my new favorite picture

five

my little mister "gaben" is five years old today!

gaven is five years old today............


gaven is five years old today?


how did my sweet busteroodles get so old?


happy birthday to "mine" gaven......sniff, sniff.

(this is a big year for him, so i have every right to be a little blue about it. he starts kindergarten next fall so i will lose my daytime buddy. lots of big things happen when you're five. lots! at least kindergarten is one of the coolest grades around and you can still be cute and young and be truly cherished for it.)

(fyi--you may have noticed a recurring pattern here with me and birthdays. they make me very happy. but they also make my heart hurt just a little. i wish i could just bottle him up and keep him so cute and sweet and purely innocent. darn it that these cute little people have to get big!)

he's an awfully handsome big, little five year old, don't you think?

it could've been so nice......

last saturday i set out to attempt one of the hardest tasks i've had to date:

getting a picture of all my boys together.

well, a nice one of all of them together.

one that would be worthy of sending out in a christmas card, or hang on the wall kind of picture.

i'm sure you know the kind that i am talking about.

the lighting was perfect. the boys looked great and were actually sorta happy, so to make it fun for them and hopefully get a few smiles from dalen, i decided to sing a little song.

and then made the mistake of asking them to sing it with me.

please do not make the same mistake i did.

do not have your lovelies sing "jingle bells" and hope to get a great picture.

it will turn out like this:

perfect light, amazingly cute--singing--kids. and zero smiles.

so please take my advice. don't ask children to sing thinking it will make them smile. because it won't.

it will, well........just make them sing.

(but i still LOOOOOOOVE the picture. it just won't be going on the wall.)

the last day

the faithful corner starbucks closed on the night that i was wanting to post this, which makes me sad because i wanted to post it while i was still there, but at least i'm getting to it today, right?

dbaggs was able to be with me for the whole day. i felt safe. especially when we walked by the bums that wanted to take all my quarters. bums don't seem so scary when you've got a travel buddy with you. especially a cute travel buddy.

the day before, i encountered the best bum i have ever seen.

not that kind of bum though. i see that one everyday.

this was a real one. the transient kind. and she had raggedy ann with her. she offered to sing "somewhere over the rainbow" if you put a quarter in her cup.

raggedy ann was the singer, and the lady bum accompanied on the flute.

it was pretty awesome. unlike anything i have ever heard before.

i may or may not have given her that quarter. but man, she sure earned it.

we started out with a cool tour of the capitol building were restaurants are heralded by gold leaf robed statues.

i guess the food there is really good.

its got to be good. there's a statue outside. with a gold outfit.

the picture above is painted to look like it is a relief carving. i was fooled. completely. i would have never known it was painted unless our tour guide told us.

the painting, which wraps around the base of the capitol rotunda, depicts a history of the united states, starting with christopher columbus and ending with the wright brothers first flight.

the artistry amazes me.

again, the artistry aaaaammmaaazes me. look at it.

and yes, the man on the right side of the picture is georgey. george washington, that is. surrounded by 13 lovely lasses. i'm not sure what the take home message is with that painting.

i'm equally confused by the pink blanket on his lap.

we also stopped by to see our good old buddy, abe. no pink blanket on his lap, though.

but before we made it up the steps to see him, dbaggs and i had to pay homage to forrest.

forrest gump.

oh, and "jiiinn-nnay".

our last day was filled with walking. and walking. and walking. and not enough eats. and more walking. and thunder. fried thunder. (which is quite delicious)

even at the end of the day, we still walked. and walked. and walked. but we didn't sing as we walked. and walked. and walked. and walked.

people there in d.c. do walk a lot. there are even some that walk and sing.

that's your cue to cross the street.

people there in d.c. also dress real fancy like.

and their shoes never look good with their outfits.

and that's something that i may never come to terms with.

function over form there, i guess.

or maybe its so they can get away from a singing raggedy ann really fast.

either way, dbaggs is happy to be home with our babies. and our comfy bed.

i'm happy to be home with my shoesies.

well, and my babies too.

