The Many Faces of J.

Would You Believe I Didn't Take a Single Picture of My Kids This Week???

But I did go to the SheBlogs Birthday Bash with my sister.

Where I sported my sparkliest of shoes.

Drank a (very) dirty martini.

And ate some yummy cupcakes.

The party was in South Florida, so we stayed with my parents. This is their living room. You can tell the kids were with me because I don't watch Penguins on my own time. And the Tigger.

Here's a closeup of my mom's giant toucan wall rug.
Because I could tell you were straining to see it.

Next week is Sally's wedding. She's getting married in my parents' backyard.
My dad had the brilliant idea to paint the party floor green. Thankfully, she's okay with it.

Oh, and we saw this.

And Around We Go.

We visited Magic Kingdom a few days ago. It was a Monday and school is back in session locally. We (VERY WRONGLY) assumed the park would not be crowded.

Most of the day felt like: ***THIS*** (<----- click).

But some moments were like this:


Which makes it all worthwhile.

Quite Possibly The Biggest Mistake of Our Parenting Careers (Thus Far).

My Little Matchy Matchertons

When I Looked At Stephen Lying Like This, I Immediately Saw Casey In My Mind's Eye.

[Stephen, yesterday(ish)]

[Casey, September 2007]

"There is a strong chance that siblings who turn out well were hassled by the same parents."

~Robert Brault

________________________________________________________________

- More quotes here.

... and we're back

Stephen's still sleeping like a weirdo.

Elaine and I went to an awesome event at Carrabba's.

We spent a day in Gainesville with Grandma Mimi & Uncle Jeremy.

We made cookies.

Stephen watched.

But don't worry, I had lots of help.

Stephen discovered the joy of spaghetti-O's.

I got all Mommy MacGyver on a soda can.

We discovered a new park.

It was shady.

And ducky.

But still awfully hot.

I cooled off with some Pinkberry.

And now I'm enjoying my biscotti.

(did you miss me?)

...it marches on

I just came across this photo my brother snapped on his cell phone. It's labeled Thanksgiving 2009, but I'm thinking it's actually Christmas. Or possibly Christmas Eve. I mean, there's an awful lot of Santa hats if it's really Thanksgiving.

Regardless, I love this picture. I love that it was a surprise gem I found while mindlessly mining through my email. I love that the whole family is eating together at the table. I love that it looks peaceful (even though it was probably quite loud and a little bit stressful). I love that there are so many more of these to look forward to. I love that the next one will include new family and new babies.

I get sad about the passage of time. Really sad. But pictures like these remind me of the all the good things that come with time.

Reason Number Eighty Bajillion That Daddy Is SO Much Cooler Than Mommmy.

"Mommy, let's go play the ball game!"

"Sorry, the arcade is closed down. No more skee ball."

[...ten minutes later.]

"Daddy, let's go play the ball game!"

"Sure kiddo, let me grab some cardboard from the garage!"

1982(ish). A Simpler Time? I Don't Know, Looks Like We Were Thinking Pretty Deeply About Something or Other.