Some Family Pictures...

Other than my owl eyes... I think the pictures are pretty good. And while Aunt Penny (and Justin) were very suspicious of my color scheme... it turned out okay.

I love this one of GQ.

These are just the first few... we'll see what else crops up.

The Big Guns

Sometimes, M has a mind of her own. You are surprised? No, I thought not.

Today, at Church, M - more than anything - wished to hang over the bench and bug the people behind us.

Justin tried to make her turn around.

I tried to make her turn around.

This was a tricky business since using force would only result in M's signature high-pitched scream.

Finally, I pulled out the big guns:

Or gun, as it were:

That's right.

"M, Samson wants you to turn around and sit down. If you don't I will call him and tell him you are not listening."

She obeyed immediately.

Why she is terrified of her 17 year old cousin is beyond me. Using this fact is most certainly not.

Family Photo Shoot & Christmas Cards

The high moment of our family photo shoot came at the very start...

... before one picture had been taken...


... a bird pooped in E's hair.

For real.

Luckily, it was brown poop.

We had another promising moment, right at the end...

... after all the pictures had been taken...

... I found broccoli in my teeth from lunch...

For real.

Luckily, my teeth are green? No, not really. Justin's comment: "Hopefully you didn't smile too big." Hmmmm.

******

In other news,

I apparently have no skills at counting.

I ran out of Christmas cards before I ran out of people to send them too.

If you are one of the sad people who miss out on pictures of our family this year... never fear...

... everything on the card is pretty much a reprint of what I post here...

... and if you don't read this blog...

too bad for you!

As for grandparents... your cards are coming with packages, and since I'm mailing them on Monday, you probably won't get them until after Christmas.

Sorry.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

After today....

.... we get Justin home for two weeks.

Except for all those pesky applications :)

E was so excited she screamed and woke the baby up this morning.

This Morning

M wakes up stinky.

Dad comes to the rescue and starts to change her diaper.

M yells emphatically: "No! Momma's turn."

Oh, to be the recipient of mother love.

And yes, she did insist I change it.

Do You Want to See Me In Print?

Too bad!

But my friend Bree's book is coming out next Tuesday- yep, that's one week from today:

"The Dark Divine" by Bree Despain

And I did read it a few times and comment, so maybe one of my words is in the book. But probably not. She's very talented on her own.

If you want to read a little, check it out here:

http://romantictimes.com/2009/11/dark-divine-sneak-peak.php


Be sure to get your own copy to read over Christmas break. Justin says instead of assuming that because two of my writer friends have agents, and two are published, I must statistically be the un-achiever, I should assume that statistically we are "clustering" and will all succeed. I think he made that up, but just in case: you should buy her book, so she can be on the New York Times Bestseller List, so that someday I can be too.

See how that logic worked?

Okay, I'm tired.

Go buy the book.

The Way The World Works

On Saturday, as I drove, I listened to NPR.

As usual, they were discussing President Obama - specifically his war speech at the peace prize meeting.

(Don't worry, I'm not REALLY getting into politics... I have NO DESIRE.)

Anyway, they were interviewing a professor who studied war and peace (not the novel) and they asked him a really intelligent question. It went something like this:

"Why can't the world ever move past war? Why can't we ever solve this problem and just all be nice to each other?"

Luckily, the professor was a good sport and didn't laugh hysterically. He said something like this:

"Well, because there are always those people in the world who want what someone else has and want to be in charge. They want it at no cost, and it's our responsibility to stop them."

I must say I agree with the dear fellow.

And I even have my own personal example to share. An example from my very own home!

*******
Flashback to this morning
*******

E: (Yelling from the top of the stairs... right next to the room her brother is sleeping in) "Mom, I NEED you. Mom, I NEED you. MOOOOOMMMMMM, I NEEEEEEED you.

At this time I was going to the bathroom.

Pretty soon, she came to the door. Since she was no longer right next to her sleeping brother's room, she decided she would now whisper.

E: mom, i need you.....

Mom: What? (Okay, I was snippy. But honestly, do I really want the baby to wake up?)

E: M has a dress I want. And I want it.

Mom: I am not going to get if for you.

E: But I want it.

Mom: I am not going to get if for you. (Then came the lecture on yelling from the top of the stairs, blah, blah, blah..... Mom's are soooo fun to listen to.)

E's reply????

E: Fine, I'll get it for myself.

A few moment later I hear M screaming.

I walked upstairs to investigate and found that E had backed M into a corner and was deliberately removing dress from M so she could have it.

I immediately gave a cease and desist order.

And since I am bigger, it worked.

Eventually, however, I had to put E in the ultimate time-out: she had to sit in the crib.... so humililating. At the door, I put on my meanest face.

Mom: And if you scream when I leave this room and wake up your brother you will be in "BIG" trouble.

(This is kind of like threatening Iran... what is "BIG" trouble? Especially when you've already hit the apex of time-out in our home???)

Luckily, she didn't sense my lack of further punishment, and she did not scream.

So... why do we still have war in the world?

Maybe we just need a bigger time-out crib?

More than half the clothes in this post belong to Libbi

This morning our family had an unofficial fashion show. Next week we are having our family pictures and I am trying to prepare.

Unfortunately (as Isaac says), finding cute clothes that match can be difficult.

Fortunately, I have my sister's closets to raid.

Unfortunately, I have no style.

Fortunately, you do.

So, my question is... does any of this work?????

I am doing two locations. One, outside in an orchard. I know I want E's gold dress and sweater here, with us all matching her somehow. Then, we are doing an inside shoot... because it's Winter and I'm crazy to try outside. This would be less fancy shmancy clothes. I like M's pink sweater set, but the purple one from Cousin A is too little for E. I like the brown sweater outfit of A on E, but I don't have a matching sweater for M and her black skirt (even I know the red does not work).

So, what do you think?

Please, solve my problems. I would appreciate it.

Which dress should M wear with E's gold one? The top one is also gold, but it is actually Cousin A's this year, and it doesn't quite fit. Justin doesn't think the blue works, but it's actually warm.... the other dress makes it all seem so monochromatic.

Bleh.

Can you tell we just got out of the tubby?