Never leave home without your...

...Fido Floater.

You're all set!

Computer bag in one hand. Check!

Fido Floater in the other. Check!

Matching orange shirt. Check!

Shorts you've had the entire 13 years of marriage...ummm.......check?

Props to Tiny Bella this morning for her patient tolerance while being toted around by every kid and adult. 

You don't think she'll have negative associations with visiting our house do you?

They don't stop growing!

He came up to me tonight at school and told me he knew me...

Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Morris...I know who you are...you are Michaela's mom...do you remember me? 

Of course! But you are now two years older and two heads taller.

(And how could I forget those eyes?!)

It always amazes me at how much they like to be remembered and how they seek you out for a hug or a smile, how much of an impact we make on little lives whether we know it or not.

As I stood there chatting with him, I smiled at the picture I knew I had snapped of him two years ago outside the kindergarden room when I was attempting to get one of every kid in the class and give them to the teacher.

I came home and found it and remembered how much I loved it when I first took it. 

He has grown...and so have I.

What we stumble upon...

Explanation: 

This was supposed to be my post for yesterday, but alas I could not sit down to my computer to do it until 11:30pm.  By that time...who cares?!! Right? 

I had a life long friend (and Photoshop Guru) over helping with some photo editing stuff. While learning about image sizes, pixel counts, and print size ratios, my brain stumbled upon a nagging random complaint I have had with my margins in my blog--how they are too close to the pictures leaving me unable to enlarge my images--not knowing a lick about html code to rewrite it (or the know-how to download free blog templates)--feeling quite the frustration over not being able to fully realize my creative genius (ha!) because of my retarded computer skills.

I was blah blah'ing about my blog. 

So she clicked over to my blog, found the code, clicked here and clicked there and bang! Bigger margins. Oh, and let me fix your header for you! Why thank you!  (Can you come over more often?!)

So on with my post... 

My beautiful McBean dreaming out the window. A penny for her thoughts?

I love coming into her room and stumbling upon her imaginary life displayed in random vignettes. They are like little windows into her imagination. Love the little bed with the blanket and pillow and the table for two, with the floral centerpiece. It's her little interior decorator revealing itself. Her love for her real home and the comfort it is to her. What she believes all homes should be.

(Though not all homes have a life size chocolate frosty cone by every rocking chair and floor lamp.)

And then sometimes I stumble upon vignettes like this...

I found this one morning after she left for school. A random cotton ball wearing Polly Pocket's blue Hollywoods. 

Captain Cotton Ball Man flying on his Disney Princess Game Boy cartridge while dodging a purple Polly high heel and a number 8 inspection sticker. 

Every time I look at this picture I am struck by daughter's sense of humor. I soooooo wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see her thought process with this one.

Sometimes stumbles are the best.

Sharing the ride

Sometimes when you are on the ride of your life...

it is better to have a friend along with you.

That way there are two of you when the journey gets tough.

One can push...

...and when you are tired, the other can pull.

The ride is sooooo much better when it is shared.

Don't ya think?

Off-the-scale cute

So I just had to do it. I had to post tiny Bella because she's too cute not to post.

Again, I know I tread very close to the border of almost "too cutsie". 

I am very nervous about posting the kinda cutsie-animal-calendar-type pic, but oh well.

Ooooh and aaaaww if you feel free to do so...

 

Yum, PUNCH!

Nothing like a refreshing, imitation colored fruity punch to round out your basic hamburger on a white bun...on a cheap paper plate. 

It's Friday evening and the neighborhood kids (about 15 of them) have gathered for the promised BBQ. I told my hubby to just go cheap...the kids like the cheap food. (While he was at the store one of them asked me if we were BBQ'ing steak? No. This is a one star restaurant kid.) 

Right now they're all out there in the 100 degree heat, scarfing down their cheap food, cheap drinks, and five kinds of chips. (I did buy a watermelon to instill some nutritional value to the meal.) They're enjoying their punch, and root beer, and each other's company. Before I came in Little Nic looked at me and said, "this is sooooo cool."  Yeah, I think they're enjoying it.

Oooh....Scott just walked outside with the box of ice cream sandwiches...gotta get one before they're swiped up!

(Don't attempt to read the nutrition facts on the back of the can.

I think the "contains no real juice" says it all.)

end of day

The end of my day...

Outtakes

The first of the school year germs have found me and I am home sick, hacking up lungs as I type. My kids are all out on play dates, I have read through my new Coastal Living magazine, and have attempted to watch "Seven Years in Tibet" with Brad Pitt. (I said, attempted. I am having a hard time listening to his awful try at a German accent while coming across as a 1942 prisoner of war. I am just not believing it Brad.) 

Anyhoo, with no energy to pick up my camera, let alone the two pound lens, I was going through old pictures and discarding, cleaning, and purging my computer of needless pixels to store. I came across these outtakes of my blog banner and thought I would share them like they do in one of my favorite photo mags where the photographer offers 

insights into how a picture came about. 

So, on this specific beach excursion I was with my family in the late afternoon at one of our favorite beaches. The tide was waaaaaaay out and my kids were elated with the hundreds (not kidding) of whole sand dollars that the low tide was revealing. As I was capturing my kids I happened to turn around and discover a group of horseback riders exploring the same glistening sand. The mist was dense and the sun caught them as silhouettes.  I loved the composition but I kinda wished that the people walking out of the pic would move just a little faster so I could just have the horses.

Here the people are almost gone. By the time they were out of the picture my horse riders had moved on, except for that one on the far right. She's heading out farther into the tide. My banner pic is the one I snapped when she had separated herself from the pack. I love it the most because it looked as if she was out there all by herself with not a nary a soul around her, on the edge of the world, her vision unobstructed, the horizon stretching on forever. What a cool cool place to be...to be just a small observer on the edge of vast expanse of life.

Because the mist was so thick and the horses so faint, I had to employ a multiplying layer trick when I got it into my editing software. I also played around with filters, you can tell each photo has a different filter on it. Oh, and I cropped it because I was far far away and the stretch of sand leading up to them distracted the eye.

So. There you go! My commentary over with, I am now moving on to my next project: attempting to find a way to build a personal website to display my photos. Like a gallery of sorts. I have been wanting to do this forever. 

We'll see. I may try and finish that Brad Pitt movie. 

Umbrella (deja vu)

What a perfectly clever idea! 

Put your stuffed raccoon in your umbrella boat 

and then carry it around with you!

(Why has no one thought of this before?!)

Oh, but wait!

Brother (the brilliant engineer) thinks it might be best to

tie the passengers down. 

A little string seatbelt will keep everyone safe!

Yes yes! This makes sister happy!

(Thank you brother!)

It is such a good idea that Brother employs 

the same safety measure with his elephant. 

("Thank you!" says Ellie.)

And since they are all seat belted in...

why not take them for a spin?!

But just a little spin. 

Raccoon's stomach cannot take much motion.

(Sorry Raccoon.)

Maybe we should take them over to the park

and run them around?

Show them the great wide world?

Agreed! We're off!

(See how tightly they are tied in?!)

And now Mother can go make dinner.

one good afternoon for my girl

Nothing like a Bugs Bunny popsicle 

bought with your own money from the ice cream man...

Or some imaginary play with your favorite Hello Kitty umbrella

and your crafty yellow foam back pack...

Or some attempts at a perfect headstand...

...and doing it all with your dear friend.

I did not include the messy mud pie making and mud fight, 

or being harassed by a big brother, or riding scooters, 

or getting their feet wet in the hose.

These two are happy to be reunited!