365 Days of Donna

09 October 2011 (Sunday)

2012-01-07T22:57:00.000-06:00

Blake and Elisabeth often send me photos and videos of my adorable grandson. (To Blake and Elisabeth: THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!)

This night they sent me a photo of 2^nd Peter who fell asleep on the sofa while they were watching television.

Oddly, across town 1^st Peter had also fallen asleep while watching television, but he was on our bed and he (as always) had a death grip on the television remote. I sent Blake and Elisabeth a photo of 1^st Peter.

What are the chances? It seems 2^nd Peter also was in control of the remote!

I put the two photos together for your viewing enjoyment:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks to me as if 2^nd Peter has a little smirk on his lips. He’s only days old, but I have a feeling he knows exactly what is going on.

08 October 2011 (Saturday)

2012-01-07T22:32:00.000-06:00

A good day for Woochee! Water flowed forth from that thing in the kitchen!

First, she batted the water around for a while and let it run between her toes:

Then she had a little drink:

Note to guests who eat in our home: This faucet is probably the cleanest thing in our whole house. I clean it repeatedly every single day.

07 October 2011 (Friday)

2012-01-06T23:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Graham and I went to see 2^nd Peter and Elisabeth, too. When we arrived Peter was sleeping. We transferred him to Graham where he continued to sleep:

He had a patriotic dream, at the end of which he appropriately saluted:

When we all laughed, he cried:

That’s okay. We needed him awake so I could take photos, and fire my herkin’ camera light at him, thus blowing out his retinas. Hmmm.

Change of plans—photos without the flash.

The background of this story is that I saw a cute thing on Pinterest. It was two photos side by side. The first one showed a pregnant lady’s mid-section, where she was bulging with a baby inside of her. The second photo showed the same lady in the same position and same clothes, BUT the baby was on the outside.

I took the first photo a few weeks ago before Peter's birth. Yesterday I took the second one.

Here are a few outtakes from our photo session:

Here’s the final result I put together today:

PS. I highly recommend Pinterest! It’s so informative (and so addictive).

06 October 2011 (Thursday)

2012-01-05T22:45:00.001-06:00

Actually, it’s not Thursday, the 6^th of October. It’s Thursday, the 5^th of January in 2012. After doing 1039 posts, I sort of got tired of blogging. No, I got really tired of blogging. But I’m Type A and driven and have trouble stopping things I start. On the other hand, it’s not unusual for me to start a project and not finish it. But I feel bad about it every time I do that.

I’ve been feeling bad about my blog in general for a few months. I can’t seem to get caught up, but I haven’t been trying too hard to do so. Seriously, it is so hard to take and post a photo every day? No, unless my overachieverness rears its ugly head and I start taking 50 or 100 photos a day and try to post 10 or 20 of them.

A couple of weeks ago I was standing on a pier in San Francisco, waiting to board a ferry for the 10-minute ride across the Bay of San Francisco to tour Alcatraz. I was trying to think about anything but the upcoming boat ride, because I have a long history of disasters on water.

Let’s see, I was in an unexpected tropical storm while deep-sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. I was in the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard (or was it Nantucket?) when an unexpected storm came up. Not only did we go faster than the theoretical top speed of the boat, but we were lost—the crew we hired had no idea where we were. There was the unexpected storm when we were in a deep-sea fishing boat off the coast of Bermuda.

There was the ferry trip to the Isle of Capri in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Italy where we nearly capsized (really). The crew was standing by the cabinets where the lifesaving equipment was stored, so they could get the stuff out and distribute it all quickly, while most of the passengers were puking their brains out.

I could go on about disasters I have experienced while on open waters, but it scares me to remember them.

So, as I stood on the pier, I didn't think about the ferry I was about to board; I thought about my blog. And I had an epiphany! The original challenge that prompted me to start the blog in the first place was to take a photo and post it every day for a year. I did that! YAY!! I started something AND finished it! Way to go, me!

