Found On My Husband’s iPhone, B-Sides.

There were just too many priceless moments on Chris’ iPhone for my first post about it, so here are the rest:

For instance, he has Ali, practicing school in a desk that Chris himself very well may have sat in during Elementary school:

(Although, if he’s anything like he is now, he probably refused to sit in THAT desk due to the color combination.)

There were a TON of absolutely adorable pics on his iPhone, because Ali will ALWAYS smile better for him and his stinky-picture-takin’ phone than for me and my Canon Camera. Ugh.

I MEAN – posing on one knee with flowers behind your ear and in your hand?!?!? WHY oh WHY won’t you do that for me?

And more adorableness…

And MORE…

She would even smile at the MIRROR for him!

Not that I’m bitter or anything.

He also managed to get another priceless picture – one of her actually sleeping.

Maybe I should give HIM the good camera and let him become the family photographer.

Then again, there are still the random photos, like our neighbor’s roof being redone?

The hot water heater…

And a Taverna Plaka bellydancer…hmm. Somehow it feels different when I photograph them…

And then there are the confessional pictures. What he and Ali do while I’m not around:

There are middle-of-the-night pictures, when our neighbors were apparently having some sort of skirmish….

And truly vintage Ali-And-AJ pics:

I was surprised and flattered by the number of pictures of me – being that I’m the resident photographer, those are few and far between on my camera.

Granted, that didn’t keep me from being upside down.

He also caught Ali reading her favorite magazine:

His co-worker looking oddly…

Ali looking blessed by God:

..showing off her fingernails..

And her ever-fancier-than-Mommy-could-ever-pull-off braids by Gramamma:

And…that’s a wrap.

Orphaned Photos of The Week, Part Five

A few extra pictures from our Ali/Radford fun:

“I don’t trust you farther than I can throw my diaper, woman….”

“He’s making me CRAAAZY!!!”

Ali in mid-air, teaching Radford how to play “Pop Goes The Ali”:
Bonus pictures from her “Alabama Dress at Church when the leaves were falling and looked like a portrait studio’s fake backdrop” photo shoot:











Feeding the Ducks, again…

On that particular duck-feeding trip, we went onto the pier to feed them. There was this kid, about Ali’s age, being held by his Mom and right next to us. He asked “Can I have some bread to feed them too?” Of course, wanting to be the nice Mommy, I handed him some, and he threw it.

Then, he asked for more. As I was about to hand it to him, his mom said somewhat haughtily, “He’s VERY allergic to wheat.”

I stammered an apology and felt awful…

Then I thought about it.

Shouldn’t she have said something when she heard him ask for it the first time? And shouldn’t she have corrected him, so he’d learn not to do it next time, rather than the complete stranger?

And so, I exonerated myself from all guilt.

Here’s Ali and her first girl-cousin, baby Tessa! We went to a photo shoot for a new hairbow site (I’ll tell you more about it when it’s up), and Tessa was there too, so they “hung out”.


Because I’m a big believer in bribery (I used to feel guilty about it till my Mom told me it was a very acceptable and effective parenting tool), This was Ali’s reward for smiling pretty at the Photo shoot:

I think she found it worthwhile.

And finally, a couple ore pictures of Ali and her “Sweater that doesn’t have any armholes!!!”

Our Mini Houseguest, The Sequel.

Radford obviously taught Ali a lot, but she taught him a few things also:

Like how to jump.

Sure, he was shocked and wowed by her skillz,
But he was off to a good start in no time, thanks to her watchful, teaching eye:
I think we have a new trampoline fan.

Ashley was keeping kid #2, Claire, so we decided to join forces for a while and have all five at my house, so that we could enjoy some semblance of adult conversation in between preventing crises and dealing with sharing issues.

So we had Ali and AJ:
Claire and Tessa (Claire was practicing her big sister techniques in preparation for #4, Caroline):

And, of course, my little buddy Radford.
And the shockingest part of it all was….

it wasn’t that hard.

Either we’re getting better at this parenting stuff or they’re getting better at this kid stuff.

