It's Anna's world...

Soccer!

2010-11-09T16:46:00.001-05:00

Anna has been interested in soccer since getting to go to soccer practices and games of her cousins. She had soccer sign-ups at the end of July and has been super excited about starting practice and games since then. She asked specifically to be on Catherine and Meredith's team (her cousins who are almost 10!). I didn't think she's be able to keep up with the 10 year olds, so we kept to Anna's age group. ;) Our team is pretty scatter-brained and easily entertained by helicopters flying overhead, kicking or playing in the dirt, and anything else not related to soccer. But Anna is having a blast. Her team is called the "Pink Panthers". We don't really keep score but I'll just say that the games we've had so far have been a little "painful." :) It's all in fun. These are some shots from her first practice. Games shots soon to come.

She got to pick out her soccer practice attire. She was VERY specific in what she wanted. After all, she knew what soccer players looked like. They were usually colorful and wore dri-fit everything.

Favorite shot (below)

Anna had some hand-me-down soccer shoes that she thought were awesome. We spiced them up and made them more "Anna-fied" with rainbow laces. She's VERY into rainbows.

She was very serious at her first practice. She may have been the only one that was paying attention the whole time and was ready to do anything the coach told her to do.

(FYI- I don't tend to edit images on this blog anymore... what's the point really. Ha! I like them the way they are just fine...maybe outta focus/blurry sometimes, grainy or not, not super colorful... whatever. Life's just like that sometimes.) :)

Old News

2010-11-09T16:17:00.003-05:00

Back earlier in the Summer, Anna needed some new tennis shoes. I looked around for different kinds and had decided already that if I bought her shoes with laces, that she WOULD learn to tie them herself. She had been experimenting with tying things anyway. The 'thought' she knew how to do it already when she'd bring me a 'present' with a 'bow' on top... which was really just a twisted up piece of ribbon smashed up into a ball. I knew she was plenty capable of learning to tie her shoes. So after looking through the tennis shoes and having her try on pairs she liked, then running up and down the isles at the stores to see if "they were fast enough", we chose a nice, shiny pair. She learned to tie them about the same day she got them. She was pretty pumped. :)

There are the freshly tied shoes! These apparently were the 'fastest' ones at the store. Too bad I have always tied my bows left-handed and I taught her to do it the same way, which makes them twist...

Future plans.

2010-10-28T12:32:00.000-04:00

Anna told me the other day... "Mom, I wanna get a big camera like your's, a black one...and I wanna be what you are when I grow up... What is that thing you are again??"

She took this *lovely* picture of me... Good shot, bad and wacky subject. We don't need it to be blown up any more than this.

Grandpa's Lake(house)

2010-10-24T16:26:00.001-04:00

Yep. Grey is asleep sitting up in the boat...

The lake has a cool sandbar where we tie up the boat and swim around. It has become the local hotspot. :)

Papaw's new barn!

2010-10-24T15:44:00.000-04:00

Papaw has been working on this for years... Not the barn itself, just the idea of having one. It finally came to reality this summer and is still a work in progress, but it's just about complete. He has the the largest garage doors on the planet being installed in those big holes on each end. The kids love to go ride their scooters, bikes, and trikes out on the huge concrete pad...and really anything that has wheels is being pulled or ridden out there. Anna liked the magnetic "pick it up" tool Papaw showed her and she picked up every metal object in the entire thing...probably a few times.

Magnetic thing below.

Things are further along now... but you get the gist.

This one below is going to be awesome in about 20 years....Grey on that tiny tractor...

A little while later, Anna found a toad. She still loves all creepy, crawly things. Spiders, beetles, snakes, frogs, turtles...

And here is a lesson from Papaw on how to show "the look"...

Daddy's new workout

2010-10-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

We got one of these things this summer at a garage sale. I have always thought they were so cool and thought the kids would too, and at $60, I thought it was even more awesome! I probably could have gotten it for cheaper, but the garage sale was for a charity. ;) We brought it home and hooked it up to one of Daddy's bikes and he took them for a ride. Daddy said it was definitely a workout (although could easily handle it) and acted like it wouldn't be a "regular" outing for them. I'm very sure these "has been" athlete's legs of mine wouldn't be able to handle two kids, a bike trailer, and pedal my own weight around the block.... And wait, I don't even have a bike! HA! It's great to have the kid trailer anyway. Even though it hasn't seen much light. :)

Two fish, one with real fins.

2010-08-11T15:41:00.001-04:00

Anna and Grey have had an awesome summer. Anna officially learned how to swim on her own, with no floaties. She doesn't have to have anyone follow her around at the pool, she can dive off the diving board in the deep end and swim to the side by herself, and even likes to try different tricks off the board. She goes off the high and low diving board and may have gills hidden behind her ears somewhere. Our good friends were moving and had gotten their daughter swim lessons that happened to overlap with their "departure time" so they graciously gave them to Anna. These lessons were seriously awesome! She was put in the wrong class (sort of by mistake, long story) and we think she was actually in with some other 3 year olds. Henry, her instructor, made sure she learned at her own pace and she was swimming by herself within two lessons. He was really great! I think her willingness to learn and "dive in" and try everything Henry asked them to do helped the other little girls too. She's such a big girl. This is Anna patiently waiting for swim lessons to start.

Her favorite goggles... Her eyes look crossed, but I think one side is just fogged up. ;) That swimsuit is one of her favorites because it has a skirt on bottom. It is a hand-me-down from Jenni's girls...so it's seen a few pools. :)

Hilarious.

Henry doin' his thang.

Surfer/Swim Instructor Henry (He loved Anna!)

This is what Grey was doing while Anna swam. Notice what happens to his fingers when he drinks red gatorade then sucks on them...nice.

Jumping in and swimming to Henry... Henry usually walked backwards in the pool so she would have to swim longer. :)

And here's Grey being the daredevil. He's on the high dive. We forgot his blue floatie so he had to wear the pink one... of course it was the day that I remembered my camera. Sorry dude. This was taken before Anna could really swim without floaties... She's in the pool cheering Grey on.

We went "Reagan's pool" one weekend... They had a blast there. Even though Grey doesn't usually swim (for real) under the water, he needed some goggles like his sister. Pretty funny.

Anyone see any gills on this girl? They MUST be there.

That hair...

2010-08-04T23:50:00.003-04:00

Grey's hair has been the source of "conversation" on many occasions. This time he's just getting it cut. His first haircut was well before he was a year old and I do like to let it grow out... a lot... before I ask Nana to step in. So before we get any more "old folks" calling him a girl even when he wears t-shirts with trucks and looks like he's been rolling in the mud most of the time, we needed to tackle the the red curls...once again.

Sexy Duster.

2010-06-23T00:11:00.000-04:00

Yes, I need to write this down before I forget it... And do this more often...

Anna, Grey, and I were in the living room messing around when a Swiffer commercial came on. You know the ones... the ones with that "Who's That Lady" song where the broom or mop gets tossed out and replaced by the Swiffer. Then the broom or mop finds a "new friend"? The commercial was over and Anna turns to me and asks, "Mom, don't you have one of those sexy dusters?"

Hmmm....

Sledding!

2010-01-30T13:16:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I totally stole these off my sister's blog, but I used her camera so I don't have pictures yet. :) We went to their house to use their "hills" over at the playa lake and golf course for some sledding. It was ridiculously cold, and my skinny butt was freezing in .04 seconds of hitting the icy air. So I'm a wuss. But it was fun to watch! :)

p.s. it's much easier to just steal pictures than upload them yourself. I think I need a personal assistant.

At mom's request...

2010-01-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

I am posting some new pics on the blog. Yeah, it's been a month... and yet again, I'm a slacker. I am still taking lots of pictures of the kids and sometimes don't always switch my settings from RAW back to jpeg. Therefore, there is a long process that I have to go thru before I can even start to think about a blog post. So there's my excuse. But here are some fun shots of G-Money on the trampoline...with some serious static action. YESSS!

Spotlight Stealer.

2009-11-26T00:50:00.000-05:00

The boy needs a bed.

2009-11-23T23:10:00.002-05:00

Potty training.

2009-11-18T13:17:00.001-05:00

Something we are NOT doing anytime soon... But Grey has found this little round basket next to the potty in their bathroom that he likes to sit on. Anna likes giving him pointers. We were thinking seriously about potty training when Anna was Grey's age. But it will be a LONG time before Grey will be able to grasp it... Notice the little potty where Anna is resting her foot? Grey likes the basket better. At least there is another pro to help me out when the time comes. Sorry for the bad quality images. Bleh.

Anna's world

2009-10-29T15:55:00.001-05:00

10-13-05... Me sporting my swollen face and sleepy eyes.

Anna: 2 weeks old

I didn't know HOW many times I'd see this look since this picture was taken. Probably thousands. Anna: 3 months

The acrobat. Anna: 1 year

Fast Forward a bit. Anna: 3 years

She wasn't too cool with me laughing at her for pouring baby powder all over her face. Anna: 3 years.

Our Anna at 4 years old.

