My Boys' Indulgence in MAC Cosmetics

It was inevitable and very much generational. What am I talking about? My love for MAC - and much to Colin's horror, my boys have joined me. At least they did yesterday. I always attempt in vain to apply all makeup, lipstick being last. And yesterday, just when I was to the lipstick phase, both boys came up on the bathroom counter and dug right into all my lipsticks. Samuel really enjoys trying to layer every shade of pink. MAC have never had exceptional customer service, in my opinion (they are often way to busy and pretty to be bothered), but I love how every line is so out there and vibrant.


I like that this lipgloss is labeled "Sexy" and Jude is studying it. This is actually a Victoria's Secret lipgloss, which I would highly reccomend, if you can deal with that store for any amount of time.
Jude really couldn't decide which one to grab, so he grabbed them all.
Here are the various layers of pink Samuel applied. If you blow up the picture, you will notice he pretty much ruined this lipstick.
Here's a picture of his reflection in the mirror as he rolls up the lipstick.
And I like to do silly things like take pictures of Samuel and I in the mirror.


In other, very nonspecific, news, I have to say that the Lord has answered a prayer in my life in a very clear way and I must throw a shout-out to Him. God is good!!

From the Archives

I keep looking at these pictures on my fridge and had to dig in the archives to post a few. I just loved doing these pictures so much with them - especially because all of the pictures really reflect who they are (they are my brothers' and sister-in-law). Goat feels natural sitting on a barrell and hanging out in the Ladies bathroom. Jake likes to play peek-a-boo behind a random door left outside.

I attempted to create a scrapbook layout for my friend Jen last night. It literally took me an hour and an half to pick out three pieces of coordinating paper after perusing some magazines for inspiration. It should only take me a couple of years to get this one done for you, Jen! No worries, though. It's still spread all over my kitchen table and if I refuse to clean it off, it should be completed sooner...we'll see if that tactic works.

Here's a quote from Samuel yesterday as I was checking email "I need to rescue you from the computer, Mama." Ouch - think I'm on the computer too much?

Valentine Jude and Samuel's Clean Mude

This one was just a practice in separating backgrounds from foregrounds in Photoshop - it's terribly funny. And by that I mean it turned out so terrible it's funny.
I just like how bright Jude's eyes turned out in this one - they weren't even altered! What was altered was the snott running from his nose. Ugh.
This is Samuel's "clean mud" project. It's basically toilet paper shredded up and Ivory soap and water - it becomes this mud consistency that kids love. He sure did and did I ever love cleaning it up!

This is Samuel tearing the knotty pine walls off - yay!

One random note: our phone rang at 3 a.m., which inevitably means a loved one has gotten in an accident or had some horrible heart attack, right? Well, it was someone leaving a garbled message of who knows what which prevented me from sleeping for another hour. I despise middle of the night calls - they are so scary!

Thanks, Mindy!!!

I just can't keep this little treasure to myself - Mindy Photoshopped a wedding picture for me and I can't stop laughing!! I never thought I would love Colin in a bronze silk shirt so much....

Wedding Pictures from Back in the Day

I thought it would be prudent to finally dig out my wedding negatives (yep, I said negatives - it was 10 years ago, after all!) and get them scanned onto CDs. I can't really stop laughing for many reasons: 1) curly hair, which took much effort; 2) fake nails; 3) a dress that could rival Princess Diana's, if you know what I mean; and 4) why didn't I wax my eyebrows?!. I can't believe I'm actually posting these on my blog, but I am really looking for some comments, people. First and foremost, however, is there any way I can Photoshop these to good pictures? Mindy and Randi may be able to leave comments about that....Also, do you think I could Photoshop my dress to look like something Vera Wang made? Just kidding...



Colin looks so dismal in this picture. What do you think that means?!

I don't even think you get a full gander at the girth of this dress.
Drinking sparkling cider becuase we were both under 21!
Speaks for itself!!

I really can't stop giggling.

Thanks - But No More Milk, Mom

Ever since Jude's pediatrician recommended Jude be supplemented with formula to gain weight, I have been hyper-sensitive to how much he nurses. As it turns out, he would prefer not to waste any time nursing or drinking from a bottle. I am perplexed how I am to get three more months of breastfeeding into this kid. So, I tore the top off the bottle today and placed a straw in it. The delivery was almost quick enough to pique his interest. Almost. When he got bored with the straw, I dumped the rest directly in his mouth and he seemed to like that. It's going to be a LONG three months. Well, only 2 months and 19 days....

Home Improvement

In case you are trying to picture what exactly our removed wall that held the petrified mouse and no insulation (well, Colin has since put insulation in) looks like, here it is.

Mind you, the first thing I did today was take hospital grade disinfectant to our floors in that room to get rid of any trace of dead mouse droppings. Ew, I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit....

