Toby Keith!

Mom and I love Toby Keith, and since I practically know him, I got us tickets to his concert on Sunday. Oh yeah, listen to this.... there was a guy in my photography course last semester and his brother's son's, son (his great nephew) plays football with Toby's son and Toby is one of the coaches! We might as well be neighbors! LOL

It may surprise some of you to learn that I love the country music, but please allow me to give you some background. I used to listen to pop/hip-hop/rock, but when Ella began understanding words, I didn't want her to start singing songs about taking off your clothes or shaking your booty, etc. So I begrudgingly turned the dial to country music so that she wouldn't hear all of that crap. And, after some time, I grew to love it. Besides, they sing about stuff that matters... like your dog leaving you and taking all of your beer. LOL

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Crawling!

Boy boy is crawling like crazy these days! And he moves quickly!

And his third tooth is finally visible!

We had to put the gates up, our friend Terry made these for us when Ella was a baby and we stained them to match the banister. He made them easily removable, so we had been keeping them in the basement for the last five years.

He even made this one with a pet door so that Little can get to the basement where her litter box is located. There was a door here, but we couldn't leave it open for Little to get downstairs so we just removed it and put the gate there instead.


Terry and his wife Kelly moved to New Mexico a few years ago, we miss you guys!

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The best news. EVER.

Craig and I are so certain that we do not want any more children that we have taken permanent measures to prevent any future occurrences. Anyway, these permanent measures were taken a few months ago and we just received the news that the procedure was successful.

I love my babies, but I am singing hallelujah. Amen.

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Farm

Forgot to post about our day at the farm last weekend. Well, I forgot about it until I tried to use the compact flash card at my wedding on Saturday and realized I hadn't even loaded these images. Thank goodness I have a million of those cards.

Ella was relaxing while grandpa was building a dam.

She must have felt bad because she decided to give the old man a hand.

Meanwhile, daddy had to give boy boy a nappy pie.

Back over at the crick, Ella decided it was too hot to pull up her bathing suit.

Everyone is always telling me how cute and happy boy boy appears to be in all of the pictures, so I thought I would share the other side. He was really enjoying playing with this corn, but I think he was getting mad because he couldn't actually eat it.

But then things started to look up.

Because a cold can of beer on your teething gums always makes ya feel better.


I just realized that I posted an image of Ella drinking from a martini glass a few days ago, and today I post boy boy with a beer. You may think that my children have a drinking problem, but rest assured, it is their parents with the problem. LOL Kidding, of course.

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Picasa

Ok, check it out... I've been looking around for a place where I could upload the high resolution image files of the photographs that I post so that people can order prints or download the high-res version to print on their own. Because I KNOW there are people out there that are printing directly from the blog and the pictures probably look awful because they are low-res and sized for web.

Anyway, I should know that whenever you are looking for functionality on the web, you go to Google first. Sure enough, they have a photo sharing site called Picasa. I uploaded the photographs from our vacation, just click the cute little baby face to be directed to their site.

You can order prints, gift items, download the file, etc. I have not tested the quality of prints, but I did notice that their app automatically resizes the image down a bit when uploading.

Vacation 2008

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Funny Girl

Ella enjoys her peach orchard punch in a martini glass with strawberries.

Boy boy with his paci.

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Vacation 09

So there has been an uprising in our family, a rebellion of sorts. We used to always go to the beach, but for some reason, everyone has become anti-beach and will only agree to a lake vacation. I love the beach, but ok, I'm flexible and since dealing with sand and a baby isn't on the top of my priority list, I'll go for it (for now).

We've started looking at different lakes and the homes available, but it seems as if dad and I may have slightly different taste... as illustrated below.

Oh wait!! I just had a great idea. Since everyone wants the lake vacation, we will continue to take lake vacations IF someone will watch the kiddos so that Craig and I can go on a private beach vacation periodically. Seems fair, doesn't it?

Anyway, we are looking for a lake with activities such as boat rental that is less than 8 hours driving distance. Anyone have any ideas? We are not the type of people to go to the same vacation spot year after year after year. In fact, I really can't understand that thinking when there are at least a bazillion places to see in the United States. Sure, we have our favorite spots, but how do you know that you're not missing out on a new favorite? It's like I tell Ella... you should try all the new food that you can because you just might discover something that you love (she's a very good eater, btw).

Check out Lake Anna, it's in Virginia and is almost three times the size of Deep Creek and not as commercial (which means it's less expensive).

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Another new blog design!

Here's the thing... I like to play with code. When I first developed the green site, I was experimenting and learning more about css (cascading style sheets) so that I could better prepare myself for the task of coding my Weddings by Heather blog. Have you been there recently? There is a new design, new sessions, new promotional material, etc. And have you checked out Life by Heather recently? I am back in the game and lovin' it!!

http://www.weddingsbyheather.com/blog/
http://www.lifebyheather.com/

You see, that pregnancy and baby stuff kinda slowed me down a bit last year... but now that I have my drive and motivation back, I cannot be stopped!

Anyway, so after Craig and I finished the WBH site, I realized that I had a better understanding of the code and could clean up this site a bit. Well, if you're gonna clean up some code, you might as well add a new design as well.

So, I added search functionality and included a flash header with our images (if you don't see images in the header at the top of the page, it may be an IE error, I'm checking into it, IE makes me crazy).

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End of Vacation

Good-bye Lakeside Vista... till we meet again. (Old man smoking cigar not included).

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Sick Baby

Still wakes up in a good mood and happy to see his momma and sissy. I didn't tilt the camera, that angle is from his crib being propped. Oh and we had to lower his crib mattress yesterday because he's getting so big!

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Illness Abounds

So boy boy started daycare last week and he is already sick. He was there three days. THREE DAYS. I knew it would happen, but it still stinks. And yes, it's better that they build up their immunity now rather than later, blah, blah, blah... but no mother enjoys their child being sick. Poor sweet baby cannot even breathe through his nose, which makes it difficult to eat and impossible to suck on his paci (which he loves). On Saturday and Sunday night, he was awake every hour, so last night I took matters seriously. His room looks like a war room for the sick, below is what I did in hopes of more sleep.

elevated crib
sprayed saline in nose
sucked nose
gave Motrin
vapor rub under nose
humidifier in room
small vapor thing in room

I am happy to report this morning that he slept much better and will hopefully continue to improve. He is also drooling like crazy, and I can see one of his top teeth, but it hasn't come through yet.

In other illness news, remember how mom had the shingles a few months ago? Well, a terrible infection has settled into her right eye and is causing a lot of problems. Her vision has been impaired for several weeks and scare tissue is starting to form. She will be seeing a specialist on Wednesday. Please pray for her healing, this is pretty serious.

In still other illness news, dad has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Basically, he can't have anything with gluten. Which is a real shame because dad loves food and will eat just about anything. Actually, I feel for mom because she is the one that will have to completely adjust their diets.

Of course this diagnosis begs the question... is that why my children have food allergies? It always seemed so strange that both of them were on hypoallergenic formula, yet neither Craig nor I have any food issues. I knew somehow my dad was responsible. LOL

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Vacation (8)

Craig thinks that boy boy enjoyed the boat, I think he looks paralyzed by fear. He never sits this still. Of course he was sitting close to grandpa, which can be frightening at times.


We had two sleeping kiddos, it was so peaceful. Mom was holding boy boy and I was holding Goosie.

I just thought that this was funny, I had never seen one of these contraptions before.

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Vacation (7)

I'm always the one taking pictures, so there is rarely a picture of me. Still need to work on the baby pouch a little, but cut me some slack! I birthed a child 7 months ago!

An even more rare picture of the teenagers. I'd say this photo pretty much sums it up.

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Vacation (6)

We only rented the speed boat for one day, probably because it cost as much as the pontoon boat for the entire week. Goosie giggled the entire time she was in the fast boat.



Mike was completely in his element.

Craig had fun, but said it was pretty rough holding on when the boat was at full throttle. I only rode the intertube when it was attached to the pontoon boat. I like to roll at a more leisurely pace.

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Vacation (5)

Here is our dock and the three boats we were using. If you know our family, and study this picture long enough, you'll be able to determine what boat belongs to whom. It's actually an interesting study in psychology.


Craig rented the pontoon boat on the right. It wasn't particularly fast, but it was comfortable and the entire family could ride on it together. Craig is always thinking of others.

Mike rented the four person speed boat on the left. Mike has a need for speed and doesn't necessarily think about others.

My dad owns the boat (if that's what you can call it), in the middle. This reflects dad's attitude, which is... I don't care about anything... speed, capacity, etc.

So we have three boats... one says, "I care about others," another says, "I care about speed," and finally the last one says, "I don't care about anything."

Wha? You didn't know that boats could talk? They do in my world.

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Vacation (4)

On Wednesday evening, Doug and Alice came to visit us for a delicious Mexican fiesta. Craig is the best cook, but his fajitas are outstanding. Anyway, my parents have been friends with Doug and Alice for 40 years. Forty! Can you imagine?

Alice and mom both had two sons and one daughter, in the same order, and almost the same age. Alice used to babysit the four boys while mom worked. Four boys under the age of 2 or 3, yow.

Doug is the retired park manager for Ohiopyle State Park. Which is a very interesting job considering he was in charge of death... uh, I mean, the Youghiogheny River (more on that later). He is also Edward Scissorhands with a chainsaw, he carves animals into trees. Click here to view his site.



I love Alice and apparently so does boy boy. She is wonderful with babies.


As I've already stated, I love Alice, but I'm not sure why she was teaching my son to use the beer dispenser. LOL

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7 Months Old!

***We interrupt vacation pictures for an important boy boy announcement.***

Boy boy turned 7 months old on Sunday and today he crawled for the first time! He has been scootching everywhere, but he figured out how to get up on his hands and knees and move forward. Too friggin cute!!

In light of his newfound ability to explore, I had to start him in daycare, today was his first day. I have been struggling to keep up with my work since he was born, but it's getting more difficult now that he can get himself into trouble. And for those of you that think I have it so good because all I have to do is take pictures one day a week, think again. I am responsible for the following:

client relations, emails, phone calls
image processing (2,000 per week)
album design
web design
marketing
invoicing/receiving
Quickbooks
shipping
promotional materials
vendor relations
computer hardware/software
products

Managing your own business is a 24x7 job. Luckily, I love what I do, so it doesn't feel like work, but it still needs to get done. I know that there are people out there that judge persons like myself who work from home but still put their children in daycare. But if you really want to perform your job well, you can't do it with the kiddos around. I tried working in the evenings when Craig got home, but then we didn't have any family time. I tried working at night, but I'm too exhausted. I tried working during naps, but they only last an hour (if I'm lucky).

Anyway, not the point, boy boy had a great day and made several new friends. Check him out chillin' in the back seat.

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Vacation (3)

Craig and my brother most of the week.

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Vacation (2)

We rented a pontoon boat for the week and boy boy liked it at first, but he was a little hesitant when we put his life jacket on him.


We made some new friends (probably due to the hamburger buns we fed them). I took this picture in the morning a few hours later she only had four ducklings. :((

Ella loved the wind in her hair.

I did not enjoy combing it later.

This is Mike's oldest daughter, Marina, and her friend Tiffany. They are teenagers. Need I say more?


Whenever they would fall off the raft, we would yell, "teenagers overboard!!" I'm still wondering why we kept picking them up.

I took the old folks for a ride because dad didn't trust Mike. Probably because Mike has speed issues, and enjoys dumping people in the water.

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