Ashley Eclectic

2009-10-28T15:11:00.004-05:00

Ok, I have started another blog... Yes, seriously. So that makes FOUR blogs for me. Well, three, really... because one of them, my first photo blog, must sit idle in case there are any who have been directed there for info about my photography. "Why another blog?", you ask? Because I'm obviously an idiot. But here's the real reason. Some creative friends of mine have started a Daily Art Pact, aka: DAP. It's a daily challenge to creatively stretch our brains and post snippets of art based on and related to a weekly theme. I'm not sure how well I'll keep up with this, although it sounds like such fun! And sometimes my creativeness gets in a serious rut...ok, not just sometimes. I will also post random other things that are not "kid" or "photography business" related on this blog. :) So here ya go... there's only one entry so far:

http://ashleyeclectic.blogspot.com/

Edible Gold.

2009-10-22T16:53:00.003-04:00

You would have thought this box contained gold or something else very valuable when you see Grey's reaction to it. I bought some last night and put them next to the pantry on the counter. Bad idea. Well, I thought that he wouldn't see them since I scooted them back as far as they would go knowing that he'd try every way he knew how to get to them if he spotted them. This morning, he turned around while standing next to the pantry and almost ran into the cabinets while reaching for them while yelling, "TEDDYS!! ... GET, IT!!!.....peeeze!" (as he rubbed his tummy, signing "please"). Hilarious. He just got louder and louder as the SECONDS ticked while I opened them. Sounded like a life or death situation...

Bump it.

2009-10-21T23:01:00.000-04:00

We were at some friends' house and their son had these camo hulk hands. Grey LOVED them. We asked him to "bump it" a lot. He thought that was awesome.

Anna's big day!

2009-10-19T00:48:00.005-04:00

Anna had a big day on Tuesday, which was her "real" birthday. We had to have several conversations about how her "real" birthDAY was on Tuesday and that we had to have her party on Saturday so that others that had to travel could come. I'm not sure how much of that really soaked in, but we made it thru both Tuesday and Saturday without many major mishaps. So the plan for Tuesday was to take both Grey and Anna to PDO. I had made cupcakes the night before so that she could celebrate with her friends at "school" and thought that I may pick her up early to have some "Mommy and Anna" time. Don't worry. Nana was picking up Grey at the regular pick-up time. We loaded bags, lunches and cupcakes into the car Tuesday morning and off we went. About a block away from the church (PDO, "school"...all in one) Anna started complaining about her tummy and thought she needed to throw up. If you know Anna, this isn't really a rare thing. She thinks that ANY twinge in her stomach means puke soon will follow. I blew it off and tried to convince her that she indeed was a hypocondriac (no, not really) and that she'd be fine. She kept at it and I parked the car, looked back at her and saw her hand covering her mouth with oozing puke dripping down through her fingers. Nice. She was very sad. So Grey started crying because Anna had started to cry... I pulled Grey out and took him along with the cupcakes inside. Anna stayed, of course.

We went back home and got Anna cleaned up. She was perfectly fine. I think she drinks her chocolate milk too fast in the morning sometimes... She was sad that she didn't get to eat cupcakes with her friends at school. I had gotten one of the cupcakes from the tray, just in case, before I got back in the car to take Anna home that morning. She decided that she wanted to eat it. We put four candles on it and I sang to her while I took pictures. :)

She chose to eat lunch with Daddy at Chic-Fil-A (that's my girl!). Then it was off to a local clay studio where you can choose a cased item to glaze. They'd fire it for you and it would be done in about a week. She chose a dress hook (literally a dress with a hook) and a mermaid. She really did a great job and I refrained from helping her much. I just filled in some spots. :) The dress will look great, but the mermaid was a little more technical... We'll see how that one comes out.

She loved painting and they even gave her some balloons to put on her chair which made her feel REAL special. :) She invited everyone there to her party on Saturday. (We didn't know anyone there...)

Next we had some time to kill before our next appointment. We went over to the toy store to look around. The first thing you see when you walk into the store is this:

Anna's dreamland. She stood in awe for an awkward amount of time staring at the princesses... Then picked out every single thing on the shelves and asked for them specifically for her birthday. We left the toy store (empty handed, because Anna is SO good about that!) and went to our next appointment, a pedicure!!. I didn't get one, mainly because I'm cheap and also because someone needed to focus and take pictures! :) Anna didn't really know what we were going to do... But she acted like she'd been there a few too many times as soon as she saw the foot bath! She sat in the chair and stuck her feet in the water like a seasoned pro. Hilarious.

Purple with sparkles, of course!

Anna said at one point, "(Sigh...) Mom, my legs feel REALLY goooood..."

After. I forgot flip flops for her to wear so she went barefoot. Beauty has a price! (Through her teeth, she's saying, "I'm smiling AND looking AT you MOM!")

Next stop was back home to rescue Nana from Grey. They were outside playing. And of course, Anna got a little crazy and messed up one of her newly painted toes. Then Grey stepped on her big toenail and took a chunk of purple off the top. Oh well...

Later that evening we took both kids out to eat Mexican food...Anna's choice again. She wanted to "go to that place where we went with Papa Joe..." Sure, we could make that happen. She may have thought Papa Joe was going to be there... Either way, it was a good place. So we loaded up again. Daddy had gotten Anna a couple of pretty sweet gifts and after dinner we let her open them. But we had to wake the poor, sleepy girl up. She was very tired. Pedicures can wear a girl out! Ha!

Aaaaaannnnnn-nnnnnnnaaaaaaaa......

Grey...along for the ride. Get those fingers OUT Grey!!

A cool new soccer ball with butterflies!

And PINK shin guards!!

A pretty happy camper.

After dinner, we HAD to go to the park and play soccer with the new stuff! Off we went.

And she's off!

I had a GREAT time with you Anna (like you can read...). We'll do it again soon, and maybe not just for your birthday. :)

p.s.-Jenny, please fix my stupid blog...or tell me how! Thanks.

Anna is FOUR!

2009-10-13T23:39:00.002-04:00

Anna had a big day today. It's pretty crazy. I was thinking today that this may be her last birthday that we will get to have where we'd just go do whatever she wants... No other commitments (like school or whatever). And it would probably be the first birthday that I'd remember as a "non-baby" birthday. My sister pointed out today that she couldn't really remember specific things about her kids birthdays...that they all kind of ran together up until their 4th birthday. She said it was like they were little people, all of a sudden, not just babies. It's true. Anna has really flipped her "little person switch" in the last year. It's been so fun to see her personality grow up even more. She had a big day today. More on that on the next post. But here are 10 things I love about my Anna.

1: Anna is the most selfless 4 year old on the planet. Seriously. I mean, she has her moments of thinking the world revolves around her, but about 90% of the time, she is thinking of others before herself.

2:Anna has the most self-control of any 4 year old I know.

3: She sings all the time...usually at the top of her lungs and makes up every word of every song.

4: Anna is a space cadet. She stares off into space several times a day. ...her own little world.

5: Anna is fearless.

6: She totally takes tremendous care of her little brother. I don't know what they would do without each other.

7: She tells the best stories.

8: She can swing herself on the swings (what 4 year old do YOU know that can do that?!)

9: Anna amazes me everyday with what she is capable of and what she really understands.

10: She has a crazy short and long term memory. I can ask her someone's name (because I really forgot) and she can think for a minute and remember it. She has told me stories that are 2 years old...from when she was 2. It's a little scary sometimes.

--there are so many more. I can't even imagine what our lives would be like without her. Without her, I'd probably be some boring museum scientist or gallery worker somewhere. She's the one that sparked my interest back into photography... We may have gone the military route and be halfway across the world by now.... We definitely wouldn't have Grey... I wouldn't have realized how selfish my plans for my life really were (not that you have to have a kid to realize that...that's just what did it for me)... We for sure wouldn't be at the church we are now and wouldn't know so many fabulous people... I wouldn't be hooked to medical tv shows (especially "Deliver Me")... ect...

I documented every second (almost literally) of our day today ...minus the puke in the car while dropping them off at PDO...(she didn't go to PDO, but Grey sure did!). I'll (hopefully) post them tomorrow!

If you see Anna in the next few days she'll probably greet you by saying, "Hey (your name here) guess what? I'm 4."

Nana and Papaw's.

2009-09-26T15:24:00.004-04:00

We spent a couple days at Nana and Papaw's house last week while J was out of town. The kids always have a blast out there. They can run for a mile and it would be fine... since they'd still be in sight, literally. They played with the pine cones, played on the swings and big slide, roasted marshmallows, watched entirely too much tv, ate nothing but Nilla Wafers, crackers, M&Ms...well, that was mostly Grey, played with Reagan and Sage, and visited Jon, Lee, and Ridge. They also made about 800 trips down the curb thing along Nana and Papaw's driveway and played in the eternal sink hole near the road.

An empty room.

