Lily P. Winthrop

Mr. French's Aural Hematoma

What did they do to me?

 

I have to wear this thing for three weeks?  Are you kidding?

 

Watch, she'll put this picture of me on her blog.

So, Hugo had an aural hematoma on his left (bat) ear.  It's from shaking his head or from Luna playing with him.  Either way, we had to take care of it.  When this is over and he's healed, his ear might stick up or it might flop down. It might stick up in three weeks or it might stick up in six months.  It might not stick up ever again too but we just wanted him to be comfortable.  

His vet, Dr. K did a wonderful job.  I checked out his handiwork this morning.  I've already dressed his ear for today but I'll get a picture of his newly quilted ear, when I can bear it.  It pains me to look at it (for him). He's on a sleepy medication, along with an antibiotic and pain medication.  

He's asleep right now on the bed.  

See Jack Run

That's our boy!  Look at him go!

 

Jack had his best time at this race.  We're very proud of his accomplishments in Cross Country and we'll miss going to watch his meets.  He'll continue running, though.

His teammates were very supportive.  Truly, a wonderful group of young men and women.  Until next time....

Jack a la pseudo Warhol.

www.photofunia.com 

Thanks, Martha!

Weekend Update

Jack has started running Cross Country.  We're all very excited about it.  Andrew ran into him on the trail, when Jack was out running with his group.  I saw him take off the first day and was thrilled at the prospects.  Jack never complains when he's out riding his bike with his Dad or running with him.  He manages quite nicely!  

I wish I were more like Jack.

His teeth are straightening out already.  I'm so impressed with his orthodontist!  

Here's Rib in his Sasquatch t-shirt, which I love.  Both of them look so handsome.  I'm so proud of our boys.

He's fascinated with bugs.  His pinning boards are incredible.   Got a question about a bug or need to identify it?  Noah's your go-to kid.

Noah adores Luna, as we all do.  She's such a sweet little girl, so friendly....

Our sweetheart, Stella Luna.

I love this picture of Hugo.  He's still just as wonderful as ever.

Chomp, chomp, choppa!

So....

Picture of Luna

Picture of Luna

Picture of Hugo

Picture of Hugo

then

a pie.  

Yeah.  That makes sense.

I made an egg-custard pie along with my crust and it turned out beautifully! Instead of adding yellow food coloring, I added an extra egg yolk, like Alicia Paulson recommended (she's listed under 'Interesting Blogs' on the right under 'Posie Gets Cozy').  I saw this pie over on her blog.  It looked so good that I decided to make it myself.  That's nutmeg on the top.  Here's the recipe for 'Grandma's Egg Custard Pie' from www.allrecipes.com.  The whipped cream they put on the top of theirs isn't necessary.

*Bedtime Stories is a wonderful movie to watch with your kids.  Four thumbs and two paws up.

Our Summer So Far

 

The boys found this giant beetle (an Eastern Hercules beetle) and named him 'Peach'.  That's right.  Noah put him in a tank with water and a peach nearby and the thing put its proboscis in it and stayed there until it was all gone.  It's on the fourth peach now and tomorrow they'll let him go.

 

The other news is that my husband (and Noah) rescued a baby bird that had a broken wing (no pictures, seemed kind of cruel because it looked like it was hurting).  I called my vet and they put me in touch with a wildlife expert named Randy.  We took the bird out to her home where she rehabilitates wildlife and puts them back in their environment.  She had a fascinating place, she showed us around her house (which was very gracious) and we met a few ducks and some doves.  So, if anyone needs someone like that in the future and lives near me, call me or send me an e-mail and I can put you in touch with Randy.

Here are some pictures from the 4th.  We have a secret place where we go to watch the fireworks....

 

Jack, waiting in the bleachers with us.  He's still my baby but there he is, growing up anyway!

 

Noah brought along his bug catching accoutrements, of course. : )

 

Uh, what's that?  Technology.  It follows us everywhere, right? 