hunt for the whitehouse

ok, so i'm here again at the lovely corner starbucks sharing a table with my sweet ganster friend, angel. she's told me a lot about her life in these short few minutes.

a stabbing--5 times in the arm.

property damage.

pictures that won't go in the d@!& folder.

a daddy in the hospital.

blood pressure medication that cvs messed up.

the list just keeps going. but i'll spare you. i'm glad that i have been spared. from the stabbing, at least. i wish i had a picture of her. she's just a doll. a real sweetie.

on to todays adventures:

i started out bright and early to go visit my good friend barack's house. he didn't invite me in though. didn't even open the gates. i was a little sad.

i also got a little lost on the way. and a little confused too. there's a lot of things here that might be that infamous whitehouse where our dear friend "broc o' bom" lives. we're on a gangster name basis, you know.

me? he calls me jbaggs.

him? we call him broc o' bom. he loves it.

this is an awesome view on my way to his house. i had been walking for so long that i thought i might have been headed in the wrong direction. so i turned around. and saw the capitol building. which sadly, is not the whitehouse.

then i turned back around and started going in the direction that the map said his house was at. i knew i was getting close now because the street name had changed to pennsylvania avenue. i really thought i should've been there by now, so naturally, the first big building i saw kinda looked like the whitehouse.

it wasn't.

it was just the treasury building.

i know i have many blonde moments, but even i knew that this was not the white house.

or was it?

when i turned around from staring at that tall tower thingy, i saw police. lots of them. everywhere. i knew i was close now because "broc" told me he has a ton of doormen. and they're not very nice either.

well, they're nice if you look stupid like me and have "i'm not from here" pasted all over your face. or maybe it was the nebraskan that they noticed.

or maybe it was the fact that i looked pretty weird again taking pictures of myself.

only nebraskans do that.

they knew i wasn't dangerous. just take one look at me. i couldn't hurt a fly.

or find the whitehouse.

but i can identify a white squirrel when i see one. everything starts to turn white when you live in this neighborhood.

barack takes measures so that won't happen to him.

well, there you have it. only the smartest of people can find the whitehouse unescorted.

the rest take tour buses.

greetings from our nation's capital

sorry for the quick and dirty post today. i am trapped here at a starbucks coffee shop because our dumb hotel room doesn't do free internet, and i only have 12 minutes left on my pink lappy's equally dumb 2 hour battery--a battery that really only lasts about 12 minutes unplugged. i have to make this post quick. or post haste!

self portraits are a must when you are ALONE in a cool place. its the only proof i have that i'm here.

people sure look at you weird when you keep taking photos of yourself. and you're too paranoid to hand them your camera to take one of you. i blame my mommy for that paranoia. she gave me a hefty dose of it right before we hopped on the plane.

gotta go! stupid battery is dyyyyyiiiiiiiinnngggg.

two

this is one happy (but a little sad) two year old.....................

(he's sad because little people keep eating his cake. it's his party. he'll be sad if he wants to.)




and this is one sad (but a little happy) thirty-five year old...............

(he's sad because i just said that he's thirty-five. and that sounds old. he's happy because it's a birthday party for our baby boy. he's sad because it's a birthday party for our baby boy whose not such a baby anymore.)

what is happening to my family and who said they could get so old??



now i'm sad.

(but a little happy too.)

the beginning: sillyband edition

welcome to sillyband

biology-101.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

please carefully review the slides below:

(the.......ummm, well...............you know........"specialized bands")

(the first meeting of the bands)


(well, you know what's happening here too--rhymes with "mertilization".)


(zygote rubberband!)


