Fanny Off While You Pretend to Know What You're Doing.

Example #1
Use Ladies' Garden Gloves as protection. Because your manly, warm, Ohio gloves are in STORAGE.

Example #2.
No snow gear? No problem. Rainboots and 2 pairs of socks should do the trick.

No rainboots? Hmmmm...that's a little more tricky...
Mom of the Year says that footed jammies and a some crocs will just have to do.

At first, Avery and Charlie were all about helping us out.

But after about 3 minutes of hard-ish work, they decided that they'd rather do something else.

Like throwing snowballs.

...eating snow.

or just...going inside.

Despite the obvious sting of losing our once motivated "help", David and I stubbornly pushed ahead. By the time frostbite officially started to set in, we figured out a method for rolling giant snowballs.

Because if Charlie Brown and Lucy can do it, so can we.

(side note: at one point in the process, I literally referenced the scene in Frosty the Snowman when the kids are building their snowman for assistance. Because I'm a mommy. And I've seen that movie 1.5 million times.)

and created quite the curvaious snow...lady.

Hooray.

We admired our handiwork for approximately 2.5 seconds before Avery and Charlie started whining and crying due to the numbness in their extremities.

It felt a little like that scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
You know, the one where Audrey looks like this?

Ellen: Clark, Audrey's frozen from the waist down.

Clark: That's all part of the experience, honey.

she said...

2011-01-12T23:10:00.005-06:00

Avery:
This is my CIS phone (holding up my old cell phone that she plays with).
I got it at AT&T.
Actually, my husband got it for me.

Me:
He did?
That was nice...
What's his name?

Avery:
Christ.

Me:
(trying to compose myself)
Oh...

Avery:
(Holding up her beloved unicorn Pillow Pet)
You know, my son sleeps on his Pillow Pet every night. He just loves it.

Me:
He does? What's his name?

Avery:
Little Pepperino.

Me:
(This time, I can't keep the giggles in)
Cool name.

Avery:
Yeah.

waiting is the worst.

2011-01-10T22:44:00.001-06:00

I have this daily conversation with myself.
It goes something like this:

Not much longer.
You can do it.
Just hang in there.

And every time I realize that something I need is in our storage unit, or I trip over one of the giant plastic bins in our bedroom, I repeat it to myself.
It's my new mantra.

It's not really working.

We've been living at my mother-in-law's house for almost 6 months now.
It's been a long, hard, six months.
Not because of her...she is wonderful to us.
Because I miss my stuff.
All of it.
I even miss my sofa that's covered in Mod Podge.
And I really, really missed my kid's sweet little handmade ornaments at Christmas. That was a biggie.

I'll be honest. I'm struggling.
I know that the end result of all this waiting will be wonderful, but getting there has definitely been hard.

We've found a house we really like, but it's a foreclosure. And although we've submitted an offer, we have yet to hear the first word in response. And it's been 2 months.

I think that I can handle hearing "no" better than I'm handling "wait".

God loves to teach me the same old lesson on patience that I've been learning my whole life.
Maybe He doesn't love to teach it to me. Maybe I'm just super hard-headed.
Maybe I like to talk about having joy in my circumstances and being faithful to Him, but just don't like to actually do it.

That might be it.

So, I'm still here.
Slightly depressed, but here.
And once I figure out how to load pictures to my blog again, I'll catch everybody up on what I've been doing while I've been waiting around.

Later.

avery's pinkalicious party

2010-10-25T11:58:00.003-05:00

Avery loves the book Pinkalicious.

We've read it approximately 853 times now - so seemed fitting to celebrate her 4th birthday with a Pinkalicious theme.

For me, maintaining the authenticity of the story was way more important than covering everything in pink.

Keeping that in mind, the most important element of the party - aside from the pink cupcakes - was Avery's outfit.

To make the shirt, I took one of her old button-down blouses and removed the collar. Then I dyed it pink, sewed lace on the top and sleeves, and added a tiny pink bow. I found her skirt at Target and her wings at Walmart. Her crown and wand were from Oriental Trading Co. I bought some sweet little sparkle shoes to finish the look.

(photo from http://www.amazon.com/)

I am beyond blessed to know a super-talented cupcake maker/wedding cake baker in town.

I sent her the picture of the cupcakes in the story, and this is what she came up with...

They tasted as good as they looked!
If you live in my town and want to use her, let me know - I'll be glad to pass on her name!

