Photograhic Study

Here's the latest in my photographic study entitled Foods That Like Being Eaten.

It's a jungle around here!

Here's the birthday boy. He's posing. Call GQ or Ralph . . . he's ready for his close-up.

Whew! The party's over. My house still looks like a jungle, but the monkeys are all gone.

Griffin turned 7 on the 22nd and he requested a house party. I would just like to confirm that a house party is more expensive than an out of the house party. Oy! But we did have a blast. I hired a friend's sister to do face painting and she does a beautiful job, so the kids looked great and I believe they had fun. A tear was not shed.

Now here's the cake. We're referring to this snake as the Great American Cheese Snake. I made this before for Gus' birthday, but I used icing for the diamonds. This time I thought I would just use fondant. Gus was helping me very late at night . . . when I do my best work. Ugh! After we had all the diamonds on, we sat back and I said, "Those look like cheese slices, don't they?" We cracked up. It was especially funny to us, because Griffin claims he's afraid of cheese. No know milk allergy and all.

Here's some of Lauren's work from An Affair to Remember did a great job. Look at these adorable and scary kids.




Glad it's over, but wish I had done a better job with the whole family planning thing, because now I have to do something for Gus in two weeks . . . and Joe.

Eggy Baby Invasion, No Retreat in Sight

I've been making these little Eggy Babies for a month now. They are going to start taking over my workshop if I don't start moving these suckers outta here pronto. The first batch I posted sold in 2 hours. I wasn't expecting anything like that when I posted the next group, but I thought by now some would have gone.

I'm preparing for spring craft shows, so I will continue to create Eggies, but I feel sort of insane. I guess that's how people to put themselves out there have to feel sometimes. Oddly, I don't have the money to do market research before I create something. If I were a mom of a toddler and saw these I would probably buy them. . . .so I assume other moms will too. . . . or grandmothers or aunts, cousins, friends, neighbor ladies . . .DEAR GOD SOMEBODY BUY THESE. :0) I need to remember how many dolls I sold over Christmas and be happy and wait. Make them and buyers will come.

Meanwhile, doesn't the one below just seem to know he's getting picked up? Doesn't he look happy about it? Aren't I losting my mind?

A Little Thesis by Gus

Gus had to write about something he was passionate about.

I always see 3rd and 4th graders at school acting like high schoolers. They are mean and rude. They lazy slobes and usally they are out in the halls for like 10 minutes. While their class are going on! Last year at extra recess we were playing soccer with 3rd grader, 4th vs 3rd. So once I took the ball from one with a earring on his left ear. He yelled at me. Then he elbowed me. God that was so stupid. Here are some more lesons.

• I see them walk through the halls like fools. (if it was not rude to laugh at people out loud. I so would laugh at them)! They walk with hods on, long panst etc. Sometimes I see them with earring of chains on their belt loop. I’m really not impressed of what they wear I tell you.

• At the end of school and while schools still going I see 4th and 3rd graders have cellphones and iPods! They would only use they cell phone for playing games on (If the phone can play games) The iPods are are even worst. They stick the head phones in the ears and just stand and if someone was telling them something they would never hear! The probely use like a billion minutes on their phones. Oh P.S. I don’t trust these years 3rd and 4th graders with cell phones or iPods.

• I think they act like this because they probely watch family guy! (Stupid Show). And they probely play call of duty (fun game) and grand theft auto (also fun). They probely also watch R rated movies or PG-13 rated movies like Termanator, Wanted, Transformers, Street Fighter, Twilight (movie or book) ect. Maby they should just stick with G or PG movies only. I all ways hear them talking about family guy or the Simpsons or robot chicken the halls of OES.

What I find so interesting here is in the past week Gus has been campaigning HARD to see "R" movies and play teen games. Also Gus does have a phone and oddly enough only plays games on it. Those in glass houses . . . .

Happy Puking New Year's!!!

There are times not having a photo to back up a blog post is a good thing. This is one of those times.

After having a fun dinner with the Roman's we headed for to the Cates' for a New Year's Eve party. Shelley is such a gracious host. She made a banquet for both the adults and kids. It was quite lovely. She's so gracious she even invited Tucker, our dog. God forbid he would have to spend New Year's Eve alone.

So the evening is progressing nicely. No crying or screaming. Everyone is having a fine time and Tucker wanders over to the corner and pukes. Nice. Thank goodness Darin noticed it and I swiftly remove the offending matter and the party resumed.

Around 11:45, I heard Griffin coughing while playing on the stairs with Max. I must describe the stairs here. They are Dutch stairs, very steep. I'm sitting where I can almost see the entire staircase, but not quite. The adults are all talking and I'm half-mindedly watching the steps. The boys are wrestling around when suddenly Max jumps off Griffin and Griffin falls down the stairs. He only went down 4-5 steps, but it was all head first. I run over and Max says, "Griffin puked." Or something to that effect. Sure enough puke on the stairs. Griff has a bump on his forehead so I usher him into the kitchen to get a better look and tell Joe to get the puke cleaned up . . .I mean I already cleaned up puke once this evening.

In the kitchen we go, where Shelley is pouring champagne. We've got 8 minutes or so before the ball drops. Griffin doesn't look right and I ask him if he's o.k. at which point he hurls all over the kitchen floor. He stops and looks at me, and Shelley says, "Are you o.k." and he starts hurling again. This little routine goes on for at least 2 more sessions. Long enough for Shelley to wondering if she's making him throw up by asking him if he's o.k. Then someone runs in with a bucket and Griffin pukes some more in there. We were awe struck. Personally I didn't know a six-year could hold that much food. Shelley said she was waiting for a foot to pop out. It did seems he was turning himself inside out.

At this point we're moments away from the New Year. Thank goodness, because if this had happened just after the New Year, like at 12:02 am, I would have taken it as a bad omen. We miraculously we were able to hose the kitchen down, get Griff in a change of clothes and hustle upstairs to witness the ball drop and the kids got to bang pots and pans for the upstairs porch.

We come back down and prepare to hear home when Meatball, the Cates' dog, wanders through the living room and pukes. I'm a little worried about that as an omen, but she was able to just urp a bit and then get herself outside to finish the job. She's such a lady.

Happy New Year!!!!