Here they are, playing a game on the iPhone.  That didn't last long because I wanted them to 'unplug' and enjoy our family time together.

 

Here's a quick Stella Luna update to end my post with.  She is now 7 months old and weighs 20 pounds.  The vet told us that was heavy enough and not to let her gain more weight.  She came from FBRN and in her former life, lived with a back yard breeder and was surrendered because she had giardia.  She no longer has it (hopefully, it'll stay gone) and is now healthy and no longer bony.  In this picture, she's begging for some pasta from Andrew.  This was part of our regimen to put weight on her and it helped.

Well, we're off to the pool again.  I hope your summer has been a happy one!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, not quite yet but almost.  Here's a picture of Hugo, looking like he wants to be left alone to sleep in peace.  What?  That flash again?  Oh, mon Dieu!

Stellaluna on the bed with her chewed up teddy bear.  

I've been pretty busy with summer here and everything.  Hopefully, I'll have some good pictures of my family from tomorrow to post!  Happy 4th of July!!! 

Brace Yourself

Our son had his braces put on today.  Here he is, in the waiting room.  We were only sitting there for about 10 minutes, tops.  

Braces, you say?  No sweat!

What a wonderful young man he is....  He wasn't concerned about the whole process in the slightest.

I would have been.

They're green!  I was not back there when this decision was made, by the way. : [

They told me afterwards that Jack was wonderful in the chair and never once complained.  I took him out for ice cream afterwards and now that we're home, he's been a little uncomfortable.  If anyone has tips (besides aspirin/Tylenol) for a sore mouth, let me know!

The Prince and the Pea

 

There's Hugo in his spot up on the guest bed in my studio, surrounded by girly pillows.  He loves it there.  Usually, he's perched up on top of 3 or 4 pillows but he likes to do this too.  It's nice to look up from whatever I'm working on to take a gander at him, resting peacefully.

I'll share the latest thing I've glittered.  Candles, of all things.  

I had to take this picture outside so you can see how pretty the glitter is in all it's blingy glory.  Bling! Bling!  There are about 4 different shades of green glitter with one shade of brown in the blend I made.  

I think I've told you before that I collect glitter....  Ahh, perhaps you don't remember my love of all things shiny?  Maybe you're new here...?  Check the photo album to the right there, you'll see my drawer full of glitter under 'The Pink Room' I believe.

Honestly, though, I'm not so sure about that spray adhesive.  I don't think I'll be burning these candles any time soon.  

One more thing.  Martha Stewart will be coming out with a new cupcake book on June 2nd!  I'm stoked.  I loved her last book on cookies.  Anyway, here's a peek at the cover.  

Ha, that's pretty big.  Oh well, if you're near sighted like I am, you'll appreciate the size.  Here's a link  in case you want to pre order her new book.

What a Good Piece of Gear!

I know this is hard to believe but I'm really busy.  Holy Cow!  I'll be back in about a week and until then, I thought I'd post a couple of more pictures of Hugo in the Doggles from our photo session on the back deck.

He has a good sense of humor, our Mr. French....

The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, Projects, a New Orchid and Deals!

One of the first things I noticed, they gave out a lot of gorgeous awards.  Today, you'd get a ribbon.  Look, it's flying Ken.

Close up of the base of another award I fell in love with.  Ahh... beautiful trophies abound at the Air and Space Museum!

Our kids really like each other.  My friend's daughters are the sweetest girls I've ever met.

Noah, my sweetheart.  

Does this Betsey Johnson scarf make me look fat?  Maybe it's the coat?  I don't know.  I did gain 6 pounds over the winter season though.  I have no shame.  I'll lose it, I always do.  

Don't they make you want to travel?  

For some reason, I couldn't make us look less green.  We're not green!  For realz!  Anyway, there's me with my buddy.  I've known her for years and years and years.  She's so much fun!   

I love you, J.

It's dark but I love the candid shots!  I think this one of the last shots of the day.  Can you tell?