Since we're currently living with my Mother-in-Law while we serach for our new home, we decided to have Avery's party outdoors in her backyard. The weather was warm, but nice and sunny.

The beautiful thing about outdoor parties is that you can get away with doing way less decorating. A fact that is super important when you've managed to get in waaaay over your head and make dolls for your party guests.

I made a garland out of paper doileys for the cake table (super, super easy), and a fabric bunting from some awesome Tanya Whelan fabric I bought on etsy.

For the table decorations, I put cabbage roses in vases and placed little bottles filled with green jellybeans (the cure for Pinkatitis!)

Every guest at the party received a wand (from Oriental Trading - I embellished them with ribbon) and their own crown (also from Oriental Trading).

The kiddos had pink lemonade, strawberries, and watermelon for their snack.

And then sat on a blanket while I read Pinkalicious.

After the story, we played Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake.

I looked everywhere for a cute pre-made Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake game, but had no luck.

SO - I decided to make the cupcake myself out of fabric...

I'm just going to go ahead and say that making that game may have been the thing that seriously pushed me over the edge.

Between that and the 13 dolls that I made, I'm pretty sure that I knocked off at least 3 years of my life expectancy.

Ahhh... lesson learned...

Next up: catching butterflies with butterfly nets...

until they got too frustrated and just used their hands!

Then cupcake time.

After cupcakes, Avery opened her presents.

Before leaving for home, the little girls selected their own Pinkalicious doll to take home with them.

I've gotta say - I was happy to see them leave...
Wow.

But this picture makes it totally worth it all...

All photos (with the exception of the cover of the Pinkalicious book) by my beautiful, talented friend Sonya Balentine. She just started her own photography business. Check her out. She's awesome. And wonderful. And awesome.

o-h-i-o

2010-10-04T08:14:00.006-05:00

We have a house in another state.

I like to pretend that it's my Vacation house.

Only it's not. It's totally not.

It's our house.

That we still own.

3 1/2 years after we moved out.

ugh.

We have some really great renters in our house, but we decided that it was probably time to drive on up to Ohio to meet up with them and check out the condition of the house.

So - we headed out for the excruciatingly long drive last Thursday after preschool.

All I have to say is, "Thank you God for portable DVD players."

And Diego.

The drive was totally exhausting...as we expected. But at least nobody puked. Before this trip, we were at 2-0 with the puking-in-the-car-business. This trip makes the score 2-1... so, goody for that!

Based on my previous adventures in the puke-mobile, I thought I'd offer a word or two of traveling advice:

Always, always, always travel with a large towel in the car.

Always.

And be ready to grab a pair of spare clothes at a moment's notice.

And a bra.

And it's a good idea to have a couple of trash bags on hand.

And try not to be in the middle of a meal at CRACKER BARREL when your kid gets sick.

Because that really stinks.

Literally.

We made it - finally - and spent the next day doing a few of the things we loved about the city where Avery was born.

We went to visit the sweet, sweet school where I taught 1st grade for a few years to say "hello" to friends. Afterward, we went shopping in our favorite outdoor mall.

Avery requested a photo by the fountain. Where she posed. Of course.

The next day, we headed out to the COUNTRY LIVING FAIR.

Don't think I didn't plan this trip around it.

Because I totally did.

Look at these cute little guys....

Avery and Charlie loved them.

The weather was amazing and the vendors were so great.

I've decided that I have to go again next year...but not to the one in Ohio. Because the drive is murder.

The Fair, however, was awesome.

Of course, I saw a million things I would have loved to purchase, but the checkbook (and the fact that we're on track to call this guy next month and tell him that we're DEBT FREE) kept me from owning most of them.

I did get to buy a few little things though, and had a really great time looking around.

After the Fair, we took the kiddos to our favorite ice cream store in Columbus...

It did not disappoint.

So yummy.

That night, we met with our Renters - who are totally fantastic.

I was so nervous to see our house again.

I worried that it wouldn't look the same... worried that I would be flooded with memories of happy times...worried that I would feel sad that we can't live in it.

But everything was great.

Our house looked amazing... the Renters love living there... they have a sweet, happy family...the house is full of love...

I couldn't have been more pleased...or more grateful.

Our meeting reminded me of God's promise from His Word that He will supply all of our needs.

He always does.

He always will.

He is so good to us.

