Baby "M"

This new niece of mine stole my heart when I got to see her again at the beach. She has a tinge of red in her hair which makes me think she will be a full-blown red-head and I'm a little jealous (seriously, I've wanted red hair like Ginger on Gilligan's Island FOREVER!) of that and her intensely blue eyes.

I'm so grateful for my sister-in-law and her family and we all get along just fine and dandy. So stealing this little beauty away and doing what I wanted with her to get some pictures of her was no problem at all.

She has a personality that is so spunky and funny already at 3 months old.

And this gal was able to hang with her overly loving cousin AND Jason...she took what came at her like it was nothing. Those two boys constantly messed with her and she didn't make much of a peep, even when Jason was giving her her 2000th kiss and she was developing a slight rash due to his scruffy face.

I'm so thankful for my niece and nephew and that we have already been able to become a part of their lives.

Lawyer announced at the beginning of the trip that he did NOT like that baby (which he said it mockingly and lovingly, so we didn't really believe him) and by the end of the week, he had made statements like "She smells like sugar." and "Her toes smell delicious." and "She smells like cotton candy."

Before we knew it, he was hugging her, holding her tiny hands while he watched movies, covering her up with her blanket, putting her pacifier in her mouth, making her giggle, singing her songs, rubbing his head on her like a cat (he's done this with several babies, not certain why he does that other than the fact he probably doesn't want us to see him kiss the babies) and just plain loving on her.

Then again, who could ever resist her delicious toes?

My First Unofficial Photoshoot

Luckily for me, I had my family with me on vacation and they were fore-warned that I MUST take pictures of their family.

They came fully prepared with their clothing and jewelry selected and it worked perfectly against the blue sky and the aqua-teal colored water.

That picture above is my favorite from our little session!

I love people that are down for anything...I asked if they were open to getting a little bit in the water and they went straight in, dress and all!

Thank y'all for letting me take pictures of your family! I hope you love them just as much as I do!

PS: I'll put all your pictures on your CD today! You should have them by next week!

The Beach

Whew, what a vacation we had! It was SO much fun and the only down-side was that it went by way too fast.

I was horrible about taking pictures at the beach but when I think about it, I had such a great time that I just didn't think about my camera. I did manage to get some so here's my little menagerie.

The End

The Beginning

Instead of driving the full 13 hours to the beach, we decided to make a pit stop somewhere in between just to change it up a bit. We were going to stop in New Orleans like we did last year but instead ended up in Mobile, AL. We stayed at the nicest hotel Mobile had to offer which was cool since it was super fancy but pretty cheap since, let's face it, we were only in Mobile.

When we got up the next morning, we stopped at the USS Alabama, a giant battleship that was in service during World War II. It's kind of a giant open-air museum of sorts since they have everything from different fighter jets, planes, subs, etc. It was pretty cool but I was NOT dressed appropriately and it was like 300% humidity there that morning.

I bet you saw this F16 and immediately started humming the theme song to Top Gun.

Speaking of Top Gun, Jason always gets mad since I like to call him Goose every once in a while. For some reason he thinks he should be Maverick or even Ice Man, but let's face it, he looks WAY more like Goose (plus I think Tom Cruise is a weirdo and WAY too short).

The class clown runs in the family too.

Lawyer, ironically, was dressed in a shirt that was all patriotic and said "Home of the Brave" on it.

Sitting at one of the big guns.

The dimple on the cheek gets me every time!

This just looked cool and graphic to me.

My sister- and brother-in-law let me take family photos of them and their new baby. This is a sneak peak and one of my favorites.

The beach is coming up next!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder...

Did you miss me? Sorry, I took a little hiatus from blogging because I went on vacation! I have pictures to share from the beach later but here's what happened before our vacation...

See that blondie above? See something that's a little off?

Yeah, this crazy kid decided to BREAK HIS FOOT before we went on vacation! He did it on a Tuesday and I didn't think much of it and by Thursday my mom thought I might want to take him to the doctor to just make sure it was okay. He was kind of limping on it but I just thought he got like a stone bruise on the bottom of his foot of something. (Sidenote: This kid broke his foot by running and jumping in the shallow end of the pool and his foot landed on the stairs....AFTER I told him to not do it!)

Anyhow, I took him to the doctor on Thursday and sure enough, he had two broken metatarsals (the long bones that connect the ankle to the toes) in the center of the foot. We got a half cast (basically a splint) put on and we went ahead to the beach on Friday for the week, keeping it wrapped up when we weren't playing in the ocean and in the sand. He had the real cast put on yesterday...and after days of telling him that he wouldn't get to swim once he got the cast put on, I'll be darn if they don't offer water-proof casts these days! So we still get to swim and take regular showers.

Here's a sneak peak of this beautiful red-head we got to spend time with this week on our vacation!

