12.31.2011

birthday boy

our little dude turned 4 yesterday. i was originally just going
to post a few of my favorite pictures of him- but i got carried away.
there were too many cute/awesome/funny ones.


luke elliott | greatest hits 







]














it's been SUCH a fun 4 years-
we are so lucky to have this little guy in our family.

love you lukey.

12.30.2011

eleven years

it was our anniversary a few days ago. i've been married to my soul mate/best friend/the guy of my dreams for a 11 years now. in that span of time, we've taken hundreds of photos ourselves at various places doing various things. in fact we have pretty much perfected the art of the Hold-Out shot. to commemorate our anniversary, here are a few. (yes they are very small.)











Happy Belated anniversary lover-
thanks for being so savvy with the camera and pretty much
everything else.
xoox

12.28.2011

byrd turns 36


In honor of my man on his birthday, 
i'm posting some photos of him doing what he loves.


                          (on a vespa in some european country)













happy birthday lover.


12.13.2011

more annoying things


from the book Don't You Just Hate That? 738 Annoying Things by Scott Cohen. i love it so much that i want to give one to someone(s) for Christmas.

(there's a lot.)


- Irish films in which every word sounds like "shite".

- People who rationalize "I'm a better person for it" after every negative experience, despite the fact that you are never a better person for having lost your wallet.

- When your car has one of those pathetically high-pitched horns that implies: "It's okay, you can step all over me."

- Late fees for a video you didn't have time to watch.

- When the button you push on your remote control doesn't respond at first, and you push it again and get channel 33 when you wanted 3.

- Burger King's slogan "Have It Your Way," when we all know they manipulate us into ordering one of four basic combo options.

- A tiny dog barking at a huge dog as if it could kick it's ass.

- When the subtitles in a movie are the same color as the background.

- Cutesy product names that misuse the letter Z (e.g., "Cheez," E-ZPass").

- The strands of dead skin that hang from your mouth after you've scorched it eating microwave pizza.

- How useful the Internet is for stalkers.

- That someone thinks you're dumb enough to feel pleased that you only spent $99.99 instead of $100.

- Realizing that strangers watched you trying to push open a door that reads PULL.

- When you see veins and gray things inside the chicken nugget you tore open.

- High fives that don't come off quite right.

- After waiting 28 minutes to see your doctor, a nurse brings you to a room- where you wait another 28 minutes.

- When your eyes dart instinctively to the side because the man sitting across the aisle caught you staring at him, heightening your urge to look one last time. So you slowly pan your eyes back, only to be caught again, further intensifying both your desire to peek again and your fear of getting caught a third time.

- Realizing you were wearing the same outfit the last time you hung out with this person.

- When the car driving behind you has a ski rack attached to the top, making it look like a police car in your rearview mirror.


- Wondering if the person who used ".." meant "." or "..."

- When an audience claps to a song out of rhythm.

- That it's no longer acceptable for sailors to skip down the street whistling show tunes.

- Waiting for the pain to arrive in your toe the moment after you've stubbed it into the leg of a chair.

- The people exercising in a gym who look at your through the window, making you feel flappy and worthless.

- Any movie preview that begins, "In a time where darkness reigned supreme and heroes were few..."


***


(stay tuned for more at some later date.)


12.11.2011

because it's Christmas...


...i'm posting some pictures of Christmassy things.


Frosty


                                                                      a neighbor's house
(this is what 'ambitious' looks like.)


Rudolph


one of santa's elves
(i think)


                       our first Christmas card of the year
(from the place that fixes our car. what a bunch of nice guys.)




a (pretty awesome) ornament my mom made
when i was little. it makes me very nostalgic.


a live nativity we went to. the boys loved it.


the reason why we celebrate Christmas.


***

Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind.
To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy,
is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

- Calvin Coolidge


12.05.2011

11.30.2011

true dat.


Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab.
We’re all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.
Some of our experiments blow up in our faces, and some of them make us jump with joy at the results they bring us.
But all in all, we’re always in the laboratory experimenting. And believe me, we’re all mad to the core.
We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t.

- David Cronenberg


11.15.2011

sup, yo

october/part of november...



jeff & noah invented a backyard game involving oars and a ball



it was very fun and innovative.



the boys decorated their mini pumpkins



luke posed with his.



we had a good time with mater & the gang at at a
FREE promo event for Cars 2



luke's (awesome!) preschool teachers, shelby & kel, came over
for a home visit. he couldn't have been more excited.




noah's soccer team was the coolest soccer team ever.
(pictured: noah, sienna, gabe, julian, tristan)



luke the Artist began to emerge



i took pictures of cool toys at erika's house.



the kids participated in a doughnut-eating contest



...where noah and julian gave it their all.



sports night wouldn't be sports night without me snapping
a shot of little Olive.




halloween came...luke forgot he was being luke skywalker
and spent the morning as a western/cowboy guy.



noah (aka a sheriff) was in the annual halloween parade
at his school. (his 'girlfriend', jadyn, is behind him.)



we got to the trunk-or-treat an hour late (it was over) and
felt like losers. we did, however, manage to get a family
photo- our first in like a year.


oh wait...how can i forget this winner,
courtesy of State Farm.


back to halloween- the boys managed to get a sufficient
amount of candy. luke .. naked . . . ??




bret helped grandpa dig a trench.



noah was Star of the Week at school



he beamed with pride as he told about himself
and then took questions from the audience.



bret went to west virginia to visit his parents on their
mission (where, oddly enough, he also served his). they got him

a banjo. he was pumped.



i concluded this post with a token cute shot of my boys.


bYe