The Kids

** See explanation in post below **

Baby, Baby

As my best friend of 30 years pointed out (thanks, Teri) I wrote nothing atop yesterday's post of a gazillion pictures (and trust me, those were only a gazillion of the bazillion pictures on the way) to explain anything. So here goes ...

Those are my cousins, Kelly (her husband, Michael, was home in Atlanta) and Kate, Kate's husband, Jim, and Kel and Michael's son, Spencer and Kate and Jim's son, James. To specify matters, Spencer has reddish hair, and James has curly dark hair. Kelly and Spencer stayed with us, and Kate, Jim, and James stayed with his sister, her husband and their kids in Bellevue (?), which is not too far from us.

And yes, we are all at a crawfish boil but not at my house. If if were at my house, we would be serving cereal or some other delicacy. And yes, my child did put her sippy cup in a huggy. Perhaps she's practicing for all those bottles of WATER she'll be slamming in huggies when she's in college. Who knows.

We had a grand time here at the house, although Annie called Spencer "baby" the whole time ... she's still looking for him. It's a smidge sad actually. I finally just glued a picture onto our infamous "sticker table" (that counts as crafting, huh, Danielle?) She pointed and said, "baby!!"

Family Time

Deep Thoughts

ok, so today I've been having deep thoughts about our world and all that's wrong with it ... wars, famine, rising gas prices, our government, Carly Smithson being off last night's "American Idol"... just things like that. But the one that stands out?

CARLY WAS VOTED OFF. This is just not right. At all. (Incidentally, in case there was any question, that's her picture at the end.) Oh, Carly, you will be successful, though. For anyone who doesn't watch the show, remember the name because I PROMISE you'll hear it again.

And now back to deep thoughts. Sure, sure, you all know I don't have any deep thoughts. Whatsoever.

Driving Without a Valid Make-up Bag

Ok, I was behind a car this morning with the driver (I'm assuming it was a woman) putting on make-up WHILST driving. Now please, unsafe doesn't even begin to describe this behavior. What if she'd poked her eye out or smudged her mascara? Tragedy. (Plus Annie was in the car with me, and that automatically makes me a smidge insane when it comes to people who don't drive properly.)

Now, to the real insanity of the world: American Idol. I love it so much! Last night was awesomely fun, at least for 4 of the 6 who are left. Poor Brooke and Jason I fear for. For anyone who doesn't watch, they're the second and third from the left in the picture I have provided.

Ok, must be off to enjoy Moms Day Out ... i.e. housecleaning, laundry, etc.

Sure.

The Progression of the Sticker Table

I couldn't help but lead with a picture of the progression of the incredibly beautiful sticker table ... it is truly breathtaking. We've already had several calls from different museums, so we're sort of weighing our options on that front. Ok, who are we kidding, I find myself at that table (even if Annie is asleep) just stickering away. Anthony feels I've become obsessed ... I feel he could (of course for the first time in his life) be wrong.

You'll also see pictures of some very relaxed girls ... that is because on the 8th day God created Moms Day Out. They know that on these days, their sister and all of her noisy hoopla will be out of the house. They can catch up on 2 years worth of naps, and believe me when I tell you they do!

You'll also see Annie doing various things whilst wearing her "leisure wear." We believe in comfy clothes around here once we've returned home from doing whatever. You just cannot beat a soft t-shirt and (lately) shorts. Not that we go far on account of the #%^*(#@ gas prices. I've begun walking everywhere, which means I should go so Annie and I will make it to Franklin by Wednesday morning.

Choo-Choo Soul

And here we go with Sunday morning ... Annie dancing to "Choo Choo Soul" on the Disney Channel, reading the paper with her daddy and finally conking out in his lap while looking at Hopie ... we haven't even gotten started on Sticker-Head Baby yet, but I know that's probably next.

Survivor: Flowers

So this has been our weekend so far ... Sybil has NOT been with us (Julie, might she be with you?) which has been just peachy! Our gardening was a group effort, and the result is posted at the top ... now we'll just see what survives. I feel like we're on some version of flower "Survivor," where they hold up a name of a flower at the end of the show to decide what lives. We'll see ...

The next picture is of sweet Annie just getting up from a nap and gnawing on her pacifier since she's still growing those molars ... Does this go on forever?

And then our sticker pictures. Oh, how we've had fun with these! The slightly disturbing picture is of Annie holding sticker-head baby doll. Don't ask. Next, the little table is Annie's, and we've obviously covered it in stickers over the past who knows how long. It's quite a thing of beauty let me tell you. (Ms. Darryl, if you look closely enough, you'll even see some of the fish stickers you and Mr. Eddie were sweet enough to include in Annie's birthday card.) Being the artistic little genius that she is, Annie has a most special way of applying her stickers: one on top of the other, so they become a sort of mound.

And, of course, our girls ... Hopie got a haircut today by her daddy, and Mary just laid in the playroom praying she wasn't next. She wasn't, but Hopie looks so cute ...

And, to end a most wonderful day: bathtime. Life is sweet.