Yeah, so I cropped the picture in.  These two have been buddies forever.  I'm very fond of her.  Jack is too, of course : )  He's totally macking on her (no pun intended) but it's innocent, I'm so sure....

She's just as cute as a button.  I always want to hug her, every time I see her.   Look at that nose, for Pete's sake!  

Our pretty new orchid.  I thought Aunt Tex would like to see it.

My latest 'before'.  I need plant stands but that green paint has gotta go.  I'm stripping, then staining it.  

I'll show it to you once I'm done, along with the planters I had to spray copper.  The were starting to look, well, not so shiny and new.  I like shiny and new.

Hugo's new Doggles and Batman Sings Along!

What a hunky Frenchman.  Look at him, he knows it.  : )

You might be asking yourself, ''What the heck are Doggles?"  Well, Doggles are protective eyewear for dogs.  They are actually goggles for dogs, hence the name.  Unlike ordinary sunglasses for dogs, Doggles actually protect dog’s eyes from foreign objects, wind, and UV light.

Here's the cutest video I've seen in a long time, thought I'd share.  Personally, I think Alvin gets on Batman's nerves.

I saw this video over at Club Chien. I have to give them credit!

Sweet Dreams, Hugo

You might remember this picture from our visit to Ohio over Christmas.  

I wanted to use it because of that cute picture and plus, seriously-it matched all of the colors in the couch (thought it hardly shows in this scan, ugh!  Yellow tinge!).  It matched my new paper by K & Company though you wouldn't know it, you can't see it in person. 

Sometimes I'll scrapbook a picture I've printed so that I can use something new and exciting to me, other times I'll print a picture out and look for the paper to go with it.  At any rate, it was almost fun.  

My scanner and iPhoto don't work as well together as they used to (I upgraded to Leopard).  There are some bugs in iPhoto that Apple needs to fix, pronto.  If you save the resolution, it won't.  If you brighten it, then sharpen the photo, it'll save it but it'll be the last thing you fixed, very odd.  Anyway, I checked to see if they had updates for either iPhoto or my Epson scanner... no dice. I've done my best so here it is, warts, yellow tinge and all.  Bummer! 

The Frank Lloyd Wright Mobile

Ahh, it was easy this time.  Isn't that mobile cool?  It was made by Kikkerland.  They're the same company that make these super cool wind up toys that the boys like, very modern.

Here's another shot.

We included some quotes by Frank Lloyd Wright and descriptions underneath his buildings, furniture designs and houses.  If it's blank on one side, it's the other side that will carry the quote or description underneath.  Finito!  Now he has all day tomorrow to practice his speech, which is 2-4 minutes long but that's not a problem for Noah.

There's a big smile!  He's sitting on our new chair.  

A picture taken on one of Jack's sick days about 2 weeks ago, I think.  Doesn't Hugo look concerned? Poor Jack!  

There's nothing better than taking a nap with Hugo to cure all that ails you.  

The Smithsonian

Run, Jack, run!  

He's awesome.  Here's another one.

I have a ton of pictures like this, Jack hamming it up.  The running title has been, "It bites."

We went to the Natural History Museum and the National Museum of American History (my favorite between the two).  We also dropped by the Sculpture Garden again.  We love it there.  Here's one by 

Roy Lichtenstein.  Of course, Noah and I are standing in front of it.  

Ugh, not the best picture of me but Noah is almost smiling.  Either that or he looks more perturbed than ever....  "Just take the picture, already!"  

If I were the Mentalist, I'd say that I seem to be very protective of the boys (look at how I'm crossing my arm in front of him) or just very affectionate.  How about a combination of the two?  If I'm in a picture with them, I'm always holding them somehow.  Body language, the science of it, fascinates me.  

Noah likes my hands.  He'll reach up and smell my wrist sometimes.  Right now, I'm into this perfume called 'Amazing Grace'.  I wasn't sure that I'd like it but it smells wonderful.  I have the shampoo and conditioner too, nice touch by Philosophy.  

