daydreams, queens, and jellybeans

My Tiny Princess

2011-09-08T21:48:00.003-04:00

I watch you sleeping at night. . . My princess. I pull you close on my lap and rock you while you dream. I kiss your soft cheeks and tiny nose, brush your hair from your face, watch your eyelids flutter. I wonder how I ever lived without you. I know I couldn't now. And I wouldn't change anything from my past because it would mean I wouldn't get you. And all the bad that I've been through isn't worth a drop of the good you bring to me every day. I love you Vyni.

First Day Of School

2011-08-22T21:23:00.015-04:00

The weekend before classes started we had orientation. We met the teacher and checked out the classroom. Devyn and Laney are in the same class. . .

At orientation she got homework - pictures of things that start with "A". So here she is, doing her first ever homework assignment. She's coloring a picture of Ariel. . .

And then it was here! The FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!
Headed through "Froggie Village" to get to their classroom. . .

Class begins. . .

On the way out, Val and I stopped for some photo ops of our own. . .

After class she was happy to see me. . .

In the afternoon we went swimming. . .

And after a long hard day she was all tuckered out

God Bless The USA

2011-07-14T20:20:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday America! Laney spent the night so in the morning we painted pictures of fireworks. Then we went to a parade in the afternoon and fireworks at night.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Bootleg Recital

2011-06-22T20:05:00.000-04:00

It's finally recital time!!! Yay!!!! She's been practicing her "ducky dance" since Christmas and the performance was finally this past weekend. She loved dancing on "the big stage" in her costume.

The actual recital was so boring! But her 3 minutes were the best 3 minutes EVER! I've had some technical difficulty getting the video from my phone (that I inconspicuously held at my stomach to video her routine against the explicit and stated EVERYWHERE rules of no videoing)
So, without further ado, heerrrrrrre's Devyn (in case you can't tell, she's beside Emma, the "mama duck", in red. She's directly on Emma's right if we're facing the same direction as them.)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Good Times with the Blimes

2011-06-21T18:57:00.004-04:00

My entire family was here this extended weekend. Both parents, both brothers, both sisters, 3 in-laws, and an assortment of kids. We had good time. i do have to say, in my totally unbiased opinion, I have the best family ever ever. Not just ever - EVER ever!

Fun in the pool

.M arquesa s wante d to stay glo w-in-the-dark white.

Oliver wearing Devyn's ponytail she had for her recital,

Devyn loved her "Uncle Dran" and "his girls"

PICTURE BOMB!!!!!!

And all of us together (minus Tracy, who was too busy to come outside when we took these pics)

Here Comes Peter CottonTail

2011-04-29T20:54:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!!! Devyn and I took Devyn's bff and cousin Laney along with us on a train ride called the CottonTail Express that I found not too far from our town. They really had a good time, and so did I.

While we waited onboard for them to call out "All Aboard" and the train to start moving, I thought maybe they were going to burst with excitement.

Once the train got us out to the field (It was about a half an hour ride each ride) there were things to do. An Easter Egg Hunt. . .

It was about 1000 degrees!

Toy trainsets to play with. . .

And of course the Easter Bunny was there. . .

Then, on Easter Sunday we did the normal morning things -
Hunted for eggs. . .

Checked out what the Bunny brought. . .

And. . . She ate the heads off of all the Peeps chicks before she decided she didn't like them. Silly girl.

Devyn's Bday part II

2011-02-12T23:14:00.005-05:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up you guys. But here she is opening up the late presents that came from Nana & Pops and from her Daddy.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

the wavelength composition of light

2011-01-16T20:10:00.017-05:00

We have learned

all our

C O L O R S ! ! !

Red
and
mauve

YELLOW&GREEN

GRAY

all sorts of colors!!!

P u r p l e

White

or TEAL

HoT
pInK

and of course, BLUE

Birthday Fun!!!

2011-01-09T20:29:00.017-05:00

We celebrated Devyn's birthday today. (For those of you who care, I'm thinking we're going to celebrate it again in July on her half birthday from now on since this is so close to Christmas.)
Anyway, since about last Thanksgiving, when you asked her what she wanted for her birthday her answer was a dragon cake. So I made her a dragon cake.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Then she opened all her presents.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Going to the zoo was her present from her Uncle Drew and Aunt Marquesas and Baby Miles. We had a really good time there too.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here -- Devyn is trying to get the birdie to walk between her legs. :-)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All in all, I think we had a pretty fun day!!!!
Happy Birthday Devyn!

devyn/s new hobby

2010-12-30T21:28:00.008-05:00

devyn has decided to take up photography. although she HATES to get her own picture taken she had decided that she LOVES taking other people/s picures. she/s recently even learned how to use the zoom -- although she calls it "making you bigger" or "making you smaller" and is beginning to attempt self-pictures. (watch out val!!) she can actually take a decent picture every once in awhile.
.

2010-12-27T14:56:00.003-05:00

merry christmas everyone!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

trick or treat

2010-11-04T23:22:00.001-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

fall farm festival

2010-10-10T22:25:00.031-04:00

i found this little fall farm festival. it was really a good time. we went with our friends christine and meghan. there were lots of farm-related things to do.
we rode ponies, fed the goats (and chickens, bunnies, geese, pigs, horses, and even a couple llamas), played in the little farmhouses, rode a cow-train, went on a hayride, got a bear-holding-a-heart shaped balloon from a clown, and roasted marshmallows. it was a hee-haw-great-time!!

my tiny dancer part II

2010-10-09T19:29:00.000-04:00

ok - not sure how much better these are than the first ones, but the camera is much better so i/m guessing these pics are gonna be too. we can find out together. also - i/m not putting her name on these. (i/ve been trying and just don/t feel like figuring out what i/m doing wrong. i think maybe the pic files are too big, but i don/t know.) anyway. she/s in the exact same pink leotard with the skirt that 2 other little girls are in, so hopefully you can all figure out which one is her. :-)

my tiny dancer

2010-09-11T17:50:00.010-04:00

today was our first dance class!!! my sisters tried to tell me she wouldnt do anything, and it did take her a second to warm up. but then she danced right along with everyone else. the little kids (vyn/s class) is in the back of the 3 studios so that there isn/t a window that the kids can see their parents through and get distracted. so i had to watch her on cc tv. it worked to watch, and was awesome, but it made for sucky pics with my 6 yr old camera! next week, i will see if i can't borrow one from a sister if they/re going to be in town. but for now, this is better than nothing!
all ready for class!!!
the studio

ballet. she learned to stand on her tippy toes and how to plié.