2009-09-21T12:55:00.005-04:00

Little Miss Priss has decided that her 5th year of life (she's almost a 4 year old...yikes!!) will be the most difficult. She has been really testing boundaries lately. So she now has no toys. Her room has been like this for a week...empty. She has earned VERY little back, if she does earn it back, it seems to get taken away again pretty quickly. She has actually become so much more thankful for the little things she gets. For instance, every night before the toy purge we'd read her three books that she gets to pick out herself before bed. For almost a week, she has gotten no books... at all. Sad, I know, but she loves her books. So since she loves them, they were one of the first things that had to go. She made some fairly good choices yesterday so I let her have ONE book. You should have seen the rejoicing that happened after that news. Before that, she'd complain about not getting the right book, whether the book was too long or too short, and she'd even complain if she stayed up too late and we decided to give her 2 books instead of 3. (It was usually like 10pm when we'd do that to her.) The funny thing about getting all these toys taken away is watching her find such joy in such small things. She's play with a popcorn kernal she found under her bed, for example, and would love every minute of it. It's amazing how kids find a way to be happiness and contentment in the little things no matter the circumstance. A life lesson for us all, I think.

Those boys.

2009-09-09T16:59:00.003-04:00

Our good friend, Lindsey, came back home to visit from Houston. She had two cute boys named Sam and Will. Our other friends Elisabeth, Emily, and Erin met at a park and chatted and let the kids play. Emily also has two boys named Noah and Philip. I rarely take my camera to short outings like these, but this time, I'm glad I did. There is a little mist thing there at the park that the kids loved. The boys took their shirts off after getting a bit wet and Anna asked, "Mom, can I take my shirt off too?" Sorry girl... She stayed appropriately clothed (for a girl, at least). But she didn't care that her clothes got wet. Why would she? They had a great time playing together. Lindsey and Emily, I'll have all these pics for you soon. :)

Noah, Philip, Anna, and Will.

18 months...wow.

2009-09-09T16:34:00.003-04:00

Grey had his 18 month doc appointment today. He did alright. He was doing his typical ignoring of anything I said, trying to put all kinds of random things in his mouth, climbing on the chairs to try to touch the fish that were hanging from the ceiling, tearing up the books, and speaking his gibberish the entire time. He is the polar opposite of Anna. Anna was trying to be mother the entire time and repeating everything I said and adding more discipline as she went, as well as talking me into not getting the nurses to give her a flu shot. She chose to get one on her birthday instead. Back to Grey... He was right at 29 pounds and was 34 inches tall. I added an inch since he had his belly sticking out and was arching his back which made him shorter than he really was. So if he did it right, he may have even been taller. But since he's a crazy man... :) He got one shot and Anna said she deserved a sticker for holding his hand and telling him that "it was ok." Yeah, SHE can talk, right? Miss "I'm gonna be brave on my birthday and get a shot, but not today." HA! We were in and out in no time. Here are a few of pics of Grey in his favorite attire...well, second favorite. His favorite doesn't include the diaper.

Play.

2009-09-09T13:44:00.001-04:00

A normal occurrence.

Who is THAT kid?

2009-08-21T23:50:00.003-04:00

Yeah, it's been like a month since the last blog... whatever. We're still here.

I was strolling thru the ol' hard drive and was looking at some shots of Grey for almost a year ago...and even some of his newborn pictures. It's so funny how completely different he looks. I don't think I would have ever imagined he'd look the way he does now back when I looked at him as a newborn. But they just change so much. I'd like to do a succession of shots of Grey soon, but not now. I'll do it soon, though. And if you haven't seen him in person recently, his hair is the best.

It's also funny to see the typical characteristics of birth order in our family. Anna. The typical girl with all her dresses, shoes, princess books and movies, babies, and jewelry. Anna is the absolute perfectionist and people pleaser. Not really a good thing to be as an adult. But she's also in control. Not overwhelmingly in control. She just knows what's up. She's the best.

Grey. The boy that if you give him a car, any kind of car, he's happy for days. Or some dirt and a shovel. That's all he needs. If he does something that seems to be funny to anyone, he goes back and does it again...and again...and again. It doesn't even matter if it hurts him, if he can get a laugh, he's there. And he's hilarious. Just ask him to dance for you. So he's the clown. Typical. And awesome.

The funniest thing...

2009-07-30T15:06:00.004-04:00

...you've probably seen today:

Anna was not pushing him down the slide, it just looks like it... She just really wanted to and is holding her hands away from him.

I was ready to rip him out of the water as soon as he hit. He LOVED it and cried when it was time to go in. He really kept going back for more. And yes, we do own swim diapers and swim trunks, but he was already wet... We can save those things for when we're out in public. HA!

A look into the future.

2009-07-27T23:04:00.003-04:00

I occasionally look at this one photographer's blog. She does lots of toddlers and babies... She has two kids, a boy that's about (maybe) 5 or 6, and a one year old girl. Wanna to see what Grey may look like when he's about 5 or 6? Check out this shot of him... You'll have to look at the whole post because the photographer has a lock on her photos so you can't post them elsewhere. But scroll down and you'll see a cute (of course!) kid in a green shirt with long, strawberry blonde hair with identical teeth as Grey. Ok, Grey may not look anything like this when he's really 5 or 6. But when I saw this shot of this kid on her blog, that was my first thought. I'm sure my husband will disagree with me...

One of the best.

2009-07-25T23:03:00.002-04:00

This is one of the best shots I've ever gotten of Anna. I haven't gotten on in a long time where she has a genuine smile on her face and she's actually look AT me. This was July 4th at Nana and Papaw's house.

Popsicles.

2009-07-25T19:15:00.003-04:00

Anna and Grey's favorite snacks are popsicles. Can you really consider them "snacks?" Not sure. But I figured that it would take Grey a while to figure the whole popsicle routine out. The first time he held the popsicle by the actual frozen part and not the stick. Then had green trails of sticky running down his arms and belly. The next time, he had it all figured out. I guess his hands were a little more comfortable with holding the warm stick at the bottom. These kids loooove their popsicles and Anna usually asks for one for breakfast.

What the kids did...

2009-07-22T22:51:00.006-04:00

...while we were in Mexico. Well, these pics are just of Anna, obviously. They both stayed with Grammy and Papa Joe for 4 days and they loved every minute of it. One day they had a company picnic where they do all kinds of things for kids. Anna got her face painted...and apparently wanted to get it painted so bad that she stood in line for an hour and a half to get it done. She's so patient and knows the sweet rewards of having that gift. But sadly, she cried when she saw the paint dripping off her face in the bathtub that night. I would cry too if I had to endure a long line for some face paint only to have to get it washed off! But it had to happen. Thanks for the pics Grammy! I wish we could have been there to see it in person!

Yeah, I cook my own tortillas...

2009-07-01T18:32:00.003-04:00

...but I sure don't MAKE them!!

I have recently become a bit of a tortilla snob. I canNOT find any tortillas (aside from getting them at Rosa's or some other place that makes them for you) that I really like. I keep getting different brands and they all taste like the plastic bag they come in. I have found a new love, La Abuela Flour Tortillas. These babies are actually cheaper (since you DO have to cook them yourself) than the regular ones you get in the bread isle. I found these at Wal-Mart in by the canned biscuits and stuff. MAN, are they good. You just let them sit out to room temp, throw them on a dry griddle of skillet for a minute on each side, and they're done. In two whole minutes you have a wonderful, homemade (sort of) tortilla. We had them with fajitas and they were great. I'm going to make some quesadillas tonight with them because if you put a little butter on them while they are in the skillet, they get a little flaky and crispy. Mmm. And just for kicks last night, I made one with butter, cinnamon, and sugar on each side. Whoa. I'm addicted.

Grey's Pot.

2009-06-30T14:54:00.005-04:00

This is Grey's pot. He thinks it's a chair...or something. He likes to eat the dirt and chew on the sad little plant that tries so hard to thrive in it (I think it's a peach tree seedling that Anna and I planted last year).

Grey: Get outta my face, woman.

Anna: Grey! Say cheese and look at Mom! (I didn't teach them the "cheese" thing)

Grey: Woman, if you don't get outta my face...!!

Cows.

2009-06-30T14:52:00.002-04:00

Grey: Mom, don't those things only live in books?! We must be in a REALLY big book.

"...chase a turtle back to the ocean..."

2009-06-30T14:24:00.007-04:00

This post is long overdue... A little while ago, Anna came running into the living room yelling, "Mommy, there's a turtle outside!" It had rained a bunch recently and so I believed her, since turtles wander up our way when things flood. We live across the street from a field/lake that is used mainly for drainage...not recreation. But there are things that live in and around the water, no less. When Anna told me about the turtle, I'm thinking, "it must have gotten really lost if it's in our yard or in the street close to our house! Maybe we should take it back to, at least, across the street so it can wander it's way home." So I asked Anna to show me the turtle out her window. She took me into her room and pointed through the glass. I looked.... I looked all in our front yard...nothing. I looked up and down the street...nothing. I looked in the neighbors' yards...nothing. I said, "Anna, where is the turtle?" She pointed out, her finger raised much higher than I thought it would be to point to something very close. I looked out passed the curb and across the street and searched. There, about 50 yards from the edge of the curb across the street in the field was a microscopic speck with very subtle movement. It was the turtle. How in the world she found him is baffling to me, but that's Anna. She has senses that are off the charts. She can smell, see, feel, touch things with such sensitivity. So we got shoes on and walked the half a mile (not really) out to see the turtle, who was in no immediate danger and was actually about halfway home anyway. We got to him and Anna says, "Mom, we should chase the turtle back home to the ocean." Poor girl. The sad little drainage lake is the closest to the ocean that she's ever been...which is fine by me. She'll get there soon enough and I don't feel THAT sorry for her. ;) The turtle sucked himself into his shell when we walked up on him. Anna waved and talked to him...she told him to go home. She picked some thing for him to eat and some flowers for herself. And we went back home. She sat next to her window and watched the speck slowly waddle back to the water...

