I tried not to like them

but after seeing them play their songs after many episodes of Charlie and Lola, I started to look forward to the Imagination Movers.

I bought a few of their songs, including "Bye Bye Diaper" and "Clean my Room" on iTunes this afternoon and one video.

My mom made fun of me.

"The roosters! The roosters! The roosters are tired!"

did you see that shmo?!

...no not Drew, I love Drew. How could you not love him?

Thanks to Gwynnie, we watched the primetime Price Is Right Million Dollar Special the other night--

And it was AMAZING!!!

Did anybody else see that guy?!

Oh man, you should watch it.

Baby Tuesday

Since Baby R's 1st birthday is Saturday (woo!), I'll make up for the lack of Baby R this week, next week.

In other Baby R b-day news, we are doing the teddy bear cake, although Baby C really really wanted me to make it into a turtle instead. (How she knew I was capable of that, I don't know. I guess if Mommy can make a fish cake and a ladybug cake, Mommy can do anything.)
We're also going to try a birthday breakfast and morning trip to the zoo, because that is the cheeriest time of the day for him, and Baby C for that matter. We'll have the cake after dinner maybe? And play with his news toys, I guess?


She was inspired by the previous photo of her on the floor in her blankie, and wanted me to recreate the scene with her. I obliged. And took video this time.




One of our furrier babies.
I helped him get to all the crumbs in the highchair by placing him on the stool and pushing it towards it. I came back in the kitchen, after what must have been 30 minutes at least, and found him sleeping there.

GiGi's here and would like everyone to know that she is in my kitchen right now with one of Baby C's shirts, scraping sticker adhesive off of it with a paring knife.

p.s. Congrats to Laura and little Baby L's arrival on planet earth!

scrape me off the floor

As anyone who's ever got food poisoning will declare, "I will never eat fast food again!"
There's never a *good* time for food poisoning, but right now is bad. It's Day 2.
ugghhh.
I want to be anesthetized.

wednesday's project

I really should knit as a pastime, but this is what I did today instead:



It's gonna be made into one of those magnets. It's for the conference invitation (going inside it) that's going out to 2500 pastors all over California.

Baby Tuesday

Baby Tuesday will super fast and low on details this morning!

We had Valentines Day mini-party with Baby E and Baby V, her favorite friends.

And we went to Baby E.M.'s @yr birthday party.



We don't need no stinkin' trampoline, we got Baby V's crib.





Thank you most gracious, tiny hosts. We had a great time.


action shot


Baby C's at the "kitchen" cooking with her hard hat on, bottom right.




Baby A is like the toy mechanic here, right?
"hmm, lemme see here-- yeah oh I see this all the time. Proper maintenance of nerf hoops like this coulda' prevented this..."



I just took these, minutes ago, after I saw that Baby R wasn't represented.
He's loud and proud!

you say banner, I say YES!

I couldn't wait to make Kamie's banner.

I just made it, before I even knew what they wanted (well the text is the same as it is now.)



Go look and see it in action...wait nevermind that! Look how cute Baby H is!!!

baby season's greetings

If you are related to me or friends with me, chances are you're pregnant or you have recently had a baby (since Dec).

Aurora, sister, pregnant.
Devon, friend, pregnant.
Jennifer, friend, pregnant.
Laura, friend, pregnant.
Minna, sister-in-law, pregnant.
Kamie, cousin, just had Hudson.
Bree, friend, just had Logan.
Courtney, friend, just had Aubrie.

Two other chicks in my community group are also pregnant.

All of that is to say, it's hard not to get everyone's due dates and other information mixed up.
And I also feel like a bad friend/relative for not keeping up as well with everyone as to how they are doing, and what I can do for them.
I'm just out of it.

total german letdown

All the auto pundits were warning that Chrysler was set to ruin the idea of the 2009 VW Microbus, but I was holding out hope that they would be wrong.


But they were so so very very right.



And it's called the Routan...which sounds like Rotund.
So stupid. Shame on them.

spamintines day

I got an email today from a random name today. It contained a link (that I dare not click) and this sentence:

"I`m always waiting for you!!!,Like silken thread it holds us fast,You are the first person I ever actually love."

If I had a dollar for every [Nigerian] guy who tried the ol' silken thread line, I'd have alot of dollars.

Baby Tuesday

Yeah, super late.
But it's still Tuesday from Central Standard Time to the left coast, so I'm okay.

Yes, she really got into my bathroom drawer today and pulled out my reddest lipstick and put it on herself (all while I was changing Baby R's diaper). She walked in, with a half-proud half-nervous smile and I couldn't be mad. It was so cute. And I was glad she didn't use it to draw all over my white bedsheets or something disastrous like that.






