(Laptop) crash survivors

Waaah. I finally resolved to put aside crafting aspirations for a night and document that magical trip to Disneyland last October. And after that I was even thinking of blogging Halloween and Christmas. Folks, I was actually going to do this. So, imagine my distress in discovering that not only is my electronic photo folder void of a single Disneyland picture, but pictures I do recall taking from Halloween, etc. are also MIA... I am hoping desperately that I actually documented all of last fall with Ma's camera and the photographic proof is all safe and sound on her computer, and not that these were all pictures only saved onto our deceased laptop and therefore lost forever. I hate to entertain the latter scenario, so instead I will post various tid bits from last fall that managed to survive lappy's sudden passing.

This was taken while we celebrated the miracle that Kyle and I had somehow hoisted a 13-foot tall Christmas tree up in the living room with nothing but minor injuries to all involved.

See now, I only take one picture every other month, but I choose wisely. I don't believe anyone else has ever bothered to document the true meaning of "bone soup," and yet it's such an integral part of Ma and her philosophies.

Does the fact that a non-canine not on the brink of starvation chooses to ingest such a meal make anyone else giggle? Bless that dear mom (especially so since she just underwent knee replacement surgery today!).

I know, it's not fair. Ellie's the one who's getting the adorable apron made, but Erik is my real assistant in the kitchen. Cooking with him isn't "fun" yet, since he hinders much more than he helps, and also gets very near injuring himself in the process, not to mention that if you don't let him participate in the way he sees fit, there will be a fit, and it will not be pretty. But then he flashes this cheddary cheesy grin and all is forgiven.


One brisk December morning Ma and I discovered that not only did she have two fruit-bearing trees on the side of her house, but also that they were both laden with tangerines ripe for the pickin.' Or so we thought.

They were more decorative than tasty. Even Bob didn't come back for seconds, and y'all know what that means.

This was how Ma and Pa's dining room looked until last week, I believe. Kyle painted the top 2/3 of the walls, leaving the bottom open for wayne-scotting (sp?) that never happened, and I think Mom ended up just painting over the whole thing last week anyway, but hey! How did Erik end up sporting Scott's Guarana hat from his mission? Nothing gets past that garage door, I tell ya.

Ellie didn't care much for Santa or Mrs. Claus, but woo hoo! Free candy cane! (Oh yeah, the reason she told us she was disappointed in Santa was because he had to actually ask for her name. She refused to disclose such information.)

We keep these pictures around to convince ourselves that our kids really are best friends, no matter what the current evidence may suggest.



Rub a dub dub, five little nude-ies in a tub. We rationed out the bubbles and I think they each got a few. By the time the younger four were soaped and scooped out, Sage (the oldest, and the last one out) was exclaiming in desperation, "Please get them out-- I am SO COLD SO COLD SO COLD!"

Where does that little whirlpool of water go anyway?