hide and seek, campbell art & photos from my phone

I saw this old photo and it is so sweet, this is Lottie Sue playing hide and seek around April/May of last year. She went through a phase when she played hide and seek CONSTANTLY for about a month. After I found the first photo I quickly found more evidence...

what a chunky monkey

seriously, look at her arms


hide and seek fever

I am trying (for the 15th day straight) to get the study organized. There are papers everywhere that need to be shredded or filed. Here is one item you will enjoy, I drew this mermaid and Miss Campbell made it come alive with color.

that's a manatee on the left if you can't tell

I'm updating all ipods and had these photos on my phone.

this is lottie sue watching blue's clues after her nap

um, this is lottie sue with a bag on her head

here's cutie pie after pdo with a glove (guv, she calls them),

she must have one for the ride home then she
throws it in the floor when we drive in to the garage

tri-CERA-tops at dinner one night when she was home
for the holidays (btw - she had a birthday on sunday)

this is the puppet show we went to the other day (you know the one where she called me a troll), she watched about half and was making friends the other half

Otay, that's all I have for now. Other fab posts to come...

a diva, i'm a troll i guess & do it to me one more time

You know we love Lottie Sue. We love her more than life itself. But she has been a DIVA this week. Diva as in if her blanket is 6 inches from her and she will not get it, she wants US to get it for her. And if you do not get it then she lets out a blood curdling scream while starring at you in the eyes. But of course we can't get it because we would only reward that behavior, so that equals a lot of screaming. And we were told that she may be a little off-schedule for a week or two (two? I shudder at the thought) since the hospital. We think this stems from her being in a bed, unable to get out for a week; and we doted on her, bringing her anything she needed. I know she still doesn't feel 100% so we are taking this in stride but since this is her "scrapbook" I feel the need to document these times for later in her life when I will use it in one of those look what you put me through so let's go easy on mommy and daddy on this, ok? moments. I will save it for when she asks for a belly button ring (the answer: never).

Anywho, when you look at this little girl you may ask how in the world she could be a diva...

the adorable lottie sue
(this is her "school" photo taken at pdo)

I actually wrote that last Friday and she is better now, but I'm keeping it in here for posterity. She's as cute as ever (evidence, see above) but have developed a tad bit of an attitude. I hope it fades. Her first sentence happened the other day, it was: mick, moe, peez, GOOOOOOO (growling). That translates in to "dear mommy, i would love a bit more milk at your earliest convenience if it's not too much trouble, please and thank you!"

I took her to a puppet show at our library yesterday afternoon and she was very much into it. There was a king puppet and she kept yelling PAPAW over and over when he spoke (he had a beard like Papaw). And then much to my dismay she screamed MOMMY and pointed when a troll came in the scene. I guess I won't take that personally. The other day Matt drew a pig and he asked her what it was, she said "Daddy!" and I about died from laughing.

And I have for you one of Matt's childhood drawings. He's good people, very good. He drew a photo of me on Sunday and I'll put it up here for you in the next few days. But his old drawings go back to him being 5 or 6 I believe. I give you high art...

do it to me one more time
(this one is my fave from the portfolio, it really cracks me up)

Here are a few items of interest for your to check out:

• The CIA's The World Factbook has the low down on every country in the world, almanac-style.
  
• Do you want to be the a contestant on Jeopardy!? Well here's your chance! Jeopardy.com is holding online eligibility tests Jan. 27-29.
• Here's an interview with Ira Glass, he's the host of NPR's This American Life.
  
• It must be Christmas, Jon Hamm (from my fave show Mad Men) is going to be on 30 Rock (another fave show). What a treat!

I hope your day is going well, I will post more this week (more artwork from MowMow on the way)!

linker fun (cupcakes, food to die 4, graffiti & the zoo)

Post #3 for the week, btw - content RICH. Here is a post that is ALL LINKER, how wonderful is THAT? The Linkers had a little post-holiday vacation and went to Maggie Valley (awesome) and then to Knoxville to visit (even awesomer). I have loads of photos of the kiddies and then of course, the food. I don't have one of the gang together, I need to remember that next time...

I had a canister of the Sprinkles Cupcake Mix in the pantry and thought it would be fun to make cupcakes with Campbell. This wasn't her first rodeo, she was a natural (she might get that from her dad).

campbell hard at work

And here is the finished product, they were chocolate peppermint - I LOVED THEM!

sprinkle cupcake mix, i love you
(and a big thank you to campbell for making these!)