Aww NUTS!

2009-06-23T23:42:00.004-04:00

Long story short... Grey is very allergic to peanuts. This is what will happen if he has them again. Within seconds of coming into contact of peanuts, his symptoms include hives and horrible itchy, splotchy skin, sneezing fits, vomiting, couching and wheezing, and swollen lips (which I'm sure includes other swollen things). It was not a fun day for anyone.

Many of the hives were about the size of a quarter.

Grey: Mom, can you just make it stop?

Enter this dude. Yep, the EpiPen. Our doctor prescribed "us" two of these and lots of information, including a video, on allergies and how to use the pen. I'm so not looking forward to using it...ever.

Whahhh?!

2009-06-19T00:13:00.002-04:00

This lovely dirt wall his our house about 10 seconds after I took these shots. Note to self: just put the camera on an semi-auto setting if you want to take a shot of a dirt wall approaching you at a high speed.

My teeth were a little gritty and I'm still digging gunk out of my eyes.

Anna's next plan.

2009-06-14T23:42:00.003-04:00

Tonight we were reading "Muldoon," a really funny book about a dog and the family that chose him from "a lot of other applicants." Anna likes to interrupt during many stories to tell me about some plans that she is making, usually pertaining to whatever we are reading about (and sometimes not). Tonight, this was her plan:

Anna: Mommy, when I get a dog this other day, I'm gonna take it to the park too!

Me: I don't think you'll be getting a dog any time soon.

Anna: Why?

Me: Because I would be the person that would have to take care of the dog, and I already have two little rugrat kids need me to take care of them. So I don't need more things like that to worry about.

Anna: Yeah, but you could put Grey back in your belly then you could be me a puppy!

Me: How do you suppose that will work?

Anna: You can just break your belly open and put him back in.

(unrelated pics for fun. she's looking in the mirror.)

Airborne baby.

2009-06-12T18:53:00.002-04:00

I took these like a month ago... We had a cool sky so I thought I'd include a small bit of it.

Static cling.

2009-06-10T19:39:00.004-04:00

Well, maybe the complete opposite of "cling". It's Grey's turn to have some static hair shots. He really loves being on the trampoline. Don't worry, no one jumps much while he's on. ;) The trampoline actually somehow has it's own gravitational pull for Grey. Kind of the same as plastic bags, electrical outlets, and busy roads...

And there's The Banana again. Her hair can almost look like this without the trampoline static. Daddy will be proud of how well his cycling tan shows up in this shot. It's like a battle scar.

I think she spotted land. This girl has had to be on top of something tall since she was about 6 months old.

The man with many faces.

2009-06-10T19:12:00.007-04:00

The many dirty faces...

We made cupcakes.

2009-06-10T18:55:00.005-04:00

Why is this blog-worthy, you ask? Because I don't let Anna help in the kitchen much. She really loves to do it, but I'm too impatient with her. It's pretty sad. She really does a stellar job when the day comes that I actually DO let her help. She puts her coveted "princess" apron on and gets down to business asking a million questions (which isn't out of the ordinary). The cupcakes were a little dry since they didn't give us a bake time for mini cupcakes. But they were edible. :) As was the batter.

This shot was taken by Daddy on full manual mode. Good job Daddy! Nice composition. ;)

Work it.

2009-05-22T11:55:00.002-04:00

Who wouldn't kill for hair like that?

We have issues.

2009-05-22T11:05:00.003-04:00

Poor Grey...once again. We have two kids that are polar opposites in lots of things. One big difference between the two of them is their skin. Anna has beautiful skin. It's got a milky-ness with just a touch of olive tone. She doesn't burn too easily, but still can. She has her dad's skin. To bad she may be an oil factory when she hits puberty. Grey, on the other hand, has someone else's skin. I suppose it comes from my side of the family, as does that strawberry blonde hair. He has very bad eczema. Bad.

You can probably count on one hand the number of times I've called our pediatrician for illnesses in the entire lives of both kids. Granted our amazing Dr. Liz (a fab pediatrician herself and a college of my pediatrician) has come to the rescue for minor things. I called our pedi about this a couple of days ago. He called in a perscription. I called back and said, "nope, we're coming in for this." I knew there was not much we could do for it other than give him some meds and hope the episode passes soon, but I just wanted him to see it for himself. We went in and he confirmed that it was a pretty bad case and gave him some stronger, and hopefully more effective meds. Grey gets an oral steriod, a daily dose of Allegra, and a twice a day treatment of a "high powered" ointment on his many areas. I can almost predict his episodes...he runs on a two week rotation. Just when I think it's almost gone, it flares up again. He frantically starts to scratch and rub. For this particular episode, he had bloody open sores on almost every part of his body; the back of his neck, inside of his elbows, wrists, belly, back of his knees, tops of his feet, and his face was beginning to break out. Bad. I took these shots so that I could give the doc something just in case we didn't get in until after the episode passed. The areas actually look pretty good because he in the bath most of the green-ish yellow crust and ooze and blood have been washed off.

Another issue: allergies. I asked about allergy testing and the doc said that it really isn't necessary. He may grow out of many of the allergies by the time he's about 3 and it would be useless torture for him. I just wanted to know to be able to avoid things that could trigger discomfort. I can see why it would not to helpful though. Grey is allergic to dogs. We've been to a couple of houses where dogs have lived and this is the result (his red eyes). Thankfully, this is the only result so far. The doc was very encouraging and always makes me feel like I'm doing as much as I can to help, whatever the circumstance. But he said that the eczema could last a while, but maybe only a couple of years. We'll keep our fingers crossed and try to keep him as comfortable as possible. I'm thankful that this is the only issue he has since it could be SO much worse.

"Start, Curl, Press!"

2009-05-11T22:22:00.005-04:00

We're starting pole vault practice early. This is a broken pole vault pole what we used to practice with back in the good ol' days of college. I still have it for some reason. Grey picked it up and was (slowly) chasing Anna with it and beating on things... Typical Grey (boy) behavior. But then he started to do this! I didn't catch the "curl" phase, but this, my friends, is the perfect high, early plant. In non-pole vault language, this is good pole vault form. I promise I didn't teach him to do this, and I'm glad I caught it on camera! Coach Hood, you would be proud. Although you may notice that he's doing it all backwards!!! (meaning that Grey is going it right handed, and I was a lefty.) HA!

Sorry these are sideways... not intentional.

Anna's sunglasses.

2009-05-11T22:17:00.003-04:00

Grey thinks it's hilarious to wear sunglasses. I think he's hilarious when he put them on too.

My fish tacos.

2009-05-11T19:25:00.008-04:00

(photo taken by my third child)

This is SUCH a good summer recipe. I have been trying to figure out a good fish taco recipe for a long time...or at least after I had them at The Cheesecake Factory. Mine aren't quite as good as those, but close. ;) Some of you may have the old fish taco recipe, but this one is better and easier.

Ingredients:

--4 (or more) Tortilla & Lime Crusted Tilapia fillets (you can get them frozen at Wal-Mart, and sometimes individually at the grocery store fish area place)

--1/4 c sour cream

--1/4 c Miracle Whip (I use the light)

--1 T Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning

--1/8 c Lawrey's Baja Chipotle marinade (liquid, in the bottle)

--1 package California Slaw or Broccoli Slaw (it's a small bag usually near the bagged salads)

--1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

--thinly sliced purple onion

--thinly sliced avocado

--fresh cilantro leaves

--thinly sliced tomatoes (if you want)

--corn tortillas (yellow corn tortillas are the best)

Bake tilapia according to directions (or about 15-20mins at 350 degrees). I usually cook until almost done then broil it to make it extra crispy for about 5 minutes. To make the slaw dressing while fish is baking, combine the sour cream, Miracle Whip, marinade, and seasoning in a small bowl. In another larger bowl add the California slaw. Add the dressing a couple of tablespoons at a time to get the desired dressing-ness for your slaw. I don't like the slaw smothered, and keep lots of extra dressing to top on the tacos. Next prepare your veggies and toppings as you like. We normally don't heat the black beans, but you can if you want. Heat corn tortillas. When tilapia is ready, pull it out and cut into strips. We usually cut as we make the tacos. Pile on the fish and toppings as high as you want! If you happen to add too much "filling", you can double your tortilla. :) They are SO fresh, so light, and SO good. :)

--I sort of guesstimated on the dressing ingredient amounts. I don't ever measure, but I usually use the same proportions. :) Serve with margaritas and Enjoy!

