Sarah.

This is Sarah (and Hallie, of course).

Sarah is my dearest friend from college. We were roommates at 502 W. Dodson, Apt. 5 (or 3???). We bonded over an impromptu trip to Georgia. Remember dad????

Anyway, we have been through lots and lots together. I won't tell any stories, because the world wide web is quite large and what if one of us runs for office someday? But I will tell you that I love her dearly, and I am thrilled that my daughter also loves her dearly.

Hey Sarah, remember that time we hung a shower curtain on our wall and it was awesome?

Love you.

Alright Already!

I'm back. Been busy and whatnot. Christmas pictures coming soon, but here's one of the Crying Sock.

It's her new comfort while she cries.

PS - she didn't start using the crying sock until late in the day. So it smells like corn curls. (inside joke).

I Love These Girls.

But they love Dave more. Because he does this:

This Is How We Decorate.

We don't worry about the fact that our roof kept sliding off, or that we have three undecorated walls, or that our decorator kept eating all of the wall decor.

This is how we roll.

Best Waste Of Money.

Who cares if I need to buy more wrapping paper? This was 10 minutes of FUN.

One Year Ago Today.

Mackenzie and Eli came over to play.

The playroom was upstairs.

Maggie was barely conceived.

No decorating in the living room.

Crazy.

P.S.A.

Not all fruit snacks are created equal.

To the Left: gross.
To the Right: awesome.

The packaging is deceiving.

Dora + Boots = Awesome.

Dora Saves the Snow Princess = Not Awesome.

Hal's Back.

She's been a bit sickly, the poor dear. I blame the time change. Or Jeremy Santa.

These pictures were taken last Saturday, pre-fever time. Friends threw a wonderful Santa Breakfast that included puppies. Which automatically makes it a huge success. I thought Santa did an awesome job, but apparently the under 3 crowd didn't agree...

Psst, Ella. This is actually your father! Don't cry!

Dave's Back.

And thank goodness! How else would we get priceless photos like this one???

I'm Back.

And I'm not placing blame or anything, but it's hard to post pictures without a memory card (ahem - BARB!). Just kidding.

This first post is dedicated to my dad's birthday, and my new cake stand. So pretty. Thank you Target!

Happy Birthday, dad! Sorry you didn't get to blow out your own candles. And some day we will get Hallie's hair under control. And yes, I realize the cake looks terrible. It's hard to make german chocolate look pretty. Hence, the pretty cake stand.

Favorite Picture of Hallie, EVER.

The blonde. The curls. The cheeks.

The white icing in the corners of her mouth.

Darling.

Blah.

I don't feel like blogging.

My computer has a major virus.

They have to rebuild my computer.

I have to move all of my pictures.

I am not excited.

Shopping List.

Good morning, from Hallie!

No, that is not a sucker in her mouth. It's a baby spoon.

Just because.

Look Who Got a New Camera!

It's really nothing fancy, but I did take a few sweet shots last night.

Today.

A new camera. (finally).

Tomorrow. A new December header. (hooray).

See you tomorrow.

Edit - nevermind. I had a few minutes so I just went ahead and put the new banner up.

FLW Rules!

I don't know what it stands for, but it sure is a lot of fun!

Dave has been gone every weekend since October and it has sucked. But luckily, he's been on a job with some awesome people. I'm sure that makes it much, much easier for him to be gone away from his loving, devoted, caring wife and darling, well-behaved, genius child.

Right?

Anyway, I had the pleasure of meeting the people behind the FLW organization, and they treated me like a queen. The event in Florida was a regional bass fishing tournment for the qualifying colleges in the south east. These teams of two had three days to catch some big-ass fish and have them weighed. The top five get to go the national fishing tournment in April. Fun, fun!

They also get 50K, but who cares about money.

It was pretty cool watching the weigh-ins and seeing the "fun zone" that was set up for the crowd. It's all sponsored by the National Guard and they have a rock-climbing wall, ropes course, etc.

And a blimp!! There's a blimp! A fish blimp!

I Love Vampires. And Werwolves.

What is the matter with me? I am 28 years old. I am no longer a teenager. No teeny-bopping for me. So why do I find myself in love with the Twilight Saga/Series/Whatever? I mean, seriously? I buzzed through the books like a real vampire was chasing me.

I loved them. So much. So much. But I could keep it a secret, because no one had to see me reading.

And then there are the movies. Another guilty pleasure, darnit! And one that it totally public. And I have a husband who does not love vampires or warewolves (of the teenager variety, I mean), and will not attend the showing. But that's okay, because I love to see movies alone.

For Twilight (which was so bad it was good, by the way), I went solo. To a theatre packed with teenagers and other shameful 20-somethings. It was horrible. But I loved it.

So last night I went (again, solo) to see New Moon. Fab-u-lous. That's all I'll say. I mean, there were some parts that were eye-roll worthy, but shoot - i'll see it again!

So that's my dirty secret. I feel better now.

*post edit - apparently I don't know the correct spelling of werwolves.

My Darling, My Dave.

I was trying to remember the last time Dave and I were alone-alone together during the day. I don't mean after work or while Hallie is in bed. I mean, just the two of us doing something together, during the day. I still can't remember.

We took a tractor ride alone back on October, but that was after work. I vaguely remember leaving her at Barb's house for her nap while we went home before something. What was that? Regardless, it was a long time ago.

I wish I could describe how nice it was to just hang out with my husband. He's actually pretty funny. And he has a great butt. And we got to see fish! And a college football game! And eat at a hibatchi restaurant! And sleep in....oh wait, that did not happen as I wanted it to. Apparently they get up superman early for this particular job. I thought I was going to cry when I had to get up at 4:30am Sunday morning. And then my darling husband told me I could go back to bed.

So I did.

My camera still sucks, so my pictures were limited to daylight only. But I managed to get some key shots.

Like this one:

And this one:

Annnnd, this one:

More pictures tomorrow, but I'm a busy bee at work today.

Circle of Life.

Tell me. What 3-year old should NOT witness deer hunting? Seriously. She loved it.

Judge away.

Nana Jo

I Love My Camera!

Aren't these pictures awesome?? I'm so glad I have such a stellar camera, especially since the holidays are right around the corner!