I can’t believe February is over.

Lightroom tells me that I took imported 1260 pictures for the month. That makes my average daily pictures taken 45. Sounds crazy but generally true.

Here’s a couple fun photos I never posted this month.

They’re expanding the highway right in front of our neighborhood. This is what we got to see when we drive on our access road….E loves it!

Woody is in the time-out chair

E is giving Maren a kiss. Stinkin’ cute.

While Angela and I talked, shared, laughed, scrap’d, slept, read each others mind’s, finished each others sentences, ate M&Ms, and planned our trip to NYC – we did so wearing matching GAP sweat pants.

And the next day, while Angela and I ate Panera bagels, scrap’d, laughed, cried, reminisced, shared stories of our past, shared our hopes for the future, listened to good music, ate more M&Ms, and planned our trip to NYC – we did so with a constant level of caffeine in our systems.

Watching a few snowflakes  fall from the San Antonio sky.

I have a rule for myself with Project 365 – “I have to take the picture”. I’m breaking that rule for this day. While I have several great photos from Friday that I took, this one just has to be my POTD (Picture Of The Day).

I had just walked outside after getting ready for work (around 5pm) and I had my camera so I could get a picture of the kids for my POTD. Before I could take any pictures of the kids we saw Randy.

So Ryan took this picture of us (after a very long hug) and I love it. Sometimes rules need to be broken.

But here’s choice #2 just for fun:

I was so, so, so excited to see Randy home today.

Randy lives next door and has been my running buddy for the past 4 years. He just spent 6 months in Iraq and finally arrived home this afternoon.

Can’t wait to start our 5:30am runs again!

The sun was out and the sky was a perfect blue today.

I’ve been a little whiny about how cold and nasty its been here in San Antonio. I figure, if we have to put up with miserable summers then our “winters” should be pretty darn super. It has not been super this year.

I digress already.

I’ve been a morning person this week crashing at 8-9pm and getting up at 4am. Today I got up and ironed for 2 hours. Generally not exciting, but always feels good to get it marked off my list.

After the temperature got above 50 degrees (and the sun was shining its happy face) I decided to go running.

This picture was more for the perfect blue sky then it was for me.  It felt soooo good to be out running again. We seriously need more days like this so I can get back in the groove.

After lunch I ran to our grocery store to pick up some flowers and then delivered them to X’s school for her. I included a card that said, “To the most beautiful girl in 2nd grade (with or without glasses)…we hope you’re having a terrific day…we love you!”

As it turns out some kids did indeed make fun of her. She got some “four-eyes” from the boys and one kid even told her that wearing glasses when she’s in High School and College will mean that she is a “nerd”. She came home with her head held high though (holding her super bright pink and purple flowers).

After picking E up we decided to ride some bikes. E does not like pedaling so he gave up on his bike after 2 minutes. When X and I came back around the house after a quick ride around the neighborhood we found Ry and E:

Ryan said, “It’s a little ghetto-fabulous…but it works!” I only had my phone with me so after I took this one I decided to attempt a self portrait while I rode down the street.

Look at that gorgeous sky.

We played outside till the sun went down.

Then we went in and had dinner: Ham and Organic Alphabet fries. I found the fries at Whole Foods and was super excited they were gluten/soy free.

The kids love them. Last package didn’t have any “X”, today’s had 2! And E is getting so good at knowing his letters, I can’t believe it! These fries make it a fun way to quiz him on them.

The kids went to bed. And then we watched Survivor.

A good, good day. Thank you, sun, for your contribution.

It was a sad day for X and I yesterday.

Last week X went for her yearly eye exam and learned that she needed glasses. I totally thought Ryan was joking when he told me. I couldn’t believe it. Oh, how I can empathize with the sadness, sorrow, and shame that comes with wearing glasses at such a young age. It is no fun at all.

All week she spoke of Wednesday as if it was to be her last day on earth. An anxious frown instantly appeared with any mention of her eyesight or upcoming glasses.

We picked them up last night before piano lessons and Hit the Road. I could tell she liked being able to see but was super concerned with being made fun of.

This morning after getting dressed, putting her glasses on, and eating breakfast she pouted over and sat next to me on the living room couch (I was playing with Easter eggs with E there). She simply  laid her head on my shoulder and let her limp body fall into my arms. At first I thought she was sick but when I asked her she admitted to being nervous to go to school with glasses. Poor thing.

I gave her all the encouragement I could while I fixed her hair (extra pretty to offset the glasses). I told her about my battles with my eyesight, glasses, contacts, lasik, (and then glasses and contacts again). And of course, told her she was beautiful – God created you and He doesn’t make mistakes. If he wants you to have glasses then it must be for a reason. I have no clue if that helps an 8 year old – but it can’t hurt, right?

I took these last night:

I know it’s no surprise to anyone that she chose glasses like mine. In reality, the choices were slim if we wanted her “insurance” to pay for them. Which they did, and I’m thankful for that.

