Because obviously she fancies herself some sort of photographer or something.  AS IF.  Still, I make no secret that I enjoy taking pictures and my favorite subjects are my little rugrats.  And someday, someday, I will have a “real” camera with which to take pictures.  When that day comes, we shall all be in great trouble.  Because there will be pictures like no body’s business.  But until that day (which, frankly, may or may not exist), you’ll all have to put up with her lousy point-and-shoot pictures that she fuxes with in Photoshop until they look “quasi-fancy”.  That’s my word for it and I’m sticking to it.

So I treat you all, this fine Friday (while I’m trying to ignore my annoyingly runny nose, scratchy throat, pounding head and general state of craptasticness), to a sort of “day in the life” photo blog.  Because I like these pictures, that’s why.

This here is Pup/Poptart/Holly and she’s chewing on a paper towel.  This is the look she gave me when I threatened to eat her if she didn’t knock it off.  I get no respect.

This is “Happy” Liam after he was not-so-happy and I cheered him up on my lap…

And now he’s not-so-happy again.  Welcome to Toddlerhood!  Have you seen my sanity?

It was short-lived, the not-so-happiness because he soon saw “Wow Wow Wubsy” was on Noggin. He loves that stupid show.

Meanwhile, Evie watches from her bouncer seat.  Approximately two seconds after I took this, she insisted I feed her and hold her and generally attach her somehow to my person.

When Harry got home from work school (duh) he said (and I quote), “Hi, I don’t have any homework today can I play Wii?”  Care to take a breath first?  Here he is, honing his golfing skillz.

Liam gets a kick out of watching Harry play the Wii.  As long as he doesn’t stand in front of the TV, no one gets hurt.

Tags: cameras, family, photography, photos, Photoshop, television, Wii
Filed under Family Circus, General Snark |

It’s been a rough 8 years or so, hasn’t it? Our poor little country has been through a lot of… stuff.  Terror, disaster, depression, recession… and a president who is pretty much a giant doofus (I’m sorry, but it had to be said).

The definition of being a patriot has been mudled in recent years, I feel.  The spin doctors out there would like us to believe that unless we agree with our government 100%, that we’re not patriotic.  That we don’t love our country.  This always angered me so much because I’ve always loved our country.  Sure, there have been moments where I haven’t been very proud of our country, but I’m also pretty sure that I wouldn’t live anywhere else.  No, I’d rather make THIS country even better.  Fix the problems, polish the edges, show it off for what it is.  Can I get an Amen?

Anyhow, I’m not going to go on and on and ON about this today and instead want to say, “Happy B-day, America!”  and “You ROCK, U. S. of A.!”  For our part, we’re going to go to the mall and do some shoe shopping for the boy (he goes back on MONDAY, OMFG).  Later on tonight, we’re going to hunt down a sedate fireworks show.  Last year was fun and all but TOO. MANY. PEOPLE.  We’re far more anti-social than that.

What are your big plans?  Do share!

Tags: 4th of July, family, patriot, politics
Filed under General Snark |

OY.  We haven’t even been through Sunday yet and I’m already feeling like i’ve had a very full weekend so far.  Some of it good.  Some of it… well.  Maybe not so much.

Friday was a lot of fun.  We met Kile’s sister, her husband and boys at the hotel they were staying at here in town to go in the pool.  It’s a great pool.  I was on the fence about actually going in, seeing as how I lack a bathing suit that fits.  What I ended up doing was putting on a one-piece that does NOT fit, layering a tankini top over that (I don’t have the bottoms) and wearing some old shorts on the bottom.  It worked.  We ALL went into the pool, Evie included.

Once she got over the initial shock, she really enjoyed it.  I held her part of the time we were in the water and, I kid you not, she SLEPT.  Being in the pool PUT HER TO SLEEP.  The girl loves water.  It completely soothed her.  Liam, on the other hand, was VERY unsure about the pool at first.  I carried him in and he whined and clung to my neck as I brought him deeper into the water.  Eventually, however, he was charmed by the splashing and by the bubbles a waterfall feature created.  While Kile was holding him (he was actually able to hold him in the water!), he learned that he could pretend to dunk Kile’s head and the faux-sputtering noises Kile would make were HILARIOUS.  To Liam, at least, who laughed harder than I’ve ever heard someone laugh.

We had to get out of the pool, however, when Liam’s lips turned blue.  It was a little on the cool side.  I took him into the bathroom/locker room to change and there was NO changing table.  Grr.  So I changed him on a towel on the counter.  And then I lost my mind and set him down on the floor next to me and told him to stay put so I could dry myself off.  RIGHT.  I love how I expected that to actually happen.

Liam took off like a shot, so I hurried after him.  I was just behind him as he ran out of the bathroom and towards the gym located opposite the doors.  Of course, the gym was walled in glass.  No one told Liam this little tidbit and he ran RIGHT into the glass wall.  Just like you would see on America’s Funniest Home Videos or something.  As it happens, a group of foreign tourists were walking by at that exact moment and expressed concern.  I assured them he was fine (no crying, etc) as I picked him up and carried him back to the pool area.  Goofy kid.  Of course, he was no worse the wear.  Becuase his head is actually made of granite.

As late as that night was, Saturday started pretty early.  I had my hair appointment at 1pm and I wanted to make sure that I got Evie taken care of and Liam down for a nap before I had to go.  Thing is, we also desperately needed groceries as we had NO FOOD in the house.  I figured that we could solve that by getting up and going out to a quick breakfast (perhaps even just McDonald’s for egg mcmuffins) about 8:30 or so and then go to the grocery store.  As long as we were back by 12, it was no problem.  Well, Kile’s sister and brother in law wanted to meet for breakfast.  They suggested 9 am and I made the mistake of thinking, “I wouldn’t want to be meeting any later than that!” while Kile was thinking, “I wonder if they’ll even be awake by 9.”