Here’s the plan for the blog's future: I’m going to take and post photos whenever I want to. If I miss a day or two or more, it’s okay. And I won’t have to force a photo shoot just to do a post.

Here’s an example of a slow-news-day photo:

On the 6th of October Peter and I went to the Pottery Barn Outlet to buy new towels for our bathroom. Whereas I look for color and texture, Peter looks for fit. Right in the middle of the store.

Back at home Ellie Mae said, “I’m always available for photo shoots. Time spent taking my picture is never wasted. You’re really going to take less photos of me??”

Woochee said, “I don’t care if you take my picture or not. I just want to hang over the side of the kitchen sink and stare at the faucet."

"Sometimes water comes out of it! It is very fun to watch water fall.”

“I’m still hacked you don’t want to take photos of me every single day. What about all the ones you took over the last three months?”

Good news, Ellie Mae! I am going to post some of those 100s of photos I took over the last three months. I have a lot of photos of 2^nd Peter I want to get on my blog. And a lot of photos of you, too, of course.

05 October 2011 (Wednesday)

2011-12-07T00:08:00.001-06:00

Here are some totally random shots from today.

I practiced taking photos where whatever was in the foreground was in focus, while the background was not in focus. Here’s one of those photos:

Before I took this photo, I looked around inside for something to take outside to photograph, because I didn’t want to have to worry about the artificial light inside. Of all the millions of things in our house, why did I choose this bitsy M&M dispenser?

To take the above photo I was spread out on my tummy on the driveway. When the concrete started digging into my elbows, I started wondering what in the world I was doing. The people who drove by were probably wondering the same thing. The M&M dispenser was not visible from the street. So, they only saw me laid out on the driveway.

When I stood up to pick the little pebbles out of my forearms, I noticed these flowers:

They worked just fine for my depth of field photo.

Meanwhile back inside Woochie the Water Cat was batting the water as it came from the faucet:

She hasn't touched one of her toys since she discovered the house’s running water.

An observation: Over the years we've bought some expensive things, like furniture and cars, which are no longer with us. However, the little M&M dispenser, that only cost a few dollars, has sat on our kitchen counter in two different houses and faithfully dispensed M&Ms or jelly beans for about three decades.

04 October 2011 (Tuesday)—Photo Shoot

2011-12-06T00:07:00.001-06:00

Presenting photos of baby Peter taken today by Sarah of Sarahdipity Photos. (Sarah is one of Elisabeth’s sisters, and she's Peter’s aunt.)

This is a special photo for me:

Peter is shown here wrapped in the afghan my grandmother made for Blake before he was born. (Back then it wasn’t common to know the sex of the baby prior to its birth, hence the use of all colors appropriate for a newborn.)

So, this afghan was made by Peter’s great-great-grandmother. If she had only lived eight years longer, she could have met her first great-great-grandchild. But she died in 2003 at the age of 103.

Proud parents with their baby:

The amazing mother who delivered this child without the use of any drugs and absolutely no screaming or hollering:

The delighted father doing a Lion King moment:

Back inside for more photos:

Then the subliminal messages started. All Gibsons must play chess:

But will Peter follow in his father’s footsteps and be an attorney?

2^nd Peter can be whatever he wants when he’s grown, because he’s already brilliant. He interrupted the photo session to practice his vowels:

The “o” sound is his favorite.

04 October 2011 (Tuesday)

2011-12-03T00:04:00.001-06:00

Today Peter had his first professional photography session. Elisabeth’s sister Sarah is in town to see baby Peter. She’s a professional photographer, and she does a lot of newborn shoots.

While she was setting things up, I intended to ask her a bunch of questions. I quickly realized I didn’t know enough to ask intelligent questions.

She graciously said I could take photos, too. So, I took this photo of one of her props—a hat:

Oh. I think she meant I could take photos of Peter. Here are a couple (that are almost in focus):

Here’s the blue bow on Blake and Elisabeth’s mailbox, the very bow Peter and I put on our mailbox when Blake was born:

If they ever get rid of that horse on their mailbox, I'll never find their house. Having the blue box on the mailbox also has been so wonderful.

