creepy book club

last night i hosted our october book club meeting. i really wish i had taken some pictures, but since the room was lit by candle, i'm not sure they would have turned out well anyway. i'll just have to tell you about what i did and use some stock photos:


this month's book was "the monster of florence," a creepy non-fiction about an italian serial killer in the late 70's-early 80's. he killed couples parking in the italian countryside and did some pretty sick mutilating on the female victims. so, what's more fitting than a dinner of body parts?


main course: adams ribs. these were so easy to make (as long as you plan ahead, they roast for 3.5 hours) and they were SO good. and, yes, i ate meat-it's scary-i had to!

sides: witch fingers (just some asparagus with red almond slivers as finger nails) and mashed potatoes (which i intended to pipe onto plates to look like brains or ghosts, but i broke my icing bag when making cupcakes earlier and figured three trips to the store for one meal was just too many.)


beverage: i bought some green apple jones sodas and made my own "embalming fluid" labels, which i printed on adhesive paper. we figured "vagina juice" was just too gross, although it would have fit very well with the theme.

we ate by candlelight (bleeding candles, i might add) and i had this spooky playlist going in the background.

{jessie o'neal photography}

anderdunc's zion national park vacation

we took a weekend getaway to st. george/zion national park last weekend. it was awesome. steve and i kind of like eachother again (!) and the duncans were great company. and when no kids are involved, well, we could do what we wanted. can't put a price on that.

ANGEL'S LANDING

{we're engaged!}

{we're in a band!}

{taking it easy before the real hike starts. you know, the part with sheer cliffs on both sides and chains with which to brace yourself.}

{me & the bevie. in love.}

{the bradleeduncans}

{lizzy & gina bina pretending to be able to breathe.}

{the summit. the peak. the top. the view. hurrah!}

{EMERALD POOLS}

{the anderduncs at the upper emerald pool}







{the great valley!}

{time to say goodbye. with a little seduction?}

trip highlights:

• no kids
  
• taking showers without rushing because of a crying baby, knock on the door, etc.
• shaving & tweezing & lotioning
  
• eating slowly in peace
  
• staying up late & sleeping in
  
• good talks
• cuddling with bevie
• waking up with a hickey from bevie, uh-huh.
  
• sleeping in the car and not having to binki/bottle/feed/change kids along the way
• not having to binki/bottle/feed/change kids at all
• coming home to my nash who grew three inches and added a hundred words to his vocab
• feeling carefree & hopeful about the future because bevie got a job!
  

room for two

the incredible nash

(that's a little halloween foreshadowing for you, if i get my rear in gear)

*some serious nash pride follows. feel free to skip if my gushing makes you sick.

i usually say something along the lines of, "let me make baby happy first" while nash waits for me to fill his sippy with milk. he's so sweet to his "bebe" that he gets a big cheesy smile on and says "hap-EEE" and pets and strokes the lumpy girl who smiles right back at him (i think she worships him), totally forgetting he wanted milk in his sippy to begin with. just now he tried to swaddle her and move her to her crib. too bad she's half his weight.

while we were away this weekend sans kids (i'll post about that later provided someone gets the pictures to me. hint, hint), naomi took the kids for a walk to the park. they had to wait for traffic before crossing a road and then began to cross when nash noticed a truck pulling onto the road. so, what did he do? he yelled "no truck!" and waited. the truck let them cross and he then decided to tell the driver "thank you, thank you." are you kidding me? this is another thing he did not learn from me-not that i wouldn't thank someone who kindly waited for me to cross while toting kids, but where we live no one even considers waiting for us to cross. he'll thank anyone. in fact, a few weeks ago he even thanked the nurse who gave him the shots that made him scream and cry louder than ever before.