(rubberband blastocyst at it finest)


(newborn sillyband, circa 2006--one of the originals, before they were cool)
*
*
*
*
*
*
any questions?
*

*

*

*

*

where did i find such a fine "specialized" sillyband specimen, you ask?

at activity days for the primary girls at church, my friends. i traded all i had for that bad boy. ok...... well, really my lovely niece traded for it for me because i had nothing to trade. she saw that i wanted it really really bad (thanks, maija).

that "fine specimen" needed to be taken off the market, people.

i was just lookin' out for my girls. they don't need to be walking around sporting that thing on their wrist.

the eighteenth of august

today was the first day of school.

and these boys were excited. super excited.

because they love friends---i mean, learning. yes, learning. if you ask them their favorite subject in school, ethen will tell you lunch. cohen will tell you recess. see, i told you my kids looooooove learning. they get their love of friends, oops, i mean learning, from their mommy.

cohen is a big (but little) fourth grader and that is hard for me to wrap my brain around. fourth grade! i remember being in fourth grade. like it was yesterday. but it certainly wasn't yesterday since i'm old and all, but still. i remember it. like it was yesterday. now my very own cute-little-howling-chubby-baby-boy is making his very own fourth grade memories. how can this be? my heart breaks a little every time i think about how old he is getting. but then it gets put back together again because he still loves me. and pigs too. so if those things stay the same then i know i can be healed.

note to cohen: never stop loving your mommy! never. okay? okay. and pigs too. they'll be sad if you stop loving them. but not as sad as your mommy will be. nine years ago i made you promise me that you would stay a 6 month old roly-poly baby forever, but you must have had your fleshy little digits crossed, so i'll forgive that one. i knew it was a lot to ask of you anyways. just always love your mommy and things will be great. okay? sounds peachy.

p.s. please don't cross your fingers on this promise. my heart almost couldn't take that first broken promise.


and this boy? my number two boy is in grade number two! how can this be? HOW CAN THIS BE!? shouldn't he still be rockin' out in preschool? he should, he should. actually "bouncin'-burpin'-baby-buddy-bouncin'-baby-boy" should still be drooling away on his "untel nate's" lap. as you can see, i have a little issue with time and it stealing away my children. my children!

but at least these kiddos are excited for where time has put them. me, not so much. it is something i am working on. growth is good, right? growth is good. i hear this a lot, but it is hard when it happens so fast. and leaves stretch marks.

and i have some serious time stretch marks that i'm dealing with here. they'll fade and i'll not really notice them pretty soon, but right now they're fresh and i'm not happy about having discovered them today.

i love these kids. and i do love where they're at, too. growth is hard, but it is good. i just need reminders that it is good. being a fourth grader is cool. being a second grader is cool.

its just hard when time sneaks in and transports my babies into grades that i, myself remember so well.

those darn stretch marks are never easy or pretty. but at least they'll fade before the new ones set in and life will find its new normal again.

but seriously, time.........why fourth grade so soon? and why my babies? they're mine.

so here's my promise to you, time: i'll be happy with what you've done to my babies, if you would just simmer down and do it a little slower. like, a lot slower. going from crib to fourth grade in the blink of an eye is a little much, don't you think? i think so. my heart can't take it. signs of aging i know, but you did that to me, after all.

you be nice, and i'll be happy. done? done.

i think i speak for all the mommies out there.

i know i speak for all the mommies out there.

traveling commode at dusk

i hope this toilet picture finds you well and in the midst of having a quiet sunday evening with the family.

and...........

this picture's for you, matthew. thanks for using all your pre-manly teen powers to help dbaggs on this excursion. i hope you don't think your auntie is too weird now.

come on. toilets are always funny. even funnier than a urinal. also, a lot easier to photograph than a urinal. just so you know.

sleep deprived man seeks nap during shoot. photo-abuse prevails.

meet dave. or dbaggs. he'll even answer to "hey larry. larry! hey, buddy!" if you yell that at him while he's out. whatever you want to call him, it doesn't matter. just don't try and take this man's picture on a lazy saturday afternoon when the man wants a nap. he'll certainly oblige to having his picture taken because he's nice like that. (and doesn't like to tell his wifey no.) but don't count on him to cooperate.

well, i guess he cooperated pretty well for this one, but watch out below! no really. i'm warning you now. scroll through quickly to the next picture if your eyes can't handle the one below.

