Economic Crisis Averted

Our country is in the firm grasp of an economic crisis, and it is at times like these that I like to bury my head in the sand and pretend it's not happening. Join me, won't you? I mean, I'm sure Jen will fix it anyway so it should be on the upswing pretty soon. Psst...get to work Jen. I have publicly called you out.

Kate and I discovered a 3 step process to forget about your retirement fund that's currently wasting away to nothing.

Step One: Take a 2 hour bath. Play with various kitchen items you've smuggled into the tub.

Step Two: Dry. Have your mom make loud farting noises to make you laugh.

Step Three: Nap. Preferably somewhere with good lighting.

See? It's so easy. Maybe someone should suggest it to Bush.

Naptime

What should really sell you on the picture is the solid drool line on his hand. Now that's a good nap.

Drool on, baby.

Because he's pretty cute...

...and because he was so good at church and did not scream and by doing so catapult boogers on my silk skirt (ahem, Kate)

...and because tonight he said "Why don't we take some pictures Mama? I will sit here. You just do the snap."

...and because right now he is downstairs trying to be a pirate with his very un-pirate sister.

...and just because he looks like he's currently strangling Kate doesn't mean he isn't the sweetest older brother.

...and because he is just basically an awesome kid.

Thanks for today, Colin.

The Weekend In Pictures

I bet this fish didn't have the best weekend. Well, I'm sure he told his friends "At least I made the weekend in pictures."

And just so you don't think it was all sweetness and light...

I want this exact shoot for my family

How cool is this?


The Whitney Clan from Michel Sandy on Vimeo.

Helps that this is one of my favorite songs. "Love is the answer at least to most of the questions in my heart. Like why are we here and where do we go and how come its so hard." Ah, Jack Johnson--why are you so awesome?

Help me...

...I have too much time on my hands in the morning.

(You'll also want to know that an hour later she had pulled them all out)

(Monique, check out the pig she's holding. Toddler shout-out to Maleia!)

Halloween?

Mostly this post is to get that freaky berry thing off the top of my page. But I've also been working on the kids Halloween costumes and want to know what you, my Internet peeps, are going to be for Halloween? Or are you just too adult for that?

This one is going to be a bee. With a tutu. Duh.

And this?

Well, this is just funny.

Add It To The List Of Things I'm Freaked Out By

This thing looks like a berry and a Venus flytrap had sex and left their love child by the side of the road. My mom and found it today and I swear it said "Feed me, Seymour"

Aren't you glad you came here today?

Um seriously, what the hell is that thing?

Jaded Smelly Punk Teenager

Doesn't she look like a jaded smelly punk teenager reading Rolling Stone? (or whatever it is jaded smelly punk teenagers read) Probably tells her us we don't understand her generation. She's going to want a tattoo before she's four. Oh my gosh, she's growing up so fast. Holy crap.

Oh wait. That's better. I just needed to fix her hair.

The Weekend In Pictures

This weekend in pictures is raaaaaaandom. Isn't it funny when the pictures you get are just the inbetween time?

Bathtime

Naptime

Dinnertime

Tutu time

How could we skip over tutu time?

Wish me luck. Tomorrow is booger library day. I have Wet Wipes.

It's All In The Family

Yesterday my mom went insane and decided to take me up on the repeated begging to take our family pictures (because I can count on one hand the pictures that all of us are in) Here are some of the results:

Colin's face here? Priceless.

You are a brave, brave woman Mom. I'm sure I'm out of the will but wasn't it worth it? You are awesome.

Readers, I'll put outtakes on the photoshoot later this week. You will pee your pants laughing. We did.

Also I'm not quite sure why Kate didn't have shoes. We thought her pink Crocs would totally flow until we got to the beach. Amateurs.

I Got Crabs.

Is anyone else totally freaked out by this crab we found at the beach?

Be good. Or white crab will come and kill you.

(Seriously, I just got shivers looking at that thing again. Ugh)

(Anyone else with the mental age of six want to high five me for that title? Anyone?)

Photoshop Friday

Hey, we haven't had one of these in awhile. Photoshop Friday has no rhyme or reason except for it usually seems to be about what I just figured out how to do myself. In this case, rounded corners on photos.

