It's us, only uglier.

I have some catching up to do ... but I just had to show you this photo. We took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Little Rock this past week. One night we went to dinner at the Cajun's Wharf. Great place. Right on the river. I handed off the camera to Davis thinking Kyle & I could get a nice photo together.

Wrong-O. Looks like we were hit HARD with the ugly stick.

I couldn't breathe, I was laughing so hard after I saw this. I still get uncontrollable giggles whenever I see it. I almost want to put it in a frame ... just as a joke. :) Is it me or do we look sort of Shrek-ish?

Oh ... My Children

I've seen kids play "Doctor", "Restaurant", "Family", "Beauty Shop", etc.  But never ... THIS.  Mickey & the Build-a-Bear look so violated.

The "Silly Shots"

While in Florida, I wanted to try and get a nice picture of the kids on the beach.  This takes a lot of planning ... you know, outfits have to be chosen, packed & saved specifically for that occasion.  Then you have to pick the day you'll attempt to do it.  And you have to hope the weather cooperates.  And the kids, too, for that matter.  Oh & you have to try and remember to take the camera battery out of the charger plugged into your 7th floor hotel bathroom wall BEFORE you get all the way down to the shore.  That's definitely a key element.

Finally ... it all came together for us.   I got a lot of cute shots, but in most of them 1 out of 3 was blinking.  So this is my favorite of the bunch.

Although I do love Libby's face in this one... How could you not love those sassafrass lips?

After what seemed like hours of trying to get a nice one [but in reality it was probably 5 minutes], we let them "loosen up" & do a crazy shot or two.  Or nine.  And they came out pretty cute, too! 

Then we walked down the beach to the Palm Pavilion Restaurant for dinner, where the kids got treated to Shirley Temples.  :) Ahhhh ... VACATION.  

If my Camera could talk, Part I

Brett & Davis think the camera sitting on the counter is an open invitation for a photo shoot. Many times we catch them, other times we don't & I just am in for a surprise when I go to view my photos. Here are some of the favorites.

I love when they take turns...

Brett made us. And if it wasn't good enough, he made us retake it.

Yay SWA!

Trust me, this startled me, too. Took me a while to figure it out, but it's Davis in his pirate costume. (that's the beard)

Guess who took the photo on the left? Hint: Guess who took the photo on the right? (Notice the change in scenery?)

What's worse than being so mad you throw a tantrum? Your brother taking pics! (I like how he gets up to leave!)

Hey Brett!

They LOVE taking pictures of their TV shows. This is Word World. I have a few more scenes (not pictured) if you want to see more & piece it together.

Grandma in a toddler-sized KC Royals hat. Lucky Grandma to get this shot!

Lib on the prowl... and Mommy, hello Mommy! Pull yourself away from that nail-biter of an e-mail. Your kid has your camera again.

Scenes from "Anatomy of an FA-18". (one of Brett's favorite shows) This is in the cockpit.

And this was the only one that really did make me wonder where in the HECK my camera had been. I actually was a little scared & felt a little violated with this one. I'm thinking it's a scene from the FA-18 show...

I'm calling this Part I of "If my Camera could talk" because I already have a few new ones loaded on my camera & I know there will be more. Hope you enjoyed

Funny Fotos - Trip to St.Louis

I'll do a separate post with more pictures... but I wanted to get all these out of the way. These are our "Funny Fotos" from this past weekend. We laughed sooo much this weekend, it was a blast. There's nothing like being back at your mom & dad's house with your 2 sisters... and our 5 kids (between the 3 of us). So here are some of the things that made us laugh.
1.) The car ride... Becky & Roman rode with me, Brett, Davis, Libby & Daisy. [This photo was taken at a drive-thru... we were at a stop, don't worry!] Doesn't this look like fun? Too bad we couldn't have squeezed 1 more person in between B & D... we had room!
2.) My mom's own words are the caption for this photo... "This is when you know the inmates are running the prison."
3.) We were looking for a place to hang the basketball goal. It needed to hang over a door & I thought the china cabinet looked like a great place! :)
4.) I realize these photos really don't need much of an explanation for why they made this post... but these are dolls my mom had in her basement. She brought them up for the kids to play with (I think partly as a joke). My favorite was the one on the right, I kept calling "Baby Daddy". (Becky was calling it "Papa Brady") It will give me nightmares for WEEKS. Way too much conflicting facial hair... sweet baby, girlish eyelashes, creepy eyebrows & then a freaky deeky mustache. I sent Kyle a couple text message photos of this guy, just to freak him out. He begged me to stop. I was trying to make Roman get attached to him... but he kept throwing him down. Wonder why?
5.) This is a video my mom dug out a few visits ago. She had it in her VHS stash from when she used to teach English as a Second Language. Brett LOVES IT & begs to watch it every day, all day. It is absolutely HORRIBLE in every way, shape & form. But he loves it. We love that it comes with trading cards... and the "Harold Borovec" trading card has become the butt of the joke.
6.) We went on a little train ride in Glencoe, MO. I got the pleasure of sitting in front of my nephew Roman. He kept lifting up my shirt & exposing much of my back & all that that entails. So when the train switched directions & we all turned in our seats, I was sure to pay him back! :) (no pun intended...)
7.) Hmmm...who did this? This just doesn't look good...
8.) The kids LOVED playing with the laundry baskets!!! It was so cute, they kept playing "nap".
9.) Saturday was my nephew Eli's 1st Birthday Party! I LOVE this photo... as soon as Leah presented him with the cake & we started singing, he hooted & hollared having the time of his life. What a cutie!!!!
10.) Grandma & Grandpa look wayyyyyy too excited to be saying "goodbye"!!!!!!!!! :)

