Photographer

I have taken up photography! I've been begging mama to play with her camera forever!!! But she rarely let me. Something about money and breaking it, and other nonsense. I'm careful! I only drop important expensive fragile stuff 1/2 the time, not ALL the time! Sheesh! And so what if I put my fingers on the lens! Fingerprints would make nice blur effect on all the photos! It is an artistic accent. So after nicely asking (*cough* BEGGING*) for the millionth time, momma was nice enough to find her old digital camera and gave it to me to play with instead! HA HA! I WON! YAY!!!

HEY! I WANT TO TAKE PICTURES MOM! Gimme the camera, PLEASE!!!

I love running around taking photos of all my favorite things. Mommy says I need to work on my aim a bit. . .apparently, she does not appreciate the fine ART of endless photos of the ceiling, floor, and walls! How does SHE know that I didn't mean to take those pictures like that? Sheesh! But I do manage to get some pretty cool shots in there in the midst of all the ceiling and wall shots :)

See for yourself :) I've prepared my first photography art show and you are all invited! Come on in! You will get an in depth look at my art with full narration from me! All for free.

Let me begin by showing you this photo of my friends' turtles (we are feeding them for a week! YAY!) to illustrate something VERY important. Note, Mommy helped me take this boring photo. What fun is it when you can actually SEE the thing you want to depict? I prefer photos like the other ones below. Ones like this are a dime a dozen. . .thanks anyway, mom!

Now THIS beauty is more like it! Here's my photo of the turtles as they ate their salad. . .so, yeah. . .I realize you can't actually SEE the turtles. But would it really be considered ART if I spelled it all out for you and SHOWED you what I was looking at? NO! You are supposed to look at this brick wall and open gate (ceiling for the turtle habitat) and FEEL the presence of the turtles and "salad" C'mon try it. FEEL the turtles. Can you sense them from this photo? Take a deep breath in. I bet you can practically smell the lettuce my photographic depiction of them is so POWERFUL! Right? Thought so!

Moving on. . .

Any "booders" (boogers) in there? Nope? OK, good. (see? photography is also very useful for accomplishing every day life activities like making sure you don't have any booders in your nose!) Cameras are not just for art after all!

This is "doorway"-- another profound depiction of something from every day life. We all pass through doors all the time (and sometimes I run into them when I am not paying attention). But have you ever stopped to take a photo of one? You never know. Doors could be outlawed someday, and you might not remember what one looks like! I've preserved this particular door in my photo archives, just in case. I'll be able to show it to my kids someday and feel so proud.

Here's "My Leg and Foot on Takoda's Leg"--another artistic depiction. This one represents our close bond. One furry creature; one human. Friends meeting each other, for this brief moment before the dog runneth away to chase a ball. Beautiful. Just beautiful, isn't it?

"Mama's Turkey Leg in Green Pajama Pants"--notice how the colors contrast so well with her pasty white skin? I am very proud of this photo. I think it is one of my best.

'Nother "booder"check intermission! Still clear? OK. Onward to more of my art show. . .

"Takoda Under Daddy's Recliner Foot Rest" I also like to call this one: "Man vs. recliner vs. beast" Based on this photo, who do you think would win in a battle between the three? I say the recliner. It is electric! Takoda is just plain dopey, and daddy was sleeping. It is a no brainer.

"Sparkle" My lips and my beautiful, stylish necklaces (picture is taken upside down for more artistic value) Notice how the necklaces sparkle? I had to adjust the lighting in the room for that effect. It took me hours to get this one just right. Another favorite!

"Books" Here I am peeking through my fingers at the bookcase. This is representative of my newly developing reading skills. It depicts my very small sense of the world of reading, based mostly on board books at this point, and how over time, my blinders (fingers) will be lifted away and I will be able to enjoy the WHOLE world of books and reading! It is my beautiful depiction of how I am but a mere infant in this world of books. But over time, I will develop my skills and I will be able to see the WHOLE bookcase.

This one I call "Part of My Dinner"--to some this may just be a photo of a cup full of blueberries and peaches. YUM! But, this photo was taken closeup and out of focus to add extra effect. The blurriness is an artistic representation of the sweet aroma of the fruit that entices the senses and makes you want to gobble them all up! (which I did, shortly after taking this photo)

I call this one "living room" -- a piece that took a lot of time and thought. It is a depiction of one part of my living room as seen through my eyes (standing on my very short legs) Profound, isn't it? If you find you need to catch your breath after seeing this photo. Go ahead. I know needed to! Powerful stuff.