when it was time to change from ballet shoes to tap, vyn just stood behind the teacher (ms. pat) and whatever child she was helping to change shoes. until ms. pat realized vyn was standing there and sent her to get her own bag and tap shoes.

tap. she learned to shuffle and to "heel-toe"

showing off what she learned once we got home. (sort of. this is not the better of the 2 ballet videos we took, but blogger is getting an error when i try to upload the good one. so again, it's better than nothing, but not the best.)

ohio trip

2010-06-28T15:45:00.009-04:00

2010-06-05T22:06:00.007-04:00

we went to largo central park and had a good time despite the 100 degree 98% humidity. the train rides are free the first weekend of the month so we rode the train and played on the playground. we met my friend from work and her little girl there and then went to their house and played dress-up.

she wouldn't stand up on the playground equipment. we/d never had that problem before. she bruised both knees up cra wling around all over it all.

happy easter everyone

2010-04-06T17:46:00.007-04:00

so, we/re back down to a family of two again already. that didn/t take long eh? but the two of us had fun together. i had a high school friend here for the weekend also with her boyfriend and the four of us braved spring break and went to the beach saturday evening. then sunday morning vyni searched for the eggs the easter bunny (a.k.a. super bunny if you asked vyn) had hidden and then gorged on candy. here/s the pictorial tribute. . .

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

and - to save the best for last - i snapped this super cute pic of her at the beach. i/m thinking it/s a good note to end this post on. isn/t she the cutest thing you ever saw???

the greatest show on earth

2010-01-09T23:51:00.008-05:00

santa gave us tickets to ringling brothers and barnum and bailey in our stockings for christmas. all week long shel and i talked up the circus to devyn, and all week long her reply was "no circus no circus". she really had me nervous she was going to hate it.
she loved it. i don/t think she/s ever had that much fun in her life. she laughed and clapped and couldn/t decide where to watch. her favorites were the same things that are my favorites - the elephants and the motorcycles in the globe of steel. but she also really liked the motorcycle on the on the hight wire, because we were in the fourth row and they were directly above our heads.
i/ll tell you what though. i/m 33 years old and i/ve been to the circus probably 25 times in my life. and with devyn sitting beside me, the tigers made me nervous like they never have before. motherhood, ahhhh.
it was SO COLD tonight. we went the extra hour early when normally you can walk around outside and see all the animals, but because of the temperature (it was 37 degrees) they canceled that. they did let us into the building earlier than normal though, so that was nice. during the pre-show an elephany painted a picture that they raffled off. that was pretty neat. and devyn really like the moco jumbie (that's a song on nick jr. it/s the guys on stilts).
i do love the circus. and now devyn does too. it really is the greatest show on earth.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

one year older

2010-01-07T11:30:00.005-05:00

happy birthday to you. happy birthday to you. happy birthday dear devyn. happy birthday to you.

merry christmas to us

2009-12-27T20:20:00.011-05:00

it was a good christmas thanks to secret santa. we love you. devyn had fun for the first time putting the ornaments up on the advent calendar my mom made me 15 years ago. she would ask about it every day.

she helped us set up and decorate the tree, but she liked it so much the pictures i/ve got are pretty much of the back of her head because she didn/t want to stop decorating and turn around long enough for me to take a picture.

and we made cookies and left them out for santa and his reindeer, along with a note that asked santa to tell frosty the snowman that devyn is his number one fan. (santa assured us in the note that back that he would let frosty know.)

(please ignore how dirty my bedroom is.)
devyn's favorite present is probably her $20 medical kit that one of my siblings or i owned when we were her age. it's a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, ear-looker-inner-thingy, thermometer, and shot (all fake and pink plastic, of course) and a little case with an x-ray to carry them all around in. she calls them her "doctor". my aunt marilyn gave her a zhu zhu pet (mr. squiggles) that devyn calls her "kitty cat". she got a couple stuffed kai lans and an olivia and some little plastic yo gabba gabba gang guys. she got a unicorn head on a stick from granny and poppop that she rides around and says "giddy-up" and a blue moxie girl guitar that plays the drums (?) when you strum it and has a whammy bar and the struts play notes. she dances around when she plays it. she got some "piggy jammas" from nana and pops that she LOVES. i don't even know what else she got. some books and some puzzles. anyway. it was a good christmas for her.

at the zoo

2009-12-19T00:11:00.006-05:00

we went to the zoo. it was fun. all week when we asked devyn what she wanted to see, she told me elephants, tigers, lions, and giraffes. when we actually got to the zoo there weren't any lions. and she really couldn't have cared less about the elephants, tigers, and giraffes. or the bears, rhinos, manatees, or wolves for that matter. all those animals far off in the distance that weren't doing anything but eating or lazing. she didn't particularly care for any of them. but the smaller animals, the ones behind glass instead of bars, she liked them. the penguins, the spiders and snakes and frogs and lizards, the fish. and she also liked the monkeys, who were up and playing. but her favorite (which is also her mommy's favorite and has been for years and years) were the otters. they always look like they're having so much fun, and they were no different on this visit. they swam and played and came right up to the glass and she followed them around and pointed and stood right against the glass and laughed at them when they pushed off and swam away upside-down. we were thinking about getting a pass to the zoo, but we decided she didn't like it that much. but we're thinking she might like one to the florida aquarium, since those are the animals she liked.