Turns out?  Kile was right.  So we met at more like 10 am.  And we went to Denny’s, which was fine, but we went to one that was heck and gone from anything else, including where we live.  We had to stop and get gas and got there just ahead of them and got seated.  After breakfast, we went to the nearest Walmart which was still a good ways away from there.  It was a lot of driving.  They took Harry with them for the day, as they were doing a little shopping and then going to a water park.  I was unsure about that, since our schedule was a little precarious, but knew Harry would have a blast and I didn’t want to deny him that.

By the time we got to Walmart, it was almost 11:30.  NOT MUCH TIME.  We decided we’d just have to go again tomorrow and to just get what we needed for the day.  And quickly!  I was impressed… we made it out of there just before 12.  But the drive home was stressful.  Stuck behind slow drivers on two lane roads and then a big accident on the interstate slowed us down.  We didn’t roll into our driveway until nearly 12:30, which is about the time I needed to leave for my appointment.  I had just enough time to lay Liam down for his nap (he’d already dozed in the van, so I was nervous that he would take a nap at all) and get going. I didn’t have time to feed Evie or anything.  I felt bad leaving Kile like that.

I hurried downtown and made it to my appointment just in time.  It was a cute little salon run by a bunch of adorable looking gals.  It felt very trendy and I felt very nervous about my haircut.  I went in there with hair that basically looked like this:

I walked out with hair that looked like this:

OH. MY. STARS.  Where’d all my hair go?? I’m having a real hard time getting used to it.  Sure, it’s a cute, hip, modern ‘do and that’s something I haven’t had in a real long time.  On the other hand, it’s a cute, hip, modern ‘do on ME and I’m just not used to that.  Every time I catch a glimpse of my hair, I double-take and then want to go hide somewhere because WHERE’D ALL MY HAIR GO??

I’m going to be dying it a little lighter.  I wouldn’t mind some accenting highlights but I’m SO cheap that not only will I not get it dyed in a salon (hello Herbal Essences hair color!), I’m also too cheap to buy a box of highlighting goop.  But you heard me mention before that my overnight stay at the Westin is in jeopardy here so I’m cutting corners where I can!

So what do YOU guys think?  It freaks me out, even looking at pictures of it.  It’s sure lighter though, I’ll give it that.  I find myself hoping I’ll grow in some length soon.

I got home and Liam was crying in his crib and Evie had resisted all manner of bottle and contents before reluctantly taking SOMETHING to tide her over until I got home.  Liam settled, who knows why he woke up in the first place.  But Kile was obviously beat and fell asleep promptly in his chair.

We had plans to go to the drive-in and see “Wall-E” last night, but my sister in law still had Harry and we didn’t know when we would be getting him back.  And no one answered their cell phone when we called.  It got later.  And later.  My dreams of having pizza for dinner (a real craving of mine lately) faded.  Before long, we wondered if we would even make the drive-in at all.  Finally, they called and we went to meet them.  If we were going to the movie, we were going to be cutting it close.  We’d have to pick up fast food for dinner on the way and eat it there.  OR we could go to the movie on Sunday night and go do pizza up right.  We made the mistake of presenting the options to Harry.

Harry wanted to see the movie last night and burst into tears at there mere notion of having to wait a WHOLE DAY to go see it (and didn’t understand when we assumed he was tired because of the irrational tears).  So, we made a break for it.  And wouldn’t you know, the drive-in was PACKED.  Apparently, word has gotten out that drive-ins are cool again because everyone and their DOG was there.  We got a fairly horrible spot back by the snack bar but at least it had a straight-shot view of the screen.  It was a good hour or so until the movie was set to begin so we had plenty of time to eat our dinners and get situated.

I wasn’t real crazy about it; I’d forgotten Evie’s bouncer seat AND Boppy pillow, both of which are handy at being places to have her be without having my arms tied up.  Plus, we were packed in like sardines and I’m sorry, but that’s not real condusive to private breastfeeding.  Also, the light and noise from the snack bar were pretty distracting.  But… we made it work.  And the movie was adorable.  I wouldn’t mind seeing it again under less stressful circumstances.

We were surprised at how much Liam seemed to enjoy it.  Close to the end, he started to get whiny and such but he was exhausted by that point.  Until then, he watched the screen with rapt attention and laughed and shrieked and had a grand ol’ time.  It was really cute to watch.

Still, we ended out the day on a very frustrated note.  Kile was tired and admitted he hadn’t had a very good day at all.  Neither had I, partially because I felt it was my fault (the whole hair appointment and everything) that he had such a bad day and was so grouchy.  I hoped Sunday would be better.

And really?  It has been.  We haven’t done much besides go shopping (we missed church because we were rather lazy this morning).  We checked out the new Whole Foods here in town (LOVE) and ate at In ‘n Out Burger and shopped at Walmart and Sam’s Club.  We have food again!  YAY!  I won’t have to be so gosh darned hungry this week!

I am exhausted now though.  I have aches on top of aches.  Lugging Liam around, even for short distances, is starting to take it’s toll.  While I am hoping for toned arms, I am definitely getting stiff and sore shoulders.  The top of my back hurts every time I move it.  My legs are screaming at me for the miles I’ve traversed in the name of retail today.  And I’m STILL not used to my hair.

Tags: drive-in, Evelyn, family, haircut, Kile, Liam, shopping, swimming, Wall-E, weekend
Filed under Family Circus, It's All About Me |