Wedding pictures

Jed and I went to a wedding last night for some friends -- it was nice to have a reason to get dressed up and not feel so damn frumpy. I didn't really take many pictures as it seems that the number of pictures I take at events like this depends completely on the number of cocktails I've enjoyed, and for obvious reasons, I wasn't dumping the liquor down my throat.

My sister was nice enough to come and hang out in our hotel room for a few hours while we were at the reception downstairs, but she had to leave a little earlier than I'd expected her to, so we just brought Ainsley down and let her get her groove on. She was a trouper.

Here are a couple of pics -- nothing fabulous...
Poor Ainsley looks frightened in this one, and it's obvious that it's because our friend Scott back there was trying to convince her that AC/DC is making a comeback.


The obligatory close-up...


And this one kills me -- Ainsley getting her first slow dance.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved Avery and Ainsley's pumpkins. Or, I should say that Jed carved them and I took pictures. I did draw the faces, however, so I guess some part of the activity was up to me.

Anyway, here are a few shots of the fun.



Both girls with their pumpkins:





Daddy starts cutting, and Avery stands watch...



Then she digs in, and instantly is a little turned off by the idea...




I thought this one of the two of them was cute...



Here is the final product on both, and then all lit up after the sun went down:







And my favorite snap of the day... a totally crappy picture in so many ways,
but I love it just the same.

In her eyes

My new friend Jodi emailed me some pictures she'd taken where she's clearly visible in the reflection in the eyes of the person she was photographing. While I wasn't trying to achieve the same thing, I noticed that it happened several times today in Ainsley's eyes. So, that person with the camera in the blue shirt? Yeah, that's me.

A good photographer...

documents it all -- good and bad. Right? Well, I might not be a good photographer (yet) but I'm still going to take pics like this.

It's been confirmed.

The poor thing has my ears. Sigh. I think she might have my toes, too. Run for your lives!

A couple of pictures...

Kind of a weird angle, but cute nonetheless...



And Avery picking flowers at Grammy Gigi's house...

9 weeks, already...

Time certainly flies when you have a toddler around. At some point in the last couple of weeks, Ainsley's jaundice seems to have gone away and her baby acne is gone too. She'll get the occasional pimple, but I think all babies get a couple here and there.

I know she's mine and OF COURSE I think she's cute, but at least now other people can tell me how cute they think she is and won't have to look past the yellow eyes and zits.

And one more thing... can you believe how much she's changed? Here's a side by side of a couple of days after birth and next to it is a couple of days ago. She looks like a totally different baby.

Who knew?

Toys 'R' Us sells infant strollers for toddlers to push around! My kids can take care of themselves now. Whew... the pressure is off.

Beat this Jessica!

Home-grown bananas! (no, they're not at my house... but they're at my mom's -- does that count?)

Cast your vote!

For Halloween, should Ainsley go as Erykah Badu...


or should she go as Axl Rose?

Gluttons for punishment...

we went to the pumpkin patch AGAIN today. Like I mentioned before, it's only a mile or two away, so not a big deal. It's free and fun and close. Enough said.

I intended on taking some fabulous pictures, but then my camera battery died. I can't win.

Here is one that is mostly crappy, but hell, it'll do.

These aren't completely

terrible, are they?
Point and shoot is so much less stressful!

My little bean bag girl

She loves to lay in this thing and just hang out while Avery and I play or read books or whatever. She watches Avery constantly. Once she's interacting more, Avery is really going to have fun with her!

I suck at this

It's obvious I need to take a photography course. I don't understand enough about photography to make the best of this camera I bought. I have been trying, though. I think I understand what ISO is. That's a start, right?

It's about time

I got my hair cut and colored, finally. I was looking seriously frumpy. I think it was the longest I've ever gone without getting my hair done. Anyway, I feel so much better about myself. I took a picture to capture it.

I need a new name for this blog...

"Running With Scissors" is the title of a movie coming out, and apparently that movie is based on a book that I neither read nor had even heard of prior to coming up with a name for this blog... I feel like the name has sort of lost its charm, if it ever had any to begin with.

Anyone have any great ideas?

