Two girls walk into a cat show.

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, right? No, it's what we did on Sunday. I noticed in the paper that the Catfederacy Cat Show was going to happen at the Gettysburg Middle School this past Sunday. This might not have been an item of interest to many of you, but you don't hang out with Atlee and Greeley. These two sometimes communicate to each other in some secret meow based language. Atlee brought her purse full of Webkinz cats. She's the Paris Hilton of Gettysburg.


Inside? There were cats. Lots and lots and lots of cats. This lady was nice enough to let us pet her cat.

Greeley did not believe her when she told us her cat wouldn't scratch. Greeley has been hanging out with Corwin, who is a proactive scratcher of toddlers.


The girls mentioned in the van that it was a little odd to not have Shea along for the ride. Where was Shea? Shea decided he would rather help clean out a barn in the rain with his father instead of going to the cat show.

Too bad for Shea because the Cat Show Attendees were rewarded with Giant Peanut Butter Cups after a stop at Kennie's to pick up eggs. Why eggs?

Because Amy invited us over to dye eggs again this year! Do you remember my take on this? When invited to dye eggs at a friend's house, the answer should be an immediate, "Yes please!"

Dyeing Easter eggs is one of Atlee's favorite activities.

She takes it seriously. So seriously she only did four eggs in the time every one else did twelve. Then she was kind of disappointed that she only did four. I see more Easter egg dyeing in our near future.



Trinity is always helping Greeley. Thanks Trinity!


Our friend, Carrie, was making Emerson laugh. As soon as I wandered over with the camera? Nothing. Just this look where he seems to think Carrie's insane. Not so, not so. He was totally digging on Carrie if the giggles were any indication.


Greeley's approach is more quantity than quality.

When we returned home, Atlee made a catnip toy for Corwin out of a baby sock. The man at the cat show who sold us the cat nip was kind enough to share with us how to make a good cat toy. Corwin approved of the new toy.


And then? Then it was time for bed.

Why yes, there is another bed located under that top bunk. But they don't actually use Greeley's bed for sleeping. They sleep together in "Atlee's bed". Every night is like a sleep over!


What? More Emerson?


Thank you and good night! And don't forget to tip your blogger!

Nine Years Ago Today.

Today is our 9th anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Rich.

But, we share our anniversary. We weren't married alone. We were married with my brother John and his wife, Monique. Happy anniversary John and Monique.

We hope you have a wonderful anniversary filled with love- like your marriage!

Yeah, yeah. That's a nine month old baby in the wedding picture. Old news that.

**Does this post look kind of familiar? That's because I totally cheated. I can't get the scanner to work this morning, so in order to get this posted some time today before our collective anniversary is over, I recycled last year's post. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Minestrone Soup.

Should I just apologize now to anyone who came here looking for an honest to god soup recipe? Because I don't have that. I do have a bunch of pictures with no particular theme. Kind of like when you clean out the refrigerator and make minestrone soup. See? See how that happened?

Moving on then.

Atlee brought home zebra and lion masks last week. A big hit.


Zebras sometimes grow weary of the watering hole and drink soda.

Perhaps they're actually scared of the watering hole because there are lions.

Although, it looks like zebra thinks the lion's a little crazy or something.

We went to a baby shower for our neighbor yesterday. It was a beautiful event. And another opportunity to wear matching sundresses. Only one picture though because neighbor Erica hasn't signed the blog release form for her daughter Petey and all the other pictures had neighbor Petey in them.

Want to see matching sundresses at your house in Gettysburg? You'll need to invite us to a party. (My husband tells me I'm shameless.)

In other Gettysburg Family news, the Webkinz population is exploding. They're worse than the pennies in the bottom of a purse.That's my perspective though. Atlee's thrilled with their rapid population increase.


Greeley took this picture. She's getting better and better. I'm not sure what to think when my two year old gets better pictures than I do.


Then Atlee took a turn with the camera. More Webkinz.


Finishing up with an Atlee photo of her artwork in the upstairs hallway.

See? Minestrone.

Why, yes- it IS another video.

Thank you Grandpa for the bestest pony barn ever!

Guess who's coming for Easter?

She heard we're having ham.

It's like watching paint dry, but better.

Because we don't want you all to miss a single thing.



And yes, that WAS two posts today. Don't get used to it people!

Why, hello there Spring!

We had two different play dates this beautiful sunny weekend and I remembered the camera for both- so grab a drink and settle into a comfie chair. We have lots and lots and lots of pictures. Not necessarily good pictures, but lots of pictures nonetheless.

Play Date 1:
Sharon was kind enough to host an Open House this weekend to celebrate the first day of spring. Those of you on Facebook may recall a few weeks ago when I mentioned I had purchased matching dresses for Atlee and Greeley. A spring party was the perfect occasion for them to wear them.