Winter? What is winter? It's a balmy 75 degrees here and we're playing with the water table!

This video shows how the water fun began.

Poor little Baby R, Baby C can't help herself when it comes to dumping water on him.


Look at that little meatloaf. I've decided he has a little Grandpa Phil body.


Miss Sassy Bikini Top couldn't be bothered to look at the camera. She was working.



I make the same kind of smile now with my braces.
Way less cute when I smile though.



marshmallow boy, he's so loveable.


She is in love with photos of herself.
Our camera has a flip out feature and she loves seeing herself as I take the photo from the other side.

a design pick me up

I'm actually supposed to be 1) washing dishes 2) doing laundry 3) working on Beautiful Day pastor invites.
But, poor Sam and her cheesecakes had waited long enough.
So I made cards and flyers for her just now...




Don't they just say "look at me! look circles, think cake! look some more!"

Won't you order a cheesecake from her, or donate to her Leukemia/Lymphoma fund?

crash n' burn, crash n' burn

You know that funny feeling you get when you're driving somewhere
and you suspect that there might have been a wrong turn somewhere?
And you convince yourself to keep driving until you're absolutely sure that you are practically in another state?
This is what happen on this website.



As we were making it, I could feel that it might get shot down.
That I shouldn't be "driving" and that it would all fall apart in the end, despite all our hours of work.

Yep, and I should have trusted my gut. My gut, it's a smart gut.

Anyway, I don't think it'll ever see the light of day, as in going live, to replace this.

But there is a bright side:

I was so maddened by the terrible fate of my website, that I got up and drove to meet with Trina and Kristen and we conspired to make something great.

Something that no one has ever tried, and something that I can be proud of.
Really confident in and proud of.
Code name project F.
But it deserves it's very own blog post later...

makes my nostrils flare

Since our fence is in shambles and our gate is virtually non existent, the dogs take it upon themselves to scurry on to the front yard when they are let out in the back.
Mojito in particular will bark at anyone or anything within a 2 mile radius of our front yard.
I hate that about him, it's his main character flaw. He's otherwise a very nice boy.

So this afternoon when I heard barking coming from in front of the house, after I had let them out back, I was irritated. And then I saw that I couldn't see them out front, because they were harrying a woman walking on the sidewalk practically two houses down.

I called them, they came and she flatly offered to shut our picket fence gate. I told her that it didn't matter, they can squeeze through it and that the problem will be solved when we fix our back fence.

And what did she reply?

"Maybe the problem should be solved before you fix the fence, then you wouldn't have one."

Oh really.

Listen, lady, it wasn't like they bit you. But now I wish they would have.

They're grouchy, but they're not a public threat.

Yankee Bowl party 2008

Thanks everyone for a great turnout here at the homestead for our super bowl party.
First ever baby-invitational, I think it went well, no sharp edges, all outlets covered, etc.
However, the pet dander factor shut down the baby demographic before we hit halftime. Sorry Baby E, I forgot to warn your mom and dad about our hairy pets. :<


(R-L) Dan, Ann, Steve, Dan McC


Bree [and brand new Baby L swaddled in the blankie], Jeff and Cristen


Jeff, Joe, Trina, Baby C


Sara, Matt McD, Baby C/Matt McN


Joe and Trina


Kevin, [crazy uncle] Brad, Jon


Baby C (duh).
She kept trying to get in the shot. I guess I can't blame her.

Baby Tuesday Supplemental

As promised, I took some photos today...at the park.




"how could you forget this face on Baby Tuesday?"

Baby Tuesday

I just realized I have no images of Baby R.
I'll have to take some when he wakes up from his nap and post them later.
Sowy.
But he took his first step on Sunday during the Super Bowl's halftime.
He did it right after my friend asked if he was walking, and I said, "no, not yet."
And then he took a step on his own!
Perhaps because Tom Petty was singing "Free Falling" he then fell down.



Baby C was say more interested in having her picture taken than watching Surf's Up.
She couldn't take more than 15 minutes of it before asking for Curious George instead.

Mojito will be a stand in for Baby R.

Look at that. It's like he made himself a Pooh-style bee hive and snuggled in.
He never ceases to impress me.


During the super bowl, despite Matt's extreme pet allergies, he allowed Mojito to achieve his own nirvana, the snuggly lap.

lame no more

because it's super tuesday, baby tuesday will be a little late.





But I want you all to know that I got up 6:30 AM to finish this [$%#^] poster.
If I get a bunch of critique, I'll post it right here. :)

tis the season of voting

So what do we like best?

man [and woman] make site

Hey look, Kevin and I made a website.
And it whipped us.

It's not "live" yet, but it works...mostly.

And it looks lovely. I'll let you know when you can click around.