Back to the Natural History Museum....

I sent Andrew these pictures last night and he remembered that whale from when he'd seen it as a child.

I saw the Hope Diamond, Holly!  

She inspired me to go to the museums, so did Jenn and Morgan. Everyone has driven there but me.  I thought, "Just get in the car and drive."  So, that's what we did.  

It's about 35 minutes from our front door to theirs.  We parked in front of the Smithsonian for a little over 3 hours. How lucky were we, eh?  Before that, we parked for 2 hours, one block over.  So, it can be done.  You just have to watch your watch, or else, your car will get towed.  Yikes!  

I loved this Art Deco necklace.  Isn't it gorgeous?  Oh mah Gawd!

Bioluminescent fish, they loved this display of deep sea life.  Jack had a really cool presentation on the Viper fish when he was in the 4th grade, I believe.

It's the hissing cock-a-roach.  This was what they said was the best part of their visit to the Natural History Museum.  

I know a certain someone that has pictures of herself with these things all over her sweater....  Ahem.

Passing it off to Noah.  They asked if I wanted to hold it.  

I pretty much felt like this little girl here.

They're something else.  I love them so much.

Smells like teen spirit.  

Phyllis Diller's booties don't get enough props.  They're overlooked due to these hyped up shoes.

Ahh, the Ruby Slippers.  Take them in.  They were my favorite I-Spy moment.  

They said they'd be taking them out of the permanent display shortly.  They'll only bring them out every now and then afterwards, they're fading.  Judy Garland wore this pair, they're a size 5.  

You'd be grouchy if you were in a trash can.  

C3PO, so cool.  Jack loved this one.  

I'll leave with a somewhat blurry shot of Abe Lincoln.  They made this while he was still alive.  Isn't it fascinating?  I thought it was.  

We're finishing up Noah's Frank Lloyd Wright project.  Other than that, no plans for the weekend yet.  

Noah read every comment (under "We Love You This Much") and really enjoyed that post about his artwork.  I really appreciated it, thank you so very much for leaving Rib some blog love.

Jack's braces will go on after the 5th of March. He's fine with it, he goes with the flow.  He's getting the hang of math now, we've been working on it together.  Math seems to be a tougher subject for him than most.  He earned 4 A's on his report card.  Yes, one was gym but I never got an A in gym class.  Never.  Go figure!  

Hugo is doing very well on Atopica, he seems  happier to me, though it could just be my biased thoughts against Prednisone.  He's slowly deflating.  

We Love You This Much

The boys had a snow day.  This is Noah's snowman.

That's a good smile for Noah.  I asked his permission before I posted his photograph.  : )  I always ask first.  

Head shot.

He used things from our sleepy garden.  His snowman looked like one of his drawings.  

Here's his sketch of a very startled-looking Bigfoot, it's a few months old.  

I'd found it when I was cleaning his room.  It had been wadded up and shoved behind his night stand (why bother with the trash can when the night stand is closer? LOL).  It came with a story too.  Poor, wadded up Bigfoot....  It was a sign of a frustrated artist. : )  When I looked at it, I called him up and told him how great I thought it was.  It's so funny and cute to me.  He loves urban legends.   Here's another one of my favorites by Rib. 

'Googley-eyed Hugo'

I love the legs.  

Don't forget to enter FBRN Jr's coloring contest!  Your child does not have to be an FBRN Jr to win.  If your child wins, their coloring will be published on a Valentine card!  Cool, eh?  

FBRN has a raffle going on too, check it out here. The raffle money will be helping a Frenchie named Icarus, who just had surgery on a dangerous (painful too, I'm sure) bowel obstruction.  Pawsitively Embroidery donated an incredible quilt (thank you, Melody) that is moving to see.  A Daum France crystal French Bulldog head was donated for the raffle too, to help Icarus-thanks to Kerry.

Well, if it's snowing where you live, I hope you've had fun out there!  Be sure to wash your dog's paws off after you've been outside in this stuff.  The salt isn't good for their pads, just in case you didn't know.