Crazy!

I've been looking at Ainsley and seeing how quickly she's changing -- it's made me think about how quickly Avery changed and when I compare pictures of her to those of a year ago or more, she doesn't even look like the same girl. I thought I'd do a couple of comparisons for fun...

Here is Avery with her buddy Jacob -- this was taken in February 2005. Avery was about 4 months old and Jacob was only a couple of weeks old. This was the first time the two of them had met.


Here are Jacob and Avery together again -- just two days ago. Crazy, isn't it?


Then I thought I'd look at how little Avery and Marylin were the first time they met. Avery was 3 months old, and Marylin was almost 4 months old.


And here the two of them are together just a few weeks ago.


I've been trying to do some comparison pics with Ainsley, but she's been crabby lately, so she isn't super cooperative with me. I'll keep trying though.

The resurrection of Nigel

A few weeks ago, my husband and I saw a VW commerical with what appeared to be Slash from Guns-N-Roses playing a guitar. We sort of thought it was just a look alike and didn't really think much more about it.

Then, tonight we saw what looked like the character Nigel Tufnel from one of the best movies of all time, "This is Spinal Tap."



So, VW's little ploy to get me to visit the URL they flashed on the screen worked, and I keyed it in. (Apparently there is a commercial with John Mayer as well, per the image above).

It was indeed Christopher Guest, who played Nigel in the movie made more than 20 years ago. Although, from the looks of the VW commercial, time hasn't been so kind to him, or at least it appears that way.

In recent movies he hasn't seemed as haggered haggared haggard as he looked in the commercial, but I'm thinking it's not just age, it's lighting and makeup and whatever else they do when they make a commercial. By recent movies I mean "Waiting for Guffman," "Best in Show," and "A Mighty Wind." None compare in the least to Spinal Tap, though they all try to recapture the magic of the mockumentary that was so brilliantly captured in Spinal Tap. Damn, that is a funny, funny movie.

Anyway, my point is (in case you hadn't figured it out), if you have never seen "This is Spinal Tap," please, please, run, don't walk and rent it or do your little DVD by mail thing or whatever you do. I promise, if you like dry, silly humor, you will love it.

A girl...

her dog, and her mama's shoes.

Even though

the toddler tantrums are at an all-time high... this is one beautiful child. I'll give her that much.

My little smiler

she just smiles and smiles :)

"What's this?" you ask?

This is Avery laying on the dogs' beds. This is Avery getting so dirty and hairy that I cringe at the thought of bathing her later. This is Avery getting dirty and hairy AND eating a cracker amongst all that dirt and hair.


Ick.

BBQ Envy

I think Jed has BBQ envy toward Avery's new toy. It is pretty spiffy. For her birthday, Uncle Tyler wanted to get Avery a play kitchen, and after looking at several of them, we decided on a pretty expensive one, so we all split the cost. It has lots of cool features, but the best part by far is the BBQ. Here is a video to show you how realistic it is. Avery's even BBQ'ed my shoe on the thing. She's becoming quite the grillmaster.

In case you're wondering the brand, it's an Inside/Outside Cook 'n Grill™ Kitchen made by Little Tikes.

Now if only we could train Avery to clean the kitchen -- then we'd be set to transition her to the real dishes and sink scouring. It's only a matter of time before she's cooking dinner for me!

Pumpkin Patch X 2

Jed and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch a week ago today. We got two pumpkins, put Avery on a pony for 90 seconds and 6 dollars, and left. It was chaos and Avery wanted to ride the pony for an hour. Not. Fun. We did take a few pictures, but they didn't turn out that well.




Later in the week, I convinced my sister to go back there with me to try to get some better pictures, and Avery just wouldn't cooperate. It was a nicer trip, though, because there was no one there, and Avery got to ride the ponies again for free, twice! The girls manning the pony rides were awesome -- they let Avery pet the ponies and sit on them for pictures which, as I said, she wouldn't cooperate for. They tried, they really did. I think I might go back once more just because I'm a glutton for punishment and the patch is literally like a mile away. Here are the pictures from round 2.

The morning after...