This is her acting “intelligent”.

Saturday night was our friend Natalie’s 40th Birthday party.

And when I say “party” I really mean the most extravagant gathering of family and friends that Natalie said, “was better than her wedding”.

I planned on taking lots of pictures. What I didn’t plan on was just how much battery and space 528 RAW photos (half of them using flash-because I was forced to) would use. I only stopped taking pictures because I went through (2) fully charged Canon batteries, the AA batteries that fits in my external battery pack, and (2) 4-GB memory cards.

I think that happened around 3 am.

So, let me just get to it. The pictures tell the best story.

This was taken as we left our hotel on our way to the party. I strayed from my always present and comforting black clothing and sprung for purple.  I even got purple heels. It was super. Until 3 am when I couldn’t walk from dancing in them for 5 hours.

The Details:

There was a bartender hired for the night. Danger.

And an amazing private chef who made some fabulous food (of which I wished I had ate more of come 3 am.)

Tom & Natalie:

While the party was supposed to be a surprise, it was hard for Tom to hide all the people coming into town, the chef and his staff taking over their kitchen, and the fact that she Natalie was scheduled for a complete makeover during the day.

[I won't lie when I tell you how excited I was that after her husband, I got the first hug. Probably because I was standing close and snapping pictures like a paparazzi....but o, well-I loved it.]

Major kudos to Tom – Husband of the Year. He did an phenomenal job planning this party (on top of his beyond crazy doctor schedule).

My favorite photo of the night.

I love that some of my best pictures were of Tom & Natalie. Such an awesome couple.

The Party:

Natalie has some of the most amazing family and friends. It was so good to meet so many of the people I’ve heard about over the past 8 years.

And so good to see Francie again. We lived with Francie for 6 months when our house was being built here in San Antonio.

My pictures really went downhill when the fog machine started.

A lot of pictures turned out like this.

But not all…I still have plenty of good ones. Like I said, that bartender was dangererous.

And I love this one that Ryan took for me.

____________

Fellow party-goers: To see all the pictures that I took (and are decent – there’s about 70 more) I have uploaded them all to a Walgreens album.

First: you will need to create an account (if you don’t have one).

Second: come back to this page and click here. It should bring you to a page where you can log in and view the album.

Then you can order prints and have them printed at the Walgreens closest to you. Shameless plug for my employer!

If you have trouble viewing the album or if you want something in black or white or whatever, leave me a comment and I’ll take care of it for you.

Even though this blog post displays that the author is your beloved Kelly, the actual author is in fact the legendary Jars {aka, Kara}.  If you have not met me, let me assure you that I am quite awesome.  I am also highly sarcastic, which I have been told can be very annoying, as you might not know when to take me seriously.  So, your best bet will be to never take me seriously.  Unless I am being serious, of course.  Please notice the fact that I have used the word seriously twice already…because after all, this is Kelly’s blog

You may be asking yourself why I am guest blogging here today – well, Kelly and Ryan went on what E would call a ‘hot date’ to Houston over the weekend {I’m sure Kelly will blog about that soon}, so X & E stayed with my husband, Ian, and me for the weekend.  I decided it would be fun for me to blog about the kids’ weekend for Kelly, to keep up with her tradition of meticulously documenting everything about her life.  But I love it, because reading her blog gives me something to do at work all day.  You know, besides work.

Anyhoo, I was a little nervous about X & E staying the night with us, mainly because I have this debilitating obsession with my dogs.  Ian and I have two insane, high energy border collies {don’t ask me why}, and X & E have never been fond of them.  Our dogs are slobbery, hairy, and in-your-face, so E tends to be a little scared of them.  And I probably don’t have to tell you that X does not like slobber or any substance that resembles slobber.  Except maybe hair gel.  And ketchup.

Ketchup!!  Did I tell you that I LOVE ketchup?  This sounds like a good time to mention my blog…shameless self promotion, I know.  You should go visit me over there sometime, especially if you like dogs, coffee, and the occasional cuss word.

OK, back to the slobber.  Once the kids got to the house, we went outside to meet the dogs and play with them for a bit.  As you can see, X is quite proper with her form when it comes to playing fetch, and she keeps her sinister hand away from her body, as it is covered with slobber.  After a while, she and X got the hang of it and had a great time playing with the dogs, Major and Sable.

It was a decent day outside, so we decided to take the kids to the San Antonio Zoo.  Ian and I are members/donors to the zoo, because we feel that our zoo needs help.  The animals usually look so depressed, and for whatever reason we really want our city to have a nice zoo.  So we go there often and like to support the animals when we can.  X & E were pretty excited!  And it was a fantastic day – all the animals were moving instead of laying on the ground as though they were about to suffer from heat stroke.  Normally, the lions and tigers are just laying there and they look dead, because it gets up to like 350 degrees outside here in the summer.