Hope I've helped and if you're reading this, please leave a comment for Noah.  He'll be checking my blog, I know it.  You can always post using a made up name....  I won't publish personal information, don't worry!  I can see you lurking.... : ) 

 

Dog is my Co-Pilot

So, I wasn't very original with that title.  I borrowed it from 'The Bark' magazine, which I love.  Here's a link to their .com

Here's another picture of me with Hugo (out of focus, hello, Sharon!), nuzzling his snurffler.  He's been on Atopica for awhile now and so far, so good.  He's also on a very strict diet (once again) but this time it's lamb and brown rice.  

You could say that he loves it.  We'll know more about whether Atopica will work, for sure or not, after the 25th.  We've been weaning him off Prednisone (again) in the hopes that he'll be able to stay off steroids forever.  

Hugo has severe atopy (multiple airborne allergies-we had the skin graft tests done when he was a puppy), in case you were wondering.  He really is doing great so far, he licks every now and then (his paws) but before, on the Prednisone, he'd lick all morning-until the medication had kicked in.  Now, it' s just every now and then so, I'll keep you posted!

Wish us luck!

I'm going to get together with Sharon sometime here pretty soon for some photographs.  I love the series she did with the black backgrounds.  I'm thinking a family portrait is in order.....  You can check out her blog here, Sharon Blankenship Photography and here's her other site.

Field of Corn

My Dad, with Jack and Noah.  It was very cold and windy.  Burrrrrrr!

Here's my Dad, again, standing next to a giant, inedible ear of concrete corn.  In 1994, an artist by the name of Malcolm Cochran, came up with this idea and 'planted' them (109 concrete ears, to be exact) in Dublin, Ohio.  Awesome photo op....

Here's a picture of me with my Dad.  I love this man, so very much....  Doesn't show, does it?  

Andrew with Rib.  He's giving him one of his Christmas gifts, 'chattering teeth.'  Yes, I know, I'm just getting around to posting about Christmas.

It's early, believe me.  We don't style hair on Christmas morning.   Jack with his iPod, he's stoked and I love his sense of humor.  Thanks for posing, Honey....

Hugo, surveying the Christmas loot.  He knows there's some nose butter in there somewhere!  Actually, he's probably looking for his Nylabone dinosaur, or a little love from Grandma....

Ahh, I found it!  There's my ear rub from Grandma S!  See how much he loves her?  

Nerf stuff!  They came home and thought they'd set up a firing range in the living room.  

Ahh, my, oh my, my dinosaur!  He found it.  That's my Christmas gift back there, 'Chaplin' from Yvonne. 

My tin robot is far superior to yours.  Jack and Noah are really into these tin robots right now....  They're super cool.

Thanks for letting the Frenchman up on the couch, Y & B!  

Where do you think you're going?

This is the flag that Noah made.  

Noah's Chinese Junk Ship, it's a Hardy Boys Mystery..... It started with foam core board and ended with enough Minwax to gag a maggot.

Andrew with the scary tools.

 

Happiness is a finished school project.

              Oh my

              Oh my

              Oh dinosaur!

    

I'm busy, you can pet me later....

Hugo is completely in love with this Nylabone dinosaur.   He can really hold on to it and chew, chew, chew.  

Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Hugo, wearing his pony coat.  Yes, I know....  He's French.  They get very cold in this weather and this coat does not embarrass him.  It's lined with fleece so it's toasty warm.

I've had a horrible cold that just won't go away but managed to take him out for a walk today and felt like a good Mommy.  Ugh, I just feel horrible if I don't get him outside to sniff the air and move his little legs!

I'd like to recommend something along the lines of Theraflu.

If you have The Cold from Hell, this stuff worked great for us.  It comes highly recommended by Jack, Andrew and me, of course.  Noah has become the Teflon Winthrop.