--You can also use plain tilapia filets. I would marinate them in the Baja Chipotle marinade and grill them or cook them in a skillet. :)

My third child.

2009-05-11T19:18:00.002-04:00

and my latest reading material.

The famous last pics... These are some of the last pictures my rebel took before being sent off to Canon for a tune up and cleaning. Until next time my friend. I think it's sort of sad the she had to take pictures of her replacement, then sit in a small, dark, and completely bubble-wrapped box for the next few days... It's really a weird relationship that we had...

A dress exchange.

2009-05-04T14:30:00.003-04:00

Anna: Is my dress on it's way to Megan's house?

Me: Yep. We put it in a box and sent it off.

Anna: Why does she need that dress? Why can't we just take it to her house?

Me: She is a flower girl in a wedding just like you were and needed a dress. Her house is far away.

Anna: Did she think my dress was pretty too?

Me: Yes.

Anna: I think Megan needs to send me a dress too because she has lots and lots of dresses.

Me: No she doesn't need to send you one. You have PLENTY of dresses yourself.

Anna: Is she gonna send my dress back?

Me: I don't know. You don't need it anymore, so it doesn't really matter.

Anna: Well, I think I need her to send me her red Snow White dress because I really need it... no, I really want it.

Me: She does not need to send you a dress.

Anna: Uh huh! I need... I want that red Snow White dress and Megan has it. She has lots of dresses and we put my dress in a box and sent it to her house and she can put the red Snow White dress in a box and send it to me! That's what I need.... that's what I want.

Me: She will not send you the red Snow White dress. And you definitely don't NEED it, or any other dresses.

Anna: No, but I want it.

A can of worms...

2009-05-01T00:25:00.004-04:00

Anna had a whole dollar bill and lots of change in her sock purse. She has been saving for something for a while now. She finally figured out what she was saving it all for. Ice cream from the ice cream truck. She only recently realized (either after we or friends told her) what the truck with the loud music really was. I was reluctant open that can of worms and tell her in fear that she's ask every day to have ice cream, even though she is very good at taking "no" for an answer. I just thought I wouldn't torture her more by tell her "no" almost every time she asked. Sad and probably a little mean, I know. At any rate, she knows the ice cream man well now. She was proud to hand over her dollar to get the neopolitan ice cream sandwich she selected that cost $1.50.

She and Daddy waited for a long time for the ice cream man to drive down our street, then at the intersection (below), he turned the other way... so they had to wait a little longer.

Daddy's fudge bar, and that gross neopolitan sandwich. She loved every last bite. I took lots of shots of her enjoying her sandwich and thought they uploaded. They didn't...and I erased my card thinking they did... Dang.

A drink.

2009-04-30T23:44:00.004-04:00

I thought this was a funny perspective...he takes up so little room in a big bathtub.

Grey likes it when I leave the water trickling while he takes a bath. He tries to grab the stream of water, puts his toes in it, sticks his head under it... And then tries to get a drink.

Anna the Entomologist.

2009-04-30T23:35:00.003-04:00

Anna found a spider by the front door. She needed to love it for a little bit. She let it crawl all over her arms and hands. Then I let her know that the spider really would rather be outside with his family, home, and food. She agreed and let him go home. She loves bugs.

It was tiny.

Can you tell that I'm wearing yellow in this shot? The sun hit me and BAM, yellow refection all over the place. yuck.

Anna: See Mom, there he is. Is he going to go home now?

Going once, going twice...

2009-04-23T23:52:00.003-04:00

SOLD! I just sold my precious camera tonight. I was telling the buyer (also a friend of mine) about how all day I would approach the keyboard to tell her it was hers, then would change my mind and back away... I am really going to have a hard time letting it go! Sad, very sad... It will be cleaned and shipped off very soon. And I may shed a tear or two...I'm sort of being serious. I was thinking that this camera was like the first house you ever bought and lived in... the one your kids may have grown up in... and it's just a CAMERA! Ridiculous. But it's the one I have cussed at (because of things that I didn't know how to do), rejoiced in, learned SO much from, carried like a newborn everywhere I went, and loved every minute having it. But I must move on.

I'll try very hard, very soon to update some "life" posts...promise!

For Sale.

2009-04-19T15:00:00.001-04:00

I'm officially putting my camera up for sale. If you have any questions or want details, shoot me an email!

ashleyrodgersphotography@gmail.com

Springtime.

2009-04-18T11:37:00.005-04:00

A couple of days ago, we had a little surge of "severe" weather. We had tornado warnings all over the place... people freaking out and constant weather casts on tv. Our meteorologists had a great time that day. :)

Anna knew something was coming. She got her knee-high socks and (pink) "Wizard of Oz" shoes on for the occasion. Then went outside to take a look at the clouds complete with a lightning rod in her hand.

She wasn't happy about her needing to come inside.

Grey was a little anxious.

Our view of the wall cloud...we had a front row seat. This was the leading edge of the wall cloud that everyone was watching (everyone=the meteorologists). I wasn't impressed.

She was ready for some storm chasin'!

Anna and I were either hanging out by the front door or in her messy room watching the clouds.

Lots of hail... and there's a road under that river in the background.

This wasn't the largest of the hail..just one that Anna picked up to eat.

This piece was about the size of a ping-pong ball.

And as always, a great sky to follow the storm.

A "Canon" moment.

2009-04-10T18:32:00.006-04:00

Anna found some stickers in one of my magazines. Most of them said "yes" and there were a couple of "maybes". She stuck them all over her face. OF COURSE I had to get the camera out. The mini shoot sort of sounded a little like this (Anna didn't say much):

Anna, come over by the door where it's brighter...

(after she got to the door) Anna what are you looking at?

Oh, are you staring??

You sure are staring good... What are you staring at?

Aaannnnnnnnnaaaa..... (blank)

Com'on Anna, give me a happy face or something...

Oh, that didn't last long...back to staring?

Can you give me face other than a "staring face?

Nice.

Ok, not such a big ugly face...

Yep, not exactly what I meant, but that's what I said...

Anna: Mom, this one's tickling my nose.

No! Leave it just a little longer!

Ok now look at me please.

Ok, we're done.

B-fast Conversation.

2009-04-09T10:34:00.003-04:00

This is how this short conversation went this morning:

Anna: Mommy, we need some stairs.

Me: Why do we need stairs?

Anna: So I can up and down them.

Me: Well, the stairs have to go to someplace... like Nana has a "downstairs" and a place to play after you get to the bottom of the stairs.

Anna: Well, we could go to the store and get some stairs. And I could just go up and down them and they don't have to go someplace.

Me: I don't think we'll just go get some stairs.

Anna: Mom, does Erin have some stairs?

Me: I don't think so.

Anna: Why doesn't Erin live in a house like our house?

Me: She lives in a house. What do you mean "like our house?"

Anna: Why doesn't she live in a big house like ours?

Me: Did you know that we lived in a house almost exactly like their house not too long ago.

Anna: (nodding yes) Yeah. But now our house is different?

Me: We moved to a different house because we ran out of room in the other one. Erin and Chas' house is just right for Erin and Chas. They have just enough room for them.

Anna: Well, when Erin and Chas grow bigger and bigger they might need to get a bigger house.

Me: I think they are just fine where they are.

Anna: If they get bigger and bigger, I think they can come live in our house.

Me: You think they'd like that.

Anna: (nodding with excitement) YES! Does Erin have a baby in her belly?

Me: Not that I know of...

Anna: She doesn't?! I think she does. Why does she not have a baby in her belly?

Me: She doesn't have a baby in her belly that I know of. (NOT going there...)

Anna: Did she say "no"?

Me: Probably.

Flower Girl: Part 2

2009-04-06T23:32:00.003-04:00

Anna did another fabulous job as a flower girl this weekend. She walked down the aisle like a pro and even stood up at the front with me for the entire wedding. She was up and down, fluffing her dress, laying down, tearing up her bouquet, making mean faces at me for scolding her, etc. But she did such a great job. We traveled about 7 hours in the car (with the wonderful help of J's mom, "Grammy") to get to this wedding with both kids. It was fun and everyone did well in the car. We shopped, ate, and danced the weekend away, and I rekindled a love for a store that we don't have where we live. Anthropologie. It really is the best store ever. If only I was a rich photographer... HA! I wish I had pictures of Anna walking down the aisle, but since I was bridesmaid and J and Grammy were making sure Anna had a good pep talk and Grey was taken care of, I didn't get the chance to get any. Maybe the wedding photog got some? We'll have to see...

Don't fence me in...

2009-04-06T22:48:00.003-04:00

a little more torture.

freedom.

Do you see where his eyes are looking? The grass, his next snack. That snack is the reason for the fence.

Of course I do!

2009-04-06T22:46:00.002-04:00

Ever wonder if I get on that trampoline? It's my only source of exercise. And yes, I know... I need a tan.

