The Final Countdown

Neener neee ner. Neee ner neet neet ner.
OK. I think you get the point.

Yesterday, the space shuttle Endeavour finally lifted off. The space shuttle that we were supposed to see launch. I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that it left without us {They didn't even call...}. But, after 5 launch scrubs, I started to feel a little bit bad for the one Japanese astronaut who had been on board the space station since March who was supposed to come home last month.

So, he's finally got a ticket to come home.

And all I've got are these tickets that are really expensive pieces card stock at this point. I never finished the story of how we got home; I think because I didn't want it to be true! We were so excited about seeing the shuttle launch. And after they scrubbed the first launch attempt, we even stayed a few more days to try to see the second attempt.

We loved our last minute vacation and had a great 6 days at the beach. We took the kids to the Kennedy Space Center to tour and teach them about finding the right person.... umm, I mean space. They LOVED it- even in the blazing sun.

Here are our little Gemini astronauts:
Because it was some sort of record breaking heat, we decided to take the bus tour. This usually goes up to the launch pad, but since there was a shuttle there and all, it did not.
And like good parents, we stopped by the gift store before we left because everybody needs a toy space shuttle.

Ollie is still talking about becoming an astronaut. I told him that was fine and we would help him every step of the way. To which he replied, "FANK you, Mommy. Can I have some fruit snacks?"
Here we are underneath the Saturn V display on the bus tour. It's one of the last rockets made that never launched in the Apollo program. There's one on display like this now in Huntsville and I can't say I didn't think WE COULD SEE THIS AT HOME INSTEAD OF 11 HOURS AWAY.
We really did have a great day at the space center. The tickets we had included admission, they rented free {and very good} strollers that you could take from stop to stop and we packed our own lunch. So, it was a great cheap day trip for us!

We had the car packed and ready to go home when we drove on site to see the next launch attempt at 12:00 am {that's in the middle of the night}. Jason found out through Twitter that it had been scrubbed and we were the first car out of the parking lot on the LONG way home. We drove to Dothan and were there by 6:00 am. Thankfully my parents cooked us breakfast and let us sleep while they played with the kiddos {who had done a decent job of sleeping in the car}. Then we made our way home that afternoon and got to Huntsville around 6:00 pm. We were a little sad, and we still are now, but there are a few more shuttle launches left, so I think we're going to try to get tickets to the next one.

And if it doesn't launch I'm going to sic my little wanna be astronaut on them. He'll get them with his toy shuttle that hasn't left his side. He knows all the pieces of it and he has already injured his brother with those solid rocket boosters. So, they'll know he means business. Or fruit snacks. Whatever works.

Picture this

I'll be the first to admit that my photography is similar to that of an 11 year old given free license to a click-and-crank camera at a wedding. You have seen many examples of it's hideosity {um, hum... that's a word}. But I've decided to start to care and take it up a notch. You fine people are worth it.

At Blissdom in February, I got a great coupon for a free upgrade for a year at picnik.com. And it sat in a stack of other very important coupon/ notification-ish thingies in a special shelf beside my phone in the kitchen. Do you have that shelf, dish or drawer? It contains only the most pertinent information that is never used: oil change coupons, Sunday School helper lists and a stack of rubber bands from the mid nineties.

So, I found it tonight all stained with water and some sort of spaghetti or salsa bits on it and decided to give it a try- before it expired like every other coupon in that stack.

For the record, I am NOT very good at this, yet, but I had a great time playing around with it.

Here is the picture my mom wanted with my kiddos and our nephew {her 3 grandsons} at the beach on the 4th of July: Then I added a little fade-aroo {I'm sure that's what they call it} for an old fashioned look:I am most excited about this feature- the pencil sketch- even though this didn't turn out exactly like Bob Ross would have sketched it with the sun's brightness around their eyes. But isn't that fun?Then I went with a little text just so we could remember what the heck was going on. There are a ton of other cool features to frame, pixelate, fade and mutate your pictures in any way possible. I'm sure I can destroy a few if they just give me a chance.

Do you edit your pictures? Do you share on flickr? Are you a kodak junkie {I'm not thrilled with their new black background... just me?} Or what's your favorite method?

Sew Proud, Part 2

You might remember a while back that Ollie was in the magazine Sew Beautiful modeling a cute smocked outfit.

Not wanting to be outdone, Henry called his agent, and made sure that he got in, as well.




Well, that's probably not egg-zactly how the story went, but it makes a good one.

What really happened what that my sweet friend Kathy, the editor of this amazing magazine, asked me if Henry could fit into a size 2 she had for a photo shoot that week. Of course I said he could, even though I knew it would be a close squeeze since he was only 16-17 months at the time, and all. My boys are big, have I mentioned that before?

