Christmas 2010 - Slideshow

Stop by for scenes from Christmas 2010 on Sprague Rd.

Definitely Watch This - SOOOO FUNNY

My co-worker Winters showed this to me yesterday - the commentary is priceless! Turn it up so you hear everything. I don't know what's better - the persistent prairie dog, the beatboxing chipmunk or the moonwalking jungle bird. Warning: if you have a full bladder, I suggest using the bathroom before watching this.

Christmas Videos

Here are my three favorites.  Hope you enjoy them : )

#1 - The Reveal



#2 - The Jam



#3 - The Snow

Merry Christmas

A white Christmas in Raleigh for the first time since 1947 : )  The children are nestled all snug in their beds with visions of lots more snow dancing in their heads.  They were out until 9pm walking the neighborhood with us and throwing snowballs!  We're expecting 5"-9" to fall overnight and throughout the day tomorrow.  Thank you Santa!  Merry Christmas!

Merry Ho Ho!

Gay Scientists Isolate Christian Gene

Someone shared this on Facebook today. Funny stuff. On a similar note, five individuals from that crazy ass fundamentalist Baptist church in Kansas (who's name isn't worth repeating) showed up to protest at Elizabeth Edwards' funeral last weekend here in Raleigh... supposedly in opposition to her support for gay rights. Hundreds of Raleigh folks also showed up to shield funeral goers from the protester's hate wrath. Groups of motorcycles repeatedly drove by the protesters revving their engines in their face, a mini-van full of gay people drove by kissing until they finally gave up and left while the crowd sang "Na, na, na, na...hey hey hey...goodbye." I was proud of Raleigh : )

Upchurch Family Holiday Shoot

Our good friend Jody recently turned her photography hobby into a side business.  She squeezed us in a few weekends ago for a family photo shoot.  You never really know what you'll get with two small children in the mix but Jody managed to capture quite a few special moments.  Check out the new slideshow hosted on the blog to see them.  I think my favorite of all is the shot of Devlyn looking up at Charles - that or the close up of Beebsie's gorgeous smile.  Pictures are so fun : )  So much to look forward to right now - Christmas AND a new baby for Karin and Shayne!  C'mon baby - we're waiting!!!!

The Deets

Annual physical with Dr. Franklin today for both boys.

Blake Lyon Upchurch

Stands 35" tall  / Weighs 31 lbs

50th percentile for height  /  75th percentile for weight

Received two immunizations - 2nd round Hep A & the flu shot

Took both in the thighs like a champ 

Devlyn Campbell Upchurch

Stands 45.25" tall / Weighs 42 lbs

90th percentile for height / 50th percentile for weight

Received two combination vaccines as prep for Kindergarten admission

Totally freaked out and had to be physically restrained by both parents and a nurse.  His comments immediately afterwards, "That didn't hurt at all!"

Like Butta' (think butter with a Brooklyn accent)

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my mother and I had great fun playing with her Bare Minerals makeup.  She "did me up" extolling the many benefits of Bare Minerals as if she were a paid spokesperson.  Somehow, during our makeover sessions the conversation worked its way around to my strict, facial skincare regimen.  You know, the one where I remove my makeup once every two or three days, moisturize in between and often apply random body and hand lotions as face cream.  I've always been fairly low maintenance on the grooming/beauty product thing but, even for me, this was a new personal low.  What can I say?  After 2 years of raising a child who barely sleeps, a few things have fallen by the wayside : )  And it just so happens that this particular state of affairs was on my mind as I cruised the aisles of CostCo this weekend.  Low and behold, I stumbled upon this product.  It's not gentle, but completely bearable and the results after only 2 days are impressive.  The skin on my face is smoother than a baby's bottom, it actually feels tighter and has that natural glow to it.  And although I did apply Vaseline Intensive care body lotion as facial moisturizer again this morning - you'd never know it!  I highly recommend this product for anyone in the 35+ crowd in need of a complexion booster.  If this progress keeps up, I'll be strung tighter than Joan Rivers by March!

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Chapel Hill Hawk

This morning we had a visitor perched outside our office in a sweetgum tree.   It was chilly and he or she was all puffed up.  A mockingbird was bravely taunting him for quite awhile.  We all watched as we had coffee and Winters finally pulled out the company camera and got this shot.  I think it's magnificent with the sweetgum balls in the background.

Fall 2010 Pics

Finally combed through our 2010 Fall photos tonight and posted a new album.  Warning - we took a ridiculous number of pictures this Fall!  Enjoy : )

WikiWhat?

