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!

little rock rocks: major crafting, yahtzee & a mississippi squirrel revival

I mentioned that we traveled to Little Rock last week, and I have photos for you to view. Matt's Aunt Jan (husband Jim along with son Jeff and his wife Mandy) live in Little Rock and this year Grandma and Grandpa (Robinson) sold their home in Springfield (Missouri) and moved to Arkansas. So we packed up our car (including Lottie Sue and Sydney) and met Matt's parents for a big drive West.

We spent our time visiting, eating, crafting and playing games - it was great. If you don't believe me take a look at the photos!

hubba hubba

Matt's mom volunteers at a local nursing home and she is starting a Red Hat Society there for the little ladies. You wouldn't dare be caught at the luncheons without fabulous red and purple hats, it's required. We spent a lot of time decorating hats and making pins, it was like our own Project Runway! We then we spent a lot of time wearing them for photos. You'll see below.

an inspired sydney

Dad did a little yard work and "found" Jan and Jim's water line. Bad thing is he found it with a pickaxe. Oops. When Dad sat down to dinner he had his very own place card.

not sure if you can tell but the place card is set inside the broken pipe dad butchered, we laughed for a long time over this one

Mom and Dad brought these pears all the way to Little Rock, they grew them on one of their trees and were very proud. Don't they look huge?

objects in photo may appear larger than they are

ha, we tricked you with props - they are tiny pears, but still special

lottie sue reads a book while we decorate hats

here we have (from left to right) sydney,
lottie sue, jan, grandma and mom

doesn't dad look adorable here???

and lottie sue looks adorable as well

here i am with sydney, we donned some of our creations

grandma and a super relaxed lottie sue play together on the couch

lottie sue gave grandma lots of kisses

lottie sue could not get enough of jan's koi pond,
she would point and say "oooh"

matt and grandma in the kitchen

dad and lottie sue play ball

grandma and mom here

sydney and my hubby (fyi - matt is officially a four-eyes now)

mandy and lottie sue play games before dinner one night

We of course had a family photo session, I can't tell you how hot it was out there. I was melting.

grandpa, grandma, mom, dad, lottie sue, matt and moi

same players here but sydney is in the center

jim, jan, jeff, mandy and lottie sue

the cousin shot (jeff is crouching down here,
he's actually 10 feet tall)

And here we have the "red hat" section, it was after dinner and us girls became a bit excited about modeling.

this is my favorite hat i made, i think it looks GOOD

here we are waiting for our closeup

we make these hats look GOOD

mandy and jan vamp it up

here we are wearing the headband/veil thingies
(we made these in case they ran out of hats at the luncheons)

Afterwards Mandy performed her interpretation of the "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" (any Ray Stevens fans here?) song for us. Mandy works as an interpreter for deaf and blind persons, and she performed the song in sign language. She first did it last Christmas and brought the house down, if you know the words you can see why it's a hoot.

mandy signs away

Here is the first verse of the song so you have an idea...

Well when I was kid I'd take a trip every summer,
down to Mississippi.
To visit my granny in her ante bellum world.
I'd run barefooted all day long,
climbing trees free as a song.
One day I happened catch myself a squirrel.
I stuffed him down in an old shoebox,
punched a couple holes in the top and when Sunday came,
I snuck him into church.
I was sittin way back in the very last pew
showin him to my good buddy Hugh,
when that squirrel got loose and went totally berserk!

You get the idea, it was really cute and we actually video taped her performance. Maybe I'll post it up here if I can edit the videos we have. I'm sure Mandy won't mind...

jan cues the song while looking like the cutie pie she is

here is matt with a big smile

grandpa and grandma enjoy the show

So there you have our trip in a nutshell, a great time was had by all and I am now obsessed with Yahtzee. The Robinson family loves to play games so I was in heaven, we played every night and also during crafting breaks. I must note how delicious the food was and let me also say that Jan and Jim were wonderful hosts to us. Next time I go I may not leave.