I Heart Faces, At The Beach

This photo was taken eleven years ago (way before I had a digital camera). This is my son and he had dug a hole and was sitting in it just staring at the ocean. I have this hanging on my family room wall and it is a moment in time I was able to capture forever.

Be sure to visit I Heart Faces to see a ton of people's photos of their happy beach memories.

DVM's Wife's Life Needs Our PRAYERS

Today's post will be devoted to a blogging friend who needs our prayers desperately right now.

Please click on the link and please send good thoughts her way as her husband was just diagnosed with a brain tumor this morning.

Let's flood her with positive comments and send many prayers her and her family's way

We Had A Wedding!!!

My niece was married on Sunday. The weather was perfect and the bride was beautiful. Although I am having trouble mastering low-light situations and probably will until I get a speed lamp (or is it light, I can never remember), I was able to lighten up most of the indoor photos with Photoshop.


My brother walked his daughter down the aisle. Can you guess how they feel about each other?



They are officially husband and wife!



That first real kiss of husband and wife - not that dinky one up on the altar...



The bride's two sisters (yes, I have lots of nieces) were both maids of honor. The bride didn't want to have to choose one over the other. We jokingly told my niece she shouldn't have put her gold tooth in that morning because it reflected the sunlight...



Great placement of bubbles on the bride's face, don't you think?



Here are all of the cousins - all of my siblings' children and my two kids with the happy couple. It is wonderful watching our family grow. We are truly blessed....



Although I hate to see the bride and groom get all sloppy from the cake slicing event at the reception, I still think these photos turned out so cute and both of them cleaned up very nicely and quickly too.






This little darling is my brother's stepdaughter. She is so sweet and she and my daughter ended up having a blast tearing up the dance floor. Although she is 11 and my daughter will be 18 in a few days, they were equally matched when it came to "Cotton Eyed Joe"





At the end of a wonderful, wonderful celebration, I caught the bride and groom showing most obvious signs of total exhaustion but total contentment too.

Jon, we already love you and are so thrilled to have you in our family. Victoria couldn't have found a better guy.

Your Morning Laugh

I just wanted to add a little levity to the morning. I am working on a post about my niece's wedding on Sunday but until then, I am providing a little light entertainment. I hope you like it and it puts a smile on your face.

A Special Play Date (not just for the dogs)

In recent years, properly socializing your canine member of the family has been emphasized so much. Back when I was a kid, dogs ran free all the time - all day long - and therefore were constantly meeting other dogs and interacting with them on some level throughout the day. I had neighbors who would open their doors in the morning to let Fido out and after dark call him/her back into the house before they turned in for the night. With the advent of leash laws and township ordinances regarding our canine friends, that has all stopped for the most part. We are therefore left to seek other ways to get our dogs socialized with others of their species to hopefully end up with what Cesar Milan refers to as a "well balanced dog".

Well, I too have been sucked into this philosophy. I have Freckles, an older dog, who couldn't care less if he ever crossed paths with any other canine creature. He's perfectly content to be the center of our human universe and very happy as long as I am somewhat nearby and he has something soft to sleep on - and he sleeps 22 hours every day.

However, I also have Ruby, a 4-month-old puppy, who would give her left paw for a playmate who plays as rough as she does and me thinks we may have found that playmate this week.

Meet Batman - isn't he a cutie?



Batman is a 2 year old Norwegian Buhund who has been very lonely (don't worry, he's been neutered) and he happens to belong to my best friend since childhood. We've been waiting for Ruby to have all of her vaccinations so she could meet Batman and so last night was the night of their first meeting.

They were cautious at first...



Then they felt a little more sure of each other....



Backing off and resting for a second....





Finally, an all-out rough and tumble brawl.



Yes, they got along famously and hopefully it is the start of a weekly rendezvous that leads to a lifelong friendship (just like their humans) - and the bonus is that my friend and I will also get to relax together every week and catch up....something that has been so long overdue since we have been raising our kids.

I Heart Faces, Week 27

I am fortunate in that I happen to have two photos that fit both categories this week.



The first is for a sports action category. My son played soccer up until 2007 when he "retired" and decided to pursue ultimate frisbee instead. This is a photo that I took during that last season and while he is not the key player in the photo, it happens to be one of my favorite pictures from that season.






The other category is for pets or animals and I chose this photograph of my guy, Freckles, who is just a love of a beagle - very independent and not needy most of the time. He manages to strike the "regal beagle" pose many times and I happened to have my camera ready for one of those poses.



Be sure to go on over to I Heart Faces and see many, many great entries from both professional and amateur photographers.

At Least I Have Tried

Below are two partial posts I've written that never got published. I seem to have developed a bit of SASS in the last few weeks (Short Attention Span Syndrome).

Please forgive me but based on some of the comments I have received, I'm not alone in not being able to sit for any period of time actually needed to compose a full post.

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After mass and dinner last evening, my hubby suggested we go to see Night at the Museum - Battle of The Smithsonian. My first thought was "I hate going out at night" but that thought was quickly replaced with "Hey, all four of us are home and it's raining out, and it's been raining for the last 6035 days so, why not?".

Boy, am I glad we went!!! Here is a movie that is just pure fun - no cussing, no violence, no sex - just plain fun for all of us. I found myself laughing out loud, mostly at Hank Azaria who plays the Kahmunrah, but I also glanced over at my two teenagers who had huge smiles pasted on their faces through most of the movie.

If I had six thumbs they would all be pointing up for this movie - truly a great outing for the entire family and nothing in it to make you cringe or wince. It is one that I could definitely watch again. It felt like the official kick off to Father's Day for us.

6/21/09


My niece is getting married on July 19 and I have absolutely nothing to wear. I went to several stores over the weekend and found nothing. Today, I went to Macy's and picked up the only dress they had displayed that I thought was suitable for a wedding. I didn't have anybody to lend an opinion when I tried it on so I brought it home and modeled it for my daughter who crinkled her nose up and said, "Um, do you like it, mom?" I replied that I didn't like it much but at least it was a dress.

Bottom line, it is going back tomorrow.

We got a dress for my daughter which is adorable and for my son, well he'll be wearing the suit I purchased in February for a snow ball that he went to. However, back then I had to have his pants shortened but I asked them to leave a 2" hem as I knew we had this wedding coming up. I'm glad I did for now we have to let the hem down 1". He tried the pants on today and he looked like he was wearing floods!

7/7/09

Please forgive me. At the moment I am typing this post, a mosquito is buzzing around me and I must find it and get rid of it. I will be back - maybe even later tonight - there is always hope!

P.S. Please disregard the above dress. I have since returned it and purchased another style. I will see if I can find a picture of that to post!

I Am A Ping Pong Ball

I thought my chauffering tasks would slow down once the school year ended but the exact opposite is the case. I am in an out of the car so many times a day, my head is spinning. Because of this spinning, I am unable to think clearly enough to actually complete a blog post. I have three half-written ones that I never published.

So, at least I am managing to get one complete thought typed out here. I hope to do a "real" post soon. I even had ideas for I Heart Faces this week but had no time to look for the photo from my nephew's wedding last year.

Here's hoping I can do a full post tonight!

In the meantime, please enjoy this amazing acapella group perform "Africa" by Toto. The beginning, when they simulate a thunderstorm, is absolutely amazing!!!