--props to daddy for taking this shot. ;)

Poor Prince Charming...

2009-04-06T22:41:00.003-04:00

...According to Anna, he got some "owies" on his face and chest. According to me, someone stabbed him in the heart with the hairbrush.

Relentless Curiosity.

2009-04-06T22:20:00.005-04:00

Anna went through a phase a while ago where she asked many, many, many questions. It went away for a short time, and now has come back "somethin' fierce!" Every word that comes out of her mouth is a question. I have even caught myself, in some situations, refraining from any sort of action that might stir up curiosity in her. Bad thing, I know. But as it says above, it's "relentless." I love that she's curious and want to teach her about everything, but dang!.... just relentless. She can't be any more hilarious!

slacker...

2009-03-31T15:02:00.003-04:00

I know, I know... I've heard it from several of you about my lack of new blog posts. I've been a little busy lately. I have lots of pics to post and just haven't gotten around to it.

But on this post, I'd like to call a couple of people out (in a good way)... Erin, Angie, and Lindsey. All three of you must get together and have a coupon clipping conference and help/teach all of us over-spenders how to "REALLY" save some money! Erin, ridiculous.... Who saves 61% on groceries?! Angie, ridiculous... Who gets a truckload of granola for almost nothing?! Lindsey, also ridiculous... Who can find places that will give you money back for things you need?! These three ladies, for sure, know how it's done.

gross.

2009-03-18T15:40:00.005-04:00

but cute.

Sweet girl.

2009-03-18T15:21:00.002-04:00

Anna is such a sweet girl. She picked these flowers (weeds) for me from our garden. So we put them in a vase (or some random parfait glass thing) to keep them alive and pretty. She's very proud.

Want vs. Need

2009-03-16T12:25:00.003-04:00

Lately we have been talking to Anna about want vs. need. She of course "needs" everything. And every time she says "need" for something unnecessary, we correct her. I'm not sure she really gets the difference.

Anna: Mommy, I really, really NEED that Pinocchio movie... I really, really NEED that pink Cinderella gown. (etc)

Me: No. You really don't NEED it.

Anna: Yeah, I WANT it, I don't NEED it.

Six years.

2009-03-15T15:05:00.004-04:00

Today is our anniversary. It really hasn't seemed like it has been that long...like it was just yesterday that we were engaged and planning this impossible wedding with impossible schedules. Jobe was in law school and I was still finishing up undergrad and running track. Neither of us had a weekend to spare to set a real date for a wedding much less to do any planning, shopping, etc. It was like it was yesterday that we decided to just throw out all the thoughts of wedding plans and do our own thing with just us. We planned that Saturday March 15th, 2003 we'd just go to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and have a private ceremony there. I picked out a dress (which was actually a bridesmaid dress made in ivory), J got a suit, and off we went. We looked around for flower shops when we got there. We happened upon this "hole in the wall" shop in the wrong part of town that had amazing flowers and pre-made bouquets. J picked one out for me and we stuck it in some water. We went to the gardens that afternoon (I think) and reserved the Rose Garden for 4pm the next day. After getting some "you are out of you MIND!!" looks from the people at the reservation desk, we kissed each other and said we'd see each other the next day at 4pm.

The next day, we met and were married by our good friend who discipled J through college. It was great. I wouldn't have had it any other way and am SO glad we did it the way we did. Just us, in God's amazing creation as it was for the First wedding (plus a dress and a suit of course-HA!). I want my muscles back.

Entertainment.

2009-03-14T01:09:00.002-04:00

I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this was, but Anna apparently thought there was a good one. Grey was standing up at the front door looking out and Anna decided to slide in underneath him. When her shoulders hit his feet, he naturally sat down...on her head. She thought it was quite funny and Grey just acted like it was just another day, which is true.

Lady and the Tramp.

2009-03-12T22:04:00.003-04:00

I've been swamped with photography work lately and have been slacking on posts. Here are a few of Anna and her trampoline hair.

She decided she really didn't want me to take her picture. She sensed that we may be making fun of her.

One year checkup.

2009-03-05T12:38:00.004-05:00

We went to see the doctor this morning. I told Anna yesterday that I'd need her to help me when we go to the doctor. She said "NO, but I LOVE him!!" ...meaning that she didn't want Grey to get any shots and be upset. They really are best friends.

We finally got out of the house this morning at a decent time to get to the doctor before!! the appointment. Grey did well. He weighed 24.5 lbs and was 30" long/tall. He's a big kid...but not huge. Anna did very well about not being shy with the doctor. I have to warn her about not being shy to people she's not very familiar with, and remind her who her "friends" are. She is going through a shy phase again. I think she is really intregued by doctors and what they have to say. She always points out her two favorite doctors' offices when we drive by them. The doc asked her lots of questions and she of course told him all the wrong answers.

Doc: Anna, do you sleep in your own bed or in mommy and daddy's?

Anna: In Mommy and Daddy's. (NOT true, ever)

Doc: Did you eat breakfast this morning?

Anna: Yep, I had my pizza, (NOT true, she had chocolate milk and nothing to eat)

Doc: Do you try to pick up your brother?

Anna: Yep, I do. (no she doesn't, he's almost as big as she is)

We found out that Anna, with her week long fever, actually had the Type B strain of the flu. Thanks Daddy for sharing it with all of us. But it was bound to happen. I don't think I have it, but my head and throat have been sort of hurting. Not at all bad. Grey got six shots and we were outta there.

Here's another blog...

2009-03-02T23:20:00.005-05:00

Mom told me about this blog today. I thought I'd pass it on to my readers (all 10 of you, HA!). Get ready and have a box of kleenexes under your face.

The Williams Family

"You can share my money!"

2009-03-02T15:13:00.004-05:00

We went to exchange some things at the mall today. Anna LOVES to go to thru the car wash and asked once again if we could go. She also has become quite the lazy speaker, meaning that she decides to omit some letters in words and we've been working that lately. I told her the other day that if she called me "Moh-ey" instead of "Mommy", I wouldn't answer her until she said my name correctly. Here's how the conversation went today in the car.

Anna: Moh-ey... Moh-ey... MOM-MY.

Me: What is it?

Anna: You're car is SO dirty.

Me: Yes, I know.

Anna: You nee' to take it to the car wash.

Me: We neeD to? Well, if you hadn't had insisted that we eat chicken at the mall, then maybe I'd have some money to take the car to the car wash. But I don't have any more.

Anna: You ran oudda money?

Me: Yep. I ran ouT OF money. Can you say "ouT" with a "T" at the end?

Anna: OUT? Tuh, Tuh...... Moh-ey... Moh-ey... MOM-MY.

Me: Huh.

Anna: You can share some of my money from my sock. I can give you some so you can take the car to the car wash! Tha's a good idea! I have lots.

Me: ThaT's a great idea! But we'd have to go home and get your sock purse, and since Grey is already asleep, maybe we should just put him to bed.

Anna: Oh. But you can SHARE my money with me!

Me: Thanks Anna.

ONE.

2009-03-01T18:17:00.008-05:00

We celebrated Grey's first birthday yesterday with all the family(local and some out of towners). We had a good time and aside from a little fever that we have been passing around (I haven't gotten it yet), rushing out to the grocery store at about lunchtime after going to a friend's baby shower that morning, and making cupcakes 30 minutes before everyone got there, everything was great! We were a little more "low-key" with Grey's gift. If you'll remember Anna's first birthday gift (back when this blog was very young) was a outdoor climbing structure and slide. Grey's not quite agile enough to handle something like that so we opted for a manly riding toy. These photos are straight out of the camera, so please excuse the dark ones. I was lazy.

Anna was a great helper opening presents and making sure Grey knew what he was getting.

This is one of his favorite balls that happened to surface from all the tissue paper. Of course, it had to be throw.

Nana and Grey.

Fire?

Papaw and Anna giving Grey some pointers on how to tackle the chocolate.

How 'bout a hole in the center with a spork?

He was pretty nasty and needed to be hosed off in the tub.

A Riddle.

2009-03-01T18:05:00.003-05:00

What do you get when you have kids that sleep a TON for two days?

Answer: Two kids that don't sleep a wink for the next two days.

A tough one huh?

Conversations.

2009-02-25T15:31:00.002-05:00

Lately with Anna, it's been all about birthday parties and Christmas. The only reason I can think of is because Grey's birthday is coming up and she has watched some movies/shows recently about birthday parties and presents. Since everything is about her of course, she likes to tell me the plans for these upcoming events...even though they are not so "upcoming."

Anna: Mommy, you totally forgot something for Christmas.

Me: What did we forget?

Anna: I nebber got my Peter Pan movie or my binoculars!

Me: Didn't you ask for those after Christmas had already passed?

Anna: No, just the Peter Pan movie after Christmas...but I still need my binoculars.

Me: Why do you need binoculars?

Anna: I need them to look far far away to Nana's house to see what she's doing. And then I can lay down under a tree and look at birds with them.

Me: Then what?

Anna: Then I can watch my Peter Pan movie with my binoculars!