drama on the homefront

2009-11-22T16:02:00.006-05:00

there/s a monkey that escaped about 2 weeks ago (or maybe a year and half ago, depending on who you asked). it/s been on the run since. it spent about two hours in my apartment complex this afternoon. i got some pics, but they/re with my cell so sorry about the quality. i also did not get any pics of the monkey because although they shot it with a dart (and missed two other times AFTER they had hit it once) it was still fast as lightning and my poor cell phone camera could not keep up with it.
i am not a monkey expert (and apparently no one else that lives in my complex is either, because the kind of monkey it is varied by who you asked) so although i saw it several times, i have no idea what it was other than a monkey. it was bigger than devyn, probably closer to kyle's size, for those of you that know him. it was about the same shade of gray as a squirrel is. it was really cute.
it got darted and fell off the third floor landing but then popped up and took off, actually running through the entry that our front door is in. eventually it got into the nature preserve to the north of our complex and the hunt was called off.
and in case any of you want to know -- the cops will threaten at least 14 times to put everyone in jail if they don/t go back to their own homes
before they change the threat to getting shot with an extremely poorly aimed tranq dart. no one went to jail (although a guy with a beer got kicked out of the pool) and no one got shot.this is animal control with a gun on the roof of the building beside ours
there were 2 firetrucks and about 6 cop cars that showed up
they put the ladder fdrom the firetruck up to the roof of the building

if you look close you can see a cop and one of the animal control guys. this is right before they shot the monkey and it fell
police helicopter -- didn/t really help them keep track of the poor thing. at one point they got on the bullhorns on the cop cars and were asking if anyone had seen it.
bay news 9 showed up and interviewed people. i/ll have to get online to see it though because since we have verizon fios cable, we don/t get bay news 9

about 18 inches

2009-11-14T14:21:00.000-05:00

okay -- so here they are. the long awaited hair cut pics. between the two of us, we lost about 18 inches of hair. but i think we/re both adorable.

trick or treat

2009-11-01T20:20:00.006-05:00

happy halloween!!!! we had a great time. and i know you still can/t see her haircut in these pics, and i still promise to post some soon. but vyn and her cousins were all 80s rockers.

jibjabs are addictive

2009-10-28T23:14:00.002-04:00

first i made this one. . .

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

and then this one (my man is SEXY!!!)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

and then, because i/m just sick and wrong, i made this one. that/s my husband, my brother-in-law, and my father-in-law. teeheehee. i don/t know what/s wrong with me.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

(p.s. pics of the haircuts are coming soon. i/ll get some over the weekend so it will be sunday at the latest. stay tuned.)

road trip to indy

2009-10-12T22:45:00.003-04:00

we had such a good time on our vacation. we went to the children's museum, made new friends, rode a pony, saw grandma the great, rode the merry-go-round, played with nana and pops and uncle chris and cousin christian, sat on nana's elephant (a lot) and though there are no pics, we went to see chris at work (he/s an air traffic guy and we got to go up in the tower and then down to the radar room. devyn thought it was a waste of a lot of televisions that could have been playing wow wow wubbzy or kai-lan, but i thought it was pretty cool.) we had a really good time and can/t wait for vacation time again.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

spitting image

2009-09-21T23:05:00.005-04:00

if this is not me, just a little darker, i don/t know what is

(i know you/re digging the plaid hippo shirt. thanks for that mom)

Devyn

2009-09-13T17:52:00.002-04:00

we signed up for verizon fios and got a free video camera in the deal. so, tracy taped devyn playing around the other day. my baby is so cute. her hair is crazy, but that/s pretty much the norm. she has big hair. what can i do? so here she is singing. enjoy.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

wee wee ahhh

2009-08-18T20:06:00.009-04:00

i bought this dress for devyn and i love it. neither of my sisters do. i bought it as an easter dress and then got talked into buying the pink one she wore. but i/ve always liked this dress. so, i decided before it gets too small for her, i would put it on her and see if i could get some pics. (for those of you who are never around, she hates having her picture taken. when she gets a glimpse of the camera, she will turn her head and totally ignore you until you put the camera back down.)
so, none of these are especially cute pics, but the kid in them sure is. and so is the dress.

also, i straightened her hair the other day and look at how long it is!!!!!!!!!!!!

night swimming

2009-08-09T22:44:00.007-04:00

okay grandmothers across the country (or in nc and indy if you want to be sticklers about it) here are new pics of my tiny kid. we went swimming at val/s while we were dogsitting and vyni had a blast. so i took some pics just for ya/ll.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

4th of july

2009-07-05T15:57:00.002-04:00

we had so much fun this weekend. laney came over for awhile and they finger painted and watched little einsteins and played with shelton (laney LOVES her some shelton). shelton had to work on the 4th, so devyn and i went alone to the fireworks. it was the first time i/d taken her, but i figured if they freaked her out we could just leave since it was just us. i was worried for nothing. she loved them. she "jumped" up and down (she still doesn/t jump) and squealed and clapped and laughed and absolutely loved it. i/m so glad we decided to go.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

weekend fun

2009-06-06T23:05:00.004-04:00

we went to touch a truck today in safety harbor. all sorts of "trucks from around your neighborhood" were there and vyni got to climb into them all and push buttons and pull levers and get stickers. she had a BLAST!!! she really loved it. we had a really good time. and -- it was free. i/ve discovered there/s lots of little neighborhood get together activities for kids that don/t cost. i don/t know why i didn/t think to look for stuff like this before. so watch for more pics of other weekend activites. because we/ve got stuff on the calendar almost every saturday all summer long. of course, the beginning of summer bash at sunset park was a bust. but, we/re keeping our fingers crossed that more are like touch a truck and less are like the beach bash.

2009-05-26T22:01:00.040-04:00

how i spent my memorial day weekend . . .
by Devyn Leigh DaCosta

with my finger-paints

i painted pictures

. . . and myself

(the pictures are for my cousins, so all cousins. . .keep an eye on the mailbox)

we went to the beach

and played on the playground

look at how the curls come out in the humidity

WheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeWheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeWheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

and we had SO MUCH FUN we went back the next day (thinking about YOU Pops)

we went to my auntie val/s house and swam

(it was cold)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

i played hide-and-seek with my mom and of course i won

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

also, naturally, there was pesky potty training, eating, and sleeping in there also.

(i know you dig the drawn-on shirt)

i/d say, three day weekends with my mom and dad rock!!!

the legitimization of my daughter

2009-05-04T20:53:00.011-04:00

shel and i finally tied the knot. we just had a little ceremony with my family and his mom at the park yesterday afternoon and then had a cookout and a lot of fun. it was great and now my last name has two capital letters in it. that rocks. these are only the pics taken on my camera, but as this was just yesterday, these are the pictures i have already. i/ll post more from other cameras as i get them. (okay, this has been sitting here waiting for me to upload the pics, and i now have the ones from val/s camera too. so here/s both)

devyn LOVED the punch - see her "punch smile"

me, my baby, and my daddy

Miles is so Stinking CUTE!!!

me and my skinny sister :-)

family reunion

2009-05-02T23:51:00.008-04:00

we all got together for my upcoming nuptials this weekend. when we all get together, we usually have fun. and play games. and sometimes. . . spit on my dad :0) there was a lot of rock band played here in the last 24 hours, and i/m expecting there will be alot more. i know i/ve got a post on here somewhere when the rock band was new, but in this one, even my dad is jamming. rock band on!!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

the next morning, vyni drug the chair from the computer (in the other room) back over to the drumset, pulled out the foot pedal, got the drum sticks, and had a little solo jam session of her own. she/s the cutest thing EVER!

hoppy easter

2009-04-13T20:48:00.005-04:00

first, on saturday, we went to the park to see the easter bunny. there was actually an egg hunt, but because of my drs appt we were late getting there and had already missed the hunt for her age group :-( but we did get to see the easter bunny, so that/s what counts, right?

then on sunday morning, we came out of our bedroom to find that the easter bunny had not only brought a basket a goodies, but had hidden eggs around the apartment.

so we searched for eggs. . .

