Dancing Baby

This video is so cute!

Link Love

I think I may post a collection of links every now and then that have been inspiring me, challenging me or that have just made me laugh. Here goes…

• Back to the Basics series starting on Simple Mom (first post in the series here)– I have a post that I’ve been ruminating on (sorry, my Animal Science background bubbles up into my speech every now & then) that sort of addresses this in my own life and talks about some changes I’ve been making ‘round these parts.
  
• Heroe’s salute – I have a sister in the Army, a brother-in-law in the Marines and a good friend who served a term in the Air National Guard. All three have been deployed at least once in the past eight or so years. I also have a grandfather who served in World War II and both Anthony’s father & paternal grandfather served in the military. Needless to say, we are mindful of the sacrifices our military make/have made for our freedom & our protection. But, the video that Karen Russell links to in this post is still a good reminder that “freedom don’t come free.” Her post is also worthy of your time to read it – her husband has a very good point (no disrespect to Michael Jackson or his family).
  
• On a lighter note (unless you’re talking about caloric weight), I happened upon an older recipe post on Pioneer Woman’s blog for blackberry cobbler that I will be making very soon. I rarely see recipes online where I think, “I have to make this NOW!” but this is one of those. I love, love, love my mom’s blackberry cobbler, but bless her heart, she’s just not good at handing down recipes. It would probably go something like this…
  Her: Well, you need a good bit of blackberries
  Me: How much is a good bit?
  Her: Oh, about two cups, I think. Then, you’ll need some flour and sugar.
  Me: Um, how much?
  Her: Hmm… Maybe a cup of flour and ¾ cup of sugar. I don’t really know. I just put more in the bowl until it looks like enough.
  Me: Well, okay then.
  
• Could you put all the states in the right place on a U.S. map? Here’s a neat little game where you can test your knowledge of U.S. Geography. The best I could do was 96% right & an average of 5 miles off. It’s also a good way to goof off when you’re procrastinating at doing something (I won’t tell you how many times I played it before I got that score). If you play it, come back & tell me your top score (unless you stomp mine & then, well, spare me the humiliation).

And, a picture just because I've been posting too much lately without one...

She was 'helping' plant some flowers.

In Case You Need a Baby Fix

One of the blogs I follow is Grimsaburger. Her baby girl, Nuala, is 6 weeks old and completely adorable. She posted a video today of her 'talking' during a diaper change. If you need a baby fix, you should definitely watch the video. If you are dead set on not having any more children, you should stay far, far away. I'm serious, folks. This video could potentially change your mind & make you want to have a baby right now. Or.... maybe it just has that affect on me.

Either way, click here to see it.

PS22 chorus

If you haven't seen any of the youtube videos of the PS22 chorus (PS22 is a public school in NYC) you are really missing out. Here is my favorite that I've seen so far...



They've been featured on several shows - The Bonnie Hunt show, Nightline (last night), and others.

If watching these videos doesn't fill you up with emotions & give you chills, I think you might want to check your pulse :)

Her name...

I saved this post as a draft a couple months before Ella was born last year since we were keeping her name a secret. I just saw it the other day & realized I had never posted it.

Made this with a neat little site called Spell with Flickr. It uses images from Flickr to spell your word. Pretty cool.



mine...

Anthony's...



and, Wesley's...

Follow up to 'I love texting'

If you watched that video I posted about texting, this story will illustrate one of the things he talked about...

Yesterday one of my sisters sent this text: I need new pics of Wesley and Ella!

Me: I’ll upload some newer ribs of the kids to Wal-Mart & send you a link.

Her: Haha. ribs? I do that all the time.

I was thoroughly confused for a few seconds because right before the text about pictures of the kids, we were texting about sauces to put on meatloaf. I was thinking, "Does she put ketchup on her ribs, too?" and "Why would that be funny?" Then, it dawned on me that I might have messed up my text, so I looked in the sent box & sure enough, it said ribs instead of pics. So, tell me, why does my phone think that I would be texting about ribs more frequently than pics?

Anyways, I got a good chuckle out of my mistake & the quick mental picture it conjured.

My stint as a model...

Did you know I was once a model? No? Here I am on a billboard ad.



Oh, you don’t believe me? How about this…

Here I am in a gallery display.



Still don’t believe me?

