Firefighter

I like firetrucks.

More than dolls. See how I am casting aside this tiny doll to play with the ever so cool firetruck?

However, I'm going to be a ballerina for Halloween and not a firefighter. I'm okay with this. Wait until you see my cute costume. My Mom has rationalized her purchase of my costume by telling herself that I needed an outfit to wear for my October photos.

My October photos will be professionally done, so I will be in focus, and other things that may happen to be in the photo will be out of focus.

Did I mention that I'm ten months old, and as Juno said in that moive, "I don't really know what kind of girl I am."
Meaning: I don't really know if I like firetrucks or dolls. Many of my ideas are foisted upon me by my mother.
Did I mention that she wanted to be a firetruck when she grew up? There was no mis-typing there; she wanted to be a firetruck.
I think I like firetrucks too.

Photography Tutorial

I bought a big dog camera and am learning to use it. In my spare time. Between the 3 jobs, and the many children...I digress.

Anyway, I read this other blog called the Pioneer Woman, and in her blog, she has a whole section where she does photography and photoshop tutorials.

I also read a blog called beanski she sometimes talks about photography, and her blog links to many, many other blogs that talk about photography, or have really well done photos.

So anyway, I think I'm getting good enough to do my own sorts of photography tutorials. Here is one, for example...

In the following photo, you can see how I've used the focus to highlight the most important area of the picture, drawing the eyes to the intended subject. By using the focus in this manner, you can create artistically beautiful images with depth and integrity...






Yup. Oh yeah. That's my photo. With the CHAIRS in focus, and my sweet little son OUT OF FOCUS. He's going to be so thrilled with his scrapbook when he gets older. He'll probably have to attend some sort of counseling sessions.

"Yes," he'll say to the therapist, "My Mom really did love the furniture more than me. Look here, I can prove it."

Then, he'll take out This Very Photo, and the therapist will gasp and tell him that she doesn't think she can be of any help to him.

Don't Ever Leave Anything at Our House.

For example, don't ever leave a very nice reusable bag on our table. See what happens...



See the mis-use of this item, that isn't even ours...


Thankfully, I discovered the situation quick enough and was able to spot clean the bag and return it to its rightful owner.

I hope she doesn't read this and discover what her bag has been through.

M's Photo Update

Movie Night

Frank and I had a rare movie night last night. We were able to watch 2 movies back to back. While it was nice, I wish we had made more "uplifting" choices. Instead, we watched "Gone Baby Gone" and "In the Valley of Elah".
We watched them back to back. And now we are totally sickened and depressed.
It doesn't help that I'm up now and Sunday is turning out to be rainy and grey.


Has anyone seen either of those movies?
I think they were well done... Well-acted. Well-plotted. But did they need to be so graphic and shocking? I suppose they did.

That's great.

We have a bedtime routine.
I bathe them. I get clean jammies on them. We all go into big T's room and I sit on a bean bag chair and read story after story. After story. And then another story. And then I take M into her room, nurse her, and dump her into her crib. Then I go back into T's room and snuggle with him a while. Then I dump him into his bed.
Then I go and have wine.

It always happens in this order. Every night, same order. Minimal variance from the routine. I'm one of those Moms.
Last night, M was upset and overtired and crying. I nursed her before the bath. I bathed them. Then I put jammies on them. Then I took T into his room. And shut the gate. He was very upset. I was telling him, "I'm coming back." "I'm coming back." "I'll only be gone for a minute."
I dumped M into her crib.
I went back to T's room. I opened the gate. He was immediately quite happy, pressed his hand to his head and said, "That's great. Mommy. That's great." and pulled out the bean bag chair for me to sit on.
He loves me. I felt like a queen.

Escapee

I'm not going to mention any names, but someone who turned 2 in May and lives in our house full-time, can now hurdle all of the protective barriers known as "baby gates".

And again, no names mentioned, but said person did not even come and proudly wake the people that he calls parents. He just ran up and down the hallway like a madman.

Costume Search

I love Halloween. It is one of my two favorite holidays, second only to Easter. I'm already making big preparations for the big day.
One of the preparations is spreading news around our neighborhood that we will have full-size candy bars this year. Last year, in our first year in the new house, we did not get a single trick-or-treater. This was very depressing, so I ate all the candy myself.
The other preparation is getting the kids properly outfitted.

• If we have Jake this year, he has agreed to lay out in the yard in a mock-up coffin. We'll see if he continues to agree to that as the time draws nearer.

• T will be Elmo. I got an Elmo costume on e-bay for 2.99 (that was including shipping...)!

• This will be M's first Halloween. I chose a cute unisex firefighter costume for her.

Frank was mad. "I want her to be something really girly." he said.
Nothing seemed quite right. I looked and looked. I finally found a little pink Rock Star costume, complete with a guitar and microphone. I thought this seemed perfect.
"No." he said.
"What in the world do you want her to be?" I asked.
"You'll get mad." he said.
"I won't get mad." I said. How bad could it really be?
Frank wants his daughter to spend her first Halloween as a princess or a ballerina. He wants the most girly, frilly, and sparkling costume I can find for her.
I could not believe my ears. What happened to women's lib? What happened to us being cheapskates?

Here's what I found so far for 40 dollars. Look at the child. She even looks alarmed. She says, "But I wanted to be a firefighter! These shoes hurt!"