Olive Garden vs. Ball Field Food

If I could give one piece of advice for anyone who is planning to have pictures taken it is this:

Be Yourself.
Don't be what you see in a magazine.
Don't be what everyone else is.
Don't try to be something that you're not.
Don't dress your kids in clothes that make them uncomfortable.
Just be you.

I'll be honest and tell you that last year, I really struggled when taking my friend Sheila's family photos. She has a teenage son. I have preschool girls. I'm used to tutus and giggling. I'm not used to kids who are the same size as their parents. I just couldn't get any poses that seemed natural or relaxed and fun. Sheila and I talked about this and she had the perfect idea.

She decided to let her son just be himself...baseball jersey and all. We met at the local ball field, and we had a great time taking pictures. Just so you know, Sheila prefers ball field food to Olive Garden food. Weird, huh?

But guess what? The family photos didn't feel so awkward this time. It felt natural and real. It felt like them...being them. And what more could you ask for from family pictures than to capture your family, just as it is right this moment.

Sheila - I LOVE these pictures and I love that you picked this location. It is so you (even though I still prefer Olive Garden to ball field food).

Oh...and to protect everyone's privacy, I did a quick photoshop job to remove the name of the ball team on the shirts. The real pictures will not look this weird, I promise!

They got it wrong...

In 1993, this pagent queen was voted "Miss Congeniality." Seriously. That's the truth.


I think they got it all wrong. She should have been
"Miss Photogenic." Oh heck...she should have won the whole darn thing, don't you agree?

More of this beautiful lady and her boys, coming soon!

Field Trip...

Wondering what to do on an overcast, dreary day? Allow me to suggest the following:

*call your partner in crime (I mean, your craziest friend who will go along with your hairbrain ideas)

*dress your kids in cute costumes

*grab your camera

*head to the local laundromat to practice your photography skills.

Yes...we really did all of the above. The girls pushed carts down the aisles and they may or may not have banged into walls and you can bet that people were staring at us. But we're used to it (and they were kind, staring strangers). Mostly, we laughed...a lot. And we prayed that no one got hurt (or sued) in the process.

2011...

Let the Year of the Boat begin!

To read more about our maiden voyage, please see a full recap by my bravest friend Sheila. Can I just tell you that Sheila called me a few months ago (long before we had a boat), to tell me that she was in a sporting goods store and the life jackets were buy one get one free, so she was buying four. The girl was pressuring me (or she was in some kind of conspiracy with Steve, trying to ensure that 2011 really did become the Year of the Boat). Looks like she got her way (and she has a super cute pink life jacket that I am going to steal borrow the next time we're on the boat together).

So here's to the Year of the Boat...may it bring wonderful memories to our family (and may it continue to stay afloat)!

The House Guest...

We have a house guest for the weekend. He's hairy and he slobbers. He follows me around and begs for food and refuses to sleep in his own "bed." And despite all this, we are enjoying his company. Because...he is a little bit cute, don't you think?

This is Dakota, Bentley's half brother. The poor guy has been called Bentley quite frequently in the past two days, but he just smiles his goofy smile and wags his tail!

Kate professes her love to him at least three times an hour (as in, "Oh Dakota, I love you soooooo much.") She has even decided that he probably won't want to go home because he'll miss us too much.

I think that's not likely, after we dressed him in princess attire. Dakota lives in a testosterone dominated house, so we were just trying to get him in touch with his feminine side (sorry, Rodney)!

But don't worry, he's gotten to partake in many manly activities, such as football and BBQ grilling.


And we even introduced him to the cute, furry "ladies" who live in the house. He was scared and ran away from the "ladies." Now that was funny!

Notice that there are no pictures of Ellie with our house guest. She's afraid he's going to eat her. Seriously. I heard her crying last night and she told me that Dakota was trying to eat her. Of course, she was waving a slice of cheese in his face, so I suspect he might have been trying to eat her!

Sheila, Rodney, and Shawn...don't worry about Dakota, because we're taking good care of him. I think we may even paint his toenails later today : )

Frost, Food, and the "F" Bomb...

We went camping.
There was frost on the ground.
I could see my breath.
I got stuck in a freezing cold shower - I heard the "F" bomb fly from my mouth.
The girls ate breakfast outside, while wearing winter coats and gloves.
I shivered as I sat by a campfire.

We slept in a borrowed camper, with the heat on full blast.
We ate peanut butter and banana mountain pies, chicken corn potpie, a potroast, pancakes, bacon, smores.
We drove around in a golf cart and acted like rednecks.
I watched two little girls have the time of their lives.

Was it worth it? Absolutely.







Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. M for the use of the camper (and for setting it up and for letting us use your new, silky pink sheets, and for not worrying about how much damage two little girls *could* have done to the place)! We truly appreciate it!

Basketweaving 101...

Do you know that joke about athletes who attend college and major in basketweaving? You know...because there is no way on God's Green earth that some of them could actually pass a real college class? Apparantly, a basketweaving class is an easy A, even for the dumb jocks (no offense to all those super athletes out there). But here's the thing. I wasn't really a dumb jock. I was a super hot cheerleader (okay, I'm exagerating, but it makes my middle-aged, 35-year-old self feel better to remember things that way). Truth be told, I had poufy, hard as a rock hair-sprayed poodle hair and I may have been a little bit on the nerdy side. Nerdy, as in good grades, advanced classes, teacher's pet kind of nerdy. But here's the kicker...I could NEVER have passed a basketweaving class. Really. I can't weave. It's the simple things that escape me. Ask my college roommates. They were education majors and had this great idea that we should weave baskets for Christmas presents one year. It was easy, economical, and cute. Except...the nerdy (and formerly hot cheerleader) chick could. not. weave.