(there weren/t any under the couch and that just makes this pictures cuter)

and ate some candy. . .

then we called granny and poppop. . .

and then got dressed up in our easter dress and went to church.

happy easter everyone!!!!!

newest cousin

2009-03-27T14:44:00.002-04:00

drew, quesas, and miles came to visit us twice in the last month. miles is so freakin' cute. i love his crooked smile.

sleeping beauty

2009-02-26T18:11:00.008-05:00

awwwwww, she/s so precious. . .

my little genius

2009-02-12T21:57:00.001-05:00

she/s so smart. . .

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

family outing

2009-02-07T21:01:00.005-05:00

my baby loves fish. so, we took her to the aquarium today. she loved it. she would have loved it more i think if we hadn/t been there during naptime, but she loved it. she pointed at all the fish and said "oh a feeesh" and she pointed at all the birds and said "a quack quack, a quack quack" and she pointed at all the boats (not only the ones painted on the walls at the aquarium, but the actual Florida Aquarium is literally right beside the Port of Tampa, so there were huge boats there) and called them choo-choos. :-) okay, so she/s no einstein. but she/s so daggone cute i just don/t care.

what is wrong with my nephew

2009-02-01T20:49:00.006-05:00

okay, so laney is speding the weekend with us because her family went out of town. so we/re also taking care of tazzy (val/s dog) so actually spent the night at her house last night and are hanging out here today until they get home. so, we come in last night and we/ve got food we brought for meals today. so, i go to the fridge which, as always, is covered in val/s kids artwork (and he twilight poster becasue she/s a teensy weensy bit obsessed) and what beautiful artwork is displayed there today? why, it/s the picture kyle (the kindergartner) painted at school.

(if you can/t read it, the sentence says "the cat is drowning")

i/m now a little scared of kyle. . .

bff

2009-01-31T18:04:00.016-05:00

i think it would rock to have a built-in bff in a cousin that was about my age and lived close enough. vyni and laney have that. laney is spending the weekend with us. we went to the park and they had a really good time.

here/s laney peeking through the holes in the tunnel.

here they are climbing and running and sliding together

to put it lightly, laney is FRENZIED in pretty much everything she does. so here she is swinging like a monkey from the bar at the top of the slide

and yes, she/s biting the steering wheel at the "race time" car

they went on the baby swings together. . .

and laney decided she was enough of a big girl to push vyni. . .

but she was wrong. . .

however -

they were both big enough to go on the big kid swings.

we all had a really good time.

my tiny kid

2009-01-15T18:43:00.008-05:00

we went to the doctor today. since she/s two now, she/s a little big girl instead of a big little girl. so - they didn/t measure her head, and she got to stand on the scale (instead of laying on the baby scale) and got to stand up straight to get her height. she/s 26 pounds and she/s 34 1/4 inch tall. then, since she's a tiny kid now, she had to put on a paper gown once we got into the exam room. it was HUGE. i ended up rolling it up. and she HATED IT WITH A PASSION. but hey, who really likes those things? (sorry the pics are bad. i didn't know she was gonna be considered a tiny big girl so i took the pics with my phone)

Learning to Jump

2009-01-12T18:23:00.000-05:00

my tiny is trying to jump. she hasn/t quite got the whole getting-her-feet-off-the-ground thing figured out yet. but it sure is cute to watch her try.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

oh - and watch her like the third time she "jumps", the book she HAS to jump off of goes flying under the receiver. she spends a hot second wondering what happened to it when she/s ready to take her next turn. it makes me laugh. she/s so adorable.

happy spongebob birthday

2009-01-07T12:17:00.003-05:00

she/s getting so old. i just can't believe it. she talks so much. the other night she was talking in her sleep even. "a fish! a fish! oh i see! i see a fish!" she said. i couldn/t help but think it was the cutest thing i had seen in so long. she loves fish. and, as if any of you don/t already know, she loves her some spongebob. the first time she laughed at something on tv it was when patrick knocked all his dishes out of his cupboard and they all broke. she thought it was hilarious. anyway. so here/s some pics of her spongebob birthday celebration. i love you devyn.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

nameless

2008-12-27T11:46:00.000-05:00

welcome

even merrier christmas to all that can go to beach

2008-12-25T23:41:00.002-05:00

so - i heard my "in-laws" in indiana were having 20 below wind chill temps and figured i/d rub our 82 degrees on christmas day weather in their faces and my own little family :-) went to the beach. it was, in fact, hot and sweaty and there were chics in bikinis with no goosebumps. florida does have it/s up-side.

merry christmas to all

2008-12-25T15:18:00.000-05:00

okay. so yesterday was quite the day. santa was surprisingly good to vyni and i/d just like to thank everyone that helped him help us. . .

so, without any further ado, here/s them pics i know you/re all really after when you get on here. . .

so there she is opening everything. . .
and here she is enjoying everything. . .

yes - that/s a marshmallow spongebob on a stick

yah that/s spongebob

2008-12-22T22:42:00.004-05:00

we went to wal-mart the other day to get some soap and some christmas ribbon for vyni/s hair. as we walked into the store, devyn starts excitedly exclaiming "that/s spongebob!! that/s spongebob!!!" shel and i are frantically looking around at the cookies and clothes and other things by where we were standing. and then we spotted the balloon, three-quarters of the way down the store floating at the end of one of the checkout lanes.

i hate to admit, (especially after making fun of shel so much for the past week) i am not immune to the cuteness. (but look at how happy she is. these pics are after she held the ballon around the store, after giving it eskimo kisses while we waited in line, and after she snuggled with him for the car trip home. and she/s still clapping and exclaiming yah!! gotta love her.)

in this pic, she actually has the ribbon he/s attached to pulled tight against her forehead.

sunday best

2008-12-21T22:08:00.002-05:00

awwww. don/t we look cute in our christmas outfits? it certainly doesn/t feel like christmas here. you/d think i/d be use to the sweltering christmas day weather by now, but i/m not. i/m not complaining about it either. . .

the reunion

2008-12-13T23:07:00.004-05:00

after an extremely long and boring drive

that started out during the day and didn/t end until the night

i finally got my baby back

and then we did a long (but not so boring since i wasn/t alone) drive back home and we were a happy family

OMG it/s finally time

2008-12-11T00:33:00.000-05:00

well, tonight is my last night at home alone. i can/t freaking believe and i really can/t wait. (or sleep, it/s a little after midnight and i/m not tired at all.)

if you've read all my past posts you know i/m the biggest dork most of you know. keeping that in mind, when i first moved into the apartment that i/m in now, i cut out a whole crap load (not being a memory chic i don/t remember the exact number) of construction paper strips and made one of those chains where every day you rip off a link and count down to whatever it is you/re counting down to.

it looked like this back then. . .

it covered the ceiling from wall to wall and just left room for the fan to spin.

and now, it looks like this. . .

(that/s my cutie little tiny's picture they took in the hospital when she was brand new. isn/t she adorable!!!)

that/s right people. day after tomorrow ( and today is really tomorrow already so i/m talking TO MOR ROW with a capital T O M O R R O W) shel comes home and i/m no longer a single mom. or single. :-)

i can/t freaking wait!!!!

(patiently???) waiting

2008-12-02T20:12:00.007-05:00

what/s in the box you ask? well, i/ll tell you. it/s one pair of boxers, one pair of socks, one pair of shoes (not boots), one shirt, one pair of pants (not shorts) and one belt.

what does 'C.I.' in the address mean you ask? well, i/ll tell you. it means 'correctional institution' a.k.a. prison

what does the 'E.O.S' written all over the box mean you ask? well, i/ll tell you. it means END OF SENTENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

best babysitter ever

2008-11-30T20:25:00.005-05:00

i have discovered the best babysitter for my almost-2-year-old. he/s good with kids, keeps her entertained, and she doesn/t move a muscle the whole time he/s around. who is this wonder?

well, he lives in a pineapple under the sea. . .

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

at the beach

2008-11-29T22:23:00.001-05:00

we went to the beach tonight. we didn/t go to the actual beach, but we walked along the pier and shopped at all the little vendors, we danced in the pavilion to the little calypso band playing "the lion sleeps tonight", jason jumped on the bungee/trampoline contraption (after evan chickened out. jason whooped and hollered and attracted quite a crowd. at one point, with each bounce he yelled out "this" bounce "is" bounce "fun" bounce. he tried to do a somersault a couple of times. the first try was kind of successful. the second try not so much. and on the posted rules, it stated you were NOT allowed to land on the trampoline on your head. so after the second attempt he gave up on the somersault.) and, best of all, vyni got her picture taken with some beach bum santa. it/s the cutest pic ever. doesn/t she just look petrified???

my little upside-down toadstool

2008-11-23T23:32:00.002-05:00

vyni got out of the bath today and looked all cute with her drippy hair and bundled up in the towel. tracy said she looked like a little upside-down toadstool. she/s so freaking cute i can/t hardly stand it.

i/m so excited

2008-11-20T21:43:00.001-05:00

it's for sure. shel can stay with us when he gets out. i/m so excited i can/t sit still. i don/t know what i/m going to do for the next 22 days. I CAN/T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

misc from tal

2008-11-18T18:19:00.002-05:00

here/s just some leftover pics of the fun we had in tallahassee. kaily and vyni sleeping on the way there. tracy sleeping on the way there. quesas' big belly (Woohoo Baby Blimes! C/mon baby, we/re all rooting for ya). kaily with a paper turkey on her head. and andy and vyn bonding. i really do love our trips up there. i/m gonna miss seeing andy and q on a regular basis. i hope the economy stays (gets?) good and gas stays low enough (Go $1.89!!!) that we can still make that trip even without the great motivation of a daddy for my baby. i love you both.

Belt It , Baby

2008-11-16T23:15:00.002-05:00

Me, my daughter, my sisters, and a niece all went up to Tallahassee this past weekend for my SIL's baby shower. The shower was great and we had lots of fun. However, my baby brother (after several failed attempts at Wal-Marts at midnight and getting lost and taking an hour and a half to get to a store 15 miles away) bought the new band edition of Guitar Hero at the crack of dawn this morning. Our original plan was to head back home around 9 am, but with the arrival of the game the departure of the Tampa-ians was postponed. Everyone loved it, even Vyni who took her turn not only on the drums and singing, but with the bass (And Marquesas' help). I love our visits to the big T and totally plan on still making that trip as often as possible even after my felon comes home.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Decisions, Decisions

2008-11-14T23:54:00.006-05:00

Okay, so we're going to Tallahassee tomorrow for Marquesas' baby shower. I couldn't decide what to take for Vyni to wear. The gang of girls (me, Devyn, Tracy, Valarie, and Kaily) are all spending the night at our apartment to head out in the morning together. So, I set up the four outfits I couldn't decide between and asked their opinions. You would think this would be an easy thing. Which is best? That one, okay. But no. I set out all four outfits. Then we all got a "ballot " (a.k.a. ripped up piece of envelope) and a pen and then all 4 of us went about assigning each of the four outfits a score. 1-4, 4 to the outfit we liked the best, 3 to the next best outfit, 2 to the next, and 1 to the worst. Then we added the total score for each outfit and Voila!! winner. My family is the funnest bunch of goobers around.

(For those that care, the winner was the skirt and brown sweater/shirt and boots -- second from the left.)

The Fab 5

2008-11-02T22:18:00.007-05:00

My Puppy and her cousins all dressed up like super heroes. They were the cutest little super heroes ever. Of course, Kyle got an upset belly and had to quick trick-or-treating early, at which point his daddy took his bag around for him to get candy. "We/ve got a sick Iron Man at home," Jason would say as he held out Kyle's bag. And then Kaily, cutest little Bat Girl ever, announced "He/s not that sick, he just has diarrhea". teeheehee. 8 year olds say anything.

Vyni LOVED the trick-or-treating. Although she didn/t say "trick or treat" ever, she did tell eveyone "thank you" and "bye" and then scream "yay yay yay" as we walked down the sidewalk to the next house. Her little pumpkin bucket got so full she was dragging it on the ground behind her, but she absolutely FELL OUT if I tried to dump some of the candy into the Wal-Mart bag I'd brought along, or tried to take the bucket and carry it for her, or even if I tried to carry her. So I just let her drag it along and hold it out when people answered the door. She was in heaven. Of course, she/s not so hot on the chocolate (CRAZY BABY!!!!!) so she/s pretty much sticking to the lollipops and the gummi LifeSavers.

Happy Halloween!!!

And The Cousins. . . (Pilched from my sisters blog. Hi Val. :-) and taken with my mom's camera which way way WAY better than mine)

a day at the park

2008-10-18T22:18:00.004-04:00

vyni and i had a mommy/daughter day today. we played together all morning. we napped together after lunch. then we went to the park all afternoon. the park was awesome. it had rained while we napped, so the playground was wet. but it was also totally deserted. we had the whole place to ourselves. so we had a really good time.

road trip

2008-10-11T23:34:00.004-04:00

we made what will hopefully be our last trip to wewahitchka. woohoo.

doesn/t she look excited??

the camera man hadn/t shown up for work that day, so we didn/t get any pics with daddy that visit. but here she is with tracy, just before they headed up to see him.

the drive to tallahassee this trip was as eventful as the last time we went. some guy decided he wanted to kill himself by jumping in front of traffic. we/re zooming 60mph down US 19 and this guy jumped right out in front of us, looked tracy straight in the eye as we barrelled toward him, and just stood there. when tracy barely - and i mean by 2 inches or less - missed hitting him, he jumped into the next lane to try to get that guy to hit him. it was SCARY. and it sucked. big time. then we got ten minutes up the road and had to sit for about 45 minutes while 3 different life flight helicopters landed.

but we got there, and then tracy and vyn got to wewa, and we all got home safe. and hopefully that will be the last visit anyone i know ever has to make to prison.

decemeber 12th. two months from tomorrow. 62 days. WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my little big girl

2008-10-06T23:01:00.001-04:00

so, she moved from a crib to a toddler bed. my tiny kid. awwww. so, here's her last day as a big baby

and her first day as a tiny kid

and, of course, here she is in the bed (mine) where she actually sleeps all night

hair today

2008-10-05T23:17:00.004-04:00

i took the flat iron to vyni/s hair today. teeheehee. she looked super funny at first, as it stuck up whichever direction i had pulled the straightener. then she looked, well okay still kind of funny, but super cute too. then it poured down rain :-( and the curls returned.

miscellaneous devyn

2008-10-01T19:45:00.007-04:00

i pulled out my box of halloween stuff the other day and in it was some fuzzy handcuffs from a costume from a couple years ago. well, i dug through the box to get what i was after and then left the box open on my bedroom floor. devyn/s new favorite toy is the fuzzy handcuffs. they don/t get small enough to keep her hands bound, but she puts them on her ankles and then walks around in a circle and laughs and laughs and laughs. or --- falls asleep.

she talks to her daddy on the phone every day. 70 days and counting. woohoo!!!

her hair is FINALLY long enough for me to part down the middle and put in two little braids. and it/s just the cutest thing ever if i do say so myself.

i was doing laundry the other day and left the laundry basket on the couch. vyn got into it. let me start by saying she was wearing a blue t-shirt and jean shorts. then she put on the little green dress. then she put on my (padded) bra, and then she put on her cow jammie tops. this is the result. (okay, so my bra was HUGE on her obviously and the two so-padded-they-stand-alone cups did not stay parallel on her once the jammies went on. nice, i know.)

my momma is the best momma

2008-09-25T12:01:00.001-04:00

today was my momma's b-day. she/s old now. :D

hi momma. i miss you. i can/t wait until it/s your ten days off and time to come see us.

vyni wants to say happy birthday to you too. so here goes:

aj;sfdjhs;dafhasodgfhdasjlfhdfdddddddddddd DSJIOFAN; COAGKH LWGAHGEHGGVLJA WHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG ASKL;N AOIET;S/GG EG//////

okay. that/s enough of her. hope you enjoyed your day and your letters from all. i/m glad you/re my momma. i wouldn/t want any other.

happy birthday.

6 quirky things

2008-09-23T21:35:00.018-04:00

thanks q. . .

i/m not entirely sure what constitutes "quirky" so hopefully these pass. . .

1.) i LOVE to sing along to the radio at the top of my lungs. yes, i/ve had a mailman laugh uncontrollably when he pulled up beside me at a red light and i was bellowing out "ants marching" by dmb. the quirky part is, if i don/t know the correct words, i have no qualms to making up my own. ergo, i come up with lyrics like "hush hush. even downtown voices carry" and "beverly hills. that/s where i want to be. beverly hills. rollin' like a silk deputy" and "better give me all your gozners. this patient/s fading fast".

2.) i am a travel brochure junkie. i keep them in a mudd shoebox in my closet, which is now taped together everywhere because it/s so old. every so often, i just get online and order them from every place i/ve ever heard of, whether i have any intention of visiting there or not. most of them, i don/t even read. when we go to bob evan/s, i go through the brochures in the foyer and grab any i don/t already have. i don/t know why. hi, my name is jill and i/m a brochure-aholic.

3.) i am probably the biggest dork most of you know, but it/s so much fun.

4.) i hate people. for the most part, i think we all pretty much suck. i don/t do crowds well. i don/t do wal-mart well. i don/t do parties or clubs. i don/t like people.

5.) i still wear scrunchies. i am not particularly drawn to them, but i/m not particularly put off by them either. i am a big fan of keeping my hair out of my face. and for the most part i will do this with whatever is handy. and yes, sometimes that is a scrunchie. or a rubber. or a pencil. or a clippie. and i/m not really particular about it matching what i/m wearing either. the scrunchie i keep at work for days when my hair looks good in the morning so i think to myself "i/ll leave it down today" and then two hours into work i really just want something to keep it out of my face - that scrunchie is green. and it/s no pale green or even grass green. it/s neon lime. and i wear it often.

6.) i don/t like flavor. the blander the better. when asked my favorite food, i/m quick to say "smothered in cheese" because for the most part cheese is the only "spice" i use. i don/t salt anything. i was on a road trip with my sisters once and we were playing that "would you rather" game, and one of the things in my choice of "would you rather" was to eat something (sorry val, i remember it was mexican food, but not what) and the adjectives "really flavorful" went in front. it lost.

they/re gone they/re gone THEY/RE GONE WOOHOO

2008-09-21T18:17:00.003-04:00

we caught another mouse in box. this time, however, devyn could have caught it. if tracy hadn/t been a helf a step behind vyn as they went into the kitchen, vyni would have caught it. tracy scooped up my puppy, handed her to me, got a box, and put it over the mouse and the mouse didn/t move a muscle. we slid the CAT scan under the box, got the lid (since we had time to think about it this time, we used a much smaller box so it was easier to manuever with a mouse in it), flipped the box over (still NOTHING from the mouse, not a squeak of protest or any sort of attempt to escape), moved the CAT scan and put the lid on the box. of course, we let vyn check out the mouse in the box first, then we got in the car to drive the thing out to the field to let it go.

by the time we got on shoes and got into the car, the little creature had his face pressed to the side of the box. by the time we got down the street to the field, he only had one eye open. when tracy gently poured him out onto the ground he just lay there all flumped.

sad, i know, but happy too. it means the orkin man did his job. that mouse was obviously dying before our eyes. and i do feel bad, but tracy and i agreed. we don/t feel TOO bad. when the mice came in to our house they were declaring war. and we won.

as we watched tv tonight, we kept pausing it just to listen to the absolute nothingness. it was so nice. it had been DAYS since you couldn't hear them scurrying around in the walls or under the oven. and tonight, nothing.

they/re gone. they/re gone. THEY/RE GONE.
WOOHOO

be very quiet, we/re hunting mouses

2008-09-19T19:30:00.011-04:00

it/s 11:00 last night and i/m outside smoking before bed when i hear tracy gently tapping her fingertips on the sliding door. i turned and she pulled it open, and the conversation went like this:

tracy: there/s a mouse in a box in my bedroom.

me: what?!?!?

tracy: i got a mouse in a box in my bedroom.

me: (as i/m setting down my book and putting out the cigarette): what?!?!?!

tracy: i caught a mouse. it/s in a box. in my bedroom.

me: (as we/re getting to her bedroom and there is indeed a mouse in a box): how?

tracy: what do you mean, how?

me: how did you catch it?

tracy: what do you mean how? i caught it with the box.

me: didn/t it run?

tracy: oh, it ran. i ran faster. (this accompanied by tracy picking up a different box, and running hunchbacked across her room to demostrate how she caught the mouse) what do we do now?

me: how should i know? i/ll call mom.

tracy: it/s late

me: oh well.

phone: ring ring

mom: hello

me: there/s a mouse in a box in tracy/s bedroom

mom: what?!?!?!?

me: there/s a mouse in a box in tracy/s bedroom

mom: tracy caught a mouse?

me: yes, with a box. it/s in her bedroom. what do we do next?

mom: what kind of box?

me: it/s a clear tupperware box. we need something stiff. hold on, i think i have a folder in my room.

tracy: my CAT scans!!! of my guts!!!

me: oh yeh, those will work.

carpet (getting CAT scans slid over it)/box (getting CAT scans slid under it): shuffle shuffle shuffle.

mouse (as CAT scans invade floorspace): squeak squeak squeak squeak

me: now what?

mom and tracy: now you/we have to get it turned over

tracy (spying her pink kitchen trash can she uses as a dirty clothes hamper): this is deep, it can/t climb out of this.

me (to mom): can a mouse climb a smooth plastic surface?

trash can/laundry hamper getting smashed down on top of clear tupperware box: qqqrrrish

me: uh oh. now we can/t get it up

tracy: uh oh, why did i do that? now we can/t get it up.

mom: can it go in your car?

me: we/ve got it mom. i/ll talk to you tomorrow.

tracy: let/s just drag it outside and let it go.

me: okay.

so, at midnight last night, i held the CAT scans and tracy held the trash can/laundry basket down, and we scooted it out her bedroom, past the kitchen, through the family room, out the front door, down the back sidewalk, then bravely (OH SO BRAVELY) picked the trashcan/laundry basket-clear tupperware box-CAT scan-mouse entourage up and carried it out as far towards the water as we felt comfortable going (neither of us wanted to be alligator midnight snack to save a stupid mouse) and let it go.

we/re just ignoring the fact that we know the entire grounds around our apartment got baited by the orkin man yesterday, and pretending the mouse lived happily ever after.

hmmmm / mmmm

2008-09-19T19:30:00.007-04:00

hmmmm . . . puzzle

mmmm . . . puzzle

t-shirt wisdom

2008-09-15T16:41:00.006-04:00

choose your sick days wisely

i get enough exercise pushing my luck

babette ate oatmeal

where are we going??? why am i in this handbasket???

i married mr. right. i just didn/t know his first name was always.

in dog years i/m dead.

fat people are hard to kidnap

333 - only half evil

i/m ashamed of what i did for a klondike bar.

i/d tell you to go to hell but i work there and i don/t want to see you every day.

i didn/t lose my mind, i sold it on ebay.

happy birthday dear evan

2008-09-10T20:20:00.007-04:00

today is my nephew evan/s birthday. he turned 22. . .er i mean 4. tracy and i got him a razor scooter. he really really really really really wanted a skateboard for christmas. . . until he got it and promptly fell off and smashed not only his head but his butt too. then he wasn/t so hot on the skateboard. so we figured the scooter would be a good in-between. he loved it.

Oh - and we got him a bag of peanut butter m&m/s too. :D

hey, wait a minute

2008-09-08T15:04:00.000-04:00

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

i am so NOT cinderella. didn/t she, like, clean the whole castle, wash the dishes, mop the floors, cook the meals, do her sister/s hair, sew the clothes, etc etc. that sounds to me a lot more like my baby sister (the one with 4 kids, a husband, and a dog) than it does like me. but i filled this out first with the best answers, then again with the second best answers, then again with the third, and they all ended up being cinderella. not to mention i don/t think anyone who knows me, except maybe my doctor, would use the word 'patient' to describe me. stupid disney princess quiz.

my kitchen is enemy territory after dark

2008-09-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

we have a mouse. a big fat rat-sized mouse. i hate mice. i hate them.
so, we had a mouse last march also. he was eating away at the bottom of our pantry door. he didn/t get into any food, but we would wake up in the morning and there would be gnawed off shreds of pantry door on the floor. so we called maintenance and they came and set up a 'snappy' trap and two mornings later when we got up there was a big bloody mousey mess in the kitchen. problem solved, right??? wrong!!!
a couple months later we once again found mouse poo in our 'stinky little room' (a.k.a. the laundry room. my 8 year old niece dubbed it the stinky little room one night when she was over and the name unfortunately fits because it/s where the trash can full of dirty diapers is). we called maintenance and this time they put poison out in the wall and around the outside of the building. the poo stopped showing up so we figured all was good. problem solved, right??? wrong!!!
we went to tallahassee a couple weeks ago and when we got home voila!! more poo. this time, the poo was out in the kitchen. i told tracy we had another mouse and we figured we'd call maintenance again. however, that night as i was laying in bed i wondered if maybe it could have been frog poo. i had brought our potted plants in from our lanai when ts fay was supposed to hit us, and i saw at least one frog jump off the plants and into our garbage disposal (stupid frog). so over the next several days, we went back and forth on whether it was frog or mouse leaving us little presents.
we went to val/s house last weekend because my parents are here. i was out in the garage smoking and found some poo there that was about the same size as what was getting left in our kitchen. so i called my mom out. she said yep, it looked like frog poo to her. so yay!!! frog.
there was no food (or pantry doors) getting laid into, no shredded cereal boxes or holes in vyni's banana puffs. it had been almost two weeks since the poo started to appear. i did wonder what a frog would be eating for two weeks in our apartment to leave so much poo, but we do have some bugs. so we figured. . .
wednesday night i looked behind the dryer for poo and there was none. tracy and i had finally decided that it was definitely frog and that eventually it would run out of food and shrivel up and die. i had a load of laundry in the dryer, and tracy had one in the washer that she needed dried for work the next day. i put a laundry basket in there so she could just throw my load into it when she was ready to put hers into the dryer and i went off to bed.
so thursday morning, i needed to get vyn a pair of shorts from that laundry in the stinky little room. tracy was at the kitchen counter packing her lunch or something. i scrunched by her, opened the door to the stinky little room, flipped on the light, leaned over and picked up the laundry basket and MOUSE THE SIZE OF TEXAS goes running in crazy circles. (looking back, i think when i turned the light on the little rodent probably thought he was hiding behind the basket. so when i picked it up he was just out in the middle of no-man/s land)
okay, so as i said my parents are here. my mom stays at val/s when they come, but my dad stays with us. so he/s asleep on the couch. well, here's mouse running in crazy circles and i start screaming. i am, however, aware that my dad is asleep on the couch, so i/m trying to scream quietly. i was not successful. my mind said to scream quietly, but what got transmitted to my mouth was to scream low. so instead of a high pitched "eek" it was more like a bellowed "uhhh" over and over and over. i try to run to the family room so i could jump up on the furniture and get away from the critter, but tracy was in the path. when i started to bellow, she started to run (she later told me her thought was that maybe there was an aligator in our laundry) but she was not moving NEAR fast enough to placate me. i was just envisioning the monster mouse coming and biting at my heels. so i/m high-stepping it - literally- to keep my feet off the ground as much as possible so the mouse can/t get them while i/m half an inch behind tracy and wishing she would just put it into a higher gear and GO, and bellowing 'uhhh' 'uhhh' uhhh' over and over.
needless to say, my dad woke up. my baby in her bed in our room woke up. the mouse got away. the maintenance man was called and brought glue traps this time. and my sister and dad made fun of me all night last night and have warned me i will not live this down for a long long time.

i need my hair did

2008-09-04T20:20:00.001-04:00

my babygirl/s hair is getting longer. every weekend (the only time i get to do her hair) it seems like it/s longer than it was last weekend. well, at least on top in the front. the back doesn/t seem to be growing at all, but that/s a different story.
so i/m trying to come up with cute ways to do it. i love it when i put the five little ponytails across the front of her face. i tied the sash from her dress in her hair like an 80/s headband one day. teeheehee. and she/s totally 80/s with her flock-of-seagulls hairdo (it started as ponies then she ate the rubberbands). i need some new ideas. . .

hate/love

2008-09-02T15:53:00.000-04:00

i hate being poor. i can/t wait until someday i can make enough money to pay all my bills and still have something left over, until i/m no longer living paycheck to paycheck, until i can buy a house and furnish it and pay the taxes and insurance and upkeep, until i can travel the land in my flashy rv and travel the water in my yacht i named 'cornerbender'.
i hate my 'new' job. i liked it so much better before it changed. i miss my old boss, and the fact that she has of yet not been replaced makes the day-to-day work at my work a pain. there is no communication between departments since the change-over (except to complain about the higher-ups when we're all out on break at the same time) and no one - including the stand-in for ALL the missing bosses - knows who is supposed to be doing what or by when or reporting to who.
i hate that i/m still smoking. but i've quit quitting. at least for now. i don't know anything else i would keep attempting after 32 failures. i/m sure at some point i/ll return to quitting, but for now i/ve quit quitting even though i don/t even like smoking and everything stinks and it/s so expensive.

i love my babygirl. she is still the bestest best of all bestest bests. her smile lights my world. her kisses soak my face and warm my heart. i love doing her hair. i love how big she/s getting and that she helps put her pants on and washes her own hands and dries her face (but not her hands) and climbs up into her high chair and fastens her own seatbelt and closes the doors even from the outside now and how everyone in my family calls her something different but she knows that all of them are her and how she/s getting big enough to hit when she throws her fits. i love snuggling up beside her on the couch at night and letting her fall asleep on my chest and tucking her in at night and how she knows she gets two goodnight kisses and puckers for me twice (one from mommy and one through mommy from daddy).
i love how close december 12th is getting. we are now down to double digits and the paper chain in my bedroom is now confined to just the corner in front of the bathroom. it/s hard for me to believe that at one point it dominated the decorating of my room and engulfed the whole ceiling. the homecoming is closer every day and ever hour.
i love living with my sister. i love having my other sister close. i love that we (mostly) get along, how we look out for one another and are friends and even if i don/t go to the movies with the two of them as often as they go (see #1 i hate above) it/s nice to know that i could if i wanted. i love that my daughter doesn/t have to go to daycare while i work because my family is here. i love making fun of the stupid tv shows we're addicted to together, and becoming addicted to new shows together, and just being there for each other.