Jed and I needed a "healer" this morning in the form of caffeine -- I promptly sent him to Starbucks and actually got a caffeinated coffee. I almost never drink caffeinated coffee, in case you care. I almost never drink regular old drip coffee from Starbucks either. It was serious.

Avery decided that she was still hungry when I finally finished getting her hyper self ready for bed last night and had brushed her teeth and read her her 42 library books. This process took me almost an hour, and all my efforts were for naught as she decided to pull a "turkey/cheese" maneuver on me and tell me she was hungry only after we'd gone through the entire bedtime routine and I was putting her into the crib. Make no mistake, this is a tactic to get out of going to bed that doesn't usually work, but she ate so little for dinner, I actually caved in and fed her more.

Then she proceeded to wake up several times until about midnight, when she finally fell asleep. It was a long, long night... the chunk of cake in this picture might explain why she was AMPED all evening... and the hand shoving that fork into her mouth belongs to my mother. Don't worry, she'll get what's coming to her.


Anyway, enough of that -- our morning was just as amped and filled with a plethora of new stuff to entertain Avery for at least an hour. The she remembered that she had a brand-spanking-new copy of Cinderella on DVD, and she begged and pleaded until I caved once again and put in Cinderella. On a side note, I am a total suck and teared up just a little bit during the opening scene when Cinderella sings "A Dream is a Wish" because I always sing that song to Avery and when it started, Avery shouted, "That's mama's song!"

Avery absolutely refused to do anything without her poodle backpack on for most of the morning. I decided to document it for Jed's aunt and uncle (who sent it from AR), and what better time than when Avery was brushing her teeth? (also known as mostly sucking off the toothpaste and really only licking the bristles)


We finally got the backpack off and dove right in to dollhouse mania. Avery showed Ainsley the ropes and made sure the people sat ON the couch. When I tried to move the man, I think she fell over and had a mild heart attack. Notice Ainsley getting devoured by the blue bean bag from 1982.


When I finally peeled Avery's little fingers open and dragged her screaming from the playroom, I got her dressed so we could go to the in-laws and celebrate PapaZ's birthday (it's the same day as Avery's -- tomorrow). While I got ready I had to bribe her with streaming video on Google of her friend Marylin (thanks a lot for that idea Windy... add more videos and quick!) and then she sat like an angel for about 10 minutes so I could brush my teeth and drag a comb across my head.

Someone remind me next year to have the birthday parties earlier in the day so that the sugar/toy/party high wears off earlier and doesn't make my evening a living hell!

She finally did settle down at the in-laws' house and is now (deep breath) sleeping again -- hopefully for the entire night.

I don't know which I like more...

the song or the video... though I suspect I like the song because I LOVE the video.

2!

Avery turns two tomorrow! We had her birthday party yesterday, and she had a great time. I'd been talking about it all week, and when the time finally came, it was obvious she knew that the party was for her. Below are a few pictures to share, and here is a link to the whole photo album.

WOW!

Becoming a multi-millionaire is so simple!

Here is an email I just received:

Dear Sir

I am BARRISTER Hamed Ibrahim (ATTORNEY). I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make anyone apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that everything will be well at the end of the day. I got your email address through our chamber of commerce, trade and industry while searching for trustworthy individual who will assit me in this business.

My client by name Mr. Barry Kelly an American national and oil
consultant who I have been his legal representative (Attorney) for many years died with the members of his family in autobile accident on 17th July 2001. He has $38,500,000.00 (Thirty eight million five hundred thousand US dollars)floating in his suspense account and all the effort to locate any member of his family through their Embassy here proved abortive.

Now, this money is still in the bank and nobody is coming to claim the money, the Management under the influence of their Chairman and Members of the Board of Directors ECOBANK PLC mandated me as his lawyer to provide the next of kin or his relation and failure to do so after 5years, the fund will be declared "Unclaimed" and subsequently be donated to the trust funds for arms and ammunition according to bank law.