Today, I spent the better part of 2 or 3 hours reading about WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.  I'm sure a lot of people learned a lot about WikiLeaks today, and I, for one, had NO idea of the size, scope and process involved in any of it until now.  Pretty fascinating stuff.  Forbes' blog has a great piece up on Mr. Assange today and this article http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian
 from June's New Yorker I thought was amazing.  Better than any James Bond movie I've ever seen.

Devlyn's 5th

Happy Belated Birthday Devlyn!!!

I love this video.  A few of D's pre-school buddies get silly laughing at Devlyn while he grabs at the air in the Chuck E. Cheese ticket blaster!  Cruising You Tube last night I found a video of another boy named Devlin who had just celebrated his 5th birthday on 11/7 and spent the day at Chuck E. Cheese.  Don't you just love the internet?

Mother's Little Helper

Blake is an action oriented kind of guy. I dig it.

Din Din

I don't remember Kerri saying my name when she was little but I swear I can still see Karin looking at me and calling me something that sounded like "kitchen". Blake's name for Devlyn is Din Din. You can hear him say it in the middle of this video which ,coincidentally, is the cutest damn thing I've ever seen : )

Step Lively! A Walk for Hospice

You've probably received an email from me recently asking for $ in support of an upcoming charity walk. If you read it, you know that Charles, Devlyn, Blake and I are participating in a 2 mile walk this Saturday to benefit Hospice of Wake County.

Here are a few things you may not know:

1) A team of freelance marketers (including me) spent the last 3.5 months helping Hospice of Wake County get this thing off the ground. It's the very first year for Step Lively! and we have 400 walkers participating!!!!

2) Our team, "The Dream Team", has raised a little over $2,000 during the last month in support of Step Lively! Thank you to all who have donated! Thank you to all who may still donate ; )

http://madmenmakingchange.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/a-different-kind-of-dream-team-steps-out-and-steps-lively-for-hospice/


3) Over the past three years, we've helped Hospice of Wake County raise nearly $16 million dollars, all of which has gone towards purchasing land and building this area's first and only freestanding hospice facility. It's been an educational and inspirational experience for me...watching the building go from red dirt and concrete to a fully operational facility serving patients and their families at all levels of our community, regardless of their ability to pay.

If you'd like to donate please visit www.steplivelyforhospice.com, click donate and search for "The Dream Team".

Warning! Extremely Cute

After bathtime this evening, we were getting into our jammies and talking about the potty. I asked Blake if he was going to wear underwear like Devlyn some day and use the potty. Blake ran into the bathroom, pretended to "pee" in the potty, came back and took a few pairs of Devlyn's underwear. Then he headed downstairs so he could beat Devlyn to the "movie chair". Devlyn and I joined him in the living room soon after and this is what we found. He sat like this, perfectly content, watching Robin Hood for 10 minutes until Devlyn pulled the top pair off his head. Blake was not happy about that last part. As far as he was concerned he was just wearing underwear like Devlyn!

Happy Birthday Beebsie!

Effective 10-27-10, I'd like to officially wish Blake Lyon Upchurch a Happy 2nd Birthday! He is our sweet, smart, happy boy with a wry sense of humor and an electric smile. He's Daddy's wrestling partner, Devlyn's eternal sidekick and Mommy's little puppy : ) We love him soooooooooooooooo much. Happy Birthday Beebsie! Click on the new slideshow to see highlights from Blake's 2nd year.

Ice Cube Soup

Devlyn and Charles went to Chapel Hill yesterday for the UNC/ECU football game. They had a blast and Blake and I had a wonderful time playing together, just the two of us. He whipped up a special batch of ice cube soup for me. Had to post this video b/c he's too cute with those cheeks in a chef hat.

He's getting to be a real big boy these days - wants to do EVERYTHING himself. I've started to realize that this parenthood thing makes so much more sense the second time around. Much easier to let them do it themselves when you realize that's what you're supposed to do! Trying to relish the last of Blake's babyhood - it's fleeting fast! It's nearly cold here - very exciting. Finally some real Fall weather. In just a few weeks we'll be hitting the beginning of the Upchurch family Fall crazy stretch. Birthday, Halloween, birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Whew, I'm tired and broke just thinking about it ; ) Enjoy the video!

