We must have a ghost in our home. We have this little potty that we got for Z that if she ever uses it, makes magical musical notes when she ... you know, does her business. Every once in a while that little potty goes off by itself. Sometimes in the middle of the night!!
We thought it was some of the cockroaches we've waged war against in our home (note to self: excellent blog "Our War on the Cocks"), or some other kind of insect but nope. Upon inspection it's as empty as it's been for a while!
Weird little Target potty. Why you gotta creep us out all the time? Has this happened to anyone else?
My two best friends, Michael and Lucas and I decided to go surfing. We piled into Luc's van and headed down to a public beach. When we arrived we made our way through the crowds and plopped down in the sand for a second. I transformed my old Dell laptop into a yellow surf board and off we went.
The water was crowded. It almost felt like we were in some kind of wave pool. Crowded or not however, I got up on my board for the first time! I road a wave all the way back to the beach and completly understood the physics of surfing. They say getting up on the board is the hardest part, but I had that down. And "steering" (or whatever it's called) with your feet was a breeze! Excitedly, I paddled back, fought for a spot, and prepared for the next wave. On the next one, I took a U-Turn and found that I could ride the wave backwards! It was exhilarating, but just too crowded. Too many people, it was like a line of surfers all fighting for the same waves ... which just doesn't work.
I ask Lucas and Michael if they wanted to go to a bigger, more private beach where the waves were bigger and better. They agreed and we popped back in the van and sped off. I pulled out Luc's 12 string acoustic and entertained our guests who somehow ended up in the van.
For whatever reason we parked a far way from the surf, but ran none-the-less to ride some waves before it was too dark. As we arrived music started playing from a DJ, the sun was slowly setting and it was the perfect setting to surf. There weren't very many people, the waves were big (but not too big) and NO one was surfing! Only problem was my dang laptop wouldn't transform back into a surfboard! But I didn't bring my swim shorts anyway, who knew why I took 'em off between beaches, so I ran back to the van w/ Luc Dawg and found my shirts. Lucas was missing something that was required to surf so we wasted more time looking for that. But no matter, we gathered up everything we needed and rushed back to the beach and Michael.
He was there anxiously waiting for us (like always) and magically my yellow board was there. The sunset was beautiful with hues of orange and red and blue hitting the clouds. "Let's go!" Michael yelled. "Hold on!" I said, "I need to take a picture and send it to Stacey". I pulled out my old iPhone 3G and snapped a few pics of my yellow board and the colorful sky. Then, I stood up, board under arm and started running towards the ocean. In that moment I heard...
"Dadda..."
"Dadda!"
"DADDAAA!!!!"
It was time to wake up and go get Zoe out of her crib.
What do you think about this? Some of my friends didn't even know it was going on. Which I understand, I don't think many mainstream news organizations have the balls to report it like Lawrence O'donnel did.
It brings tears to my eyes that there is nothing . . . NOTHING one can do about this. Sure, I'll blog about it, I'll IM my friends and say "hey, did you know this injustice was going on?", even politicians can't do anything about it.
Sometimes I think our world has gone so far backward it's impossible to turn it back again. Or was it ever "right"?
What would John Lennon think of this?
Peaceful protestors on the streets of America being beaten for holding a video camera, being pepper sprayed because they have an opinion, and being arrested for expressing their views! This is crazy people!
There was an Occupy LA protest the other day at Crescent Heights and Santa Monica Blvd, for the same reasons the protests were happening in NY - I thought about going. I thought about bringing the girls and showing them how many people can come together for one goal. But then I thought - what if I get randomly arrested? What if something happens to me or my girls? Sad ... but true! I'm silenced by fear. Which, I hate to admit, but fear for the sake of my children's safety is a fear I'll commit to.
Sad, sad times in America. What to do but keep your head up, keep doing the right thing, and teach our future how to be better.
Whew! I was worried about what I was going to blog today. It's already 4pm and I haven't a blogged a word! I know you all are getting ansey, looking at your clock or your RSS feed wondering where I am.
"What is he doing? It's not like he has a business to run or kids to take care of..."
Well, I am saving my post about bad words for a day other than the day after the epic birthday blog so today's post will hafta be just a little bit nerdy and techy. I was strolling through Google + trying to gather some inspiration when I saw Blogger Buzz's Blog had announced new layouts for Blogger! Now remember, I've been using this blogging system for years (more than 5!) and this change is super exciting. I think it's a slow way to merge into Google+!
