oh fine

i'll show you the stupid picture!

It's not that exciting ... though to give credit, it was taken by a 3-year-old. So the fact that it's in focus and that any part of me in the picture is pretty impressive.

xoxo,
AHC

Allen's Latest Photography

This is me last night at bedtime. Once again, I helped out a bit, by moving myself into the frame, but other than that, Allen snapped the picture on his own. I'm telling you, he's got an eye.

Speaking of pictures, we got his first school pictures today. I'll scan them in tomorrow and show them off to you. They're gorgeous, as all photos of him are. Can't wait to share them with you.

Did you guys take good school pictures, or did you dread that time of year? I always dreaded it, and I think my pictures were good only about 50% of the time. What about you??

xoxo,
AHC

Peanut butter mustache

We cried tonight for about 45 minutes because we wanted to watch Cars. And we ate peanut butter on a rice cake. Which means we got a peanut butter mustache ...

xoxo,

Sweet Boy Sweet Day

We had a great day today. Allen slept in his bed all night last night (which means we all woke up happy). We got up early and studied our Watchtowers. Daddy made breakfast (yummy egg-in-a-hole). We were only a couple minutes late to meeting. And besides one "take him out" incident, Allen was fabulous at meeting.




Mom and I each had a call we wanted to make after the meeting, so we went in service for almost an hour. I started a Bible Study with the woman I met a few weeks ago at Big Lots (neat story ... but it's a little long for a blog post). Allen was great the whole time, and when my call came to say hello, he said "Hi 'Mommy's call'" (he said her name, but in the interest of her privacy we won't share). And what was most awesome is that despite my call's physical disfigurement, Allen did not react at all. So that takes one of my concerns off my mind. I'll keep ya'll posted on the progress.



After service, we had a great lunch at Plums (he didn't spill any straws this time), stopped at Lulu Burgess (to pick up some hair accessories for me), and went home. During the majority of this time he was great (one minor meltdown at Lulu's).



By the time we got home it was about 3:30, so we decided to forgo the nap. He watched Cars and played with his cars until his bedtime. And while he was not happy about bedtime, he could barely keep his eyes open during the stories. By the time I got to the ABC song, he'd lost the battle and the eyes were closed.



And here's my sleepyhead now ...

Such a sweet boy today ...

xoxo,

Here We Go Again ...

Last night Allen ate a Fudgesicle. By himself. It got a little messy ...
See those scratches under each eye and on the bridge of his nose? Well, on Friday night he was going a little crazy. First he slammed his head down right onto a toy helicopter (hence the scratch under his right eye {your left} ). Then, he tried to jump on a laundry basket of clean clothes, but since the laundry basket is collapsible, he fell right down and slammed his poor little eye and nose on the corner of the steps. He's definitely becoming quite the little bruiser.

This morning, he woke up, and decided he needed juice treats. So he sits up, and says,

"Mommy, I need juice treats."

"OK. Ask Daddy. He's going to go get coffee for me."

"Daddy I need juice treats please. Daddy wake up. Here we go again ... Daddy's sleeping."

"Here we go again" was the phrase of the morning. And tonight it was "absolutely not."

Mommy: "Allen, can I have a kiss please?"

Allen: "Absolutely not."

xoxo,

Artistic photography ... maybe?

Allen got ahold of the camera the other night ... in addition to the picture he took of the animals in his bed, he took this lovely shot of my shoe (and many others that were bizarre and out-of-focus):

xoxo,

Relaxing day at home

Since our weekend plans fell through, we got to enjoy a relaxing day at home with nothing to do. I don't know the last time that has happened (not to say that there haven't been other days in which I've done nothing ... but usually there's a horrible guilty feeling in my gut because I should be doing something).

Here's Allen -- sporting his new Elmo slippers -- totally relaxing and watching Sesame Street.

Nothing to exciting today. We chilled in our jammies most of the day, and then had dinner with Gigi, Big Dude, and Shell. Dinner was fabulous. Allen no longer wants to be called Little Dude. Every time Big Dude called him that, he said emphatically, "No! Allen!" (pointing to himself). I guess that's that.

Well, I'm off to post on my other blog and then enjoy a movie with my man.

xoxo,

Naughty puppies, toes, cherries

Kristen ... this one's for you :)

As ya'll know, Kristen was here about a month ago, while our Mom went off to Grand Cayman with our Dad. I had several posts that discussed Kristen's visit, including one of her making our drinks, but those were with my camera. So here are a few more pics of her visit that were taken with her camera. Hope you enjoy ...

I forgot to close the bathroom door, so the puppies got in and did some damage ...

Allen is trying to keep his maraschino cherry away from the pups (Kristen was making Manhattans again this night, hence the cherries).

Mom took us to get pedicures. I convinced Kristen (after the woman offered it to us) that we should get little designs on our big toes. Look how pretty!

xoxo,

The Boss

The boss is at work with me this afternoon. We're usually not open on Sundays, but there is a House tour in the neighborhood this afternoon (which includes my parents' house), so we wanted to be open for the exposure to those outside of the neighborhood. We've had some good traffic so far, but it's quiet now that the tours are in full swing.

But, I digress ... Allen (aka the boss) is supervising me here. We have a nice little setup for him, and here he is enjoying it (and watching ... you guessed it! Cars)

Pretty clever, isn't it? Daddy thought of it, and it's working out fabulously ... though we have been outside quite a bit as well ... looking at the fire engine, chasing Orca (the black & white cat next door), and herding customers inside. He stood in the doorway of the shopped, gestured into the store, and said, "Inside!" It was a big hit!!

In other shop news, I was awakened last night at midnight by the alarm-monitoring company informing me that the burglary alarm was going off at the shop. Fortunately, there was no break-in and the police officer was standing right outside when it went off (there is a police annex at the fire station next door), so he responded quickly. And it only woke the upstairs tenant, not any other neighbors. So that was good. But boy, did it scare the bejeebers out of me!!

I'm sure I'll have more to post this evening, but I thought I would share this picture now.

XOXO!