baby boy is ready for his close-up, megan's birthday dinner, a lake weekend & pimento cheese

This morning I went to the baby doctor to finish up his anatomy ultrasounds. The only thing they needed to still look at was his heart flow, and I am happy to report he checks out! He is on target for his size and weight. Today he is 1lb 15 oz, a big boy! See how cute he is? We just love love love him to pieces...

here he is with his mouth open and sticking his tongue out

oh, what a sweet schmoopee

Earlier this month Megan had a birthday and I'm just now getting around to posting these photos (bad friend! bad friend! the shame!). There was a family celebration and Lottie Sue and I attended (Matt was out of town). Megan's big gift was a digital camera that hopefully she won't break, it's specially made to withstand such trauma. She's somewhat known for breaking items (just ask our kitchen), but I think it's just part of her charm.

the birthday girl

Tommy grilled veggies and chicken kabobs, plus there was corn on the cob. I was cutting the corn off the cob for Lottie Sue while she picked up a piece and went to town on it. She often surprises us with the things she knows.

nom nom nom nom nom

Mary Ann made the cake for Megan, and during a phone conversation Tommy and Mary Ann encountered a miscommunication. Mary Ann asked Tommy what Megan's favorite flowers were and he told her/she heard dandelions.

Megan's favorite flowers are daisies.

abstract art de dandelions

here i am hugging lottie sue while she pushes away

lucy enjoying cake

After the cake and gift opening was over the kids ran around the yard. I grabbed a few of Lottie Sue.

lottie sue is such a cutie pie

Kim, Clay, Max and Lucy had a birthday gift for Lottie (even a homemade card!) - thanks so much guys!

lottie sue reading her card

And now for more photos from this month...Becce and Mike went to Vegas for a trip and Harlan was in Knox Vegas for a few days. We kept him one night and had such a great time. He and Lottie get along pretty well and if I had to break them up (only one time) it was because they both wanted the same toy. The day after we had Harlan I took the kids up to the lake for a pool day since Harlan was staying with BB the remainder of his vacation. When the Apples came in we spent the weekend at the lake.

driving up the kids held hands - too cute

safety first

lottie sue and moi

mike and too-cool-for-school harlan

lottie sue in matt's shades

becce about to throw harlan overboard - i mean,
becce holding on tight while harlan looks at the water

uncle matt and harlan love to boat

the kiddos, holding hands - again, too cute

once we were ashore, lottie sue spied ducks and had to say hello

we met granray and granbunny at the restaurant,
lottie and harlan "drove" their car for a minute

on the way home they both wanted to drive the boat and honk the horn
(they kept on honking it, i wonder how annoying we were boating out of the marina)

mike, harlan and becce say bye to the sun

lottie sue driving the boat
(grandaddy would literally let her drive it, lots of right turns)

harlan's turn, he was very fond of the horn
(if i had a dollar for every time...)

Anywho, I am now officially caught up on my photos - woo hoo! Once you get behind it is daunting to get caught up.

• Mike is training for his first marathon, it goes down this October in Chicago. He's raising money for Team World Vision. If you have a few bucks to spare, give him some. I know he would appreciate it.
• Food for thought, read about How the Food Makers Captured Your Brain.
• How does this sound? A trip to the grocery store for only 10 ingredients to feed you for a week. Awesome!
• Next year there will be 10 nominees in the Oscar's Best Film selection.
• Little One-of-a-Kind Design is giving away a nap set - please check it out! If you like hip and cool baby items that is...
• Oh yeah, I am on a quest to find the best pimento cheese recipe. It's my new project. The stuff you buy at the grocery store is icky and slimy if you ask me. I like homemade stuff. I've made two recipes so far and this one is my favorite to date. Matt roasted the red peppers for me instead of buying a jar of pimentos and I think I'll trade out the pickles for jalapenos next time. It's super yummy and Lottie Sue and I have enjoyed it all week. If you have a favorite recipe send it to me, I'll try it!
  