Our tradition with the Linkers (and one that I am VERY fond of) is that the boys do all of the cooking. And it's not chicken nuggets and mac n'cheese if you know what I mean. They throw down in the strongest sense. High style. John had a few meals in mind, he and Matt really wowed us - here are some photos.

fried oysters with a yummy sauce

the before: they prepared the fish (i have to ask what type of fish it was specifically) by wrapping it in prosciutto

the after: fish in prosciutto topped with caramelized onions on a fried heirloom tomato topped with pimento cheese

The second nigh the boys made a beef tenderloin meal, I can't tell you how good it was. Matt made it again not even a week before we had it the first time.

the appetizer: matt with his onion tarts before they went into the oven

i don't know what i ever did without tarts, they are one of matt's specialties

i mean whoa, seriously - it was delicious

And here are a few random photos of the weekend...

campbell on her razor thingy

john was reading to all three but notice only one is paying attention

campbell graffitied the tub, a work of art

evy and lottie sue closed themselves in the office

this is my new favorite game, blokus (love it) - john and campbell were on a team

evy loved to hide in the curtains, it was perfect because lottie sue loved to find her (they would both squeal with delight)

One morning the boys played golf and Jamie and I took the girls to the zoo. It was Lottie Sue's first visit, she really liked it. Every time we would see an animal she did her usual "hiiiii" with a wave - adorable.

mommy and baby chillin with the elephants

lottie sue meets a zebra

here she is greeting the rhinos

this is campbell when we arrived home, she was out like a light

Alrighty, I am scanning in Matt's drawings this afternoon and will put the post up this weekend. You won't be disappointed...

snow (!!!), the big 3-5, macaroni n' cheese & the smokin' parlour

I know I posted yesterday but I have another one ready for you, I am on fire.

We woke up this morning to snow, I didn't know it was supposed to snow but it's been pretty neat. When we came downstairs she pointed out the window saying "sew! hiiii sew! hiii! hiii!" - we didn't know that she knew what snow was honestly but she picked it up somewhere. I took her outside early this afternoon and she was so happy, she would wave and say HI to the snow (adorable). We took a few photos outside when Matt got back from work (side note: we've been out of it and Matt didn't realize it was a holiday today, he went to work and was the only one there - hahahahahaha). Becce also sent a few photos of Harlan that I have here, he's too cute and I can hardly stand it.

Lottie Sue really loved the snow until she felt how cold it was, after that she was DONE.

our little snow bunny

And here we have Mr. Apple looking too cute. Becce said that he loved it but could hardly move from all the layers.

h-dub playing in the snow

We tried to get Lottie Sue to play around in the snow but this was a futile effort, she wanted to go inside.

looking for daddy to save her

This is a photo we took of Lottie Sue after she came home from the hospital - talk about BED HEAD. The first day she was there they did an EEG and put gel in her hair, this is what happens after days of no bath.

she looked like yahoo serious

My birthday was on Saturday and we didn't do much, Matt cooked a meal and the Smiths came over - just a regular Saturday night.

me and my hubby (kisses!)

this is the meal matt created
(beef tenderloin with a mushroom reduction sauce, lemon butter asparagus and smoked gouda risotto)

me and megs

tommy and myself

And here are two Venable items for you. The first image is a photo Matt created for Sam's smoking (food, not tobacco) hut he built. It's gracing the walls of the structure. It's a very manly place, well, maybe not Tommy...

boy tommy really cracks me up

And this is a crockpot recipe for mac and cheese, Mary Ann makes this and it is wonderful (plus, it couldn't be easier!). Enjoy.

nom nom nom nom nom nom nom

OK, more posts to come. Buh bye!

parainfluenza III & we partied like it was 1999

This week has been pretty terrible, Lottie Sue had a virus that landed her in the hospital for five days. FIVE DAYS! It's a long long long story, but we are so happy that she is on the mend. We came home yesterday but she is still a mess, she does not feel well at all. We are trying our best to keep her comfortable and entertained but it is hard as nothing is fun for her when she feels like poo.

I was so good last weekend, I completed four posts and I was going to post them every other day but that just didn't happen. So be sure to check the blog this week as we'll have new posts up several times. OK, here's our post from NYE...

Jonathan had a NYE party and it was so much fun! He and his lovely Tabby are wonderful hosts. Here's the invite, I say JP never looked better.

looking good

We shipped Lottie Sue off to Gramma and Papaw's, so we only have one of her and here it is.

lottie sue on new year's day, wearing marty's hat

And here are a few photos from the party, doesn't everyone look dapper?

tabby puckers up

mr. and mrs. america

kenley, moi (and matt) and jo looking gorgeous as usual

shonnie bear and patterson

jennifer and tabby strike a pose

marty and shawn

megan dances up a storm and looks very cool doing so

jennifer and will ring in the new year

mr. t and blake

kenley, jo and mrs. t (aka, cheri)

patterson and brad

amy and seth

marty gives it his best shot

We spent New Year's Day playing Rock Band 2 and Mortal Kombat with the Smiths, Gilmores and the Masons. We spent the day in our pajamas. It was awesome. More to come later!