Party Time

This sweet cutie patootie is turning 1.
Her hobbies include: Hugging her bear, swinging and looking adorable.

Just you wait, cutie patootie's mom. Pretty soon your little gal will be in college.
Happy 1st birthday Rylee!

In The Neighborhood

The Fourth of July is sort of a big deal in my little town.
People begin celebrating (and by celebrating I mean setting off fireworks/firecrakers/LOUD things) from the middle of June til the fifth of July.
My dog is NOT a fan.
The rockstar, however, IS a fan.

Shortly after breakfast he heard loud noises coming from the neighbors driveway and ran over to investigate.
I decided to tag along and bring my camera.

But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw these:

My ears started hurting just from the sight.
I'll let you in on a little secret.
I'm not a huge fan of firecrackers.
Especially when the so-called rockstar tapes several together and lights them.
I'm with the dog on that one.

The items seen here were JUST for the afternoon.
JUST for when the sun was still out.
The bigger and LOUDER spectacles were waiting in the wings.

I have fun neighbors.

My favorite part of the day though, is watching the neighborhood come to life via sparklers and "special" fireworks (a.k.a. the SPECTACLES they bought from the reservation) just after dusk.

 My little brother even got in on the sparkler action.



Then came the BIG ones.

One of the larger displays may or may not have tipped over and shot in my general direction.
One or two police cars may or may not have driven by and given the neighbors a warning.
One neighbor may or may not have received a citation.


But they sure make for some interesting and beautiful photos:

Thank you, citation receiving neighbor, for providing me with some great photo opportunities and a memorable Fourth of July.
I salute you.

The Brother Who Came To Visit

Meet my brother:

Some call him Space Jase.
I call him awesome.
He doesn't normally walk around wearing shooting ear muffs.
I'll explain later.

He lives 750 miles away.
He and his equally awesome wife came to visit this past weekend.

I haven't seen them in almost a year.
And when I DID see them a year ago, my little kiddo was sick and miserable.
Double ear infections.
Don't remind me.

This time was different.

She was all smiles.
And yes, just in case you're curious, that last picture is what she considers to be a smile. This is the face she makes, without fail, EVERY time you ask her to smile. I can't wait til her grade school pictures when they take all the kids' photos one by one. I imagine it going something like this:
Photo guy: Ok, little miss cute-pie, give me a big smile!!
She will smile her biggest smile. Just like she does whenever we ask. Just like she did in the picture above.
Photo guy: Oh! Wow! Ok.. well, a little less then... if you could just smile a little less.

I love that kid.
And my bro.
He's my favorite big brother.
He's my ONLY big brother, but he's still my favorite one.

Now that I think about it, maybe the smile thing runs in the family.
Thoughts?


Meet his wife. A.k.a. one of my favorite sister-in-laws:

I bet you can't guess her age.
And she may not want you guessing.
My point being that she's beautiful.


And my kiddo loves her.

They sat together singing songs.
Which may or may not have been Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABCs.

All that being said, it was quite enjoyable having them here.
And since my mom and step dad live out in the middle of Nowhere, America, shooting ear muffs can come in handy.
You didn't forget about this picture already, did you?

Ok, just checking.


Thus began an afternoon of target shooting.
Is that what it's called?
Or is it shooting at a target?
Or is it boys being boys?
Ah yes, that must be it.

Here are the steps:

First - set up the target area.

Second - put on shooting ear muffs. Ahhhhhh, now the picture makes sense, yes?


Third - aim and shoot.

Fourth - Get awesome shot of bullet exiting rifle.

The fourth step applies to me.
Fourth step = COMPLETED.


Fifth - Check the results. And if applicable...

...bask in your bullseye awesomeness.

Sixth - Look at bugs.

Seventh - Pose for a photo with dear old mom.

Eighth -Travel to a place that is more populated than the middle of Nowhere, America and get lunch.

And little miss cutie-pie, would you like some dessert?

And.I.quote: "I would like four cookies, mom. Nothing more - nothing less. Stat."

Cell Phone Sunday!

I take my iPhone with me everywhere.
I take pictures all the time.
I don't delete.

*Some of these photos were taken by the rockstar. He has officially caught the iPhone photo-taking bug.

Here's the proof.

...proof that my kid is multi-talented. A multi-TASKER, if you will.

...proof that I sat in line to see a certain movie with certain vampires and werewolves in it. *On a side note: I am not obsessed with this series. It was a fun night out with some gals. Besides, I've never see a midnight showing of anything...heck, I don't even know the last time I went OUT at midnight. I am a rebel, hear me roar.

...proof that WHILST sitting in line for the certain movie mentioned above, we helped our neighbor in line (who we'd just met) with her Geology homework.

...proof that my kid makes great faces at random moments.

...proof that she also has a fan club at daycare. That's her in the pink, sitting on a blanket. The other kids see her and come running to grab a spot on the blanky next to her.

...proof that the Ironman Triathlon is sort of a big deal here.

...proof that the rockstar likes to take silly pictures of himself and send them to me at random moments during the day.

...more proof. He thinks doing this is hilarious. I agree.

...proof of several things: 1.) this rocking out thing never gets old. 2.) he's still got it. 3.) I still love going to shows.

...ok, this one might be hard to see, but it's proof of pure cuteness. Buckley decided to lay on my lap and look up at me with those longing eyes. And my little girl thought it might be fun to do the same. The result? Cuteness.


p.s. Happy Fourth of July!!