Me: Then what?

Anna: Then we can have a party just for me! And I can get presents! Mom, my birthday is coming UP and I need to have some cake and a fairy party for me!

Me: Well, your birthday is very far away and Christmas is even further.

Anna: oh.

That horse...

2009-02-23T17:07:00.004-05:00

Here is Anna on the horse when she was Grey's age. She was actually 9 months in the one taken outside in the grass. She was a little older, maybe 11 months, in the ones where she's surfing. Grey has a ways to go when it comes to mastering that horse....

My new camera...

2009-02-23T12:20:00.006-05:00

My new camera came in the mail Saturday! Sort of. It came in the form of an escrow refund check. Now if I can only convince J that it REALLY IS a camera and not something else. :) If you can squint my eyes a little.... I'll let you know how that one works out. It's not the mother of all cameras, but it's a VERY nice upgrade from what I have now. And what I have now is pretty nice. :) I may be selling it if I can the convincing is a success.

Little Miss Immune System.

2009-02-20T09:44:00.004-05:00

If they had a pageant for who has the best immune system, Anna would win. Yesterday, I got a little bit of cabin fever (it doesn't take long) and we loaded up in the car and drove around to scout out places for photo shoots. I really like doing this and it usually takes me to places in and around town that I've never been before...even though I've lived here pretty much my whole life. So we went to get the car inspected, went to Sonic, then away we went. Anna fell asleep after a little while and I just kept stuffing Grey with graham crackers. We had been out for about 45 minutes when Anna woke up and was complaining about her throat hurting...a normal occurrence. We headed home soon after that and she began with an inconsolable cry. As we pulled into the garage, I got out and opened her door. She immediately threw up everywhere, then again, then again, then again. You should have seen Grey's face. Of course, Anna freaked completely out after that. We got her undressed in the garage and into the tub. She was sick until about 8-9pm when she finally crashed, slept the entire night, and woke up completely normal. A four hour stomach bug. The last time she had it, it lasted only about 4 hours as well. I wish I had that kind of immune system...I mean, I know she still got the bug, but she can lick it in no time. It's the same with just about any other sickness. Now Grey on the other hand...

The Rocking Horse.

2009-02-19T10:58:00.004-05:00

These are all pretty similar, I posted them all because I liked the slight differences in their facial expressions.

I have a many pictures of Anna on this rocking horse. There is one that I put on her first birthday invitation and thought it would be fitting to try Grey on the horse and see what happened. Of course, since it's all about Anna, she had to join in as well, which was fine. I was just mainly seeing what Grey would do on the horse and to give him a little practice just in case I decided to actually take him somewhere neater than our entry way or backyard to take his picture on the horse. I stuck Grey on the horse and Anna jumped on right behind him and helped him stay on. Grey thought it was pretty fun. I kept telling Anna to stay on and help Grey stay on since I knew he's not coordinated enough to just sit there yet. (Anna was surfing on this thing when she was Grey's age! Funny the difference between girls and boys...or at least mine.) After I was done taking some pictures, Anna tried to be funny and slide off the back of the horse. As she slid off the back, Grey slid off the side and hit his head on the bookshelf. I didn't get shots of the aftermath.

This one's a little out of focus, but still cute.

Poor Grey.

2009-02-17T12:42:00.003-05:00

He's like a Barbie head that just happens to have a body...or at least Anna thinks so. She was "braiding" his hair yesterday. There will be a day when he gets real sick of this.

This is a good one...

2009-02-16T17:56:00.007-05:00

Bad Mommy Moments

When I have some time, I want to read some other, more recent posts on this blog. :)

I was probably a version of this about 5 years ago.

For Granna Jodi.

2009-02-14T12:40:00.005-05:00

Before Christmas, Anna and I went to visit our cousins, Megan and her mom and dad. I have a couple of good pictures from the visit, but was lazy about posting them. Megan's mom is MUCH better at staying on top of things like that. :) Anna had a blast there and played with Megan the entire time. Megan has one of the best princess wardrobes that Anna had ever seen and she thought she was in Heaven. Anna usually picked out one specific dress to wear while we were there. It was one that was hand made by Megan's Granna Jodi. It was a long, dark pink dress. Anna took great care of it while she was there and carried each side of the dress with her fingers as she walked so that it would not drag the ground. She LOVED it. Word got back to Granna Jodi about how much Anna loved the dress and she got the things together to make Anna a dress like the one she wore at Megan's house. Granna Jodi is a miracle worker. It came just in time for Christmas. Anna had been asking for a Cinderella dress for Christmas. That's just about the only thing she wanted, and she made sure everyone else knew that was on her list.

When Anna opened this dress on Christmas morning, the first thing she said once she put it on was, "Oh, it's beautiful!! Now I can marry a PRINCE!" J and I looked at each other with that look that could only follow a comment like that... We were also amazed that someone not even related to us and someone we had not even MET in person (or at least in a really long time) could have set aside time during Christmas to make such a wonderful gift. Nana got her some "glass" slippers that match to complete the ensemble.

I have been wanting to take Anna out for a photo shoot with her in her dress so Granna Jodi can see how much Anna likes the dress. We went out yesterday. I had to wake Anna up since she'd fallen asleep in the car on the way to my "spot." Thanks SO much Granna Jodi! She loves it! And sorry this has taken so long.

FOR MORE PRINCESS PHOTOS CLICK HERE!!

Anna the photographer.

2009-02-11T13:25:00.003-05:00

This was a complete "impulse buy" on my part. We were at Wal-Mart standing in line and Anna found this little camera in the "impulse buy" section by the register. She's pretty accustomed to not getting the stuff she asks for and doesn't ask that much anymore. But this time I actually asked HER if she wanted it before she asked me! I just stuck it up on the roller belt thing and paid for it. She has been GLUED to it since then. She "takes pictures" of everything. It's SO funny to watch her take these pretend pictures. She gets up close, tells what ever she's taking a picture of what to do, tilts her camera purposefully, and moves around to get the good shot. It's great. I don't have ANY idea where she gets that stuff. HA! It sort of makes me laugh at myself a little...ok a lot.

The night we got the camera, a funny thing happened. After we got home from the store we needed to get ready for bed. Grey decided to leave a present in his diaper for Daddy and he was about to change it. Anna has always been fascinated by poopy diapers...weird, and of course since it's Anna, it's a little sick too. She jumped up as soon as she realized that there may be a poopy diaper. She said, "Oh! I'm gonna come see the poop AND take a picture of it!"

Mama.

2009-02-10T11:37:00.002-05:00

This is Mama Baechtel. She was my last (great) grandparent who lived an extraordinary life. She passed away last night at a little after 1am. She was 101 years old. I hope I live life the way she did. She was hilarious, optimistic (most of the time), bold, sarcastic, easy-going, beautiful, and loving woman who always told everyone she had a bad case of "prolonged habitation." Mama, say "Hi" to Papa for us!

Good mornings.

2009-02-09T22:12:00.003-05:00

Me: Good Morning Grey! Where's your sister?

Me: Oh! There she is! She was hiding in your bed! I thought I heard her talking to you on the monitor...

Anna: Mommy, take a picture of me upside down!
Grey: Hey can you get me out?

Anna: Mom, did you get it?!
Grey: Will someone please just get me out?

Anna: Mom, lemme give Grey a kiss and you can take a picture.

Grey: Ok, if no one is going to get me out and feed me, then I'll eat this cage.

Me: Ok, give your brother a hug and look at me.
Grey: If I do this, then will you get me out?

Me: ...and again!

Grey: Ok woman, get off me.

Anna the artist.

2009-02-09T22:09:00.003-05:00

Here is some of Anna's latest artwork. She's concentrating on mixed media sculpture.

Just for me.

2009-02-04T16:57:00.004-05:00

I found the coolest office supply place online called Paper-Source. Some things are pretty ridiculous in price, but everything is to me, so whatever. But they have the cutest stuff. These file folders were definitely made just for me!

And everyone needs an eraser that says "holy crap." They had another one that had a rather explicit word, but I refrained.

And of course, the cat pencil sharpener. You can only imagine where the pencil goes.

DANGER!

2009-02-03T23:48:00.004-05:00

SAM'S now has my kettle corn! In BIG bags! Not the kind that you might need a flatbed trailer for, but one that you easily strap in your passenger side seat with the seat belt. They say that it's one of the best "snacks"...whole grain, no trans fat, etc... but not if you eat the entire bag at one time.

All you cyclists out there...

2009-02-03T23:33:00.003-05:00

I have a new website for you. It's called Fat Cyclist and even if you don't ride, and especially if you know someone who does, it's pretty fun to read. He gives away cool stuff too. This meal ticket wasn't one of the thing he gave away, I just thought it was cool. I found it on The Pioneer Woman blog.

Silliness while we wait.