There are 7 new ways YOU can view my blog. Some are more confusing that others, some you wont see as many photos at first, but they can all be customized by you, the reader! Super sweet! I'll keep it like this, but let me know what you think. Which view do you like best? Or do you like it the old traditional way? Personally I like Mosiac. Magazine is cool too and so is Flip Card but Mosiac is just niiiiiice.
Either way, hope you're having a great week and an awesome day!
One of the many reasons I love my beautiful wife is how she loves our
baby girls. She is the best mom I know. One of the many ways
she showers her mini-me's with unconditional love is to put a lot of
time and effort into their birthday parties. Not only did Stacey (and
myself) want to throw an awesome party for Z herself, but we wanted to celebrate our friends, her friends, and our little village that has helped raise her.
The party was as much for our friends as it was for Z! And boy did she
have a good time! Almost all her friends came, which could've been
overwhelming, but she handled it like a champ. She owned her party, as
they say! This party was almost as large, if not larger, than our wedding!
The idea for the party was a disco dance theme. Z loves to dance, so why not dance with everyone she loves? Everyone was encouraged to dress up and get ready to dance the afternoon away with some classic disco music! (There was a little Britney Spears thrown in there too, cuz Z loves some Britney)
We had an arts and crafts table for everyone to paint their own frames with glitter paint, feathers and other medallions. Stace rocked this part of the party, thinking out every last detail. People seemed to enjoy painting their own frames!
And what will go in there? A photo from the photo booth of course! (You can see our family's photo below, and maybe everyone elses' if you're lucky)
Stacey, "Sasha" and myself helped create the magical ball of goodness you see below. Instead of a traditional cake, cuz you know we aint traditional, we made Cake Pops! (right ladies? that's what it was called?) It's basically cake, rolled up into balls, dipped in frosting and splattered with edible glitter paint! Mmmmmm buddy were they good.
It was really great to see how many people came out to show love for Z. She is so blessed by all of her very gracious and giving friends. Not only do they provide spoil her w/ material possessions, they love, Love, LOVE her! Our friends have come through time and time again to babysit, help us w/ car issues, listen to our concerns, and call in favors of other friends. We appreciate every single one of you villagers.
Photo by Uncle Brent!
I had a blast at her sisters party too. You could just see her thinking "mom...I better get as good of party if not better next June!" ;)
I can't believe my little girl is 2. 2 years ago tonight she was 1 day old! Now she's dancing, talking, making her own friends and growing up so fast! Ya just gotta hang on and enjoy every single second. Take nothing for granted and shell out as much love as you can muster every day. Before I know it, she'll be walkin' down the aisle!
Last night was the last game of the kickball seasons. Some friends of mine asked me to join their team this season and we … well, we weren't very good. But we had a lot of team spirit, and always had fun at every game so that's all that matters - right? (Right Brett?) Heck, I don't even know our team's name!
The sky was insane last night too, which is always fun when you're playing in the big open park.
Tonight is the last night the little Z is one! Crazy, huh? It's hard to believe but tomorrow we'll be throwing one heck of a disco dance party. Watch out for a blog of epic proportions from her party.
I just edited one of these photos (only a simple crop) via an online program call Picnic! That's pretty dang neat. I've seen that program around but never used it. Very cool. How do you all like the albums on blogger now? Don't know what I'm talking about? Click on one of the pictures above and you get a cool Google+ styled album viewer. Pretty sweet!
Sometimes as a blogger I can be lazy. Surprise surprise! Notice I didn't post yesterday? Didn't think so.
Well, it's really not being lazy today but I pulled off a bunch of photos of the girls and mom and decided to post those instead of a bunch of crazy text! Enjoy!
Our beautiful model
Never safe from the camera, not even during lunch time!
When we go on shoots, my beautiful ladies serve as the best standins. :)
Toooooo cute
They totally love each other, even though I doesn't know what's going on sometimes...
Our other 3 children
The girls love it when momma reads to them
Hiking. Note to self, WEAR the girls, don't try to push 'em in the stroller
Last night was one of those chill family nights you know you'll remember for a long time.
After mom got off work at 5 she picked us up and we rushed to Zuma Beach in Malibu for a photo shoot. It was perfect conditions, not too cold, golden hour, and the family of 4 I was photographing was dressed to a T. The shoot went great and ended just after the sun went below the ocean and as we all were getting a little chilly.