This one is called "Why Did Mama Put Those Up There?"--for some reason mom put those pots WAY up there by the ceiling. . .not sure why. How am, I supposed to hide toys and mom's car keys in them if they are so high up by the ceiling? So, anyway, I took a picture so you could see what kind of time my mom wastes putting my potential hiding places out of my reach! They certainly don't have any decorative value sitting way up there. Mom knows nothing about art and decorating. I need to give her a few lessons.

Here's "The Hutch" filled with photos instead of dishes of course! Because we eat off of picture frames in this family. . . everybody's "plate" is unique! Just kidding. My mom just really likes her family and likes to put photos everywhere. Dishes are all safe in cabinets. . .out of my reach. Oh, and I am sure all of my masterpieces shown in this blog entry will soon replace all those photos of people on that hutch. After all, all these photos are just too good to keep on the computer!

"Kitty On a Hot Pink Roof!" One of my earlier pieces. . .clearly I was still an amateur.
Hmmmm. Are you SURE there aren't any "booders" in there???

Lovely. My mama is such a dork! (daddy says most of you probably know that already)

This is representative of a LOT of photos I took of the walls/ceiling :) Not sure exactly what I was going for in this photo. . .another one of my earlier pieces from before I had perfected my skills.

Mama's so silly! I call this one: "train track head" This was a very daring photo shoot! At any moment the Hannah Express Train could have come by and bonked my mom on the head! Once we realized the danger, we had to stop the photo shoot until I could devise a way to take the photo without putting her in danger! So, I learned another artistic method photography skill. Illusions! Her head is not really ON the tracks, it just looks that way.

Well, there you have it. My latest and greatest photos! Hope you enjoyed my show! I have reprints of many of my originals available for sale, if anyone would like to take some of these treasures home with them and be able to enjoy them for years to come!

I set up a paypal account, and accept all major credit cards. Personal checks accepted with appropriate ID only, please. I also take alternative forms of payment, including cookies, candy, and cheesies. :)

Thank you very much! See you next time!

Monsoons are here!

As Hannah and I walked to the mailbox a few weeks ago (yes, I am hopelessly behind here still!), it was really windy and looked like it was going to start raining any minute! On the walk back to the house Hannah was enjoying the rain sprinkling on her face and arms. She was excited! By the time we made it to the front door, she was begging to stay outside. She didn't even mind the thunder! I was telling her how much I love thunder in hopes of avoiding her becoming afraid of it. It seemed to be working!

I convinced her to come inside but then I noticed the rain was really picking up outside, so I opened the blinds on the back doors so she could see better. She was obviously not content just watching the rain drops dance on the back patio while I had her imprisoned in the house! Hey, I appreciate a child's curiosity and desire to experience new things, so I unlocked the doors and out into the rain we went!

She stood in the rain a while, then exclaimed "A SHOWER!" ha ha I said "Yes, rain is how plants, trees, bunnies, and birdies take a shower" :) She kept laughing and saying she was taking a shower. It was adorable! She did not want to go back inside. She kept running back and forth, and talking about the rain and thunder ("funder" or "sunder") She was not at all afraid of the "funder" and I was really pleased about that. I don't want her to be scared of thunderstorms. Although, there was one thunder that caught us both off guard though, and she wanted to go inside after that. (got it on video) She just matter of factly said "inside" and headed towards the door after that one. ha ha But then as soon as we stepped foot inside, she wanted back out again! Her nervousness was short-lived I guess.

Monsoon season does not last long here. But at any given time you will find yourself being POURED on out of nowhere, and there's crazy wind, lightening, and thunder. . .and then just as soon as the rain rolled in, it rolls out and the sun is shining again! It is nuts! It is rare that we get rain that lasts all day long. So rain is a fun novelty around here. . .unless you are trying to drive in it! Nobody here seems to know how to drive in the rain. That is why they have the Stupid Motorists Law here! No joke! Basically, you pay for your own rescue/pay a fine if you are dumb enough to drive your vehicle around barricades and into the washes with rapid running water! Or if you are dumb enough to drive around barricades and drive under a viaduct with CLEAR markers of just how many feet deep the water is! Yes, it happens. FREQUENTLY! People don't learn and have NO common sense. You'll find them sitting on top of their car/truck/SUV under said viaducts; or floating down a wash! (by the way, in case you were wondering, a "wash" is a dry river that only rushes water when it rains)

Anyway, we had fun and look forward to a few more weeks of monsoon rains :) (I could really do without the humidity it brings though. YUCK!)