Here I am again…



And, finally, I present to you proof that it was not really Thomas Jefferson in Mount Rushmore, but me. :)



The above photo fun is brought to you by Photofunia. Check it out for a little time-wasting amusement.

And, along the same lines…

Have you ever had people tell you that you look like so and so? For instance, in high school I was told a LOT that I looked like Alanis Morrisette. Must have been the crazy long, wavy hair.



In college it was Ashley Judd. Maybe it was the chubby cheeks?



In the last few years it has been Katherine Heigl. Chubby cheeks, again? Well, I never really saw the resemblance with any of them until I saw Ms. Heigl in 27 Dresses as a curly-headed brunette. I present exhibit A (a shot of her at one point during the movie where I paused it & went, "Oh, now I see it.")


...and exhibit B (a similar photo of yours truly from photobooth tonight).



Well, hot diggity dog, sign me up for my next job as a movie star look-a-like!

Disclaimer: I’m really not a shallow person – I just think it’s funny when I’m told I look “just like” someone, because I usually go, “Huh?” and have no idea what they’re talking about.

Come back tomorrow for a slew of videos of the kids.

I love texting...

Because I have no time lately to upload pictures & form coherent sentences to entertain you with the goings-on of our clan, I bring you a brief video from Comedy Central (which amazingly is perfectly safe for innocent lil' ears save for a quick comparison to being like an 'attentive lover'). I confess I don't ever watch Comedy Central & found this on someone else's blog. Even if I currently had that channel in our vast repretoire of 2 1/2 channels (another very boring story for another day), I couldn't watch it for fear that Ella's first word would be of the cursing variety.

Comedy Central Presents	Friday 10pm / 9c
Paul F. Tompkins: Text Messaging
comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

Tag Game...

I've been tagged, again. This time by Haley. Here's what I had to do:

Pick the 4th picture folder on your computer.

Pick the 4th picture in that folder.

Explain what the picture is about.

Tag 4 blogging friends to do the same.

Here's my photo:


And, an explanation...

This is a picture I took in April for a scrapbook page that has yet to be created. It will be titled, "Ode to Coffee." Just kidding - or maybe I'm not. The idea was to journal about how I owe pretty much any productivity I had for the first four months of Ella's life to caffeine, because I felt like a walking zombie until she started sleeping through the night (translation - for longer than 3 or 4 hours at a time).

Seriously though - I never liked coffee all that much until I discovered mocha lattes (Yum!) when I was pregnant with Ella & I had to choose between horrendous nausea all day, every day or taking phenagran & having to prop my eyelids open to maintain conciousness. My favorite coffee treat is the mocha java chiller at Sonic (pretty much a coffee milkshake). If they didn't cost so much & I didn't care about the size of my backside, I'd have one every day :)

And, I'm tagging Sunny, April, Laura & Karen - I know most of you don't have time to do this - my feelings won't be hurt if you don't :)

I've been tagged...

My friend, Laura, tagged me, so now I have to post 6 facts about myself, then tag 6 other people.

Here's my six:

1) If I eat ice cream too fast it makes me cough (still one of my very favorite foods).

2) I was the first person in my fourth grade class to learn the multiplication tables.

3) I make the best 'shark fin pie' - according to my hubby.

4) My middle name (Rose) is after my dad's name (Ross).

5) I love the smell of fresh, clean laundry straight from the dryer but hate putting it away.

6) I kill plants - the only plant that has survived in my house for more than a few weeks is one little flowering plant that Wesley gave me in a hand-painted flower pot for Mother's Day (from daycare) 3 or 4 years ago (outside plants are okay as long as they can rough it on their own).

So here are the rules if I tag you...
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random facts about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up. I am tagging...

Sunny, Haley, April, hmmm, I'll have to come back & add three more later, I'm drawing a blank on friends that blog...

Funny conversation...

Read this on Tara Whitney's blog & laughed out loud. Anyone who is married will certainly identify with this.

Edited to add: forgot to add a picture - can't have a blog post without a picture :)

My mom was holding Ella & talking to her. Her eyes have gotten stronger since this picture was taken, because I think this is the last time I saw her go cross-eyed trying to look at someone/something.

Our lil' family

found this little doo-dad from someone else's blog - you can create a family 'sticker' - thought it was cute, so I had to have one for myself...

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com