We hopped in the swagger wagon and drove down the PCH to the World Famous Malibu Inn. After warming up and filling our bellies we heard live music coming from the next room. Z and I headed over to check it out and we found 3 old "vets" jammin' out to an almost empty room. Zoe's face instantly lit up, she pointed to the guitar and said "Dada? Guitar?" I told her she was correct and that this guitar player was a helluva lot better than daddy. She smiled, asked to get down; "Down Dada" and she started dancing.
The girl danced for like 30 minutes straight! We let her stay up past her bedtime to do so! And I think it made the musicians' night, since there was no one there. :) It was a beautiful moment.
I like to call myself "The Bottle Master". One thing no one ever tells you about becoming a parent (there are a lot of things people neglect to tell you) is that your life will revolve around the bottle. No, not whiskey or alcohol although sometimes you want that too, we're talking baby bottles.
Depending on your breastfeeding schedule you will come into multiple bottles at some point your child's life. Whether it's storing breast milk for later or you're now on forumla, we've accumilated more bottles than a recycling center. Big bottles, small bottles, plastic, glass, fancy and cheap we've seen 'em all. And ... get this ... they have to be clean! I know, who knew?!
So every day it's a few minutes of standing at the sink w/ hot water, soap, big and little brushes and gettin' these little boogers cleaned and ready to go for another round! Even Zoe has sippy cups that have to be cleaned... it's a lot of work! And did I mention we don't have a dish washer?
Here's to anyone who's ever cleaned a bottle! Kudos to you. I've been doing it for almost 2 years now and see no end in sight! But that's ok, it's just one of the many ways I get to show my girls I love 'em ... being the Bottle Master. :)
A site to get some funny looks, iMac, Coffee, Baby Bottle...
Today I have the rare opportunity to take I and myself to a coffee shop to "work". While we tried working, we really did, but it's kind of hard to work one handed while feeding with the other. But now I is asleep in her car seat and I have a chance to get something done.
Oh wait. The internet sucks. It may be the literally 9 other iMacs in the shop sucking the weak internet signal dry but forget trying to FTP something or handle heavy web work. That'll hafta wait for Z's nap time later.
But I can blog!
I'm excited to see how the new Blogger photo browser will look with these photos I took of the girls yesterday while mom was shopping! Thank heavens for a grassy area outside the store . . . we didn't have to go in and shop!
It looks like Blogger is trying to incorporate Google + more by implementing this photo browsing technology. Very exciting! I see Tom Anderson, the former CEO of Myspace using Google + as a blog, but like I said a few weeks ago I'm still waiting to see how they combine the two programs.
I've got 16 more precious minutes of this deja-vu type experience. It's funny, the woman who is watching Z at the moment also has a two year old. She's one of the more active members in the mommy group we joined. Close to 2 years ago I was in a coffee shop very similar to this when she and her 2 girls walked in. We'll call them M, S, & T. M, (the mom) approached me and mentioned how calm Z was being in her car seat. I was tapping away at the same laptop I am now and we made small talk. She left, came back a few minutes later and said "You should join our mommy group!" I laughed and said "But, I'm not a mom!" "No matter", M said, and a few days later I was striding our stroller around the park with a bunch of mom's with kids close to Z's age. More on the mommy group later...
Now Z is at M's house playing w/ T (the 2 year old) and I and I are chillin' at a coffee shop. Good times!
The view from Z's window this morning
One last random picture that means a lot to me. When we moved into our home a few months ago one of my favorite things were the flowers and plant life around the yard. In the mornings the sunlight comes into Z's room and hits the flowers just right. I'm so excited to be able to provide a beautiful view for our children on a daily basis. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it's cool anyway.
Alright! Time to pick up Z and really get some work done.
Ballons provide excellent opportunities to teach life lessons to children. What?! Life lessons? Keep reading if you dare...
This has happened twice now, to Miss Z. She has had some ballons and neglected to hold on to them regardless of mom and dad telling her she won't have them any more if she lets go. I don't know if she gets it or not, but the tears don't last too long and I always say "if you want something, you gotta hold on to it!" Wow... cheesey and totally "parent" but hey, that's me!
I snapped this shot last weekend at one of the birthday parties we were at as Z's ballons slowly floated into the sky.
Since then Stacey and I have been more tired than I can ever remember. With her going back to work (she just completed her first full week this week) and the transition and adjustment of handling the kids there just aren't enough hours in the day to sleep! I grabbed one nap this week, but only for an hour and Stacey got to sleep in today! (Tomorrow is my day to sleep in, but I have a shoot at 10:30 so we'll see how that goes) MAN we are tired. Tired tired tired. Having two kids, two full time jobs, and somewhat of a social life really takes it out of ya!
