If you didn't see it...

...on the Shuttermouth blog, here's one that's pretty cute.  This is Will.

A Trial Run...

Tomorrow we are doing a photo shoot for a good friend that is coming into town.  The forecast shows rain all day long, but we only have a small window of time to do them.  I set up a spot in my house just to see how the light was working and used Grey as my subject.  It's an infant/toddler session so he was a good one to work with.  We won't have the wood floor or baseboards in the shoot..I'll figure that one out when/if we really use my kitchen for the real thing.  :)

Birthday Party!

Blakely opens her gift from us, a Fancy Nancy book and some candy necklaces.  Anna is enjoying her cupcake decorating masterpiece.
 

Anna went to her first real life birthday party this weekend.  She got an invitation in the mail and was SO excited.  It was a party for two birthdays, Caroline and Blakely....Anna's "best friends."  They were both turning four and have birthdays that are two days apart (I think).  All of Anna's friends were there.  She had lots of fun playing dress-up, getting her toenails painted, and decorating her own cupcake.

Sweet Caroline.  Anna KNOWS that all I need her to do is look at the camera.

Grey is gettin' some love.

Dressed like Cinderella and getting the "royal" treatment, a pedicure.

Blakely acting cool at the end of the table as we sing to her.

I just liked this shot...

"Soccer Practice"

The other morning Anna was in her room playing when she finally came into the living room looking like this.  She said, "Mommy, I'm ready to go to soccer practice.  It's just o'er der." (pointing outside somewhere).  The cousins have an indoor soccer facility where they play all their indoor games and it is very close to our house.  She's been with them a couple of times and has figured out the attire required to play.  Sort of...  She thinks she's set! ...except for maybe some shorts and shoes.  She looks a little more like a volleyball player in that outfit.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

We have a 6 month old...who looks at everyone inquisitively with his head cocked to one side.

...who grabs anything in sight.

...who loves chewing on his vibrating teether thing, his bottle of infant Tylenol, and blocks with see-thru sides.

...and who LOVES his fingers, especially when eating "real" food.

"Cracker"

I let Anna watch a short movie this afternoon.  She picked out the "Barbie Swan Lake" movie (thanks Catherine and Meredith...).  As it played through the previews, we saw a trailer (sp?) for another Barbie movie, Barbie: The Nutcracker.  Anna got super excited even though she's seen that preview a few times already and said, "Look MOMMY!  Barbie's a CRACKER!"

SickO: Part 2

We missed the SECOND day of school too.  Sad.  Anna was doing well yesterday until about lunchtime, then the whining and fever hit once again.  I drugged her up and sent her to bed.  She was good after about an hour of watching The Lion King, and was up and around again.  I thought she would be fine by the next day, but after playing soccer, hide-n-go-seek, and riding her bike with Daddy last night, the fever was back.  So, no school this morning.  It stinks since we've already paid for these days for both kids and we won't get the money back.  The PDO director told me to go ahead and bring Grey today, but I told her that since I'd have to take Anna up there to drop off Grey, and she wouldn't get to stay, that there may be a meltdown.  I didn't mention school to her today just so she wouldn't be sad about not going.  So next Tuesday will be our official FIRST day of school...hopefully.  And my official FIRST day off in a while. 

A GREAT new blog.

Want one more blog to put on your list of things to check on the computer today?  Here's one that is VERY  worth clicking on:

The Pioneer Woman

>credits go to Deborah and Shonda (I think).

The lake.

A sleepy ride.  It was about all the sleep she got the whole time.

Grey in his "floatation device."  Anna is wondering where the sun went.
 
I got lucky on this one.

 

She's as high as she looks!

We had one last dose of summer at Grandpa's house.   Everyone rode on the boat and Anna, Daddy, and I even rode on the tube.  Grey rode with us (in the boat) illegally, but was in his "floatation device" (the Bumbo) most of the time.  Grandpa and I were joking while Anna and Daddy rode for the first time on the tube about how fast he needed to go.  He was going about 25 mph.  We pulled the tube in the boat and read that the max speed recommended for "children" was 15 mph, and 20 mph for adults.  HA!  We never flipped, but came very close a couple of times.  We had two VERY tired kids at the end of day two.

I should have "shopped" my legs to make them more tan!

A lazy morning on the porch.

The pretty, green water.

Two VERY tired kids.

SickO

We had a great time getting one last dose of summer at Grandpa's house this weekend.  While we were there I started getting a headache and sore throat.  I didn't think anything of it and took some good drugs.  When we got home on Sunday night, I was running a fever.  I was sick all the next day...it felt like the flu again...everything hurt, fever, super exhausted.  Last night I started to feel better and decided to get the kids stuff together for their first day of "school" today.  I got everything ready and even made Anna's lunch just in case I didn't get up and around in time.  This morning, Anna woke up pretty sad.  I got her dressed and thought she felt a little warm.  I took her temp and it was 102.5.  Yikes.  So, no first day of school for either of them.  Grey seems to be doing well, but I thought I'd keep him here just in case.  I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he gets it...whatever it is...  I was pretty bummed when I took Anna's temp.  Although I thought about it a little and realized that she hasn't been sick AT ALL for, well, I can't even remember the last time she was sick.  Not even a runny nose.  It has to have been more than a year.  Really!  So if a little fever and sore throat is all we get this time, we're lucky.  I'll post some of the fun pictures I got from this weekend at the lake soon.