In Defense of Freddie Mercury

It's a cyclical thing. Every month or so Devlyn will latch onto a new rockstar and absorb as much about him or her as any 4 year old can. Their style, their tone, their stage presence, and most importantly, in his own estimation, whether or not they can rock. It can be someone C or I introduce him to or someone he hears on the radio and asks about. One thing is certain. Devlyn has an ear and he recognizes musical greatness immediately. His most recent pick is Freddie Mercury. I never imagined that anyone could listen to Another One Bites the Dust 30x in a row. I watched Devlyn listen without him knowing. He was listening hard. Staring off into space as he did with a look of very focused fascination on his face. He figured out how to use the laptop mousepad himself and hit the repeat button the second it ended. He did this for half an hour. It was awesome. Finally he ventured over to the alternate recordings of AOBTD offered by YouTube and landed on this:


The look on D's face when Freddie struts on stage wearing a Canadiens hat, a red bandana scarf, a workout towel and not much else is one I will never forget. Not ever. It sent me flying into a fit of laughter as we watched the performance together. Devlyn laughed a little with me at first but eventually he got upset and in a very composed, empathetic way he told me not to laugh at Freddie. You could tell he knew better than to laugh at Freddie Mercury no matter what he was wearing. He sensed the awesomeness and he wasn't about to let me take even a sliver of it away from Mr. Mercury.

Are you ready? Are you ready for this? Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

Conversations with Devlyn

We sold a few things on Craigslist today so people were coming by the house and checking things out, negotiating....picking up stuff, etc. When I was putting Devlyn to bed this evening I thanked him for helping out with selling stuff. I asked him if he thought we should try to sell Blake just to see what he'd say. His eyes got real big and he shook his head no. "Ya, you're right," I said. "We wouldn't get much money for him anyway...he's too loud" Devlyn laughed. "What about me?" I asked. "We might get a lot of money for me!"

"I'd give my whole piggy bank for you," Devlyn replied, dead serious. Major love moment for Mommy.

"Well what about Daddy? Should we sell him?" I asked.

"No, I love him." was Devlyn's reply to that. Not sure what that means for me but hey I AM worth an entire piggy bank (which for the record is mostly full of pennies).

Much later in the bedtime ritual - as he was drifting off and I was just about to leave I whispered, "I love you so so much Devlyn." Without missing a beat, in perfect deadpan humor tone he shot back, "That's why I don't want to sell you."

I will forever laugh remembering that conversation - ha!

Summer Vacay - Picture Show

He won't sleep but he sure takes cute pictures ; ) Stop by the bloggy blog to see what we were up to at the lake last week!

For Those About to Rock

Well I don't suppose you thought we'd stopped rockin' around here did you?!? Heavens to Betsy, no. That will never happen. It has been awhile, though, since we posted any evidence. This post will fix that. Raleigh, North Cackalacky registered at 106 with the heat index today. C took the boys indoors to play at the mall for a bit. There, at Crabtree Valley Mall, Devlyn climbed atop the kiddy-slide and started belting out Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues at the top of his lungs, "I shot a man in Reno..." There's a British musician at "Friday Night Scooter Night" who does a killer rendition of it - dead ringer for Cash, so that's where D is pulling it from. I nearly pee my pants laughing every time I think of that scene at the play area - wish I could have been a fly on the wall. Above, you'll find my two favorite pictures that I've ever taken and below is a link to a seriously rocking video. For those about to rock - we salute you!! Don't forget to cruise on over and check out the new slideshow while you're at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bd7qKrf6-E

Summer Learning Curve

So how's everyone's summer going? Way too quick if it's anything like ours! Adjusting from a lakeside life of leisure last summer back to crazytown life/career balance sure has made the summer fly by for us. Blake has started talking up a storm - the words are coming fast and furious. You forget how awesome it is to watch little ones learn to connect to the world through language. Speaking of...Devlyn walks around sounding out every word he can feast his eyeballs on, has really begun to learn how to read and loves every minute of it. He has also recently learned how to ride scooters and looks SO mature gliding around with a smooth, wide kick-stride and a cool-as-ice demeanor to match. I can't believe that's our little Munka putt putting around on a scooter all by himself! As for me, I've just finished up my first major project in my new role on the new job and am thriving in the environment at CJ&P. It's very purposefully set up to be ALL about learning and growing, both individually and as a company and is truly an amazing place to have the opportunity to further my career at. On a sad note, I laid an old friend and companion to rest much too soon this summer and learned a lot about love and being human in the process. I learned that the hermit crab we brought home from the beach Memorial Day weekend can live for up to 50 years if properly cared for - omg. Currently "Crabby" is burrowed underground in his "crabitat" where he's been for two weeks molting. Apparently, he'll be there another two weeks during which time he will eat the shell he's just shed in order to strengthen his shiny, brightly colored, new one. Don't even get me started on what I've learned about hermit crabs this summer - that's a whole other blog! And finally, I learned how to install a thermostat just last night when ours fritzed out. You know what? It's not even that hard. Like, I didn't have to whip out the Multimaster (much to my chagrin) or anything : ( So there you have it - we're all about some learning around here this summer. Check out this link to hear Blake rattle off some words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-FSYRqo-pA

Warning - you have to be patient - the words don't come until the end.