Stay tuned for some photos from Sarah.

03 October 2011 (Monday)

2011-11-29T23:56:00.001-06:00

Since I have no photos of 2^nd Peter from today, I’d better devote some space to the four-legged Gibsons. I foresee their blog time lessening as Peter’s time grows. Right now we’re letting Elisabeth’s family have some time with her, Blake, and Peter while they’re in town.

So, I almost had no photos for today since we didn’t overeat (go to a Chinese restaurant) or go to see 2^nd Peter. When there’s nothing else to do, 1^st Peter gives Mister Bucky a bath:

As always, Mister Bucky hated his bath.

Mister Bucky couldn’t bear to watch his bath:

Ellie Mae hid in the dining room during Mister Bucky’s bath:

She didn’t want Peter to look at her and get any notions of giving her a bath. At least Mister Bucky is bathed in the kitchen. Poor Ellie Mae has to stand on the driveway butt-naked for her bath. Besides, she found a nice Sunny Spot in the dining room.

Wu Chow’s Auntie does not understand the commotion about baths. She loves water! She loves just to sit and stare at it:

Woochee might not be so enamored with water if she had ever had a bath. Peter is afraid to bathe her. She might be tiny, but she has some herkin’ back claws. To be so small, she sure is strong.

I used "bath" or some form of the word ten times. For once the thesaurus was no help.

02 October 2011 (Sunday)

2011-11-29T23:20:00.001-06:00

What a sad day! Conrad returned to the Land of California. I miss him already.

Before he left we wanted to make the most of our last few hours with him. We knew exactly what to do—go to a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet:

Kate and Conrad smiling over their food:

Carter and Kate smiling over their food:

Graham texting on her iPhone:

Hi, Mark!

Since we can only eat so much in one sitting, we still had a little time to kill before Liz (another of Conrad’s college friends) came to the house to pick up Conrad to take him to the airport.

Once again, we knew exactly what to do. We took Conrad to stand in the middle of a cotton field:

Why? I have no idea. Perhaps the image of cotton will stick in his head and remind him he’s a Southern boy, regardless of where he might live.

Next Graham and Conrad squatted in the cotton field:

Last, but not least, I said, “Zap!” and turned them into an upholstered chair:

That's one way to keep Conrad in Memphis.

Why was a chair in the middle of the cotton field? I have no idea.

01 October 2011 (Saturday)

2011-11-29T21:36:00.001-06:00

What a busy day! Conrad and Graham were up late last night working on the flowers and decorations for Lucy’s wedding and reception:

Lucy is one of Conrad’s best friends from college. The whole family enjoyed getting to know her over the last four years.

Graham did Lucy’s make-up for the wedding. Graham and Lucy:

Conrad was the event planner and coordinator:

He and Lucy have been working on this wedding for nearly a year. I think Conrad almost dreaded telling Lucy that he was moving to California more than he dreaded telling me.

Lucy and Nick, her new hubby, doing the first dance at the reception:

(All of the wedding party, including Lucy, wore cowboy boots. Lucy owns a horse farm with a training and boarding facility.)

Lucy looks elsewhere while Nick and Conrad cut the cake:

Not really; this was taken before the cake cutting.

In case we didn’t have enough excitement by being with Lucy on her wedding day, we went to Blake and Elisabeth’s house to watch the Gators play football and to visit with 2^nd Peter on his ~first day~ at home.

Unfortunately, Peter did not demonstrate proper Gator excitement and appreciation. (After all, it was with the Gators that Timmy Tebow rose to national fame.) Instead, he slept through most of the game:

At least he was properly dressed for the occasion, with Gator booties on his feet:

Conrad holding his nephew:

Blake holding his son:

Graham holding her nephew:

Peter taking a peek to see who in the world is holding him now:

Peter heard that passing is an important part of football. Apparently that means take a newborn and pass him around a group of people who are yelling at a television . . . whatever a television is.