These lions were even roaring and screaming really loud, and then we watched them make out for a while.  Seriously, it was awesome.  Their roars {is ‘roars’ even a word?} sounded like thunder, and I was so thrilled to see that the lions actually were able to move.

I will spare you from random pictures of zoo animals and get back to the kids now.  Towards the end of the day, we ended up in the aviary enclosure where Ian was able to coax a lorikeet onto his should for X & E.  E was less than thrilled, and was pretty terrified of the bird.  It does sort of look like it wants to eat E’s eye for lunch…but instead, it actually ended up pooping all over Ian and X’s pants.  I’m so excited that I get to talk about poop now.  Poop.  Poop.  Poop.

When we were leaving the zoo, we spotted a zookeeper that was feeding a bunch of pelicans.  We decided to walk up to her and see if we could watch, and she offered X & E some fish to feed the birds themselves!  Yes, both kids LOVED feeding the pelicans, and for some reason E thought it was funny to act like he was going to eat the fish himself.  Every time he picked up a fish, he would hold it up to his mouth and say ahhhhh or yummy!!  Everyone thought it was adorable, and I was very happy that I was able to act like this was my smart, creative, cute little boy and take all the credit for his adorableness.  It was super.

Finally, we left the zoo and got a few candid shots by some statues.  X is too beautiful, isn’t she?

And E promptly fell asleep on the way home

That night we watched movies, the Olympics, and had homemade pizza.  E even said, “This is pretty good pizza Aunt Kara.”  We let the kids take long baths, read bedtime stories, and both were out like a light…until 5:00 am when E decided to wake up.  Booo.

So, it was a slow start to the morning, with some tv, greens eggs and pancakes, and cuddle time with the dogs.  X adores the dogs now.  I don’t see any dogs in her future, so this at least gives her a reason to come to our house!!

E could care less about the dogs.  He just wants trains, as usual.

The weekend was over so fast, and we had such a good time with the kids.  But I think E got a little tired of all the pictures I was taking – he only slipped and called me mom once, and it was when he said, “No mommy, no more pictures!”  I think that is a testament to the magnitude of pictures that Kelly takes of X & E every day.  Here’s his no more pictures pout.  Which of course, made me take pictures of him.  Silly boy.

Last pic – I know this is an awkward pic of X catching a dandelion seed, but I want everyone to see that I fixed her hair in the morning.  I hope we made the Newcoms proud

X left me this love not in my bathroom Saturday morning. Love it.

Ryan hates this dance move. They did last year and now they’re doing it again this year.

“Our” beloved Whitney, who babysits for us. She comes over every Tuesday so we can either have small group at our house or we can go to someone else’s house and she puts the kids to bed for us. Love her. Love her. Love her.

“Bella that tickles….”

These toes kept appearing under our bedroom door as we tried to watch this weeks Survivor before I went to work.

Amazing what 3 year olds can do. E and Maren are completely iPhone savvy. [At Fralo's-getting some more gluten-free pizza.]

Today is a Friday I love. Next Friday I won’t love so much as I’ll have to return to work.

But as of now I have 7 days  (all 7 days – no overtime) off of work.

[BTW-those who've had the displeasure of listening to me vent about my out of control control-freakishness/OCD at work, I'm happy to report that this week was much better. I didn't come anywhere close to a mental breakdown.]

Lots going on this weekend and next week. Super fun stuff that I’ve really been looking forward to. A little getaway, if you will.

Here’s some pictures from the week that aren’t POTDs:

Ew. Boys are so gross. You may not catch it at first glance but E is licking (like full tongue) the bar as he does a pull up in gymnastics on Monday. Ew.

He’s doing donkey kicks here, thankfully his tongue can’t reach anything.

I snuck into X’s dance studio during Hip Hop III Monday night. You can’t really tell she’s dancing but doesn’t her hair look super?

A new move that she picked up rather quickly.

Being silly wearing Daddy’s shoes.

Bella hasn’t been out in a while, and I’ve often been forgetting to feed her. If we let her out she’ll normally go underneath something and hide, unless….

E is around. There is just something about E that Bella loves. Ryan says its because E is the only one who doesn’t force her back into her cage. I say it’s because of their names. You just can’t have a Bella and an Edward in the same room and not have them love each other!

On Friday night we made an impromptu decision to get pizza at Fralo’s (our fabulous little family owned-BYOB-outdoor seating-pizza joint-here in Leon Springs).

Ryan was being a trooper and was just going to get a salad while we indulged in some fabulous gluten-rich pizza.

When he ordered his salad he asked the waitress to make sure there was no bread products on his salad. She caught on to his need for gluten free and informed us they now carried gluten free pizza crust.

It was as though the heavens had opened up and angels were singing all around us.

Seriously, seriously, super.

He ordered his all time favorite: Canadian bacon and pineapple. Something he hasn’t had in over 6 years.

To no one’s surprise, he ate the entire thing.

And E put away 3 pieces of pizza without thinking twice.