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Showing posts from 2008

A Sunny {warm} Day in December

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What a day yesterday was. Sunny with highs in the mid 60s. After so much rain we were all ready to get out of the house. Ralph and I loaded up the boys and the scooters and headed up to the basketball court. The boys had so much fun. We had scooter races with friends and played basketball. After a few hours of all this energy burning fun we headed out for some Mexican food. On the way home we rented Space Chimps and we all went home and watched it. The boys enjoyed the movie and Ralph and I enjoyed watching the boys enjoy it. LOL. And believe it or not somewhere in between all that fun Ralph and I took down Christmas. We knew that was going to be the best weather all week and wanted to go ahead and get everything out of the yard and put away. I must say it's so nice to have reclaimed my house from all the holiday clutter. I love how cluttered it is when I first put everything out but it's very satisfying to have it all put back in the attic. Hope you all have a won

Christmas day

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So we had a very nice Christmas. We stayed home all day opened lots of gifts and ate some really good food. My parents and brother was in town and it was nice to spend the holiday with them. Both the boys got the Razor Powerwings . Ralph had his doubts that Colby could handle it but of course, in Colby fashion, the kid has become a powerwing pro! Jacob got the PSP that he has begged for for months and Colby got a really cool castle. The first gift we gave the boys were barbies dolls. They didn't think it was too funny. I caught Jacob playing with on the back porch. I'll keep that picture for years to use as blackmail. I got my Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens that I've been drooling over and a very nice set of Calphalon One cookware. Ralph got the ipod touch and lots of accessories to go with it. I had ordered my parents a 24x20 canvas of the boys that got delivered at 5pm Christmas eve! I was getting very nervous but it turned out very nice. Today I took down the dead tree

Now it's clean up time

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My house looks like a tornado came through and destroyed it. My family packed up and left this morning and now it's time to clean up. Here are some photos from Christmas eve. We always let the boys open something on Christmas eve and needless to say they were very happy. Ralph and I went to the Army supply store and bought these outfits for them. I'll be back tomorrow with some shots from Christmas day.

One day 13 hours and 31 minutes until Santa comes!

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But again, who's counting? My kids that's who! Here are a few pictures taken over the last few days. I won't be back until after Thursday so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Hope Santa brings you everything you've asked for. This is my BIL Nat telling me I'd get better results if I take off my lens cap. Of course I looked and he thought that was funny. He's such a silly guy. This is my nephew Daniel. He was very sweet and played with Jacob and Colby all weekend. He's a great big cousin! The boys playing basketball. This is Jacob's nutty sweet teacher playing mutilate the gingerbread cookie.

5 days 15 hours and 25 minutes until Christmas

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but who's counting? ME!!! Today is the one year anniversary of the death of my brother. This day last year I was out with Ralph Christmas shopping when I got the call. Love you Mike! So yesterday a third box was delivered from Amazon. We had ordered two scooters for the boys and now we have three. Last year I had ordered a play castle for Jacob and ended up with 12 instead of the one I ordered. I, of course, returned the extra but I'm just wondering who the heck is running their shipping department. Here is a photo that I took at 11pm last night. It was all foggy outside and thought it looked pretty cool.

6 days 16 hours and 59 minutes until Chirstmas!

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But who's counting?

They've got the naughty part down.

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Not so sure about the nice.

Four years of Santa photos

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So as you can see we go visit the same Santa every year. He's pretty authentic too. Well at least I think so. I can only hope that he does this gig at least through the next 5 years. Or more if we're lucky. Jacob still believes but he's starting to ask a lot of questions. Like the other day when he and I were walking through a Christmas store and they had a whole display of Elf on the Shelf. I walked around the corner and my heart just dropped. Seriously! What were they thinking? Kids are in and out of this store all the time. How am I supposed to explain that to a kid who is already questioning everything about Santa??? He was disappointed yesterday that Santa didn't remember his name. :o( So any way, look how much the boys have grown. Santa wouldn't even let Jacob sit on his knee this year. He had to sit to the side. I'm a little sad to see how my little boys are growing up. Look at that little pudgy baby of a Colby. He's almost lost all of

Another one of our favorite Christmas decorations

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This is our Santa that hangs from the chandelier in the foyer.

A non-holiday photo for today

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This is just a cute shot of the boys that I caught today.

ELF ON THE SHELF

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Last year we started the tradition of the "Elf on the shelf" and we've really had a lot of fun with it. The boys are totally into it and I must say it's helped a lot with the behavior around this house. If you don't have your own elf you might want to go here and read about it.

This is one I took over Thanksgiving

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but I just now downloaded it. I kind of like the way it turned out. He's such a handsome boy. Looks just like his daddy. I wish I had a photo to post of Ralph at this age. Their eyes are just alike.