We played a game of Slamwich last night.  The boys hammered me, as usual.  If you're looking for a fun family game, you'll like that one.  We're officially sick of Monopoly and if anyone has any recommendations, let us know!

Andrew Won our Thanksgiving Turkey!

Andrew won 1st place in his age group at the Turkey Trot (a 10K run on base), so they gave him a Butterball turkey instead of a medal, which was super cool.  We're sooooo proud of him! 

Of course, when they announced his name, he had the loudest cheering section there.  My battery died before I could get the picture of him accepting his frozen award but I managed to get these before it tanked out on me.  

Andrew with the Peanuts.

Of course, it's a Winthrop tradition to get a shot with the eyes closed.

Here's Andrew's.

Here's mine.

Yeah, so I wear 'evening eyes' during the day.  It's my thing.  So are my new walking shoes.

Here are 2 parting shots from Hugo.

 

He made sure I got his good side.  We found the Santa hat/beard combo at Target.  Last year it was reindeer antlers.  He liked this better.

The 233rd Marine Corps Birthday Ball

He's such a hunk.

Best ball ever....

iPhoto fun.

I'd write more but I have to cook dinner and watch 'Kung Fu Panda'.  I'll post my cross-stitch stuff and (more importantly) my FBRN ornaments tomorrow.  I'm also happy to report that I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping.

Steve Prefontaine and Dread Pirate Rib

Oh, what a blast!  Check out their costumes.

Pre

Arghhhh!  We had an awesome time, Mateys!

Here are a couple more.

Stop Pre!  

Ahh, thanks for posing Rib....

Noah wouldn't wear that eyepatch for very long (the glasses went right back on) and of course, nobody was putting anything on his skin.  This can be somewhat frustrating to a pair of creative parents but it's his face, not ours.

Hugo with his Loverdog collar on.  He's wearing his spider get up (sans spider hood).  

 

'Fire on the Track'

 

If you're interested in a movie about Steve Prefontaine, we liked 'Prefontaine' with R. Lee Ermey (as Bill Bowerman) and Jared Leto (Steve Prefontaine) better than 'Without Limits' with Billy Crudup though both movies are really good.  We watched a movie called 'Mongol' over the weekend and enjoyed it. 

I'll be finishing up my French Bulldog ornaments for the French Bulldog Rescue Network's Christmas Tree.  I've seen some of the other ornaments and it's a fantastic tree!  I'll post them once we're finished.

 

The Christmas Cards I made for FBRN will be up for sale soon, the teasers were released last night. They're quite a bargain at $14 for a box of 12 and ALL of the proceeds go back to the FBRN.  

Noah's Legacy Scrapbook

Noah had another parent/student assignment.  This time, it was for his history class.  I based this on a different mini book I made awhile ago.  That's my Dad, Noah's Grandpa....  I had so much fun working on this and it turned out well.  The important thing is, we know even more about my Dad now : )  

Every photo is scanned and then the real picture is stored.  This is one of my favorite pictures of him.  I have the matching picture in a frame.

And this one....  He's such a handsome man, such a cool guy, and really tall....  

He has this super deep voice... it's soothing.  If the woods could talk, they'd sound like him.  

I miss my Dad.

That's me (shout at the devil) with the red eyes and it looks like I'm eating a carnation.  I need to either free up space on my hard drive somehow, buy a new Mac (this one is ancient by all tech standards and that's weird to me) and a scanner-or something....  Perhaps Sharon can fix it for me....

The Pumpkin Patch

I took the boys to the local pumpkin patch this past weekend. We had a wonderful time and I thought I'd share some photos from our trip.

They had zip lines!

Photo Op!

Jack's choice at the patch, loved it! I know that you see the nice, round, orange pumpkins back there but that's not what he wanted. Noah chose a Jarrahdale pumpkin (they're blue/gray, he wanted the seeds-especially) and I picked out the nice, round, orange pumpkin for carving.

I'll post our carved pumpkins in a few days. I don't want them rotting by Halloween, ick!