Happy Father's Day!

I feel guilty reporting that, just yesterday, Blake Upchurch finally uttered the word "Mama". After nearly a year of responding to "Dada", this will take some getting used to : ) I make him say it every 5 minutes - the most glorious sound I've ever heard. Happy Father's Day honey!

Be sure to check out the new slideshow for Upchurch family Father's Day shots.

My Left Butt Cheek

Kids truly do say the darndest things. Check out Kellan McMullen pushing 70 pounds of Upchurches around!

Summer is Almost Here!

This photo was on a Lands End coupon I received. I handed it to Devlyn this afternoon and he said, "How did I get in this picture? Who are those people with me?" Ha, ha ha. Charles and I think this boy is a little bit of a mix of Devlyn and Blake but definitely a look-a-like for Devlyn in this shot. Just returned from a spectacular Memorial Day weekend in Kure Beach. Good friends, good food and great weather. Thanks to the McMullen and James families for helping to pull together such an awesome weekend. Kellan, Zoe, Devlyn and Blake had a blast together. Check out the updated slideshow for highlights from the trip. We met a woman on the beach who says she knows brothers named Devlyn and Blake from Leland, NC?!? Crazy.

Back in the Saddle Again!

I'm too tired to write much but we've been plenty busy around here as usual. Final touches on the tree house and steady progress on the upstairs bathroom have gobbled up the past two weekends. All day yesterday was reserved for celebrating Charles' birthday and celebrate we did. Thanks, as always, to Gma Nina for taking good care of the boys while Mommy and Daddy stepped out last night. I think next year we may have to finally make it happen and head to Churchill Downs for the Derby. Derby Day is a fine day for a Birthday! Check out the new slideshow - Devlyn is a 4-wheeling fool lately and Blake wants in on the action (shocking, I know).

Men in Tree(house)s

Either he can’t hear the damn thing or he’s upstairs getting Blake to settle down I thought to myself. I’d just tried to call Charles at home numerous times on my way back from Marshalls. And then it hit me…he’s in the tree house! Did I mention we have a tree house?!? Thanks to talented, selfless Uncle Shayne (and plenty of Charles’ elbow grease) WE HAVE A TREE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This evening I learned that as sure as Cinderella’s coach turns into a pumpkin at midnight, tree houses magically transform into man-caves at approximately 10pm. And that’s exactly where I found my husband, accompanied by an empty martini glass, chatting boisterously via cell phone with one Mr. Sam Edwards. There simply is no better person to converse with over vodka laced with olive juice from a tree house in your own backyard after 10pm on a Friday. There just isn’t.
I crept up the ladder and overheard, “I’m telling you man, it doesn’t get any better than this.” Glancing up at the stars through the cedar I had to admit, for the most part, he was right. But the two Goodberry’s Heath Bar Specialty sundaes I’d just carried up with me would probably change that. It was indeed about to get better.

Introducing the Yohawk

Blake changed suburban fashion forever this evening by busting out of the mold with the newly coined "Yohawk". Hip, edgy, a little fruity and at the same time, oh so sweet. "How can I achieve this look?" you may ask. Simply end any meal with a small bowl of yogurt and throw in some attitude. Have fun. Get messy with it. With practice, you too can perfect this alt-toddler, rocker-chic coif. Willy nilly wannabes beware - you've got to own it to pull this look off.

Happy Birthday to ME!

As I eagerly await "the other side of 35" (gulp, snort, guffaw) I decided that a special birthday present was in order. Toolsnob.com's glowing review of the Fein Multimaster solidified my notion of it as the holy grail of tools. I promptly placed my order. The UPS man drove away a few minutes ago and I have been staring at the Multimaster ever since. A vision of orange and black, perfectly nestled in its case with attachments galore. Each one shiny, new and labeled accordingly. Since I am home with both kids this afternoon, I will stare a little longer then pack it away for later when I can take the time to savor each little piece, devote my full attention to the instruction manual and let my inner nerd run wild. I can hardly wait. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birrrrthdaaay to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Happy birthday to me!