The next day, we went to our favorite breakfast place in Columbus.

It was pretty packed, so David and I had to work our buns off to keep Avery and Charlie occupied while we waited for our breakfast.

Crayons help, but never really hold them off for more than 3.5 minutes.

Usually, singing and being silly will buy us some time -

It typically costs me my pride and the little bit of coolness that I have left, but it works.

Avery chose the pancakes with whipped cream on top.

With the emphasis on the whipped cream.

Then we decided to bust out the "building blocks".

Thankfully, the food came just before the major meltdowns commenced.

Avery got her whipped cream...and LOTS of it.

All was right with the world.

Until Charlie started throwing his pancakes.

Eating out with kids is never quite as fun as you think it will be, is it?

We did some more shopping before heading home on Monday morning.

On the way home, Avery helped David clean the windows.

She did a pretty good job.

If the whole preschool thing doesn't work out for her, she'd definitely have a back-up gig.

We took a break for dinner at Loveless Cafe in Nashville.

I love that place.

If you're ever in Nashville, you have to go there.

Avery and Charlie really loved the gift shop.

And the guitar shaped fly swatters.

Can you tell that daddy plays guitar?

It took us 11 hours to get back home from Columbus.

For the record: It's NOT an 11 hour drive.

I've never been so happy to get out of the car.

But nobody puked... so I'd say the trip was a huge success.

school banner

2010-10-02T21:49:00.007-05:00

Thought I'd share the Welcome banner that I made for my Preschool classroom door this year.

I made it with my Cricut using the Mini Monograms cartridge for the squares and the Simply Sweet cartridge for the letters. I cut out an apple using the Doodlecharms cartridge to add a little somethin' somethin' to the ends of the banner.

I hung it at what I believed to be a totally appropriate height, but forgot that I just barely qualify as a person of "average height".

So maybe I'm not the best judge.

My height issue may be the underlying reason for my obsession with Little People.

I think they are totally fascinating.

Especially these guys:

How cute are they????

Anyway - back to the banner thing...

I've noticed that every time a dad or person taller than 5' 7" comes in the room, he/she has to duck.

Like...a lot.

Oh well.

It makes me happy.
Kind of like Little People do.

four years

2010-09-29T14:45:00.002-05:00

On September 14, 2006, my life changed forever.

I've had four years with the sweetest little girl in the whole world.

It took us almost 2 years to get pregnant with Avery, but she was well worth the wait.

I guess that's why celebrating Avery's birthday is so special for David and me too...

I can't believe how quickly four years has flown by.

On September 14, 2010, Avery woke up to a sugary surprise.

Later that morning, we headed off to preschool where she was greeted by this adorable sign at the front door of her classroom...

She celebrated by sharing donut holes and juice with all her little friends.

After school, we headed to my mom and dad's house for another sweet surprise.

And presents!

Aren't those little mice the cutest things ever?
David accused me of being more excited about them than Avery was, but I beg to differ.

For dinner that night, I made Hamburger Helper (actually it was homemade Taco Mac'n'cheese, but we won't tell Avery), corn, and cupcakes: Avery's requested Birthday meal.

Typically, Avery sticks to a very strict diet-o-beige. If it's not beige, she won't eat it.

Unless it is made of sugar... and then she'll inhale it.

I'm blaming our kiddos picky eating habits on David...'Cause it makes me feel better.

But honestly, I have to agree that most beige foods are seriously yummy.

french fries...pasta...corn...mashed potatoes...ramen noodles...rice...bread...

yummy.

She might be on to something there...

After our meal, Avery opened more presents - one of which was particularly special to her: the coveted and highly sought-after PILLOW PET.

And not just any Pillow Pet...the MAGICAL Unicorn Pillow Pet.

My brother and sister-in-law earned some serious points with Avery for that gift.

She went nuts when she opened it.

Side note: I'm seriously considering writing a formal letter of complaint to the Sprout Channel people for permanently ingraining the Pillow Pet commercial into Avery's brain.

It's on all. the. time.

Consequently, we sing it all. the. time.

And by "we", I mean everyone in our house.

Even Charlie says, "Pee Pet. A goggie".

Translation: "Pillow Pet. A Doggie".

Nice.

The song is out-of-control contagious.

It's a pillow. It's a pet.

It's the most annoying commercial ever.

Ahhh... commercialism. God bless the U.S.A.