The Hoboken Chicken Emergency

Noah has a book report due shortly on 'The Hoboken Chicken Emergency'. He'll be giving a 4 minute presentation with this theater that we worked on together. He had nothing to do with the hot glue gun, however. Danger, danger.

Here it is. They're 2 picture frames without the glass, hot glued together with wooden spools. I couldn't believe my luck when I found the silver tissue lame in with my fabric remnants!

Here's how we made the theater's mat/frame.

I cut a mat out with an X-acto knife from the cardboard backing (some come with the matted frame but ours had various squares for photos and that didn't work), I sketched the stars then Noah went around each star with a black Sharpie. We painted the stars with metallic silver acrylic paint then I added the glitter while the paint was still wet.

Noah drew the characters out on Bristol board then I mounted them on chipboard with rubber cement and cut them out. After that was done, I hot glued a dowel on the back of each character. I think they're really cute!

The oval will either have the tragedy/comedy masks at the top or I'll write out the words 'The Hoboken Chicken Emergency' in some cool font and then hot glue it up there.

The background of the theater's setting can be swapped out. It's blank now but it will have a city scene (nighttime, that's why we went with silver stars on the mat) because that's where it takes place. Anyway, we're practically done and he's really happy with the way it turned out.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House

I took the boys to Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House this weekend. It was an incredible experience...

The entrance to the house is 7 feet high but it opens up into the living room which is 11 feet high. He called this 'compression-release'.

I don't have pictures of the interior of the house because that's a no-go.

The Pope-Leighey house is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses, built in 1939 and is 1,200 square feet. The wood they used was Cypress. We had a wonderful tour guide so we learned a lot about the house. If you have the time and live nearby, I'd highly recommend the visit. We're planning on a day trip to see Fallingwater and the other 2 FLW buildings nearby. They're all within driving distance of each other....

Funny picture of the boys. Jack is trying to get Noah to loosen up a bit but it's really not working.

With Noah....

With Jack.... Yes, I know. My eyes are closed. Ha. Aha.

Along came a spider....

Ahh, l'indignité !

If I tilt my head sideways, will you take it off?

It was enough just putting the spider head on him, let alone the rest of the costume. He wore this get up last year and it went over like a lead balloon. If he shakes his head one time-it's all over.

Rrrribbittt!

I made this for the boys' room. It's a surprise for them. I know they'll love seeing it up on their bulletin board when they come home later.

Some of the embellishments are from my Label Tulip kit. The rub ons are by Pink Paislee and the letters were made by American Crafts ('Puffy'). I love those!

I met up with my old friend, Morgan and her son, Austen at Panera the other day. To say that it was a wonderful visit would be an understatement. We truly connected and I miss her but I know I'll see her again. I was so caught up in our time together that I forgot to take pictures! Incredible!!!! Arggghhh!

Speaking of which, I've been updating our pictures that are inside our frames from Exposures. Our frames aren't exactly like those but that's where we bought ours and we've had them for about 12 years! Anyway, I've kept the same pictures in there for a long time, here's one of them.

This one is staying in 'October' (ha, you were thinking 'June' right?). The boys had picked out their patterns. Jack went as Godzilla and Noah went as a shark.

There's nothing like a homemade costume, even if it isn't perfect. As my husband likes to say "You made it with love."

Where Did the Summer Go?

So, I'm missing them right now. I should say we're missing them right now. Hugo is out in the hallway waiting for them to return. They've had a great week at school and both of them wound up with fantastic teachers. Phew! How do you spell relief?

Holly Hanks, you rock. She gave me this blog award. I love her posts, her work and her friendship.

Now the pressure is on : )

Here are the rules:
(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.
(2) Link the person you received your award from.
(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
(4) Put links of those on yours.
(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

Ahh, so, here I go. Here are some blogs I that I love, in alphabetical order.

