photo dump - rich stuff.

i don't know if you have noticed on my blog, but i have an 8K coming up next weekend. i am certainly ill-prepared for this but i'm gonna do it anyway. the other day i did 5.15 miles on the treadmill to see how bad it would be and it was honestly ok - but doing it on the road is going to be harder. anywho...next saturday at midnight amy and i will be running that race. gulp!

also, baby boy apple is scheduled to arrive in mid-august!!! lottie sue and i will be hopping on a plane to chicago so we can be there to welcome him to the family! i am WAY excited.

my old stomping ground

lottie is very excited to get on a plane again, and she is WAY excited to see harlan and meet baby boy. it's gonna be a great trip!

also, a mention about pool toys. IF you have a pool or frequent one you MUST buy a toypedo.


there was one in our pool at the beach and it was by far the #1 pool toy. i am ordering the red, black and white one. TRUST ME. it's the best pool toy that ever existed.

ooookkkkaaayyy...this post is really just a bunch of photos that are random and have been on the camera the past month. this is no method to the madness of this post, just a lot of stuff thrown in together.

here we have "the mustache" rehearsing his lines for our deaton the odds video.

i love fake mustaches so much, they are too much fun

see? instant fun

these were taken in the middle of june, the apples came down for a weekend. here we have harlan and lottie sue enjoying pool time in the backyard. grandmother gave us this pool and it's pretty big. lottie sue received a slide for her birthday, put the two together and it equals hours of entertainment.

up the slide, down the slide and repeat Xs 100

that was a busy weekend, kitty kat was in town and we got to see her and jj!!! i was so happy! here we have kitty kat with jj and rowdy hanging out with morning coffee.

kitty kat and family - i miss you so very much (sniff sniff)

then that friday night we attended an engagement party for shawn and marty, the future mr. and mrs. mason. look! here i am with lindsay!

my wonderful montana friend

marty and matt (with one of his goofy smiles, hahahaha)

mrs. mason and lindsay

me, katie, shawn and lindsay

katie was pregnant at the party but not anymore, little hudson was born a few weeks ago. he is doing very well!

mommy and aunt to be

let's see...this photo is of lottie sue and rowdy up at the lake one morning.

breakfast time

lottie and bb get a closer look at each other with binoculars

one saturday morning a few weeks ago my cousin melinda and family were driving through on their way to chicago. we met up at the cracker barrel, it was so great to see them! lottie sue loved seeing claire and jane!

melinda and jane (holding a planking rowdy)

lottie sue and claire (aka, "my best friend cousin") play with bubbles

rocking chair time

rowdy and melinda

and now a few more random photos...after a GNO at tabby's one night i had the pleasure of meeting up with two of my favorite new yorkers - meghan and michael!

whee!

after dinner one night we took the kiddos out for ice cream. lottie sue made a MESS but was still super cute.

nom nom nom nom

we also spent the day at the lake with the smiths recently. since there is a pool we hardly swim in the lake anymore. we used to float around in the lake ALL the time before the pool and it was so much fun.

a smooch for megan

not sure if you can see it very well, but there was a group of geese that got a little too close for comfort.

meeeeegannnnn...we gonna get you.....

since the monday after the 4th of july was a work holiday, we went over to kingston to spend the afternoon with matt's parents.

rowdyman with one of the dolls grandma made

lottie sue and her "peoples"

our buddy

here are a few shots from the hipstamatic...

rowdy and cj, the morning we left for the beach

happy boy

princess lottie

and now a few items of interest for you...

