Favorite Friday Photo

Daddy painting Amelia's toes
July 29th, 2009

How could this not be my favorite picture? While it might not "technically" be the best picture I've ever taken, I still LOVE it.

Pretty Pink Piggies

While shopping in a store yesterday, the girls came upon a very colorful display of nail polishes. They begged me to get them a bottle. I was hesitant at first, I have never polished their toes before. Normally this is their friend Kassidi's job. They did pick out a cute summer color and I thought maybe I would even paint my nails, so I bought it. Last night after the girls bath we decided to have a little nail polish party. We all did each others toes. William painted Amelia's toes, which is just about the sweetest thing ever to me, (what little girl wouldn't love her daddy to paint her toes) and I painted Abigail's. Then both girls took a turn doing my toes. I think more got on my skin then my nails, but the girls were having so much fun I didn't mind.

*on a little side note, the tv show on in the background is called Flip This House. :) the girls get so excited when we put it on. and hearing them ask if it's an Armando Montelongo episode (our favorite) cracks me up.

Bird Envy

Perhaps we are a bit jealous of Meg's baby chickens. And perhaps the city of Destin would frown upon raising poultry in our back yard. Perhaps we are sad the bird that flew in our house didn't stay longer. Perhaps all these things are the reason we "adopted" a family of Mockingbirds who are living in the little tree in our front yard.

We watched the mom and dad build the nest. We knew the mom laid two beautiful blue eggs. We knew the exact day the eggs hatched. And now we watch as the mom and dad go back and forth to the nest to feed the babies.

Perhaps we'll be sad when they fly away.
Perhaps we need a life.

It's Exactly The Same Thing

"Do you know that butter is just like sunscreen? You have to wait for butter to soak in your food just like you have to wait for sunscreen to soak into your body." -Amelia

We Should Have Signed Him Up For The Little Leauge Team

Silly Sisters

That's A LONG Time

"This little puppy has been married for over a hundred years. She was married before she was even sewed up and she was just fabric." -Abigail

An Emphatic NO! But Maybe Yes

My girlfriend called me the other day to let me know it was registration day for little league soccer and asked if I wanted to sign the girls up. When I asked them if they wanted to play, the response I got from them was not what I was expecting. They both said NO!! Without any hesitation a big NO!!! When I asked them why, this was their response.

"My outfit will get dirty, it's too hot and I'll get sweaty." - Abigail

"My legs will get sore from all that kicking and running." - Amelia

I tried to convince them they'd have fun and they'd really like it. I told them they knew the coaches (our friend the Archers), that their daughter was playing on the team, there would be lots of kids their age, but nothing I said worked.

When Will came home from work he talked to them about it too but they still said no! The next morning he got out the "soccer ball" (really a volleyball) and started teaching them a few things. They had such a blast playing around that they started to rethink their decision. Of course by that point, registration was over and it was too late. Too bad, because Amelia would have made an awesome goalie and Abigail was already planning her future, telling us "we could watch her play soccer on TV when she was big."

Favorite Friday Photo

Amelia and Hedgefund Bunny on playground swings
July 7th, 2009

Our (albeit briefly) New Pet

I took Guinness out to go potty this morning. Abigail came out after me and left the front door open. As we were walking back up onto the porch, a little bird was right in the door frame. Before we could shush her away she flew into the house!!!! She went into the guest bedroom and hid under the bed.

The girls thought it was wonderful, jumping up and down and shouting "we have a new pet". I got my camera out, just to take a few pictures before I could catch her and let her go. I was able to coerce her out of the bedroom and she flew out into the living, right into the tree by the front door.





She stayed there for a while and I almost had her caught, but she escaped and flew up the stairs. We found her sitting on the landing so I grabbed Amelia's blanket and threw it over her. Abigail took a few pictures and then we brought her outside.

She flew away as soon as we opened the blanket. She was a good pet.....

ps Amelia's blankie went straight into the wash. ;)

Time Flies

The boys that I used to nanny for are in town for the week. They all came over to our house today to visit. We hung out at the pool a bunch and played inside. I still have a hard time thinking about how old they all are. (It makes me feel old.) The triplets are almost 16 and Daniel is 12!! They were just 5 and 1 when I first started watching them!! The boys are so great with the girls. They played with and entertained them all afternoon.

It seems like just yesterday that I was taller than them and able to pick them up and play with them they way they played with Abigail and Amelia today.

