Brace Yourselves.

Have you met Shea? He's the oldest of the Gettysburg Family children. You know- the one that completely rocked my world- and Rich's- way back when.

Lately, his hair has become a bit of an issue for me. Oh, I'm cool with the long hair. If you've seen any of Rich and my wedding pictures, you know that. But the dead ends? The giant ass perma-snarl on the back of his head? The- excuse me for what I'm about to say- dandruff under the perma-snarl? Ew. Gross. Yuck. Oh my flipping word, I can't take it.



Greeley just saw I was taking a picture of Shea, and couldn't stand to not be included. If you've read so much as one post in the last three years, I imagine you know Greeley. Anywho, can you see the snarl on the back of his head? The ends dampened with saliva because he chews on his hair. I know. I know.

Atlee saw Greeley getting her picture taken with Shea and jumped in the mix too.


Emerson didn't care what we were doing. He was chewing on his toy bar. Not its intended use, but whatever, he was happy.




Now then, where were we? Oh the hair. We've been asking (nagging?) Shea to do something about it for quite a while now. He wanted to wait until the school year was over. He doesn't like to stand out in a crowd and thought any sort of alteration to his appearance would draw attention. I know! It is hard to believe he's Rich's son.

We probably should have stopped somewhere around here. Then I would have had a happy child. But we didn't.

This was his look of horror at how short it was.

This was his true look of horror when he saw the picture on the camera. Can you see how misty his eyes truly are here? The rest of the evening proceeded with him draped in a blanket- muttering about what a freak he looked like.


While I think it looks much nicer- and will be cooler this summer- he is requesting all readers send him brown paper bags with which to hide his monstrous new look.

I told you people to brace yourselves. You never listen to me.

Gettysburg Fireman's Carnival 2010

Oh, my friends. I've been stalling on this post. Each year the number of hits to my little blog spikes dramatically right now. That's because I always have a post about last year's Fireman's Carnival. Because it's fun. Because the kids have fun. Rides. Food. Fireworks. What's not to like?

That there isn't going to be one this year. That's what's not to like. I kid you not. A direct quote from the visit-gettysburg.com website says:

* Please note that there will be NO Gettysburg Fireman's Carnival this year since they have moved to a new location.



Here's the link if you don't believe me. I wouldn't want to either. I was going to call and confirm, but I think I'm in the midst of denial.

The actual link here.

Uncle Michael's Camera: Part One

I didn't bring a camera to Atlee's field day last week. So, I'll go ahead and say (AGAIN), "Thank goodness for Uncle Michael." Not only did he come up from DC to join the festivities, but he brought his camera. Aaaand then, he emailed those pictures. Along with some vague threats about how they'd better materialize into a blog post.

So many pictures, we have to break them into smaller posts.

Let's talk about sweet Atlee's clothes here. It was a humid eighty plus degrees. And Atlee was wearing fleecey sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt. Yeah, I'm awesome.


Makes it easy to pick her out of a crowd, right?





Unless you confuse her with the Greeley-bird, who was also sporting long sleeves and pants.


Emerson? Yup- long sleeves.


Cousin It in long sleeves? No, it's Atlee.



Selfish mommy? Tank top.



Emerson and I made our own shade.

Greeley didn't watch Atlee doing her field day stuff that much. Know why? Slide, that's why.



I'm pretty sure the sweat just made her go faster.

Be on the lookout for UMC: Part Two soon.

Greeleyism #402

This morning Rich and I were snuggling in bed a bit. Greeley hopped into bed with us and gave us a big hug. She looked down at me with the sweetest look and said, "Mommy, I love you." I looked up at her and said, "Awww, Greeley- I love you too!" Greeley turned and looked down at Rich with a beaming, radiant smile and said, "Haha Daddy- She loves me more than you."

I didn't almost die this time.

Because I'm pretty sure that's what some of you must have been thinking. Two weeks without a post. Um, sorry about that. I won't offer up some lame excuse since Rich always says there's no such thing as a good excuse. Yes, Mr. Freud, I did marry my father.

Greeley had the camera the other day. She shot clear up my nostril here.


Recorded the pony herd for posterity's sake.


Captured forever more that Mommy (me) watches way too much Wife Swap on Lifetime during the day. Who needs soap operas when you have Wife Swap?


This shot has it all. The half painted family room walls from when I decided I hated the paneling, but then stopped because - well because I rarely finish things. (Again, not offering any excuses up.) The pony barn that my dad made for Atlee that Greeley has taken over. The two dog kennels on the back patio- even though I own 0 dogs. (They're the big white fluffy dogs' kennels. Remember them? No? Here.)

I like the reflection in the coffee table in this one.


Barbie's ready for her close up.


This concludes the Greeley gallery portion of our post.


Greeley is sometimes a grumpopotamous. I think I made that word up, all by myself. I took the picture too. Because I am a big girl.


The other day I scampered down to DC to meet up with a bunch of lovely ladies from the Dooce Community. It was a fantastic lunch at Poets and Busboys. I got to meet Spoke, Girassol, Zannah, Sojotom and JessicaM. I was the only one to bring both a brother-in-law (Can I get a shout out for Uncle Michael? Woo!) and a baby (Can I get a shout out for Emerson? Woo!) It was a great time, and I believe we'll be doing it again. (My hand's a little cramped from all that linking.)

The only picture I took? This. My sharper image emergency flashlight/radio. The radio in the van died (read: Rich killed it) a few months ago. I was so excited when I realized I had this in the car and could listen to music on the drive down. Fuzzy music, but music.


Moving on. When I got home from DC Rich was listening to music with the kids. I was too slow on the camera to capture Greeley and Emerson dancing together.

Emerson is sitting up on his own these days. He also has a tooth. And rolls over on purpose. (He's been rolling over for a bit, but not intentionally. It was more that gravity grabbed a hold of him and flopped him over.) See the toe peeping out of the sleeper? Chomp.

Greeley the Grumpopotamous got a little jealous that I was taking Emerson's picture.

I don't think she shoved him over, but she didn't rush to pick him up right away either.

How does Rich solve sibling jealousy? Have the baby ride the toddler like a horsey.

So, yeah. I didn't almost die this time. Oh! And the Name that Offspring was Shea. Thanks for playing!