It's the Yittle Fings: Part Eleven

As we were riding in the car the other day, Ali randomly popped out with this enlightening piece of information: "I'm going to marry a girl and AJ is going to marry a boy."

"No, baby, you are both girls, so you will both marry boys."

"Oooooh..."

Glad we got that cleared up.

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We were playing tea the other day, and she was pouring.

"Here's the tea and here's the coffee..."

Then, as she poured another one into my cup, I said, "Is that the creamer?"

"No, it's the macaroni and cheese."

"Oh."

Then, as she poured each one again, she gave me a running commentary: "Here's the tea, juice, juice, macaroni and cheeeeeeese, juice..."

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Our Gymnastics got canceled one week. She had been so excited about it the day before, and I had found out after she went to bed. So I came in her room the next morning, and said, "I have some bad news."

She was quiet for a minute, and then said, "You feel bad?"

"No, I have some bad NEWS. We won't get to go to gymnastics today."

Silence. Then she said, "I prayed in bed. I prayed for your bad news."

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One of the girls in my High School Life Group, Cara, got a pink hair streak for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Ali was mesmerized. She now refers to Cara as "Cara and her pink hair".

The first day that she saw it, she gave us a running commentary on the way home: "Where's Cara and her pink hair? I should have pink hair. Mommy should have green hair and Daddy should have red hair. But I should have pink hair. Can I have pink hair like Cara and her pink hair?"

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Jennifer came over to borrow some clothes for Amy Beth, who is a year younger than Ali. Ali wasn't very nice and didn't want to share. She even cried about sharing. I was horrified - are we about to go through a selfish phase?

But we had a good talk afterwards, and talked about how she didn't have any fun when her friends came over because she was too busy being selfish.

The next week, we saw Amy Beth at Church. Ali pointed - "Hey Mommy, there's Amy Beth...remember when she came over and I was selfish and missed my chance to have fun?"

It actually was a huge blessing that they came over that day, because it helped me and Ali to prepare for Radford staying with us for two days the next week. And she was absolutely awesome with Radford...so thank you, Amy Beth, for bearing the brunt of Ali's selfishness!

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Ali was having Macaroni and Cheese and Chocolate Milk for lunch one day. She dropped a piece of Macaroni in her milk, and I thought she hadn't noticed...

But she had. She ever-so-calmly picked up her straw, speared the Cheesy Macaroni at the bottom of her glass, and ate the now chocolatey-cheesy-macaroni right off the straw.

Tasty.

Orphaned Photos of The Week, Part Four:

Now that it’s gotten colder, we’ve had to add a workout suit to our Gymnastics getup:
…and a ponytail, to cut down on the hair in the eyes:

Chris, Ali and I went to the Mellow Mushroom to get Pizza and meet a Social Media friend, Eric, a week ago, and Ali was in LOVE with all of the artwork, especially the chairs. Who knew that druggy art was so appealing to toddlers? Makes sense, I suppose…

While tailgating on Saturday, I got antsy, so I started picking up pecans in our tailgating spot. I was much more successful than I thought I would be:

I then applied my constant-need-to-be-doing-something to shelling said pecans, and was much LESS successful than I thought I would be:
Anyone want to come over and help me shell pecans?

There was a guy sitting on our row at the ballgame that had very troubling hair: black at the roots, white on the tips, and the consistency of teddy bear fur:
I was very confused by this, until he took his visor off, and the hair came with it.

Hot.

Eli came over and “jumped” with Ali on the trampoline again before lunch on Sunday.

He had some pretty cool tricks up his sleeve, such as the toe touch:

And the goal post:

Ali worked on her Soccer moves:
But he didn’t mind being kicked around.

I THOUGHT I had photographical proof that he did make it off the ground, but upon further investigation, one foot is still down:

Oh well, with all of this instruction from his big cousin, he’s sure to figure out jumping in no time.

After lunch on Sunday, Mom gifted Ali with more cotton candy:

She was quite proud of that blue tongue.

