Mana and Ty

Ty and my mom, whom he calls "Mana" have a special bond. Ever since he was a newborn, they loved to snuggle together. To this day, if Ty is having a rough day, a call to Mana usually clears things up.


This is one of my all time favorites. My mom was the first one to make Ty laugh. And she can still get a smile out of him by singing "Pizza Pie" to him.

Oh, Yes.

Did I forget to mention we don't have air conditioning? Our marine layer finally rolled in on Sunday, though.

Are you Kidding Me?

IT WAS 116 AT THE BEACH HERE, FOLKS! Do we owe Al Gore an apology?

21!

"Excuse me. Little girl. Did you bring your permission slip from your parents to get married?"

I can't believe how young we were! I love this picture though because you can see out parents looking over our shoulders (that's Brian's mom's shoulder in the mint dress next to his dad).

Thanks to the family for sending some digital files of our wedding.

Concerning the absurdly high temperatures here at the Coast

Dr. Diabolical

Check out my kid's eyebrow. He inherited that little gem from me. Fortunately it's nothing tweezers and a little wax can't fix. However, on a two year old, it just makes him look like Dr. Diabolical! There's no taming that thing!

Mom's Ride

If I could have any car in the world, this would be it - with a few modifications, of course. Wouldn't it be cool for me to be driving kids all over town to school and soccer practice in this seafoam green split window Volkswagon microbus? However, it would drive just like my Honda Odyssey (I don't care if it sounds like a classic VW). It would have all of the modern conveniences of my Honda, like a DVD player, ipod jack, fuel efficiency and seat belts. I know MTV made something like this on an episode of "Pimp my Ride" and I know some scientist made one in Palo Alto.
A girl can dream.
Maybe my Honda just needs some pimped out rims.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversay, Brian! It's been 9 great years. Here's to many more. I Love You.

P.S. If anyone has any digital pictures of our wedding or wants to scan pictures and send them to us, I'd love that. I have no digital files of the wedding and we don't have a scanner. Thanks!

Pleeease.

Bobby Pin
Vintage ring
Salad Spoons.


Brian, if you ever look at this, these are things I like. You can find them at darlybird.com. Just thought I'd mention that.

tote bags

OOOH! I want to sew! and put molding and wainscoting up in my house!

Happy Father's Day!

I love this picture of Brian with Ashlynn when she was just days old. He has always been so smitten with all of our kids. I just love seeing the look of contentment on his face with his little fuzzy headed girl in his lap. Even today, he's always willing to hold any baby he can get his hands on. WHY CAN'T I HAVE A DOZEN MORE BABIES!?

My Lefty

Here's a picture of my little lefty in his signature hat. I love how serious he can get when he is drawing or writing. His Preschool teacher is afraid he is going to be bored in kindergarden, but he still needs to learn how to share and raise his hand in class.

New Friends!

Ashlynn and Nate really hit it off. Can you tell she's trying really hard to act like she's not enjoying the hug from an older boy?

The 30 year old Grandma

This is my friend Vanessa. She and her kids came for a visit. Ty decided to call her Grandma. Contrary to how he looks in the picture, he really likes her.

True to form, we had so much fun playing all week, that I failed to take pictures. Here are the kids saying goodbye. We all had a great time.

Hey Mom!

"Hey, Mom! Can you put this on your blog?"
Love, Briggs

Ty got his head stuck in a chair at church today. We didn't even notice until the people sitting behind us told us. They said he was quietly sayin, "Mommy. Help. I stuck." When he realized we weren't listening he looked at them as if to say, "Uh-oh. They're not listening. Help." It took some effort to get him unstuck.

Never a dull moment.

Cutenize

Sometimes our children pluck things out of the air. Sometimes they copy things they have heard. But sometimes I am convinced that they lay awake at night and figure out ways to manipulate the English language in order to gain more power and control of the world around them. For example:
Ashlynn was with Mae when she came across a group of men in a store. She leaned over to Mae and said, "Watch how I cutenize them." and proceeded to enter into their circle and charm the pants off of them until they were laughing at her. She was the center of attention and in COMPLETE control of her environment.
Example two:
We are in the doctors office when we run into a little boy from Ashlynn's class, Eduardo, whom she has a love hate relationship with. In other words, if it is possible to have a crush on a boy in first grade - she does, however, this relationship consists of teasing, avoidance and embarrassment. When she saw him I said, "Well go say hi." She stood at the top of the hall, crossed her little arms in an impatient manner and called, "Eduardo." Her tone of voice was exactly like a teenager saying, "uh HELLO!" when they are calling your attention to something dumb you have done. When she got his attention, she kept her arms crossed but gave a little flick of a wave as if to say, "What do you think you are doing here?!"
Her final comment. "This was just so unexpected."

Books! Books! Books!

Lisa tagged me and asked me to share the last five books I've read. Bur first I wanted to share my new favorite childrens author with you. I checked these 3 books out of the library for my children, however i enjoyed them much more than they did. Not only are the illustrations beautiful, but the stories are tender and touching. They really have more of a mature theme, so I wouldn't necessarily reccommend them as great for young children. They would enjoy the pictures and cadence, but the underlying stories would be lost on them. Truth be told, I identify with Elizabeth Brown from The Library more than most people would guess. Nothing would please me more than to live in a library or book store and have nothing better to do except read. However, I have given up this dream to accept my calling of being a mom, which I think is a pretty good substitute!

Here are the last 5 books I read:
The Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman
The Host by Stephanie Meyers
Mercy by Jodie Picoult
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper

I found this really cool product. They are temporary tatoos for your children that say, "If lost please call. . ." and they print your phone number on them. They are great for your children in case they get lost at an amusement park, a field trip or a fair, wherever. We have tried having the kids memorize our cell phones, but lets face it, a 2 year old isn't going to do that and he's the most likely to get lost in the shuffle! The other products they offer are tatoos that say, "I have a nut allergy" or "I'm autistic" or "I'm non-verbal, please call. . ." etc. There are many other labels.
I thought this was a really clever product. You can order all different designs, as well. Check them out!
www.safetytats.com
Let me know what you think!