Oh, my grandson, you have so very much to learn. I will teach you everything I know! (My children do not to comment on that statement.)

30 September 2011 (Friday)—Peter’s Birth Day!

2011-11-26T22:40:00.001-06:00

Part Two: Peter’s First Day on the Planet

(Well, his first day outside Elisabeth.)

Here is Peter at age 4 minutes and 50 seconds:

Here is Peter trying to figure out what the heck has happened:

Just a few minutes ago he was all warm and cozy in a cushy, dark place. Now a bunch of alien creatures are running around, and the lights hurt his eyes.

Peter expresses his dissatisfaction with his current situation:

Blake meets his son (who is still not happy):

The alien creatures won’t leave him alone. They put him on the scales:

(His birth announcement says he weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces, but really he was 7 pounds 10.4 ounces.)

Next the creatures pulled on his legs:

Now he’s all swaddled and being studied by his dad:

Peter meets his mother’s mother (Karen):

Peter meets his father’s mother (me):

He thinks I’m boring. Wait until he hears my grandmother name—Bubbles. No one called Bubbles could be boring.

Peter meets his own mother (Elisabeth), but he can’t see her because the alien creatures put gunk in his eyes:

Blake proudly presents his son Peter to his father Peter:

Although we’ve known for months that the baby was going to be a boy, Blake and Elisabeth wouldn’t tell us his name. His first name is Peter. His middle name is Michael, which is Elisabeth's father's first name. How special to be named after both of his grandfathers!

The family in Elisabeth’s labor and delivery room after the birth—here are Conrad, Carter, Graham, and Kate:

On the other side of the bed we have Karen, Blake, Esther, and Joanna:

Basically everyone just stood there and stared. An amazing event had just occurred—a human came out of Elisabeth!! Conrad was so rattled he forgot to give the bear to the baby.

Later this evening when Elisabeth had a private room, 1^st Peter and 2^nd Peter stared at each other in astonishment:

Close-up of 2^nd Peter’s foot:

The hospital puts tracking devices on all the newborns. Very good idea.

1^st Peter and I smile over 2^nd Peter:

This is better than smiling over food!

So ended one of the most important days of my life. I’m now a grandmother!! I love it already.

30 September 2011 (Friday)—He’s HERE!!

2011-11-22T23:25:00.001-06:00

Part One: Labor

I didn’t think this day would ever come! The so-called Stuck One arrived exactly on his due date.

Mother and baby are doing fine. Edited to insert: Here’s a photo taken by Elisabeth’s sister Sarah (Sarahdipity Photos) a few days after the birth that gives the important info about the baby:

Back to the beginning of the day . . . We received a call from Blake this morning that he and Elisabeth were at the hospital. The nurse or whoever was with Elisabeth said the baby would probably arrive by noon. (Haha! That would be the exact center of the exact day the doctor said he would be born. This kid just might have inherited by OCD.)

Peter and I ~~threw up our hands and jumped around and screamed~~ calmly went to the car (after I gathered my camera, iPhone, and iPad—this was going to be a high-tech birth on my end) and drove to the hospital.

Elisabeth was already in active labor. Peter went into her labor and delivery room long enough to see her and to say he just wanted her to know we were all counting on her. (That’s a line from Airplane, our family’s favorite movie.) Then Peter smiled:

(Peter is still wearing his Destin tan.)

Two of Elisabeth’s sisters are here from Jacksonville. Meet Joanna:

And Esther:

Elisabeth’s mother Karen and I were also in the room, but no one took a photo of us. Too bad. It would have been more interesting than a smiling photo, because we were bouncing off the walls.

Two interesting points:

1. I took some family photos of people smiling, but it wasn’t over food for a change. Who knew that was possible?

2. While we were all smiling, Elisabeth was in active labor. We probably should have been more somber to share her pain. She was so quiet, though, it would have been easy to forget she was in labor, but there was this machine next to her that was beeping away:

It showed when she had a contraction, the strength of the contraction, and other important medical info.