We wrapped the day up with hugs and kisses and sweet dreams on her new Pillow Pet.

It was a special birthday for a special kiddo.

festival fun

2010-09-28T00:17:00.002-05:00

Every year, we head out to one of our city's local craft festivals.

I love craft festivals.

I love the kitchy handmade items, the crazy-fattening foods, and the endless opportunities for people-watching.

Festivals make me seriously happy.

David could probably do without them... but he's a Trooper and manages to humor me in the spirit of family togetherness.

And some serious hubby points.

This year we headed to the Festival on a wet and muggy day - armed with umbrellas, a camera, and some cash to spend.

Avery and Charlie immediately made friends with a gigantic, slightly tattered, and somewhat creepy elephant.

Who they thought was completely wonderful.

And totally exciting.

I managed to tear them away from the elephant long enough to consume more fried Fair Food than is suggested by the FDA.

Then we squeezed in a slightly uncomfortable exhibition of a belly dancer class, checked out the petting zoo, and did some serious posing by an adorable carousel.

We ended the day by purchasing the world's largest bag of Kettle Corn. Cause that's what you do at a Festival.

Can't wait till next year!

dolls, dolls, dolls!

2010-09-26T09:14:00.001-05:00

If you know me, you know that I'm a little bit of a Freak when it comes to Birthday parties.

Make that a Big Freak.

A Big 'Ol Crazy Freak.

A Big 'Ol Crazy Freak who needs a good slap in the face for deciding that Avery's party favors should be DOLLS.

13 dolls.

And 13 dresses.

I'm insane.

So - the party ended up being very different from my ridiculously elaborate imagined plans, but that's a post for a different day...

By the way - you're going to love the pictures - my friend Sonya took them and they are beautiful.

Until then...

I'm going to rest.

And not sew.

teacher gift

2010-09-02T20:00:00.018-05:00

As a parent, I know that finding affordable and creative gifts for teachers can be challenging.
And time consuming.
And just plain exhausting.

Which is probably why, as a teacher, I've received more candles and lotions that one person could possibly use in a lifetime.

If you teach Avery or Charlie and receive a bottle of lotion or candle from me - it may, or may not, have come from the gigantic stash in my re-gift closet.

Ok...It definitely came from the re-gift closet.

'Cause if I smell Plumeria body lotion one more time, I may puke.

Seriously.

I love Avery and Charlie's teachers this year...I mean I really love them...and - in an effort to avoid giving them a lame re-gift this year, I did a little shopping on etsy.

That's when I found some really cute oilcloth lunch bags in this store.

You can purchase a pre-made lunch bag, or just make one from a DIY kit.
It's pretty affordable, and the shop owner was super nice and helpful.

I've never sewn with oilcloth and wasn't sure how much fabric I'd need for the project, so I thought I'd give the DIY kit a try.

Thankfully, the kit came with a tutorial for putting the bags together.

I discovered that oilcloth can be a little tricky to work with - since you can't pin the fabric together without piercing the oilcloth - but by the 3rd bag, I started to get the hang of it.

And then I ran out of thread. Of course...

Anyway - if you sew - or are just looking for a cute non-lotion, non-re-gift gift, check out Rick Rack Queen's shop on etsy.

Thank you God for Preschool

2010-09-01T22:32:00.001-05:00

No really.

Thank you.

Thank you that I can enjoy teaching some really great little guys in an amazing environment.

Thank you that while I'm doing that, my kiddos are learning and having fun.

Thank you for teachers who love my kids.

Thank you for the joy I feel when I see them after being apart for just a few hours...

Thank you for an amazing, crazy, busy life...

hot, hot, hot

2010-08-24T23:47:00.002-05:00

It's been out-of-control hot around here lately.

To relieve ourselves from our heat-induced house arrest, we ventured over to our favorite sno cone place for some yumminess.

Charlie decided to make himself at home and sit directly on the concrete to eat his sno cone.

'Cause it's totally sanitary to eat next to cigarette butts and broken sno cone spoons.

After a few bites, he decided to go ahead and paint himself with the sno cone too.

Highlighter yellow.

Awesome.

We met my sweet, sweet, sister-in-law...

and my brother - for some serious conversation...

and a laugh or two.

When the tongue turns purple, you know it's time to head on home.

my friend flika

2010-08-23T15:21:00.001-05:00

A boy and his horse.