Video: Hannah enjoying "a shower" in the rain, enjoying the rain and thunder with a brief distraction by the discovery of some fascinating, "icky" birdie poop. Ahhhh, nature :)

I am very disappointed that for some reason, I am unable to upload the video of her saying "Hi!" to the thunder and doing more giggling and running than in this video. It was really cute :) I tried 10 times to get it on here and it wouldn't work :(

Dunkin Donuts with Daddy

Last week, mommy and I took Daddy to get his haircut near the University. There is a donut place down the street, something called Dunkin Donuts or something weird like that?? So, we stopped in to get some DONUTS!!! Hey, I LOVE carbs and sweets! So it seemed like a good idea to me! Daddy was so excited because as soon as we walked in he noticed that Dunkin Donuts brought back his favorite donut! THE dunkin donut! You know, the weird shaped one with the cool donut "handle" on it to make dunkin easier. (Apparently, he's been depressed for the past 10 years since the local shops have not been carrying the strangely shaped donut and so he had to go all the way to Boston to get THE dunkin donut)

So daddy kept rambling on and on about how great the donut with the handle is. . .but all I could think about was EATING the yummy donut he was waving around while demonstrating acceptable dunkin stategies! He tried to explain how the handle makes it easier to dunk the donut into your coffee . . . blah blah blah. I can't remember exactly what he said after that because I was too busy nibbling the cool handle off my donut! :p It tasted really good! Wait. . .So what was I supposed to DO with that silly donut handle, again? I don't see how eating the handle first makes it easier to dunk? But whatever. It tasted yummy and I could dunk my donut just fine without it :)

According to daddy, I did well for a first-timer (*minus eating the handle FIRST of course*). I didn't drop my donut!

Puh-leeeeease, daddy. I don't need any more dunkin' lessons. I got the hang of it, now! Just let me sit and enjoy my donut :)

Cookie Face

Oreo? What Oreo? I haven't seen any Oreos around here. . .

Little Ballerina

Awww! What a sweet little graceful ballerina! She is even multi-tasking. . .finishing chewing her breakfast while dancing :)

Oh dear. Perhaps she is not as graceful as I thought! (takes after her momma!) Or maybe we should blame the multi-tasking? As if running into the cabinet wasn't enough, the head bonk heard 'round the world at the end of the video is worse! Poor lil' peanut :(

Granny and Papa's SURPRISE 40th Anniversary party

A few weeks ago, we all celebrated Granny and Papa's 40th Anniversary with a fun party. I was trying to figure out how many 40 is, and I am pretty sure it is more than 2, but I don't know if I have enough fingers to count that all out. . .

We had the party at The Manning House. It is a historic mansion that they turned into a venue for conventions, parties, weddings, etc. The bartender lady told us it is HAUNTED!!! But they are good ghosts--children laughing and a man who just sits quietly. SPOOKY! But the ghosts did not make any appearances for the party.

Granny and Papa had NO CLUE we were planning the party. It is a good thing I can hold a secret! No amount of candy would've made me talk! (Well, I am safe to say that now since it is past and they never thought to ask me about a party in the weeks leading up to it) We pulled it off and they were sooooo surprised! They thought they were attending a 40th anniversary party for their friends. They received fake invitations and everything. We are so sneaky. Daddy's aunt Emmie (Mary Ellen) helped pull it all off. We couldn't have done it without her :)

Here's the really awesome cake my mommy designed! It is the courthouse where Granny and Papa got married :) (They had a church wedding shortly thereafter) The bride and groom are from their cake from their wedding day :) And that is a really cool car with fins that Papa had when he was a dork, I mean younger :)

*no, she didn't bake it. She is pretty awesome, but she is no cake decorator! Her cakes taste good, but they are really scary looking*

The room where we held the party. It was a beautiful setting for a really fun party.
The parlor/sitting room area outside of our party room.
the table settings

The cool collage mommy made for them :)

Here I am with great granny (old granny) :)
Here's the unsuspecting couple walking into the room, still having no clue the party is for them. . .probably beginning to wonder why EVERYONE is staring at them. . .
SURPRISE!!! Huh? What is this? What do you mean, "surprise"?
Hey Glenn, did YOU know about this?
Aaaawwww, aren't they cute? Such a beautiful couple! Wish they were my parents! They look like really fun and cool people! ;)



The Happy Couple
pretty fountain with floating candles in the middle of the party room
YUM! CAKE!


The Family




I had a blast running around the front lawn with the other kids!

Spinning!!!


"Hey there babycakes. . .would you care to have this dance with me?"

"Oh dear. Oh my! I just don't know if I should!"

"Oh, OK! I guess, just this one time! Tee hee hee"

Being goofy
Wearing Justin's tie :)