My Big Fat Great Idea

These pictures loaded backwards, but this is the last shot I took of Abbey. Right before she smiled she asked "Mom, are you sure there is nothing on my face?" (click on image for full glory)

Andrew decided to go for the super sour cherry ice cream. I think he did this to ensure that every picture from this point forward would showcase his red mouth.
My two kids have always been very affectionate with each other. There's also a chance that Abbey is so afraid of mommy, that she's clinging to her brother. It could really go either way.

Honestly, who could she possibly be waving at?!

One of my most frequent comments are as follows, "I bet you have so many great pictures of your kids!" My response varies, but always follow a sarcastic laugh. My kids run for the covers when they see the camera come out. No! Not more pictures! They have been my Guinea pigs for every new piece of equipment I've purchased. They that posed and reposed more than any other child in their class.

Sunday I decided that I wanted to take the kids out to the park and get some "formal" shots of Ab's. I actually brushed her hair and made an effort to get rid of the mid-afternoon blahs. Honestly, I don't know how a kid can get so dirty and disheveled in a 3 or 4 hour time frame. Every day I drop off my kids to school dressed well, hair done and socks clean. By the time they get out of school they are sweaty and smell like the school cafeteria. Their clothes look like they have been running laps around the playground, rolled in sand, and dipped in finger paint! Oh, hello, are you still there? I digress.

As soon as we got to the park my flash stopped working. I decide to let them play on the equipment and I would get some cute candids. Well, they immediately split up and I lost them both instantly. My next great idea was to move and look for the train tunnel. Well, all good and fine until they decided to scale the rocks next to the tunnel. Now I can't reach them and I'm shooting right up Abbey skort. Normally, have so much patience with other children that I photograph. But after Sunday I realized it's easy to have patience with a child when you have someone else there to threaten, excuse me, parent and discipline. I decided the natives won this battle and agreed to let them have ice cream. Somehow, I got a really cool shot as the sun went down. I came home exhausted and sporting a migraine.

Skippyjon Jones

While I was out taking picutes this morning of the hot air balloons, I noticed my traditionaly camera shy kid posing with her new book. Skippyjon Jones, Skippyjon Jones that's all I've heard since the overpriced book fair came to town. How great could this book really be, I thought. All kid books are the same. Cute little character saves the day or falls off to a peaceful sleep. Right?

Last night I crawled up in Abbey's bed to read this story to her. I needed to read it, she had my curiosity going. Simply put, it was the best book I've ever read. I got to use my Spanish accent and everything!! It was hilarious and fun to read. I think every parent should go find this book and read it to their kids. It's awesome.

On a separate note, the book is now but a memory. Apparently shortly after these pictures, Skippyjon Jones got mixed up with the water bottle in Abbey's backpack. Mrs. Molitor called and needed me to talk Abbey out of a full on melt down. I could hear the puffy eyes and red nose over the phone. I promised to look for a replacement, and she agreed to go back to carpet time. All is well.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Around this time every year I remember why I love this place. The weather is so good I can taste it. It feels better outside than inside, and the windows rarely close. This goes on through April. Another bonus is the hot air balloons. They are simply beautiful and as faithful as the sunrise. Every morning around 7:30 they start to pop out. As we were leaving for school, Abbey stopped mid tantrum to run out to see the nine balloons passing over. The top two photos were taken from my doorstep. I could hear the people talking about how peaceful everything seemed. Apparently they did not hear inside the Weems home where fights about knee highs and dresses were in high gear.

Following Dad's Schedule

These are age 7 photos of Andrew and Ross
I also found this picture of Ross at 8 years 10 months. Andrew also happens to be 8 years and 10 months. This is getting freaky!!

Well, today is the day we have been waiting for. Glasses! He is so excited and keeps asking me if I think he is cute. He is so proud and excited of these things. I hope the kids are kind tomorrow at school.

Really?

Today we were out to pick up Andrew's glasses when I saw the funniest thing. The longer I studied this logo the more I found funny about it. I totally get the bee reference. It's the dog that I find humorous. Are they telling me that they "take care of" problem dogs? The dog looks so happy and clueless that he is about to be exterminated. Has this company been using this dog for 35 years? No one in 35 years has questioned the dog?

Entrepreneur's At Work

Andrew, Tatum, Abbey & Lily
Aggressive sales at it's best. Abbey did not know these people from Adam.
More neighborhood kids trying to earn a dollar
More satisfied customers. Most people parked and walked over. Some, like these, stayed for the conversation.

My kids have been asking for literally years for me to assemble the lemonade stand in the garage. Mema bought this a while back, but I've never really had the desire, excuse me, time to put this monster together, let alone store the thing.
Tomorrow we are going to participate in the community garage sale, and I persuaded the kids to get rid of some toys by offering to assemble the lemonade stand. It worked. I started around 2pm to start, and about two hours later and several "derogatory" comments regarding the manufacturing of this product, we had a real live lemonade stand.
The kids were ready to put it to work, and they were hilarious. Andrew realized the mailbox location had dollar signs all over it. People were getting off work, getting their mail, and not to mention the stop sign facing the mailbox. They yelled and screamed as if they were on fire...."Lemonade!!! Get Your Lemonade!!" The first car pulled up to the stop sign and watched the spectacle and then turned in the opposite direction. I heard Abbey yell, "Yes, he's going home to get lots of money!" At long last, a man pulled over and parked. They had their first customer. Again I heard Abbey, "He's coming, He's really comin'!"
At the end of the day, they earned $15 and used 3 cans of lemonade. We are officially ready for tomorrow's garage sale.