More to come soon!

I'm a Super-Star!

Er, okay, maybe not that cool...but one of my favorite blogs to visit about fun embroidery is showing off my unicorn that I stitched! How fun is that!

Visit Feeling Stitchy to check it out!

A Little of This and That...

I've got a lot of things swimming around in the great beyond, known as my brain. So here's a random post full of, well, randomness.

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Lawyer got a new toy the other day from Jason. I'm pretty sure that most 4 year olds don't technically need one of these but Lawyer sure does love it.

It's this scuba underwater propeller thingy (not certain what the technical name is). It's actually used by scuba divers in the ocean and it can go down to 60 feet but we decided it would be super fun in the pool.

See? He loves it! I can't wait to buy some disposable underwater cameras...I'm going to get some ultra-rad shots in the water!

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I've got one sleeve on the circulars for my nephew's sweater I'm knitting. The other sleeve is started so hopefully I can finish this by sometime in this millennium.

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Did I mention I tried my hand at embroidery recently?

There's this super-cool website that has fun embroidery patterns you can purchase. I actually bought the owner's little book from Barnes and Noble. That's where the unicorn came from.

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Oh and I found the coolest thing for when Lawyer starts losing his teeth. It's called the Official Tooth Fairy Kit. It's got a letterpress (LETTERPRESS, I say!!) form that has what looks like an old-timey dentist chart of teeth that you fill out each time. Here's what the website says about it:

The Official Tooth Fairy Kit contains one letterpress Certificate
of Record for filing with your local Tooth Fairy and one reusable silk screened cloth deposit bag for your first and all subsequent transactions. The official certificate keeps record of name, age, tooth lost, method of extraction and compensation information.

How hilarious is that? I purchased one today and can't wait to get it next week. Lawyer is going to LOVE it when I pull this one out at the appropriate time. You can buy one at the Office of the Tooth Fairy.

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I looked out the window the other day and saw Lawyer creating hopscotch squares. Where, pray tell, did he learn this? I have never done such a thing with him!

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Oh, and running still sucks. No matter how much you want to convince me.

Love, Me

PS: Two nights ago, Jason, Lawyer and I went to see Land of the Lost (don't take your kids, I hear EVERY SINGLE CUSS word in the first five minutes and there was plenty of boobs - on cups, grabbing, etc - and this was supposed to be a movie I could take my 4 year old too!) and we showed up just in time for the tornadoes (although I don't think it was much more than funnel clouds) to be ripping through our 'hood. Good times.

Not So Good...

This dress has been done for a while now but I haven't really had it at the top of my list because it's, as my 4 year old would say, "Not so good."

I won't give up on this knitting pattern because I have quite a few changes that I would make the next go 'round to possibly make it "good" or possibly even "great".

But for now? "Not so good".

Oh Dear...

I love fantasy/whimsical things - probably why I love children's books and movies so much....Alice in Wonderland having always been a huge favorite. I once was discussing a fantasy-like book with someone once and they told me "I don't like fantasy stuff." Um, last time I checked, most books you read for fun have some sort of fantasy value. That's why people like to read books - to put themselves in another place and in another time! Anyways...

I decided to buy some art on a whim at 8:00am this morning. I've really enjoyed the art and blog of Emily Martin of Inside a Black Apple. Her art is intriguing and whimsical, with a slight dark-side to it. Think Alice in Wonderland meets the Adams Family.

I bought two different pieces and I can't wait to take pictures when I receive the art so I can share them.

This purchase has led me too want to paint my office...again. But not until after we have knocked out most of one of the walls between my office and living room to put double french doors in. Then I can paint it. The same color as my bedroom. I'm thinking the icy blue-green and red would look quite lovely.

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On another note, I hate running. There I said it. Those that like it and love it and live it, I congratulate you because I think running sucks and anyone that can honestly say they love it should be extremely proud of themselves (and I'm not being hateful, I'm truly intrigued by those that love it). This isn't to say that I have quit my little 5k jaunt. I'm still plugging away, I'm just saying it sucks.

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I rented another lens for my camera and it should be here next week, just in time for our little vacation to the beach (thank goodness!). I'm super-excited about this lens since it is an L-series lens...I can't decide if it will make me super happy to have rented it or super-sad that I will have to give it up after three weeks.

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Does anybody know of anything fun to do in New Orleans that doesn't have to do with T&A? We'll only be there for a few hours worth of a stop but I like to do stuff. I was mortified when we took our son through Bourbon Street last time, even at 10:00 in the morning. I'd like something a little on the G to PG side this time. It doesn't necessarily need to be something to do, it could just be something interesting to drive through or see.

Art is Top Priority Around Here

You've never seen a 4 year old more in-tune with his creative side.

Seriously.