Mannequin

Look who insisted upon having her picture made with the mannequins when we visited Gramma Sue! Quite a few mall shoppers got a good chuckle as I obliged her request with a couple of shots. And yes, she is wearing a cat suit. It actually came in quite handy as it just so happened it was take-your-pet-to-see-Santa night at the mall. Thanks to our little kitty, we fit right in with the single ladies and their fancy dogs who were in line ahead of us.

Sweet Serenity

A rare still shot of our busy boy. Sweet serenity!

Deep Thoughts

Oh, to know what goes in the space between those two ears! This photo is from our Thanksgiving trip to Gramma Sue's. It makes me smile every time I look at it. She looks so deep in thought . . . and likely cooking up some kind of sweet mischief! (How's that for an oxymoron!)

The Very Best Kind of Love

The kids and I were sitting around the kitchen table the other night while Tom was at cigar club. For the life of me I can't remember what happened, but I wound up apologizing to Osten for some sort of transgression. "That's okay, Mommy," he said. "I still love you."

Now that's what I call the very best kind of love!

Pool Attire

Marci's big news this week is that she's moved up to the next class at her school and can now be dropped off in the carpool line. When were talking about carpool this morning, she asked me if that meant she would get to wear her bathing suit to school. Confused, I asked her what she meant. "Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy," she said. "You know we always wear our bathing suits in the pool!"

The Fashionista

These days, Marci is all about picking out her own clothes. Here's one of her ensembles from a recent hike we took at a local wildlife refuge.

Her princess belt was one of her favorite gifts from Santa this year. Who knew it would be such a hit??!! She wore it -- day and night -- for three days straight.

A makeshift cat walk -- just what every budding fashionista needs!

Wardrobe malfunction!

First Flight

Okay, so I'm just a wee bit behind on the blog . . . Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving trip to Indiana. It was the kids' first flight. Yes, I got in trouble for taking a picture while we were going through security, but they didn't confiscate my camera and I just couldn't help myself!

Waiting, waiting and waiting some more to board the plane. We only got to the gate in Jacksonville with almost three hours to spare. Rookies! But it sure beats running late.

Finally on board and getting ready to go!

Waiting outside of baggage claim in O'Hare and snacking on some chewies while Daddy figures out where to go to pick up our rental car.