So that's why I was very surprised (and impressed) when my friend Sheila showed up this week, sewing machine in hand. She was on a mission to teach me to sew. Me. The nerdy girl who can't weave. The good news is that Sheila majored in Special Education. She's used to us "slower" types. Ha! Gotta love that girl. And you know what? While my hot cheerleader self may be long gone, my domestic skills are improving with age. Who knew? Maybe by the time I turn 50, I'll sign up for a basketweaving class and show those athletes a thing or two.






Thanks, Sheila. You're a brave sole and I love you for it!

Welcome to 34...

April is always a month of celebration around here. A few weeks ago I baked this amazing cake (just don't tell anyone that the M&M's on the cake were in my freezer since last Halloween, okay?), planned a party, and joyfully welcomed my friends Sara and Sheila to 34. I always feel a little lonely (and a little old) for the four months between my birthday and theirs. And so, April brings cause for celebration!

I'm not exactly sure what's happening in this picture. Somehow, Sheila became the jungle gym for the evening!
Poor Baby Blake wasn't thrilled with his princess attire for the party. Look at him standing by the window...just wishing someone would let him outside to do the grilling with the "men folk."

Happy Birthday, girls, and welcome to your middle 30's! Good thing we just keep getting hotter, smarter, skinnier, and more charismatic. Ha! If only that was true! But we are getting happier, funnier, and more confortable in our (now slightly saggy) skin. That has to count for something, right?

Scrap Away

Two months ago I went away for two nights and three days. No kids. No Steve. Just me and some girlfriends. Are you having visions of a spa and fancy restaurants, shopping and yoga? Well push those visions aside, because this trip was unlike any that I've ever taken. We stayed in a lodge in the mountains. Far from civilization.

The only available shopping was at the local pawn shop and Dairy Queen was the fanciest restaurant around. It snowed, though, so we were pretty much confined to our mountain lodge. There was no pool, no masseause, no fuzzy robes, no cucumber facial treatments. And guess what? I had a great time. We were scrapbookers on a mission to complete exactly one million pages in a weekend and we were stocked with enough junk food to sustain us for a year or so. What's not to love? My roomie (Sheila) kept me up all night discussing the benefits of the Honey Bell Orange and practicing for her future career as a QVC broadcaster. We laughed until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, we fell a little short of our one million page goal, but we scrapped night and day, completing old albums and starting new ones. I'm scrapbook challenged, so I stuck with the basics. I don't like frilly ribbons or flowers or fancy little doo dads on my pages. Takes way too long. Just call me a "slap-it-on-the-page-and-move-on-girl." I think I will give up scrapbooking one of these days and move into the digital world. But I did enjoy my time in the mountains with a room full of crazy, creative, junk-food eating, scrapbooking girls.

A tale of three cheerleaders...

This is my friend Sara. Remember her?

I know...you probably didn't recognize her without the headlamp (ha!). Sara is my "oldest" friend (the one who makes fabulous chicken noodle soup). Sara's always done a good job of watching out for me. She used to bring deodorant to ballet class and cheerleading practice to share with me...because I usually forgot mine. Without her, I would have been one stinky girl! Sara and I were thick as thieves, as they say. We cheered and danced and were generally happy high schoolers.

And then in ninth grade, a new girl arrived at our high school.

A cute, perky girl with mad cheerleading skills. Let's just say that we weren't thrilled to welcome the new, perky cheerleader into our world (think Bring It On: The Blondes vs. the Brunette). But eventually (two years later) we warmed up to the Perky Cheerleader (a.k.a. Sheila) and we became quite a little threesome. Now that we're much more mature (and our mad cheerleading skills are long gone...along with our mad cheerleading bodies, but that's another story) we are best friends. See?

(yes...my shirt is tucked into my pants in that photo. Lovely, huh?). Anyway...Sara is about to have a baby any minute (just in case you couldn't tell from the pictures...hehehehe!) and since we can't do any of our old cheerleading moves (for fear of hurting that precious baby, of course...not because we can barely bend over and touch our toes these days) Sheila and I decided to have a little informal luncheon to welcome Baby #2. We know that baby showers aren't typical for Baby #2, but we wanted to celebrate this little bambino (and have an excuse to eat cake). Speaking of the cake...there was a little mishap. See?
Somebody (and I'm not naming names here....ED ED ED) put his elbow on the cake box and smashed it. But we looked past the crumpled exterior to the delicious, carb-filled inside.

There was mingling and scrapbook viewing and eating...

There was some laughter and a few discussions about exactly what kind of bambino is in that belly (odds are being placed on a teenie, tiny girl in there).
And hence...Sara got a few pink, girly items - just in case!

Ellie met a new friend and was thrilled to have big girls to play with.

And we decided that we could rub this little girl's fluffy head all day long. Isn't she the cutest???

Kate was thrilled when Shawn arrived. It's not easy to find common interests between a three-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, but they did it!

And as I was going through all of the party photos, I noticed a theme. The perky girl with mad cheerleading skills is also a hard worker. In every photo, she's cutting cake or making punch or serving food. And me? Well...there are a lot of photos of me doing this:

My pappy didn't nickname me "Motor Mouth" for nothing!

I'm so happy that in the middle of our crazy, busy lives, we could take a minute to slow down, celebrate, and eat cake! I'm even happier that three old school cheerleaders formed a friendship that is still going strong today. I love you, girls, and Sara...I can't wait to meet that little one! If it's a girl, we'll have to start practicing our toe touches and hirkies so we can teach her someday (but let's not allow Sheila to teach her the chicken move, okay)?