• i love this blog - letters of note. it's a blog of correspondence deserving of a wider audience. i like this one today.
• random: jeff probst married jenna fischer and hubby.
• READ THIS TOMORROW and not right now!!! as variety notes, the new york times delivered a spoiler-filled story about mad men on monday. jerks! i haven't read this though...
• npr has a list of laugh-out-loud summer books - hahahahahaha!
• npr also has a summer-tv guide for you - lots of good programs on right now for your viewing pleasure.
• here's an article with elisabeth moss, a la peggy olson.
• an interesting article on living rooms from the times.

alrighty, i'm signing off now. enjoy your sunday!

check ya later!

ketchup

Yes yes, I know it's been a while. I'm sorry but here are photos to catch you up a bit. The following are photos taken from the past month, June was busy busy busy! We just spent a week at the beach with the Venable clan (AWESOME TIME - and gazillion photos) and are pooped from traveling. Stick a fork in us. So forgive me for my lack of my usual rapier-like wit in this post, I am totally mailing it in. Later this week I'll post from the trip, Matt took the BEST photo of Lottie Sue on the beach. It is great! We've never seen her happier, she absolutely LOVES to run on the beach and kick in the water - she was giddy. It was awesome...

These were taken one afternoon when Harlan was in town, he and Lottie Sue had some major pool time that week.

uh yeah, she's cute

mr. harlan filled up the pitcher and emptied it about 100 times

lottie sue taking a moment

shoving match

happy kids

Here we are after dinner, Daddy/Uncle Matt read a few books to the kiddos.

books r good

Here is a photo of Lottie Sue taken one day on our way to MDO at church. She loves her backpacks (she has two that she uses) and will tell me she has one like Dora all the time.

puppy/babbit in buggy with backpack ready for school

Here is a photo of Lottie putting raisins up her nose one morning.

what class

For Papaw's birthday we took a stroll through the UT trail gardens and then went down to the river walk. Here are lots of photos, you'll feel like you were there.

happy birthday, papaw

If it is quiet then you know Lottie Sue is into something, this is a RULE. During a silent moment I found her in the study with Matt's drawings, notice the pencil mark on her nose. Caught red-handed or black-nosed, if you will (hahahahaha).

busted

The Carsons also stopped by for dinner a few weeks ago. They were traveling to Michigan to visit family and made a pit stop here. The kids are GROWING (eek, so fast - please stop). We didn't take many photos but I hope to steal some from Lara or Josh.

lottie sue pushes claire around while tommy pushes max

a hug that we made them do for a photo

mr. max, he is now a little boy

I will end with photos from lunch with Patterson, Cassady and Carrie a few weeks ago. I have to steal some photos from Carrie's page. She has a photo of me and you need to see my nose, it has grown with this pregnancy again. It happened with LS but after she was here it went back to normal size. I think it's funny, but I'll post a photo later. Anywho...

lottie sue tends to cassady, she is giving him his pacifier here

and she's ready to take him to the car

lottie shares a laugh with carrie and cassady

carrie (having a very good hair day) with cassady

And one last photo of hubby extraordinaire driving the boat around Norris one weekend.

captain mowmow

And a few headlines for your reading pleasure:

• Blink Twice If You Like Me, I had no idea I had a meat market going on in my backyard.
• I now have the evidence I need to cut down on exercising, think of the extra time I'll have: The NY Times did a story on getting fit in just minutes a day. Sounds good to me! But all kidding aside, there really is a science to working out getting results. I read a lot about it. The more I read lately reinforces the idea that an hour of cardio just isn't that great. I spend wayyyyy more time working with weights that I do cardio. If you want to change your body (trim up, lose weight) it seems it's all in strength training. Here's another article on it: Iron Maiden, Weight Training Secrets.
  
• Here's a list of the The Best Kids' Books Ever from a columnist from the NY Times.
• Food and Water, and article on how to refuel your body after a workout.

OK, have a great Sunday! We are going to settle back into life at home today. We made a pit stop at Ikea on our way to the beach and bought furniture for Lottie Sue's new bedroom. She's getting kicked out of the nursery very soon for baby brother's arrival. We are very excited for her to move into her new cool room. I'm making the curtains and we almost have everything put together. I see a "before & after" post coming up...

Over and OUT.