Rock Dog

The (homemade) Music Video

(The video is a little long but her singing really picks up towards the end.)

When Abigail asked to use my camera, I had no idea this was what she was doing. She just brought the camera to me when she was done and showed me what she'd made.

I love how she thought to set the camera on the counter.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Not As Well As Mine

As you can see, the garden has grown splendidly. Be jealous Mainers! The bell peppers and tomatoes have provided quite a bounty. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny even stopped in to enjoy our squash and zucchini.

Only this pineapple plant is struggling. While the rest of our plants gave us infinity plus one veggies, we have yet to harvest any pineapples. After some months of soul searching, I've decided that waiting for real plants to produce real food is much more difficult than pretending.

Our house is large, but the produce quickly overwhelmed us. I knew it had gone too far when Gina threatened to put me on "Clean House". I tried to explain to her that I could change, but she kept reminding me of the last time I told her that about the farting. My next tact was reminding her just how annoying the voice of Niecy Nash is. She was having none of it. If I didn't love her as much as the veggies, she was gone.

I had spent the past two weeks trying to make my decision between my wife and my imaginary bell peppers when I had an epiphany. After a good number of calls, I contracted with a business that could store all of my garden's bounty. After some negotiation, the lady on the phone ended it with an abrupt, "Well...... I guess. Just don't tell my manager I said you could."

I've included a picture of the warehouse below. Now anytime I need anything, all I have to do is go there and pick it up. Everybody wins!

Upon arriving to drop of our first load, I met Ina. The woman kindly greeted me when I took the "How may I help you?" tag literally. "We're going to need a bigger cart," I explained. After a few seconds of staring blankly at me, she answered with the same refrain as her colleague, "Well...... I guess. Just don't tell my manager I said you could." I believe this could be part of the warehouse's top-notch training .

Gina and I have decided to try and work things out after my brief foray into infinite gardening. I think next year, I'm going to add an organic section. Wish me and my marriage luck.

Favorite Friday Photo(s)

Abigail on playground swings
July 7th, 2009

Well Excuse Me For Asking

Me: Abigail, what was it I said we needed at Target?
Abigail: I don't know Mom. You can't expect me to remember everything in life.

21st Century Kid

Me: Abigail, Daddy wants you to call him.
Abigail: (exasperated) Can't I just text him instead?

"Fourf" of July - Night

We left the party at Papa's to come home and watch the fireworks in Destin. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and a change of clothes and headed out to find a good spot to watch the show. Somehow in the commotion of getting out of the house, I forgot the girls shoes! Luckily, they didn't complain about the free lift to and from the fireworks show or the great view they had up on Daddy's shoulders.

"Fourf" of July - Day

We spent 4th of July day at Papa's (Will's Dad) house. The weather was perfect, hot but with a nice breeze. We just hung out with family enjoying it. The girls ran around and played the whole time. They swam in the pool, learned how to play bocce from Grandma and played on the swingset. The best part of their day was definitely holding the fish Daddy caught.

The "Fourf of July" Song

Amelia made this song up when she was just two years old! She just started singing in the car one day after coming back from a 4th of July in Maine. Her song is very contagious and we all sing it, even when it's not the 4th.

(It took a whole LOT of bribing to get her to sing it on camera.)

The Entrepreneur And Her Apprentice

Abigail is pretty convinced she's going to have a bakery when she gets big. She'll tell you Destin really needs a good bakery. She has picked the location, an empty lot right across from the Fresh Market. Her thought was that if she ever runs out of an ingredient she'll have the grocery store right there. The lot isn't cleared. She has big plans for it. She's going to clean out all of the weeds and bushes and put in nice plants and even a pool! She thinks that will be more inviting for her customers. She plans on living above the bakery and employing Amelia. Amelia's job will be to slice bananas (she is a really good banana slicer). Just this morning she used her skills to cut up apples and butter for scones while Abigail cracked the eggs and measured out the dry ingredients. They worked together quite well and their scones were delicious. I think they'll make great business partners.

Oleander Love

Amelia picked everyone an oleander bloom from the bush along our driveway today. She insisted Guinness have his own flower too. Compared to some of the the things the girls put on him, the flower was pretty tame. He's such a good dog, he laid still the whole time while Amelia worked to get the flower to stay in his collar.

Honest Abs

"You know, I'm just the kind of girl that doesn't tell a lie." -Abigail