Here's the behind the scenes scoop that you always wanted to know about a photo shoot:

* We shot this back in February or March {ish} and he had on a little sweater in between shots.

* We had to bribe him with smarties to look at the camera. You can see that he did that about once.

* There was a little daschund there with an old-timey wagon and the idea was for Henry to pull the wagon with the daschund. Or come close to the dog. Or not run away screaming from the wagon and dog.

* As you can see, no wagon or dog made it into the magazine.

* The dog had approximately 4, 328 treats that day, so he could care less about the magazine.

* This session took about an hour to shoot.

* Henry had a nice sugar high for about 2 hours afterwards.

It was so worth it, though! Isn't that fun? Since so many of you sew and are crafty and such, I already had a friend tell me on Facebook that she saw the article and knew it was Henry just from the blog. I felt so loved. You people make my day every day.

If you are the sewing and useful type {not I said the fly}, you should buy the magazine. Then frame pages 68-69 next to your other pictures on the wall. That's what I'll be doing!

Or just have a pack of smarties to celebrate.

I believe I'll be doing that, too...

Polka Dots- Not So Hot

Hello everyone!
I hope to get back into the blogging groove very soon. For now, here is an update on my littlest guy and his new skin design.

Henry is polka dotted.

Or else he has the Big Dipper on the side of his face.

I know. It's horrible.

Please don't get me started on the level of guilt I feel. As if we need more mom guilt...

These are mosquito bites. Apparently he is allergic to them. According to the Internet {which I always believe, don't you?}, it's more common for young children to have stronger reactions to the bites since they haven't developed an immunity. He was bitten a few weeks ago on our way back from the scrubbed shuttle launch, but I thought the severity of those might be from the Florida 'skeeters. But, backyard Alabama 'skeeters have the same effect, so I'm thinking it's just those darn bugs in general.

It doesn't help that he is genetically pre-disposed to "being sweet". That's why people used to say I'd get eaten alive by them. I don't know if it's a blood type thing or what.

{I'm O+ as are both of our kiddos (Jason is O-), so let me know if you know anything about that.}

But, from the wise old Internet, I should go straight for the DEET from now on. "They" say a 20%-30% formula for young children is safe. Apparently they make straight DEET that will kill bugs from 2 miles away, but it's not safe for pregnant women or young children- sounds fabulous, huh? I know some of my all-natural friends will be anti-DEET, but please look at that child's face again and let me know if I should go with DEET or a lovely head net that was recommended on one site:

It's all the rage at the playgrounds.

In other goings on, we went to see Thomas Live on Stage last night! As you might know, both our boys are HUGE Thomas fans, so this was a special treat. Our engineers were pumped and ready for the show. They didn't care that there were grown adults acting like goofy characters. They LOVED it. It was a very good show- even though one of the train engineers sounded and acted like Ross the Intern. A friend pointed that out to me on Facebook during the performance. Gotta love technology.Here is the other side of Henry's face. He was bitten on the top of the ear and it looks AWFUL! His ears are normally the same shape and go back to his head, but now one looks like Dumbo! {Or Sloth, but you know his own mother would never say that.} Here is Ollie when the peeping got to be a little too loud. Or else he didn't want his own mother to make fun of his ears. I'll let you decide.

With all the events of the day, I decided to interview Henry about the show.

Just ignore the big ole diaper genie {or whatever that model is called} and the diaper on the floor.

Oh and the big light behind my child's head. Let's just say this video won't win any videographer awards.

Without further ado:

A little Gordon-centric, you think? They both claim him as their favorite. Which is great if they want to be big bullies when they grow up.

Kind of makes me all warm and fuzzy.

Like a mustached man in a head net.

Blog-cation

Happy almost 4th of July!
We have been MIA for a reason. I've been vacationing with my wonderful family and have been enjoying some family time. If I was some sort of professional blogger- or really anyone who thought ahead- I would have pre-posted some fun items for your reading pleasure.
But, That. Didn't. Happen.

I'm sorry if you have been staring at my squishy baby face for a while now. I promise I'll have loads of beach pictures soon. Hopefully I won't be squinting in them.

For now, here is my favorite from the week:St. George Island is an island, as the name implies, so we have the benefit of a bay side {where this was taken} and a Gulf side to enjoy. My dad is a boat captain, so he gave several of us a Sunset Cruise around the bay Tuesday night.
I realize that the sun sets everywhere, but there is something special about the sunset here.

Hope you have a wonderful sunset wherever you are and I'll be back soon with more pictures!