One, two, three CRY! (and then buy)

Direct TV has changed my life. Coincidentally that is their new advertising tagline and coincidentally that's what this post is all about. I cried three times watching the season premier of "Parenthood" last night (for the record so did Charles) which normally I wouldn't even take notice of - aside from the fact that I've seen 10 bazillion promos for it over the last few weeks. I recently realized that no matter what I'm listening to, watching or Googling lately - I identify strongly with at least 1 out of every 2 advertisements I hear. Procter and Gamble's "Thanks Mom" Olympic ad campaign? Brilliant, poignant - totally had me bawling. Their closing spot, "What's better than being an Olympic athlete?" Cut to shots of Olympian's Moms reacting to their children's individual victories - "Being an Olympic athlete's Mom." I'm crying right now just thinking about it and of course I am - that commercial was designed to make me cry...all the way to Target for more Pampers ; ) I typically have not identified with commercials in this way - not sure why that is but I'm truly enjoying it now that I do. Is the creative talent right now that much better? Has the fact that I know sooooooooo much about the numbers and science behind it all finally worn off? I'm the one usually placing client's commercials where they need to be for maximum demographic impact! Has the fragmentation of media and creation of niche media channels finally collided perfectly with consumers like myself who've fine tuned their media consumption OR is 1 out of every 2 ad dollars actually spent to reach me: woman, 35-54, 2.3 children at home, dual income family / prime demographic CONSUMER extraordinaire? Probably a little bit of both and I, for one, am LOVING it and find it endlessly fascinating!

Radial Head Subluxation

a.k.a Nursemaid's Elbow - in laymans terms "popping your elbow out of joint". Devlyn managed to do this to his left arm today while sitting on the floor next to me. Apparently he moved too quickly and bent his arm backwards??!? The immediate yelping was a bit odd but since he had literally been sitting on the floor I wasn't too worried about it. After 10 minutes of watching him walk around like a gimp refusing to move anything on his left side I figured it was time to run a few amateur Dr. Mom tests. Can you move it? No. Can you squeeze my hand? No. What happens if I do this? Intense screaming follows. Houston, we have a problem. Off to the doctor we went. The nurse practitioner immediately knew what that problem was and popped his elbow back into joint (not enjoyable for anyone involved). She then taught me how to do it in case it ever happens again - ew. Devlyn hopped off the table, took three steps and nearly passed out. They gave him plenty of Motrin and sent us out for x-rays. We're happy to report everything is aok and Devlyn is resting comfortably watching Stuart Little with the use of both his arms! Holy freak episode!

Supersize My Double McTwist 1260 Please

Have you been watching the Winter Olympics as much as I have? SO awesome. I had never even heard of Snowboard Cross - omg - I am in complete and total awe of that and the downhill. If I am unable to be reincarnated as Beyonce - Lindsey Vonn would be just fine thank you very much. And how cool is Shaun White? Redonculously, double mctwisty 1260 cool is how cool. The Flying Tomato RULES! Bring on the figure skating ; )

Wild West Raleigh (with snow)

There is a NationalBullRidersAssocFinals being held at the NCState Horse Complex this weekend. We outfitted the boys and headed on down to see some REAL cowboys do their thang. You definitely have to experience bullriding in person to truly appreciate the intensity. 8 seconds IS an eternity. There was barrell racering too - power and agility rolled into one. The boys LOVED every minute. When the flag riders came out to open the events - Blake literally leapt off my lap and ran in the direction of the horses screeching and pointing, beside himself with amazement. He raced around "talking" and pointing to anyone and everyone as if to say, "Did you see that?!? DID YOU SEE THAT??!!?" Insert magical parental moment here. Man we had fun - check out the slide show for details. When we left around 9:30 we were greeted by snow falling and about an inch on the ground - felt like Wyoming for a minute.

Another Stolen One Liner

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.

En Garde!

Love, love, love little boys : ) Beebs is a modern day gladiator in body AND in spirit!

Snow!

If we do get snow here in Raleigh, it's almost always in January so I guess we're just sneaking in under the radar with this storm. Started around 7pm Friday night and snowed/sleeted pretty continuously for about 24 hours. I'd say we probably have 6" or 7" here at our house. The boys are in heaven. Devlyn wore a yellow and teal hand-me-down snowuit that screams 1982 and he couldn't be happier. Check out the slideshow! In the picture of Charles, Blake and I you can see Devlyn way at the bottom of the hill (just look for the teal!) where a nice neighbor is helping him put his hat and mittens back on after a sledding wipe out : ) Here he is kickin' it on our driveway - reminds me of the driveway I grew up on in Shelton!

My Little Ninja

This is how I was greeted this morning at approximately 8am in the kitchen. Nothing like rolling out of bed in your Power Ranger jammies, stepping directly into your cowboy boots that are 3 sizes too small, grabbing your nerf sword and heading downstairs for breakfast! Inevitably followed by, "What are we going to do today Mommy?" Nothing I think up is going to top that imagination!

Yele Haiti

So, wow, watching the news last night was heartwrenching. I fought the urge to turn it off several times. Changing the channel or simply turning off what I couldn't handle seemed even more cruel than watching in horror. Like any parent, the images of children suffering hit the hardest. Then the statistics came...don't quote me but I believe I heard that 39% of Haiti's population is under the age of 15. I can't deal with knowing that unless I try to help in some way. Wyclef Jean, (former Fugee) is Haitian born, Brooklyn bred. A song he wrote 8 or 9 years ago about Haiti, "Yele", has always been one of my favorites. He sings it in Creole and it is fantastic. He also started an organization a few years back called Yele Haiti. Its/his mission is to help lift Haitians up by infiltrating the smaller, most impoverished communities the larger aid organizations often can't or don't get to. This is not a fly by night operation but an established .org that is endorsed/approved by national media as one worth giving to. You can verify that by visiting http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/01/13/haiti.earthquake.how.to.help/index.html?hpt=T2 or by Googling etc.

If you can and/or are so inclined, consider making a donation at http://www.yele.org/

Randomly, here's a video I found of two white chicks singing their version of Clef's "Yele". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soE3yuBjbQU

Kick your volume up. It takes them a bit to warm up but they definitely do it justice. I say it 30x times a day but how fabulous is technology??!?

BLU with Long Hair Circa 1975 : )

Thumbs Down Internet Explorer 8

Has anyone else had severe problems browsing after upgraded to IE8? My computer wouldn't load 80%-90% of sites after I upgraded - it was driving me NUTS. Just removed that update and surfing has been smooth ever since. From what I've read, the new version is so far ahead of most websites' programming and security that the sites cannot be viewed. I can understand being ahead of the curve but geezu. Of course, IE8 could just totally suck and Microsoft doens't want to admit it - ha ha! Either way - my advice is DON'T upgrade.

Babies, Bars and Bathrooms

First things first. Connor graduates from bootcamp this weekend - yay! Mark, Susan, Haley, Nina and Roy will all be there in Chicago to bear witness and celebrate. The link to his graduation page where he is listed as an award recipient is: www.bootcamp.navy.mil/honor_grads.asp
I, for one, am looking forward to pictures of that boy in his Navy uniform!
Just uploaded a new slideshow. Beebs is so tall all of a sudden. Devlyn too, but I'm used to his long legs. Lots o' naked baby pictures - we were trying to get a good solid pic of that voluptuous baby bum before it's all grown up. We were striving for a shot where you could see that it still spills over on both sides from behind into those enormous thighs. Oh well, you get the idea! And, btw, Devlyn actually sits in his carseat with his legs crossed as shown. He seems as though he's about to whip out a pipe, an ascot and host Masterpiece Theatre at any moment. I'm quite sure it was my hysterical laughter at this very thought while taking those pics that prompted the protruding tongue.
Way to go North Carolina for finally adopting the indoor smoking ban for bars and restaurants! This helped tremendously as we dodged cabin fever over the weekend by playing pool, video golf and ping pong with the boys at a few local watering holes. This elongated cold spell had already sent us to the mall play area or McDonalds more than we could stand!
Lastly, as of today, the d'stairs bathroom is officially finished! Pics of the sink side are included.

Best Line Ever

Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox in Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox:

"If what I think is happening is happening - it better not be."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2igjYFojUo

Put a Ring On It

We've been in a pop hip hop phase around here lately. I was reliving the 90's last week playing Mo' Money Mo' Problems - man that song is good! But yesterday we were all watching the "Single Ladies" video in the kitchen on YouTube. Charles and I were discussing how good it is and making comments on the individual dancers when Devlyn quickly chimed in with his two cents, "I like the one in the middle!" That would be Beyonce. Smart kid.