Alrighty, it's time for Shoobie Doobie Doo DANCE - I must sign off. I hope you are watching...

i'm famous

Look! I'm famous! One of my favorite bloggers (the incredibly fashionable Michele from Chicago) featured moi as one of her favorite bloggers - what an honor - WHEE!

Please, no autographs...

Please note that the photo I sent to Michele is from my photo session at the Sofitel in DC...

lottie sue turns eight

Little Lottie Sue turned two, can you believe it??? We can't. If you ask her how old she is she'll tell she's eight though, hence the title.

yearly photo taken at parent's day out

For Lottie Sue's birthday we celebrated all weekend. We had a BIG zoo day with Matt's family, the weather was nice and we saw lots of animaulz (as Lottie calls them). Here are a few photos for your enjoyment...

lottie sue and matt go through the prairie dog tunnels

mr. camel came in for a close-up

here i am pushing the kid around

a gorilla posing as "the thinker"

lottie sue taking a moment to reflect

matt is very proud of this chimp photo

lottie sue and matt on the carousel
(it was hard to get a good photo, but she loved it)

lottie sue and guapa meet again

here i am with lottie sue

this water area was her favorite by far

she got so mad at us when we made her get out

After the zoo we went to the CB and enjoyed a bountiful lunch. Lottie Sue received money for her bedroom set and books - she was HAPPY! Thank you so much for a wonderful day!

gramma and papaw gave lottie sue books that matt enjoyed as a child

Then the next day Johnny and Judy graciously opened their home up for a Lottie Sue pool party. It was a wonderful day, just perfect.

irene shows lottie sue one of her birds

lottie sue and cookie check out the pool

on our way to the garden, johnny and judy had
this area put in recently - it's gorgeous

lottie sue helps water some of the herbs

lottie sue strolling around their garden

johnny and judy with lottie sue looking at the pumpkin patch

matt and lottie checking out the veggies

lottie greets grandma and rayray

here i am with the birthday girl

big smile as we all sing the birthday song

a plate full of yummy cupcakes, with a candle to blow out

she's spoiled

After the eating, singing and presents we spent some time in the pool.

matt, lottie sue, tommy and megan hamming it up

rayray, granbunny, stan, shirley and grandma enjoy homemade
lemonade (judy's doing, delicious!) under the shade

lottie sue bites into her cupcake

and all is well with the world

granbunny, grandma and bb enjoy the view

Also on Friday night Stand and Shirley took us and GranBunny (a birthday girl that week as well) and GranRay out to dinner - thank you so much! We had such a nice time and enjoyed yummy food!

lottie sue and granbunny hang out after dinner

matt joins in for this one

my turn

We tried to get a good photo of Lottie with everyone but she has ants in her pants these days. It is impossible to bet a good photo of her. See what I mean?

shirley and stan with a blurry lottie sue

I hope you enjoyed the birthday photos, this is the tip of the iceberg. I have photos from Megan's birthday dinner plus a weekend with Mike, Becce and Harlan at the lake and various random items.

Matt was in California last week and took this photo of the Big Sur coastline - so gorgeous!

wow

OK, here are a few items of interest for you.

• I really want to see this movie...here's Ebert's review for you.
  

• Wimbledon started today, so here's a story on Rafael Nadal if you are so inclined. I used to watch tennis way back when, I loved Boris Becker more than anything.
• Matt and I saw UP this past weekend, very good. Another quality film from those Pixar guys. Here's Ebert's review.
  
• Meet the serial killers of the sea.
• Is this the weirdest object n the solar system?
• Fish are smart, who knew?
• Humorist Garrison Keillor is returning to Lake Wobegon to celebrate the 35th anniversary of his popular A Prairie Home Companion radio show. I'm not sure if you enjoy this program but I sure do.

That should do it for today, I'll have more for you this week. BTW, this week I will be 25 weeks prego...baby boy is quite active and his favorite thing to do is karate chop my bladder. Adorable.