I've always thought them a nasty, temperamental beast but I must admit I love their personal color scheme.

So, ever since we met Kev has thought I have a problem with always jumping to the most extreme conclusion.

Back story: We were driving in downtown Redding one night and this ambulance flew past us and stopped at one of the dive hotels right near where we were stopped at a stoplight. I mumbled something about hoping it wasn't a knifing. He burst out laughing at me and said, "Of course you'd go straight there, because it couldn't just be an elderly person having breathing trouble or chest pains. No, you go straight to gang fights and knifing." Not 5 minutes later, once we got our green light, we drove past a person walking down Market St. with a considerable limp on one side. I said, "Oh, that poor person probably has Cerebral Palsy." Again, uncontrollable laughter ensued. (Now, I knew a guy in HS with cp and he had the characteristic limp on one side just like this lady so I did have a reason for saying that one.) And ever since that night, when I make a statement reflecting the worst possible situation, Kev brings back the "Oh, was it a knifing? Maybe a cp victim did it!" Turkey.

Last night, Josiah had a hard time going to sleep. His nose was running and he kept whimpering and fussing. Kev said maybe it was still from his teeth coming in since he's working on 2 more eyeteeth. I said, "Yeah, but with this kid's luck it's probably something like the Croup or Pneumonia." Out came the "knifing by a cp victim".

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't look for the most extreme, worst-case-possible conclusion. In the words of Dr. Perry Cox from tv's SCRUBS:

"Do you know what a zebra is, Newby? It's a perfectly common disease that happens to be presenting with uncommon symptoms. As in, if you hear hoofbeats, you just go ahead and think horseys, not zebras. Mmm-kay there, Mr. Cuddly-bear?"

See, you CAN better youself with television.

what a week.

So, here's what we've been up to and why I haven't blogged much:

1. Josiah has decided to defy all medical advances and still catch those pesky childhood diseases that are supposed to be on their way to eradication. This time it was Roseola. We thought he was just having a bad fever to go with the incoming of 3 molars and 2 eyeteeth all at the same time. Last Sat night his fever was 102.5 which apparently is higher than you're supposed to have with teething . . . WebMD says fevers don't come with teething . . . my kids say otherwise. We had him looked at and the nurse said that given the fever and the crazy red rash ALL OVER him that he contracted Roseola and that it just had to run its course. Now, there's comfort!

Looking at these photos you'd think he was having the time of his life . . . not the case. I've never seen him so grumpy and clingy and irritable and crying all at the same time. But by yesterday the rash was almost all gone and he was in a much better mood so I think we're past it.

2. I finished 2 of the baby shower gifts I mentioned before and gave them to the girls at the party Mon night. I love 'em.

Yeah, no pride here or anything. The top one was for a boy and the bottom was for a girl. I think I've finally got the hang of this rag quilt thing . . . God knows I've been practicing enough, right Kev?

3. I also got done some of the scrapping I wanted to do. First, a fabric album for some random fun photos I took with my sister in May:

Next, I did Josiah's joint birthday photos with Ethan. The theme was legos . . . in case you couldn't tell or forgot since the last time I mentioned it . . . so I made a lego.

I haven't seen anywhere a box that actually looked like a lego so I made this one from a square photo box that I painted and added the circles on the top . . . with Kev's help because I couldn't figure out how to get the corrugated part not to show . . . thank goodness for a guy's logical mind.

Then I did a layout that I've been saving for a while until I found just the right paper, etc. for it:

The stickers say stuff like Caught in the Act and Guilty and It Wasn't Me, etc. Couldn't resist. :)

Finally, because I'm done removing my daughter from my scrapbook stash and stealing back all the embellishments she pilfers, I made Gennie a scrapbook of her own:

I covered cardboard for the cover and put in cardstock for the pages and bound it together with my Bind-It-All machine. It's 8x8 so it's big enough to put photos in but no too big for her shelf. She loves to steal all the extra photos that I don't end up using and sticking them places . . . walls, kitchen table, front door, tucked into the chair rail at the trailer, etc. . . so now she has her own place to create. I promised she could go thru my sticker stash - WITH ME - and pick out ones she'd like along with some ribbon and buttons, etc. She was really excited to see it sitting at her place at the table when she got up from nap yesterday.