All Aboard the Ridgell Express

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Here are a couple of shots of our train under the tree. I used a really slow shutter speed and my aperture was at 14 so all you see is the blur of the lights on the first one. I thought they were pretty cool. Of course these were taken about 30 mins before our tree fell over and I lost 9 of my cherished Lenox snowflake ornaments.

We have a real tree and colored lights!

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For the first time in about 5 years we have a real tree and I can't remember the last time I had colored lights. It must go back to my early childhood. I do love that smell of pine but the needles are going to drive me insane before it's all said and done.

Somemore photos of a sweet little girl

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I was fortunate enough to take some photos of my sweet little neighbor the other day. Is she cute or what! BTW, you can find the Magic Blog-it board actions I used to make this story board over at http://www.mcpactions.com/

Tis the season

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Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are ready for Christmas because it's going to be here in 24 days!!!! Yikes! I better get busy with some shopping. Here is a photo of the little girl next door. I figure since you can't see her face it's OK to post.

Wish you all happy holidays!

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Hope you have lots of family, friends and food this holiday. Hopefully I'll have a some nice photos to share with you when I get back. I'm leaving you with a shot of my messy little boy. He's lived in pj's for the last two days. I think he's turning into a little Hef. Considering he's only 3 could mean a lot of trouble is in my future.

One of my favorite Chrismas decorations.

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My grandmother had one of these ceramic trees for as long as I can remember. It was one thing that always stood out in my memory of going to her house for so many years while growing up. A couple of years ago my neighbor was selling one just like it at her garage sale so of course I had to snag it!

Can you please tell me how my blog views on your monitor?

I have a 22 inch monitor and it fits nicely but I'm just wondering how it views on other people's monitors. Do you have to scroll to see the whole page? Is everything too big? I appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

Last December

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I took this picture last December. It was taken in Charleston SC right after my brother passed away. It's coming up on a year in just a few weeks. It's been a fast year and seems only like only a month has passed. It's been a hard year too. It's hard enough to lose one brother but when you lose a second brother it's down right unbearable at times. It's made me question a lot of things in my life. Things that I've just always thought were. Now I'm not so sure. Sometimes I get really pissed off about it. Sometimes I'll make it through a day and not think about it. Today it's been on my mind. Miss you Mike!

Sometimes you feel like a nut

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Another one using the front door light.

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Can't do one without doing the other. LOL. OH and I want to add a couple of "Colby funnies" from this week. I'm telling you the boy is a riot. Where he comes ups with this stuff is beyond me. So the other day he and Jacob found my old dive whistle. It's a very loud whistle and they were blowing it in the house. I told them to stop and take it outside. Next thing I know Colby comes ups to me and says "mama put your hands up like this (as he puts his little hands over his ears) and go LALALALALALALA". I couldn't help but laugh. Then today I'm sitting at my desk working and he's laying under the desk playing with the dog. Next thing I know my chair fell apart because he was down there unscrewing the bolts! LOL. What a nut!

Finding the light

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There is nothing better than the lighting at my front door. Can you see me in his eyes?

More storyboards

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So I bought these Magic Blog-it storyboard actions from MCP Actions . If you haven't checked them out yet you must go look. They are very simple and easy. It does all of the work for you.

Christmas card photo take-2

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Went a little better this time. Thank God!

Loving those doggie kisses!

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It's amazing what a little bribing will do.

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So Jacob misbehaved the other day and I took his wii game away from him for a day. He had to earn it back by letting me take his picture. AND he had to actually make nice faces and not silly faces. This is what I got.

Old red tractors, snakes and a clip of Colby laughing when he was a baby.

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Here is a video of Colby laughing when he was about 5 months old. I found this the other day on Google. I had uploaded it there a short time after I took the video. I love this video! Is he cute or what! Then we have a shot of an old red tractor I noticed on the side of the road. Wonder why I never noticed it before. I'll have to take the boys back and take pictures of them sitting on it. Then we have the picture of Jake holding the snake that Ralph killed today. The picture was taken after he copped off the head so you can add a couple more inches to it. He thought it was a copperhead but it turned to only be a corn snake. Either way I'm happy there is one less snake out there in our yard!

Choo! Choo! All Aboard!!

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Colby playing with his trains.

Jumping Power Ranger!

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So I was inspired by the other Kelly and her bed jumping photo. I decided to give is a try with a certain little power ranger. It's so funny to see him wear this costume. Jacob was a power ranger for his 3rd Halloween and he used to wear it all the time. The thing is ripped up the side. I'd say we got our moneys worth out of that one! Boy did Colby have fun when momma (that's what he calls me) told him to jump on the bed. LOL.

