our own little 8 Mile

He spends most of his time running around with one pant leg pulled up like this and no one knows why.

But if he starts to rap, I'm cutting him off. I don't do rap.

because I couldn't resist . . .

here are a few more. I can't believe how clear his eyes are in this one: And this one was just too cute to leave out:

remember him?

Well, he's 6 months old now and he came over to smile for me last week. I love my job!

(and that's the blanket I got to make him. i love those colors with his red hair!)
(he was soooo happy to be in just a hat and shoes. freedom!)

Thanks so much for letting me play, Mel! Can't wait to do it again!

my name's Copper. i'm a hound dog. aroooooo-oo.

So, with a nod to Disney's 1981 classic:we got Maggie a pet.We've been talking about it since we moved here in 2004 but couldn't have another dog in the trailer so now that we're in the house we decided to get serious and just do it already. Saturday we went to the Humane Society and picked out this little darling of a Hound mix . . . sounds really definitive, right? . . . and she came with the name Copper. She's almost the same height as Maggie but much narrower. They told us she around one and a half years old so she might fill out a little but is basically full grown. Best of all, she doesn't have the jowls and slobber that one usually relates to hound dogs. And she barely sheds, even after a bath.

Her previous owners had to move to a smaller place and couldn't keep her so she had been at the Society since January.

The kids had a great time in the "meet-n-greet" room getting to know her so we could watch how she did with them . . . and she was perfect. Josiah got right down and wrestled with her on the floor:After a bunch of "are you sure's" between Kev and me, we said yes and adopted ourselves a hound dog. While we did the paperwork they took her into the office and let her peek over the counter:She rode really well in the car on the way home, too, and didn't even get carsick. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to clean dog vomit out of the van:Maggie loved her right away, and they are still doing well together although Copper is a little pest sometimes . . . she still has all her puppy energy and 6-year-old Maggie can keep up for a while but still needs her naps.

Copper set up residence at the base of the fireplace in the living room and Josiah checks on her often to make sure she's a real dog:

Once they get used to each other and the novelty wears off . . . and I can get them to hold still together for 2 seconds in a row . . . I'll post some photos of Maggie and Copper. She's a sweetheart!

Oh, and last night she proved she really is a hound dog. Gennie had gotten up to pee in the night and was coming to get me to tuck her back into bed. The dogs are sleeping on the floor of our room and as Gennie snuck into our room, she startled Copper and Copper let out the biggest hound dog howl I've ever heard. I sat bolt upright in bed, Gennie screamed, Kev yelled, "Copper!!", and Maggie and Josiah snored thru it all. Awesome.

my birthday.

So, more than a week later, my dad reminded me that I hadn't posted about my birthday yet. We had church all morning, then decided to wait to go out for supper instead of going out for lunch like we usually do on Sundays. Sunday afternoons my friend Shannon and I run the girls bible study so for a birthday surprise they wanted to make me a cake and decorate it. I got some fun photos but didn't think their parents would like me to put them on here w/o permission (darn internet predators) so you'll have to take my word for it: It was a giant, Day-Glo-frostinged mountain of chocolatey goodness. And they had a great time counting out the 30 candles to put on it, then finding places to stick them . . . the cake was a Bundt castle with turrets and high walls and a drawbridge but didn't have much actual space for candles, what with the giant hole down the middle that makes it a Bundt. Anyway, it was great.

After that I ran home to collect the family and we went out for supper with my parents. I seem to remember picking Golden Corral last year, too . . . must love me some horse meat! Actually I couldn't really think of anything else I wanted and I was too excited for the dessert that Kev made.Then, home to open presents! My sister sent me a delightful box filled with things she thought I could use now that I'm 30: menopause relief pills, stool softener, denture adhesive . . . she took her inspiration from the ladies at the retirement home she works at . . . yeah, she's on my "list" . . . eventually she has to turn 30, too. But in order to redeem herself, she also included a couple of scrapbooking idea books and embellies and a really fun jewelry set. My parents got me "National Treasure 2" for blu-ray, which I love and had been waiting to get a player so I could steal their copy again and again. And Kev got me a Silhouette . . . a die-cutting machine that connects to the computer and can cut any shape or font out of cardstock . . . for titles on layouts or cards.

And truthfully, I've been playing with that this week and not posting my birthday photos. After presents we moved on to cake . . . and since the girls were making me an actual cake, Kev decided to make me Peachy Cake, a warm cobbler-like dessert which I must admit I crave fortnightly.
Since we mosly deal in little-guy birthdays around here we didn't have enough candles . . . I know, I'm old . . . so he creatively drew out a 3 and an 0 with the few candles we did have:It was delish. Thanks everyone for my presents and well-wishes! It wasn't so bad turning 30. But this last photo is really my fav . . . apparently even my camera had something to say about me getting older and decided to emphasize just how many candles were on there . . . I love it because it looks like the flame from my cake set our wooden table on fire and was subsequently burning down our dining room: Okay, I'll embrace it. Bring on NUMBER 31!

one fine day.

So, last week it was finally warm enough to play outside so I took the kiddos to the park by our house. I still made them wear sweatshirts and jackets but even I took off my coat once we had walked there. It was sooo beautiful and sunny, and since it was a school day there was only one other toddler there so they had the run of the place. Gennie loved swinging and was thrilled to find that this year she can reach to push herself on the big-kid swings. Josiah was less happy - I put him in the baby swing and he screamed like I had just cut off his legs - so he stuck to peeking thru the climbing wall and going down the slides. He climbed all the way up to the medium slides all by himself and tried it out:

but wound up butt-first with his feet up by his head -- and was less than impressed:

So the next time he did it his own way:Honest to goodness I did not pose this shot. He really did just turn over and go down backwards on his stomach. I was laughing so hard that I'm really thankful this photo isn't blurry.

And after all the coaxing and bribes that we've done, and Uncle Joey did when he was here, Gennie finally went down the Big One. Nevermind the awkward position I was in to get this shot. That's why I get paid the big bucks, right? Yeah. :)

Oh yeah, and this is where the new blog banner photo came from. Yay, Spring! Unfortunately, the cold weather came right back the next day and we got more snow last night. But we can dream!

yep, I had fun.

So, here are a few more of my tiny friend from the shoot last week. I wanted to save the really sweet ones for her mom when she gets her proofs, but these were some of my favs, especially this one:

Love it!