2009-02-03T11:56:00.005-05:00

We were sitting in the car waiting for Dad to get off work yesterday. We needed to go do a brief photo shoot for a magazine article that he will be featured in. I was playing with my camera and borrowed "glass" to keep busy. Poor Grey is sick again. He's really fine, it's just a very snotty nose that I can't keep up with and a bad croupy cough. I think you can see the shiny snot trail from his nose to his mouth in this picture. At least he's still pretty happy most of the time! :) And Anna was fascinated by the man walking around in front of us while we waited. He was a fertilizer guy that was spraying something on the grass. She said he looked like a cowboy with his green boots and green shiny gloves. I'm not sure what kind of cowboy that is... She waved at him and he didn't see her to wave back. She watched him for 30 minutes (yes, we were in the car that long) and told him she loved him and didn't want him to go. Of course (thankfully) we had the windows up and he didn't hear her. Creepy.

Another nighttime conversation.

2009-02-01T23:45:00.005-05:00

Tonight I was laying in bed with Anna chatting about the day. We were talking about faces and why we have two eyes, one nose, and two holes in our noses. The flashlight was the only light that was on in her room and it was stuck between us as we faced each other. So it lit up our faces from underneath. I held my hand up to look at my palm in the light...

Anna: Mom, your hands are sparkly.
Me: Yep, I bet your hands sparkle too.
Anna: (She stuck her hand up the the light). Nope, not like your hands.
Me: Well, maybe that's because I have older hands than you do. Your hands are much smoother.
Anna: I'm old.
Me: But I'm much older than you.
Anna: I'm old for puppies!

and we missed it...

2009-01-30T21:19:00.002-05:00

I am one of the hostesses of a shower tomorrow. I offered my house as the "venue." HA! So needless to say, I've been cleaning/organizing for a week now. Not all day, everyday, just a little here and there so it wouldn't be such a huge thing to get everything cleaned before tomorrow. It's still a huge thing, even though I worked a little all week.

Today, instead of yelling at the kids all day because they were dragging things out that I just put up, I asked Nana to come get them so they could have a slumber party at her house. They have been doing well there, which I'm not surprised about, and they have had fun playing with cousins. I got a call tonight asking about meds for runny noses and such, but also got some other exciting news. While Papaw and Grey were hanging out in the living room and playing with the infamous cat, Woody, Grey took his first steps. He has become a champ at standing up without holding on to anything for support, and I've done the dive bomb test a couple of times to see how close he was to walking. The last time I did the "dive bomb" test was only a few days ago and he actually reached for the ground multiple times. That usually means they are very close to walking. Today, Papaw came into the kitchen and asked Nana, "When did Grey start walking?" She of course said, "He hasn't yet..." He said, "Well, he just took three steps in the living room trying to get Woody." And there you have it...our son's firsts steps, and we missed it. Bittersweet.

Diagnosis.

2009-01-29T15:04:00.004-05:00

I've decided that Anna, along with most kids her age (I think), have a few mental problems.
Diagnosis #1: Anna is Bipolar. One minute she is great and happy, the next she is making her angry face and telling that she is very mad at me for whatever reason, the next minute she is dancing like a maniac in the living room asking me to dance with her.
Diagnosis #2: Anna is a compulsive liar. She knows what she's supposed to be doing, and knows what she is supposed to say, but instead does or tells me the complete opposite of that.
Diagnosis #3: Anna has O.C.D. If you sit down with her for a tea party or for dinner (pretend dinner), she must be control of everything. She must choose the correct plate, napkin, spoon, fork, and cut that you will use. It doesn't matter if they are all the same, she must choose. She'll choose the blue cup and the blue plate because the match exactly and if you say you want something different, it's like telling her something horrendous. She also wants to be in complete control of Grey's discipline, and makes sure to tell me if I'm doing something wrong in that area.

MOORE proof.

2009-01-26T22:18:00.006-05:00

Here is a shot we got from the workshop last week! I'm SO glad we got one with everyone in it. This was taken in Kelly's living room where we all sat around and talked and asked questions. It really way amazing and encouraging. I learned SO much and met some great girls in the process.

From right to left: Me, Abigail, Jona, Sharon, (above) Kelly!, Jennifer, Tammy, Clair, and Ashley.

OH! And I just checked, Kelly put THIS shot on HER infamous blog!!! I MADE HER BLOG! Well, me and all the rest of these cool girls. :)

Look out world...

2009-01-25T21:06:00.002-05:00

We don't usually go anywhere. Or at least it doesn't seem like it. But I think from now until almost summer, we will have very few weekends that we will either be traveling or at a wedding. J was gone for a work trip a week ago, I left for my workshop on Monday, J left again on Thursday (before I got home from Louisiana) for a conference, I have an out of town thing I have to go to February 6th (I hope), I'm sure J has something else he has to travel for before March 6th, that weekend I have an out of town photo shoot, April 4th we have a wedding out of town, then May 2nd another wedding...but thankfully it's here. Tonight I found out that J has a meeting (out of town) the weekend of May 2nd (a wedding that Anna is in). He suggested that he take Anna with him and come back the next day to be there for the rehearsal. Yikes! We're busy!

Give Me Moore.

2009-01-24T13:50:00.001-05:00

I just posted a new entry on my photography blog (Shuttermouth) about my FAB-U-LOUS workshop in Louisiana. Check it out!

Who was watching his girl?

2009-01-23T23:13:00.003-05:00

Daddy was supposed to be, but he was sitting on the couch playing games on his iPhone. I was on the computer working (where else?) when Anna came up to me to ask a question. I looked at her and just about fell out of my chair. She didn't really know what I was laughing at since she hadn't seen herself. She was just coming to ask a normal question with a straight face. I took her back into the living room where J was sitting on the couch and asked, "Were you watching her?" With a puzzled look on his face he replied, "She was running around!" Obviously not the case since I keep the diaper changing supplies in a basket usually in the middle of the living room floor. Sure enough, there was a pile of baby powder right next to the basket where she had been dumping it out and rubbing it all over herself. RIGHT in front of her dad. He had no idea and she was being very quiet and occupied. She had a good laugh when she saw herself after I took her into the bathroom to wash her hair and face again. You can't really see the thickness of the powder in this shot, and it was caked on her scalp and semi-damp, just washed hair. Nice.

Tagged...10 honest things.

2009-01-23T15:49:00.003-05:00

1. I'm obsessed with cleaning out my ears.
2. I want to be a type A personality and I'm more like type Z (I know that doesn't exist).
3. I like the smell of all things flammable.
4. I want to win the lottery and only buy photo equipment. That's what it will take to get some of the things I want. :P
5. My biggest pet peeve is when people look at me or talk to me like I'm stupid.
6. I have a hard time being myself around people I don't know.
7. I'm constantly wanting to do something drastically different to my house.
8. I can make decisions for other people, but have a hard time making decisions for myself.
9. I'm not ever satisfied with anything that I do.
10. I'm a "piler", meaning, I put mail and other things that can be stacked on top of each other which makes lots of random piles around my house.

I tag Erin, Cristin, Theresa, Julie, Amy D., Molly, Carla, Kassie, Deborah, Lindsey...ok a few more than I'm supposed too, but that's ok.

Everywhere I looked...

2009-01-23T00:47:00.003-05:00

...this.

This, my friends, was a shot I took while in Louisiana at my fabulous workshop. I like to shoot "details" when I think about it during photo shoots since you never know when you may get the chance to make a collage. While we were shooting with models on Wednesday, I would sporadically turn to something around me and take a shot. I got one girl wondering once and as I looked down at some cool sticks on the ground and pointed my camera towards them, she said, "What are you doing? Are you going to take pictures of that stick?" She wasn't being rude, she really was just wondering. I quickly looked up and as I tried to hide my embarrassment, I just replied, "Ha! No! I was just checking something..." And kept on shooting. I was so worried I'd look stupid at the workshop with all the other "pro-photographers"... But I happened to turn around unnoticed once and take this super cool shot of the trees. There is VERY little done to this photo (just a little sharpening) and I think I may blow it up huge and put it somewhere in my house. I'll give more details on my fabulous workshop soon. :) And yes, I REALLY did take this photo.

One Question...

2009-01-21T00:02:00.002-05:00

Who does Louisiana think she is, hogging all the water and trees?

I have to admit that it's pretty awesome here in Louisiana. But I like home too. While driving this afternoon, I thought it would be a good idea to document my trip with photos. As I kept driving, I thought, "Oh, that would be a good shot... Oh, maybe I should slow down or turn around to get that one... I should stop and get something before the sun gets too low... I'll wait until I get to the Louisiana state line and take the cliche shot of the "now entering Louisiana" sign...." And so on... But as the sun got lower and lower in the sky I soon realized that there was no way I was stopping on the interstate to get some shots when I was doing such a good job staying with the traffic and dodging the trucks. Going from an average of 80mph to a complete stop seemed more and more impossible. So, I didn't get anything. I'll get some things tomorrow and those of you, like me, who've never been to Louisiana to see the ridiculous amounts of trees and the complete lack of visual freedom, will get to experience this alien world. But I'm sure most have seen this tree hog of a state...or at least something similar. And I've seen something similar, it's just amazing to see it again since I live (for my entire life) in a treeless environment.