Elisabeth had no drugs for pain whatsoever. She’s a natural at this birthing stuff! See—here she is working through a big contraction:

She's breathing through the contraction! She just did little breaths, often while leaning on Blake. Since Karen and I both had homebirths with no drugs, we knew what Elisabeth was experiencing. I don’t know about Karen, but I made more noise than a gentle breath when I was in labor.

Next: Peter’s first photos!

29 September 2011 (Thursday)

2011-11-22T01:13:00.001-06:00

When I started my blog 1,030 posts ago, I posted a photo a day, because I had committed to taking and posting at least one photo a day for at least one year. Then I got carried away (my usual overkill) and started doing many photos a day. I need to go back to my roots.

So, here is today’s Photo of the Day:

And why is a skeleton sitting on our kitchen table?
Because Graham is learning the bones of the human body—all 206 of them—for her Anatomy and Physiology class as part of her pre-nursing studies.

Where did she get the skeleton?

Out of our dungeon. Some people have skeletons in their closets; we have one in our dungeon. (Our dungeon is a large storage area on the lowest floor of our house. It doesn’t have any windows since it’s mostly underground.)

Why was a skeleton in the dungeon?

He’s left over from our homeschooling days. Especially in the early days of our homeschooling adventures, people would hear we were teaching the kids at home and become panic stricken. (This was nearly 30 years ago when homeschooling wasn’t so widely practiced as it is now.) We were given all sorts of things, like this skeleton, that others thought would help our poor children emerge from their home education without being complete idiots. It seems to have worked, because every one of them is quite intelligent.

28 September 2011 (Wednesday)

2011-11-22T00:22:00.001-06:00

Look who’s back in town! It’s Conrad:

Look where he’s standing—in front of the refrigerator, the contents of which he promptly consumed.

Conrad is in town for his best friend Lucy’s wedding. It is the last official function of his events’ company.

Here is some of the family gathered around Conrad and his (belated) birthday cake:

Why are they laughing?

Take a close look at Conrad’s cake:

It’s a long story, but we were lucky to find one that said “Good Luck” at the last minute.

Conrad blowing out his candles:

Conrad opened his presents, including this one made by Kate—it’s his crocheted blanket:

Kate is smiling now, but wait until she hears the blanket is too short for Conrad’s really long legs. Soon she’ll be spending some more quality time with the blanket. Her poor hands and arms . . ..

27 September 2011 (Tuesday)

2011-11-21T23:37:00.001-06:00

Well, here is a strange sight in our bedroom:

History lesson: There was a nice children’s store in Memphis in the olden days called Youngtown. When I was a kid, I got clothes from there for me and my Barbie doll. Then the place went out of business when I was pregnant with Carter. Peter and I went there for the going-out-of-business sale and bought this bassinet.

(In real life, the bassinet is very white.)

It’s the bassinet we had for the kids when they were babies. We didn’t necessarily put them in the bassinet, because I was lazy and it was easier to put the babies in the bed with us when they woke up during the night. But each of them spent some time in the bassinet during the day when they were babies.

Now it’s ready for our first grandchild when he takes a nap when he's at our house. If he ever decides to make an appearance . . .. *

Before Carter was born I made this pillow that’s sitting in the bassinet:

It’s an example of French hand-sewing. In other words, every single part of it was made by hand. My hand. Actually both hands. Apparently the French have a lot of patience. It took me forever to make the little tucks by hand and to sew together the various trims and laces and roll the hem and all that.

Then I used French hand sewing to make some daygowns. What was I thinking??

* Since the baby hasn't arrived yet, I suggested to Elisabeth she try to hold him back until my birthday on October 12^th. She didn't like that idea.

Speaking of birthdays, Happy Birthday, Conrad!! How weird that you're not in town for your birthday, but I am. Usually we're in Destin for your birthday. I can't wait to see you tomorrow!