This will enhance the course of War in Africa and the World in general,this is totally a wrong idea, and it is not good for the world. People are dying outside there due to one or more dreadful diseases and we can make their lives more meaningful. In the light of the above. I need you as a foreigner to act as the next of kin. You will arrange for a bank account I will submit to bank that you are next of kin to Barry Kelly with your account details as to where the fund will be transferred as a distance relation. Send me the following: the name of your

Bank you want us to use,
Address of your Bank,
Account number,
Account Beneficiary,
Swift code(if any)

After the successful transfer of this fund to your account, I will make arrangement to come to your country so that we can share the fund, Your share will be 30% while 10% is set aside for any expenses incurred during the course of this project both local and international, the rest of 60% will be for myself. Please this business is 100% risk free. Remember to send me your phone and fax number. My sincere regards to you and your family. For urgent attension, reply through this Email:(barrhamedibrahim1@indiatimes.com)

Best Regards,
Barrister HAMED IBRAHIM.

As if standing to gain 38.5 million dollars isn't enough, I could save all those Africans from war and make their lives better! Don't worry, I didn't waste time -- I've already send HAMED IBRAHIM (are you supposed to shout that?) all of the information he requested, and just for good measure, I threw in my blood type and my bra size. Nothing is going to stand in the way of me getting all that money!

Seven weeks old

The battery for my laptop...

I think it's seen better days...

Grammy Gigi had a farm

Soren, Curren, and Christy came to visit over at my mom's yesterday since they had the day off of school. They'd kept saying they wanted to go to my mom's 'farm,' which it isn't, but I suppose to a 5- and a 3-year-old, it's about as farm-like as it gets when you live in suburbia. We went swimming and had lunch and just hung out in general. Avery idolizes these two boys and constantly wants to play with them, so I'm glad they were willing to make the drive.


Christy even handed out some zerberts and Avery was the first in line to take them.


After Avery took a nap, Pops took her on a quad ride around the yard. He promised to go slowly and he did. Avery was THRILLED.


My mom took a picture of Ainsley and I, and this is the one where she didn't cut off either my head or Ainsley's entire body. I told her not to give up her day job.


Later, we fed the fish and ate some dinner as the sun went down. Then we got to listen to Nicholas the beagle sit and howl along with some other dogs for a while. Definitely the highlight of our day.

Is this smile

infectious, or what?

Durka durka durka

Mohammed Jihad.

My sister has been trying to get me to watch "Team America" for a LONG time. I finally caught the first 30 minutes tonight and then my mom (whose house I'm staying the night at) made me change the channel. She and I both laughed pretty hard at the puppet/marionette sex scene. Oh my goodness, I've never seen inanimate objects look so... animate. But, my mom watched it last night and couldn't stomach watching it again tonight, despite my protesting.

After we changed the channel I decided to text my sister on her cell phone with "Durka durka durka, Mohammed Jihad," and she called me back crying laughing. Did I happen to mention she really, really likes the movie and wants me to watch it too?

Sort of fitting entertainment considering this week's headlines. And, as an aside, Phil Hendrie, whom I love to love, does the voice of I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. on the movie. Good stuff.

Night Lights

Here is how I entertained myself on a Friday night. Sad, I know. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

The lights on my modem:



The outlet in my bathroom:



My alarm clock:



My washing machine:

A couple of Ainsley pics...

Dollhouse

My mom asked me to buy Avery a gift because she spends half of her life in DC and won't have much time between now and Avery's birthday party to buy one. I suggested a dollhouse, she agreed.

So, I went to Toys 'R' Us and bought one of everything. I hope my mom doesn't mind cutting me that check. Bua ha ha.


Truth be told, Toys 'R' Us is having a Buy One Get One Free sale on their Fisher Price dollhouses and accessories, so this didn't do as much damage as you'd think it would have.

I think Avery will be in wow-I-have-so-many-dollhouse-accessories heaven and I'll be in little-pieces-all-over-my-living-room-floor hell.

Just for fun...

On the left is a picture of my mom and I 33 years ago. On the right is my mom and Ainsley. I don't know about how much Ainsley and I do or do not look alike. What I do know is that, wow, that is a fancy shirt my mom is wearing in 1973.

Awake!

