Family photos

Photos by Ben Manning, a budding photographer and high school senior! Thanks Ben (and Rachel)!

For once he wasn't sitting on her

While doing something in the other room, I heard the sound that comes from Ruby only when someone is provoking her. And by someone I mean Ethan because he is both her best friend and constant tormenter. I headed toward the living room expecting to see the usual: a grinning Ethan sitting on a squawking Ruby. The sound stopped, making me even more nervous that something was awry. And then I walked in on this:





I know, baby in sunglasses. You have seen it before. I guess it's because they are my kids, but I honestly couldn't stop laughing. How hilarious that Ethan had the thought to stick his sunglasses on his sister and how funny does she look in them? I'm laughing just looking at the photos now.

Speaking of expressions...

I am in love with this photo taken by our friend Albert at Easter dinner. I like it because it is so candid. I don't think anyone in this photo knew we were being photographed at the moment. But it looks staged, doesn't it? Ryan appears to be teaching a tutorial on how to make a baby fly. My expression reads that this is the coolest thing I have ever seen and James looks as if he thinks Ruby is more than six inches off of Ryan's hands and about to hit his ceiling. Oh, and Ruby seems as focused and determined as - gulp - a cheerleader.

Tangent: spoken from a former cheerleader, an accident prone one who only made it because there were 24 - yes two dozen - cheerleading spots open and I was the last girl to try out. In said tryout, I took a tumble (read: dive) off my tryout partner, hurling me into a summersault - not a flip - a full-on tuck and roll on the ground. No, the judges could not forget and took pity on the poor little girl who fell on her head. I was definitely hilarious entertainment in short shorts. And who would turn down hilarious entertainment in short shorts?

That last thought makes me hope Ruby chooses other activities over cheerleading. I mean, to fans and spectators, cheerleaders are nothing more than little girls in short skirts - an added bonus to the game. I realized this years after my little stint, and I have grown to sort of despise the demeaning qualities of cheerleading. But Ruby, if you want to be a cheerleader, you will have a lot of fun moments, so I am not stopping you. For now, though, just enjoy being thrown in the air by your dad. (Ooooo, just thought of another reason not to be a cheerleader: I have dropped more girls on the ground than you can count on both hands.)

A week and a day ago

I know this is quite late, but Ryan turned 28 a week and a day ago! Yay! We hit golf balls and then, after a small key-losing snafu, we had cake and ice cream at our place. I thought it was a lot of fun. These images my friend took of us at the party tell a different story, however. Or maybe we are just not that photogenic. Anyway, our hideous faces expressions made me laugh.

Like his daddy

On Friday, we went and hit golf balls for Ryan's birthday. No one enjoyed it more than Ethan. We let him hit a few and he made it into the red zone almost every time. Sadly, this is some crude video footage from Ryan's phone and you can't tell that his hit was right on. Ryan wanted me to post it anyway.

Hairspray dating

Found: a watch from my past.

It was discovered while I cleaned out my filing boxes last week. The amount of dried hairspray blanketing it dates it back to about, oh, the seventh grade, when I probably went through a couple of supersized bottles of L.A. Looks a month.

Happy Easter

Photo taken by Mystique ;-) in her apartment.