Olivia's Birthday Bash

Olivia was kind enough to invite Samuel and Jude to her 4th birthday party at Pump It Up in Wilsonville yesterday. I'll be the first to say that I think I had as much, if not more, fun as the kids! I also brought my friend Sarah (as you can see she was on the slide A LOT with Samuel). The baby being held horizontally is Dylan, my friend Nicole's sweet baby boy. He's about three months old and as laid back as can be. Jude sat by himself for the bulk of the time playing with what I'm sure were germ filled infant toys. Oh well- it builds their immune system, right? After the party, Sarah took the boys and I out to our formerly favorite restaurant Bugotti's, which is now called Johnny's. We had unusually good service this time (we have become used to the disappearing waiter/waitress and many misunderstandings with food orders and chunky coffee) and the boys and I thoroughly enjoyed the outing.

Sarah and I finished off the day at her house watching the first half of Gone With the Wind (I've never seen it before -can you believe it?!) and bless her mom's heart for keeping the boys occupied.

One random note for the day: Sarah and I drove through Dutch Brothers Coffee for a quick caffeine fix and who else was behind me but Brittany, my hair stylist. She paid for our coffee and I am now trying to figure out a good way to thank her for all her generosity lately. What do you get for such a sweet, stylish girl?

Today Colin opened up Pandora's Box by tearing down a couple of walls in our living room, which turned out to be warped, contained one petrified mouse (and excrement as well - yuk) and terribly lacking insulation. Windows are to be his next project (for the whole house - we are making a vain attempt to lower our astronomical electric/natural gas bill). I found myself watching in glee as he removed the knotty pine walls and throwing them in the fire. As I daydreamed of beautiful paint colors I will be applying to pristine white walls, he requested I remove nails from the boards. I realized what a hard job he has with this house and I really must be grateful for all the work he does here when he is not "at work".

Maternity Picture

I had the opportunity to take some (and by some, I mean almost 400!) maternity pictures of a friend who, of her own request, shall remain anonymous. She was a beautiful model, however, she is only letting me release this one picture. I had a great time experimenting, but was completly dismayed at how hard indoor lighting can be. I learned a lot and will be bringing Colin's shoplight to any more photo shoots (if I can even call them that!)...

A Few More Pics

Here are two more pictures from our stroll to the park yesterday.

In other news, Jude had his nine month appointment a couple of days ago and we found out he is drifting down in the weight scale to the 25th percentile. What do you do with a baby who is too busy to nurse?! He looks fine and plump to me, so I will not be supplementing with formula as his doctor recommended. I may just be putting breastmilk in a sippy cup soon....

Color Versus Black and White

Here are a couple of pictures in both color and black and white. I always am drawn to very bright, crisp colors, but I also love the classic look of a black and white photo. Which one do you like?

Samuel's Belated Birthday

My family came over on Saturday for a belated birthday celebration for Samuel, and for some reason I only got pics of Jude. Anyway, Jude and my dad had a great time playing with Tinker Toys together. Do note how grungy Jude is - what a boy!

Ruby Pic

Here is a pic of Ruby, Tami's daughter, from last night. Isn't she a doll?!

Fun at Jen's

In order to let Samuel escape Colin's drilling noises in the house, I planned a morning at Jen's (long overdue). It was great and I got to have a couple new subjects to take pics of and try to figure out my camera. Thanks for having us, Jen!

Jude

Here are a couple of random pics of Jude from the last couple of days. Yep, that's my $14 dollar chair that he's loungin' in!

Alas, we celebrated our final Christmas in Eugene with Barb's family on Saturday and stayed the night with Jake and Erin. As chaotic as it is to pack four people and keep the kids on some sort of schedule, it was so worth it to have a bit of a slumber party, with the adults staying up late and talking. Erin even took Barb and I out to this sweet little dessert place that was still hopping after 10 p.m.! I had an amazing latte and slice of lemon poppy seed raspberry cake. The dessert was reminiscent of a creation from Papa Hayden's. Yum! Nothing like sweets and girl talk....

The next day we went thrift store shopping and had a great time finding stacks of cheap but wonderful books (I was on a serious hunt for "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but came up empty handed) and magazines. I bought Colin a stack of home remodeling magazines for something like 35 cents/piece. I also ended up with a soft blue high back velvet chair that I had to have - for only $14!! It was a great time.

Colin and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on the 3rd - we went to Bridegport and had a wonderful dinner, then strolled around Borders and got coffee at Peete's. We talked about how far we have come in the last ten years and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful evening, except maybe if it took place in Hawaii or something, but we'll do that in the next couple of years.

The pics are of the boys on Saturday. I love how serious Samuel can look for pictures. The other two boys are Andy and Henry who were incredibly photogenic and knew exactly what to do for a camera. Cute!!

Card Making

At one point I actually thought hand making cards with paper and embellishments was the most involved, time consuming activity. Wrong. Making cards on Photoshop is. Nevertheless, here is Samuel's thank you card I made for birthday and Christmas presents. I also got crazy and made Colin an anniversary card. The sad thing? I could only find one picture of the two of us together from 2007!!