No, not the pamphlet that certain religious folks go door to door to pass out, sorry to disappoint.

Ainsley was awake and I actually got a picture to prove it! (Okay, so she doesn't sleep that often, I just forget to get the camera out when she's awake and happy, which isn't often).

Coincidence?

There is a character on LOST that seriously gives me the heebie-jeebies. Ethan. I wonder... could this be because, in real life, "Ethan" (whose name is William Mapother, incidentally) is Tom Cruise's cousin?

I noticed last night that his last name was Mapother, so I IMDb'ed him and sure enough, he's related to wacky couch jumping Tom (I knew that Tom's real last name was Mapother as well -- too many episodes of "Inside the Actor's Studio" I guess).

So... coincidence that the creepiest dude shares genetic code with Tom Cruise? The both give me the heebie-jeebies!

Some of the great things about watching LOST on DVD

1. The ability to watch episode after episode for hours on end. If you have that kind of time, of course.

2. The ability to slow-mo scenes where you see something, but you're not sure what you saw. For example, when Charlie thought Aaron was floating out to sea in the piano, he looked over and saw Claire and his mother dressed like the Virgin Mary or something -- off in the distance, the Nigerian drug plane with Mr. Eko's brother and all those statues of the Virgin Mary can be seen crossing the horizon and going down into the jungle. Great stuff.

3. The extra features -- interviews with the cast and crew and all that jazz.

4. The BEST thing. The bloopers. The show is so shrouded in mystery and the characters are so serious (for the most part) that it's kind of refreshing to see them play jokes on each other and act silly. My favorite? When Sawyer is laying on the bed down in the hatch after being carried back to camp by the tailies, Jack leans over him as he whispers "I love her," and you presume he means Kate. In the blooper, he says "I love you" to Jack and they both start cracking up. Awesome. There was also another one where Sayid is talking to Locke in the same scenario (Locke is laying on the bed) and Sayid leans down and kisses Locke on the lips. I love it.

I can't wait for Season Three to start tomorrow -- though it's going to SUCK to have to watch one show a week and then have to endure repeats as the season progresses.

Mirror Magic

Avery has recently discovered the idea of light reflecting onto other objects -- namely, the ceiling. I have caught her multiple times in the last few days using this mirror on a book and reflecting the sunlight onto the ceiling. Today she sat quietly and did it for about 10 minutes before I got the camera. She was fascinated. One of the most magical things about being a parent is watching your children discover things.

In the words of a toddler who never stops talking...

"Awww, pwecious."

This is the man I love...

My dear friend Anna has my husband's weekend in Vegas for a bachelor party nicely documented here. Just for clarification's sake, he is who they call "Head," though it's usually spelled "Hed." Not that that matters in the least.

All I can say is... thank GOD I was at home in my cut off sweats with Cheerios stuck to my butt. Let's just hope and pray that no one was dumb enough to bring a camera along.

Whew...

I am finding it more and more difficult to blog like I used to, or like I'd like to!

Ainsley is really starting to 'come to life,' so to speak. She wants to interact much more and smiles constantly! Avery didn't start smiling this often for a few more weeks. She is sleeping quite a bit better, too, but still wakes about every 2.5 to 3 hours at night. I can tolerate that -- Avery took a lot of coaxing to go back to sleep, Ainsley doesn't. The difference, however, is that Ainsley grunts and makes all kinds of weird noises in her sleep, and it keeps me awake. I'm thinking she's going to be sleeping in a different room sooner than I'd originally planned for her to.

This past weekend we went to Marylin's birthday party and Avery, true to her curious and determined nature, was soaking wet within minutes and had to spend 99% of the party in her underwear. Windy had set up a little fishing game in a kiddie pool, and Avery dove right in. Only my child, honestly. Here are a couple of pictures.


Avery's birthday party is in two weeks, and I realized today that I'd probably better start to think about that. I let her pick the 'theme,' and even though she has NO idea what that means, she wanted Hello Kitty. So Hello Kitty it is. More pink. Yahoo. Poor Jed is in pink hell. Bua ha ha.

So this is just a lame little update to say that I didn't forget about blogland. I am still here.