view at your own risk:

ttthhhhhhhhhhllllllick! awesome. a tired husband who's half asleep looking like a wildebeest trying to lick you through your car window at one of those drive through safaris. notice the tears in the corners of this daddy's eyes. it only adds to the loveliness of this fine portrait. at least ethen was cooperating.

dalen, being the hardest child in the world to get even a snapshot of his face while his eyes are open, cooperated. what you can't see in this picture is that dbaggs eyes are closed. like, the asleep kind of closed.

it's a good thing larry woke up for this shot because he looks downright dreamy in it. "looook into my eyes......i want to make......biscuits". isn't he enchanting? i guess he shouldn't be to you, but he sure is to me. even the pasty white boy he's holding makes my heart skip a beat. for entirely different reasons though. (doesn't he look like me though? i always like to hear it, so just tell me one more time to make my day.......ok, since you won't make my day, you can't deny that our skin matches at the very least.)

damn! shoot. i mean, dang! when this man is awake, he can sure take a fiiiiiiiine picture. hot daddy, being a daddy. it doesn't get any manlier than that. the chest hair and "circle beard" (as gaven calls it) only add to the "i ooooze testosterone, come and join my man club" look. if only i could look that good in pictures. my self portraits always have a look of angry woman meets death, mixed with a little bit of an eye that can shoot laser beams from it. i might look alright in person, but watch out if you ever see me in print.

i might shoot your eye out.

i'll keep pictures of me to a minimum. its for your safety and that of the general bloblic. better safe than sorry.

the fourth

happy fourth of july!

stay safe and watch out for those bottle rockets!

f-words, revisited

last night we had the opportunity to attend a wonderful little pre-fourth of july gathering.

the first item of fun on the agenda for the night included fishing and "frowing" rocks. unfortunately, the pictures i took of those activities turned out really bad. fortunately for you, you won't be seeing them here. the second item on the list-o-fun for the night included a fire. a fire that took 6 daddies to light. i know what you must be thinking. 6 men lighting a fire. must be a biiiiiiig, manly fire lit with testosterone fumes and chest hair. right? lets just say it was impressive. and it did the job. it made some great s'mores,too. i had some pictures of the manly fire, but it wreaked of testosterone making it unpostable.

even the mommies enjoyed the s'mores. and a foto shoot. well, they endured a foto shoot. it was done by a man. a man that doesn't know his wifey's camera very well. but i won't name names here. it might make him feel bad about his mad camera "skillz". however, this man does have some serious fire-startin' skills. he even tossed a few of his own testosterone laden chest hairs into that fire to really get it going. and by the way, these ladies look quite fantastic, don't they? except for that one girl wearing the hat. my, what big man hands she has!

aren't these the cutest firefly catching jars you've ever seen? they're the cutest ones i've ever laid eyes on. they were hand decorated by a certain crafty sister f who threw the lovely soiree. its a really good thing these jars are pretty indestructible because my kids dropped them on any hard surface that came their way. including our cement garage floor. immediately upon exiting our vehicle. fireflies still inside.

the fun came to an end as all the jars were done being filled up with the nights main attraction. and by filled up, i mean each kiddo finally caught at least one of those slow flying little guys. fireflies are hard to catch when its really dark out (and when you're a mommy thats a little night blind). whats harder still, is catching those darn things on camera. but i finally got one. 68 shots later. and that my friends, can be classified as a waste of precious time. and 67 shots. but let me assure you, that little yellowish-green blob in that picture is, infact, a real firefly. i worked hard for that shot. actually i just got frustrated and gave up for the night. because really, who sits there trying to get shots of fireflies while all their friends are gathered around the fireside chatting the night away? not me. well, ok it was me. but isn't that picture worth it? ok, I guess it wasn't, but at least i got the shot that i set out to get. even if there was just one measly firefly in it.

all in all, we had a fantastic night full of my favorite f-words. and none of my unfavorite f-words. that i heard at least.

an evening filled with friends, family time, and even those elusive fireflies, is a great night in my book. and the fourth-of-july theme was icing on the cake.