26 September 2011 (Monday)

2011-11-21T21:58:00.001-06:00

Carter and Kate came over for dinner. Here’s our dinner salad:

That’s the only photo from dinner, because my camera got distracted watching Kate and her flying hands:

She’s crocheting a blanket or throw or whatever it’s called for Conrad for his birthday, and she’s really fast. She has put many hours into this project. (She will probably get the feeling back in her hands soon. I hope. And I think the shooting pain in her arms will go away, too.)

Ellie Mae watched from a cushy chair in the family room as Kate crocheted:

She has no idea that some dogs in the world sit on the floor. She’d never believe that some dogs aren’t even allowed indoors.

Mister Bucky watched Kate from the doorway between the family room and the kitchen:

Mister Bucky moved his large self into the kitchen so he could watch Kate more closely:

Me: “Ellie Mae! Leave Mister Bucky alone!”

Ellie Mae: “I’m not bothering him. I was just going to ~~bite his head off~~ clean him.”

Mister Bucky and Ellie Mae look in opposite directions:

25 September 2011 (Sunday)

2011-11-20T23:43:00.001-06:00

After church today we [AGAIN] took Elisabeth and Blake out for their ~last~ meal with us before the baby arrives. (This is starting to sound familiar.) Here are Elisabeth and Blake smiling over their food:

I took this photo with my iPhone and the Instagram app. The border is cute, but the photo quality . . . not so much. Bring on the iPhone 4S!

Here are fish in the big tank near the entrance to the restaurant:

We’ve watched these fish through three changes in ownership of the restaurant. Okay, since we’ve been eating at this location for over 10 years, we probably haven’t watched these exact fish.

Graham was the florist for a wedding anniversary party this afternoon. She made corsages:

She’s taken what she learned from Conrad and run with it. Very lovely corsages!

And she made centerpieces for the tables:

The centerpieces are seen here on our kitchen table before they were taken to the party.

24 September 2011 (Saturday)

2011-11-20T20:01:00.001-06:00

A sad day. We attended the funeral service of my Aunt (by marriage) Carolyn. She’s been in poor health since her first stroke in March, 2004.

After the interment, Blake and Elisabeth came back to our house. Earlier Peter went to the attic and brought down the baby stuff I’d saved. Elisabeth went through it to see if there’s anything she wants to use with the baby who’s about to be born any minute.

I had a bunch of little sleepers like these:

And I’d saved the outfits I hand-smocked, like these:

I even constructed (sewed) the outfits. After making a bunch of clothes for the guys when they were young, I decided sewing is not my calling in life.

Graham holding the antique christening gown she wore for her baptism:

The gown is from late 19^th century England. Peter and I bought it at a charity auction from Pat Kerr Tigrett, one of the foremost experts in the world on antique lace. She has amassed a large private collection of royal gowns.

In spite of this gown being an antique and unisex, I’m thinking Blake is not going to want his son baptized in a “dress.”

23 September 2011 (Friday)

2011-11-19T23:26:00.001-06:00

Yes, I did take photos of the dog. I just couldn’t bare to post them today. But I will post some things I saw on the internet; they’re photos I took (right off the internet).

This one brought back such memories:

Almost every Sunday afternoon when I was in elementary school, we would drive to the Memphis airport, park along one of the perimeter fences with scores of other cars, and watch the jets take off. However, I did not have one of these cute cowboy outfits to wear while watching the jets. Dang.

From San Diego:

I hope you can read the signs. This might be a fake photo, because I am not seeing the cars on the freeway here that I saw in person when we were in San Diego.

When we went to San Diego, we flew into Los Angeles and rented a car and drove to San Diego. (The flights between Memphis and San Diego are not plentiful or cheap.) Check out this photo of part of the freeway system in Los Angeles:

Hmmm. I don’t see many cars here either. Cars in California are camera shy?

I hope this is readable; it’s too funny:

I also saw it earlier and might have already posted it. I wish I knew which one went to a good home.

