selfies

I don't usually take our fam photos anymore.  I have a great friend/photographer for that job.  This year, however, in a pinch I grabbed my tripod and we struggled through.

First with the weird faces. . .

Then, with the kids moving while the camera focuses so that the best pic in the whole bunch is BLURRY.

So we take what we can get, weird positioning and all.  It's a better representation of us than anything perfect anyway. ;)

Or we just resort to phone selfies.  Those work for me.  

And hiding Dave's pale arms that reflect too much light.  ;)

Miley's toothlessness forever documented.  ;)

Well my girls are pretty cute, so we'll be happy with these pics.  Until next year. . . I am storing away the tripod indefinitely. . . but probably not my phone.

And in the middle of pictures we had to cross the river to save a stupid kid who got his leg stuck under a boulder.  I don't even know how, but that kid sure could scream and panic.  Dave lost the coin toss and ventured across.  Chivalry is not dead, but it is cold.  Brrrr.  

That ended our photo session with some soggy shuffling to the car.  ;)

Buyers beware

Hello blog,

My new giant desk is impressively full of projects right now so I'm going to make this succinct.  Maybe.

Here are my girls lists for Santa, aka anyone who wants to buy them a gift and is in need of ideas.  I have already bought them their Christmas, so their lists came for too late for me.  Oh well.

Miley's wish list:

Clothes, yep she wants clothes.  I don't know.  She's getting too old.  She wears a 10/12.  We don't have much use for long sleeved things, but a few won't hurt her either.  She wears a 2 in shoes, but maybe a 3 would be a safer bet.  She won't stop growing!!

She wants books.  This might be harder to buy, since she reads all the time.  I bought her the Beverly Cleary set for Christmas, and Land of Stories.  Any cool books about the human body or animals would be fun.  You can't go wrong with classics or new books out.

She also asked for Barbies, which surprised me, cause I didn't think she got those out anymore.  She said she'd like some clothes and shoes for them.  OK, whatever.

BEANIE BOOS

Other suggestions:
Any craft type project.  She loves to make things.
Science experiment projects.
LOL dolls
A remote controlled something.

Jovey's wish list:

She had very few ideas.  Buying for the girls is getting harder.  Here is what I did drag out of her. . .

Race track with race cars.  She really wants this one, who knew.

Remote controlled car.

Fingerlings. . . that weird monkey that holds your finger.  Like this or this.

BEANIE BOOS

Babies.  Yes, because the dozens she has already are not enough.  And baby stuff, because the drawer packed to overflowing is not enough either.  ;)

A baby crib.

Craft projects.

Moana costume.

LOL dolls.

Jovey wears a size 6 in clothes and a 1 in shoes.


Ok that's all I can think of right now.  I should have written something down sooner.  Oh well.  Hope that helps and if it doesn't well, good luck to ya!! ;)

tradition

My girls love a tradition, and the birthday video has become one of their favorites.  Here is Jovey's 4th year. . .


Jovey 4 montage from Mindy on Vimeo.

Happy 5th Jovey baby!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jovey said her new tradition for Thanksgiving is to make a "Thanksgiving picture" for everyone. 

She wants me to add a description for those who are obviously not artists.  ;)

This is a turkey house, surrounded by rockets in the starry sky.  An evil queen (on the left) and a good king (on the right) are sitting eating honey.  And there is a dead fish.

I think she's got a good grasp of this holiday.

Jovey's month

Someone turns 5 this month!  And so while I am busy making decorations and putting together a movie in her honor, here are her Chunky Monkey pictures to commemorate her big day!

I know, October is over

. . . but I still have a lot of pictures of it. . . so October recapping today.  Before I get to put up all of Jovey's birthday decorations we had to take down all of this. . .

The snake skin was made by wrapping my family members with packing tape, and then cutting them out of it.  The girls really enjoyed it.  And they also liked looking down the snake and finding where their bums were obvious.  ;)  Dave's made a nice head for the snake.  😂

 The post stopped bringing my packages up to the door during the month of October.  They were always left just inside the gate.  I'm not saying it was because my courtyard was super spooky this year, but they do come to my door again now that we're in November. . . . ;)

Dave is always super proud of his pumpkin creations.  Since I kicked him off of templates he now beams about his designs.  Like, whoa, enough already.  ;) Multiple pics of his own pumpkin, and maybe he'll take one of the girls if they beg him. ;)  He found his creative calling in life.

 Miley had to make a pumpkin from a book character that she had read.  She chose Ever After High, and the character of Cerise Hood.  She did it all by herself for the school competition.  I can't say the same for all the other ones that were brought in.  Whatever.  So proud of Miley and she had fun.

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” - Dumbledore

It's that time of year again.  The time when people look at us and say, "what the?"  I consider it a victory if one person gets excited about our costumes.  Sometimes that spot is filled by someone in our family, but whatever.  A win is a win.

I'm still so grateful my girls love family themed costumes.  That won't ever end right?!  Cause I can't imagine the sad pictures with disjointed costumes.  I. just. can't.

Welcome to our very Harry Potter Halloween. . .

Hermione Granger. . . from the play.  She made sure to tell people that.  She also remembers the name of the play.  Sometimes her memory really freaks me out.

 Bellatrix Lestrange.  She really got into character.

 Barty Crouch Jr.  Yep, bet you didn't know who I was supposed to be, did ya?

 and Sirius Black.  Sometimes Dave couldn't remember his name when people asked him who he was.  Oh my stars.  He's getting old. ;)

 A very Happy Halloween to you all!  Until next year.