Christmas decorations are already out at the mall, so Ashley and I let the girls go play at Sears on Monday. They love to just run around the Christmas displays, observe, and chat. So we sit in the nearby outdoor furniture display, watch, and chat. It’s a win/win!

Yup, the Holidays have officially arrived.

Mommy Art, 201

So back in January I walked you through my first attempt at a particular form of art that I love, but seeing as how I was born with no art skills, wasn’t sure if I could pull off. Here were the results:

After getting all excited about the fact that I could, in fact, have a little fun with a paintbrush, I immediately went out and bought a TON more art supplies.

However, those supplies sat, lonely and unused in my closet, until this month.

Hey – if I crank out a masterpiece every 10 months, I’ll be famous in, like, never!

Anyway, for some reason, the mood hit me, so a couple of weeks ago I started doodling a similarly styled painting:

Yeah – it started out REALLY similarly styled.

I then drew it on my canvas:(the dirty marks are where I used my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get rid of my screw-ups. I know – aren’t I so professional??)

And then I started to paint, this time with a metallic set of paints:


It only took a few days of short sessions of painting this time (the second time is always so much quicker than the first time when trying new things), and I finished it:

I had an art appraiser come by to inspect my work:

She was VERY thorough, and, according to my painting, a bit intrusive:

And, I suppose, made sure that none rubbed off on her hands,
She even checked the back to make sure I hadn’t painted over a Picasso or something:

She finally approved, and it was allowed to be hung (upside down from the way that I planned on hanging it, thanks to the advice of my husband):

And Voila!

It was fun, and quite stress-relieving! …and much less difficult this time.

And – I’m sure you’re wondering what Ali worked on during my short painting sessions. She was working on art herself - “Stacking”, as she called it:

Works for me.

It's the Yittle Fings: Part Ten

Having a cat named Oreo can cause confusion at times. We were at Firehouse the other day, and Ali got her customary pack of Oreo Cookies with her grilled cheese. The naming has never bothered her before, but this week it hit her. She vehemently argued with us every time we mentioned them - "They're NOT Oreo cookies - they're ALI cookies!!!!!"

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She randomly started the following conversation the other day:

Ali: "Where is God and Jesus' house?"

Me: "In Heaven....we'll go there one day and see them!"

Ali: "Will God have special treats for us in heaven?"

Me: "Oh yes - many special treats - and we'll all live in castles!!"

Ali: "Ooooh...Snow White and the Prince live in a Castle...they live in Heaven!"

Me: "Not exactly...."

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This morning, Ali wanted to play Mommy and Baby. She declared that I was the baby and she was the Mommy.

Heh heh...chance for revenge.

We were in the car, so I decided to make completely unreasonable requests.

Me: "I am hungry. Can you feed me?"

Ali: (She picks at the flowers on her pants) "Here's some cake. Do you want cake?"

Me: "I wanna go play in the living room!"

Ali: "There's not a living room in the car."

Me: "But I wanna go play in the living room!"

Ali: "There's not a living room in the car! .... Do you want to take a nap in a few minutes?"

Me: "No. Are you tired of me?"

Ali: "Are you being difficult?"

Me: "Yes. I'm being difficult. I wanna play in the living room!!"

Ali: "Can you find your happy heart for me?"

I think I enjoyed the role reversal a bit too much. Not so sure about her.

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We've been learning what all of the cars are called. Not really for any purpose other than passing the time in the car, and surely it grows some extra brain synapses somewhere to pick up useless trivia.

In case you're wondering, Ali's favorite cars seem to be Jeeps and Chevy Suburbans. I guess she's an SUV type of girl.

Thank goodness she doesn't want a minivan either.

Anyway, another thing that she's been doing is making up things that "she did as a baby" or that "she will do when she's a big girl", and sometimes they get all convoluted.

This morning, I heard this constant stream of chatter from the back seat:

"That truck is hot. When I get bigger I used to have a hot big rig. A hot pink big rig. I used to have a Pink Jeep. 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20. I used to have 20 pink big rigs and jeeps."

We might need to work on her materialism issue a bit.