...Or as Charlie would say, a boy and his "Yee-Ha"

There's nothing in this world that makes him happier.

...With the exception of a nice, big, sippy cup of milk.

Or maybe an "ahcoowr" (a.k.a. sucker)

I just wonder...do they have to make them so...anatomically correct?

moving on

2010-08-22T22:46:00.008-05:00

It's official: We are finally moved out of Itty Bitty House and into my Mother-in-Law's house. She has kindly agreed to let us stay with her while we regroup and decide where to move next.

Avery and Charlie may never want to leave.

They are loving living in their Boo's big, giant house.

Especially Avery.

One day, after David and I told her that Boo was bringing home some strawberries and peaches from the store for her, she said, "I'm so glad we don't live at that other house any more."

Hopefully, Boo feels that way too.

Although, after a few months of Tornado Charlie and Hurricane Avery invading her lovely home, she may feel differently.

If we could just manage to keep the destruction and chaos to a minimum while we are here, I'll be happy.

________

I'm beyond pleased to announce that Avery finished her sticker chart at the end of July.
For a little girl totally addicted to her thumb, she's handled her detox like a champ.

As her big reward, Avery decided to get a Jessie doll from the Disney store instead of a Bitty Baby.

I don't know, maybe I'm a total freak, but I was a little disappointed that she didn't want to get a Bitty Baby.

In fact, it's highly possible that I was more excited about taking Avery to the American Girl store than she was.'Cause let's be honest: A trip to the Disney store just doesn't hold the same charm as an outing to the totally adorable American Girl store.

The 8-year-old girl inside of me was crushed.
Totally.

Thankfully, the 33-year-old Mom in me told the 8-year-old Me to grow up and deal with it.

Because Avery loves her.

And that's what it's all about.

I have to admit...she is pretty darn sweet.

Even if she didn't come from a store with an adorable cafe...

Per Avery's very adamant request, Charlie is in no way, shape, or form allowed even remotely close to her.

As usual, Charlie is totally unfazed by Avery's rules.

In fact, he's pretty much made it his mission in life to try to pull Jessie's beautifully braided yarn hair out of her pretty little head whenever he gets to the chance.

As a result, Avery screams her head off whenever he gets within 2 feet of Jessie.

Good Times.

In other news, since the temperature has been ten zillion degrees here lately, we've spent a lot of time indoors.
Going crazy.
And desperately trying to find things to do.

Indoor things.

Things that don't involve breaking one of my Mother-in-Law's lamps.

Or her alluringly shiny candlesticks.

Or any of her lovely breakable items.

Painting seems to do the trick most days.

The paint doesn't always make it's way to the paper, but at least it's NOT on my Mother-in-Law's couch.

Mommy's Little Helper

2010-07-17T20:35:00.001-05:00

One step forward, two steps back.

If I could sum up my week, that'd be the phrase I'd use.

For every one thing I get done...

Somebody - and I'm not naming any names, but his name rhymes with "Marley"- helps me take at least 2 steps in the opposite direction.

The direction of Disaster. And Destruction.

We'll get it all packed eventually...

I hope.

Have I ever mentioned how much it helps that he's intensely cute?

'Cause it does. It really does.

thumbody is growing up

2010-07-16T10:13:00.004-05:00

During our 4th of July festivities, Avery burned her thumb on a sparkler.

And yes, if you're keeping score, I've definitely racked up enough points to qualify for Mom of the Year. And it's only July.

I have to admit that when it happened, I thought to myself, "Hmmm... this could be the thing that keeps her from sucking her thumb long enough to break the habit." Because a true Mom of the Year looks at her child's injury as a opportunity to make her life easier.

Alright, alright, let me 'splain myself a bit:

After 3 1/2 years of observing Avery's intense affection for her thumb, I've become a little concerned; Concerned that breaking her of the habit would be horribly horrible.

Beyond horribly horrible.

Detoxing a Crack-Addict horrible.

In an effort to prepare myself for the inevitable, I talked with Dentists, consulted with other Mom of the Year Candidates, and conducted my own online investigation.

The options aren't even close to appealing.

First, there's the $68.00 thumb-guard. Which looks like a medieval torture device of some sort.

Pricey.

Scary.

And let's be honest: a little embarrassing.

Am I right?

I'll let my kid wear p.j.s to Wal-mart, but I draw the line at the thumb guard.

I've got standards, people.