22 September 2011 (Thursday)

2011-11-19T22:51:00.001-06:00

Yep. Still More Adventures of Ellie Mae on the Driveway

Hey, it’s not my fault The Stuck One has not made his appearance. I am forced to photograph the dog. I must say she’s sleeping soundly at night these days after her afternoon photo shoots.

Today I played with the continuous shot button on my camera, and I was able to capture Ellie Mae running down the driveway:

To be so thin, she sure has a lot of floppy body parts.

Let’s look more closely at the second photo, where Ellie Mae is doing the kangaroo hop:

Funniest dog ever!

21 September 2011 (Wednesday)

2011-11-19T21:59:00.001-06:00

More Adventures of Ellie Mae on the Driveway

Ellie Mae lifts her front legs off the ground in preparation for bounding out onto the driveway:

Ellie Mae thinking about using her pointing leg (she has it halfway up to pointing position):

Ellie Mae barks her head off (figuratively speaking):

Ellie Mae thinks again about using her pointer leg:

Instead, Ellie Mae stands on her back legs and shows off her great height:

Crazy dog.

20 September 2011 (Tuesday)

2011-11-19T21:20:00.001-06:00

While driving down Germantown Parkway this afternoon, I passed this sign:

I pulled over to take a photo. Seriously? Walgreens must think we candy corn connoisseurs aren’t price watching, not that we won’t pay premium prices when we get desperate. Unfortunately this delicacy is only available for a few months each year, but I'm not paying this much for 5 measly ounces.

Besides, I might be eating too much candy corn. I’ve purposed to cut back on it.

Later I walked into Target and saw this:

Now that’s a better price, although I have occasionally seen the 24-ounce bag as low as $1. But that’s rare, and this is a fair price.

So I bought a few (or more) bags.

Just because I’m cutting back on candy corn doesn’t mean I’m cutting it out of my life. A little candy corn can’t hurt anything.

Note to self: Keep a pair of scissors in the car. Those candy corn bags are hard to rip open with one’s bare hands! But it can be done:

19 September 2011 (Monday)

2011-11-19T20:31:00.001-06:00

Ellie Mae at the end of the driveway, looking to her right:

Ellie Mae at the end of the driveway, looking to her left:

Ellie Mae after she ran around the front yard, ending up on the parking pad on the side of the driveway with her tongue hanging out:

18 September 2011 (Sunday)

2011-11-19T19:48:00.001-06:00

Today we took Elisabeth and Blake out for their ~last~ meal with us before the baby arrives. Of course, it’s still not his due date, but Blake knows he’s coming out early.

Elisabeth and Blake smiling over their ~last~ lunch out with us:

If this scenario sounds familiar, it’s because we already did the last meal thing on the 13^th of this month.

Edited to add: More ~last~ meals followed this one. The Stuck One is probably chuckling over the ~last~ meals, like we have any clue when he’s coming out.

In the above photo, Elisabeth looks like an ordinary person, because she’s only visible from the neck up. In real life she looks like she’s about to pop; see:

Elisabeth wears maternity well.

This afternoon Mister Bucky was checking out Graham’s Anatomy and Physiology homework, when Ellie Mae came up to check out Mister Bucky:

I focused on Mister Bucky, which made Ellie Mae blurred. In retrospect, I should have focused on Ellie Mae and then Mister Bucky would still have been in focus, because Mister Bucky rarely moves.

17 September 2011 (Saturday)

2011-11-17T23:41:00.001-06:00

Here’s Woochee, the Water Cat:

I thought cats don’t like water. No one told Woochee. Every morning I say, “Kitchen!” to her, and she runs to kitchen, jumps on the island, and waits for me to turn on the water at the kitchen sink.

She observes it from all angles, including sitting under it and looking up. She also likes to bat the water:

Because of Woochee's water habit, I have to clean the sink and the island top a lot.

Water makes me think of Destin and the Gulf of Mexico and creatures on the beach, like seagulls. Looking back through photos I took earlier this month . . . Ah ha! Here’s an interesting one—a seagull standing on one leg with one wing stretched out: