The Mean, Mean, Ruby Machine Teasing Poor Little Saxon

Poor little Saxon (Scott and Elizabeth's four month old Cockapoo), valiantly tried to hold his own with the older woman, (Ruby, 11 months). But Ruby is in training, and must perfect her skills of using Saxon to clean up spills in the kitchen. After all, every dog should have a job to do.



But now Saxon has gone back home to DC, leaving Ruby to pine away for him, and him for her.

And we are left to our own devices, celebrating the New Year in our usual fashion: watching Reno 911 episodes and a touch of the bubbly at midnight. Hello, 2012!

Decisions, Decisions. . . What Should the Well-Dressed Lab Wear for Christmas!

Sometimes it's tough to choose just the right attire for special events. And SOME friends are pushy about their ideas. First, they tackle you. . . .

Cover you in slurpy kisses and chew on your ears. . . .

. . . insist they know just the right thing to wear. . . .

. . . . and sit on your head to be the hat.

Friends! What would life be without them?

Another Peek at the Relatives While We Were In Philly

If you ever need to rent a really cool brother for some kind of PR reasons, consider this one, the one who's giving me weird looks while I hug his shoulders.

. . . Or this one, although Maria has first dibs on him, of course. Be forewarned, my rates are high for their rental. . . .

Here, we likely have my brother corrupting my sweet husband, Doug, with something on his camera. Can't you just tell by the look on Robert's face?

All was not fun in Philly. . . . This city is downright evil when it comes to parking! My brother, Robert, got a $76 parking ticket. . . . AFTER having put money in the meter AND having a handicapped sticker in his window. Down the block, 4 cars down, was a sign that said "bus loading zone." But not next to where he parked, but apparently he was suppose to know. Here, Doug is frowning ferociously at the parking ticket we got. . . . $36 for being about 3 minutes over! And then there was the $26 fine my sister got because of the way tollway lanes were labelled, and they missed the window to get toll ticket, and had to pay for the entire length of the tollroad, when they got off 3 miles down the road!

Everything else about Philly sang "brotherly love," but definitely not their parking policies/transportation policies!

Distractible Huddle

First task each am on our Philly trip: gathering together and deciding what we want to do, eat, do and eat some more. Especially eat.

But look how well we stay focused!

And notice Lee playing a game of checkers. With himself. With scraps of paper.



And look how happy he is that he won!

Philly Fun

Should you have children, (which happen to be quite a bit of work, but very worth it), make sure that you require them, if they get married, to do so in a cool city. Because it's the least they can do to entertain us (which they must), given how much work they are.

So, Scott got married in Philadelphia (good choice, Scott; so far, you're doing it all just right!) And what a cool city it is! (Except for their parking issues!)



And when/if your kids get married, it will give you a golden opportunity to hang out with your relatives!!!!

This is Betsy Ross--NOT one of my relatives. She was excellent and stayed in character in such a wonderful way that I'll always picture her any time I ever hear of any reference to Betsy Ross again.



These ARE two of my relatives, one older brother, one younger. It's the funniest thing, getting two brothers together; it seems to bring out the Uber Imp in them. Who knew that Lee would be so fiendishly attracted to. . . . vegetation?

November Days: Best Spent Being Industrious

It's time to get busy!



. . . . each in her own way.

Wedding Photographers are Awesome!

Seriously, you are! I don't know how you do it, day after day, getting all those perfect shots! Just the handful I got at my son's wedding were laborious . . . . and imperfect. And it was terribly agonizing to sit in the front row, tears in my eyes, seeing Scott and Elizabeth so lovingly wed. . . and not have my Nikon D300s in hand!

But my sweet sister, Mary Ann, graciously saw to it that my camera made it to the reception for me to get a "fix." Isn't her son (above) just cuddly adorable?

And my daughter Dianna, who is truly always right, says that wedding photographers have the most thankless job on the planet, because everyone looks at their own photos, and don't like them. Especially us women. (Relatives! You know who you are!) Ahhhh, but the rest of us! I love this photo of Maria and Lee, joyfully dancing at the reception. When I walked down the aisle, and caught Maria's beaming smile, I felt so embraced by a circle of love, and knew that this was the kind of family embrace that would extend to Scott and Elizabeth, and on through our circles of connection.

Thanksgiving week is such a wonderful week to count our blessings! I count this photo of Brian, above, one of my blessings! To catch his under-stated smile, without any hands warding off the Mom-Camera, was such a gift!





Mmmmmmm, cake! The fall theme was so perfect for the wedding! But WHY did I miss a shot of the pumpkins that they carved the night before, lining the path to the wedding venue?

No one would let me put these desserts in my purse to take home to enjoy the extras! I want to swirl white chocolate like that!





If only I could live close to these wonderful women!

Group Shot

Wow! Two days in a row (although, technically, one was this morning and this one is the evening of the same day.)

(You'd be posting twice in one day too if your husband was doing what mine is right now. He's watching Lawrence Welk! I kid you not! It's just sad.)

OK, so about my post. This is a group shot of my family at Scott and Elizabeth's wedding. It's a shot at the very end, after much dancing, (at least on Scott and Elizabeth's part), so everyone is beginning to look a little bit bedraggled.

But, I have to say, I really love all these people! This photo has me and Doug, our three children, the wonderful woman my son has married, two of my brothers and their phenomenal wives, my wonderful sister, her husband and her two little kids. You have no clue who is who, right? But you know what I mean, I hope, when I talk like this about family. . . .

Me and Three Sibs

Life's been such a whirlwind! A vacation, a puppy, an anniversary, a wedding, and now, preparing for a large Christmas party and a grand-puppy!

But I miss posting on my blog!

Barcelo Maya Palace, the Yucatan Peninsula

In my fantasies, this is where I'll go, come Winter, North Dakota.