'Art by Design', 'Celebrate Everyday', 'Crafty Girl Designs', 'Dandelion Wishes', 'Gray Area 51', 'Henri Hopper', a typing French Bulldog.... 'It's Walter, not Walters', 'Live Each Day', {Lovin My Life}, 'My Tangerine Dreams', 'Sadie Olive', 'The Paper Chic', and last but certainly not least-Dana's site 'The Things I Love'.

Ha, now it's going to take forever and a day to go post on all of those blogs!

More of Noah's Carnivorous Plants, Triops and Hugo

Noah's Bonsai tree that he's grown from seed. It wasn't supposed to grow. Rib's very proud of this little bonsai. It's a Jack Pine.

A Scarlet Belle Pitcher Plant.

A Parrot Pitcher Plant.

Red Dragon Venus Flytrap and a Wooly Sundew.

A Madagascar Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes).

Noah wanted to tell his Aunt Tex that he valued her help on the phone yesterday. She's awesome. She's our family's orchid expert. I have a feeling that they'll be on the phone more often....

Here's what Jack has been working on this past week. He's interested in tanks, I've taken him to the National Museum of the Marine Corps to get a closer look a few times. Anyway, I was checking over his model and couldn't find a bit of ooze from the glue coming out from the sides. Most impressive....

'Do Not Eat' that tea bag (are people that out of it?) floating on the top of the Triops tank. They're starting to grow. The little eggs are forming at the bottom....

We're working on an Andy Warhol puzzle together, usually in the evening.

Hugo. If you look closely, you can see his (new) white whisker.

I'm taking the boys to see 'Tropic Thunder' today. It's #1 at the box office. They liked it over at 'Rotten Tomatoes' so that's usually a good sign though I don't usually listen to the critics.

Robert Downey Jr. probably has some of the best lines.
"I know who I am! I'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!"

Dog-Zerts, Carnivorous Plants and Jason Freeny

Hugo goes nuts over this treat. They're called Dog-Zerts. I buy them from our Schwanz guy.

Here's another picture of Hugo thoroughly enjoying his Dog-Zert. Check out how white his nose is-so cute!

The boys are both really into carnivorous plants. Right now they have 2 of them, a Venus Flytrap (named Frank) and a Purple Pitcher Plant (Edward). They're thriving, under their care. If you look closely, you can see the wood louse that they fed to Frank.

So, obviously, in addition to the flowers I'm familiar with in my garden-I'll be learning about carnivorous plants along with them. Here's a pretty bloom from my garden today.

I've been much happier with the way my iPod looks. I bought some skin art for it awhile ago but thought I'd share it. Here's a picture of the front, love it!

Here's the back.

It's called 'Gummi Anatomie' by Jason Freeny. Brilliant! Here's where you can find other skins for your iPod, phone or laptop (PC or Mac), they're called Gelaskins. They come with a protective, clear skin for the screen as well.

Back to School

see more dog pictures

From I Has a Hotdog.com Good stuff!

So, this question happened to come up twice today.....

"Are you excited about the kids going back to school?" Uh, no, I am not. I hope they're excited about going back but I'm really going to miss their company around here. I enjoy taking them places and just having them around. I'll probably have more to post than videos from YouTube and IHasAHotDog.com, though!

I'll get some projects finished and that'll be a good thing but yeah, I'm going to miss my little men. Hugo will realize they've gone back to school, which is funny. Around the time they come home, he keeps vigil at the top of the steps instead of on his pillow in here.

Jack H.

I'll Have What She's Having

That's how I felt, like right out of 'When Harry Met Sally' and it wasn't even that big of a deal.... At any rate, I have finally figured out how to put a digital frame around a picture. The reason being was specifically for my blog-I like pretty things and I love those digital frames. I thought this one looked great with this picture of Hugo. Now I just want to learn how people crop their corners. I'd thank my rotten Adobe Photoshop book for all of their worthless help but let's just say I figured it out all on my own. Thank you, Khris. The frame is by Rhonna Ferrar, she's fantastic. Here's another one of our gardenia on our plant stand. A pretty dahlia....