Wait. Where's Greeley?


Oh. There she is.


Apparently, Greeley and Atlee thought a sunny day was perfect for rolling around on the ground in last year's leaves. I think I managed to keep the crying down to a dull whimper.


Emerson did a little crowd surfing. Our friend, Tom, wanted to be the first to give him "horns" in a picture. And so he was.


Our friend, Allison, looks kind of snarly here. I think she thought I was going to rip my baby out of her arms. I might have been thinking about it. You'd think by the fourth you'd just be grateful for a break. Instead I want to hog him more and more.

Play Date 2:
Our friend, Branden, invited us to a little cook-out at his Mom's house. Beautiful weather for a second day! Branden's mom has the greatest collection of ride-on toys my kids have ever seen.

What goes better with a John Deere tractor than a pink sparkle skirt or silver sparkle shoes? Nothing, that's what.


Greeley was a little big for this one, but she wouldn't admit it.

My friend, Amy, was there and managed to capture Greeley for a hug.


Shea was having a James Cameron "King of the World" moment.


One of the most awesome features about Branden's Mom's house? A pond. With fish. Do you remember when the Gettysburg Family kids went fishing last time? (Remember? I told the vegan girlfriend in NY about Atlee clubbing a fish to death because I have NO filter? Story here.) This is where they went fishing last time. I'm pretty sure it's the only pond in Adams County.

Thank goodness they didn't catch anything up there. Otherwise, I might be forced to cook a fish. Blech. What's that? More Greeley with the blue eyes. Sure!


Hope you also had great weather this weekend. Although, I'm pretty sure those of you in Chicago and Detroit didn't, at least you know we enjoyed it enough for all of us!

I know it's not Tuesday.

And this isn't the video of Atlee's musical. But it is a video (Michael's request) of Emerson (Judi's request).



Right before I got the camera out, he was playing with the toy bar. Just as soon as I put the camera away, he was playing with the toy bar. The camera seems to distract him, so I think I need some sort of suburban screen to hide behind while filming. A basket of laundry or a box of toys. Then perhaps I can capture the lion eating the zebra, or in this case the slobbersaurus playing with the toy bar.

Two For Tuesday: Part One

To make up for the dearth of weekend posting, I'm double posting today. Crazy!!

Last week was Atlee's school music program. Greeley was really well behaved while waiting for Atlee's performance. And do any of you remember way back when- when Rich said no daughter of his would ever wear pink? Bwa ha ha ha ha. Does that represent the crazy laughter adequately?


I took a picture of Shea's eyeball while we waited. It didn't turn out well. I suspect the combination of flash at close range and his pale, pasty Irish skin.


We always check on the kids before we go to bed. One night last week, I found Shea sleeping like this. At least it's not on the floor, right? (That's IN a tote if you can't tell from the angle.)


And will finish up the post with a picture of the slobbersaurus. That's what we're calling him these days. I'm telling everyone and their cousin about how much he's eating. I started him on breast milk and rice cereal last week, because he seemed "kind of" interested in food. Within two days he was up to his current diet of two bowls of fruit or veggies with rice cereal three times a day. Plus nursing. My mom says he takes after PatioBoater over there. ----------->


Off to load Part 2 of Tuesday Postalooza.

A Post With No Dog Pictures.

Do you know why it's a post with no dog pictures? Because I don't have a dog, that's why.

I do have a Greeley though. And she has Atlee's fake hamster. Er, zhu zhu pet.

Atlee loves this one that she got for her birthday (thanks Gene and Bev!) so very, very much that she cashed in a little Christmas money to buy two more. That was money that she's been saving for her half of a mother-daughter pedicure. Which makes zhu zhu pets better than pedicures in her world. That's a big compliment to zhu zhu pets. If I had a dog, it would eat the zhu zhu pets.

To keep up with the recent demand of Emerson snap shots, I recently tried outsourcing the work to Greeley. It wasn't so successful.

I'm probably longing for a dog a bit more because of all the beautiful weather we had recently. So beautiful the kids and I were going for walks in the neighborhood. And our neighborhood is just meant for walking dogs. I make do with kids though.

I don't need to tell you Emerson doesn't actually walk on these walks, right? He travels in sling comfort.

Completely unrelated (because that's how I blog, yo) I made these rolls yesterday. They were yummy.

I got the chance to make those rolls up there because Emerson did this:


For three hours! That's because I decided to start him on rice cereal and breast milk. He's in a food coma up there.


More Emerson. I asked Rich for a dog for my birthday. This dog. He said no.


Since it doesn't look like I'll be taking any pictures of MY dog anytime soon, you can enjoy this shot Greeley took of her piggy bank instead.