I tried several ways but this is my favorite.

At the top of the screen click on "Layer" then "Duplicate Layer". (See it there as "Background Copy"?)

Select Rounded Rectangular tool (Left side of the screen--I have it selected)

You can adjust the corner curve (how rounded your edges are) by changing the radius (which is at the top) I had .5 in selected here.

"Draw" the rounded rectangle on your duplicate layer. It's supposed to look like this so don't freak out.

Click on "Paths" (At the bottom right of your screen--next to your Layers palette)

Click on the little itty bitty arrow right under the red X (next to paths)

Click on "Make selection" Hit OK.

Go back to "Layers" (Still in Palettes - right side of screen)

Select the "Background Copy"

At the top of the screen, hit "Select" then "Inverse" (I'm not quite sure why I'm putting "everything" in "quotation marks", but now that I've started I can't stop)

Got "that"?

Hit the delete button on your keyboard.

Select the Background (the original photo)and delete it. To delete, you can just right click in your Layers palette and select Delete.

Select the Shape Layer and delete it the same way.

There you go! Rounded corners! The checkboard pattern is weird isn't it? I thought it would show up somehow, but when you download it doesn't.

And because really can you have too many pictures of a random Mountain Dew can? Here is the finished product:

Online Auction

To start earning money for this lens, I'm going to start an online auction.

Starting off, receive a personalized "How To Work It Like A Supermodel" class taught by our own Kate Jacobson. Nudity is not required, but is encouraged.

Starting bid is $100. Any takers?

Work it, girl.

My Life Right Now

I've been trying to get some grandma/granddaughter shots while my mom's here. Harder than you would think. Kate is like a pink hued tornado. We worked on some today.

Then I saw those tasty toes and had to get in on the action. Seriously, who elses toes would you want to chew on? Nah, maybe don't answer that. I don't know if we're those kinds of friends.

This last picture so perfectly represents my life right now. No one is looking the right way, there is a random foot in the shot and I’m pretty sure Kate started screaming soon afterwards. But I just shrug and think “well, at least my hair looks pretty good”

And it looked pretty damn good the rest of the day.

For my Photoshoppers....

Go here and check out these free Photoshop actions. Don't say I never did anything for you.

Things I Learned In The Library:

I am the parent volunteer in Colin's school library. This position has taught me two things:

1. Kids like to pick their noses when they are bored.

2. Kids are bored a lot in the library.

The upside is since I'm a volunteer, I can play with the kids without much responsibility (which hopefully detracts from the nose-picking) Colin also announces to his entire class "This is my MOM!" which just kills me. Thank goodness this little man is not a nose picker.

Taken on my iPhone in the library. Pretty good for a phone, right?

So, got any nose picker stories? Come on, gross us out.

She's Staying!

My mom's staying for TWO more weeks. We are pretty excited around here. She's just that awesome.

How I Spent My Birthday

Subtitled: How I Gained Twelve Pounds And Made An Idiot Of Myself

Went with these cute boys...

...to see this odd play.

(where we were NOT ALLOWED to take pictures. But I did, because I live on the edge. And because I didn't use my flash, so no one knew. Yeah, I was really sticking it to the man)

Saw LOST being filmed. Did not take pictures because was hanging out the school bus in a dignified manner screaming "I love you Sawyer!"

Had forbidden Dairy Queen treats. Took Colin along for the sugar ride.

Found this hot guy. Went with him to a luau.

Did I mention there was a sugar ride happening?

Made weird headdress thingies. Guess they have to have the white people doing something around here.

Ate luau food until I passed out.

The End.

Reign of the Tutu

I'm not used to this. This particular attachment little girls have to one item of clothing--in Kate's case, her tutu (shout-out to tutu maker Jen)

With Colin, all clothing has to pass one test: "Can I be a race car in this?" Size 6, race car ability: check.

I've got to hand it to her though. It is pretty bitchin'.

4:42 pm

We are:

Doing homework.

Terrorizing in tulle.

What are you doing?

I wish you could hear...

...Colin laughing every single time I show him this picture.

Dude, that guy is still hot.