Kids . . . gotta love 'em

This is me . . . overjoyed by my children. Seriously. I rarely smile for pictures. I usually stick my tongue out. Ask my family. I hate having my picture taken. This one was taken after my kids had me all hyperhappy.



Here's a comment my daughter made on a post below tonight. It's for you. I put edits in [ ] and take note of how everything eventually revolves around her.

"Hey Mama!!!
I'm shouting out to your art peeps!
It's the daughter. idk [texting for I don't know] how to do all this blogg-edy stuff, but just saying I'm really not a depressed person lol I was just in a sad mood that day and was assigned a free verse poem for english class sooo enuff said! haha You should buy my mom's stuff, cuz that would be cool and if you're like a movie guy, like set designer you should put it in a really popular show, so like the whole world could be like "Omagod what is that exquisite piece of art on the wall, I would pay like a gazillion dollars for it." And then I can go to Notre Dame and my mom is happy and life is good. So yeh thats all i haf to say!
peace and love
LaurennnJo!!!"

Okay, so you think she'll get into Notre Dame with writing like that? Texting is ruining our kids - the spelling shortcuts they take, little punctuation, AND that thing you may have heard about young CA girls using the word "like" too much - it is so true. In her defense, she didn't comment knowing I would actually highlight it in a post and she is a straight A Honor student will all AP classes lined up for next year (very scary thought after reading that, humorous as it was). I was laughing so hard reading it aloud to my hubby and mom-in-law they couldn't understand what I was saying which made everyone laugh harder. Then, I made public note to my whole family that I don't think anyone believes I have an older son cuz I so infrequently mention him nor have I shown any pictures. This illustrates that my daughter HAS somehow made everything revolve around her. Poor Shawn. Here's some pix . . .

This is Shawn and I on a hike about 4 years ago. See, I didn't start at the beginning. It was so hot on this long hike that I had my husband cut my sleeves off of my long sleeved shirt (worn to protect against poison oak) with his Swiss army knife. Well, then what to do with the sleeves? Wear them on your head of course! Duh.



This is Shawn and I about 3 years ago - wearing our gaming sportswear. I used to be addicted to video games. Really. Then I found art. (Shawn is trying to look all serious here but if you look hard enough, you can see the smile that is about to explode with giggles just after the picture was taken). Notice how much he's grown in a year, now taller than me in this picture.



This pic shows us in my house I just moved from. The art on the right side is mine. A big fabric piece I made for an alumni exhibition and haven't made one since. It also shows that I am wearing my son's old shorts - my wardrobe of the last few years.



This is Lauren and I the same night, having more fun posing than Shawn would have, stinker that he is.



This is Shawn just about to start a fencing match a year or so ago.



This is Shawn also about a year or so ago on another hike. I love this picture of him.



He does exist, in the most wonderful fascinating way!