Next option: Horrible-tasting sprays and/or ointments

I weighed the options.

I considered the possibilities.

They all stunk (stanked? stunked? stinked?).

Every one of them.

They all spelled t-o-r-t-u-r-e for Avery AND Mommy.

So when Avery's sparkler injury started to heal a bit, I took a look at her bandaged finger and discovered that her while the burned part of her finger had healed, the entire area that the band-aid covered was infected.

I'll be honest, I freaked out a little bit.

Warning: the following picture is not for the weak of heart.

And definitely don't enlarge it.

Unless you are a glutton for punishment.

It was time to visit Dr. Catherine.

Avery was not pleased.

She loves to visit Dr. Catherine when Charlie has an appointment. In fact, she thinks it's pretty fun.

She does not, however, think it's fun to visit Dr. Catherine when she has an appointment.

There was a lot of screaming.

Followed by more screaming.

And a little wailing.

So - Mommy of the Year brought out the bribery tools: a.k.a. a promised trip to the ice cream store.

And a trip to the Teacher Store for some stickers and a chart - so that I could prolong the bribery and attempt to break her of her habit for good.

The deal: fill up the chart and get a super-cool prize.

A Big Girl prize.

A prize worthy of a truly momentous occasion:

(photo from American Girl website)

So far, so good. I think we're almost half-way through the chart now.

Looks like a visit to the American Girl store may be in our future!

And a big 'ol trophy for Mommy of the Year.

wordless wednesday: worst carwash ever.

2010-07-14T09:02:00.003-05:00

nesting

2010-07-09T21:10:00.000-05:00

One of Avery's favorite things to do is to make "nests" outside...for the ants.

Yep. For the ants.

Cause everyone wants to make the ants more comfortable right in front of their house.

I guess it's better than making them welcome IN your house...

Charlie wanted to join in the fun - which for him means destroying everything that Avery is trying to create..

Avery caught on and quickly guarded her handiwork...

But not before El Crafti-one grabbed a nest peice for the road.

So - if you drive by our house and see several clumps of dirt randomly placed in our yard, you'll know where it came from.

a little crafty fun

2010-07-06T22:55:00.009-05:00

I am totally loving the Bit of Whimsy doll pattern I bought a few months ago. Once I got past the initial shock of figuring out how to use a sewing machine, making the dolls turned out to be really fun.

Here's my niece Abby with the doll I made her for her birthday (on the right) and her sister's birthday doll (on the left).

Abby's little sister specifically asked for purple hair on her doll.

I have to admit that I wasn't so sure how purple hair would turn out, but - that shows what I know.

Kids are so creative.

I've got plans to make a doll for Avery in the next few weeks based on her favorite book:

(www.amazon.com )

Check back for the pictures!

from the mouths of babes...

2010-07-03T20:28:00.002-05:00

David:
We won't make mommy take the boxes down from the attic. That's a boy's job.

Avery:
And it's a girl's job to tell (you) what to do.

Oh, you.

Dude, where's my sippy cup?

2010-07-01T10:08:00.007-05:00

Things you do when you're trying to sell a house:

1. Clean the tile grout with a scrub brush.

2. Wash the windows.

3. Organize the pantry.

4. Ruthlessly purge all unnecessary clothing

5. Actually put clothes away after they've been folded

6. Clean out and organize closets

7. Attempt to clean the gunk off the microwave in a timely manner

8. Dust

9. Make the beds. The right way. Or even at all.

10. Remove 1/2 of everything you own so that the house looks...not as small as it really is.

All are things that you feel totally and completely required to do when your Realtor adds this sign to your front yard:

Talk about pressure...

Sheesh.

You may be the type of Mommy who manages to do those things everyday - between homeschooling your nineteen children, grinding your own wheat to make bread, and growing your own organic vegetable garden- but I'm... not.

In fact, I can't even manage to find the extra time to investigate where the heinous sour milk odor is coming from in my car. I just know there's a sippy cup in there somewhere...

(Last night, Avery aksed me to pray that God will make our car not smell anymore. Fantastic).

So, I think it's pretty clear that cleaning out the Crisper Drawer in my fridge isn't a top priority.

Especially when most of my day is spent cleaning up messes like this one:

...A.K.A. the aftermath of Hurricane Charlie.

That picture is the hard-hitting evidence of Charlie's fondness for dumping Gunner's water bowl all over the floor.