Funny Fotos - Gma, Gpa, Leah & Eli's visit!

I know I should've saved this for the "10 for Tuesday"... but I'll be annoyed with myself for not getting another post in before another Tuesday. So I'm not going that route...

These are some "Funny Fotos" from this week. My parents, little sis Leah & her little boy Eli drove up to visit from St.Louis. Fun fun fun. We did a switch 1/2 way during the visit... my big sis Becky ("Reebs") that lives only about 40 minutes (I count in minutes, not miles) north of me took in my parents 1st while I got to visit with Leah & Eli. :) Then we met at Crown Center to have lunch & good times at the Crayola Cafe & Store, then we switched company in the parking garage. I WISH WE HAD PHOTOS of that escapade (trading luggage), but we don't. :)

Anyway, here are some good photos to tide you over...

1. Libby drinking from the dog bowl... yeah.


2. Roman & Libby raiding the snack cabinet. I told Becky it was like playing kitchen... but it in the real kitchen.


3. Brett's got to work on his photography skills. He snapped this shot of us... & we almost peed our pants when we saw it. Blurry - yeah, but that's not even the 1/2 of it. I love that the flash illuminated my glasses completely. And I also love Davis posing with my butt. Seriously... this HAD to make the blog. It was that bad.


4. See any no-no's in this picture? Hint... look at the baby in the pink dress. Yeah... I stepped away to get a perfect photo of the FOUR of them swinging. I took 3 photos before I realized what on earth my daughter was doing. (so I have 2 more if you want to see them)


5. I opened my mouth & promised the kids "Pudding Pops" for dessert... before I realized it was only 71 degrees outside. We usually have an icecream or popsicle treat on the front porch... but this particular night it was too chilly for a cold treat! (this is unfathomable for someone who spent the last 3 summers in Corpus Christi, TX) Sooooo I had to keep my promise & give the kids their pudding pops - but indoors. And Libby is NOT one to be left out so she got one, too.


6. To say Davis is fond of his cousin Eli is an understatement. Davis pretty much hounded him their entire visit. (Libby enjoyed the break, I'm sure) Anyway... Eli didn't mind it so much when it was just Davis, but when Brett caught on to what was going on, he piled on. So it went from bad to worse pretty fast. :) Sorry Eli!


7. We had a GREAT time at the Crayola Cafe! Sooooo fun. The highlight for me, though, was when my mom said "Hey Becky... is it okay if Roman colors on your shirt?" :) Hope he didn't make any marks. Because trust me, if it ain't "washable", it ain't comin' out.


8. This week will always be remembered as the week that Libby showed her TRUE COLORS as a girly girl. We knew the girl was a shoe freak. But now she's obsessed with wearing jewelry. For almost a week now the girl has donned bracelets & has come up with "UH OHHH" in her vocabulary specifically for the use of dropping a bracelet. Here she is wearing a lei & a couple of her favorite bracelets. (the bracelets are leftover from Brett's pirate party)


9. I spent the 4th of July on my mom's cousin's ranch in Butler, MO. It was soooooooo fun. My mom couldn't help but snap this photo of me in the back of a pick-up... on our way to herd the cattle. [more photos of the experience coming soon]


10. After successfully calling all the cattle in to eat... this was the affect my kids had on them. Yeah, here they are heading for the hills after my kids spooked them off with their loud voices. Like I said... more on this soon.