and then there's mommy-love. last night at about twelve-thirty, he woke up soaked. the kid pees an unbelievable amount and tends to do it all at night. this is the one thing that's got me dragging my feet when it comes to potty-training. i went in and changed him and the bed. then, as he usually requires of me by patting the bed beside him, i laid down by him for what i only intended to be a few minutes. but he was so sweet that i couldn't leave. he likes to snuggle close with his big eyes staring right at mine and one arm thrown over my neck. then he pets me and says "mom-mee." and puts his lips on mine (although i have to do the kissing, he hasn't quite figured his part out yet). i stayed for an hour, then he fell asleep smiling and i snuck out replacing myself with a pillow so that he wouldn't recognize my absence. and mostly so he wouldn't roll out of the bed. i don't even care when he wakes up at night anymore. especially now that he's in a big boy bed because there's room for me and an abundance of cuddles and kisses.

plus right now he's wearing my ruffled green heels and carrying my camera case as a purse. the kid's got style...er, i should go get him some sneakers and a backpack...or at least some flats.

i won, i won!

gina bina awarded me with an award. if i could nominate her right back, i surely would. gina is quite possibly the sweetest girl i know. who is a baking genius. who knows all the best online kid sources (and online anything sources for that matter). she's smart, fun, witty, and gosh dang it i really like her. so, thanks gina bina, it sure means a lot-especially coming from you! and, now to pass the award along to my top six Kreative Bloggers:

first up: alifinale, because she awarded me with an award a few weeks ago which i thought too ugly to put on my blog (not at all her fault. i think the award has been circulating since 1983 if you judge by the graphic. and i'm shallow, what can i say? image IS everything). so, to alifinale because she understands the importance of mashed potatoes and gravy at thanksgiving. also because she taught me the word "blog," and the rest is history. so...

amy D. whose kids seriously crack me up. every. single. post. especially olivia. that girl is cRAzY! she's a mass poster-she'll go weeks with nothing and then one morning you sign into reader and 'bam'! i just like these guys.

jewels who is quite possibly the most creative and funny girl i know. You should see the lengths she goes to just to invite people to parties, let alone the parties themselves! it's a family thing, her entire family is obsessed with halloween, holidays, and just being creative genius. and her husband is a firefighter, which although i think would be nervewracking, it's mostly just really hot (no pun intended).

julie because she reminds me that, although my hometown is a bizarre place (there's a goodwill and a nascar shop in our mall...), great people can still come out of it (other than me, of course!). she's funny, fresh, and adventurous. and she likes my dangly earrings; flattery is always nice.

holwonder. because she's the best SIL ever and she thinks i'm amazing because i know how to upload pictures to my posts. again, flattery is nice. she goes wild when it comes to gifting and she makes cookies nearly every time i come over. flattery, presents, and baked goods are even more nice.

and, lastly, lisset (fraggLe+monkEy+shysteR is her alias at the moment). because she's always good for a laugh. i love her honest blogging, her fresh outlook on things, and her cutest little E. i feel like we're basically the same person. only not. and she's funnier.

so there you have it. now pass it on...

saw this gem on buddens' blog:

flash cards

and in honor of it...the christmas blog is back up and in action {there's even a new post}! if you're not a contributor and want to be, just let me know your blogger email address and i'll add you! it's never too early for christmas cheer, right?!

haven started on solids last week. way to go, baby! last week she enjoyed some rice cereal, which wasn't all that new to her-the doctor put her on a formula for AR babies a while back that has rice mixed in to thicken it. so, this week we introduced bananas. she really seemed to like them. so did i-it's been too long since i've had that sweet treat!

and a little disclaimer to the last post: that picture was taken nearly an hour after tummy time started when she fell asleep. i guess i'm not very good at blogging because my posts are always misinterpreted {my fault, not yours}-i just though the picture was funny. my chubby little freak of nature has actually been holding her head up since she came out of my tummy, .

maverick

i'm watching the candidates debate right now...does anyone else think "the maverick" is like that kid in second grade who wouldn't stop poking you and laughing at you?

and, his self-appointed nick-name is ruining the good name of my favorite gas station/c-store.