It's also evidence of Avery's fondness for her Hello Kitty rain boots...and her equal fondness for stomping in puddles in her rain boots.

And there you have it.

The reason that Mommy's next house may be the Nuthouse.

Good news: We have a contract on Itty Bitty House and should be moving out soon.

July 25th to be exact.

Not to a new city, just a new house.

Hopefully one that isn't so...itty bitty.

SO - with the inspection over and contract signed, my house looks like a Tornado/Bomb ripped through it again...Ahhhh...back to normal...

Can't wait to see what God has in store for us next.

Finding that sippy cup may need to be step one.

Followed closely by packing.

I'll keep you posted.

Puerto Vallarta

2010-06-30T09:42:00.001-05:00

Dear, Sweet, Peurto Vallarta.

Oh how I miss you.

You were my favorite.

Oh you...

Posting these pictures while surrounded by piles of laundry and our impending move (more on that later) hoovering like an annoying hoovering-thingy over my head is kinda torturous.

Sigh.

Just for a minute, I'm going to pretend that the laundry doesn't exist and enjoy the memories...the beautiful memories...

On our official anniversary, David and I took a boat out to John Houston's private getaway.

And evidently, I'm not a "small boat gal".
The choppy waves were mean.
Really mean.
And my breakfast may - or may not- have protested in a tiny, rocking, stinky bathroom at the bottom of the boat.

But truly - I would have done it again to see this:

And have lunch here:

And take cheesy pictures with random animals:

And take a guided walk through the tropical forrest.

It was...dreamy.
And totally devoid of laundry piles.

That evening we went to dinner on the ship.

And for dessert, the waiter brought us this:

The perfect ending to the perfect anniversary day.

Now... on to laundry.

And hunting down a few million boxes.

mazatlan, mexico

2010-06-29T22:32:00.001-05:00

Our second stop on our anniversary cruise was Mazatlan, Mexico.

The Cruiseship Director described Mazatlan as a "Sleepy little fishing villiage". Since this wasn't our first cruise, we knew that "Sleepy fishing village" is Cruise Code for "Lame Cruise Ship Stop".

With that valuable information in our back pocket, we decided to take that day to buy a few goodies for the kiddos and family.

There were loads of cheesy trinkets. Everywhere.

And even a K-Mart. Of sorts.

After some browsing, we stopped for lunch at a place on the beach.

The view was so lovely from the restaraunt.

Which turned out to be the perfect place to spy on the C-R-A-Z-Y, and completely relentless vendors.

Want a carved fish?

Nope.

Want your hair braided?

Absolutely not.

Want some fake Ray Bans?

I'll pass.

Dora T-Shirt in Espanol?

Absoutley. Because that's HILARIOUS!

This made me smile a little:

And this just made me happy:

Banners and Garlands - in any country - are just plain happy, don'tcha think?

cabo

2010-06-29T11:03:00.003-05:00

After 2 super fun days in L.A., we boarded our ship and set sail for Mexico.

We've taken a few cruises before (Dave and I are total suckers for relaxing and doing NOTHING on vacation) but never had a room this nice. It would definitely qualify as a room with a view.

We went to sleep here...

And woke up here...

Coffee on our ---- balcony.

In Cabo.

Yes.

Yes Sir.

We got of the boat and went to this place to have some lunch:

Yummy.

Yum.

Lunch with our toes in the sand... lovely.

Followed by an afternoon of reading.

Strenuous day, but we made it through.

california love

2010-06-28T22:13:00.007-05:00

On June 10, David and I celebrated our 10th anniversary.

David has been planning our anniversary trip for over a year.

Planning vacations is serious business for Dave - and this was a super special one.

He out-did himself for sure.

Our big trip included a cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta (sp?) and a short 2-day stay in L.A. before the cruise.

As an added bonus, our friends Josh and Maribeth joined us for the L.A. part of our trip.

When I think of L.A., I think of movie stars, palm trees, huge houses, Rodeo Drive, and tons of cheesy tourist attractions.

I'm not opposed to cheesy, touristy things.

In fact, the Big 'Ol Nerd in me loves them immensely.

And if we're being real honest here, I would have been seriously pumped to take a Tour of the Stars in a dorky bus. I would have relished checking out the Brangelina exhibit at the Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum. I would totally have totally loooved putting my hands in Judy Garland's handprints. It's true.