One Down, One To Go

This week is proving a bit difficult. To sum it up with two words, teacher conferences. This is the time of year when I have to stop pretending that my kids are the best behaved kids in the class. Until now I get to live the delusional life and pretend that my kids leave my car little hellions and enter the classroom an angel and a joy to the classroom. This is the week we all know the truth.

As Ab's teachers so kindly put it, "Abbey's not a wall flower." I've always known this. She can work a room like a politician. She has one ear and eye on her assignment and the other set scoping out the room. Who's playing with whom and what. When I try to get her to work on her home workbooks she often suggest, "Mom, let's just play." The act of learning often comes in second to pretty much anything. Her teachers reassured me that she is learning at a great pace. It all seems to be sinking in somehow.

Tomorrow will be a whole different conference experience. As if the 5 or 6 conferences with Andrew's teacher weren't enough, it's now time for our first official conference. Please pray for Andrew's safety and well being tomorrow afternoon. It could be a long drive home.

Who's Kitchen Is This?

About a year ago I decided that I wanted my own t.v. in the kitchen. The day I got it put in I declared..."No cartoon will ever play on this TV and no kid movie will ever go in this DVD player!". Monday I started my sweet tea and headed out of the room for a phone call. When I returned I found Storm Trooper Rex watching TV on MY precious mommy TV! I did what any mother would do, I grabbed the camera and took a few shots of my sweet baby. Next, I reminded him about the dangers of resting your big feet on my stove top. I know, I know, mother of the year here I come!!

The Windy City

We always assume here in Phoenix that planning outdoor events this time of year is a guarantee. Well, as Felecia and I discovered, that is not always the case. Felecia is from Flagstaff, but she wanted to get her senior pictures done here in Phoenix. We decided on Papago Park for the backdrop. When we arrived it was windy, but we thought the winds would die down as the sun set. As things progressed, we found ourselves with serious wind gusts. Later that night on the news, I heard that the wind speeds were up to 38 mph. I've spent a couple of days now editing out her dad, and our make shift wind blocker. At one point, when Felecia was in a window of a Ramada, we considered having dad on the other side to catch her if she blew out. Most teenagers would have had a serious melt down (like the bride sharing the park with us.) Today, through sandy contacts, I'm trying to finish up her images, so she can see the fruits of her labor. She was a blast to work with.

Four Eyes are Better Than Two

It's never really been a question of if, but when. My kids have the ocular DNA of bad and worse. They really don't stand a chance, there are no fighter pilots in our future. Comedians, maybe, but no sharp shooters. Andrew had a letter come home from the school nurse regarding his stellar eye test performance. Our family eye Dr. confirmed the results. She had a good time with Andrew, who is always up for challenging your patience and your current way of doing things. He mentioned that she should go to war with the little air puffing machine. After his vision was corrected, the numbers and shapes that he named suddenly all became letters. He tried to further impress her by reading the random letters as words. She patiently laughed. He quickly found the lenses that he wanted and we were out the door. With no pun intended, we'll "see" how well everything works out in 6 to 10 days.

Decisions Decisions

Logo 5

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Logo 8

OK, my headache is gone and I'm getting some creative juices flowing in my right brain. Let me know what you think.

Logo My Eggo

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In my efforts to "brand" myself, I'm trying to come up with an offical logo. I can't say that any of these blow my skirt up, but so far this is all I have. Feel free to vote or leave comments, I need all the feedback I can get. I'm trying to stay simple and classic.

Fair Weather Saturday

Today we are anticipating a nice "fall" day. What that really means is a cool 90 degrees. We had a great breakfast and headed out. We had a rough start when Andrew decided to ride his scooter. He took the scooter to the back of the garage and decided to the a running start to the decline of the driveway by saying "I'm going for a RMA Boost, look out world here I come!" I had a bad feeling instantly. He pretty much planted it, face down, at the end of the driveway. He had some impressive road rash on both knees and hands.

Once we got to the park we had a great time with the freebie and football. Our friend Broady was busy working on his magic tricks in his backyard when he noticed us at the park. He and his brother, Audrick, came and we decided to get a football team together. We finished up adults vs. kids. The adults lost fair and square. Kind of. OK, not really.

Old Treasure Found

Thursday I decided to clean out the spare bedroom closet. Maverick, Abbey's dog, sleeps in the closet every night. Thursday morning Maverick had very bad "accident" so he kinda prompted the clean up effort. Any who, after school Abbey started rummaging through the lost and found pile that had accumulated on the bed. Behind me I heard, "Yes! I've waited my whole life to find these!" After finding the sunglasses (I'm pretty sure she has no memory of these glasses) she wanted to go out side and play. She hopped on the little red car that I've tried many times to throw away. We've had this car since Andrew was a baby, and it also used as a teething toy for Maverick. I just enjoyed watching her hair stick to the roof of the car. We had a good time filling up her car with rocks for her long drive to Texas. She said she packed only fruits and vegetables so she would not throw up. This was a reference to the vomit commit ride to CA in 2007. She said she would be home in one million days.