happy!... happy! (I'm envisioning me saying this like Mugato from Zoolander... I love that movie.)

Early birthday presents make me happy.

Especially when I get to pick them out myself. After YEARS of wanting it.

Yes, I am happy indeed.





p.s. Please don't pay any attention to how white I am. Please.

a love story

Around 8pm Thursday night, the Mrs. is working diligently on a sewing project, when there is a crash! behind her: the shelves that hold all of her art supplies collapsed.

So the next night the Mr. drives and hour and a half (one way) to get new shelves so the Mrs. can get all of her precious art supplies off the floor (since the Mrs. has a lot to do so can't make it there herself).



And the Mr. picks out some beautiful shelves.

Now that is true love.

thirty-schmirty

Here's Rob's birthday celebrations as promised...

So his birthday was on a Tuesday this year, and we honestly didn't do much on his actual birthday. Instead, he took Friday off and we celebrated in style!

First up: the Ducati dealership.

We found the perfect family vehicle, wouldn't you agree? Max sure does.

For some reason, Max thought this place was pretty cool. Not sure why...

And we picked out our motorcycle. Isn't she beautiful? Now we just need to make some money...

Since we couldn't leave with a motorcycle, we settled on getting Rob, I mean, Max a hat.

Next up: the Lego store.
I'd been struggling to come up with something fun to do for Rob's 30th birthday, and the answer fell into my lap. We got a postcard in the mail informing us that there was a lego store opening in Raleigh, and that we were invited to come join in the festivities by helping a Lego Master build an 8-foot tall statue of Yoda (I think you just have to buy a lot of legos to get an invitation like that, and boy do we have a lot of legos). And that opening just happened to occur the weekend after Rob's birthday, so voila! Celebration question answered. Now, we weren't quite sure how this "helping" was going to happen. All Rob and I could picture was a swarm of people handing legos to the "master." But those Lego people are geniuses.

They built a little statue of Yoda out of normal-size lego pieces, and to make the 8-foot one all they did was scale it up 4 times (and I'm sorry if this is confusing, it makes perfect sense to me because we drew thousands of scaled drawing in school, so I'm going to do my best to explain it). So what all these children (and some adults) did to help out the "master" was to make a lego brick at a 4x scale using normal sized bricks.

Like so.

Here are the instructions that were all over the place.

So we built our little pile of bricks...

And then took them up to the front and turned them in. They checked each one to make sure it was constructed properly, then Max got a high-five for his hard work (little did they know, we were not there for our 2 year old child, but for my 30 year old husband).

Then we got a pass to go get an "official" certificate of participation.

This is not the Lego Mater here, but an assistant working on the statue with the assistance of the peanut gallery. Notice the string to keep the kids at bay (they gradually got close and closer to the statue as the day progressed, courtesy of many many excited children).

And then we went and waited in a long long line to actually get in the store. And Rob was a little annoyed to have to pose with the lego sign in front of a ton of other people waiting in line.

And we finally made it into the store! This was my favorite part: from outside it just looked like decoration, but the back wall was all these little cubbies with various lego pieces. They had little buckets that you would then fill with whatever various pieces you wanted and buy. It was especially great to have something interactive like this for our 2 year old who had been confined to his stroller way too long and was ready to do something.

And as tempting as it was to get the Millenium Falcon or the Deathstar, we settled for some little legos for Max. Which he proceeded to chew on (guess we're buying these, no choice) as we waited in yet another long line (and I mean long, the line was wrapped around the outer walls of the store) to purchase. I felt bad that we ended up getting stuff for Max since the plan was to let Rob pick out a set for himself (he's the one who decided to get stuff for Max), but then I realized we've bought many lego sets for "Max," that he's not allowed to touch (not yet, at least).

And here's yet another picture of Rob looking annoyed because I made him pose in front of crowds of people. But I just wanted to show how cool this was! (Granted, the proportions of the torso are a little off, but overall it's still impressive)

Then we went back to the statue and watched the Lego Master at work. I was a little diappointed, however, 'cause he was signing autographs when we got there, but cut the line off right in front of me so he could get back to work. I was soo disappointed, especially 'cause I was that close!

But Max really enjoyed watching him work, and the master was so good with kids and talked to Max while he worked.

Then we went home and I made Rob's favorite cupcakes:

And used our Darth Vader candle Holder in honor of Star Wars legos.

It was a great birthday, and it was Rob's idea of a great birthday.


The funny thing is, I think it was Max's kind of birthday too.

They never grow up, do they?

little gems

As a photographer, I take a lot of photos. Unfortunately, clients get top priority so most of the time any pictures I take of my family never get looked at again after I upload them. But the other day when I was looking for a picture of Rob to put up here, I came across these. These were a couple of the pictures I took the day I got my new lens, right after I opened the box. So here is Max in all his (or more like my) glory: sweatshirt over his pajamas, bed head, rough-looking haircut, and snot. But I know I will treasure seeing him like this years down the road when I may only see him once in awhile, and only when he's dressed and groomed.


do you think those cheeks need pinching too?

my happy place

I've been having a really hard time recently (thankfully, all that's over with) and anything that made me happy I clung to with everything I had. This song was one of those happy things (I had it on repeat in my car and I can't tell you how many times it played). Rob and I never officially chose a song as "our song," but I think if we did it'd be this. It was originally sung by Frank and Nancy Sinatra, but I just love this version: I think Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman should sing together more often. I just love her harmony and the way she say stupid (something I only picked up on because of the number of times I listened to it).

and a side note: I would've posted the music video instead of this boring thing, but seeing as how it is Robbie Williams, the video is a little risque for a family blog. I guess when you're as good as he is, you can do anything you want (and he does).

it's May 26th...

And somebody turned 30 today!
Happy Birthday Rob!



stay tuned for the celebrations later this week...

a funny thing.

Today was my due date.

But I'm kind of glad I don't have a baby. Sad, yes, but the idea of having an infant right now is kind of foreign. I know a big part of it is the fact that I was no longer pregnant so there was no point in getting myself ready for a baby (the beauty of nine months: you get a little bit of time to brace yourself), but at the same time it's not our time yet. I think we're definitely getting closer, but we're not quite there yet.

And, of course, there's always the fear and worry that we might not be able to have any more (my track record isn't great when it comes to this baby stuff: I had to have a medical intervention with Max and then had a miscarriage), but then I reprimand myself because I had just one miscarriage and that's perfectly normal and doesn't mean a thing and pre-eclempsia has no rhyme or reason to it and I may never have it again.

But the funny thing is Nicola is close. I feel him here with me at random times, usually when I least expect it but really need it. I don't know if I'll ever get to meet him in this life (I really hope I can) or if I'll have to wait until the next, but for now this is enough. And despite the fact my arms ache to hold my own precious newborn again, I'm content to wait (for now).

So here's to the hope of getting pregnant again. And having it stick.