and

AND, for those days when the spit-up just keeps on comin', I give you:

The Apron Bib: a full coverage invention.

Aren't baby necks just the cutest?

If you are wowed by my invention, email me and I'll send you the pattern. It's easy peasy, as only my sewing can be.

It turns out that Miss Birdie likes to model.

She graced me with more smiles. I feel so honored. She's a stingy one, that girl.

a gaggle for the girlie

Little Miss Barfs-a-Lot has kept me doing load after load of laundry the past seven weeks and we all know how much I adore laundry.

Yesterday I snapped. I hauled out my sewing machine, which I inherited from Ben's grandma when she died. I think it was made in 1968. True story. It still works. Kind of.

I made Birdie a gaggle of bibs to sop up all the spit-up. I bet you didn't know that a group of bibs was called a gaggle.

That would be because I just made that up.

Anywho, I sewed for a good four hours and made enough bibs to last at least a week without doing wash.

I also sewed a couple for little Sam who has been sick these last few days and the doctors keep poking him with needles and the like. Poor Sam.

************************************

AHEM.

The winner of the Summer Photo Contest, by three votes, including Tommy B.'s, is Elizabeth who took the photo of the boy in the sand. The judges said that this photo most epitomizes Summer. Congrats Elizabeth. Please contact me about customizing your rings!

child labor

The boy has four chores to do every morning.

*Feed the dog

*Make his bed

*Pick-up his room

*Brush his teeth

I was accused yesterday of being bossy. I told him I must be a little bossy or his chores would never get done.

He said to Ben "Dad, do you know how hard it is for me to do my chores?"

Ben said, "No, how hard?"

"It's like a dog trying to open a soda can."

The drama.

through the brambles

gabrielle kai

If I were to enter my own Summer photo challenge, I would have to photograph some berries. Berries are summer.

When I was a kid, I used to creep into my neighbors berry patch and steal the fruit from the vine. The berries were warm, almost hot from the sunshine and so intoxicating my sisters and I frequently gorged ourselves until our bellies ached. We were, of course, found out by our mother who knew well the tell tale signs of berry juice on kid's clothes. She would chastise us half heartedly and the next day we would be back in the berries. I wonder now if our neighbors permitted us this little indulgence. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers were a kindly old couple. Surely as young children we weren't as stealth as we thought.


When I was eleven, my older sister got her period. I was unnerved by the fact that she had moved onto womanhood and left me standing alone in childhood. In an attempt to gain some respect, I stole away to the berry patch. I crouched low so as not to be detected and crushed a handful of berries into my underwear. I then proceeded to convince Heidi that I too had become a bonefide young adult. When could we start shaving our legs? Soon enough, my ruse was discovered and I was relegated back to kiddom. I grabbed my Barbies and sulked off to lick my wounds.


Mr. Chambers just died last week. It's like a little piece of my childhood is gone. I can still see him in my mind's eye, through the raspberry bramble, hanging clothes on their line, puttering around the yard and listening to Spanish language tapes. He always wore his powder blue leisure pants three inches too short with gym socks and black loafers. He had soft doughy cheeks and a shock of white hair.


I will miss that guy.


Man alive, could he grow berries.

the map

So I found this piece of paper by the computer the other day. It seems Thom had been busy drawing a map.

I was very intrigued by this creation and when I asked him to explain it to me this is what he said.

Other items on the map include a firehouse, an army tank, a beach and parking spots.

Also, today will go down in history as the day Amelie gave her first smile. Sugar Daddy is claiming the first smile happened two days ago, when he tickled her neck, but we all know that the first smile was granted to me. Nice try honey.

to capture a slice of summer

Here are the pictures that were submitted for the Summer photo challenge. If you submitted more than one, I picked the one I liked the best to go to the judges.

To keep all judging fair and square, I have left off all names and credits. The judges panel consists of two professional photographers, two professional scrapbookers, and my son. After all, who knows Summer better than a five-year-old boy?

god bless the food, oh and america too.

To be honest, and I know this is totally not P.C., I'm not so much about the patriotism as I am about the food. Sure, I'm thankful for my freedom. But what I'm really concerned about is getting to the cupcakes.

Just a little honesty on this Independence Day.

the thing about dogs

Are dogs a pain in the ass? Why yes they are, but just like exercise, the benefits far exceed the irritation.

if you haven't heard of tara whitney

You are seriously missing out.

She's only the best family photographer in the biz.

Click on over and take a look at more of her work.

Thanks Tara. Love ya!

kari & emily

This is Kari.

I first meet Kari in Thailand. We roomed together and on our first night we stayed up talking until two in the morning. Kari has two adopted boys. We had a lot to talk about.

Kari said some things to me while we were in Thailand that I will never forget. On a balmy, tropical night in Asia, we were up late, again, talking. I was lamenting my barren womb. She said, "If you don't feel that you are getting any answers to prayers, it may mean that God is saying 'just sit still, I have plans'." I figure Kari uttered those words to me just days after Amelie was conceived.

Kari is in Carlsbad for a few days on vacation with her family. We got together yesterday and played at the pool. In the Evening, Emily Falconbridge and her family meet us at the beach. I love these two women for the role they played in Amelie's birth and also for the friendship they give me.

Kari's a great photographer in her own right. Baby Ian has been photographed more than the late great Michael Jackson.

We had fattening Mexican food on the beach. Heaven.

Yindi is the cutest little mother around. She was covered in sand but she cried until we let her hold Amelie, in her lap, on her terms.

This here is mischief personified. Notice how the boys were too busy to give me a smile, but Elegant Ivy was much obliged to flash her pearly whites even in her skivvies.

Kari is also a quilt maker. She made Amelie this amazing blanket. I tell ya, there really isn't anything like a homemade gift. Especially a quilt. When I think of all the hours Kari spent on this I want to cry.

I so wish that Kari lived closer. She's a keeper.

Emily and her husband Mic are headed back to Australia in just a few weeks. Emily wants to have her baby there and be close to her family. We are all hoping and praying that they come back soon. Southern California just won't be the same without the Falconbrige family.