Anyway, that's been our week so far. Wanna trade? Yeah, me neither. :P

waterpark

So, yesterday Kendra and I took the girls to the splash park at the island. We've been talking about it all summer but finally got to it . . . good thing the girls are too young to understand plans changing and stuff coming up. They had a blast, although both were too afraid to do much more than run around the perimeter and scream when the "geyser" ones went off. We finally got them to at least go near the frog and they got good and wet in there. Maybe next year we'll get them under the giant mushroom or the tipping buckets.
Josiah was there, too, and did okay until he walked over to peek into the holes where the geyser comes out . . . he got a face full and it scared him pretty good . . . and I saw it coming and all I could do was laugh and dry him off.

"you can't ride in my little red wagon . . . "

Well, actually you can. The kids got a wagon from some friends at homegroup this week and they love it! Dave and Lu had the wagon when their kids were little . . . now one is in college and the other is in HS . . . so Dave decided to fix it up and give it to Gennie and Josiah. He repainted it and added their names in sparkly blue paint . . . but this photo is going on our LR wall printed huge so I took the names off in photoshop for now. They LOVE it! Lu told Gennie she had to practice pulling her stuffed buddies in it first before she could try pulling her brother so she spent last Saturday running around on the front grass dragging her buddies at high speed. Then I let her loose yesterday so I could take some photos . . . with my mom close at hand in case Josiah decided to crawl out in mid-ride. She was very careful with him and he had a blast. He had picked up a rock somewhere . . . so, yeah, my kid is going to be the one who has to empty his pockets BEFORE entering the house, no exceptions . . . and started banging it on the wagon sides, yelling at the top of his lungs. Awesome!

Thanks, Dave and Lu!

Alyssa - sneak peek!

Here's a few favorites from a recent senior session. My favorite is the one on the bench - her outfit and coloring fit perfectly for this vintage look I'd been itching to use. Thanks for letting me play, Alyssa! And yes, I threw out the ones where the bugs were attacking you!

here's your sneak peek, Mel!

So, I got to do a fun maternity shoot for a really good friend last night . . . my first of this year. Loved every minute! Here's just a taste of the fun:

Yin & Yang (worked out perfectly because he was right in the middle and made a great round belly bump):

Peek-a-Boo:

And she only has about 5 weeks to go! Thanks for letting me play, Melissa! I loved it!

Katie & Joe - sneak peek #2 because I'm just so excited to be making some headway I have to put these on here.

So, I have to leave a few surprises for the proof book but here are a few more of my favorites from the wedding. Basically I chased Katie around the whole afternoon getting ready before the wedding. Her hairdresser refused (nicely, of course) to let me take photos of her so I had to get creative:


Ask me sometime where these next ones were taken.

Look closely at the garter and her shoe . . . red and yellow!

Thanks again for letting me "play," guys. I had a blast!

update

So, the spots are mostly gone, leaving just a few reddish places that hopefully won't scar. He was really good about not scratching and only had a few that caused him trouble. I took more photos of the bad ones but since I don't want his future wife to hate me for splashing naked photos of her man -- allbeit back when he was just a little guy -- all over the internet I didn't put them on here.

All that to say that life is returning to normal. I'm working like a fiend trying to get the rest of Katie and Joe's wedding portraits edited and ready for them . . . another sneak peek coming soon . . . and I've got another wedding coming up on the 23rd and senior shoots in between along with baby showers both here and in CA to get presents for and scrapping I want to do . . . the list goes on and on. And I love it. I think I'd be singing a different tune if I was working as well but since I'm "just a stay-at-home" mom (yeah, haven't just stayed home for months) I don't mind having such a list.

Now I'm off to one of the aforementioned senior shoots so I'll leave you with these of Josiah from the sidewalk chalk day. Toodle-ooo!

josiah's got spots.

So, we have a cranky little guy on our hands. Last week he had his one-year-old checkup and got his chicken pox vaccine. Yesterday my friend Barb stopped by and noticed that he had quite a few little red dots on him and suggested that I look up vaccine reactions on WebMD. I'm really glad she did (Thanks, Dr. Barb!) because today he woke up covered in the spots and with a low-grade fever. From what I could get from WebMD, it's a reaction to the vaccine that mimicks the pox -- red spots and a fever -- and it can appear anywhere from immediately to a month after the vaccination. Yay.

You can only see a few in these photos (because the photos are so small) but believe me, they are everywhere. He hasn't been scratching much except his ears and besides the fever and crankiness he's been acting okay. He's been swinging between wanting to play with his sister and wanting to cuddle in my lap. I'm thankful he isn't itching because you can't really explain to a one-year-old that scratching is bad.

Still, being sick stinks.