Wait...What?

I got a baby fix today thanks to my dear friend Mandy who came up to visit with her two girls. My lovebug of chub, Nora, will be 2 in a couple weeks. WHAAAAA?!? I have no idea where that time went. 2 weeks ago, Mandy had baby girl number 2, Alaina. Please to enjoy the cuteness: Amiright or what??? Gah! Celia declared the baby was hers. I said sure. Her mama? Not so much. Sophia has missed out seeing Mandy the last two times. She was so excited that she was home for once. I love and adore this photo. Oh does Donovan love the littles. My sweet sweet boy.  It's not that often I see Nora smile. She's a serious one, this kid. And she's always moving. Oof. I forget that part of toddlers.  Some days I would love to have another baby. Then I realize I'm not completely insane and go on with my day. I get the fix with Mandy's girls and all the babaaaays that come into my store. I wish my job was going around talking to...

Happy 2014 Y'all Contrary to the look on Nanner's face, I assure you, she was having a blast at 12:01 am.  My Monkey, Sophia, Nanners and Celia in the front.  The squeals from them when the ball dropped? Made it all worthwhile.  Mama and her favorite redhead Donovan would've wished you a Happy New Year but yeah.  He didn't make it to 9pm. Watching the One Direction movie.  Awesome start to the year according to the girls. My Monkey loves her cousin Donovan and was  watching him play Roblox all morning. See?? Nanners DOES smile. It's just rare to capture it on film.  Ha. Film. That was funny. Great start to the year I think. Lots of laughs, tickling, giggles, oh my.  I hope your new started out with just as much fun and love as ours did.  Here's to a kick ass 2014!!

An older photo but still, this is the kind of day we had. It was a rough one people. I won't lie. 

It's a free for all on the weekends with NaBloPoMo prompts! You know what that means?! No substance whatsoever! Weeeeeee! (and a lot of exclamation points too it seems!!) Here's your Saturday fluff: This is what happens when your 2yo wakes up at 430 in the morning and decides to clean out under the bathroom sink. Never mind that you never asked for that service. She provides free of charge. If you're lucky, and I am several times over!, she will take your brand new box of tampons and promptly upwrap and disassemble 20 of them, rendering them unusable. She will then save 3 of them in pristine condition, wrapped  and all. Don't forget to dig the other 17 out of the toilet. I imagine she will do this for anyone, at no charge.  Call for an appointment today!

I was looking at Donovan tonight while he was sleeping. You know how you do that. You just stare. Wondering where all the time went. How the hell did they get that big?? My God, they're going to get even bigger?? What. The. Hell? I rescued his baby book from his bed (the kids love looking at it. also?? it's the only one. whoops!) and took pictures of a some photos. Obviously the quality is far less than stellar. The point is made though..... This is what I look at every night. This sweet boy is the one I fight for all the time. The one I stand up for. The one who yells at me that I'm a horrible mom. The one who wishes I would just go live somewhere else. The one who, only an hour later, snuggles up to me saying sorry. The one who never means to hurt me. The one who can hurt me the most. The one who loves me the most in his own special way. He's getting so big, so fast. I can't keep up. I'm scared for the future. I mourn the past. I live for the now. It's ...

Messy bun. Tons of hair. She loves to snuggle with him and "play" her DS with him. This night, she was all about watching. What? With Great Gramma Fern Hugging her cousin, who wasn't too sure about the whole thing.  Try and get her out of the pond and she lays down.  Who can resist that?? My water baby Looking for some trouble to get into

I sign up for some pretty eccentric email lists. Some of them are for fashion news (if you knew me? that would make you laugh your ass off.) Some are for off the wall artists or musicians. One list I'm on sends me a variety of things. It's one of the few daily emails that I look forward to. Today I was sent this . I love photography and was very interested in this when I realized what it was. It combines two of my favorite things to study: photography and criminals. I am so entranced with these photographs. I want to know all I can about the subjects. What their stories are, how they ended up where they were. How did their lives turn out? I really like learning about people. Not necessarily famous folk. Anyone will do really. I think in some ways it's because I want to feel some connection with people. Alive or dead. I think all of us want to see that others are human too. Maybe they make the same mistakes we do and that comforts us. The knowledge that someone else tho...

How YOU doin?

Whoopsies. A pony fell out the night before and I forgot to redo it.  And this is how you fix that.  Truth be told though? She LOVED that it was wonky. Weird kid. I love her. She is a total mini me. Now I'm scared.  Hold me.

Some outtakes from an almost failed spur of the moment family photo shoot: (please, I beg of you all, ignore the extra chin I have. also? this was hours before we ate so I don't know where the eff the chin came from. let's blame the kids shall we? ok then) (again with the alsos - sheesh - I didn't edit these - like you couldn't tell bahahahahahahaha! ha!) Blondie? Not a child I birthed. That's my niece, the Monkey. Nom nom nom on the hand. I birthed a pirate that lost his patch though. Awesome! Someone tooted maybe? Who knows with this clan. Usually this gesture means she just smacked someone but no, the redhead is not screaming her fool head off so things are alright in the world.  For now. Monkey Photo Bomb!! This would be a great shot if the baby didn't have a look of complete disdain going on.  There were some good shots that came out of this debacle - I'll have them up soon

Long day but so worth it. Hope ya'll had a great day....... Please Auntie, that is quite enough with this camera thing. Sheesh The indignity of her not that much than her older cousin kiss her. HORROR! Nice photo bomb by her big sister! Lather, rinse, repeat.

A little creepy no?

This is exactly what I don't like about winter. I can live with the cold (albeit with attitude but still, living) but the black ice? Yeah no thanks Mother Nature. Take it out on someone else. Thank you! And yes, I was stopped when I took this.

Music, fans, autographs, party down party town, YOU are a rock star!! aaaaaaaaaand down goes the rock star. What a short career.  Too many trashed hotel rooms we think. 

So. My niece is here through Sunday and we are so stinking happy to have her here. I surprised the kids last night with her arrival. They never knew she was coming and they were thrilled to learn how long she'd be with us. The girls were up late last night because, duh!, BFFs are in the house! The boy had a late start at school today due to staff meetings. I was thinking "Sweet, the girls will be out until at least 830 and maybe the boy will sleep until 8" Stupid stupid stupid. Mommy Basics 101: The child(ren) will always rise before the sun on non school days. Same child(ren) will argue with you on school mornings until you stab yourself in the nose with a pickle fork because they don't want to get up. I know this gets worse as they get older. Please, let me be naive right now. Thank you (said in my best sing songy Mary Poppins voice) The boy was up before 7am I'm sure. I could hear his "heh heh heh" tic in full force and that usually takes a...

Mr. Mario is here to fix the problems you have...... Mr. Mario's technique is..............different no?

The fashion bug hit the house today when the girls woke up. And yes, they took full advantage of that extra hour. Bah. After our pancake and eggs breakfast, I painted their nails and then they did my hair. I love letting them do my hair. I know it's going to look so crazy but it feels so good. Like I took a ten minute nap. Awesome, party of one? Awesome? The fashion struts on the catwalk didn't go as "high fashiony" as the girls were hoping for. The silliness all happened after the one walk. Enjoy...... Alice in a messy Wonderland.  The Doctor with a baaaaad bedside manner. Alice and her spot o' tea Alice's closeup Why yes, this is exactly how doctor's pose for ID shots.  Didn't ya know that? Buzz buzz buzz Loverly Ladybug  Scaredy Cats Sad faces Um roaring attacks? Couldn't tell ya. My fave from the shoot.