I'm a nerd.

Josh and Maribeth, however - are a little cooler than I - and enjoy doing what the natives do when they visit a new city.

Things like shop at this place:

Where all the pretty fabrics live.

In one place.

Turns out the natives do some really fun stuff.

Maribeth and I were in looooove with Michael Levine.

It's safe to say that David and Josh didn't feel the same way.

At one point, Maribeth and I left Josh and David on their own while we sifted through the bins in this place:

That's when Josh looked at David and said, "You know that everyone thinks we're together."

To which David responded, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure no one cares."

And it was true.

They may have been the only hetero people within a 2 mile radius of the store.

Possibly more.

Make that definitely more.

We hung out at the Farmer's Market where I saw this guy riding a bike:

And I almost peed my pants.

Cause I'm a total nerd.

Mr. and Mrs. Coolness did acquiesce when they went with us to the very touristy Santa Monica Pier.

I have my suspicions that Josh was just scoping out spots for his engagement shoot on Sunday, but whatever. Let's just pretend they were into the cheesy tourist thing for a minute.

We saw Zoltar...

And rode the Ferris Wheel.

And saw the fattest pigeons I've ever seen.

And stared at the crazy people swimming in the freezing cold water.

Then we went shopping and saw Harvey Levin from TMZ interviewing some people for The People's Court.

I think I did pee myself that time.

And I managed to snap a picture -

We saw some seriously interesting fashion choices at the mall.

Just take a look at what the middle guy is wearing.

Wowza.

The next day, we went to breakfast where I overheard a guy at the next table talking about the scene he was writing for 30 Rock.

FANCY.

I managed to control myself during that conversation.

But only because I was busy eavesdropping.

Later, we went to Firefly (a restaurant so cocky that they don't even have a sign outside.) to eat dinner. And - umm - Kirsten Dunst was dining there.

At the same place where we were dining.

Yes. That's right.

She walked right past us on her way out the door.

I didn't see her, but Josh and David did.

It was probably best that I missed it.

Because I'm pretty sure I would have been asked to leave the restaurant on account of my obnoxious behavior.

Come to think of it, I'm wondering why I was even allowed to enter the establishment in the first place - since I wasn't wearing stilettos and a mini dress.

By the way - Firefly has one bathroom.

One bathroom for the ladies AND the gents.

To use at the same time.

Let me just say that standing in line to pee with a guy is a little strange.

Overall - L.A. was fantastic.

Beautiful weather

Beautiful food.

Beautiful people.

Beautiful company.

i'm a model, you know what i mean...

2010-06-27T23:31:00.001-05:00

Avery has become quite the - ahem - model lately.

When the camera comes out, the drama begins.

We call this one "The Tyra"

And then there's the standard, "Work it, girl" pose:

And we can't forget the infamous "Tiger".

Rawr.

And the "Heeey, Girl"...

She's coy. So very coy.

This one looks suspiciously similar to the "Blue Steel".

http://www.benstiller.net/

The photo session was in full swing when Charlie decided to join in the fun.

Much to my suprise, Little Princess Mine-o-saur graciously allowed him to sit for a second.

Just as I was beginning to feel quite proud of her for sharing "the precious" - and just when Charlie was truly beginning to really enjoy himself...

She decided he was done.

Denied.

Looks like no one bothered to tell Charlie that models can be real Divas.

sum-sum-summertime

2010-06-26T23:22:00.001-05:00

Summer wouldn't be summer without several visits to our very favorite sno cone place in the city. It's kinda dangerous to go there without packing heat, so we typically take Dave with us when we go.

But the sno cones are phenomenal.

So... it's worth it.

Totally.

Seriously Mug-worthy.

pretty please???

2010-05-29T22:41:00.001-05:00

This is the face.

This one.

It's the face that convinces me to do things that my brain tells me I should not.

Things like buying an over-priced push-up.

Because she needs it.

It's the same face that tells me - 2 seconds and 2 licks later - that she's done.

That's when this little guy gets lucky and gets to finish it up.

...and that's the face can and will convince me to do the same thing all over again.

Seriously - could YOU say "no"?

too much month at the end of the money

2010-05-28T22:19:00.000-05:00

You know it's the end of the month when...

I resort to using the spare change jar for my Sonic drink money.

and these to get a free cup of coffee.

Oh Dave.
You're killing me.
You're really killing me.