They must really hate me

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Every year I try and take some nice photos for Christmas cards. And every year I get this. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. Or maybe I won't. It looks like Colby is examining Jake's nose for boogers. LOL.

Macro Monday

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It's been a long time

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since I've posted a head shot of Jacob.

Fun at the pumpkin patch and corn maze

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Well not so much fun in the corn maze. I actually hated it but I'm one of those people who has issues with getting lost. When I was very little I got lost in a shopping mall. Mind you it was only a minute before my mom found me but that has stood out in my mind over the years. When I've gone back to that mall in my adult life I always laugh because it's so little that no one could really get lost in it. To this day when Ralph and I go to the mall he'll hide off some where and watch me freak out when I can't find him. He thinks it's pretty damn funny. Me not so much. So I pretty much was internally freaking out when we were in the corn maze. I'm pretty sure that'll be the last one I ever do.

Pumpkin carving

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So the boys and I carved pumpkins yesterday. Well actually I did the carving and they took off to play as soon as I started gutting the first one. LOL. What do you think? PS...been messing around with the blog design again. I'm not really done with it yet. It's a work in progress. If you have any suggestions or comments about it let me know. Thanks!

Davey Jones, Batman and one freaky dummy

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This past Sunday was our n'hood Halloween party. They had a mummy wrapping contest and as you can see Colby didn't want any party of it. As the good mother that I am, I stood there watching him cry so I could snap pictures. Ralph thought it would be funny to take along this freaky looking dummy he brought home. I will say all the kids got a big kick out of him. I'm so not looking forward to putting him away in the attic. We have a 5ft Santa up there that freaks me out every time I go up there for something. Imagine what this thing is going to do to me!

Sunflowers

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Can you find the pissing cow?

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So yesterday I stopped to take pictures of all the cows in the pasture down from my house. They were all really close to the road and I figured it'd be a good time to stop. Notice the one up front to the right? She didn't take her eyes off me the whole time. Can you spot the one taking a piss? LOL. I didn't notice it until I was processing the picture and was like holy cow! You'll have to click on the picture to enlarge it.

What the hell was he thinking?

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Ralph brought this thing home the other night. He thought it was funny. He sits in a chair and his head turns all the way around and makes a cracking noise. The boys and I do not like him. I hide him every night before I go to bed.

I see you.....

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Colby checking out his new hat in the kick plate of the front door.

Freckled Faced Kid

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I just love the sprinkling of freckles across his nose. He's so stinkin' cute! Unless of course he's driving me insane all day and then that's a whole 'nother story.

Where does the weekend go?

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Man do they go by fast. We didn't do a whole lot. Jacob had baseball Saturday morning when it was freezing cold. In the afternoon it warmed up and the boys played outside all afternoon. Saturday night we watched the cocks lose to LSU and Sunday we put out Halloween stuff. This morning Jacob crawled into bed and asked me if it was time to get up. That was at 7:25! I thought my alarm was set for 6:20 but I guess I forgot to turn it on. Great start to the week!

Funny Friday and CS4

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I've been laughing my ass off all morning. I came across this comic strip this morning and literally spewed my coffee everywhere. For the last few weeks I've been waking Ralph up with foot rubs and back rubs trying to butter him up. When I saw this comic strip I felt totally busted! I don't think I realized what I was doing but it's pretty obvious after reading this. My friend Kelly linked me up to this site a few weeks ago. Very funny stuff. Check him out at What the Duck In other news....yesterday I downloaded the upgrade for CS4 and I am impressed! I've barely scratched the surface but so far the tab view is my new best friend. Yesterday I played around with the "content aware cropping" and that thing just blows my mind. If you haven't seen the video on that check it out here . Oh and the new adjustments window in pretty cool too. You can read more about the software review here. So if you've been on the fence about upgrading to CS4 I

Did you see the full moon?

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I love full moons. I think they are just magical and beautiful. I especially love it when there is a full moon in the fall sky. I'm not sure why but maybe it has to do with my brother's birthday this month. Tomorrow he would have been 36. Unfortunately he only made it 76 days past his 30th birthday. He was such a sweet kid. I have to call him a kid because to me he'll always be my little brother. The one I loved to aggravate and the one who would always spy on me and my girl friends. He used to drive me insane when we were kids but we were always inseparable. I was 5yrs old when my mom brought him home from the hospital. He was like my baby doll for the longest time. When he got older I would pin him down on the floor and let the spit from my mouth hang down and try and slurp it back up before it fell in his face. Sometimes I was fast enough and sometimes not. LOL. Tell me you did that too. So anyway, this week I've been thinking about him a lot. I thin