Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Happy Anniversary To ME! Well, I guess US!!

And it's SUNNY today!
Too bad that even the sun this late in the year doesn't bring a ton of warmth, but I'll take what I can get.


I took this picture an hour ago at my parent's house.
That's my son Jack.
I let him dress himself.

14 years ago today I put on a ridiculously white dress and married my husband.
Thank goodness I still like him ;)  I will spare you wedding photos.



(this was taken at a wedding where I was a bridesmaid.  You can't see it here, much, but let me just say that I'm not used that much boob being exposed... though I don't think Mike minded at all)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

FIRST DAY OF SECOND GRADE!!

Pretty trendy little girl, no?


When she came home today she said her first day of school was terrible, long and boring.
Sigh.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
I think that her teacher is simply being tough because she needs to be tough in the beginning.  It's so hard because you really want all of your kids' experiences to be good ones and it just isn't going to happen.
She did look pretty cute though.

Friday, August 06, 2010

CAKE!!!! At the Moose's Tooth in Alaska!!




Oh Yeah.
LOVE Cake.  It's the perfect kind of band to see in a concert like this.  Quirky music and cool guys.


Jolene and Heather displace five children, two husbands and one babysitter to attend the Cake concert. 
It was at the Moose's Tooth outdoor venue on the only sunny evening we'd had in nearly a month.




Heather is not allowed to go to a concert without getting a t shirt.
This is her rule.




How close were we to the stage?
Oh yeah, this close.
The small metal box has a bumper sticker that says,
"I brake for teddy bears."



This bluegrass band took the stage first.  
They were great but I can only listen to bluegrass for so long.
"Hey out there in the audience, it's young mother's night.
So, if any of you want to be young mother's, let Bob know and he'll meet up with you after the show."




I think it's funny that a huge Simoan guy was at the front but they stick the crazy white trash assholey looking guy right outside the door of the Cake area.
I didn't take a pic of the Simoan guy.  He was big and right in front of us.
Why he expected trouble from the other two girls without a beer in their hand is beyond me.




How many people were behind us.
There was a whole other section this large to the right of this picture.




This was the guy who adjusted their sound, checked instruments and microphones.
I wanted to watch him dance the jig in his living room with a baby pig.




We respectfully didn't take any pictures because they asked us not to and again, because the very large Simoan man was RIGHT in front of us.  We watched a few people get kicked out and we didn't want to be one of them.

The guy on the far left is the one we were right in front of only his hair was super short.  Much better.  He plays a wide range of instruments including a few whistles that looked like kid toys and is fabulous on the trumpet.
Bearded guy is the lead singer.  He's completely hysterical.
Blond guy's hair is WAY longer now.  Somewhere between his ear and shoulders.  He plays lead guitar and is crazy good.
The guy in the cowboy hat is the base player.  He had on this huge russian fur hat last night.  I think his hat changes with his mood.  He's little but is a killer base player.
I'm kinda sad that they drummer wasn't pictured.  He looked younger than the rest, so I guess the drummer is dispensable.
New Album is coming out soon.
SquEEEEE!

You know you never know when you go see a band like this one who's been performing for a long time but does really quirky rock music.  Quirky music can really suck live but they were awesome!


Saturday, July 31, 2010

At the Park with Gramma








Wednesday, July 21, 2010

More Wedding

Gramma and Jack, signing the guest book.


What happens when I'm not the only person in the room with a camera...

For the story and more photos, click on the link in my below post.

This is Walt and Betty's daughter, Shasta, most of you know who they are.
Those of you who don't, probably won't care.

Been Writing: I Love the Unexpected

Been Writing: I Love the Unexpected: "We went to a wedding the other day. A shotgun wedding, literally. The father married his daughter to the father of the bride's unborn baby ..."

Friday, July 09, 2010

Butterfly Bungalow


The kids begged all spring to raise butterflies.
We ordered caterpillars and watched them grow.
It was SO cool.  Emma catches them in our yard like this all the time, though the one here was one of "ours."
Butterflies taste with their feet so our best guess is that Emma's fingers are sweet.  She occasionally has to shake her hand to get the butterflies off of her fingers.  
The bungalow has been filled with all sorts of bugs and butterflies that Emma has caught this summer.
We're just about to order another batch of caterpillars.
Gotta love nature.


Thursday, July 08, 2010

Happy Fourth -


On today, whatever the date is...
I'm pretty sure it's Thursday because Rock the Park is tonight (local musicians) and that's on Thursday.


Rules are for losers.






I love how serious he is, it cracks me up.


And proof that you're never too old for sparklers... no, not you mom, the guy behind you.

Harry Potter's got Nothin' on my Kids

Here is Jack throwing a spell at me.












He's pretty good, no?













And then the battle begins...





By the time we got to the bottom of the sixth box of sparklers (when you buy the amount of fireworks my dad does, you get free stuff) they were getting WAY too brave.

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Miles for Meals


Leave it to my Granddad to be involved in EVERYTHING that happens at the local senior center at 87 years young.

Yesterday, Saturday July 3rd, the Wasilla Senior Center did a 5k fun run, Miles for Meals.
Good stuff.
We took the whole family, including photographer Gramma.
Julie and Steve were there as well.



We didn't all actually WALK.



Fortunately, there were a few people who made me feel good about my not-so-mad skills.
He might be a few years older than me...